I'm finally letting go of my pole (and probably my future pole adventures too 😭 ). A good friend has offered me a good deal and I finally decided to sell my pole.

With the idea of saying goodbye to it, I can't help but reminisce back to my pole life and my pole friends. I remembered this photoshoot event we did as a form of bridal shower to our polemate, Christine. Even before we knew of her plans, we were already pondering on having a pole photoshoot as a group so this was really a coincidentally perfect idea. We rented the Polecats Studio very early one Saturday morning and we had Kit experiment his photography skills on us. Kit is a guy friend we met through our polemate Maanne and he has been with us through our Stellar journey making him our unofficial pole photographer 😄.

Here are some of my favorite group pics we had that day. Looking back at my polemates, it has been 3 years since I met them. A lot has changed with our respective lives now since this shoot took place. Zein is now based in Singapore, seriously taking private pole lessons. Occassionally, I could still see Pau and Nowe's pole poses in Instagram. Jobelle is still my officemate and she got married last year. Christine now has 2 cute chubby offsprings and is looking for a pole to buy based on our recent FB conversation. Louanne is now into make up and is posting nice travel pictures in IG. Yvette on the other hand got pregnant last year and just gave birth to her 3rd (or 2nd?) child. I think the most improved and worth mentioning last is Maanne - she has really come a loong way since I met her. I couldn't imagine the weight she was able to loose through her pole journey! She's really one of the most dedicated and inspiring person I knew. Who would have thought she's now working on opening her pole studio? Waaah...kudos to Maane talaga!

(All photo credits in this blog post goes to Mr. Kit Adiaz)

"I fell in love with Taiwan." These were the words I was saying to myself when we were already heading out to Taoyuan Airport for our flight back to Manila. Four days of fun in Taiwan was not enough -- admittedly this is always the feeling I get for every vacation I had, HAHA. I mean, there's still so much to do but its already time to go home.

My trip to the Griffith Observatory was one of the most picturesque activity I had while in L.A.. I was with Joanne that time. She's my only friend there by the way and I feel sorry for her if she has no choice but to make 'tiis' of my face whenever I invite her to meet up, HAHA!

Griffith Observatory is located in Los Angeles, sitting on a slope of Mt. Hollywood. I say picturesque because of the amazing view it offers of Downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. It also has an excellent view of the Hollywood Sign. Just see my pictures below to really appreciate what this place offers and why tourists are flocking to this spot whenever in L.A.

Admission to the observatory is free of charge :) If you are interested in watching the shows at the Planetarium, a nominal fee will be paid. After touring the space related displays and exhibits, we decided to watch a really interesting show on the Planetarium. We were seated in a reclining chair with images like constellations being projected on the ceiling of a dark lit room while a live presenter is explaining the topic. Just imagine lying on your back on an open field watching the night sky as if a movie is being shown in front of your very eyes. I thought it was really cool!

Parking by the way is very limited. We have no choice but to park at the side of a steep hill with a very limited space and then hike our way up the hill to the observatory. The effort was worth it though after I saw the views. So here are my favorite pictures. Hope you enjoy!

 

 

Jobelle and I once had the chance to choose our flight schedules on our way back to Manila from LA. Since we have connecting flights with lay over in Hong Kong, we decided to stay on this island for 10 hours before boarding our connecting plane back to Manila. However, due to our busy schedules with work and stuff, we forgot one crucial task for this side trip -- we forgot to do research on how to go around Hong Kong considering our limited time. 😫 You could just imagine what happened to us - lost!

Upon arriving in Hong Kong's massive airport and passing through customs and immigration, we bought round trip MTR tickets going to mainland HK and then back to the airport. This is a very convenient transport for transit tourists like us.

Once on the main island, this is where our misadventures started. We relied on the information we got from the tourist support kiosk at the airport who told us that everything is walking distance. We got lost on the streets with no specific place to go looking for the longest escalator that she mentioned. Luckily, we chanced upon a Hop-On-Hop-Off tourist bus. This brought us into the heart of the main island where we ended up gawking up to their towering skyscrapers. I was amazed but actually got scared at the same time. What would happen if an earthquake suddenly strikes and I am surrounded with tall buildings?? Di ba? Just imagine it. 😱

With Hong Kong food, sad to say we were still unlucky. We ended up eating at a cafe when we were lost. Food was not even a Hong Kong specialty. But since the last food we ate was plane food and they have free wifi, we had no choice. We were able to do a bit of research though on where to go and decided to head to Mong Kok, a famous street market in Kowloon. The tourist bus we took stopped at a pier where we boarded a ferry going to Kowloon.

I thought we were already on the right tracks but turned out we were lost once again. We wandered the streets looking for a busy street market with many people but ended up to a street with rich looking people lining up to luxury shops. That was definitely not what we were looking for.

After being tired asking around and people pointing us to nowhere, we decided to take a taxi going to Mong Kok. However he dropped us to a place which doesn't look like a street market. We ended up walking and walking again until we gave up. We were already tired. My back was already hurting, I was carrying with me on my backpack a laptop which I don't want to leave at a storage in the airport. Besides, we only have a few hours left before our flight. So we decided to look for a train station which will lead us back to the airport.

On the station, we saw a map and found out that what we were looking for was just on the other side. 😵 Sobrang nakakainis lang naman. Had we did some research prior to our flight, we would have known that its just a train ride away from the airport. Ugh! Since we still have time to spare, we did some hurried shopping buying pasalubongs before heading back to the airport.

This was one stressful trip for us. A lesson learned is to always be prepared when travelling to a new place. This would definitely save you from what we have experienced. 😅

 

 

It was Jobelle who introduced me to pole dancing. She was still my roomate then. She came home one day telling me that she just attended a pole dance class. I was never interested in attending any dancing classes back then since I knew how awkward my body can get 😂. However, when she told me that her instructor that day was petite and sized almost like me, I was intrigued. You know, I was always insecure of my height ( even up to this day actually).

So the next class, I tagged along with her. That was when I was introduced to Teacher CD of Polecats Manila. And from that day on, I got hooked to pole dancing.

My life was changed from boring to exciting since then. I usually do classes before my night shift work so it was my kind of exercise. Pole dancing actually is not just about being sexy and shameless dancing in kinky outfits. It was more of Strength, Flexibility and Self Confidence for me. It requires a great deal of bravery and belief in yourself in order to do all those spins and tricks and be able to finish it safely at the end.

I started from Beginner 1 class with simple spins and tricks that required me to stay still on a pole for a few seconds. As I attended more classes, I eventually was able to do inverts and combos which I thought was really unachievable when I started. I was inspired by my teachers who were really great and amazing seeing them compete in contests local and abroad. I even found myself watching youtube videos on how to nail a trick that I can't seem to do correctly during classes. During the journey, I got bruises and pains but hey, I also got some pretty muscles, HAHA.

I was so hooked I even bought my own pole. And attended the recital where I performed in front of my friends. It was really fun and I can't help but feel proud of myself whenever I post pictures of my different tricks on facebook or instagram. The best feeling I think is when I nail a trick and get leveled up with a new, more challenging trick the next class. Also with this journey, I got to meet amazing friends. Different personalities from different fields of life who enjoy the same passion as me.

I was just starting with this new chapter of my life but midway I had to stop. The baby news was unexpected which I chose to be a priority. I am still hopeful though that someday, if chance still permits, I could go back. I missed feeling strong and amazing. Also, my pole still awaits me. 😁 For the meantime, I'll just content myself with pictures I have from this extraordinary adventure of mine.