Shainne Hostalero

Last touch for the year! Wooohooo! Sorry, couldn't get over the excitement my short travel brought. Looking back, I have started this year with a travel - to Baguio - and eventually ended it in... Baguio. Baguio has been that good serene place for me to explore but it is just recent that I got to explore lots of places there. Though I have not explored the place in its entirety still, I guess this has been a great start and a good spree to find the chance and the time to go back and traverse the place more next time. My good friend and former housemate ( parang PBB lang ) Emily hosted me for the past 3 days and 2 nights of my stay. She religiously heading back to Baguio whenever there's a long vacation because her relatives reside there. Lucky me that I got to stroll around the city with a local and a good friend, oh but of course. I went to Victory Liner in Cubao, Quezon City on a Christmas day to buy tickets in advance for the next-week travel. I left the bus station a

For the past 300+ days of the year 2015, there are just so many things I've learned and things I've conquered. Truth be told I grew wiser, stronger, and I've learned not to settle for anything less like I've used to (just because I'm afraid to lose some). Losing things and people are hard to bear, especially if they have been part of you for quite some time. But as I course through the year, I've learned that it is necessary or even a requirement to let go of these toxins that caused me so much hassle. I tried to keep them. I really tried so hard. I did and I was able to but then it didn't get me any happier. It was just to compensate that they are still there and I didn't lose them - not just yet. I've lost them before I even admit it to myself. I've lost them not because I didn't take good care of them but because their roles in my life are finally over - even though they have been considered a mainstay - and so I thought. And that wher

#NoToStraw campaign initially started when I was still in college taking up my Green Marketing course. The said course opened my eyes and my being to be an environmentally responsible marketer which also constituted with our group then doing a research in using plastic utensils in University Belt, its effects and its alternatives. Truth be told, I also happened to have lost my track to what should have done in the first place. It is very recent that all these woke me up again and finally initiated a campaign for the greater good. When I started supporting campaigns for the ocean, it triggered me to be more responsible and hands-on to what should be done for the environment and its entities. Besides, we are the beneficiaries of our own efforts and sacrifices.  My #NoToStraw experience seems to bring weirdness for some. As an example, the baristas who serve me coffee or frappucino - to be more specific- used to find it really different that I go for a no cover, no straw , and no

Woke up so early on a Saturday. Finally, a long long vacation. I'm thinking if I can binge out my way out of Metro Manila this coming week. But since some of the roads I'm looking at routing to will be closed, I'm thinking of an alternative. Perhaps, iflix. Yes? Vacation is not coming through just yet; I still have a talk later this afternoon in one of the schools in Quezon City. So hype! Hopefully, it can turn out something really nice. My current morning is filled with total music blast before I get to work on a Saturday. From Stone Temple Pilots to Nirvana to Florence + The Machine and to some indie music - and eventually came across this poppy Yes Yes song by The Colourist. A total break from the past weeks that we are rushing and chasing time for deadlines and before the next big days to come in lieu of some strategic planning for the next year. If you were to ask me how's life treating me, I say the usual. It is crazy. A fun crazy. I don't even kn

Taken at Tagaytay, Philippines during a windy day. I watched some kite-flying, too. How wonderful it is to be a kid. I’m not good at acknowledging my feelings. I usually nip it in the bud or let it stay within me in a span of hmmm… 20 seconds to a minute. It is because I always believe that there is more to life than what we feel at the moment – and I know it was right. I know I was right. At some point. But what I did not realize... it's case-to-case basis and I apparently generalized it. For the longest time, I always suppressed some of the emotions I needed to feel because most of them were far negative for the day – stress, annoyance/irritation, sadness and the like. I felt like I was strong enough to conceal and not to feel. I felt like I have control. And oh, it is true that I have control; we have control – so I stood by it. Indeed, we are in control of our emotions and how our minds go round about things and events. But like in some situations, there’s also a need for

Photo from web Straw, along with other plastic materials, can be very harmful to the environment. Most of us never think twice or even re-consider using these kinds of disposable plastic straws. True enough that using straws gives us convenience and some might wonder why we need to re-think using these. Here’s some of the reason why: Straws are made up of POLYPROPYLENE – it is a petroleum bi-product; which is the same material used in automotive, textiles, and other plastic materials. Straws are among the TOP 10 Marine Debris Items 44% of all SEA BIRD species and 22% of CETACEANS have ingested plastic – straws included Plastic constitutes 90% of ALL trash floating in the world’s oceans In the last 25 years, 6,263,319 straws and stirrers were picked up during annual beach clean-up events Using straw can be of a convenience, no doubt. But in cases, we can still drink our beverages even