Passion Leads

CEBU, Philippines - Passion leads to purpose.

Thirty-three-year-old Bryan Yves Sato Lasala is meticulous about his collection of Transformers, an action figure line launched in the 80s by Japanese Takara Tomy and American Hasbro toy companies.

Bryan doesn’t want any stains on it, nor cracks and or any broken parts. In fact, he only allows his children to play with it one particular character at a time as some collectible parts are now quite hard to replace.

Today, as the director of rooms for Waterfront Cebu City Hotels and Casinos, he has taken on such fastidiousness with work, seeing to it that everything is in good order, up to standards, and picture perfect. “We have to make an impression. Butlership is not just about rooms. It covers reception, concierge, the lobby, and even the public areas. We see to it that we maintain international standards,” Lasala said prior to opening boxes containing a third of his collection of Combaticons (also called Decepticons), Insecticons, Constructicons, Dinobots, Autobots, among others, which are all part of his over 150 pieces of transforming alien robots.

He shared he was only six years old when he first had his Transformer toy – a Silverbolt. “It was already worth P500 in 1986,” he disclosed. “I bought it from Gaw Store in Colon.” Silverbolt is a Concorde Aerialbot created by the Autobots.

He had also purchased some from eBay which are mostly already in its loose form. But he is not bothered at all for as long as he would be able to find all those first-generation Transformers or those that appeared from 1984 to 1993. “I really love those from the 80s. They remind me much about my childhood. I don’t even mind if these collections speak of obsessive-compulsiveness and the Peter Pan Syndrome because I’m proud to say I have always entertained the child in me and that time I feel so strongly about. In a way, the collection also serves as an outlet to de-stress.”

His collection also speaks loudly of his versatility. “What I admire about Transformers is that they are triple changers. They can be a car, a robot, and a plane. Butlers like me don’t turn down services. We can work from being frontliners, to running a bathtub, to packing and unpacking luggage. We can be so many workers in one form,” he articulated.

On the other hand, 50-year-old German national Simon Sperling who is Waterfront Cebu City Hotels and Casinos’ executive chef has about 8,000 Tumblr followers after gaining the adulation of photography enthusiasts online. Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking website.

Simon posts his filling and stunning photography of scrumptious food and awesome landscapes, and the world is struck at how a professional chef can work wonders with the camera the way he has come to master the many tricks he can do with his knife and wok. He has captured scenes as astounding as lighting strikes, ebb and flow of tides, sunsets and sunrises, flapping of a bird’s wings, architectural masterpieces from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, to Mauritius and Malaysia. He’s seen the world over working in various five-star hotels preparing some 280,000 to 500,000 food covers a year, which makes his portfolio that interesting and extensive.

But to his legion of virtual admirers today, he would only underscore his Aperture24 tagline: “I’m just a chef with a camera.”

How has his photo blog inspired him to perform more in his job? “You get to showcase more of the artistic shots. Not ad shots. It’s more of a documentary. And then you appreciate people more. The kitchen for example, in a frame, would just be white tiles and blank walls. The real subjects are these people working behind food stations. It’s always good to work well with people.” Photos by Aldo Nelbert A. Banaynal

 (FREEMAN)