good and bad

this is one extraordinary day....

after lashing out on me on the phone she texted right after thanking me for keeping my cool...for being strong enough to take the brunt and not lash back. she said i'm still the reason why she wants to keep on helping with project.

********************

happy birthday, Mai, you've really grown to become a fine young woman. i miss you and i hope to see you soon...i'm really wishing we could find Marius soon...real soon. *weeps*

*********************

thank you too. i spent too much time ranting that i failed reaching out to my powerline. just the thought of being able to be with you again is more than enough to make me not think about the distance. time passes quite quickly after all.

**********************

it's cold, cold outside. but it never fails to remind me how warm life could be.

The EEE PC

been tinkering with this new toy for a couple of days now. uhm, i don't really know much about computers anyway but am just truly amazed with this one.

yes, it's the ASUS EEE PC. it's only been out for a few months now and is supposedly sold at the US for $200-$300 depending on the specs. we got this one for P17,999 at 4 gig hard drive, 512 mb ram...there's not much memory capacity in there but i've got my flash disks and memory cards anyway.

it has a 7 inch screen but with pre-installed open office for documents, firefox for web browsing, pidgin for instant messaging and skype (yes, it has a built in webcam!).

i've tried viewing my pictures, listening to my mp3s, even played solitaire, tetris and sudoku hehe...i still don't know how to play the rest of the games. and i have yet to try out it's wi-fi connection. i'm still finding some way how to access it here in the campus.

yes, it's just as big as my book. i just heard though that an MS Windows version will be out late this year. this one, though compatible with windows XP is still powered by linux xandros. friends tell me though that linux is actually safer against virus attacks. hmm, we'll see, we'll see. this unit is not mine though as I got this for the office, but i'll be using this just the same bwahahaha!

ACE is the life!

had the chance to try out the ace water spa this saturday. too bad we couldn't take pictures inside but we did have almost 4 glorious hours of fun and relaxation for but 500 bucks.

it's actually easy to go there getting off from quezon ave mrt station and hailing a cab going to the location in banawe via quezon ave. riding several jeepneys to the place proved quite tricky which is why we ended up hailing a cab which was but 80 bucks anyway.

upon reaching the place, paying, getting our swimming caps, changed into our swimwear and showered ai, karl and i took the time exploring and trying out the different hydromassages. and there were a lot for different pressure points as the foot, buttocks, back, chest. my over all favorite was the one wherein we can lie face down with jets of water falling hard on our backs like rainfall. karl had a fancy time having his b.alls massaged too waheheh..ai couldn't quite take being tickled off by the foot massager. and even the ones where she could be massaged on the legs haha!

after about an hour andy joined us and we got to tour him around the place too. we also sampled out the herbal pools with mint, jasmine or lavender scents in varying degrees of hotness. i got quite claustrophobic in the steam room but the sauna was really nice.

andy had fun with the bucket shower and in sampling the heated pools and sauna.

after a couple of hours playing and getting massaged we found ourselves floating around the lazy river. i was able to take a few laps on their lapping pool too. wow, i can still complete one stretch! though i still find freestyle kinda complicated, back and breast strokes are still passable.

the most fun we had must be with the floor fountain where we got to be kids again running around, stepping, sitting on jets of water haha! we even requested for the mushroom shower supposedly just for kids to be turned on. darn, really too bad we couldn't get pics inside.


we didn't finish the 4 hours actually as we were already starved and was talking greatly about what to order at our dinner in mr. kababs in quezon corner west avenues. we were given a complimentary bowl of soup upon leaving the spa which was a bit enough to provide us some strength while we queued up for our table in Kabab's where more friends joined us for a dinner of korma, keema, pita bread and glen's libre of yogurt drinks .


we capped off our gimmick with a mucho mug in quattro along timog, some sisig and bibingka. yey! another great time with the kaladkarins!

Deeply

wow, it's been a while since i have seen any great film lately. this is quite some sweet surprise as i didn't have any idea what it's all about. i thought of the setting as quite bland and too cold and the weather too harsh...but dang, i was so moved as the story is unfold.

i'm not gonna put in any spoilers but the parallelism beweeen the two teen characters is just so greatly woven.

the ending is cathartic. i was left speechless for a while. great images abound too.

watch it!

maturity test

You Are 74% Grown Up, 26% Kid

Congratulations, you are definitely quite emotionally mature. Although you have your moments of moodiness, you're usually stable and level headed.

How Emotionally Mature Are You?

you are cordially invited...

sana makapag leave kayo and be able to attend our show. :)

latest thrill

i'm not really into flats but hey, i got this for but a hundred bucks. =)

rant or rave??

maybe my boss is reading my blog alright.

when we were in davao i kinda suggested that we should have our RnR out of the country especially with all this cheapo airfare promos going around...we were thinking of HK-Macau or Sing-KL or even Xiamen...

i haven't used my passport in years and my recently renewed one is still clean so i figured i should charm my way into getting an all expense paid trip.

i still have unredeemed mileage from PAL but an ultimately free trip should be way better, right??!

well, before my boss left for the US this monday, i asked him again about it and said "ikaw na nga bahala. basta gusto ko dun sa malamig"

so he whipped out his PDA and checked his sked and said he'll block out jan. 28 onwards for the trip.

so just about now i'm sort of doing my research for a possible itinerary. we've already decided on Sing-KL and is just finalizing everything and i have to make proper bookings and ticket purchase before he comes back lest he changes his mind wahaha!

why i'm thinking about ranting? because i've already set my mind on filing my resignation just about that time but with this sudden turn of event how do you think can i?. LOL

it could have been more fun...

...had i made a baon of a lot of extra strength and more patience.

we left manila at past 12 midnight and arrived at san juan, la union at barely 5am..it was a swift uneventful trip. too bad i wasn't able to sleep well. was so looking forward to at least getting some zzzs but failed as rooms were not available yet for us to check in.

it was so cold, and the beach looked scary. the waves looked fierce...but of course, welcome to surfers haven!

we were told to get ready as we had to leave for bacnotan by 830 for our surfing lessons. we can't stay at the resort as there will be a surfing competition. and so we did finally leave at way past 9..talk about filipino time har-har!

it was scorching hot, good enough i was with the first batch. i had to psych myself up to be excited, wake myself up and just learn to surf, surf!!

my instructor was a 12 year old boy (yes!) i dunno exactly if he knew what he was doing but hey, i did surprise myself a few times by being able to stand up before being washed off and swallowing some sea water haha! i must say it was fun and that i might actually want to do it again. i just wish i wasn't too tired and i wasn't that hungry, or it wasn't that hot. i didn't finish my one hour. my legs were just shaking and i was too tired to stand up everytime my kid instructor pushed the board and told me to stand up.

it would have been more fun watching the next batches fall off and be harassed by the water too. but it was way past 12 and we were just huddled together under one big umbrella as our shade. we were finally made to have lunch ahead of the others. we went to riverfarm where we waited for like another hour for our food bleh!

we finally got to our rooms, showered and dressed and by 4pm i collapsed in bed and went off to lalala-land yi-ha!

i woke up at past 7 and felt bad for missing the sunset but the bed was just too comfy.

and we were told to get dinner kanya-kanya. i was kinda looking forward for that surfers' night/bonding session but i guess everyone was too tired to do anything. i bought some take out dinner went back to the room, watched tv and slept again.

there was a party outside, several local bands played but well, oh well.

the next morning my roommate took me to some quaint food stall where i got to score a 40-peso breakfast hehe..then we walked around the beach, took pics, then packed our things. i was just raring to go back to manila!

we were supposed to have lunch at halo halo de iloko but a few of them took a second surfing lesson and weren't back till past 12 so we took the liberty of taking lunch ahead. we got to the resto at past 1pm, at least we were stuffed full already so we just ordered their kiddie halo-halo which wasn't so great anyway (oops!).

we finally left la union at almost 4pm. we dropped by isdaan in tarlac supposedly for more pics but most of us just went for a bathroom break and urged everyone to forego the picture taking and head back home pronto haha!

we finally arrived in manila at around 9pm, yey!

i was so tired i could barely walk. my body was aching all over and i felt like i didn't sleep for days.

who says taking a vacation is really stress-free. dang, i've never felt so exhausted!

but then again maybe i'm really just getting old (sigh..)

more pics here!

off to surfland..

not that am an expert...i don't even know exactly what i'd do there. yeah, i've tried skimboarding a couple of times years ago but i'm not really that an expert in these things. i have a really poor sense of balance. dang, i don't even know how to ride a bike! haha!

but i'm going just the same if only to be able to tell myself years from now that i've done these things yi-ha! and there's the beach! i just hope i won't get jelly-fish-ed. yikes! or get injured. or whatever.

i really just want to enjoy this one. at least enjoy the road trip. have fun in the company of new people. bask in the warmth of november sun. and hopefully get a glimpse (and pics too!) of the sunset.

then after this maybe i could finally try go white river rafting in Kalinga...

or bungee jump off the Macau tower...

or skyjump over Georgia...

and all those dreamy stuff i want to do before i reach 40! (yeah, tumaas na ang age limit wahehe)

whoever said this life is boring??

come join the fun!

a halloween affair

Xan is on his way to his first ever halloween party at jollibee this saturday. i would have wanted him to go as Ju-on, what with but a heavy face powder on and just his diapers, tipid di ba?! he would have looked cute as a pumpkin too but the theme is supposed to be magical forest so it has to be something , err, magical. i suggested for the cutesy Pagaspas look but my bro said it's so kapuso hehe. so they scoured SM CDO today and found this costume:

see, what a cutesy, handsome lil prince we got!

have fun my dear Xan!! :D

how to plan for a looong weekend...

you don't.

had i known it's going to be this long..like almost one week! i should have bought a promo ticket and gotten home. oh wel..

nothin much to do now but take advantage of the spare time to face my backlogs, watch movies i've missed and just idle away again yey!

here are some titles i got from video city pala:

blood and chocolate

man of the year

the keys to the house

brothers grimm

a good year

the crime of padre amaro

i would also like to try catch up on my jogging and strive to keep fit enough for my surfing trip coming up next weekend :D

keep safe and have fun everyone!

cannibalism at it's best

mwahahaha!!!

falling into uncertainty

these are my words
that i've never said before
i think i'm doing okay
and this is the smile
that i've never shown before...(Staind)

I guess life wants to play tricks on us sometimes. Just when I thought I only want to stay cool and hide from the rest of the world I get into a situation where I can’t help but let my defenses down. It can prove to be pretty scary but the more I fight it, the more I brush it off, it becomes more nagging that it’s just easier to give in and go with the flow.

I have thought of a lot of grave negative reasons not to fall but I get a million more to just let go and embrace it all. Yeah, I claim how bad I’ve been battered and bruised and how jaded I’ve become but being here, being in this situation now makes me feel how good it is to be breathing each day, drinking each moment, savoring even the uncertainty.


And now I get to feel all the mush of being giddy with just seeing the places we used to go to or even just pass by. Places I used to carelessly walk by but now make me heave a deep sigh and paint that sly smile on my face in spite of some sense of longing I’ve never felt before.

Things have gone a-rosy once more. And hope just springs from everywhere. And although I sometimes get to sense fear of the unknown, of what is uncertain, I pray, choose and decide each day to just let it all slide off. I have learned to trust my intuitions and bask at the warmth of it all.

This brings to mind some words I’ve read from way, way back, when Robert Kincaid from the Bridges of Madison County ultimately told Francesca Johnson that:

"in this world of ambiguity this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live".

I am indeed allowing myself to just fall into this uncertainty hoping that it can lead me to my certainty. I am taking my risk but I feel I am glorified by my choice. I am glad I am here and I have this right now.

I know I am blabbering once more. But I just want to say all this hoping I could still give you that big stupid grin on your face. Muchos gracias and happy birthday!

a night till morning with Paulo...

i didn't have any internet connection last night. i didn't want to rant so i turned to my books instead...among my plentiful backlogs (books i've yet to read or at least finish reading) i decided to go ahead with Paulo Coellho's By the River Piedra I sat Down and Wept since it's shorter and I had more chances of finishing it that night. And I did, yey!

And yeah, it's actually a good read, but still not as captivating as Eleven Minutes though. The story greatly reminds me of Before Sunset...two people meeting up when they were somewhat younger and meeting again after several years (9 years for BS, 11 years for this one). They get to catch up with each others lives and somewhat rekindled whatever it was they had back then. The conversations, Spain muted in the background (Paris for BS) made me more nostalgic.

And the medallion along with the simple sentence her childhood friend told Pilar jolted me off my seat, err, bed. Man, that was a bit intense. It also tells much about taking risks, "magic moments", and awakening the child within us. Really deep and soothing!

The ending was kinda a cliche though, I've almost predicted how it's gonna be. I still prefer BS open-ended conclusion. Better leave it to the romantic or the cynic how it's going to be. oh well...

At least, there's one book less on top of my pile, here's a few more:

1. Pride and Prejudice ( I wish to revert back to the classics somehow)

2. Malinche (i think I'm supposed to be into the last chapter already)

3. In Between Sheets (I've read a few pages..hafta go on then..)

4.The Unbearable Lightness of Being (had it years ago, just forgot if i've finished it or not)

5. Atlas Shrugged (after Fountainhead am sure I'm going to enjoy this one. Just that I need to find time)

6. Sandman's Book of Dreams (I've read a few stories there though)

As I've said that's just on top of my list, I didn't want to look for the rest as I didn't want to rattle myself even more. Too many good books, too little time. Let me get there slowly but surely. Ciao!

why i didn't enjoy bluewaters-davao...

...well, mostly because i was soooo looking forward to some fun in the sun amidst the cool october air...sigh.



but when we got there the pool was not even filled up even if i've made reservations weeks before that. so we waded on the beach for a while and though they had nice white sand we had to don footwears kse masakit sa paa ang mga bato bato, ouch!



when we were finally able to get into the pool umulan na ng malakas...haay. buti warm naman ang tubig at maganda ang view ng davao from a distance. Parang HK, wow!




we decided not to go island hopping na kse it's worth 5K plus we had to pay an additional P1500 for entrance fees at Pearl Farm plus 200 each for snorkeling gear nyek! i mean it must be fun, the beaches and resorts on the other side of Samal Is. might be well worth it but c'mon I've gone snorkeling and island hopping to other great beaches and resorts in the country but 5k plus-plus is still too much noh! (roundtrip airfare na yan to macau or xiamen via CebuPac's Go! fares hmpf!) well at least we got to relax for a while..sa sobrang quiet ba naman kse halos kami lang ang tao haha.



so we had to retire early as there's nothing left to do naman (buti they had lavender sheets naman har-har!)...at around 8pm we tried to ask the store for some milo (or beer man lang sana) kaso sarado na wahahaha!!! thus we we're really tucked in early that night. tried to watch Numb3rs on cable that time but the cable connection got disconnected at 9pm, hanubayun!!!


oh well, bye bye na nga lang and hope to find a better, more fun resort next time! :p

back...

whoa, still quite dizzy from all the flurries lately...Davao had been good, our event turned out well..though everything else wasn't really that grand as we were really too tired to enjoy. sigh.

and the Bluewater experience was quite a let-down..more sigh...

but at least i had a great time with Xan. trust my lil boy to perk things up even as we travelled more than 8 hours that winding road from Davao to Iligan via Bukidnon. I've forgotten how nauseating the ride was as Xan was giving us his toothy smiles in between sleep and munching on chips and blurting out "bee-bee" everytime we pass by some Jollibee signs.

oh well...and now am here...alone again, naturally (where did i hear that ba? haha).


was too tired i slept quite well after hurrying some paperworks...but woke up too raring to go out and breathe in Katipunan air hehe...felt too weary too jog so i just managed to cross the field and raided 7-11 with goodies. remind myself not to go food shopping when utterly hungry next time huh! i bought their breakfast meal, a hotdog sandwich, spag and chicken combo and a big bottle of coke. yeah, am such a 7-11 junkie...too bad there's still no blue Quake cakes :(

tried to feel better just the same as i sauntered back to my pit listening to Tori Amos' Bouncing Off Clouds...

Make It Easy
Make This Easy
It's Not As Heavy As It Seems

well, let me just settle down for now...normalize my sched once more and relax. i still have a lot of deadlines the next few weeks but at least am just here now.

and am so looking forward to that Sunday mamam, yi-ha!

davao bound

am off to davao tomorrow for our vismin regional awarding on the 11th. but we intend to get there a day early for some fun time at the beach, yey! hopefull mother nature will give us a grand time.

just yesterday my bro has been telling me that it might be quite hard and dangerous for my Xan to travel that almost 8 hour stretch all the way from Iligan. i told him Xan has travelled that much before when he was barely a year old and he actually whizzed through it. he should be fine now. then he said there are bomb threats everywhere once again. i told him there has never been a dearth for bomb threats everywhere in Mindanao. doesn't make any difference now. he figured it really is so hard to reason with me, after all i really just want to be with Xan in Davao once again. so he just gave up and said he'll call my mom.

now am just all too excited. my conflicts with Waterfront Insular finally got ironed out. the guests that we're expecting have confirmed. our production crew are prepping things up. i hope there will be no more glitches.

being away for a while means me being offline for that same too. and that means me missing everything and everyone online. oh well, i'll be back real soon. i will survive this haha!

see you on the 12th! by then i will be in Iligan naman for a few days before coming back here in Manila. :)

traipsing around tagaytay

we originally meant to go to laguna for some relaxing hot soak at the warm springs...unfortunately we found it hard to hold on to people's commitments and we had to shift plans when only but a handful of us were able to really say they were interested and willing to go with us. raring to go out of town to relax and have fun we ultimatley decided to just head on to tagaytay to have dinner and some beers and then coffee. and oh wow, we actually managed to attract more people and thus 8 of us finally set off to the wonderful cold world up tagaytay. yey!


the group at Leslie's


found this nice nook, perfect for camwhores like us...


inside Sanctuario..see? para kaming royal family!


the newly improved Olivares rotunda


bye, bye Tagaytay! Till next time!

my niece's growling debut

this is where Xan got his headbang technics. hala!

Go, Mai!