"a caterpillar doesn't just grow into a butterfly. a caterpillar must undergo metamorphosis, and a cocoon is where a caterpillar risks it all: enters total chaos, undergoes total rebuilding, and is born to a new way of living. only in taking the risk of entering that inert cocoon can the caterpillar go from dormancy to potency, from ugliness to beauty."

Sunday, January 24, 2010

tsinelas

"In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary."
--Aaron Rose

what can you say about a five-year old pair of everyday slippers? that it was black, ordinary, and other than the 'summer walk' embossed on its soles, it was as brandless as no-name-recall. that it was mine and that, just this morning, it gave up on me.

my 5-year old brandless pair of everyday slippers gave up on me today. there, i've written it down. that's something i just have to let out. wear-and-tear finally succeeded at severing the right half at its weakest link.

it was with me -- it was my everyday wear -- during my UP diliman days. it traveled with me to mindanao, accompanied me back to manila, stayed with me in laguna, transferred with me to batangas, and, today, it reached its end of duty.


old meets new

goodbye, tsinelas.

you have served me well. i knew when i first saw you that you were not designed for abuse. nevertheless, i bought you for that purpose and you lived up to that. you've demonstrated a staying power that earned my amazement. you even put my merrell pair of shoes to shame -- that merrell pair which i could no longer use since one year and eight months ago because it hated surviving mud and bowed out of active duty by cracking open in the wrong places.

i'll say it again and for the last time: goodbye, tsinelas.

you now have a successor. it is white, ordinary, and other than the "palm beach" embossed on its soles, it is as brandless as no-name-recall like you are. but it is mine and, beginning today, it is the new everyday pair for my feet and it shall have the burden of living up to your feat.

p.s. erich segal, the guy who wrote the book, love story, died this week. he started that book this way: "What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful. And brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. And the Beatles. And me." that, in a way, makes the first paragraph of this write-up familiar.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

local travel list/wishlist


happy. life. under the tropical sky.


batanes (february 2010! tuloy na 'to!)

ilocos (vigan and pagudpud)

apo reef

masbate

romblon

anawangin, zambales

donsol, sorsogon for encounter with the butandings and the fireflies

bohol-siquijor (by 2010 mid-year or after; if there's a side-trip to cebu island, too, why not?)

tubbataha reef (but this will probably be more likely only after i get a scuba diving license)

i don't mind going back to palawan. i love it there.

i don't mind going back to bukidnon, either (gotta try that 840-m long zipline 4000 feet above mean sea level; i read about it on inquirer)

tawi-tawi

in and around panay island

mt. pulag

any of those mountains in batangas for some climb training

babuyan islands

those parts of the philippines and then the world!


jumpin' high

DARE TO TOUCH THE SKY!
This photo was taken at Tamaraw Beach in Sabang, Puerto Princesa, Palawan last August 27, 2009. While others were busy taking pictures closer to the water, I celebrated my first few hours on the sands of truly beautiful Puerto Princesa by playing with the wind, jumping happily, and giving the Palawan sky a well-deserved high five.


now, what did i miss?

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