B minus

"A man travels the world in search of what he needs
and returns home to find it."
--George Moore

my lakbayan grade is B-!

B- is not a bad grade but it's not good enough. hello, i was born to deserve A's. i really do have to travel more. i have to reach palawan, albay and sorsogon, sulu, and, of course -- would i ever forget -- batanes!!!

i need to cover all those remaining white spots in my philippine map. among other things, i have to see the hundred islands, enjoy pagudpud, visit kalinga, set foot in the islands of mindoro, romblon, and masbate, enjoy roadtrips in leyte and samar, get friendly with the tarsiers in bohol, feel the surf in siargao, climb mt. banahaw and mt. apo, have an adventure in maguindanao, maybe play hide and seek in basilan...

well, i'm only 24 years old now. by the time i'm 26, i'm gonna be an A traveler! how's that for a self-prophecy? not bad, i say. i dare say. after all, i do believe in fairies... (hahaha, those who know trivial stuff from movies will surely get what this means!)


p.s.

june 23-24, 2007: weekend in sta. cruz, tangub city

abaniko's meme: blog association

my blogger friend, abaniko, came up with an "original, ever creative meme" -- a "brand new fresh never ever seen tag anywhere in the world before," according to his blogger friend, simple american.

the "noteworthy, prize-deserving meme" is simple and it goes like this:

Choose five blogs and associate each with an object/thing.
Briefly explain the association.

abaniko, in his turn to do his all original meme, included my blog among his chosen five. he associated this blog to a map because of my fondness for discovering places. he further said, "Shouldn't she be paid by the Department of Tourism for all her Philippine travel posts?" i agree! maybe the department of tourism should sponsor my trips!!!

since i want this meme to live on, it is my turn to do it and perpetuate it to the rest of bloglandia...

my dear readers, here are my chosen five:

:: the ocean of my being -- book
babypink, the one who owns this blog, is not only a self-confessed bibliophile, she also writes very well -- visiting her blog is similar to a nice encounter with a good book. one can easily sense her passion for the things she loves doing with her word-weaving.

:: ang anino ni abaniko (the shadow of abaniko) -- camera
i have two reasons. first, abaniko is a proud owner of a digital rebel xt and is sooo into photography. second (and this, i believe, is the more important reason), abaniko's blog is a wonderful window to his life and his experiences -- it's like having a camera capturing his moments. he talks candidly about scrabble, photography, badminton, math, jokes, sudoku, aircon issues, davao, pipework gone awry, memes, and other what-have-you's. in one of his noteworthy posts, he shared this awesome picture of a red ant which his close friend took -- WOW.

:: happy faith -- tux, the linux penguin
happy faith is the blog and podcast of fr. stephen, msc -- the only priest i know who blogs. he is also one of the biggest advocates of linux and open source, hence the association with tux. among the bisaya bloggers, he is the linux authority. he has convinced a lot of people of the advantages of open source technology. aside from linux and open source, fr. stephen also shares in his blog and podcast his views on life, faith, filipino migrants, the worldwide web, photography, and movies. his site is worth visiting... take a look at his sunset pics and drool.

:: gizmodo, the gadget guide -- magazine
gizmodo is the site for tech-savvy people. it is a web magazine (hence the association!) where the latest buzz and news bits about gadgets, gizmos, consumer electronics, and related stuff find their way in the form of reader-friendly blog articles.

:: bisaya bloggers -- globe
...because bisaya bloggers are everywhere in the world!!!

there. if you're a fellow blogger, feel free to do this meme (like i just did). pass it on and make abaniko happy.

a sunday at the beach

"Life is too short, or too long, for me to allow myself
the luxury of living it so badly."
-- Paulo Coelho in Eleven Minutes

linamon, lanao del norte
10th of june 2007 | sunday


06.10.07 ...because "life is a beach"

new thing learned while beach bumming: amusing lyrics of an old visayan song... "sa ibabaw sa akong lubong, ayaw kalimot pagtanom... sa sibuyas, tangkong, ug talong."

wow, tropical bliss! summer ain't over yet.

for our sunday bonding, the entire family hied off to a place just 12 kms away from our iligan's city proper. aside from happy doses of family warmth, sun, sea, sand, cool breeze, and photo moments, i also had fun listening to the bidyo-singko fanatics who were singing nearby our cottage. drunken singers that they were, their singing was off-key and off-timing. their diction tickled me, too.

making my day

"You are my sweetest downfall.
I loved you first. I loved you first."

that quote is the only part of the song, samson, by regina spektor which i can relate to.

kay can relate jud? pero according sa kasabihan, "ang unang magmahal talo." nooooooooo, dili ko loser. sa gusto lang jud nako ako una.

-¤-
boinks... boinks "trip"... with the cousins


tropang astig, tropang bangag
we're so damn confident, we don't mind playing crazy for the camera
-¤-
these are what i call good morning greetings...

this morning i woke up to the sound of my phone beeping. when i checked my inbox, i laughed and laughed at the über-dramatic tone yet funny implications of the new messages...

"If I were the rain, could I connect with someone's heart
as the rain connects the eternally separated earth and sky?"
-- madramang vandal sa upuan
bwahahahah... ferte! grabeng gamit sa poetic license! let's find that chair. i want to take a picture of it!

"I had to let go of what I thought I owned.
It hurts, yes. A lot, actually.
But getting through each day made me realize
that the world will just keep on turning... and so should I."
na mao! toinks kaayo. di kaha ma-flipperz ka sa kalipong should you keep on turning pud? wala lang, feeling semi-concerned lang. if kalipong lang pud ang gi-apas, ten shots of tequila will do the trick. mweheheh ;-P

buing jud ning mga tig-text sa ako oi. buntag sayo pa gani, laff trip na dayon. hwekhwekhwek. keep those funny text messages coming peepz!

how much do you make an hour?

"What happens to the wide-eyed observer when the window between reality and unreality breaks and the glass begins to fly?"
--Author Unknown

a very short story from the mail bin...

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door.

Son: Daddy, may I ask a question?
Daddy: Yeah sure, what is it?
Son: Dad, how much do you make an hour?
Daddy: That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?
Son: I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do make an hour?
Daddy: I make P1000 an hour.

“Oh”, the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, “Dad, may I please borrow P500?”. The father was furious, “If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or other nonsense, then march yourself to your room and go to bed. Think why you are so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish behavior.”

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After an hour or so, the man calmed down, and started to think: “Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that P500 and he really doesn’t ask for money very often.” The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.

“Are you asleep, son?” He asked. “No Daddy, I’m awake,” replied the boy. “I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier,” said the man. “It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the P500 you asked for.”

The little boy sat up straight, smiling. “Oh thank you Dad!” He yelled. Then, reaching under the pillow, he pulled some crippled up notes. The man, seeing the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father. “Why do you want money if you already had some!” the father grumbled. “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied. “Daddy I have P1000 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.”

---

all together now: *awwwww...*

even a too-close-to-being-a-loser of a man deserves to have someone who's still willing to buy an hour of his time.