a 'dear diary' entry

"...and when i looked Your light was everywhere!"

pooh. it's my december and nothing much is happening. let's see...

when december came in, i -- as written previously -- bought good reads, hied off to metro manila, enjoyed an afternoon with yoni my travel buddy, had my hair cut a bit, had a hair spa, met with tiff, enjoyed a yellow cab pizza, had a foot spa and a chair massage, invaded a music booth and, with another p6peeps member, made videoke masters out of ourselves. i went back to my place in laguna rather late but the trip was all in all okay and i really had a nice weekend. i saw a fireworks show, too!


12.02.2007: videoke addicts in denial, hehe

i soon had a trip to batangas. i saw gwen garci there but no, thank you, i didn't go there for her – i’m blessed, i had better sights to enjoy! i loved the night air, traveled back to laguna late at night, really felt grateful for my carpool buddies, and slept well.

after a productive workweek, another weekend came and i made a trip to metro manila. i got together with my p6peeps friends in trinoma... ah wait, what was i saying? nothing much's happening? of course, by now, you do realize it's a lie. hahaha! when i say it's MY december, it's NOT an empty claim!

owkey, now, back to my story.

i made a trip to metro manila and got together with the rest of the p6peeps in trinoma. after approximately 75 thousand years, i was finally able to visit trinoma for the first time. whew! one year ago, it was still a facility under construction. sm north used to be my place -- not for any other special reason -- but only because it's the nearest and most accessible shopping/cinema area from my then UP diliman. uh, where was i?

8th of december 2007
saturday

triangle north of manila – trinoma
i enjoyed dinner with the p6peeps in lamesa grill. actually, we took a lot of time deciding where to eat. we went around, went up, went down, then went up and around again before we were able to come up with a decision. typical p6peeps decision-making scheme, i should say! haha.

by the time we got our table in lamesa, we were already very hungry. we must have been really starved because even before the waiters could finish serving all that we've ordered, we were already gobbling up -- and all the food was gone in no time. even my memory failed as i could not recall -- except for the fact that there was an assortment of seafoods served on platters -- the names of the orders we made. after dinner, we still felt our stomachs could take in more -- plus the night was still so young, anyway -- so we swung by the krispy kreme establishment in trinoma and ordered donuts and caffeinated beverages. yum, yum.

magic on the bus
from trinoma, my friends and i rode on a bus to get to our next stop. i was already very sleepy by the time i took my seat and i really wasn't in the mood to do much thinking anymore. with eyes already half-closed, i simply fished twenty-peso bills from my pocket and stretched out my hand just enough so my friends can easily take them bills when it's time for fare. BUT whoa! just soon after the bills left my hand, there were twenties on my palm again. i didn't have to count... i knew by weight approximation that my money already 'grew'.

it seemed my friends pooled their twenties and, when one of them, decided to pay for all of us, dumped the collection of orange bills on my still outstretched hand. i, in turn, unceremoniously dumped all the bills in my pocket and stole a nap... no issue there; because by virtue of p6peeps' magic, the bills became legally mine. :-P

9th of december 2007
sunday

market! market!
i spent the earlier part of the day with the p6peeps guys -- randz, anwar, and edson. we went around and around market! market!, had a lunch of steamed crabs, grilled squid, ampalaya, and liempo 'til we all felt bloated and kept laughing our heads off at randz, our hotseat victim of the day.

we later invaded a music zone booth and gave in to the videoke addicts in us. tiff and jerk came to join us. thanks to randz' curiosity and his restless fingers -- think of 'what does this button do?' here -- we were able to avail of free songs in between the songs that we paid for. eureka! it's better and cheaper than video-singko!!!

"naay libre na song basta..."


12.09.2007: the music booth invasion
after singing our hearts out -- we used up 3 timezone cards, go figure! -- we went for dinner but only after i finally bought myself a konoha headband from comic alley. yoohoo!!! it’s an early birthday gift for myself. i'd been wanting to own one ever since i saw a photo of my friend's son wearing a konoha headband. AND then, one fine day, i finally got one! die-hard naruto fans will surely understand this. hehe.

i received christmas goodies wrapped in christmassy wrappers from my officemates over the next few days. i lost track of how many lunch outs we had. then, another weekend came...

15th of december 2007
saturday

trip to subic
if you could only read the SMS exchanges between yoni and i on the 14th of december, you wouldn't really believe we'd get anywhere. we were, as usual, walay klaro.

i was wanting to go. she was wanting to go. i didn't want to decide on the time. she couldn't decide on the time. she had things on her mind. i had things on my mind. she was tired. i was tired, too. we agreed not to push through with the trip and i said i was gonna make other plans with other people. i tried.. BUT... but... but...

it was already very late in the evening when i sent yoni another message and said i wanted to push through with the trip. she wanted to push through with the trip, too! so...

here’s the 'one-point lesson' from my travel buddy and i: all's well for people who agree on one thing even in the absence of 'detailed plans' -- "kung dayon ka, dayon ko." what’re we travel buddies for if not for that, right?

detailed plans??? what're they?
our gameplan was simple: go to subic and buy some chocolates from duty-free. anything more (or less) than that's something which can be left to fate... or whatever.

getting to subic just by impromptu asking
from laguna, i made my trip to cubao to meet up with yoni. in cubao, yoni and i went to a bus terminal and asked people in uniform how we could get to subic. we were told to ride a bus bound for olongapo city. we did that. we bought our tickets and got on a bus... this was around noon. 3 hours, a long trip spent on some napping, talking, and munching, and several countryside scenes after, we found ourselves in olongapo. at first, we weren't sure about our stop... but all the people started getting off the bus, anyway, so we got off, too. hehe. we were doing real adventure!

"welcome to the city of olongapo!"
yoni and i welcomed ourselves to olongapo. we didn't want any people to take advantage of our being strangers to the place so we pretended nothing was amiss even though deep within us some degree of worry was brewing. wasn't it cool?! we were already in olongapo and we knew subic was just somewhere... and yet we had no idea how to get there. by the way, we had no map with us, too. yup, yup, we had no map!

we stuck to what was safe and found temporary 'refuge' from a nearby mcdo. wahahahaha!!! after our late afternoon snack -- a sundae never fails to do its wonders -- we were finally able to pull together some courage and went up to the nearest security guard and popped the 'question of the hour' -- pa'no po pumunta sa duty-free?

so there... we rode on a jeepney and went to the GATE. we made the mistake of getting off at the other gate though. hehe. we had to walk a bit more before we found whatever it was we were supposed to find – even though when we got there, we still had no idea what it was – we just knew that was already it! more hehehe.

gameplan check -- destination: subic. yup, we got to subic! so check. buy chocolates: yup, we bought chocolates! that's another check. then, what about the bonus adventures??? you mean, like walking around and enjoying the wind, karting, and scouring the weekend market and bargain shopping? heheheeh. we did those, too!!!

giving in to NFS: need for speed
ehhehehe... we went KARTING!!! yup, yup, we gave in to our need for speed! weeeeeeeeeee... karting's always been one of the things which i find fascinating. so when i saw the go-kart circuit in subic bay freeport zone, i really felt the urge to be on a kart and speed-drive around and around!

pictures? except for the built-in cameras of our phones, we didn't have a camera with us... but we do have photo souvenirs of our karting stint in subic; we just haven't uploaded them yet. in the meantime, here's a photo of my other ever-loyal travel buddies...


"kung dayon ka, dayon pud ko"
anyway, yoni and i did not get lost in subic and we're able to accomplish what we went there for, after all. we were able to buy our chocolates -- supposedly yoni's chocolates only but, hey, when i saw them chocolates i wanted to buy them, too. yup, yup, those chocolatey goodies and more.

we realized we didn't have much time to explore the entire place since we had to make our way back to manila by 7pm. while we were walking around, we took a mental note of the places we won't be able to see just so we could check them out the next time we'll be back there. yup, we've got plans of going back there! as to when... we don't know how soon… or late for that matter. what we know for sure is this: basta kung dayon ka, dayon ko.

it was already 10pm when we reached cubao. i was supposed to make the trip all the way back to laguna but it was already late so i decided to sleep over at my aunt's house in makati. the next day, i woke up early and brought myself to laguna just in time for my tagaytay trip with the p6peeps.

just to make one thing clear, the whole point of our subic trip was not really about the chocolates. it was about getting to subic without any clear idea how to get there and without contingency plans whatsoever.

it has always been on my to do list to just get on the bus and hie off to wherever it takes me. i'd like to think i’ve taken at least one step closer to that.

there and back again
i'd like to say 'there and back again'. in just a span of 24 hours, i went through both the north and south luzon expressways twice and still went further.

whew! call it a marathon trip. from laguna to cubao to subic to cubao to makati to laguna to tagaytay. it was tiring a bit -- i won't deny that -- but it was what i wanted for a birthday celebration. it's my way of simply declaring, hey world, i'm 25! weeehooooo!

the 15th-16th of december weekend was the weekend before my birthday and, because my birthday fell on a workday, i sought ways to celebrate it ahead! BUT then again, if you take a look at MY december, it's safe to say it's really a month-long birthday celebration... hahaha.

16th of december 2007
sunday

p6peeps' day-out in tagaytay
since i first went to tagaytay in 2002, i have yet to miss a year. 2002 -- i was there. 2003 -- i was there, too. same goes for 2004, 2005, 2006 (i was there twice!!), and now, 2007. tagaytay's definitely one of my fave places and, what luck, i'm currently living just very, very near it! hehe.


12.16.2007: 5 p6peeps at the picnic grove

12.16.2007: fun by the pine tree | spot the difference!
tagaytay. check. great friends. check. cool wind. check. great natural smell. check. nice greenery. check. bargain shopping. check. mushroomburger trip. check. meaningful adventures with drizzles and fogs. check. happy times. check.


12.16.2007: life is good...
more, more, more
more christmas goodies in christmassy wraps came. my birthday came and, of course, the birthday greetings came, too -- THANKS, THANKS FOR ALL THE GREETINGS AND THE GIFTS!!! -- hehe. i shared birthday chocolates and ice cream. i bought myself another birthday gift – a design-it-yourself starbucks tumbler, yehey! our company's christmas party came and we had a fun trip to ayala-alabang village where we celebrated and even had videoke and dance craze bonding. we got entertained by a superb choral group, too! on the last workday before christmas, we had christmas lunch and milestone celebration at poquito mas.

21st-22nd of december 2007
friday night & saturday

tiff and jerk's 2nd wedding anniversary & p6peeps' christmas party
whew!!! so what if the christmas rush traffic was very, very horrible? i had so much fun! videoke fever 'til the early morning hours... and seemingly non-stop dance revo craze right after!!! wooohooo!! my throat didn't hurt from all that singing but fatigue sure set in because of all those dance revo steps i had to do. for crying out loud, my legs still hurt as i write!

23rd of december 2007
sunday

home, here i am!!!
"christmas won't be christmas without any presents," says jo march in little women. i say, "christmas won't really be christmas if not spent at home."

so, here i am, grateful that i have a real home to call all these years... and really happy and proud to be home with my family.

i'm home and gunning for adventures... hometown peeps, what's the gameplan? ehehe.

HAVE A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A GREAT NEW YEAR, Everyone!

it's my december!

"Your life is an occasion, rise to it!"

loving all that white which my fingertips flirt with
i got my share of batangas' cold december breeze last night. the wind was blowing so nicely, i felt compelled to at least try embracing it as i walked. the wind responded by brushing and ruffling my hair some more. it certainly felt good to be spreading my arms and allowing my self to soak in the wind. although it was rather late when i found my way back to my place in laguna, i was glad i decided to give batangas my time. now i know for sure that it makes a lot of sense for me to look forward to spending more time there.

my days here in laguna unfold like a walk in the park... or maybe i should just say that they unfold WITH a walk in the park. when i set out everyday, i find my way out of the village by walking on a footpath lined with young trees and perfumed with the natural aroma of nice green grass. even on rainy days, the path is good to walk on and i get to start my days with a "la la la life is good" air.

on the 30th of november, the message on my phone that brought me to wakefulness was "happy birthday soon and always. you'll always be one of the good, best people i met and is friendship, kinship for me."

wow! surprise surprise!!! i could always trust one of my friends to pull such a pleasant surprise! an early birthday message? the simplicity of it blew me away!

it really doesn't matter wherever my friends are, i can sense their sincerity even from afar. it feels good to know that there are really people who put value on the kinship and trust that i have for them. i cannot say the same for people i know who take my trust for granted and mindlessly break it; certainly not my loss, i dare say.

my december unfolded rather nicely and in just a matter of days, i'll be turning a new leaf. i'd like to think i'm building up things...

last week, i welcomed december with a purchase of good reads, a good time with friends, a haircut, a foot spa, a spur-of-the-moment videoke session (oh yeah, for the first time in my singing history, i got a 100!!! the song? i will survive! wehehehe!!!), productive workweek, a video mash of nice photos of me and some of my long-time friends, sharing a full can of stik-o with my new friends, and an early christmas night in batangas.

this week and the coming weeks, the possibilities are endless.

PLUS: i'll be going home, too!

life's not always a picnic BUT...

"Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want,
it is the realization of how much you already have."

...where there are friends, there's fun and so much more!


10.28.2007 p6peeps' get-together in taguig


10.28.2007 p6peeps' balut attack


11.24.2007 p6peeps' makati night


11.24.2007 early christmas spirit


11.25.2007 out on a sunday


11.25.2007 trip mo ba 'to?
by the way, here's launching my singing and dancing career, hehe. just follow the link.

thoughts from an old notebook and an update

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of the empires
depends on the youth."
-- Aristotle

october 2007. cam-whoring with friends
when i left iligan for the nth time, i brought with me one of my old notebooks. i browsed through the pages and saw the smorgasbord of items i've written down so far. these items are basically quotes or thoughts i've jotted down while paying attention to other people...

to be a hero, you don't have to die or be assassinated. you just have to give your best.

it does not matter how small or big the thing you do is; what matters is that you do it even if it goes unnoticed.

wherever you are, whatever you do, you are a missionary.

"ang buhay na hindi inalay sa dakilang layunin ay tulad ng isang puno na walang lilim." -- emilio jacinto

let that beautiful span speak to you. sit there quietly and let God speak to you.

can you speak in a language that the man on the street can understand?

you are born to live. if you don't live, shame on you!

leadership by example... how we live , the life choices that we make make us who we are.

it is not what i say, it is what i do (that counts). it is the life choices that i make that make me credible.

on a mentor... todo-bigay manalita. he makes things sink in. tumatayo ang balahibo ko everytime i hear him speak -- too few people can get to me like that. he really inspires and moves people. he knows the language of the man on the street.

personal reflection guide: how did my parents educate me?

the person who does not know how to reflect is living an unmeaningful life.

dare to dream. dare to pay the price of your dream or abandon your dream.

the most eloquent speech you can make -- your life!

"sa laking kaguluhan sa paghahanap-buhay, nawala ang dahilan kung bakit nabubuhay."

"there is no word more tragic than the word 'empty' when it's time to go."

i can make my life very beautiful.

learn to hug your kids.

minsan, makulit ang tadhana. ang isang bagay, 'pag para sa 'yo talaga, kahit anong iwas mo, kukulitin ka ng tadhana para tanggapin mo lang ang kung ano ang para sa 'yo talaga.

i fear but i have faith and my faith is greater than my fear.

END of thoughts from an old notebook

quick sharing: i get to realize more and more that God really knows how to bless those who put their trust in Him. it took awhile and a lot of uncertainty and confusion before my prayers got answered but with the way things are happening in my life right now, i can say that every one of them's worth the wait. i asked for patience, He gave me so much more.

i once asked a trusted friend to help me pray and, instead of promising anything, my friend gave me this simple yet very meaningful advice: "just trust in the goodness of God's heart whatever happens."

after going here and there, i'm currently living an adventure in sta. rosa, laguna. i haven't finished processing all the necessary papers yet, but here i am -- bubbling and excited that i'm part of a new company's start-up team. i'm using a brand-new macbook which i get to take home with me everyday. (opening the oh-so-sealed apple box felt like opening a very-much-wanted early christmas present). i'm working for (and with – they’re down to earth) great bosses. i'm back to being a useful slave and i have found new friends and allies in my co-workers.

i don't know yet if this is really the path that will lead me to my dreams BUT here's really, really hoping and looking forward to a downpour of (more) blessings.

wobbly steps first, surefootedness will come after. stay safe, wish, believe, and do well! wish to hear from you.

oh october

"The most important trip you may take in life
is meeting people halfway."
-- Henry Boye

a look at my octobers definitely says october is a month of trips and travels for me.

october 2004
manila - tagaytay - manila
manila - cagayan de oro - iligan - tangub

october 2005
manila - iloilo - guimaras - iloilo - bacolod - around negros - dumaguete - dapitan - ozamis - iligan - tangub

october 2006
manila - corregidor - manila
manila - cagayan de oro - iligan - davao - samal - davao - iligan - ozamis - tangub

october 2007
the previous years' tradition of having multiple destinations during the month of october -- my kind of oktoberfest, i must say -- shall live on. from here to where? it's a hush!

"It is not down in any map; true places never are."
-- Herman Melville

actually, this is my way of declaring a hiatus. as i have a lot of serious matters to deal with, i'll probably be gone a long time so ta ta. if you need to hear from me, you'll know how to reach me.

off i go. see you when i see you!

rainbows in the sky

"I've heard it too many times to ignore it
There's something that I'm supposed to be
Someday we'll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me."
-- Rainbow Connection

last thursday, i went on a little adventure on my own in cagayan de oro city. to find my way back to iligan, i got on a bus and i got myself a window seat. the sun was about to set when the bus pulled out of the terminal and for a while i got my share of the sun's kiss as bright yellow-orange rays pierced through the glass window.

as the bus plied the route leading back to my home city, the blue sky started to bleed with reddish and orange hues. i couldn't help but look and look out of the window. it was going to be more than an hour ride and, instead of sleeping the time off, i decided to spend it observing the scenes unfolding outside. so there i was, looking out, fascinated by the struggle between cool and warm colors as the sky assumed its multi-colored sunset glory. where the sky remained blue, there were hints of clouds and a rainbow... and another rainbow!

wow, rainbows in the sky during sunset! what a sight! it's been quite a while since i last observed a rainbow adorning the sky... and suddenly seeing not just one but two of them? i took in the sight with child-like excitement!

what i especially liked about what i saw was the fact that the rainbows were not of the usual semi-circular type -- they appeared like multi-colored beams from high-intensity artificial light sources, projected straight up from the low-lying clouds and received by the high-altitude clouds. definitely, a sight to behold! i feel sorry for the other passengers who were either sleeping or too busy paying attention to the tv-onboard. they missed the wonderful sky show!

i went all dreamy looking at the rainbows and the beautifully bleeding sky. it was easy to convince myself that someone watching over me put them there especially for me to see.

i eventually lost sight of the rainbows as the blue sky continued to bleed, trying to win in vain its battle against darkness... but a wonderful, dreamy feeling stayed with me. i half-imagined that the care bears were somewhere in the clouds, secretly waving, winking, and smiling.

i got a priceless bus ride for PhP130.

kindergarten

"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again."
-- from mad girl's love song by sylvia plath

when i was five, i spent a year in kindergarten and earned a treasure trove of memories which, up to this day -- almost 20 years after -- i can still vividly recall.

i first arrived at the schoolhouse as a kinder 1 (k1) pupil but, on that same day, i went home as a kinder 2 (k2) kid. the one who brought me to school was told that, based on the teaching team's observation, i was already articulate enough to mingle with the k2 students and that i'd be better off there. based on my own observation, however, the real reason was this: the k1 teacher already had too many kids to look after. anyway, it was my luck.

(if i was made to stick it out in k1 that year, i would have belonged to another batch. it's difficult to imagine not being batchmates with the people who turned out to be my batchmates, if you get what i mean -- no ids99 for me, no p62003 for me either. say drama but, seriously, i can't bear the thought. ;P)

our schoolhouse was, to my then little girl's eyes, something straight out of children's books and children's movies. it was wooden and had that country cottage feel. there was an old acacia tree in front of it and, not far from it, was a green field lined with trees. the single-storey wooden structure we called classroom was in stark contrast to the three-story concrete building hiding it from clear view. (the schoolhouse was located at the back of the engineering building in that same university campus where i was to go for high school and college some years later. if loyalty awards were to be handed out, i'd be a recipient!)

i remember some of my classmates and the things that made them stand out in my memory bank.

there was a boy called amai who was always the first one to finish the individual activities. his female counterpart was a girl named christina. that girl had a lot of barbie dolls (back in the day, more than two was a lot considering the times then). there was a boy the rest of us couldn't talk to because he was very unfriendly -- for that reason, i forgot his name. if one of us ever approached him, all he said was a hostile sentence and it always ended with "baboy ka!" i think the only one he allowed to talk to him was our teacher.

there was lyzah, always looking for her mother. there was fern, never late and a natural leader inside the schoolroom. there was cyril, energetic like a wriggler and too soft for a boy. there was ranran. there was eldani. to them were often assigned the special roles of our class presentations. (little did i know then that, years after, eldani would become one of my drinking/gimik buddies in manila. hehe.) there was phil, nonchalant. there was janlou, shy, silent and well-behaved. i was closest to angel, tingting, and roxanne. angel was my buddy-buddy during class-hours, it was tingting who often squealed on me, and roxanne was my after-class buddy.

our teacher was miss josephine damgo. i heard she got married but i'll always remember her as miss josephine damgo -- very lady-like and thoughtful. very kind though she was, i received punishment from her -- once -- when fern complained that she was left out of the game i initiated. all of us in our playgroup were called forth and, after being reminded of good manners and right conduct, miss damgo lightly slapped our palms with a foot-long orions plastic ruler... just for the sake of additional disciplinary measure, i bet. (lol, orions! i didn't do any bullying but i got in hot water... all because i started blue bird, blue bird on my window -- i forgot the mechanics of this game.)

maybe i got punished twice...

back then, i was already observant and had no problem speaking out whatever's on my mind. when we were preparing our graduation presentation, i noticed that two of my classmates got multiple role assignments and the rest did not. i wondered about this openly and, by so doing, inadvertently called attention to myself. some casting changes were done and i ended up having an additional role -- that of a talking bird. in fairness, it wasn't what i wanted... had i only known. as a talking bird, i had to deliver a memorized speech about the environment all on my own. as if all things bright and beautiful wasn't already long enough to memorize! (complete with actions and voice & facial expressions, our entire class recited that beautiful poem from start to finish).

it was in kindergarten that i first got acquainted with poster colors. we used a lot of them during our art activities. we were allowed to let go of our brushes and we got to play with the colors using our palms and fingers. we had two cooking activities for our nutrition month celebration. for one, we had pancake day. we also had fruits and vegetable day -- the fruit salad was good but the hodge-podge of vegetables was yucky. (i avoided eating vegetables for quite sometime after this.) i was a silent angel in the manger during our christmas presentation. i remember being the only one who turned in irregular n-gons when the class was told to cut circles of different sizes. (it wasn't because i didn't catch the instructions well. it was all because i was the only one who did not get adult help in cutting the circles from cardboard -- think cardboard vs. paper scissors here.) we had nap times which always ended with tic tac tic tac says the clock it's time for the class to wake up and all but one would scramble off the mats -- roxanne always went on sleeping.

my dreams were very simple then: (1) i wanted to be an astronaut. (2) i wanted to be able to climb the tall trees in front of the engineering building.


p.s. except for ranran, tingting, and eldani, i don't know what became of my kindergarten classmates and where they are now. i wonder how they're doing and if they ever got close to their dreams.