Friday

Venerdi!
Wow-wowi!
Pauwi
Na kami!

Manila
Pupunta!
Miss ko na
Pamilya

At Gelpren.
Bukas den
Dalawen,
Kakaen

Sa labash.
Ampaw cash,
Need car wash.
New Year Bash

Kong Hei Fat
Year of Rat!
Choi forgot!
Ay lagot.

Of spiders, cars & choirs, and being a lazy blogger

Crap.

I've been going through some of my friends' blogs and, not surprisingly, they have been updating regularly for the past few weeks...gah... and I haven't.

I had actually planned to blog about the giant (giant!) spider I confronted (and eventually vanquished!) in my bathroom in Batangas on that fateful night when I arrived late and tired...

I was also going to blog about my new car (MY new car! still brings a smile to my face to say that! haha!) which I picked up from Honda just last week. It's a 2007 Honda Civic 1.8 S Automatic. I hope the license plate will arrive by Christmas (please make it my Christmas gift!) so I can drive it to Batangas on the 26th...

I also wanted to blog about the UPCC, some exciting news about a Switzerland tour and a competition, American shows putting choirs on the forefront and into the mainstream (google Clash of the Choirs and MTV Show Choir), and some less than exciting news about losing momentum and losing members...

Of course I also wanted to blog a Christmas wishlist (a 2-seater reading couch please :D)...
...and about our visit to Eastridge to visit our future resthouse...
...and about my horrendous 5-hour trip to Batangas...
...and about my first visit to Lola Oreng's grave...
...and so many other things.

I want to blog, but...
...sigh...

maybe later.

Boracay 2007

Tweet

Boracay Vacation

Liz and I went to Boracay (my second time, and her first!) during that long Holiday weekend of Nov 1 (Thursday) to 4 (Sunday). We stayed at the 357 Hotel at Station 3. It was a beach front and was a nice, clean place. The beach was nice enough, quiet and clean. It would be great place to just relax, bake under the sun, maybe read a book, or get a nice massage on the beach.

We had dinner at 357 Hotel on our first night, and the food was okay too. But the best meal we had, I think, was our Greek lunch at Zuzuni Restaurant (or it could be because we walked from Station 3 to Station 2, past D-mall, and almost to the border of Station 1, and we were damn hungry! Rawr!)

Boracay Activities

On Day 1, Nov 1, we arrived at the hotel at around 1pm. Walked from Station 3 to Station 2, looking for a place to eat...blah blah blah...walked around D-mall some more then went back to Station 3. Swam in the uber awesome (yes, if you haven't gone yet, you have to go) waters of Boracay, then lounged around in front of our hotel in our swimsuits, taking in the sights, the sounds of the waves... :sigh: sinusulat ko lang, nami-miss ko na ulit... haha! We had dinner at the hotel that night, on the beach. :D

Day 2 was our activity day: First went on a day-long Island hopping/Snorkeling/Spelunking trip. The spelunking part consisted of a 2-minute half walk-half crawl inside a narrow and low ceiling passage to see Cave 2 of the Crystal Cove (and you have to pay a hundred bucks to get in!). We went to the famous Crocodile Island for our final snorkeling dip. We brought a small bread loaf to feed to the fishies, and were they ever hungry! It was really great fun to see and feel them "biting" your fingers. Liz said she also "Found Nemo". :D

Boracay Food and Transportation

Lunch was included in the tour package. We had a fill of seafood and bbq on stick, Boracay style (whatever that means). Naalala ko lang, on the tour with us was this Taiwanese lady who was by herself. She kept complaining about everything from the dead corals (coz she couldn't see anything daw), to the food, to the lunch venue... panira ng mood. Haha.

After that, we went back to the hotel and showered. We walked to D-mall again and had dinner there, shopped for souvenirs and pasalubong, & got our (cliche) Henna tattoos. We wanted to go to the Reggae party at Summer Place but still had our purchases with us, so we went to the other end of D-mall to look for a ride. Apparently, the trikes cost P100 each, one way, AND they won't take you up to the beach (so you have to walk). Then they suggested we take a (gasp!) a single motorcycle for only (tanan!) P20 each one way! It took us a while, but we eventually decided to take the motorcycle (gasp! no helmets!), with me reminding the driver over and over again (and over and over again) to drive slow. Needless to say, we got to the hotel and back to D-mall in 1 piece. :D yay!

The party was great! We had a couple of drinks, just enough so that we could dance without feeling silly. ;) I still can't remember the name of the band that played though. Maybe you can help me out, one of their songs goes like, "Marami ang namamatay-haayy...sa maling akala, ooh yeah!"

Boracay Photos

Day 3 was more swimming :sigh:, more shopping, more lazy walks on the beach, we attempted to make a sand castle to no avail, had lunch at a Thai resto and had ice cream in D-mall, we got a massage on the beach, and we watched firedancers perform. :D

On our last day, we swam in the Boracay waters one last time, we shopped around for last minute souvenirs and pasalubong, then we were off to Kalibo airport for our flight back to the real world. :sigh:

For more photos from our Boracay trip check out my Multiply page here - Boracay Photos!

Liz and I had a WONDERFUL TIME in Boracay! :D It was really worth all the trouble we went through to push through with the trip. Next year ulit! Hahaha!

Glorietta Bomb

Theories have been flying around about the who and the why behind the alleged bombing of Glorietta Mall last week. Although maybe I shouldn't refer to it as bombing anymore, in light of new reports saying that it there were no bomb blast materials in the scene, and no bomb crater to support the bomb theory. They also said evidences are pointing towards an accidental gas explosion.

I had quite a discussion over lunch about it, before the new information came out and everyone agreed that it was indeed, a bomb. A friend of mine wouldn't dismiss the idea that it could have been the government behind the apparent diversion, what with all the talk about ZTE and the new Impeachment case they are drafting. Also, it did happen on the same day that those 3 bishops called for the President to resign, which I found completely absurd, by the way. I mean, they wanted to remove the President, but said they were not supporting any Politicians or other groups. So, if they got their way, what then?!?! We'll have a practically headless government!(Noli who?)

But going back to my lunch discussion, my opinion is this: I do think that those darn Politicians grandstanding and blaming the government for every little thing are over the top and should just be ignored. (Trillia-what?) I honestly think GMA is smart enough to recognize that the Martial Law tactics of creating chaos to be able to wield the government's controls against it is an easily recognizable strategy, and that she knows the Filipino people will not hear of it anymore.

In any case, 11 people died in that tragedy. One of them, the wife of Carlo Cruz, who's email has been circulating in our offices.

I pray for their souls and the families they left behind.

News Bits Tidbits

One of the benefits of having Broadband at home is I get read the news before I go to bed. I'm not quite in the mood to talk about ZTE and GMA and ERAP and Clinton-Obama right now, so I'll just mention some newsbits that caught my eye in the past couple of weeks...

• I'm sure you heard about Britney Spear's tragic excuse for a performance at the recent MTV VMA's. I honestly was looking forward to it, I suppose a lot of us are really suckers for Happy Endings, but then watching here walk around the stage (almost) dancing was just blah and blah. She could have done better to say the least. Haha. But check again. Her song "Gimme More" is #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on the Hot Digital Songs.
  




• And that Chris Crocker guy who was on YouTube crying over the whole Britney thing, and how almost every newspaper in the world featured her (horrible) comeback. I saw an article saying how amazing it was that you can have a nervous breakdown and the whole world can watch it. Haha. Seriously, I think people obsessed with celebrities are really creepy...



• And did you hear about Christian Bautista's Lupang Hinirang blooper?

"...Lupa ng araw ng luwalhati't pagsinta, ang mamatay ng dahil sa'yo!"

Dumbass. 'Nuff said. Haha!

• How about that racial slur against Philippine Medical Schools on Desperate Housewives? Where Teri Hatcher's character says "Before we go on, I think I wanna see his diplomas to check that they're not from some medical school in the Philippines!" (or something like that). I mean c'mon. That was really irresponsible of the writers. It's a reputation issue. Doctors who received their degree in a Philippine medical school is just as competent as any other doctor from any medical school in the United States. That comment was uncalled for.

IQ Tests and Such

I took a Personality Test and an IQ test. See the results below...



Kinda true. I had always thought of myself as an Idealist. I don't know about the wealth part, but it does really get to me...when people are not following rules. When I break rules, even when I know it is better to break them than not to, I always have a sinking feeling in my gut. Haha. My conscience must be in my gut then...



Now, for the IQ test thing, I got 127. According to the website, this is better then 77% of the people who took this test. Pretty good. Haha. But I do know people who scored so much higher than me in our high school IQ test. :p

11:11

Tweet

A few blogs ago, I wrote about my weird affinity to the number 11 and the fact that I always see it on clocks. At the time, I was just mildly amused by it, not thinking that it was really anything at all. But then Stippy left a comment on that blog entry:

Stip said...

according to one book i've read, people with extraordinary cognitive abilities always catch double digits on their digital clocks without meaning to do so. "extraordinary cognitive abilities" includes abstract intuition (you somehow know that doing something is the best thing, but you can't explain it), premonitions, psychic and third-eye abilities. =)

So I looked it up on the internet, and true enough, there were several websites dedicated to 11:11! Akalain mo yun... And here's what they said:

These 11:11 Wake-Up Calls on your digital clocks, mobile phones, VCR’s and microwaves are the "trademark" prompts of a group of just 1,111 fun-loving Spirit Guardians, or Angels.

Once they have your attention, they will use other digits, like 12:34, or 2:22 to remind you of their presence. Invisible to our eyes, they are very real.Our earthly 1,111 Spirit Guardians, often called "Midwayers," have been assisting folks of all walks of life for many centuries.

I saw 11:11 again tonight on my car clock, just as I got in to go home. I don't really believe it, but maybe I'll try to see how often I catch 11:11.

Some points for argument: Why are people with digital clocks so privileged to get spiritual beings and such? How about the people who don't ever see digital numbers?

Stuck

In Tabangao stuck

For the weekend. Buck

Naked, running amuck

In my bedroom. Struck

out of Tumble-bug

doesn't rhyme with: Pluck

a guitar, but, luck!

I don't play it. Luck!

I don't have one. Stuck,

Like a fly on a window. Yuck.

-reyjr

Moving On

A few days ago, a friend of mine (Ms. Q) received a message on her Multiply saying that she's ugly and it came from a guy (Mr. A) who used to be a trainee in our school organization but quit because of personal reasons (ehem..).

After much discussion on Ms. Q's site how Mr. A is a loser and hypocrite, etc., Mr. A apologized and claimed that his account was hacked into and that he wasn't the one who wrote on Ms. Q's multiply site. End of story.

The reason I'm blogging about it is this: Ms. Q sent me an SMS about the alleged message on her site and said, "To think ikaw ang nagpahirap sa kanya, at hindi ako!" In a way, that IS true...and so this got me to thinking, how many people out there would send me a hate message if they could, all those trainees who quit because of me? Off the top of my head, I know only about 4 people ("Hindi ako babalik habang andyan pa si..!!!"), but there could be others.

So, I thought, had my strict, perfectionist approach to performance arts become so overbearing that trainees crumbled and quit under my tutelage? Lalim. Haha! I knew that I was strict. But I also knew that if you wanted to attain a certain standard of excellence in performance, you have to work hard for it. I had a lot of trainees who quit during the process, but there were those who survived their traineeship and became really good performers, and really loyal members.

The thing is, the stage is a cruel place: it will not show your audience how hard you practiced for your song, or how many sleepless nights you endured to memorize your dance. When you're on the stage, all that matters is what you do there and then. No, it's not fair, but nothing ever really is...

I am not trying to justify that I had done in the past, I know I hurt a lot of egos. But I do hope that they have all learned from their experience and moved on. Hopefully I won't receive any hate messages anytime soon!

Losing Sleep

i was slowly falling into a routine,
losing sleep, i'm awake and its fourteen
minutes past 2 in the morning. Dreaming
while i'm awake, my mind keeps swirling
'round and 'round. Bean's bear on my bedside
table, i'm seeing my room from the inside.
unmade bed looks comfortable 'nough
but the aircon's noisy, that's why its tough
to get Silent Nights during Christmastime.
set my clock at 6, but wake up at 9.

xoxo

Pisay the Movie

I almost got lost on my way to watch Pisay. My friend Julz Oliveros (not related to Maximo) sent me an SMS saying the showing will be at Cinema 4 of The Block, and that The Block would be "in" SM North EDSA. I had, in my head, planned to just park in the open parking in front of SM North even though it was drizzling a bit. It was the only parking area I could remember...

When I turned right from North Ave, I was dumbfounded! There's a whole new building where the parking lot used to be! Anyhow, I drove (slowly) around the other cars who seem to be as lost as I was, and finally found the Parking Entrance to the SM Annex.

On to the movie then! Pisay is a heartwarming tale of a group of high school students, coming from different backgrounds, but all brilliant, all studying at the Philippine Science High School. What I liked most about the movie was its effective nostalgia. It may be that the movie was set in the 80's (when I was but a wee little baby), but it's theme's captured the essence of being in Pisay. But it's greatest asset may also well be it's worst flaw: It may tend to alienate non-Pisay people. I felt the audience deserved a tad bit more development of the characters. It becomes difficult to sympathize with characters you hardly know.

I loved that the kids acted very naturally, although there were some awkward moments, some dead air, it was forgivable. Dr. Casas was very effective (reminding all of us or a certain Pisay professor we will all sorely miss). The other adult actors, however, (I'm not sure if this was intentional) spoke in a "theater" voice, like a sing-song, Batibot style. I found it unnatural, even highlighted by the fact that the child actors were very natural with theirs ("Egis erp!")

The storyline was flawless. I found it strummed a different chord at every chapter. The freshman year told of a budding relationship ripped apart by a teacher, the sophomore year told of a small town boy kicked-out of Pisay for failing Geometry (and moving on to become #1 in the school he moved to!), the third year featured a girl who had move to The Netherlands because she and her parents were wanted by the government, and finally, the senior year which featured a morally ambiguous research project, a theater loving science school senior, and a terminally ill genius.

I was flooded with memories while I was watching the movie. I was especially moved by the first scene where they found out he got in Pisay. I remember we hadn't received a letter from PSHS yet so my dad decided to go visit Pisay himself to check if I had passed. When he got home, he calmly whispered to me that I had passed, and that was when I started going crazy. Haha! Good times.

Photographic Memory

07/12 - This bird won't budge. It just won't.

Then after a few minutes, it pooped then flew away. It must've been too shy to do its business while i was there. Haha!



07/21 - The UP Concert Chorus bulletin board. Haha! Memories.
I visited them last Saturday. They were rehearsing some choreography for their upcoming UPBeat Concert. I remember those times when I was the one leading choreography rehearsals, tough but fun.

I will be watching on August 11 with my gf and also former UPCC, Liz, and also with a few more UPCC Alumni.

07/25 - (One of) Bryan's send off party(-ies). This one at the Ponte Fino Hotel with the MF Finance Dept. Bryan (who is also one of my housemates and badminton buddies) is the guy I'm pointing at. He's off to the land of the merlion to earn loads of Sing dollars and maybe learn a thing or two about GSAP. See you in December Don Bryan!

o7/26 - They say there's a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I still have to check, but this looks promising!

:D

2 Partial Fantasy Book Reviews

I've begun reading 2 books.

One is WICKED. The story of the life of Oz' Wicked Witch of the West. The musical play was highly entertaining, that's why I bought the book. Surprisingly though, the book was of a different interest point completely. It humanized the characters of Oz, interestingly so, that you would forgive the slight inconsistencies with the original Wizard of Oz story. Elphaba, the wicked witch, was a nerdy, eccentric, sometimes bitchy, sometimes crazy protagonist. Her friendship with Glinda, and the other students, came very naturally, well, as naturally as it could have been for a green-skinned girl. The story is about politics and racism, animal rights and human rights. It was actually a very serious fantasy novel. I'm only up to around the middle of the book, and Elphaba hasn't actually displayed any super powers just yet (i'm actually beginning to think she won't be showing any), but I'm looking forward to finishing it.

Next is the new Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows. The first few chapters blew me away. Very cool. I won't give anything away, (and those of you reading this, don't tell me anything!!!) but I assure you, it's a great book, so far for me, at least. :D

On a side note: I'm on duty this weekend. x-p
Visit me in Batangas.