3.31.2010

nine

Whatever, I'm always talking about pregnant women anyway.

That said:

Nine
5,000 words. Two girls at the end of the world.

*

These days I'm always having these weird dreams; the other day it was about frustration with a photocopying machine and the SWS-BusinessWorld pre-election survey. This morning, it's about a horrible Wowowee dance number concerning Kim Chiu being thrown about in a wooden basket. *cringe* The space in my head is scary.

On other news: Do yourself a favor. Go watch How To Train Your Dragon. IT IS AWESOME.

3.22.2010

thirty



Image taken in Hundred Islands, Pangasinan, 3.20.2010. Words from Freezepop, Swimming Pool. (Okay, it's officially my summer theme for 2010.)

Hey, gorgeous. I love you.

Hundred Islands, Pangasinan (March 2010)

Q: Yeah, so what's the plan?
A: We board a bus to Alaminos and then take it from there.

- also known as, the best plan ever (tm almi)


This one's with my angels Cy, Ice and Almi, the girlfriend and constant beachbuddy Edz. It's customary for the month of March to at least have one of these beach trips with these girls, and this year it's to Hundred Islands in Pangasinan.

We left Manila via Victory Liner - their Cubao station has buses leaving every hour for Alaminos. We boarded the earliest bus at 4.30am and arrived there around 10am so the trip's give or take six hours and cost around P350 one-way.

Victory Liner's Alaminos station is right in the heart of the town. Hawkers were everywhere but we were desperate for a restroom break so we crossed the street to this small mall (that I did not even get the name of, but it was nice) where the CR was at least better than the one in the terminal. We ate early lunch at Cindy's (Yeah the place to be, remember that jingle?) and asked around for directions to Lucap, which is the gateway town to the Islands.

We took two tricycles to Lucap at P60/trike (since it was from the terminal; later in the day, we would find out that they charge P80 for when you go by trike directly to the Victory terminal, but that's all right as we were in a hurry anyway, hehe). It's a ten to fifteen-minute ride to the Tourism center, which is the first office you go to when you get there.

At the Tourism center, they give you options re: boats. There's really no other way to go about the islands but on boats and we took one that costs P1,800 - it's a boat for 6 to 10 people and well, we basically had it with us the whole day. Not bad, if you ask me. It's called a Service Boat, and it's pretty convenient; for smaller groups of 1 to 5 pax, it's at 1,4k; for bigger groups of 11 to 15 people, it's 2k, based on the rate sheet they gave us. It's pretty spacious and it yes, it has a roof.


Meet Monagrace, our boat

Apart from that, the Tourism center also charges P20/head for day trips like ours. Pretty cheap, considering what we're about to see.

Our first stop was Governor's Island, where apparently we can climb to some point and see the view.


The Islands (just a few of many)


Group shot. (L-R: Edz, Ice, Cy, Andrea, Me, Almi, Kim)

Breathtaking view, most definitely; totally worth the stressful climb that went before it. (Note to self: Stretch first next time, Jesus.) Upon descent, we decided to check out the beach there. The water's fantastic, but guess what we saw?

Yep, a giant rock. Of course, the logical thing to do right then is take photographs.


Temptation Island, Stoned version. L-R: Me, Edz, Ice, Almi, Cy, Andrea.

And then, something fantastic happened: We found a fairly secluded island that had a gorgeous beach. It's called Lopez Island, and it is PARADISE.

At this point, I would like to flood you with images. To wit:


Places like this make me wish I have a DSLR hehe but for the meantime, I have Andrea's Canon A470 to thank, and of course, Adobe Photoshop CS3.

So yeah, staying at Lopez Island was the best thing EVARRR. The water's clear, the sand is fine, plus hey natural shade under rock formations. It was PERFECT. ♥

We stayed on the island until around 4; we spent it lounging under the shade/rock, camwhoring, eating chips, going into the water, trying to teach Andrea to swim freestyle (heh), camwhoring some more, taking really funny pictures underwater (HAHA), attempting to snorkel briefly (Thanks Ice!), re-applying each other's sunblock, being sexy on the sand, staring off into the middistance, etc. And of course, telling each other stories.

All in all a good day! :) We left a little before five, after passing briefly through Marcos Island for last-minute camwhorage. The boat trip back to the jumpoff point took around 20 minutes. There we tried taking a quick shower at the bath house near the tourism office (P10/shower, not bad, considering we had not expected it to be there in the first place haha). After showering I bought myself a cold can of soda (mm heavenly) and then we took a quick trike trip back to the Victory Liner station (P80/trike now) and caught the 6pm bus back to Cubao. (Their last trip is at 7pm, which is also good to note)

After three stops - we had one in Tarlac that lasted for 20 minutes in a terminal where you can buy dinner, too - we reached Cubao around midnight. The fare is also around P350, and man Victory Liner buses are AWESOME. Let it be said here. Comfortable and awesome.

So, in all - a really great time! :) Expenses review: P700 for transpo by bus (two-way); ~P260 for the boat (P1,8k divided by 7pax), P20 for entrance, ~P50 for trike (two-way). That's less than P1,5k so you can spend the rest on food even. Definitely, the trip's below your P2k budget. In a word: AWESOME.

Tips and tricks: Do bring a lot of water and baon and sunblock and coins (for those stops where you need to shell out P2-P10 to use facilities hehe). And plastic bags for your trash - take whatever you bring there back with you and leave nothing on the islands! :)

3.13.2010

spectacles

I used to have good eyes, this is a fact. In college, I didn't need glasses to get through any of my lectures, exams or papers. I used to see so clearly across the road, read bus signs from afar with my shades on without having to squint or wait for them to pass me by or for the barker to tell me where they were headed.

I never really realized how much I'd miss my clear eyesight until I finally broke it, a few months into employment. I remember that day I got my glasses; I spent the a good part of the day nauseated in bed. Recalibrating your eyesight does strange things to your system. (Looking back, that month in 2005 I broke my eyes and my heart. Coincidence?)

So the other day I set out early for a self-imposed bank day. The sun was high and I thought it was a good day to wear shades and really the day should have been crystal clear under that much sun and yet it wasn't because... because, well, my eyes are bad.

(I remember a friend telling me once about her bad eyes, about how she had to memorize what the color of people's dresses were so she could tell them apart on their prom night because hello, who wears glasses to prom night, right? Right.)

Anyway. It's just funny, how frightening it all is, when you can't trust your eyes. The world's hazy and you can't read signage and though you can tell it's a car that's coming, it's like you can't trust yourself enough to cross the street properly. It's these really small things, you know, that you never really pay attention to that much. I really should get out more and get more sun; apparently, it activates my brain.

3.08.2010

eh ganun talaga (it's the way of things)

It's the way of things.

Instead of feeling safe, whenever a uniformed person comes around, what wraps around our hearts is fear. (There's no talking to them. You ask, What violation? They answer, Basta meron. You try to reason, they say, You should be thankful we're not taking your car. The fuck - well, at this rate, small mercies indeed.)

It's the way of things.

Instead of making things more efficient, people in office charge for the most ridiculous things. (They say, If we give it to you, soft copy, it costs around four thousand. Bring a CD. With hard copy, it's eight thousand. You say, but it's available for download from the website. Your website's ridiculously slow. You ask if it's the same thing. Yeah, they say, it's the same. You ask, Then why are you charging for something that we can get for free anyway? They say, It's policy. Eh ganun talaga.)

*

It's the small things that get to you, and you know something's really wrong when you're better off living without ever having to talk to government agencies and law enforcers. I pay my taxes properly. Why can't you guys just do your jobs properly so that I'll never have to feel horrible whenever I look at my tax deductions every two weeks? =(

To top it all off: I don't even know if falling in line come May 10 to cast my vote will ever change things. It's too terribly early to be this jaded, but then you do one right thing for this country, the next thing you know, you're getting a libel case for it.

3.07.2010

[moved]

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dreaming in this fever

I agree there's wisdom in not sleeping past noon; for the most part, it keeps your brain from getting fried. This morning I woke around 10-ish before falling asleep again and having this ridiculous dream that's well, so ridiculous I have to sit and write it down.

So there's this Company Event, right, that features the Big Lady Boss herself. It's massive and company-wide and it's in this theater. So yeah, I overhear somewhere that the Devil's going to gatecrash the thing with his Massive Evil Ritual. (Yes, if you're a fan, it's much like this one.) Naturally, I'm beside myself as to what to do. I overhear Satan trying to convert one of the janitors into his fold in some fire exit by making him swear allegiance. It's strange, and I didn't know what to do with the info.

So yeah, I panic. Crowd starts streaming in. And then some of these demon folks disguised as perfectly normal-looking human beings start coming in through side doors, and I just seem to know they're demon folk, but I can't let on that I know as much so I just tell them as politely as I could to fall in line, and they thankfully do; meanwhile, I try to ask around for security in the side entrances. (Somewhere along the way I run into Julie and assign her to one of the exits. Hi Ate you're fierce that way)

So the thing starts, and we close the doors, but there's more demon folk coming and we can't let them in because letting them in would allow the Devil to start his ritual and that's bad (though it isn't clear to me why it is bad). Some of the janitors try to smuggle them in through huge boxes. It's insane when they start breaking out of them, it's frightening.

(Andrea says I woke up somewhere, told her I was having "a frightening Buffy dream" and then I went back to sleep. I think it's at this point, because I remember being scared, and then being relieved I was awake, and then I remember thinking I wasn't about to leave that dream being scared, so I went back to sleep. Yeah, to continue it. Yeah, I can do that.)

Back in the dream, I call this guy, ask him where he is. Of course he says he's in England. He asks me where I am, I tell him I'm in the Philippines (God this dream is weird) of fucking course, and that Satan's about to do a Massive Evil Ritual.

him: Satan? As in which Satan?
me: Satan as in of the ENTIRE UNDERWORLD.

Then he says it's a pity he wasn't around, but that his kids would know what to do, having been trained and all. True enough, the gang was there, and Willow was preparing these small stones that apparently we could put against the foreheads of these demon folk to kill them, so YAY. Also there: Xander and Cordelia. Wow, this is such a dream.

So there are stones, yeah? I give one to Madam Lady Boss so she can protect herself (of course.) And then I run to Naomi to give her one of the stones (which was strange) and another to Effy, and I'm like, Why are these kids even ~here? Naomi was with another girl, and I apparently did not like her because I did not give her a stone (Read: Fend for yourself, bitch.) Andrea and I are still debating whether I was actually dreaming as Buffy or Emily Fitch.

So yeah, the entire time after is spent running after (take note, not from) these demon folks and hitting them on the forehead with the Magic Stones and well, killing them. They look like normal humans for the most part before turning a shade of red and being demons. It was strange and exciting and admittedly, quite empowering.

(Incidentally - Happy International Women's Day, you folks. Tomorrow, right?)

And then I woke up. We had pizza delivered for lunch and there's still some leftovers for dinner (YAY). I told Andrea all this and she's all very amused and she's the one who told me to sit and write it down before I forget all about it.

That said -- I'm still kind of disappointed nobody was in a cheerleading outfit. Or that there was no random song and dance number. Because really, Glee would have made my demon dream much, much more enjoyable.

3.05.2010

and now there are nine

Okay, the thing is, when Comelec reinstated Nicanor Perlas as eligible to run for president, it took this other guy named Vetallano Acosta with him. Now, I knew Perlas - he's a decent guy, you know, environmentalist and all, quite learned man, but I haven't even HEARD OF Acosta, much less knew that KBL was fielding a presidential candidate. It was obvious right from the start that the goal was to kick erstwhile front-runner Noynoy Aquino out of the top of the alphabetical list of presidential candidates. And so Aquino and his Liberal Party filed a disqualification suit, which the Comelec did uphold... AFTER THE BALLOTS HAVE BEEN PRINTED.

"Since the resolution came after the Comelec has started printing the ballots for the May elections, Acosta's name would still be on the ballot but the votes cast for him would not be counted, said Ferrer." -Comelec dashes Acosta's presidential dream, via Inquirer.net

Jesus Christ, crass move is crass. I mean - COME ON. The guy didn't even put KBL on his COC when he filed it; certainly, there must have been something suspicious there, hmm?

Here's the rest of what Comelec had to say:

Comelec commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer said Acosta was disqualified “for lack of machinery to hold a nationwide campaign” and for not being a duly accepted nominee of the Marcos-led party Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), whose vice presidential bet is former TV host Jay Sonza.

“Acosta is disqualified (for the presidential race) on the basis that he cannot conduct a nationwide campaign because as it turns out, he is not from KBL as he earlier claimed,” Ferrer said.

“Jay Sonza, his supposed running-mate does not know him or campaign for him because they have never met. He is also absent during political debates because he said he does not want to have enemies and he would leave the campaigning to God,” Ferrer told INQUIRER.net.

... I CAN'T EVEN. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN WITH THIS. *shakes head* Not from KBL as he earlier claimed? Jay Sonza didn't know him? Why didn't anyone say anything sooner?

*BAFFLED*

I mean, come on. Mano man lang ma-finalize yung listahan ng tatakbo for President at Vice. Kahit yun lang. Jusme, less than 20 names. LESS THAN 20 NAMES YOU GUYS.

* * *

Meanwhile, while we were looking elsewhere: There's a search for a Gilbert Teodoro look-alike. Not gonna lie, that has to be a quite good-looking male pageant. (Jusme, the administration standard-bearer is holding a PAGEANT to boost his campaign. So much for, uh, having the government's machinery behind him. Woe.)

3.03.2010

reborn into our numbers

"We hurt you because we love you," says a Lady Master in Lakambini Sitoy's The Sisterhood, one of the short stories off Jungle Planet and Other Stories, which tells of a law student's journey into a nameless sorority in a nameless university.

The thing grips me as it's painfully real - girls together are sometimes the meanest lot, this is the truth. But they're such interesting creatures, aren't they? Like they become this one thing whenever they congregate, and it's impossible to resist the charm of their company, the temptation of their acceptance.

And boys think it's hard being with girls? Try being one.

*

Also, I will not deny being guilty of some form of psychological torture similar to this one - it's not as thorough as depicted in the book, but it's similar, and torture just the same, and the applicants are never right and are always in the middle horrible choices. Looking back, it's all a bit... indulgent. (To quote Simon Cowell) And lazy. Like it couldn't have been done some other way? Like it had to be propagated because this was how the Ones Before Us had done it all along? I understand tradition. To some point, I also enjoyed... I don't know, power? Respect. But these days when I bump into these people I had once subjected to these things - children then, full-grown media workers now - there's a sort of shame. We're all the same now. What was the point of that thing before?

3.01.2010

summer 2010: a mixtape


[download] - via sendspace

Christening the new layout with a mixtape. You know I'm too lazy to write when 1) I'm fiddling with HTML and 2) Putting together mixes. Word up.

Ngl, I've had Freezepop on loop since, uh, forever. Song reminds me of flirting in chlorinated waters. Should be fun. :)
(One of these days, I will be back.)

psa


Just dropping by to say I am ridiculously in love with this girl.