christmas shits!

I don't dress up. I just never really bothered with it. Shirts can solve anything. Even my mom has given up bribing me into wearing anything remotely fancy. The most I've dressed up for a party was when I wore shoes instead of slippers. Last year, I won a laptop and went to claim my prize in slippers and ragged jeans while they were all Vegas-ish looking.

Anyway, this year, Aisa actually convinced me to wear something presentable. Or at least something in tune with the theme (Past Forward - 70's 80's 90's outfits).

(with twisha)

I wore a tie. And a polo shirt. Well, they ended up strangling me with the tie.. which I thought was fun.

They were kinda pushing me around so it just looked like I was dancing. Honest. I don't dance.

(sexy performers.. meheheh)

(Gabe! He won the best dressed thingy that night. Complete with bling bling)

(Aisa.. The Culprit)

Well, it's one of the most memorable things I've done in my life.. Plus it didn't hurt that I spent it with some awesome friends.

So..

Updates huh?

There's not much to say.

Except that.. Well.. I don't know why it took me such a long time to write this. I guess I was ruminating in the fact that we actually broke up. Writing about it makes it so final.

Yeah. Marian and I broke up. Lasted 7 and half years. It was a good run. And I never regretted a day being with her. It wasn't a bad break up at all. Surprise. There were no fights. No cuts and bruises. No UFOs (as one would expect). I've never broken up with anyone before. It's an interesting feeling. And it's definitely not something I'm looking forward to feel anytime soon.

I've felt responsible somehow. I felt guilty for throwing away the most concrete thing in my life. She is my rock. Or was. She has kept me steady all these years. Now I'm trying not to drown. I guess I'm succeeding, huh? We are both dating again. She is happy. And so am I.



Eb, if you're still reading this blog, a song for you.. And thanks for the memories.


"Where I Stood"
By: Missy Higgins

I don't know what I've done
Or if I like what I've begun
But something told me to run
And honey you know me it's all or none

There were sounds in my head
LIttle voices whispering
That I should go and this should end
Oh and I found myself listening

'Cos I dont know who I am, who I am without you
All I know is that I should
And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you
All I know is that I should
'Cos she will love you more than I could
She who dares to stand where I stood

See I thought love was black and white
That it was wrong or it was right
But you ain't leaving without a fight
And I think I am just as torn inside

'Cos I dont know who I am, who I am without you
All I know is that I should
And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you
All I know is that I should
'Cos she will love you more than I could
She who dares to stand where I stood

And I won't be far from where you are if ever you should call
You meant more to me than anyone I ever loved at all
But you taught me how to trust myself and so I say to you
This is what I have to do

'Cos I dont know who I am, who I am without you
All I know is that I should
And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you
All I know is that I should
'Cos she will love you more than I could
She who dares to stand where I stood
Oh, she who dares to stand where I stood

Crash Into Me

Adapted from peyups. It's a nice read.

It started with a crash.

I guess everything somehow starts out this way.

Things colliding with varying degrees of force, it is in the heart of everything. It is in the heart of both creation and destruction. Immense quantities of energy are produced by the swirling, chaotic dance of atomic particles crashing into one another. Lives are ended when bullets and shrapnel run into vital organs.

The universe is one big bumper car ride and more often than not, these collisions leave marks that would last us for the rest of our forsaken lives.

This epiphany happened when your existence first crashed into my reality. You are a bowling ball bringing disorder to the orderly group of ten pins that is my life. You suddenly appeared without warning, very much like Germany's blitzkrieg invasion of Europe, and there's no way in hell that your commanding presence could go unnoticed.

Pretty much like introducing a bullfrog to an alien ecosystem, everything was thrown off balance. Every routine, every habit, schedule, every time table I've planned you turned conveniently to crap. Instead of being alarmed, I was drawn even more so to that magnificent source of distraction, destruction and pain.

My days were soon filled with the constant bickering (You always looked so cute whenever you're annoyed so I tried to piss you off as best as I can), the smug swagger you'd do after I've given up and surrendered to your whims, the shrill, ear-piercing shriek as you sang, and the way you playfully smack the back of my neck for no apparent reason. Curiously though, these are the high points of my day.

Despite the harrowing carnage that you've wrought, I started to rebuild around you. I made you the agora of my new metropolis, very much akin to how a tree's bark grows over a deeply-driven nail.

Oblivious to the painful fact that deeply-driven nails can be forcefully removed, leaving the bark disfigured, and dying.

As sudden as your arrival was your departure, effectively transforming everything in my world into one beautiful, putrid, decrepit, twisted and twitching mass of emotional trauma. Such was your power over me. Yet something tells me that I wouldn't want it any other way.

Now I believe, neurotic as it may seem, our time together was really brief, almost a split of a split second in a cosmic time scale of the universe. As instant as the moment of contact a bullet shares with a wall before ricocheting away. (Though some walls are lucky enough that some bullets get stuck). Our encounter was so brief and quick and instant that it shouldn't really matter. To further dwell on it is just a waste of time, oxygen and brain cells.

Why the title then? Why all the talk about crashes, collisions and impacts?

You are a 460mm shell fired off the massive guns of the legendary WWII battleship Yamato.

I am a wall of the first little pig's flimsy straw house.

And while you have decimated and obliterated me completely,

I wasn't able to manage even the slightest dent on you.

mt. makulot

I have fallen in love...

This hobby is awesome!! We went to Mt. Makulot right after my birthday (Nov. 15-16)




Next stop is Mt. Pinatubo. I heard it's super hot there. I might have to carry an umbrella while hiking (ala Ipac). Sheee.. But I'm sure the crater is worth the skin cancer risk.

mt. gulugod baboy

I went on my first climb last Saturday. And I'm still alive! I can hardly wait for the next climb actually.. heee.. I'm definitely gonna buy proper gears this time.

We climbed Mt. Gulugod Baboy. I think it's somewhere in Batangas. We just paid 1k and Nestea (our IT guy and mountain thingy expert) took care of everything so I didn't really pay that much attention. I only wanted to climb the thing. We only shelled out P100 for the bus fare. It was actually pretty cheap, diba?

(I don't know why people have a thing for taking a picture of sleeping people.. They almost got me here. I opened my eyes just in time. Di naman obvious no? Parang emo lang.. The girl who has a thing for sleeping people is Alta.)

(Before we endured 4 hours of hiking, we ate at the only open restaurant there. That's April and Karen)

(This was the first pit stop. Buko pandan ice candy for sale! Nestea ate about 10 of those when we got there.)

(Hanging out at Alta's tent)

(The morning after. Posing at the summit. Hoping we won't get blown away by the strong winds.)

(Our campsite. With horses roaming around.. Paolo thought the horses' neigh was some sort of ring tone. We didn't really see anything that night because of the fog.)

(Macao - Nestea's crazy little bro)

(Seaside resort. After finally taking a bath.)

Notes for my next climb:
1. Don't bring 4 liters of water. You will die.
2. Don't bring a huge tripod for your camera because you will die.
3. Bring salt. Armpit juice is salty but it's also disgusting and definitely does not work. Tried and tested.
4. Do not look for a bathroom in the middle of the night because when you do get back into the tent, your tentmate will think you are a mumu and will kick your ass. But one should not blame your tentmate. There are a lot of mumu around.
5. Do not panic. Horses do not eat tents.
6. Try not to slip into the ditch, break everything, and die.
7. Stargaze for as long as you can.

Now, I'm still contemplating how to clean my hiking boots. In its current state, it would seem like I'm wearing a clump of mud.. Ay. Hindi na pala masyado. But it's still pretty dirty.

There's a lot more pictures in my friendster account though. Yeah.. I took back my account from my sister. I got so bored with my life that I actually updated it. Plus it's a really good way to store pictures. I hope it doesn't die or something. 'Coz that would just suck.

baguio sniffles

We went to Baguio for the weekend. I'm proud to say that I survived hypothermia. I almost froze to death. But it was mostly because I was wearing shorts and slippers. I know what you're thinking. I'm a special child. The nails on my feet were blue. I was afraid they would die and fall off so I kept on staring at them. Para mag blush. But natakot lang sila. Tae.
It all started on a bus. We were supposed to ride the regular P460 bus but the next schedule was for 4am. It was only 12 midnight so we decided to ride the deluxe one for P710. I think it's actually better to ride the deluxe one since it's very comfy and you won't have a sore ass afterward.

So.. Baguio was.. crowded. I don't know where all the people came from. But still, it was awesome to feel close to nature.

(Walking around Burnham. Yes. It's a foggy 6am. That's Marian, Emily - Marian's sister and Marvin - the boyfriend)

(Marian has a future in driving a 'padyak'. You can rent bikes there for P30 an hour.)

(On the Burnham park 60 peso boat ride)

(Marian : Sariling Sikap with the picture taking)

I think we have a thing for solo pictures. Nobody really thought about taking group pictures. I guess it has something to do with posting stuff on Friendster. Meh. This was on the SM Baguio viewing deck. By the way, SM is on top of a freakin' hill. WTF. Marian almost died on the way up.

Dinner was at Oh My Gulay. An all vegie resto. It's an awesome place actually. Very artsy. I have a pretty high respect for those people. It's located at the La Azotea penthouse along Session Road. The walk there is kinda creepy actually but once you get there, you'll appreciate the view.

(Awesome sunset no?)
(Epok feels like a goat with all the grass around)(Molesting the woodman. He liked it. I'm sure.)

The next day, it was all about taking as many pictures as possible. On my last count, we had about 2 thousand pictures. Auughh.. If anyone would make me pose for a picture right now, I'd probably make that person eat the camera.

(Semi fresh strawberries at the strawberry fields. Too bad we weren't allowed to pick them.)

(Trying out the souvenirs)

(Neon monkeys. Oh! Ais, I bought a bonnet. Bleh.)

(Nope. There won't be strawberries for a few more months.)
(Pied piper. Hey.. I do know how to play 'Mary had a little lamb' on this thing. And Silent Night. I think. Well, it sounded like Silent Night.)

Next stop was Mine's View Park. There are so many parks in Baguio. For real. We all enjoyed eating the pusit and corn here though. Yumm.. We had about 3 servings of those things.

(Ang katutubo)
(Smile Take 1)(Smile Take 2. Marian said I looked sad so I had to redo most of the pictures. Meh. Epok is in the background to serve as my smile model. Dude, it was HOT! and COLD! At the same time. Ang weird lang. So I can't really smile.)

(Again, hot and cold at the same time.)

(I swear. It's the weirdest feeling ever.)

(Hanging out at Wright Park)

Miscellanous stuff in Baguio. There are some interesting things there actually.

(Reminds me of Greek houses. But for the love of me, I don't know how they get there. I don't see any stairs and stuff.)

(Cool cactus no?)

(This is Tricia sampling the sundot kulangot. The most pointless pasalubong I've ever bought.)

(1pm. meheheh.. the foggiest and coldest 1pm ever)

I think I fainted a couple of times on this trip. This place is so conducive for snoozing. I'm loving it.

(On the ride back from the Strawberry fields)

(Somewhere In Wright Park)

Yeah. That's about it. I love the weather there. And the millions of people on the streets. And the ukay ukay - You can buy a shirt for P20. Nice huh? And the myriad parks. Love the parks. You really should visit once in your lifetime.