Nap Time Rocks!

… (pronounced ‘yu-yan’) is a nice 4-star beach resort in Pundaquit, Zambales. It’s a bit of a drive from Subic, after exiting the new SCTEX highway. (Which, by the way, could also be dangerous when you’re driving at night since there are stretches on the highway that don’t actually have lamp posts. But even then, on broad daylight accidents can happen. We passed by a 5-car-and-a-bus pile up along SCTEX last January 2 on the way home, and boy was it horrible).

Anyway, this is by far the best beach resort our Jan 1family outings have brought us to since I can remember. The waves were a bit rough (and awesome, mind you) because of a nearby Low Pressure Area when we were there, but very ideal for surfing. I’m not one to try my luck on the board since I’m every bit afraid of the waves that might swallow me whole. What’s that phobia called again?

Punta de Uian has a lot to offer too. There’s a large pool just in case you’re a chicken like me, a kiddie sized one, a restaurant, a beach volleyball court (or a net is more like it), scuba diving, island hopping, jetskiing, banana boat rides, ATV rides, kayaking, speed boat rides, and snorkeling. (more…)

I just know it’s going to be my year. I have this strange feeling things are going to be quite alright, even after 2008’s crumples and creases in all the wrong places.

He’s faithful, which I don’t always deserve, and He never misses to remind me that. I just need to figure out how to listen more.

And I will try not to be so pessimistic about things in life, forget the fact that I’ve fallen so many times and that that old irritating adage, ‘once a _____, always a _____’. I’ve filled out those blanks in too many ways. No. It will not be the same, for my sake. For Mia’s sake.

I will try to forget the thorns and refocus on the flowers. They’re so much more beautiful.

I wish you a happy 2009 ahead. May it be your year as well.

Masunurin akong bata eh, kaya freestyle itong una kong litrato. Hehe.

Kuha to nung college ako, nung nag-take ako ng basic photography class. Ito si Chody, kasama siya sa UP Streetdance Club kaya magaling siya mag-freestyle ng kung ano-ano sa pagsayaw at break dance.

Kaya lang, ang sagwa ng pagkaka-develop ko (manual kami noon, kami mismo nag-process sa dark room) kaya ayan, may tama ng mga fingerprints at ang daming scratches! Kahit mahirap mag-develop ng sariling film, masaya pa rin kasi feel na feel mo ang pagiging photographer mo. Sana wag tuluyang mawala ang film photography no?

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Minolta SLR camera. 2003.

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Pero gusto kong i-repost itong series ng mga litratong kuha ko nung December 25:

It was inevitable. Good versus evil. Black versus white. The face off was one waiting to happen in a year past. He had been waiting. And so was the other. (Sundan dito)

If I had my way, there’s be no star at all.

One star for the closet-full stuff of couture stuff that the actresses modeled throughout the movie. But other than that, I was lucky I got out of that movie house alive.

I would’ve slaughtered myself for the crappy editing (the scenes were all being cut up in all the wrong places), the script that was like written by a bunch of 14-year olds during a slumber party, like, you know, like OMG.

For the hodgepodge of stories that didn’t really tie together pretty well, the extremely tacky endorsements of Nestle (because you all well know that Marian and Iza are both endorsers of Nestle products, and can you believe they actually inserted product taglines into the script!?), and for the horrible acting! I don’t know how many times I muttered “Please kill me now” while watching the movie.

The references to sex and its related activities were not amusing or even smart. Maybe I’ll give credit to Iza Calzado for playing the overacting post-partum depressed mother, and Ogie Alcasid’s willingness to undergo an entire body makeup and to kiss a boy — 5 times. Ok, that’s enough.

In a gist, I’d say Desperadas 2 was extremely painful to watch.

Finally, I found my third stranger. I’ve been meaning to take a picture of the very friendly guard down at our office building lobby, but was always making up excuses. When Mang Dante sauntered into our group at the Sunken Garden (when the kids were having their Christmas party, and yes I was tagging along as chaperon), I knew this was my chance.

Mang Dante is a magta-taho (Fil., n., vendor selling Taho or soybean custard with sugar/vanilla syrup and pearl sago, a local street food delicacy in the Philippines) at the University of the Philippines Diliman. He’s been ‘patrolling’ the sunken garden grounds and the area around it for 10 years or more.

I graduated 5 years ago from UPD, so we had a lot to talk about. The different traffic rules, stricter curfew hours, and a couple of crimes going on inside. But not much has changed. Their group (Association of vendors) still flourishes within the campus, and it has never been safer. Mang Dante is such a happy soul doing what he does. I could see it on his face while we were chatting.

I bought 2 cups from Mang Dante (Php10 each) and he politely excused himself. I’ve actually never met such a nice street vendor.

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This photo is part of the 100 Strangers project. Join us!

It was inevitable. Good versus evil. Black versus white. The face off was one waiting to happen in a year past. He had been waiting. And so was the other.

The foot soldier knew his worth. He was dispensable, minute, a speck in a vast army of the king. It was going to be a long, tiring day.

The knights rallied and pressed; the end of the battle was far from over.

But as finally the king fell, no trace of sympathy was found in the faces of his army.

If you’re going to ask me, I’d rather not greet you a Merry Christmas.

I’d rather wish for you to have a meaningful one. We’ve all heard about how the holiday merriment is just a plot of some evil and twisted fiend to make people forget about the true meaning of Christmas. It’s not just about that.

For the last 2 Sunday sermons, I realized why Happy Christmas and Grumpy Advent (celebrated during Holy Week) seem to have conspired to switch their personalities for Dopey Tradition’s sake. Well at least, this is in the Christian’s point of view.

Christmas is supposed to be the celebration of the birth of the world’s savior from eternal damnation because of sin. But we forget that Jesus was actually born to die.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,” (John 3:16) and He “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:28)
“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1Peter 2:24).

So come to think of it His birth was just the beginning of everything. including the many sufferings He endured for being a ‘radical’ of His time*. It was a difficult life that Jesus lead and to celebrate that is kind of suicide, don’t you think?

And when Jesus finally declared victory on the cross**, we are supposed to be in a state of unfathomable sorrow?

Some of our traditions do not always make sense to me. but at least this year it made a difference to me which is why I’m sharing it with you now.

I hope you have a meaningful one then!

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I noticed too that this year people are becoming smarter in giving gifts. The number of mugs i got this year: 2, down from 4 last year. Picture frames: 1, down from several in the last 3 years. Towels: 0.

And I’m actually happy to report that out of all the gifts Mia and I got this year, only 2 were relegated to the closet for “safe keeping” ;). But that’s only because they’re for Mia when she turns 3 next year.

It helps too when you just have a wish list
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*Isaiah 53:1-12
**1Peter 2:24, John 3:16

Flightless Bird - American Mouth, Twilight OST

IMAGINE.

’tis the season to be generous. tuwing Pasko, nandiyan ang kainan, karoling, salu-salo, reunions, at higit sa lahat ang halimuyak ng bagong papel na pera.

pero sorry nalang sa mga nangangaroling pag Pasko. hanggang barya lang kayo. pero sa aking pamilya sa mother’s side, galante ang aking mga kamag-anak. hindi mo na kailangang mangaroling, basta pumila ka lang, may malutong na bente ka na.

kamusta naman ang pangangaroling mo?

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Canon EOS 400D.

i hate that i don’t get to write more often these days because of my schedule.

i hate that i can’t feel the cold because i have to close my windows so i don’t get asthma because of the dust.

i hate that i seem to have lost my inspiration to write short stories and whatnots.

i hate that you (not you, dear reader) are detrimental to my mental and emotional health.

hate too that it’s late at night and i’m still up. hehe.

i hate that no matter what kind of preventive measure i do, mia still gets sick.

i hate that i’m complaining, so i’ll shut up now.

The photo may not be much (phone camera lang po kasi), but the meaning is something else. God gave us the world and everything in it for us to enjoy. It’s a gift, like a parent’s present to a child, meant to be enjoyed, meant to be appreciated. But being flawed as we are, we abuse it. And we abuse our values that come with being stewards of it.

Hence the flood.

I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” Genesis 9:15-17 (New International Version)

But He promised never to let it happen again. Now aren’t you glad to be enjoying this gift now?

It was quite early in the morning, with relatively fewer cars on the road. It was not quite sunshiny yet, but the skies weren’t gloomy either. Just the perfect cool weather for the season.

The silver car raced past houses and small establishments in the familiar area she calls her neighborhood. The driver knew she was making good time that day and she was quite pleased since she wanted to get things going. Work was very important, and she had a lot to do.

She signaled to turn a far right, going onto the flyover going to C5. In a split second right before she turned the wheel and stepped on the gas pedal a lshe realized there was a car a mere couple of inches from her right side view mirror. And she knew for certain she was going to hit it had she not reacted to stepped on the brakes. The moment was just unnerving, knowing what could have happened.

The driver of the silver car breathed a big sigh of relief and muttered something inaudible to herself as she recovered to turn the wheel in another direction. The driver of the other car, however, was furious about what would have happened. He rolled down his window and screamed profanities at the other driver. He even stuck out his hand and gave her the finger.

What a moron, the girl driver thought. Nothing happened back there, right? I didn’t hit his car so why is he so mad? she thought.

But the mad driver continued to harass her. He tailgated the silver car and gave her the dirty finger 2 more times as she stared at her rear view mirror in disbelief. The temper on that other guy is just not coming down anytime soon. So the girl driver smiled her sweetest smile and waved back at the road raging testosterone behind the wheel. And she laughed all the way to the office.

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One thing I learned about this experience is that I realized how nasty it is (and unpretty!) to go on a rampage on the road at things that are not even as worse as government corruption. It would’ve made sense for that guy to be mad at me had I scraped his car, but I’m such a good driver that I didn’t.

Hindi pala maganda yon, ang pangit pala tingnan. More than anything, that was such an eye-opening experience, for someone like me who has learned to be less of a human when driving. I’ve been trying to reform my ways, but it’s so hard! Anyone who has the “privilege” to drive on the streets of Manila would understand what I mean.

But after this, some things are going to change. So to that ugly guy driving an old forest green Nissan Exalta with plate number WJC-454, thank you. You just showed me what ugly driving is. Literally and figuratively. You should get your license suspended. It’s not people like me who make near-mistakes that shouldn’t be on the road. It’s people like you who cannot control their temper and harass other people. Hope you get what you deserve.

I could’ve left a little later than 6am this morning (parked at The Fort and taken a taxi to the office to avoid the number coding scheme) but I didn’t. I wanted to feel how it’s like to drive stress-free in C5 at this time of the year.

It was exhilarating to be honest about it. You never get to experience this kind of minimal traffic these days. And I miss it.

I was excited the first time I saw Mia at the nursery. I was excited during the first time she could crawl and sit up. I was excited everyday to go home to her. I still am.

These days, it’s hard to find anything to inspire us and be excited about because of the looming financial crisis. But once we find that inner peace in Him, there’s no reason not to look forward to the next day, and the next, and the next.

I wish this kind of peace for everyone so we can all be excited for the new year ahead of us. Take care!

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:7, NIV

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Canon EOS 400D. Mia.

Those are just a few of the things I love about Mia. She can look silly or fab and still look cute doing it. And I love taking pictures of her (as do other people, hehe).

I really should be writing more about Mia and her anecdotes, but all the grownup stuff is making me forget! Being an adult sure is a lot of work. I wonder if there ever will be time that I won’t have to wake up early in the morning to rush to work and leave Mia crying with my mom. I guess that depends on God and His plans for us.

So I’ve been thinking, if I need to pursue that long postponed plan of applying to migrate to Canada. I admit I haven’t done a lot of praying. Just hoping that God will give me a divine sign. Something like a bright red flashing neon sign that says “Yes”? I really need to get my bearings and take this a lot more seriously, don’t I?

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I miss this kind of blogging. I used to just rattle off things going through my head and not bother if anyone will read or comment on it.

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Lately I’ve been haunted by past decisions. What to do with them is something I’m consulting with my Guidance Counselor up there. Right now, it’s a struggle to keep my behind in one place long enough to listen. Tsk, bad client. Focus, focus.

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I bought these big bug-eyed celebrity shades in Bangkok for a cheap 100Baht. Mia loves it too.

hey paparazzis, i’m ready for you!

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I’m eager to find out if Mia is a genius. I think she’s a very smart little girl.

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