to blog or not to blog

i’m back to blogging.

so much has happened to me over the last year or so since i wrote an entry that i hardly know where to begin the narration. suffice it to say that i am now a level higher at work, no longer taking calls day in and day out, but with a lot more to do. so much, in fact, that i spend only a few hours at home and maybe 2/3 of my life at work.

so, anyway, welcome back to me. and welcome to my life.

*****

memories of punta malabrigo

the day before (March 18th)

as planned, gracie, paolo, giovanne and cherry went home with me to prepare for the outing and to pick up the van. i prepared lunch for them, nothing fancy, just some fried chicken and chinese-style pork and green salad.

giovanne and cherry had to go home, so gracie, pao and i went on to do some serious grocery shopping for the trip at SM hypermarket. we got home at around 1pm, then pao and gracie proceeded to cook the adobo for the next day's lunch at the resort. pao took charge of marinating the pork belly, also for the outing.

after a quick snack of homemade banana split (bananas and selecta's 3-in-1 ice cream in chocolate, mango and mocha flavors), pao and gracie went off to sleep while i heard mass.

we woke up at around 8:30pm, had a quick dinner, and went to work, pao driving the van.

*****

day 1 (march 19th)

the whole shift, we were too excited about the outing to even wonder why we didn't have that many calls. near the end of shift (around 8:30am), giovanne called us to a team meeting, which lasted for 30 minutes. after turning off our computers and storing our headsets in our lockers, we went on our way to batangas.

the team was distributed in 2 vans. in our hi ace were me, pao, daddy john, mommy roni, rose, carlo, rex and jason. in the other vehicle (jp's lite ace) were ian, gracie, mayo, sam, jaz, rodel, and of course jp, our newest teammate from wave 17. we agreed to meet up at the magallanes shell station just in case we got stuck in traffic along EDSA, which actually happened, and so that we could load up on gas and stuff to eat.

after about 20 minutes, we hit the road again. we agreed to meet up next at the last gas station along the south luzon expressway to grab a bite for lunch. sam and carlo exchanged places, since we needed one person per vehicle who was familiar with batangas. after a 20-minute stop, where we had burgers, fries and drinks to go, we left for batangas.

the ride was smooth, not much traffic. we exited at the sto. tomas/lucena exit, then turned right heading for the star tollway. it was my first time to traverse the road, and i saw how different it was from the south luzon expressway. it seemed…boring, and i would have fallen asleep had rex not been regaling us with his usual brand of humor, and daddy john telling us about the big bat/creature that he and mommy roni saw when they were driving along the tollway at night.

our next stop was carlo's hacienda in batangas city. he had asked his mother to make some kilawin for us, but the gracious lady also made some pancit and ordered puto for us to take to the resort.

next stop was SM city batangas, where some of us did some last minute shopping for forgotten supplies like salted eggs, bottled water, tube ice and ponstan for jason. daddy john also took over the wheel from paolo, for the last leg of the trip to lobo.

after another 1 1/2 hours of riding over rough roads and going through curves as we went up and down mountains, we finally reached the town of lobo. based on the trip meter which pao reset while we were at shell magallanes, we had driven some 140 kilometers, not counting the short detour to batangas city and carlo's house.

the road to malabrigo, just on the outskirts of lobo's poblacion

a view of the waters of verde island passage, on the way to malabrigo

we arrived at the punta malabrigo resort, owned by daddy john's parents, at 3:30pm. we were assigned one duplex cottage, consisting of 2 rooms and two bathrooms, and a spacious veranda. the cottages faced the beach, and we had tables set up under the trees for our meals.

my teammates, upon arrival at the resort

the beach, as seen from the tables under the trees

our cottage, taken as we were having lunch

after freshening up, we had a very late lunch consisting of the adobo which gracie cooked the previous day and some rice. then it was off to the waters.

that's me with mayo, gracie and ian, testing the waters of the beach

daddy john then invited us to walk up the lighthouse, which was built during spanish times. it was a longish walk along the beach (about 1.5km), then a steep climb up the cliff (another half a kilometer, which would have been easy if only it wasn't going up). i was on the point of giving up because i was so tired and my heart was pounding in my ears; in fact, i was the last to reach the top.

the lighthouse tower itself was not accessible at that time, so we only walked around the lighthouse keeper's area, and took in the spectacular views of the waters and, in the distance, the view of mindoro and verde islands.

the view from the lighthouse cliff

we went down because the sun was setting and we didn't want to be caught in the dark in that area. daddy john told us about mysterious stuff happening in that area, which i probably felt on the way up (so much negative energy, can't breathe well), as well as the alleged ghosts of the lighthouse (which i felt, although they were merely guardians of the lighthouse and therefore harmless).

the road we took going down was shorter and therefore less tiring. when we got back to the resort we all decided to sit on the beach and watch the sun set and the stars come out.

the sunset, seen from punta malabrigo

as the stars came out, we were lying on the beach already, naming the constellations and making wishes as shooting stars appeared. the lights went out for a bit, enhancing the view of the stars in the dark sky, and then we walked back to our tables for dinner.

the lights came on as we were feasting on sinangag na tulingan, sinigang na dalagan bukid and roasted pork belly. after dinner, some of us went to the pavilion for videoke, billiards and drinks.

jaz brought 3 bottles of tequila, and we had a blast doing the rounds while singing or playing billiards. when all 3 bottles were consumed, it was already past midnight and most of us, sleepless from the night before, decided to turn in.

i was taking a shower when jaz knocked at the bathroom door and told me that they were going to sit on the shore and i was to follow. so i did. there were 6 of us: jaz, gracie, ian, rodel, jp and me. we sat on the shore, talking about a lot of things, disagreeing, arguing, and finally deciding to turn in, the first 4 at around 2am, and jp and i at 2:30am.

*****

day 2 (march 20th)

woke up at 6:30am, after a sound sleep, without feeling any hang over from the tequila we drank the night before. rose was already awake and was inviting me to take a swim, so i changed into last night's swimwear (pair of shorts and a tshirt) and walked to the beach.

the waters of verde island passage are cool and the current is strong. we just sat on the shallow part of the waters and had fun. the sun wasn't shining too strongly so it was nice just to sit there and relax. pretty soon we had breakfast, hotdogs and fish patties (from the fish last night). after breakfast we hit the beach again, till around 11:30am, when the sun was getting a little bit too bright already.

we decided to go up the lighthouse again, and we took the shortcut we took the day before on our way down. this time, daddy john asked his cousin who was lighthouse keeper to allow us to climb the tower. it was scary to go up the spiral staircase, but it was all worth it because of the view from the top.

the lighthouse

a view of verde island passage from the top

another view of the sea, with mindoro somewhere in the background

this time, though, it was creepier because when we left the lighthouse, pao asked rose to take a picture of him at the entrance, and when we looked at the picture on his cellphone, all sorts of mysterious things showed up. even pao didn't look the same in the picture.

that's pao at the entrance to the lighthouse. check out the cloud formation. and look closely to his right and left. you'll see shadows. everywhere.

after our ghostly encounter, we went back to the resort for a late lunch of pancit, corned beef, and roast squid. at around 3pm we packed up and got ready to go home.

we reached the south luzon expressway at around 7pm, and as agreed we met up at the total gas station to freshen up and get stuff to eat or drink. that was when pao showed everyone the picture rose took of him at the lighthouse, and everyone was freaked.

we arrived at cybergate tower 2, our designated drop off point at around 8:15pm. pao then drove the van up until the entrance to our village, where i told him that he could take a cab going home while i drove the van home, to avoid further inconvenience on his part.

*****

all in all, it was a fun adventure and experience for all of us, despite the long travel and the roads which could be better. but i'm just glad i came on this trip. it brought me closer to my teammates, we formed a bond to share, and it gave us a chance to relax after 5 or 6 months of non stop work and stress.

i wish we could go back there soon.

lousy blogger

yup, i know i've been a lousy blogger lately. maybe because aside from work, there hasn't been anything worth writing about in my life. sure, i may have written about politics, showbiz, books or even mundane occurrences that have nothing to do whatsoever with me or the way i live my life. but lately, i seem to have lost it, whatever it is, that makes me want to rant, rave and write about it later.

even my trusty paper journal with the beautiful cover (bought at torrid in pleasanton for $8.50) hasn't been updated since…december. i do admit that my brain thinks so fast that my hand can't keep up, and i noticed recently that because of my overdependence on computers my penmanship has lost its beauty. it's now more erratic, almost illegible.

let's just say that because of Websense at work i haven't been able to go to my blogsites and write about stuff. and because i spend 2/3 of my day at the office (don't ask why, i just realized that i do), i only come home to sleep, take a bath, and change my clothes, which leaves barely enough time to open my journal and scribble a few lines about how my day was.

i don't know if i can even keep up with having an online journal at this stage. i just hope i will. there are a lot of things that i would like to write about, things that are important in my life that i would like to look back on and remember.

i just wish i had the strength.

yuri the dog, 2003-2007

our dog yuri died last feb. 2. my sister dianne posted this in her blog as a eulogy to the last dog we are going to take care of in this house.

He was given to us by an ex-boyfriend of one of my cousins. A mix between a mongrel and a Japanese spitz, he was a cute puppy with an attitude (he was quite moody). Once his past "amo" left, he refused to go with anyone but me. So he slept outside my bedroom door on his first night at our house. The next day he spent the rest of the day going after me and biting my fingers. I also cleaned up his doggie-do for the first time when he made a mess near the living room. I remember we named him after one of the main characters in one of the telenovelas in ABS-CBN. I wouldn't say that he responded quickly to the name Yuri, but he definitely refused to be called Dimitri, since he always angrily barked at our household help when she jokingly hollered "Dimitri!" to get his attention. Since it wasn't an easy task to potty-train him, he was destined to be an outside-of-the house dog just like his friends, our other dogs, Tita and Doggie. He was taken for a walk daily (mostly by my dad as a form of exercise especially in the mornings to avoid having to clean up doggie-poop) with his doggie-friends until they died one by one because of old age; and then he was the only one left.

He always barked incessantly when there were visitors in the house and when he sensed that there were "other" people in the house. He was almost always friends with females, as it was not very hard for our laundrywoman & house helpers to become friends with him. He barked at the guys, especially my boyfriend and all other guys who came to the house. (John would always say, "Galit na galit nanaman sakin si Yuri!") Yuri always recognized me by wagging his tail and jumping all about, especially if he senses that I will either feed him or let him out for his doggie-do walk. I cannot believe the strength of that dog whenever he yanked his chain; he can REALLY, i mean REALLY yank his leash (and probably pull me to wherever if I was wearing rollerblades or if I were riding a little wagon, hehe), because I guess he needs to pee/go poo-poo really bad. He ate everything that we fed hm, though he has ownership issues, he used to growl (which really scared me) if we got too close to him when he was having his meal. Well, pets are animals, of course. Sometimes I get scared when I have to approach him because I felt that he was going to jump at me or bite me. He was nice most of the time, though.

I think that he has served his purpose, he has guarded our house from would-be thieves by barking incessantly. He was sometimes a nuisance if we're sleeping because he would bark with the dogs outside the house if he heard them. That high-pitched annoying bark, and his presence near our laundy area will be missed. Hey you, you dog you, Yuri, You will be missed.

losing everything, gaining everything

last december 20th, the house of actress-model-environmentalist chin chin gutierrez was struck by a fire. she managed to save herself, her ailing mother, and some househelp, but nothing was left to them except the clothes on their backs.

as most filipinos know, chin chin has always been an unassuming person. she was voted one of time magazine's asian heroes for her role in campaigning for the protection of the environment. as far as i can remember, she has never been involved in any scandal in showbiz, precisely because she is unassuming. i think she leads a very quiet, private life, one that she has devoted to the care of the environment and the care of her mother.

the reason i'm writing about her is that i just finished reading a transcript of her interview with korina sanchez on the abs-cbn news website (read the transcript here). chin chin is an amazing woman, someone you would want to meet and talk with, a woman with an amazing spirit, who manages to sing the Canticle of Mary on christmas eve despite being in the hospital with burns and wounds.

chin chin's story is a lesson for everyone. God takes away things from us in order to make us realize that these things of the world are not important compared to the life He has given us.

sometimes, we take our lives for granted in the pursuit of material wealth and possessions. someone sent me a text message yesterday which sort of drove home this point. in a nutshell, the message simply said that we are always dying to do something that we forget to live, and we realize that only when it's too late to enjoy life as it is.

which is not to say that we don't need any material possessions in this life. we do need them, in order to live, but the acquisition of these possessions should not be the be-all and end-all of our lives. i mean, sure, we amass so much wealth and possessions, but can those actually make us happy? can they replace the warmth of family relations and the happiness that friends can bring us? and when we die, can we take these possessions to the grave? the sure thing is that the more possessions one has, the more problems it will create, and even after death, these same possessions will cause discord among those left behind.

mom and i attended mass at don bosco yesterday, and the priest was saying something about quiet generosity during the homily. i liked that theme — when you give, give quietly, without fanfare, without announcing what you gave. after all, generosity is something that should be practiced on a regular basis, like eating or drinking, breathing or sleeping. you don't announce the times that you eat, drink, breathe or sleep, so in the same way, you should not announce that you are giving something or donating something. it's so crass, not to mention plastic. it's like telling people that hey, i'm generous only on certain occasions, and this is one of those times, so this is a privilege for you.

besides, when you know that you give to the point that it hurts, without telling the whole world about it, even though it seems like you're giving up everything, you stand to gain everything as well. everything, that is, that the good Lord above will give you.