great gimmick

watched "zodiac" on its opening day with my sister. loved it!
we then went around GB, eating gelato, posing beside "heroes" posters, and talking non-stop. oh yes, cam-whoring pa pala.


someone's thrilled...can't decide which gelato to choose. eenie, meenie...

perfect on a rainy day

steaming cup of benguet brew (refillable, of course!) and carrot cake, while the rain falls outside ebai's along upper session road.

reach for the SKY

up on the top of tip top, there's a wonderful place to stay called "sky". call the owner, shiila, if you wanna stay there too: 0919-6543551. sarap ng tulog at gising ko!:)

LRT paparazzi

giant cloud

so overwhelmed by this humongous cloud that i saw walking home the other day. too bad all i had was my phone cam.

168: love ko 'to

had a shoot at 168, and were treated like utter VIPs. great parking space, very efficient help from security, very nice people all around. wish all our shoots were this wonderful! i was so overwhelmed, all i got to take a pic of was the delicious food from chopsticks that they treated us to. mouthwatering!!!

why i'm so very happy these days

been looking for this book and CD for more than a year. finally, elma, who came back from a month-long US vacation, got them for me. yeah!

looking forward to devouring them!:D

Breathtaking Views

From Baguio, went to Ifugao, then Bontoc. Rode topload on a jeep, got landslide-d in at Banaue-Bontoc Road--and had great fun, over-all!

Reposting something important

Ngayon, Mayo 28, ganap na 1:20 ng tanghali, ang ika-1 buwan ng pagkawala
ni Jonas Joseph Burgos, isang farmer advocate at anak ng press freedom hero na si Joe
Burgos, Jr. Matibay ang paniniwala namin na mga operatiba ng Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) ang dumukot sa kanya.

Kami'y nanawagan para sa isang "text and e-mail flaming" sa ika isang buwan ng
pagkawala ni Jonas. Sabay-sabay po tayo na mag-text sa ating mga kamag-anak,
kaibigan, kapitbahay at mag e-mail sa Armed Forces of The Philippines sa e-
wan@army.mil.ph sa ganap na 1:20 ng tanghali ng mensaheng:

Ang paghahanap kay Jonas Burgos ay paghahanap sa katarungan.
Ang paghahanap sa mga disaparesidos ay paghahanap sa kapayapaan.

Ilitaw si Jonas Burgos! Itigil ang sapilitang pagkawala! Labanan ang anti-terror law,
ipagtanggol ang karapatang pantao!

Sabay-sabay po tayong manindigan at magtanggol. Maraming salamat po.

Free Jonas Burgos Movement

Para sa karagdagang impormasyon, magtxt sa 09192130284,
freejonasburgosmovement@yahoo.com, friendster – free jonas burgos movement o
tumawag sa 4546468 hanapin si onin o ed.

Feeling guilty

If there’s one thing I am very proud of and very sure of, it’s that I am a good friend. I can drop everything to talk or just lend an ear to someone who needs advice, or simple sympathy. That’s why I feel guilty that I wasn’t around for two of my friends who have experienced huge problems-- and ones close to home--recently. While I was out gallivanting, enjoying myself, having new experiences, I sacrificed being able to listen, hold a friend’s hand, give a hug.

my fairytale

how interesting that mountains should play an integral role in my "fairy tale"...

From the mountainside I watched a giant crane fly down beside me and place two of its feathers onto my feet for flight.
I left my home and family to find and entered the woods. I walked deeper and deeper into the world of trees that reached the sky and damp earth that smelled of life, into a world I had always been warned not to enter. The day I left my home, I could sense the adventure that lay ahead. Armed with nothing but courage in my chest and good sense on my shoulders, I let my feet lead me into the great unknown.
Holding my father's blade I cut what kept me from moving. I did not care to look whether it was a serpent's tongue or the branch of a tree.
The little man handed what looked like a small wooden piccolo. The small, thin object looked old but not dusty like the man’s worn garments. "A single note from this musical stick will bring rain from the heavens to satisfy this thirsty land," the little man said to me. "But heed my words, should you be tempted to produce sweet melodies to entertain yourself and those around you, mother nature will heighten the aching of the earth around you: the sky will heave torrents of rain producing a monsoon that will be echoed by the quaking of the earth as it splits, spewing forth fiery magma that will consume you and your vanity.
The mists grew heavy. When I stretched my arm out I could not see past my hand, but it did not matter. When I closed my eyes my feet moved along with the rhythm of the mountain and its soils. Faster and faster I could almost feel myself fly.
Then, as I was about to reach the top of the mountain, a giant form appeared before me in the shape of soil. As I came closer to it I realized that it was not a giant form but composed of hundreds of small people from the earth. The mountain had come alive, and it did not want me to pass its presence.
Dizzy and hallucinatory spells yielded me to the man's desires. As I played his game he pressed one of the playing tablets to my forehead. There it left a mark of doom that I thought would signal my inevitable fate.
But since I had been given my gift I did not fear what stood in front of me. As his body touched mine if fell to the floor covered in a carpet of needles.
In my path stood a young pear tree, that, on first appearance looked wretched and covered with soil. But the second time I looked at it the sapling had already blossomed into a maturity. It grew pears the size of my mother's hands. It waved to me with its branches, beckoning me towards the sweet fruit. As I attempted to climb the three, the leaves enclosed me and stung my skin with nectar.
I was offered a place in the palace, but I could not accept. I wanted to be with the mountain; I felt it move under my skin as I knew part of me was in the mountain too.

--get your own fairytale

this is for you (even if i don't think you even know of my blog)

oo na. or baka. ewan ko ba...
i don't want to say the words out loud before you do. but i'm afraid you're much more patient than i am.
i know. i know i "amuse" you. i know that wide smile is always for me. i know it in my heart. but would it kill you to tell me? (i hope it doesn't!)

Gusto
(Jolina Magdangal)

Parang bitin pa rin kahit anong gawin
Hindi pa rin makuntento hindi pa rin
Hinahanap-hanap ka hanggang ngayon sinta
Hindi pa rin masanay-sanay sa pag-iisa

Chorus:
Gusto kong marinig ang boses mo
Gusto kong halikan ang labi mo
Gusto kitang yakapin hanggang umaga
Gusto kong marinig ang buhay mo
Gusto kong halikan ang puso mo
Gusto kitang kasama hanggang may umaga

Tanong mo sa akin ano pa bang aking gusto?
Ano pa bang di nakukuha ano pa ba?
Sagot ko naman sayo wala na nga akong gusto
Kundi paulit-ulit ulit na ganito

Lovin' Cordi

My first article in Baguio Midland Courier, the biggest and oldest community paper in Northern Luzon.

st. joseph parish in kiangan, ifugao

from st. benedict's in besao, mountain province

time to regroup

i honestly thought i was ready. thought it was time to once again get into the grind, to do what i love the most, and to do it on a regular basis, back in the city where i grew up. i was all ready to leave behind the cold air, the independence, the verdant surroundings.
but this heat is killing me--almost literally! i can't handle it, some days i'm dehydrated just from sitting around and writing in this weather. all indications point to a hotter summer this year. seems city life is unhealthy for me. it's time to rethink this.
so i'm off, going up again to renew myself, clear my head. maybe in the cold, my vision will once again clear. didn't Jesus go up to the mountain to "escape" before coming back down, rejuvenated?

iba ka, ka freddie!

about a month ago, i caught an episode of "sis" while on the bus, and they had a tribute to freddie aguilar. their guests, aside from the man himself, included contemporary singers nyoy volante, jay-r, and two other young r&b singers. each of them sang a song by ka freddie. sadly, none of them came close. at some point, ka freddie would have to back up the singer, because he got lost or couldn't quite get the melody right. i found myself quietly singing along. hats off to his talent!
interestingly, while i was in puerto prinsesa, he had a concert there. of course, i couldn't get away from my relatives to watch a concert! but guess what? when i was in line for the departure area at the airport, who would be there too but freddie aguilar and his posse, waiting for their flight back to manila! i didn't even hesitate to approach him to ask to have a picture taken.

once again, i don't usually become starstruck, except in the midst of utmost talent. i thanked him for his music, and afterwards, i observed more people approaching him to get a photo op too. i remember his daughter, shaiane, was my classmate in grade school. wonder where she is now...

at last, palawan! (part 3)

riding on the bus, we passed by the pier of taytay, which used to be a spanish stronghold.

i returned to puerto prinsesa, and found that the weather was a bit better. i was told it had been raining for the last two days. palawan is so big, that it didn't even rain up north in el nido when we were there!
the best part of being back in puerto was the seafood fest! i missed eating lots of seafood in el nido. the people there, apparently, preferred meat because they were so used to seafood. whoa!:O for dinner, my tito and tita cooked fried fish, inihaw na pusit, and sinigang na hipon. i went to bed early because i was tired from the bus ride. in the morning, i woke up to an empty house--my cousins had gone to the beach with their barkada, and their parents went to the market to buy food for the day. we had a different kind of shellfish--tasted like kuhol, but much bigger, and squid. very good! burp!
after a short nap, the family decided to take me around the city (puerto prinsesa is more than 100 km!) for my last day. we went to the butterfly gardens (bigger than the area in john hay), skipped the crocodile farm (thankfully), went to the baybay (found out that puerto prinsesa was named after undulating mountains in the distance that look like a reclining woman/princess),

and ended up at rene's saigon restaurant. now i had wanted to go to viet ville for the longest time, but they say that since most of the vietnamese refugees had either gone home or to the US, there strictly isn't a viet ville anymore...there was nothing to see. going to rene's was wonderful though. i had a bowl of spicy beef stew soup (pho without the noodles!) and dipped crusty baguette--crispy on the outside, soft and chewy inside! rene's supplies baguettes sold all over puerto prinsesa--for only P7 each!!! i have to say, too, that it was the first time in the philippines that i tasted spring rolls as good as the ones i had when i was in ho chi minh city!

the next day, my cousin and tita brought me to the airport, and i thanked them and we said our goodbyes. on the plane home, thankfully i had a window seat, i kept taking photos as the blue-green ocean and islands disappeared from sight.