Don't come looking for me

Just when I thought that I have had my fair abundant share of camp experience during high school, I find myself preparing to attend this year's youth camp at church - not as a participant, but as a worker.

Funny also that I can barely remember my own youth camp experiences back in high school (btw all my youth camps were high school-initiated. I never attended the church youth camps when I was studying). Only fragments remain...such as the awful accommodations we got (the cabin smelled of cat poo cause there was cat poo inside; plus we were expecting rooms with air conditioning but all we got were said filthy cabins and an exposed shower area) and the feeling of being set on fire with the heat coming from within, and then I was taking a plunge to a deep recess that I know I'll never get out off...and then I woke up sweating...

Oh, and I don't remember if it was the same camp or another one from a different year, but it was also during camp when I had my first encounter with a live snake (outside a zoo). It was in the pool that we were all swimming on. One classmate had a tremendous fear of snakes that he freaked out when it was lifted out of the water. And to think I was freestyling-breaststroking-pretending-to-drown with the rest of my classmates with a snake lurking just nearby...

SO. YEAH. YOUTH CAMP. AT TWENTY FIVE. This ought to be interesting...

Oh...this also means that I'm out of the radar (i.e. NO INTERNET HOHMG) from Tuesday until Friday...and probably Saturday too, cause that's enrollment day.




--- --- ---

I am back in Manila. I won't be coming back to Laguna tomorrow, or the next day.

I won't be coming there for a while.

Like I said a few posts back, I want to depart from my style of blogging now - which is, well, pretty random and slice-of-life with a kick - to one that is more introspective and journal-like. The way to do this, I guess, is to write more, as in notebook-pen writing. My tendency is when I'm doing the journaling online I get distracted with a lot of stuff that there's absolutely no room to do some real thinking. In one article I read about writing, the author recommended disconnecting your computer from the Internet in order to write. But for me, the fact that I am in front of a computer means instant distraction. If there's no Internet I have my video files, my iTunes, my photos...

Hence, it's time to go back to the roots of writing. The pen is mightier than the sword, so goes the saying, and a sword can definitely do major pwnage on laptops!





--- --- ---

Two of my last pictures of very familiar sights in Laguna. The first one is my final sunset, less the sun, and the view of the familiar empty dorm hallway, the first door is the one that led to my room.  The second picture is very interesting (to me, at least). I always see maya, but this is the smallest one I've seen in my entire stay, and this was taken on my last day. I was hoping that it wouldn't fly away while the camera was focusing on it, and it didn't. =D Both were taken using Dylan, so excuse the 5MP quality. XD

Here's a transcript of what I wrote during the eve of my last day in Laguna. A lot of things were on my mind then...when I tried processing all these by myself, I became very emotionally charged, and I knew that there was no other way to wrestle with it other than to write it all down.

Overcast

Interestingly enough, the current storm strengthened when it made landfall this weekend. Imagine that. Out here in the bundoks the storm has not shown any signs of letting up, which means I am, once again, in for a bug-filled night.

And by bug-filled, I mean hallways littered with dead (and near-dead) insects, some that aren't so dead climb up to me feet, hands, arms, legs...and just now I flicked a near-dead bug out of my hair! Grooohohohohooossss...

--- --- ---

I have not been blogging. I'm looking for my box that's filled with a bunch of excuses for making myself absent here, but it seems to be lost for now...

But in light the change that will come, there will be room for more blog posts (yehey~), and probably I'll use this point of my life to practice writing, cause I have neglected this majorly because of work and all...

I'll probably get a notebook after all is said and done, and start writing...or maybe I can graduate (if that's the appropriate term) from this kind of blogging and do something different...

--- --- ---

Why is it the same people on FB/Twitter who complain about the weather being hot are often the ones who also nag about about the weather being cold. Um, can you not make up your mind?

I like it when it's cold. I love it when the rains come and you smell the sure scent of petrichor. What will make the moment perfect is a hot cup of champorado and a bed to roll on to. XD

Realidad

I am back in the bundoks, and the welcome I got shocked me to my core.

My keyboard was ant-infested. YUCK.

It's amazing what a week of not touching my office PC could do.  Yes I eat while working, but I don't eat that much that it deserves an infestation of epic proportions. I ate more when I was at MP and though my keyboard had morsels of crackers and whatnot, it never became ant-infested like this.

It's all good now - the ants have been vacuumed out of the keyboard, and it's back again underneath my fingers like it never happened.

And it will NEVER happen again.



--- --- ---

I asked a colleague what he/she did during Holy Week (and it was more of a question for the sake of asking a question, just to avoid dead air), to which this person replied (with much gusto) that s/he went to Quiapo and joined the procession (so much so that his/her arms had tan marks), fasted, prayed, etc, etc. Then, said person asked me what I did during Holy Week.

I didn't know how to answer him/her. During that small window the events of last week flashed in my mind: Tuesday I was in church practicing for the Easter musical; Wednesday was also devoted to practices; the memories of my Thursday are all hazy; Friday was Clark day; Saturday we celebrated Nanay's birthday; Sunday was a whole-day-church-day. Oh, and I remember watching Tennis no Oujisama and fangirled when Tezuka and Fuji's matches were being shown during the weeknights...

I would have answered "naging busy ako kasi meron kaming ginawa nung Easter", but I didn't. So, I decided to avoid the question by just shrugging it off. In response, this person asked "Wala ba kayong ganun (Holy Week) sa inyo (sa church)?".

Um. Ouch. For me, specifically. So since I was obligated to save face, I mentioned that we had an Easter thing for church but didn't bother explaining the details because I felt so embarrassed.

Now that I think about it, I could have spent the Holy Week more productively. I could have swapped a few hours of the Tennis no Oujisama marathons we had last week with some Bible reading and reflection and stuff...but I was too busy relieving myself from the stress and pressure I face at work (and at church too, admittedly) that I tend to indulge myself more than I should...



--- --- ---

Since I already mentioned Tenipuri I might as well talk about it. I'm not like a super duper mega fan of the series. I know some of the characters at varying levels, mainly those from Seigaku. Later on I found out about Rikkaidai, and the techniques that sounded like they should be used for an anime like Bleach or Rurouni Kenshin...but I digress XD

I'm kind of a closet fan of Tezuka x Fuji. OKAY SO IT'S NOT SO CLOSET ANYMORE. But their bromance is so sweet that it's got to be canon. Like...BEYOND THE TENNIS COURT CANON. Oh and Echizen x everyone in Seigaku is also cute XDDD


--- --- ---

Interesting how the environment is out here in the bundoks right now. About an hour ago it rained. At about 5PM these really interesting birds came out and flew about. I have no idea what they're called, but I can assure you they're not maya. But most noteworthy of all was that a bunch of the malapapaya trees were burned due to a grassfire that occurred last Saturday. The fire wasn't big (or so I was told) but the wind was so strong, which resulted into the how and why our trees caught fire.

Randomness

I survived a facial from hell tonight. As you can see, the damage isn't much, but it still hurt =/.  I was supposed to take some hormonal pills but I couldn't get a clearance from the OB-GYN. So, the dermatologist also gave me a natural supplement, but it costs Php1,800 for two months...and I don't know if that's cheap or expensive. =/ It's likely that I'll look for a natural supplement at Healthy Options over the weekend to end my fight against corruption acne once and for all. Until then, I gotta get through this. Le sigh.

This was tonight's dinner. Le sigh again.

I usually don't mind a Cup Noodle-dinner (especially if it's the Japanese kind), but this one wasn't so good. I guess it's because it's the Light variety? I dunno...I prefer the regular one. *shrug* Tinamad lang ako magluto kanina kasi 8:00 na ako dumating sa dorm at gutom na gutom na ako...

--- --- ---

So, I learned that this schoolyear, the school's anime org (for college) was established, and since it's College Week they had an exhibit. I went there. It was not bad for a first - of course it could be a whole lot better (and it pales in comparison to the NKK exhibits). I asked the students manning the exhibit if they have manga, and they showed me what they had. There was One Piece, Tsubasa...and I forget the rest, but they were all mainstream and...*drumroll please* ENGLISH.

And it dawned on me how much the fandom has changed with this generation (and here I start my lament on being old, hahaha!). Gone were the days that you'd have to be very creative to get manga in Manila; gone were the days of second-hand manga stores sa MCS that brought such joy to fangirls'/boys' hearts and souls. Now the titles are available at Powerbooks or Fully Booked. In Eng-freaking-glish. I think the fans who would sacrifice an arm or leg to get a Japanese manga are already a dying breed - moreso fans who are into non-mainstream series and would have to spend more just to sate their fix.

I offered the kids tips (oh gosh I called them kids...I'm old)...like stuff that we did during college days sa NKK. I also told them that had I known that there was going to be an exhibit like this I would have made a little contribution and brought some of my manga (provided, of course, that they worship it take good care of it). But probably, the most important advise I gave them was to not limit themselves to anime; and I seriously hope that they see why.

I sort of feel for them because they don't have a full-time adviser for their org, which makes things really challenging, especially for a newly established one. Sa NKK, we had our own problems, but at least we were not on a struggling probationary status all the time (on certain years we were but by gosh we pulled through and became one of the most active orgs, wazzup!). A part of me really wants to help those kids...just so I have something to work on that's not work per se...

Musings of the Manila-girl-stuck-in-the-bundoks kind

I tweeted and tumbled about this already, but it's good to be consistent all throughout.

That's the birthplace of Jose Rizal. It has GREEN walls. (If you go to Tumblr you can biggify above image.)

I have lived in Metro Manila for most of my life, but I have been in the province many times to know what an old Pinoy house looks like. I've seen my share of those in Malolos - before it became a city, it had kalesas and old houses nearly everywhere - there was even one beside the bungalow of my lolo and lola's house way back then.

I know that the exterior walls of these houses are usually NOT painted green.

Prior to my visit yesterday, I have been to the birthplace of the National Hero when I was in grade school. It was too long ago that I don't remember much of the details, but I do recall that the walls were not green - they were white, off-white, or beige. Hindi luntian. (OHA! ALAM KO ANG TAGALOG NG GREEN! WAZZUP KETCHUP!)

Probably they painted it green so it could match the blue and yellow banners that have been put up on the fence around the perimeter of the house (cause blue + yellow = green). Even so, it still looks weird.


--- --- ---

If I had to give one reason for loving the five days I spend out here in the bundoks, it would be this:

I get to see the sky more often.

Of course, I still see the sky when I'm in Manila, but not without a building or two (or fifteen) obstructing your view. Here in the bundoks (and if I may borrow a quote from Rurouni Kenshin Ishinshishi e no Requiem) the bluest sky is infinitely high and crystal clear. (gosh I love that line...)

The sky here is wonderful. Many times I'd be awestruck with the cloud formations, and at one occasion I was dumbfounded when I saw the sky transitioning from cyan to blue. It's AWESOME, and it's the kind of sky that's exclusive to land that's unadulterated and pre-building-infested.

Like here.

--- --- ---

I post things like these about loving the province, but by Thursday I know I'll be missing the buildings, the humidity of the city, the pollution - do not forget the pollution! - and the traffic!

Manila, I keep coming back to Manila...

Unwell

I dare not elaborate why. God created some to be dense, I guess. =/

I'll focus on the good stuff.




--- --- ---

As per memo #47 of DepEd, we are enjoined (which is a better-sounding term for required) to hang EDSA-related banners, tarpaulins, yellow buntings or flags in conspicuous places of the school. We decided to go grassroots and tied yellow ribbons on some of the trees in school. I purchased all of the yellow ribbons in National Bookstore at Paseo de Sta. Rosa yesterday. They only had two 45m rolls - for the sheer amount of trees we have here that wasn't enough. Had the DepEd memo been released earlier, we would have had time to deck more ribbons in school, and probably drape a yellow cloth somewhere in one (or both) buildings. So, given the time constraint, this is good enough, I guess. =P

People Power is no longer an event exclusive to this country. Other countries have been successful in their own "bloodless" revolutions. For this country though, I always wonder if the nationalism that EDSA has sparked in every Filipino is real...wait, that didn't come out right. Let's try this again: I always wonder if the brand of nationalism we now have began in EDSA and also ended in EDSA, cause the more I think about our sense of nationalism, the more I realize that Filipinos don't really have a firm or real sense of it. As a Pinay who has lived in this country for my entire life, I feel that my sense of nationalism is just skin-deep, and only penetrates further than that when I feel threatened.

Sure, we wear shirts that sport the Philippine Islands on it, or Ninoy/Cory what-have-yous, but these are but fads. When the fad has come and gone, and these t-shirts become basahan or what-have-you, or if Pacquiao is defeated or retired, what icon can we look to that defines our brand of nationalism? Yes, we speak out when our race is lambasted by some personality, but is this something that we do out of pride for our race and nation, or just pride for ourselves? I always wrestle with these questions, and I think I will not find concrete, lasting answers to these for a long time. Maybe time will bring the answer. A hundred plus years for a country is still young, after all.

I honestly think that Filipinos who live outside the country have a deeper sense of nationalism than those who are living here. I kind of envy those people - those who aren't ashamed to wear a Three Stars and a Sun Shirt in another country, or jackets that sport the Philippine flag. I honestly can't see myself wearing something nationalistic, except na lang if it's Team Manila merchandise. Everytime I see a shirt with Rizal on it I always find my wallet empty. Haaaay. One day, Team Manila Rizal shirt. One day.




--- --- ---

When I'm depressed in the bundoks, I try to find ways to divert myself from what I'm feeling. So this morning, I cooked breakfast. :p

Everything I needed to know about cooking omelettes I learned from playing Cooking Mama on The Green Menace (for those of you who don't know my gadgets, that's my iPod touch). XD

I had a salmon omelette for breakfast today. The salmon I had cooked on Monday, and since it's the last working day of the week, I usually dispose of my leftovers this way. This would have been perfect if I had cheese...

I love dark chocolate. I love Swiss Miss's Dark Chocolate Sensation. I love dark chocolate. Sana may makakuha ng hint diyan.

These two coupled with a good book, the cool February bundoks breeze and the song of nearby birds made a happy enough breakfast this morning. It's good to be thankful for quaint things like these.




--- --- ---

Thank God the week is done, I feel like a zombie gone back to life, back back to life.

Yeah men. /end Usher mode

This ship is ready to sail

NEW BLOG!!!!!!! *keyboard smash of happiness*

I've transferred most of the entries made this year from the old place to this new place. The layout ain't half bad too - I wanted to make my own (since my first blog was from Blogger and I did make my own Blogger layouts back then), but when I saw the developer FAQs I chickened out. So I tinkered with the Template thingamajig and got this.

That header you see there that looks like it was drawn by a kid? I did that. *is proud* I'm good with stick figures and basic stuff like that. Tee hee.

And, regarding the new blog, that's all I have to say.





--- --- ---

It's been a while since I posted pictures. So, I will.

Had Nutella for breakfast. Oh yes bagets. I don't care if I get allergies or what, Nutella is Nutella, and my stomach deserves it.

I saw Giada de Laurentiis make something out of Nutella in Everyday Italian but I completely forgot what it was. I was entranced by the sight of Nutella, that I didn't even thought of remembering the recipe.  Having said that, Nutella on bread is one of the best simple joys of this world.






--- --- ---

I cut my hair last Saturday; that I failed to mention in the last entry. I still cannot comprehend my recent fixation for short hair. I still like having long hair, but since my hair is less than shoulder length, it will be a long time before it grows back.

So until then, I have to rock this look. XD




--- --- ---

It's time to bring out the dreaded raket pipeline (yes, it is still alive and kicking!)

ASH WEDNESDAY, March 9
At The Cross

THANKSGIVING MASS (aka the last mass of the academic year), March 23
Saving Grace

EASTER CANTATA
I Knew He Was Love
+ almost all songs, in backup

I removed the soiree first, because there is no definite date yet.

If I can turn your attention to the first two dates - yes, you read those songs right! In a Catholic mass! I'm actually excited for those two dates, because for the first time I don't have to learn the song, which in itself is already pressure-ridden cause I usually get the song days before the mass. But more importantly, I got to choose the songs. *snickerfit* When I was asked to sing for Ash Wednesday, I said yes and asked if I can do a song that's more contemporary. I presented a list of songs, including At The Cross, and it was chosen. =P And from the list of songs I gave, Saving Grace was also chosen, since I said it was more of a youth song, and since most of the attendees were kids, it was an "accessible" song (if you may). I was asked to sing that on the last mass of the schoolyear.

I'm so excited for this. I don't really mind if it's a Catholic mass that I'm singing at; just as long as the song is for God and is sung to bring people closer to God in worship, then that's all that matters! And if people will complain about the song choice (OMG I hope walang umalma, ang ganda-ganda kaya ng mga kanta!) I can just say it was pre-approved!

Practice for Easter has begun, and since it falls on a Wednesday, I have not attended a single practice yet. But I know my solo, I've sung that on Good Friday last year. It's the backup parts that I have to take into memory.



--- --- ---

I go home tomorrow! =D =D =D Thank God for EDSA and schools not having classes on EDSA.

Toodles.

First I direct you to this awesomeness. Boyz II Men did a freaking cover of First freaking Love. I freaked out. (As if that's not obvious enough.)

What I'm really about is that they really translated the song, and sprinkled a heavy dose of Boyz II Men mojo on it. It sounds the same, yet you know it's different (especially doing the piano part that transitions chorus to second verse into just their voices, that was beautiful!).

I hope they'll release this as a single for an album/compilation/whatever.

--- --- ---

My laundry was returned yesterday. I found a missing sock, which was probably caught up with some of the other clothes that I sent to the laundromat. They didn't iron anything, even those I asked to be ironed. So last night, I was ironing for a good hour on a 5"-wide 14"-long ironing table. My clothes didn't turn out so bad. I am proud. XD

Probinsiya = 1, JC = 1.

And just like that, it's Monday

Just when I thought it was going to be just like any manic Monday, the following things happened:

- It rained (and now it's sunny, but let's talk about the rain first). When I got to Sta. Rosa and saw that the ground was wet, it was...well...the least of my expectations. I brought an umbrella but it was buried in way too much junk stuff in my bag, so taking that out in a cramp tricycle would be impossible. So I used my grocery bag as a shield and walked in the rain.

- When I finally settled my stuff in the dorm, I started my walk to school. The rain had stopped by this time. I had to go down the stairs that led to the outdoor basketball court. Now, the steps of the stairs had a lot of ants, like the big-ass, tree-living type of ant (I forget what we call that kind in Filipino). I thought that it wouldn't do much difference it I stepped on them, so I did. But lo an behold, when I looked down, my boots and pants were swarming with ants. I tried swatting them with my badminton racket (which hurt, by the way), but they weren't fazed. I tried jumping up and down but that didn't do any good either. I tried running in place but they were still there. So, I panicked. Long story short, I got all the ants out of my blouse, pants, boots and socks (yeah had to freaking undress) after much whimpering and screaming.

- And now, I don't know what to do here.

So for 2011, Probinsiya = 1, JC = 0.

--- --- ---

When it rains here, you don't hear the sound of rain pounding on pavement. The sound of rainfall here is serene, almost as if it's not raining at all, and when you do hear the rain it's when it's raining buckets already.

The problem of that is, I don't really know how hard the rain is already unless I hear it. Of course, when it's morning all I need to do is come out of my dreary four-walled office, but at night it's much, much harder.

Baby it's cold outside

The Blaine-Kurt duet of this song was awesome, but that's not the reason why I'm posting this.

It really is freaking cold outside.

Last night, I was trying to find inspiration for an article that's being requested of me for a newsletter when this freakishly cold wind blew hard. It's the kind of wind that howled in the night, that mastered all the salagubang and the tipaklong; the kind that would make the hundreds of trees surrounding me bend and sway; the type of wind that would force me to wear jogging pants and a sweater to bed, and crumple myself in order to feel warm. It blew hard, and it blew long.

It was so cold last night that when I played badminton, I didn't sweat. It was so cold last night that what I heated up in the electric stove went cold in a matter of minutes. It was so cold last night that...well...you get the point.

Bundok

YES, IF IT'S NOT OBVIOUS ENOUGH, I'M BACK IN LAGUNA.
All caps for emphasis, I'm not really mad about it...

The two-week vacation breezed away as I expected it. Too long is too short, at the end of the day.

I'm trying to assimilate myself once again in the corporate world. So far it's been going swell, except for the aircon not cooperating and finding out that the battery of the DSLR has been drained just when I was about to take a panorama. Battery problem has been remedied, aircon cooperating...for now.


--- --- ---

I find this ridiculous, not because I'm not partial to the local music industry. Local acts aren't accessible, full stop. They're not as heavily promoted as J-pop is in Japan and K-pop in Korea. If you give me a pop quiz right now to name five Pinoy rappers I will fail! Also, the current trend of artists rehashing old classics instead of creating new songs isn't something that sparks my interest. More often than not, the remakes are horrible. Hence, why bother paying attention to most local acts that aren't "artists" that continue to reinvent themselves? I'd rather watch Bruno Mars live in MOA and pay, rather than seeing Christian Bautista for free singing songs that are not his and have been sung long before I was born. It's a shame, really. We've got great talent in this country, but it seems that it's only those in the rock/alternative genre that keep reinventing themselves.


--- --- ---

I failed at finishing Genji Monogatari last year. Since it's too heavy to be brought back to Laguna, I decided to leave it at home and read it during weekends. I seem to get to finish more reading when done during the weekend (case in point: Good Omens, Fragile Things). The book I brought with me here is Smoke and Mirrors.

I hope to get some writing done and published here. I've done some writing (can I get a hallelujah here), but I have to edit and write more and stuff...I'm hoping it will come. It has to come. It better come. /desperate


--- --- ---

I don't have a desk calendar. I'm waiting for any of the 16 schools to give me one. Sanrio seems to have evaporated from Glorietta for some reason. I was supposed to get another Hello Kitty calendar from them.


--- --- ---

Been listening to Bruno Mars this morning. He's a mad genius. XD I think I wanna marry him in a Las Vegas-type wedding, then divorce him the next day after we consummate our marriage. Bwahahahahahahahahaha.