Summer 2015: Four outings, four times the fun

This summer, I decided to go to every summer outing I can.

Taal Lake, Batangas

Papa's family live in Batangas. My parents wanted to visit them on Labor Day, so we did, and we took a quick swim by the Taal Lake. Although it was hot, we had a quality time talking while relaxing on hammocks.

I consider myself lucky to have such a place to go to.

Posing with the whole family by a hill.

We were just about to swim.

Morong Star Beach Resort and Hotel, Bataan

Ah, this tops all the rest. I asked Mom to pay for all of us, and miraculously, she agreed. It's been a while since we all went to an actual beach so I was pumped up. We all enjoyed the zip line and the banana boat (especially the banana boat! I was in front and even though all the water splashes ended on my face, I felt like a cowgirl so that was fun.). Only Jj and I went for the very boring kayaking experience.

(c) Bro Oliver kindly took this amazing shot for us. <3

Mom, Jj, and I also went island hopping. Papa was fast asleep half the time.

Just keep floating, just keep floating.

La Mesa Dam Eco Park

I thought I'd let this pass, but only a few days after Morong, we went out to the Eco Park in celebration of Gian's 7th birthday.

The Geronimo family sans my brother who took this photograph.

Don't worry, there are a couple of swimming pools and no, I didn't swim by the lagoon behind me,

A lifeguard saw me struggling to learn how to freestyle and taught my cousin and I how to relax by forming bubbles, three floating types (turtle, jellyfish, and back float), and the correct freestyle techniques. Thanks manong lifeguard, my faith in humanity is now restored by 1%.

Splash Island

A friend got hold of free Splash Island tickets and invited my brother and I to come with her and her family. I was hesitant at first after reading all of the negative comments about the resort from their official Facebook Page, but Mom said we should go and try to enjoy the slides, and so we did, and I'm happy we did.

My favorite is the Magellan's Drop! Moja and I went to it twice, and if there weren't any schedules, I'd have gone there every hour. My second favorite would be the Rio Montanosa, followed by Big Bam Boo, and then the Tausug Trails. Due to clothing issues (no, I wouldn't remove my shirt for this ride) we couldn't try the King Pilipit. (This makes me sad, even now.)

With Moja Maan and her family, sans Jj again who was our photographer. I kind of feel bad for Jj now.

Posing by the Water Wahoo.

Splash Island is famous not only for its water park but also for its rules regarding food and beverages--guests are not allowed to bring their food and drinks inside the resort. We went there for free but the way they charged the food was unreasonable. They only sell drinks in one size. It sucks.

So there there, all in all I had fun this summer. It was like making up for lost time.

Untitled

I am the opposite of a social animal. I didn't know when it started but I suddenly found it hard to approach people. At some point my brother said my outlook of the world was that "people was there to hurt me." Of course I denied it until I realized he was probably right. Cham also mentioned that I was looking down a lot while walking, as if I wanted to disappear so as not to be noticed.

Cham is who she is. I have learnt to not expect anything from her and I thank God that at least she's there to bear with me.

I tried a website with "listeners" when I had no one to talk to. A stranger told me that my attitude might have sprung up from my abandonment issues. You see, two of the people I considered most important left me. Since then, she said, I must have been avoiding making contact with anyone else so as to protect myself.

With Jj

It was a eureka moment for me. I was quite wondering since when I didn't like knowing strangers or making connections with people until she pointed it out. My subconscious must have been driving in automatic for quite some time. I can't function well in crowds anymore. As much as I want to make friends, I can't make the first move until they approach me. I don't like forcing myself in anyone. I also don't like the front that people put out. I don't like how some tend to stab people in the back.

I'm trying to work it out. I'm joining crowds again but it's been proving to be a challenge. I often find myself alone with my thoughts in crowds, unless I have a trusted someone beside me (that someone being either Cham or my brother.) This is why kids are way easier to connect with. I'd been making friends with a lot of kids lately.

This kid is so hyperactive and so is her imagination.

Ping is so cute and adorable!

Without knowing why, I distanced myself from my then-friends. I was probably burning bridges, checking who'd be genuinely willing to stay versus those who were there to use me. Guess what, none of them stayed. I am now required to get back with the same group of people to do what I'm supposed to, and it's been triggering dramatic moments.

Here's to a brighter future.

Rumiko Takahashi and Progressive Love (or why I love InuYasha and Ranma 1/2)

When I was young it was my daily routine to watch Hero or Animax for at least an hour. I was addicted to anime at ages 12 to 13 until it mellowed during my last two years of high school--that was when I started to take interest in reading.

Out of all the anime I'd seen, my top two would be from the same mangaka (or comic illustrator): Rumiko Takahashi. She created InuYasha and Ranma 1/2, and I am indebted to all of the laughs and kilig that I felt as I watched hundred-something episodes from the mentioned shows. I could have chosen more dark-themed anime or more action ones but somehow Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Naruto, Dragon Ball, Gundam Seed, One Piece, (not to mention Death Note which was agony to watch because it was as pretentious as raisin cookies) among others didn't make me feel as I did with her classic masterpieces.

Rumiko Takahashi. Photo stolen from the web.

Rumiko--it seems--made 2/5 of her anime as action, 2/5 as comedy, and only 1/5 was reserved for romance (Disclaimer: This was of course, pure speculation and made-up for the sake of argument). This combination makes the romantic scenes much-awaited for and it builds up enough tension for the characters involved.

InuYasha and Kagome. Another image stolen from the Internet.

Since we are already using made-up statistics regarding Rumiko's works, why not invent vocabulary to fit this article? I mentioned progressive love from the title: simply, it means a love that wasn't romanticized from the first encounter but is rather hidden and develops within the characters who are destined to be together under unavoidable circumstances (for Ranma 1/2, it would be their engagement, as for InuYasha it would be the necessary collaboration to collect the Shikon jewel shards) as the couples face various challenges.

Ranma and Akane were very shy and would hide their feelings toward each other. The author would only hint with some misplaced stares, jealousy, concern, and verbal slips. It was the same with InuYasha and Kagome--they were fighting a lot at first but would later reconcile with shy faces. You can see Ranma's concern over Akane, it is obvious with the little things: the constant way on which he catches her, the need to protect her whenever a creature would attack her. Akane, with her weak state, would do all she could to save Ranma as well. It is this similar formula that was used with InuYasha and Kagome.

The scene that almost caught my heart on fire: Ranma was really shy when he offered his hand to Akane. I think I just melted again. Even this snapshot is stolen.

This is the kind of love to root for--the kind where you're sure you are protected by the one you care about. There's not much need to talk romance; you can feel it in the air, you can almost taste it with their actions, you can see it in the way they just are. Their feelings strengthens as the show progresses and it is only when it's in full-bloom that they talk about it. This kind of love could only grow as time passes: this kind of love progresses into the future, and this is why I love InuYasha and Ranma 1/2.

Sixteen empty pages

I have all I need but a dream. I want to be nothing and everything at the same time. I am not even sure if my aspirations are my own, or if some time in the past my parents inculcated in me a certain career.

Since I was young my parents indoctrinated me with the same old "Finish your school and earn for us." As a kid, I knew that my parents were right: they sacrificed many things for me and my brother. It is only fitting to give back. As a result, somewhere in the middle I lost my own.

In the third grade, I started having interest in script-writing. I had a notebook filled with stories of a perfect young girl--the type you read from story books, practically telling you what it takes to be good. In high school, I finished a story of a group of friends with a Super Gals-Mirumo-Endless Love type of story line. Tragically, the day I took interest in reading is the same day I lost the will to write. There was a lot of well-written books to read and mine were badly written, so what was the point?

I've learnt new vocabularies from reading, it widened my horizon in understanding the human race, it made me travel to places I'd never been in, and it also killed my characters--my protagonists, villains, the extras... all of them. I remember imagining worlds and places of my own before sleeping, now I go into worlds of others. I couldn't amount to the genius of the world. My imagination was not original enough, my stories biased, and they lack the depth of character you read and watch from novels and TV series.

What is to become of me?

At 20, I should be able to gracefully string words and make magic out of them. There are hundreds of thousands of vocabulary to choose from, and somehow they are all hidden in a cave in my brain, hindering me from utilizing them in my prose. I cannot make fiction anymore. I cannot write. What is it that I can do to make this world a better place?

I'd been in limbo for ten months. You'd think I'd have done something to improve myself or the future, but I'm stuck.

The first 16 days of my January had been empty. How much more before I write the first page of my book?