Revisiting our History: Exploring the Caves of Biak na Bato

       If you are looking for an adventure and in lieu of recent events you feel the need to revisit your historical perspectives, then look no further: this Biak na Bato National Park guide, complete with sample itinerary and budget proposal is exactly what you need.

            Biak na Bato is situated near Manila, and you can visit it on your own time whenever you feel like it--that means no need for scheduled tours which do not align with your day-offs!

Where to Go

            Biak na Bato National Park is located in San Miguel, Bulacan, conveniently only three hours away from Metro Manila. The national park boasts of hundreds of caves, some still remaining unexplored. In our day tour package we explored six historical caves that served as the Katipuneros' reception area, hospital, storage, and ambush sites for  Emilio Aguinaldo and his troops way back in the 1890's.

How to Get There

            From Cubao, ride a bus with a sign going to Cabanatuan. In our case, we took an ES Transport bus and asked to be dropped off at Camias Tricyle Station. Your landmark will be a clock tower with St. Paul University to the right. The fare is only P117. From Camias, ride a tricycle and ask to be dropped off at Biak na Bato National Park. The tricycle can fit up to four people and the travel time is about 25 minutes. The tricycle fare is priced at P150.

Once You're There

            The Park has a fee for entrance regularly priced at P50 for adults. Due to vandalism and other instances that could damage the park, visitors are no longer allowed to spelunk without tour guides. For Biak na Bato, the tour guides are locals in the area and you will need to negotiate the price with them. We took the tour for Yungib caves I, II, III, (Ambush Cave, Hospital Cave, and Imbakan Cave), Tanggapan Cave, Pahingahan Cave, and Bat Cave priced at P800. For this adventure, it was only me and my boyfriend so it was a bit pricey on our end. The more the merrier, and of course, the cheaper the ambagan! According to our tour guide, they can take up to 15 people per guide.

            There's only one carinderia in the national park so it's advisable to bring packed lunch. With all the walking, you'd need to bring some biscuits and loads of water, too!

Spelunking Galore

This is the park's entrance, complete with the map the guides will use to inform you of your tour package.

            Since we came in a bit late, the tour guide led us to some shortcuts through the caves. Cool thing was, she owns a tricycle so we got a ride for free. We visited the Yungib caves first, followed by Ambush and Tanggapan.

Some caves will require you to go through ladders like this

            The tour took us only 3 hours since we didn't go inside Bat Cave due to time constraints. It was already 5:30 pm and the sun was going down by the time we got to Bat Cave's view deck.

            The tour guides will give you a look back to the 1890's, complete with how the Katipuneros strategized to ambush Spaniard soldiers and how they used codes to make sure you were not a spy. My favorite cave would be the ambush cave where the cave ceilings were so low and we literally had to squeeze ourselves into the rocks.

Posing near Bat Cave's view deck

            You also have the option to swim in the river inside the park. No need to worry about changing clothes since there are bathrooms located inside and outside Biak na Bato's national park.

            As promised, the sample itinerary complete with the budget proposal for two persons:

Sample Itinerary

8:00 AM	Departure from Cubao
11:00 AM	Arrival at Camias Tricycle Station
11:05 AM	Departure from Camias
11:30 AM	Arrival at Biak na Bato National Park
11:35 AM	Eat lunch
12:30 PM	Start spelunking!
3:30 PM	Back to the entrance of National Park
3:35 PM	Departure from Biak na Bato to Camias
4:05 PM	Arrival at Camias, eat merienda
5:00 PM	Departure from Camias, ride bus to Cubao
8:00 PM	Arrival back to Cubao Station

Budget Proposal (for two people)

Bus fare back and forth	P234
Tricycle fare back and forth	P150
Tour guide	P400
Food and drinks	P200
Total	P984/person

             The adventure was well worth it. For less than a thousand pesos, you'd get the adventure you are looking for, complete with the tranquil of the province and the historical knowledge on how Emilio Aguinaldo and his troops fought back against the Spaniards. Maybe that's what we need--a little review on our history every now and then--to awaken the sleeping nationalistic Juan in all of us and remind us who the real enemy is.

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?

Twenty things and twenty-one mistakes

I remember lying in bed, imagining a sophisticated woman wearing red heels and tight skirt. She has makeup all over her face, her shiny black hair in a bun, and you can almost smell success from her scent. I thought by the time I was 20 I'd be her.

Seven years later and instead... I'm me. I haven't finished college. I have 1.25 per cent--which equates to 3 units of research--left to receive that much-awaited diploma. I am not sexy nor confident. My hair is longer than my arms and it still sticks out no matter how much molding clay I apply. I don't even know how to put makeup on and I don't wear perfume anymore. Success is twenty feet high and I am stuck on the ground. 

My defense mechanism to this dissonance was, of course, to do nothing. All my life, I learnt that by not doing, I couldn't be blamed for anything. I can, however, blame my parents for bringing me into this cruel imperfect world. For so long this was my mindset: I don't like my existence and the responsibilities that came with it.

Eight months--this imperfection troubled me for eight months. I was paralyzed. I needed to rethink my life and thank God--thank God He enlightened me through His words. I know now how my heart is deceitful and how I shall not let it fool me.

I've done twenty things and twenty-one mistakes. I'm willing to accept that, pick myself from the ground, and start again.

Success is not about what people think of me. I am the measure of my success and I don't need my family's, friends', or society's opinion regarding my choices. I am rebuilding myself with this philosophy in mind: I don't need to fit into anyone's preferences. My choices will be wrong, I will stumble again, and I will try again the next day.

This is my imperfect life and I am willing to accept it now--to let it flow freely, knowing that God will be there to support me.

False awakening and lucid dreaming: The terror and the fun

A plain grey door is facing you. You turn the knob and encounter a gruel-looking monster whose features are similar to Marvel's Groot, only he is less adorable. Of course you become frightened... but then you realize, "Where am I and why would such a creature exist in the real world? A-ha! I'm dreaming! I am now lucid, I can make it better!" And make it better, you did. The walls become clearer, the monster become kinder. Everything is light now. Just as you wanted.

For a few moments you are actually having fun and feeling triumphant since you've been wishing to have another lucid dream for a long time. What makes it better than just being aware is that you were also controlling it. Still joyous, you look to your right when all of a sudden, you find that something dark is eating up the wall. You become afraid and lose control: the whole place becomes even bleaker and worse than before. What should you do? You bite your fingers and you feel the pain but you are still there. Your brain is making a fool out of you by stimulating the sense of pain. How do you wake up? Com'on body, wake up!

The thought of not being able to escape the nightmare that you have created is eating up your insides and making your heart beat fast. How do you wake up? How do you wake up? You struggle for what seemed like five minutes looking for a way out until everything turns black. Your eyelids open and you find yourself lying on the floor, the thought of escaping the previous nightmare making you happy. You look around and you thought to yourself, "Where the hell am I? What the hell are they?" They look a lot like horses but if they were horses, shouldn't they be standing on four feet? You are still dreaming. You have not awoken. You have been fooled again by your own subconscious.

This makes you panic even more: what the actual fudge? This is similar to what happens to movies--Inception much? Wake up! Wake up! How do you wake up? Contrary to popular belief, biting and the sense of pain won't do it. The world collapses around you, the familiar blackness engulfed your sight, and all of a sudden you find yourself lying on a hard floor. This might be it. You don't know how, but maybe you have woken up for real. You open your eyes, and lo and behold... another fantasy world with queer surroundings and surreal creatures. Seriously? You know you are dreaming but you have no idea how to wake up, so you list all the inconsistencies you experience in your head. In the real world, no such colorful tree with candies as fruits exist. In the real world, people look human, not like hairy animals wearing suits and carrying suitcases. Damn it, why aren't you still waking?

You are trapped. You jump in your dream and you walk but your body seems to be still: you must have woken up if your body was acting out together with your mind. And then that does it--it makes you remember that 9gag post you read about sleep paralysis. You might not be able to wake up at all unless somebody wakes you hard. What if you end up trapped here until you die?

Another blackout. Your head feels light and you wake up to the familiar light-blue misplaced tiles in your house. You are home. You brush your teeth and you talk with your brother. It's dinner time and you were watching a movie. Wait, what? Why is everything happening like you were still in a dream, in such a way that successions were really fast? This isn't the way in the real life. Time. Where's the time your spent idle? You are still dreaming! Your heart beats faster than ever. How long will you be trapped in your dream world? How much sense of fear of being trapped, being lucid, and being helpless all at the same time should you suffer before it all ends?

Something shakes you and you wake up to a mere blackness. You feel the familiar pillow you used and the mini comforter you spread out on the sofa. You are awake now... aren't you?

The story of our family's little brave-heart

A mother whose depression and anxiety was manifested through her screeching wails that can be heard through the thin walls separating our houses, a father whose gambling addiction was taking a toll on his family's poverty, and a sister who grew up to endless screams and ended up mentally retarded--this is the kind of family Harry was born into. To make things worse for him, Harry can be considered an 'accident.'

It was around 2 am on the sixth of November (if I remember it correctly) when we heard Nanay shouting her lungs out in front of our door, "Myrna, manganganak na si Cecil!" My mother, who is a midwife, got up right away, took some utensils from Tita Cecil (who was a government nurse), and helped her younger sister deliver birth. For nine months, Tita thought she was nurturing a single child inside her womb. My mother also believed her ordeal was over after successfully taking out a bloody baby boy (later named Harold) and handing him over to Nanay. She was puzzled when she noticed another human being encapsulated in the womb: after a few minutes of tugging and carefully holding the infant's head--there he was, the unexpected twin baby brother: Harry.

The twins were extremely good-looking but badly taken care of. I would hear Tita Cecil crying and wailing against the two babies' cries of hunger, "Bakit ba kasi ganito ang buhay ko? Hirap na hirap na 'ko!" She would yell to her heart's content until everybody in our cramped neighborhood was awake and Nanay would have to comfort her and the three kids. Hilary, the oldest of them who was three years old, not understanding any better, would sometimes chime in. When there's calm, I would visit the babies, play with them, and put them to sleep. Sometimes, the calm was because the babies were left to their own cribs and Tita has gone off somewhere. 

When times got so hard, Tita Cecil would try to commit suicide by blocking the jeepneys going through our street. She also attempted to jump off the Tullahan bridge. You'd think she was bluffing until the day after her daughter's fourth birthday, when she hanged herself to death on their upper floor. I can vividly recall that moment when Nanay, looking a lot weary and older, told me to come over and look at Tita's lifeless body on the floor. Nanay said her body was still warm when she saw her and she shouted as loud as she could to notify everyone. It was too late.

Their house was later evacuated: Tito Allan, the father of the three and widower of my departed Tita, Harold, and Hilary would live in Caloocan leaving Harry to my grandparents. In turn, the house's leasing charges would be given to Tito Allan. Harry grew up with us in the tiny compound, nourished by Nanay and Tatay, but his siblings were less lucky. Hilary and Harold lived in a tiny cardboard shelter which roof would fly along with the wind during a storm. Harold was way darker than Harry, his teeth untended, and he would speak colloquial and swear words. Harold, being calmer and kinder, was my favorite of the twin when they were babies. Due to their living conditions, as kids Harry became more well-mannered.

Harold would sustain his and his sister's food by scrapping, as noticeable by his distress when we would throw away plastic, "Akin nal lang. a! Pwedeng pang-kalakal 'to!" Tito Allan was a failure of a father who would spend his nights gambling. Some days, he would come to the compound and would take Harry with him and leave Harold with Nanay. One such unfortunate day was when Harold took Harry's yellow bike and drove off to the street, only to meet a fatal accident with a jeepney at the corner of the road. Harry lost his twin brother to excessive blood loss due to his lung's injury. However, the one to take the hardest blow was his eldest sister. During his funeral, Hilary would mutter, "Wala na. Wala na si Harold, wala na akong kasama. Ikaw na lang Mama ko, Tita, Wala na 'kong mama e." It was heartbreaking.

Almost a year later, Harry would lose his second father figure as well. Our dearest Tatay passed away last August to a heart attack.

I don't know how much an eight-year-old boy could endure. Similar to his sister, Harry is suffering from a mental illness perhaps brought up by Tita Cecil's upbringing with endless screams and forced alcohol consumption (both by Tita and Nanay) when he was an infant. It's hard for him to focus at school and learning to read is quite catastrophic. He has such an unfortunate family background (although I have dysfunctional relatives as a whole) and he has experienced so much loss in the few years of his life. I cannot speak for his pain nor can I gauge how far he understood. All I know is that the kid definitely needs some loving. Right now, he walks from school back home alone and would help Nanay in selling ice candy and gelatin on the street afterwards. What a little brave-heart.

Our little William Wallace

Popcorn lovin' and poppin'

Yesterday, I decided it was time to finally consume some popcorn that we have stored in the pantry. They've been silently sitting there for half a year at least, and I just read this Internet article that said it's good to have popcorn for snacks. As a kitchen apprentice who couldn't cook pancakes without breaking them apart, I asked my mother some guidelines on how to properly handle the popcorn.

Mom simply said, "Just cook them in low heat, like the way you do with pancakes."

I'd never seen her prepare the popcorn--they just magically appeared on my plate--so I never really had any clue on what I was doing. And so there I was, heating the pan in low heat and readying myself to throw in some corn-popping experience.

The first few seconds were calm and full of apprehension: the seconds that followed were full of popcorn flying in every direction possible. How can I not know that they pop like fireworks? There were a few that popped low and managed to remain on the pan, and then there were some that managed to fly to the sink, to the floor, to the table, and to the refrigerator. It's like they decided it's time to conquer our kitchen.

As the chaos ensued, I thought to myself, 'Mom, you could have told me to cover the pan.'

I learned from then on and covered the pan for the next batches. As for the first few that rebelled against my will, well, it's gross but I still ate most of them. I picked them up and put them straight where they belong--to my mouth.

I love popcorn and each of them deserves to be treated equally, even if they've been to unlikely places, like the carpet for example.

This is not a scam: Read to the end and win up to P100,000 in two easy steps!

 Scams are everywhere. We see posted text exchanges between a scammer and a victim shared in social media which is often funny when the 'victim' outsmarts the scammer. We've read about the application available in Google Play that doesn't really amazingly and impossibly turn your phone cameras into X-ray, and you've probably seen a 'LOSE 50 lbs in a day! Try these super easy two steps to a flat belly!' advertisement on a website.

 Now, now... we've heard enough scams on bigger scale (Napoles, congressmen, and senators, I'm looking at you) but this does not discuss that. I just want to tell you about the little scams I've heard of and have been experienced by people I know even though you've probably heard them too... because I can and have the time.

TEXT SCAMS. Some people have been fooled by this and they've lost significant amount of money. Scammers pretend as OFWs abroad while some would claim as a family member who's been into an accident, he's in the hospital, please send money and load by the thousands immediately even though he won't tell exactly where he is.

I haven't received any of those kind except for the usual 'YOU WON A P100,000 CLAIM YOUR PRICE AT THIS HOTEL IN CEBU.' Quite shockingly, my godmother who never joined any raffle promos actually believed this crook and gave out P20,00 expecting a return of P100,000. Go figure.

One seen solution to stop this text scams altogether is to have registered sim cards. That way, text messages can be traced. However, we are yet to see results as the TELCOM companies argue that it would be too much burden on their side. We are well behind the technology and security that first world countries enjoy. Registered sims will be beneficial in the long term, but then again, we need to look at the people who are in power and how they conduct their transactions.

RECRUITING AGENCY SCAMS. You know how the system goes--you pay them and they help process your papers to companies they are connected with abroad. You need to give them money of course, and they don't come cheap. Scam agencies will suddenly disappear without a trace together with your hard-earned money and your dream as a hard-earning-worker-abroad.

My friend's father wanted a stable job abroad and joined a recruiting agency. The whole family thought it was their way out of poverty, only to realize that the agency was a scam even though they've done a Google search on them. It would be wise to check which agencies the Department of Foreign Affairs lists as legit. Besides, anybody can put up a website that looks credible.

LOAN SCAMS. The scammer employee asks an accomplice to open an account. The employee then tweaks his account information and digitally enters an amount in tens of thousands. The next day, the accomplice will withdraw the amount and walks away with a hundred thousand pesos. Meanwhile, the employee lives luxuriously out of the institution's money.

I can't disclose important information as it may negatively affect a certain corporation's name. The flaw here is the security of the digital exchanges, as it gives power to those who input such information. It shouldn't be the case. It is better to pay off IT and computer engineer experts than to lose money by millions because the system is heavily unsecured.


It's sad that these scams exist. Can't everybody just work hard and receive as is due? These scammers are intelligent in such a way that they manipulate people's feelings, blindside, and vulnerability, but they are also pathetic.

Poverty is a burden almost all the countries have to live with (behold, the beloved United States has its share of homeless, too) and in third world countries it's a vicious cycle we have to endure. It's sad how this state has turned us into arschlocher as the Germans would put it. Yes, I read The Book Thief.

Wayback Wednesday

I never liked (pre-social media meaning) Throwback Thursday or Flashback Friday photos so much but when I accidentally came across our old pictures... screw it, I thought, I'm participating.

The past is something we carry into our present and future and photos are good way of preserving moments in our lives. The following pictures weren't scanned but photographed again. So meta.

Taken seven years ago with le baby brother.

Taken when I was three years old. This was my Ninang's wedding.

Jayson when he was around two years old

I capture moments but not that much because the megapixels of my phone camera are limiting. My mother's new phone, however...

I hope I could get more of these. My mother was very pretty when she was young and I'd love to show off but most of our albums are hidden away in a faraway province.

Feb Fair 2014

 My Feb Fair 2013 was fun but this year... this year tops all the other fair I'd ever been to.

 First, I got to see Up Dharma Down (UDD) live last February 12. We heard that they were to perform at 11 pm so Ash and I took a nap, drank our Swiss Miss (my other true love) and coffee to keep us warm and then marched off to the Fair Grounds at Freedom Park.

We jived with the other amateur bands and Mude until I felt my bladder getting heavier and heavier. Damn them coffee and Swiss Miss. We searched for restrooms, begged the guard from Women's Dorm, and walked miles to no avail until we heard the jocks introduced UDD. I mean, we were tired and heavy-bladder-burdened, but hey, UDD was so awesome!


 On Feb 13, we went to the grounds earlier at 8:30, this time with Cham. It was important we came across every booth because it was our last Fair together. (It also was important we cleared out our bladders before leaving, too). We were impressed by the fire-throwing acts and the extremely pogi kuya among them.

The only closest to decent shot I could ever get of the extremely pogi fire-throwing kuya. I'm so sorry my phone camera was low res.

We went to a photo booth. If you look closely, you'll see Cham and Ash talking at the wrong instances.

 We then enjoyed the ever fast Ferris wheel. It was still fast and all, but my experience the second time around didn't match my excitement about it. We rode the ironically very funny Horror Train. Oh boy, my stomach hurt a lot from laughing from that one.

We were sad about waiting in line for the Ferris wheel.

The Ferris wheel where all the screaming noises come from.

We were so tired after three hours of standing, waiting in line, and eating isaw but it was worth it. I don't have a bunch of close friends, just this two, and I'm so glad to have spent my two Fairs with them.

The both of them are gorgeous.

Ash and I feeling the grass beneath.

Cham and I spreading our skirts like they were dresses.

I feel both happy and sad about this. Happy, because Ash will be graduating soon and sad, because we won't be seeing each other in a few months.

Batangas is love

My family together with my grandma and two cousins from my mother side decided to have a vacation at Batangas where my other relatives are. My kins from my father side live there and we make it a must to visit them annually, at least. My other cousin (Rona) and godfather from Taguig went there too so we had a little family reunion.

On the first day, December 30, we went to the lake where we got to swim away the worries. They tried to teach me to swim with my head up from the water. For an asthmatic, it's really troublesome when you can't stay swimming for a long time (except when floating of course).

From the left: Mae, Grandma, Harry, Mama, J, Me, Ninong Nanding, and Papa.

We had a pictorial on the way home after the swim. From the bottom: Harry, Mae, Rona, Me, and J.

The rest of the day, I took a long sleep and woke up only to eat and sing on the karaoke. They had a nice sound system, as in they had huge speakers that stood higher that a toddler. I enjoyed calling the rain but it didn't really hear me.

My aunts served us good food, which I chose not to eat much of because my cousin Rona has lost a lot of weight and now I'm bigger than her, and that's depressing.

On the second day, we went earlier to swim so that our skin won't burn too much. I didn't want to go after an hour or so because I was practicing but the oldies were itching to go home, so us kids (ehem) didn't have much choice.

Notice that we changed clothes. From the left: Me, Mae, and Rona.

Later, Harry--the little kid that we bullied way too much--broke down and cried when my godfather took a shot of him taking a bath naked. He cried like a spoiled brat. I mocked him which made him madder and then he threw stuff away. I love and hate that kid at the same time. He's such a pain in the arse sometimes.

By the afternoon, Rona, J, and I went with our cousins (Kuya Jun and Kuya Danny who was a tricycle driver) to Tanuan which was a thirty-minute ride away from our location. I wish I could post here photos of the nice scenes my eyes feasted on. That night we had a good night of karaoke (yet again!) and a bunch of our relatives finally arrived.

On the third day, the first of the Gregorian Calendar year 2014, we had to say goodbye. We took the chance to take more photos instead before leaving.

Shot was taken on the third day morning, an hour before we said our goodbyes. That's me with Rona. She's lost a LOT of weight from dieting. Mom says it's because she's got discipline which I lack.

That's me standing in the middle of Papa and J.

Those days were well spent with good food and kind people. How I wish every day of my life could be a replica of those moments.