Random Thoughts: July

So ayun nga. Wala akong blog post for June. Sa sobrang busy ko sa school at work hindi ko na maasikaso ang aking cyber life (LOL ang jologs). Well... ano pa nga ba ang ipo-post ko dito eh recently medyo monotonous ang mga araw ko. Aral sa umaga, work sa gabi. Nahahapo na nga ako. Isa pang bagay na medyo kinaiinisan ko this month eh yung fact na hindi ko nabisita ang dagat. Meron pa naman akong tendency na ma-demotivate kapag hindi ako nakakapag-out-of-town. So I really need to plan an impromptu trip ASAP. LOL. Ang oxymoronic no? Buti nalang meron akong mga kaibigang laging game, hehehe. Matapos lang 'tong paghihirap ko, I'll just hop on a random bus and get lost.

Recently I've been trying to reevaluate my life. Day by day, I'm starting to feel how superficial my world has become. I'm starting to realize how my daily routine has thrown me into a vacuum of conformity. I'm slowly becoming mainstream. I'm not saying that being in the mainstream is bad-- it's just that, the mainstream is putting me into a mold, a confined space, a pattern which does not fit the contours of my twisted mind.

I took a shower. It somehow washed away the unintelligible voices in my head. Then I studied myself in front of the mirror. I saw my soul. It's gray-- a sign that I've been living a predictable life. Again, the little voices are back. I banged a block of ice heavily into the wall, the thud echoed through the night. I put these shards of crystal into a glass of elixir, lit a cigarette and smoked all my worries away... the voices began to peter out. I closed my eyes and wished that I'll have a beautiful dream.

Random Thoughts: May

Nakakalungkot na isiping nagsisimula niyo pa lang buuin ang pagkakaibigan nyo'y kukunin na ni Lord yung tao. Pero wala naman tayong magagawa-- hiram lang natin ang mga buhay natin. Yung bago kong ka-team na si Rocky, maagang kinuha ng Maykapal sa edad na 22. Nasagasaan ng isang iresponsableng driver ng SUV sa pagtawid lang ng building na pinagtatrabahuhan namin. Sana, kahit na maaga kang namaalam sa pisikal na mundo ay na-enjoy mo ang iyong buhay. Kung nasaan ka man ngayon aming kaibigan, sana masaya ka. :) At sa mga taong nabubuhay pa, live your life to the fullest ;)

Anyway, I was able to visit 2 beaches na this month alone, 2 beaches din last month. Masusundan pa yata bago matapos ang buwan, pero hindi pa sure. Matabungkay Batangas nung May 8, at ang latest addition? Puting Buhangin beach sa Pagbilao, Quezon! :D

Dumiretso kami doon pagkatapos makisaya sa Pahiyas sa Lucban. Sobrang saya netong trip na 'to dahil sobrang daming nangyari sa loob lang ng 2 araw na paglalagi sa Quezon!

Beach Bumming

I love beaches. Kapag nakaupo ako sa buhangin sa tabi ng dagat, nawawala lahat ng pagod, puyat at problema ko. Nakaka-kalma ang tunog ng alon na pumapalo sa buhanginan, ang preskong simoy ng hangin at ang bughaw na langit na nakikipagtagpo sa bughaw ding tubig ng karagatan.

Enough of the Balagtasan style of writing.

Sobrang saya ko na I was able to hit two beaches in just one month, namely Aurora and Zambales. At gusto ko pa uling pumunta sa beach! Mukhang mapapadalas ang dalaw ko sa dagat dahil sobrang nag-enjoy ako kasama ang mga kaibigan ko, pero minsan ita-try ko ring magpunta sa dagat ng mag-isa. Ano kayang feeling nun? :)

So eto ang listahan ng mga dagat na nasa Luzon lang na gusto ko puntahan. 'Wag muna sa Visayas at Mindanao dahil malaki-laking ipunan yun hehehe.

1. CALAGUAS ISLAND, Camarines Norte.
(photo from rycerocks.multiply.com)

2. CAGBALETE ISLAND, Quezon Province.(photo from gurlastig.files.wordpress.com)

3. JOMALIG ISLAND, Quezon Province.
(photo from expat-blog.com)

4. MAGALAWA ISLAND, Zambales.
(photo from flickr.com/vinson010986)

5. BALAKI ISLAND, Pangasinan
(photo from lantaw.blogspot.com)

So hindi nyo naman napansin na gusto ko sa mga pulo no? Hehe. So what are you waiting for? If you wanna go to these places, just hit me up and let's plan our trip LOL

A Love-Hate Relationship

A typically boring and hot Sunday afternoon: there I was, sitting beside the window with a lit menthol cigarette in one hand and a tumbler of iced coffee in the other, staring blankly at a wall awkwardly positioned beside our house, insipidly glaring back as if telling me to get a life and do something more worthwhile than beholding his holy humdrumness. How I wish I could Mr. Wall, for a flat-broke idler like me has got nothing better to do.

That's when I felt her presence.

I then remembered that it is inevitable to meet her during this time of the year. I would imagine her in her usual airy floral dress, sporting a straw hat and a pair of lightweight sandals. Her complexion ever flawless, so radiant that it renders her practically shadowless. She smells like the warm ocean breeze-- the gentle scent of the sea wafted to a garden filled with jasmines in full bloom, then to my nose... oh, how nostalgic.

My eyes, still fixed at the equally bored wall, finally gave out and motioned to the dying stick of poison twiddled by my fingers. A dream sequence played inside my head, and suddenly I was cast to the theater of my childhood memories again. I've been trying so hard to decipher what my id wants my ego to realize, but a single recurring scene haunts me in all of my afternoon reveries: me as a little boy, squatting, back leaning on a faded concrete wall that keeps me away from the sun, snacking on a slice of shabbily-made pizza. Weirdly enough, I always wondered what's with the wall and the sun that they always evoke a sinking feeling when I see them together.

Summer has always been my childhood sweetheart.

Shiyet

So eto na naman po kami ng PUP sa aming mala-wild goose chase na enrollment processes. Susko. Kararating ko lang ng bahay galing sa school at hindi rin ako nakapag-enroll. Andaming proseso na hindi naman inaasikaso ng mga tanggapan na dapat nag-aasikaso. Shiyet lang talaga. Next week ay Semana Santa na at good luck kung meron pang mag-asikaso sa office nun kapag hindi ko natapos to bukas. Pansin ko lang din ha, nung mga nakaraang araw eh puro rants lang ang posts ko dito. Grrrrrrr. Wala na akong oras para makapag-contemplate man lang sa buhay ko.

Early Morning Rant

Haaay. Coffee shop operations na naman come Monday. Isang week na naman akong pagod na pagod. Sa totoo lang eto na ata ang pinaka-ayaw kong parte ng pag-aaral ko ng HRM. 1 week na naman akong bangag, dahil kung hindi ka naman ba ulanin ng malas, nataon na ngang midterms week namin nung unang term namin eh pati ba naman sa pangalawang pagkakataon ay nataon ang finals. Iniisip ko palang kung paano ko ipapasa ang mga final exams ko eh nababaliw na ako. Andami pang requirements na hindi ko naman pwedeng pagsabayin. Bwisit na buhay 'to o. Pagdadasal ko nalang talaga na wala akong ibagsak na subject sa taon na 'to dahil kung nagkataon, chugi na ako sa PUP.

Simba-simbahan

Sa wakas, sa tinagal-tagal ng nilalagi ko sa Manila ay na-Kodakan ko na ang napaka-kontrobersyal na San Sebastian Church sa San Miguel. Actually sinamahan ko lang magsimba si Megs dito dahil gusto nya rin makita ang loob. Ang masasabi ko lang-- wow. Walang katulad sa buong Pilipinas ang all-steel Neo-Gothic architectural style ng simbahang 'to. Nagkaroon naman ako ng pagkakataong retratuhan ang loob ng simbahan kaso boloks naman kaya hindi ko nalang ipo-post LOL. At nag-attempt din akong kunan ang simbahan ng San Agustin dahil sa dinami-dami ng beses ko nang napuntahan 'yun, wala parin akong matinong picture. Resulta? Wala paren hahaha. Hindi talaga photogenic ang lola ng lahat ng simbahan sa Pinas-- pero masasabi kong ito so far ang pinakamaganda sa lahat (lalo na ang Baroque style neto sa loob) ng simbahang nakita ko.

It's such a shame na nagawa ko ngang HDR ang picture ko ng San Sebastian sa taas pero yung "pseudo" effect naman. Hindi ko parin matantsa ang conversion gamit ang multi-bracketed photos. Aaaarrrggh somebody help me!

Sana may furnace yun tutuluyan namin sa Baguio this coming weekend. Parang trip ko yung fireside kwentuhan at inuman with matching lutuan ng DIY smores. Yumm!

Random Thoughts: February

My God. I haven't been updating my other blogs for quite some time now. Yung ECCLESIOPHILIA blog ko tungkol sa different churches around the metro and GROCERY GOURMET about food experiments. Isang indikasyon lang na medyo busy ako sa ibang bagay ngayon. In short, I'm kinda not enjoying my life as of the moment. Or am I not? Medyo. I need a breather. Buti nalang nalalapit na ang trip namin to Baguio for the Panagbenga. Yay! I'm so excited!

Yup, May Something

Today officially magsisimula ang College Week namin. Ang loser diba? College week pero halfway thru the week magsisimula LOL. Well I think that's better than no College Week at all right? So eto ako ngayon, nasa bahay, nagpapakasarap at ninanamnam ang buhay ng estudyanteng walang pasok bwahahahahaha!

Anyway, bukas pala ay magke-cater kami for the Alumni Homecoming. Kung sisipagin ako eh pupunta ako para tumulong, anyway ike-credit naman yun sa number of hours kong pagtatrabaho (FYI: yung coffee shop operations namin dinaig pa ang practicum sa number of hours. San ka). Hindi rin kasi ako nae-excite, nahihiya pa kamo dahil baka makita ako ng mga original batchmates ko (2003).

So just to be sure na walang pasok, nag-text ako sa friend ko na prof.

"Dah (Daryll), may pasok ba ang mga major subjects ngayon?"

"Wala. Pati next week wala."

"Bakit daw? You mean the whole week next week?"

"Yup, may something."


LOLLLLL. What an answer!

Quarter Life Crisis

There's something about February, the early morning crowd, the dawn moon, the pedestrian crossing and EDSA that made me feel so lonely today.

It was still dark, and I am amongst the sea of people waiting for the traffic lights to turn red so we can cross the other side of the street. Although it is already a common sight, the swarm sort of astounded me-- what on earth are these people doing in the streets at this ungodly hour? It was already 5 AM; I really don't know what has gotten into my head that made me ask myself this obviously stupid question.

The stoplight already signaled the crowd to pass through. While I was walking amidst these faceless strangers, a surge of black bile rushed into my heart-- suddenly, I felt alone.

Everything was in slow-mo while the moon, veiled with thick haze, smiled at me sarcastically. A torrent of memories in black and white flashed on my mind like a sixpence cinema. I remembered my childhood, my carefree and simple life as a little boy. I remembered all the friends I've gained and lost along the way. I remembered how I spent my summer afternoons at home, with the whole family, all together watching an infamous noontime show.

Everything has changed.