Tired

I wouldn't pretend that I'm okay when I'm not. I wouldn't pretend that don't feel used and needed only on crises. I wouldn't pretend that I feel like I'm other's unlimited personal bank account, always withdrawing and never depositing anything. I wouldn't pretend that that I'm happy and bubbly, when all I'm about to be is break down, when all I need is a hand to hold, an ear to listen, and a shoulder to cry on.

No direction

Having been a "bum" (mildly speaking) for the past few months have been nothing but a rollercoaster ride.

I mean, sure, I got to rest (which, by the way, I heavily needed), but having no actual goal or destination so to speak makes it a little bit boring.

No, I haven't been lazying around all the time. I have traveled a bit since I resigned, to be honest.

It's just that career-wise, I feel like there's nothing else for me.

When your fuel runs out

Sometimes, you try to be strong, not for anyone, but yourself. And when the fuel runs out, it's what's most scary. Because then you realize that there's nothing to be strong about, that there's nothing but false hopes, false pretenses, and you've only been denying to yourself one of the few things that is constant in this life - and that at one point or another, each and every one of us would die.

Shattered, Broken beyond repair

From http://quotlr.com/

Who would want to be with someone like me? Like a discarded piece of trash, like a broken China doll? Sure it may look like I'm all pretty and all made up outside, that when you talk to me there is nothing wrong, but when you find out about the deepest secrets that lurk in the corners of my dark, deranged self, no one would be able to stomach the horrors that live in them.

"I love you." Who knew that those three, simple words would be so difficult portray? Much more even say?

But, alas, I couldn't. I shouldn't. It's suicide.

Batanes Trip - North Batan

This is a diary of my travel to Batanes.

Basco Airport

We landed at Basco Airport at 8:28 AM. Similar to Caticlan Airport, it was a small airport with one landing strip. After getting off the plane we were asked to register before reaching the arrival area.

It was drizzling when we arrived. Or maybe it was the low clouds. Either way, you're bound to get cold and wet with this kind of weather.

After arriving at the hotel (which was only a few minutes away), I was given some papers to fill out. I was then escorted to my room. The room was pretty decent and had the basic necessities - comfy bed, lights, hot water (yes, it's a must!). It also comes with an air conditioning unit, which I probably won't need given the weather.

Cebu

Cebu here I come! :D

It's been a while since I last rode a plane, so I'm pretty excited when I booked my trip to Cebu. Although I've gone to different places outside the country (SG, JP, CND, and HK), I haven't really done much travelling domestically. If at all, I was only able to get around the Philippines because of a company trip, or because of school. Other than Galera and Boracay, this will by my other non-work and non-school related trip.

Our scheduled Cebu trip isn't exactly a lot - it's for 3 days and 2 nights. My purpose in going to Cebu wasn't so much to experience a lot of the tourist activities or destinations, but to take pictures around as much as I can (that's my usual reason for going to one place). So, you can expect no moving along the edge of a sky scraper or doing mission impossible feats in Cebu. I'm here to relax, not to stress myself out. :P

2013

From http://www.argeltiburcio.com/

December of 2012. I ended that year with a plan. I quit my job, decided to take a few months off work, then will head to New Zealand with my sister after their one month vacation in the Philippines. From there I would stay for three months, weigh things out, see if I could get a job, and if not, go back to the Philippines and start looking for a new one.

That was the original plan coming to 2013. By May I would be in New Zealand, and if fate wasn't on my side I would be back around August. Basically it would take more than half of the year. But, not everything goes according to plan.

Love stories

From weheartit.com

I love reading love stories. It's sort of a way for me to "live" life in a way I probably wouldn't. It's a way to dream about things that wouldn't probably happen to me.

I'm a hopeless romantic. In as much as I am a "realistic" person, I often dream of finding that "someone" I would probably spend the rest of my life with. Yeah, dreamy. But up to this day, it still remains as a dream.

Still my favorite scene so far

I was tinkering with my laptop (having nothing better to do), and I saw a copy of a 2006 Spring Drama I watched when I was in Japan. The title of the drama was "Delicious Proposal". It's the story of Katsuragi Haruki, a young restaurant owner, and Shiraishi Suzuko, the restaurant's top chef. I decided to watch it again, although I have done so a million times already.

Watching it made me remember why I liked the drama so much.

Here is a rough translation of my favorite scene.

Abundant Blessings

I just heard this from the sermon the pastor gave during the service, and I just can't help but be amazed.

This happened after a house blessing the pastor conducted. After the house blessing, the owner of the house approached the pastor and told him of how much blessings he has received from the Lord.

The guy was in a relationship with his then wife for 9 years. Being broke, he can't afford to go on a date, much more propose to the girl. One day while on his way home, he heard an announcement on the radio promo. The radio station was giving away 2 free tickets to Gary V.'s concert. Since he didn't have anything to lose he decided to join the promo. A little while after, the DJ gave the name of the lucky person who won the 2 tickets - and that person was him.

Due to English Only Policy

My comedic farewell letter when I left my job more than 6 months ago. AFAIK there's no bitterness in there so I don't mind posting this.

I know it's a bit corny. Just bear with it. :P

================================================
Subject: Due to the English Only Policy

I wanna run to you (when I need something)

From http://www.foximus.com/

I have, somewhat, accepted the fact that my family will, for the most part, only remember me when they need something. Still, it's unnerving at times when this is proven right.

Recently my brother had been messaging me on Facebook. He was asking where I am, how I am doing, and the like. It's very peculiar for my brother to suddenly ask me all these questions, primarily because we're not particularly the best of brothers. I felt that something was up, and it didn't take me a week to find out. After a few days, he messaged me on Facebook, asking if his wife can borrow some money.

Not that I am surprised. Like I said, I've long accepted the fact that family members only remember me when they need something. I did ask what the money was for, and he was more than happy to answer. In the end I agreed to lend them the money with the "assurance" that they'll pay me back eventually. (There were even messages that I received multiple times, i.e. where they can get the money or sheepishly denying why he was suddenly asking how I was, but I'll just think that it's the network provider who sent the messages multiple times).

Updates

Picture from wolfescape.com

I'm still alive. I just haven't been able to post anything lately.

It's been more than a month since my last post. Well, work and workout has been taking a lot of my time lately and so I haven't been able to churn any ideas for the next chapter of my ongoing series.

So what has been happening the past few weeks/months?

Truths and Wrongs

Photo from Pinterest

Most of us have beliefs that we consider the truth. Some people, though, tend to be defensive when those "truths" that they hold are contested. They try to rationalize, justify, or sometimes even counter other people's "truths" that do not fit in with the "truths" they believe in. They create double standards just to accommodate their "truths", or worse, just shut off or put in bad light the people who counter them, and no matter how hard you try to explain to them, they wouldn’t listen. They compromise everything else so as not to compromise their own "truths". Because they value these "truths" too much, they tend to close everything else. And that's the hardest part - trying to reason with (or open) someone that has decided to be closed.

Changes

Something is brewing in the horizon. I can't give any details yet as nothing's final, but if it pushes through then there would be a lot of changes in my plans for the next couple of months (or years maybe).

It was the first time in a couple of years (or probably as far as I can remember) that I really wanted something. Based from my initial assessment I find it very interesting, and at the same time a good avenue for me to learn. If it pushes through, I don't think I won't be disappointed. But of course, it'll still depend on what God has in store for me. I just can't force my way through it.

If I pass, I'll take it as a sign. ^_^

[2013-03-23] UPDATE: Yey, I passed! All that I'm waiting for is the offer. Let's hope that it's good. Well, still a week before my personal deadline. :)

Las Ventanas

As I have nothing better to do I decided to go out and take a trip at least once a month. Last January it was in HK. February was Tagaytay.

How did Tagaytay happen? Well, I was looking through some group buying sites and I noticed a deal for a bed and breakfast in Tagaytay. Since I haven't done any picture taking, and the deal was pretty okay, I decided to buy a voucher and go with a friend.

The voucher included the following:
- 3d2n stay at Las Ventanas Bed and Breakfast
- Welcome drinks
- Breakfast and Dinner included
- 2 sessions of 1 hour massage
- Use of the pool

Actually, seeing the massage was all I needed to buy the voucher. :P

HongKong and Macau

Last January I had my first trip outside the country - or my first trip for the year - Hong Kong!

The Hong Kong trip was planned long ago - tickets were booked waaay in advance - you know it - seat sales. The date was set, but it took as a while to book a hotel. We wanted to make sure that even if we won't be staying for more than 10 hours a day in the hotel it would be a very comfortable stay, but at a reasonable price. Once the hotel was booked and the itinerary created, we just had to wait for the appointed date and time.

Truth be told, there were some apprehensions as the days went by. One of the reasons was that people were telling us to be very careful - apparently there have been a lot of people who experienced rudeness with the locals. Googling about it doesn't help either. But, we still decided to push through with it - we'll just bite back if needed. :P

Our itinerary consisted of visiting theme mostly theme parks - there were a couple of changes in the itinerary as we went along depending on the volume of people in certain areas, but overall we were able to get to most of the original ones. :)

I won't go into much detail of what happened during our trip, but I've put in a summary of what transpired during the day. I've also posted the pictures in the Facebook profile and have set them to public. I've included the links below for your to see HongKong through my eyes (or in this case, through my camera. :P)

24 Hours

Today was a very busy day.

Well, actually it all started yesterday evening.

So I went to Makati to drop off some crinkles for my former officemates at Macquarie (crinkles I bought from our Baguio Trip a couple of weeks back), and then I remembered that there's a Dev C get together that night as well. Since I was within the area I opted to go to their office to meet some of my friends before heading to the buffet.

Dev C - past, present, future

I haven't been eating a lot lately (I actually lost a couple of kilos during the holidays), so I'm not sure if my tummy was up for the job. Turns out, it was, but not without a price - I left pretty bloated after - considering that I only had food from Kamayan and not from Dads or Saisaki (all of them are buffet, but the food served are different. You can opt to go only with one or have a combination of any of the three). There were a lot of conversations happening all at the same time, so it was pretty hard to keep up. And my tummy had a hard time keeping up with the food as well.

After all that I ended up going to another meetup - I didn't stay long (I stayed until a little past 1), and got home around 2 in the morning. Then I watched a bit then headed to sleep. Woke up around 7 in the morning to prepare for another buffet - this time at Buffet 101.

Reboot

Happy New Year!!!!!

So apparently I haven't written anything down for the past 3 years.

That's right, 3 years.

Well, it's not that I haven't been posting anything. If at all, my Facebook and Twitter has been active for a while.

Which would kinda explain why I haven't written any blogs for so long.

So, after the last blog, what has happened to me?

Well, for starters, I've worked for a couple more companies before deciding that "I'm tired of this, I'm taking a well-deserved break".

Condo condo condo

It's been a month already since my dad started with his latest pet project, which is renovating the condo unit he bought for me. Based from the feedback I got from Tita, I have a rough idea of what the unit looks like at the moment.

But there are still some items that needs to be done before we can call it "complete". My dad though is targeting November 15 as the completion date.

That means that by the time Ate Rose gets back from Nepal, he'll be unveiling the result of his latest project. :D

I can't wait to see what it looks like. ^_^

(I'm so excited I can't stop talking about it. :P)