July 19, 2010

My Happy Beginnings

I am now blogging here... www.myhappybeginnings.blogspot.com

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April 5, 2010

Surigao Del Sur Escapade Part 1


    We departed for Surigao Del Sur at around 1:00 am last April 1, 2010, Holy Thursday from our meeting place McDo Bajada, Davao City . There were eight of us, Edwin, Jacquie, Skit, Gina, Dexter, Amai, Michael and myself. We rented a van (L300 Mitsubishi) which unfortunately had a defective air conditioning unit which we didn’t notice much since we were all excited and the air was still chilly. We stopped by Nabunturan for peeing and eating. We slept most of the way and were awakened by the bumpy roads when we entered Bislig proper at around 5:00am. When we got to Mangagoy, we had breakfast at their public market. We proceeded to Bgy. Barboanon at around 6:45 am and approximately arrived at Tinuy-an Falls at 8:00am. The roads going there were not cemented but were not that rough. The first thing that greeted our sight even before we entered the place was the first tier of the falls.

We then paid the entrance of P10 and P100 for the cottage and entered the place and saw the 2nd tier of the falls which dwarfed the first tier. We climbed up the man-made stairs to see the 3rd tier. There were 4 tiers, but only 3 were visible and because of these tiers, the falls earned the nick “Little Niagara Falls of the Philippines”. All in all Tinuy-an Falls is around 55 meters(180 ft) high and a width of 95 meters which is said to be the widest in the country. One can’t help but be awed by the splendour of the cascading waterfalls and the equally magnificent foliage with century old trees surrounding it. 


The place is well preserved and clean and one can bathe in the cool water until your skin wrinkles. The water is cold at first but once you get in you don’t want to get out  At around 12:00 noon, we didn’t bring any lunch so we were forced to leave the place.
We returned to Bislig City and had lunch at an eatery named Bags fronting the Bislig Municipal Hall. We then departed for Hinatuan at around 2:00pm and arrived at the famous Enchanted River after an hour. The road was covered with lime so the ride was not that rough. There is entrance and the cottage fee but you are free to give cash donations. The place looks smaller than the pictures but the hues of green and blue of the river were as brilliant as the pictures. The place is also well preserved and clean. We only get to bathe on the side of the river since it is very deep while experienced swimmers dived and frolicked on all parts of the river. The river is a bit salty and they say that underneath the caves surrounding the river is where the sea meets the river thus the color and the taste. It was beginning to get dark so we left at around 4:30 pm.
We arrived at Terraza Victoria in Barobo at around 6:00pm where we stayed for the night. The place was neat, cozy and affordable. The owner and the receptionist were very accommodating. We had dinner at a local eatery where the lechon manok costs P180. We were expecting that most eatery would serve crabs or seafoods but we were disappointed and were told that we have to travel an hour to go to Lianga where a place serves eat all you can seafoods. We slept early at around 9:00pm because were all exhausted. To be Continued...

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March 30, 2010

Goodbye 4k and Cebu Pacific Promo

I googled up the words "Cebu Pacific Sucks" and guess what? There were 13,500 results. I guess if you have complaints against the airlines then you better take a number. I have a flight tomorrow bound for Manila, I was supposed to spend the Holyweek at Baguio but due to some financial constraints, I had to cancel the trip. I bought the ticket last January during promo, the fare was 50%, so I paid only P2,000 round trip (times 2 because Blow was supposed to come soP4000 all in all). Anyways I called up the Cebu Pacific Davao booking office yesterday but they referred me to Manila or Cebu since my ticket was bought online. I only had the chance to call up this morning. So I called up and inquired if I can rebook the flight, the operator said yes but there will be some fee. She asked, when is the flight date, I replied tomorrow. Then she told me that she can no longer accommodate my request because re-booking should be done "more than 24 hours prior to the flight date". I told her that the flight is tomorrow afternoon, technically it is "more than 24 hours". But she insisted that it is no longer qualified. I told her it , I still have 25 hours but she still said no. She asked for my name, I replied thanks and ended the call.I could just see no point in continuing our conversation. I use to be a big fan of their promo fare but not anymore because of what happened and because of similar complaints from friends. Sayang ang P4,000 but it's not worth the heart attack and the highblood pressure.

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March 29, 2010

Creative Writing Workshop

In my pursuit to become a better blogger and writer, I attended the Creative Writing Workshop for Bloggers and Non-Bloggers last Saturday ,March 27, 2010, 8 am – 5 pm, at the Training Rooms of the PLDT Davao Branch. The workshop was organized by the DavaoBloggers group headed by the superwoman Ria Jose. The speaker was Mr. Rene Lizada, a writer,SunStar Davao columnist, Toast Master, and educator. I learned a lot and I had fun participating in the activities and mingling with the fellow participants. The fee was only P300 and it already included lunch and snacks.
The workshop have greatly inspired me and re-awakened my passion for writing be it in the form of blogs and etc.
My congratulations to the organizers for the successful activity!

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February 24, 2010

Pilot

Everyone wants their love story to have a happy ending. Well, I don't! Simply because I don't want my love story to end :) That's why I titled this blog " My Happy Beginnings" instead of "My Happy Endings" and besides every ending is a new beginning and vice versa so endings always comes from a beginning....now I'm making things complicated when all i wanted to say is that I title this blog "My Happy Beginnings". Period.
I created this new blog because I believe that I am welcoming a new chapter in my life. Blow and I have decided to tie the knot that have loosely binded us together through the years. We are ready to throw cautions to the wind and finally succumb to the call of marriage. I know this is not gonna be easy and we are still unsure of what to expect but the most important thing right now is that we have faith in US and we want to build our own future together...come what may. So bring it on!

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February 17, 2010

Valentine Weekend

Last February 13, 2009 ,I had a date with the person I love most in the world. I’ve loved this person for what seems like forever yet we’ve never even watched a movie together. So last Saturday I watched Percy and the Lightning Thief with this person i love the most in the world.....myself. It was my first time to watch a movie alone. I thought it might feel weird and I would feel self-conscious but it was basically OK. I was able to concentrate on the movie. The only glitch was that I had to hold my pee since I was afraid to leave my things behind or thought that if I’d bring it along i would have difficulty finding another seat when I get back.

Last February 14, 2009, Valentine’s Day, I had a date with the third person I love most in the world …Blow (second place being my parents). We attended mass at St.Jude and afterwards I told him I don’t want to eat at restaurants because most of them are full. I told him we’d just take out some food and have a picnic somewhere...my requirements are quite simple, I want to lay on the grass, look up at the stars, eat a bucketful of chicken and just be with him. We thought of going to Samal but it was already 6:00pm so he took me to Riverfront Corporate City (entrance to Crocodile Park) and we chose a spot and laid a blanket and had our private picnic. We were actually not sure if picnicking is allowed there and we were expecting to be chastised by some guard but nobody approached us and the idea of doing something “prohibited” made it more exciting 
All in all I had a swell weekend.

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February 4, 2010

Bear with me

I was a happy child and had an almost idyllic childhood but I grew up to be a bitter and cynical adult but there are times when the child within fights to come out. Here’s one of that moment.

What are the chances that you would find a pair of something like a stuffed toy perhaps…a male and female version of it in an ukay-ukay(flea market?)? I bet the odds are pretty slim considering that the items in question are not even popular like Snoopy , Winne the Pooh or Hello kitty). And I’m willing to bet more that the odds are even slimmer when the two items are located in different heaps of used stuff toys and are found almost a year apart. Around March of last year I bought this cute little male bear with a button at his back from an Ukay2x Stand at Uyanguren St.. I pinned him in my favorite sling bag from then on. Then last Sunday when Blow and I were passing by Palma Gil St, we just finished taking snaps at People’s Park and I was craving for Mais(corn)so we decided to check the vendors outside People’s park and noticed this heap of stuffed toys. I was tempted to browse among the pile since it was a bargain at ten pesos. Imagine my elation when I found an exact female version of the stuffed bear! The She-Bear! I immediately bought and pinned her to my camera bag. I just felt so excited like a kid at Christmas morning because I know there’s only a small probability of finding both items that I can only attribute it to destiny ;) The two bears are really destined to be together! Maybe because I brought along the He-Bear with me and there was some kind of magnetic reaction…maybe they used to be real perons …Okay I need to Stop! Let’s just say that I’m really happy to have found them both because now they’ll be together.


See? Don’t they look adorable? He wears a blue hooded shirt. She wears a pink hooded shirt. He wears….err…he’s actually naked below the waist (I’m planning to sew him a denim shorts). She wears a denim skirt. She wears a ribbon and is a bit chubby. ( Blow says she’s chubby like me :P)

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January 20, 2010

Sleeps with Butterflies

I've been trying to search for the title of this song that I keep hearing on the radio during the "90's Hits Flashback" but as much as I try to figure out the lyrics of the song I can only discern the words "Flyyyyy" and "Butterfly". So I tried to search for the song "Fly Butterfly" but there are a lot of unrelated matches. I had the nagging suspicion that the song is Sleeps with Butterflies by Tori Amos but when I looked up the lyrics it seems different from the song so I gave up my search. Then this morning the "mystery" song was played again on the radio(it's 90's hits every Wednesday on the station that I listen to) and I caught the lines "Fly on Boy" and then I Googled it again and came up with a narrower search result which included the song Sleep with Butterflies by Tori Amos. I decided to download the song and what do you know, it was the mystery song! Finally, I can listen to the song over and over again.There's a haunting quality to this song that is unique to Tori Amos and it keeps one captivated.
If anybody is interested, below is the lyrics and I was able to download the mp3 from this site.

Airplanes
Take you away again
Are you flying
Above where we live
Then I look up a glare in my eyes
Are you having regrets about last night
I'm not but I like rivers that rush in
So then I dove in
Is there trouble ahead
For you the acrobat
I won't push you unless you have a net

You say the word
You know I will find you
Or if you need some time
I don't mind
I don't hold on
To the tail of your kite
I'm not like the girls that you've known
But I believe I'm worth coming home to
Kiss away night
This girl only sleeps with butterflies
With butterflies
So go on and fly then boy

Balloons
Look good from on the ground
I fear with pins and needles around
We may fall then stumble
Upon a carousel
It could take us anywhere

I'm not like the girls that you've known
But I believe I'm worth coming home to
Kiss away night
This girl only sleeps with butterflies
With butterflies
With butterflies
So go on and fly boy

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