guess what? more pics

at last, the pics are in!



for more, check out http://picasaweb.google.com/ishgagno/LakayApoTeamMay2007. thanks to lillian and tj for posting their pics.

it'll definitely difficult to top this summer, as i never thought i would be given the chance to literally explore luzon, visayas and mindanao. but hey, who knows? do i hear a sagada, bohol and camiguin? woohoo!

last call for summer

after a testosterone-filled apo trip, i was truly grateful for tidoy's invite to a chill-ax getaway at subic. we whisked ourselves to this cozy place called Courtyard Inn, which was more luxurious than what i was used to. we had our own beds, cable tv, room service, the works. perfect for the brat within who was crying for some pampering.

in truly girl-bonding fashion, we hit the spa, the subic yacht club pool and the duty-free shops. a tiny misadventure was thrown our way though, when tidoy's battery was discharged when we left the headlights on (funny though, because it was in the middle of the afternoon). mga diyosa talaga ang mga kasama ko -- a bunch of guys swarmed & came to the rescue, and even asked us out for dinner afterwards. bugsy, ever so anti-social, opted for a jazz-club dinner & russian-vodka guzzling at our inn afterwards. sarap! haha.

of course, what trip would be without its photo ops? we also swung by zambales and took a quick dip at the sea, to bid goodbye to a glorious summer. for more pics, check out tidoy's multiply album at http://doyti.multiply.com/photos/album/26. thanks again guys for the great weekend!




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as i was scouring for our subic trip pics, i came across some old hs pics from mae & tidoy. can you say, time warp? :)



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pag minsan, swerte ka talaga at may teammate ka na magaling kumuha ng picture. mwehehe. some shots of jam's gig at the HP Q2 Hoola Palooza Coffee Talk, courtesy of the legendary Paul Garcia:

bizarre, simply

the first days after a long climb are always disconcerting.

like how disoriented i was, given my first full dose of light and electricity i had when i stepped into sm davao fresh from the mountain.

like how i felt i was drowning in pillows during that first night back at home (that was a nice feeling, actually).

like how strange it seemed when i woke up and saw no mud or twigs, not even the roof of a tent; how weird it felt that i wasn't to spend my whole day trekking with faces that had gotten familiar.

like how odd it was that i was actually getting food and water from the ref. on a whim.

like how i felt i was still cruising through the streets of davao the first night i went out of the house (good thing i'm on night shift this week; the makati rush may actually succeed in driving the still-unprepared me nuts).

i actually don't know if i feel good or not.

the mt. apo experience

i love vacations. they allow you to disconnect and free you to be a non-functional individual of the human race.

despite not pushing through with camiguin & rafting as planned, to say that climbing mt. apo was memorable is a huge understatement.

definitely, this was the hardest physical battle i've had. at times, i'm sure i lost, bruised, wounded and sprained, but the learnings i took from the experience were priceless and unexpected ones, and that's always a delight.

thinking about the whole Davao experience sends my head in all directions, but it's the tiny details that stick. the sight of the clouds way below your feet. the roar of the river as you cross. the pinch from your 'battle scars' and the numbness from cold. the canopy that swallows you whole. the feel of the boulders and the smell of sulfur. the glorious sunrise that makes it all worth it.

i'm definitely no good in giving justice to what it was like, so i guess i'll just let the pics do the talking, as soon as they come.

to the Lakay Apo team, saludo ako sa inyo. daghang salamat, you guys saved my butt out there. sana balang araw makabawi ako. kudos!

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Panalong Quote:
[habang malakas ang ulan ngunit umaaraw]
"Buti pa ang tikbalang, kinakasal; ako single pa rin!"

i'm outta here

how apt it is that on the exact date of my stepping into the rat race (happy may 15th, everyone!), i took the day off. i dropped by UP to finally submit my MS application, was delightfully surprised to meet Jan there, and then spent the rest of my day at my favorite mall (Divisoria's 168, of course).

in exactly 6 hours and 21 minutes, i'll be heading off to Davao to do what I guess every mountaineer has thought of doing some time in his life -- climb Mt. Apo. and yep, it has dawned upon me that this may be my last post ever, due to two possibilities:

(1) once i meet the boulders of Mt. Apo, i might not be able to come back,

and

(2) once i blissfully take a break from reality, in exchange for the terrains of Davao, the sands of Camiguin, and the rapids of Cagayan de Oro, i might not want to ever come back. mwehehe.

wish me luck! (jan, hinabilin ko na sayo password ko ha? :) )

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took ikay to her first wall-climb last saturday:



sometimes, there just comes a point wherein we just want to throw all caution to the wind and see exactly how high we can reach. of course, when frustrations surface, you can always delude yourself in the mean time and do it literally. :P

nostalgic, what's new

I dropped by UP today to wrap up some stuff for my enrolment. It didn't take more than a minute for nostalgia to take over once I stepped into Eng'g.

In the world of heavy textbooks, calculus and algorithms, life was far simpler. I miss the nonchalance of walking -- no, prancing -- around UP, with your head up in the clouds, thinking about trivial musings, as well as how one day you are someday to change the world.

don't mind me, i'm just rambling

life /lIf/ (n): the condition of living or the state of being alive; the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body

If your life consists of just getting through the day's and hoping that tomorrow will bring less drudgery, would that qualify as life?

If your life sans eclat would boil down to simply counting down the hours until you go pffft, would that count at all?

Again, don't mind me, I'm just rambling. It's just ironically, now that I can call the shots to where I want to be headed, I haven't the faintest idea on where to go, let alone what to do. How my life has simmered down to this state of limbo, I could not fathom. It's silly, really --- I don't know if it's just hormones or some long-suspected clinical condition, but sometimes I feel so lost and alone, that I could just spontaneously burst into tears. Now, that could be awkward if I bawl in the middle of typing. Sheesh.

Maybe it's just because recently, nothing has recently made me happy, as in with the true sense of bliss. Nothing bad really happened, but nothing that good, either. They say life is supposed to be this big adventure, this roller coaster. Then you discover that it's really more of a Rialto --- scream all you want, but it's just as real as you would want it to be.

Oh well, enough whining.

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Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. I'll keep that in mind.

we

I have belief in my generation. We are to be the success story which our nation awaits. We have all the capacity to be -- the right mix of idealism, cynicism, brilliance, and heart. Throw in today's myriad of opportunities.

Bear in mind, we also can be the nation's ultimate tragedy and disappointment. Let's make sure it won't be so.

free the boyband inside

as with everything you wished to be hidden, it eventually finds its way to youtube. what the hell, since the cat's out of the bag, might as well put it into good use. if you're stressed, depressed, or looking for something to laugh at, check our swat's despedida gift to vic:



i still think that everyone needs to free that boyband inside once in a while, at least for sanity's sake. to scout for ideas, i actually hunted down blast-from-the-past boyband mtvs. fun. i've actually forgotten how 5ive looked like. haha.

post-labor day post

Dang holidays. They make it all the more difficult to go back to work.

After 1 1/2 hours of dawdling, I finally got the hint that I wasn't about to conjure up anything productive, except if you call staring at my screen & pressing the Outlook Send/Receive button a dozen times meaningful. So I gathered up all my SQL handouts and headed off to the nearest coffee shop for some quiet review time.

Can't wait to enroll next sem.

bugsy takes on manila

sometimes, the best plan is to not have a plan at all.

i woke up a little bit earlier for a non-work day, since i had to meet tidoy and ke for some wedding-cake-tasting. yes, it's every bit as delightful as it sounds. this was my first cake-tasting event, and i tried not to appear too giddy as we helped ourselves to the baker's creations. the baker was a certified chocoholic, so aside from the lemon butter, apple walnut, and other cakes, she also gave us fudge filling, dark chocolate cake and white chocolate bars. my sweet tooth shall not be denied, braced as it may be.

i also got to confirm my level of maturity when we flipped through some wedding cake magazines for ideas. as tidoy and ke were gushing over these classic, elegant cakes, i went gaga over a blue & yellow beach-themed cake, complete with gumpaste shells & starfish and the cartoonish bride and groom with oversized heads. haha, fun. :)

as if we hadn't had enough, the three of us decided to go on a food trip for lunch. after several quips (tagaytay? indian resto? mediterranean?), we decided to invade Old Manila. Our quest to find Hizon's failed, and we nearly settled for Robinson's Ermita in desperation. Good thing another option was still open -- Intramuros. We set off for the cobbled roads and dropped by Barbara's, a fancy date-place resto on the second floor on what used to be a gobernadorcillo's house. In true Bugsy-bakya fashion, we whipped out a cam and went trigger-happy with our photo ops (never mind that any second an 'orb' may just appear in the shot. nyay!). good thing we found this resto -- the ambiance was perfect, the food was great and the staff were really nice -- triple threat!

after our brief romance with Barbara's pasta, we went exploring and looked around the nearby museum. for the complete turista experience, we entered the Manila Cathedral and were dumbfounded with awe. i mean, i've seen stained-glass windows before, but these were something else. not to mention that the Cathedral never fails to dwarf anyone. astig.

it was still too early to call it a day, so tidoy suggested that we check out Cartimar street, which was a strip of 'Divisoria' for pet-lovers. ke & i already got attached to a yorkshire terrier, although deep inside i know that that dog (or any dog, for that matter) is better off without me, unless you want to watch how trauma manifests in dogs.

after cooing with birds, dogs, cats, fishes and worms (yes, even worms), the three of us punctuated the trip with a cool halo-halo at Razon's (haha, umabot pang Buendia.) we also drove by ziggurat and a persian restaurant near jupiter, places that are already in our food-trip hitlist. can't wait.

yep, today, the kaladkarins conquer Manila. just goes to show how much there is more to discover in the grounds you take for granted, and how you don't really need to travel far to have fun. in the end, it dawns on you that it wasn't so much the place as much as the company.

this was probably one of the best Labor Days i've ever had in my lifetime. yey. hope you guys had a fun non-work Labor day too. :)