Captivating Camiguin

What is three days compared to a year apart from each other?

I was telling this while tears relentlessly gush from my face. After all that has been done, paid, and scheduled, youngest sister had to tell me day before that she can't miss school and has to efface herself from the Camiguin trip. She remained silent while I incessantly blab about how we have dreamt so much about this, how so much effort has been exhausted to actually make it to reality -- the Tres Marias bonding experience.

Tears after all, was worth it. The three of us made it to "the island of your imagination." It was a long journey to paradise. We took a plane ride to Cagayan de Oro. From CDO, we took a private car to Misamis Oriental. After two hours of land travel, we took a ferry which brought us to Camiguin. Then we took a multi-cab (a jeepney-like vehicle) to Paras Beach Resort.

Finally, after enduring the long hours of travel, we made it. We were warmly welcomed by a drink and a necklace. What amazes me though is how fluent they speak in English. Staff are friendly enough that I said to myself it's going to be a good holiday for me and my sisters.

We visited to places that are all new to us. We ate good food, and got drunk. We made a fool of ourselves like there's no one watching us. We made Camiguin even more captivating because we filled it with beautiful memories.

Our relationship may not be far from other sibling relationships. We had tough times growing up together too. We had to share toys and bikes because parents could not afford to give each one of us. My clothes have to be matching with younger sister's clothes too. When youngest sister was born, I and younger sister took pride in taking care of her, at nine years old, and eight years old respectively.

Now that we've grown older, no one can recognize the age gap anymore. And what is more delightful is that we've matured gracefully and beautifully (literally and figuratively) over the years, whether together or apart.

Camiguin is truly captivating. The pristine white beach is as pure as my love to my biological sisters. We all brought home a memory and rekindled a love that can never be replaced, no matter how different the roads we all take.

Prelude to an Amazing Experience

As Dolly Parton puts it, "If you want a rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain." But my sister repudiates. This saying has been used over and over, and she finds it too cliché-ic. She quoted from Katy Pery's Firework, "You don't have to feel like a waste of space, You're original, cannot be replaced, If you only knew what the future holds, After a hurricane comes a rainbow."

No matter what they say about rainbows, the sight brings wonderment to people of all ages.

Dad sent the tres marias to the airport to our first-ever out-of-town bonding experience. We saw a big rainbow, and we just know, it's going to be a memorable trip.

Home, Finally

Manila touchdown at the break of dawn. Been waiting long for my sister to pick me up at the airport. I didn't mind much because I never really got bored during the wait. I was fascinated with people at the airport, of people coming and going.

Finally, I saw the car stopped in front of me. Sister came out of the car to load my luggage. Instead of hugging and going through all those emo stuff, we talked and ranted like there was no location or time gap. It seemed like nothing has changed from the time we last saw each other.

While on our way home, I was welcomed by naggigitgitang jeepneys, buses and vehicles on the highway. To while away the fear, sister put the music in full volume, and we both sang as if it was the best road trip ever.

I so missed this inconsistent and ugly, yet enchanting city. I missed Manila.

Finally, I am home.

First Manila sunrise in 2011

Ma - Ma - Manila

Do you actually know the feeling that you want to be excited about something yet it is interrupted?

Do you actually know the feeling that all you want to think about is how happy the next days would be yet there is so much to do?

2 days. 2 more days, and I'd finally wake up to a Manila sunrise. I am too excited, but people and circumstances deliberately hinders all these giddy emotions. I am stuck with numerous workloads and stuff I have to hand over. I just hope I wouldn't have to open this laptop while in Manila for work. So I want to get it done before I leave.

Nine days of pure bliss. I can't wait.

A Day Tour to the Hospital

So we were in the bus going to the train station. It was too crowded that I always have this chance of getting face-to-face with her. While staring at her, memorizing each contour of her face, and those young and innocent-looking lips, I was stuck looking at her eyes. There was something odd. It looks too weird.

When I told her about it, she hurriedly looked at her iPod touch, her alternate for a mirror, and examined her right eye. She also realized there was something wrong.

After alighting the bus, I forced her to walk to the nearest clinic for a checkup. But the doctor gave a letter, and advised us to go to the emergency of the nearest hospital. I had to call off work too.

It was as if the longest half-day in my entire life. With the long process of different examination, finally, there was a relief. She was not admitted but given two days off from work, different kinds of eye drops, prescribed to have an alternate of hot and cold compress, and has been billed equated to her 2 weeks allowance. At least, it was a bearable challenge. And everything seemed not to be as worse as we expected it would be.

So there was nothing much to do for the day, except to roam around the newly-built first-class hospital. It was overwhelming to see most of the nurses and doctors are Filipinos. Free blankets too for those who feel cold. There were also free BMI checks on every eating place. Food receipts does not only carry the amount of what you bought, but also the calories! And most of all, free apples!

They say, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." Isn't it kind of odd that they offer apples right after you see a doctor? Or maybe, the apple we ate takes effect the following day after.

Word Orgasm

I am already on that page, reading the part which made me too absorbed, as if it was real.

I felt an intense heat with the scene, the man who suddenly found himself into a room with a woman he briefly knew of, wearing a light blue dress draping in his naked body, on top of him. Their bodies integrate in a seamless fashion. He began to look at her passionately -- those sweet lips and beautiful lashes, movements that create ripples of emotions. He loved the sight of her breasts with each rising and falling of her deep breath. He gasps at the feeling of the slow rotation of her hips, while her thighs caress his.

Until I heard a loud techno music. Somebody sat beside me with a loud music on his ipod in the train while I was on my way to work. And he is on his earphones, mind you.

Back to reality.

Oh, Murakami, you have this style of writing I so adore.

Another Year of Nomadic Experiences

I never really had a list of goals I would want to achieve. I just always mumble about them, or talk about them in passing. Most of the time, I forget them, and I could not even gauge the percentage of what I have actually achieved in a year. This list (in random order) might be very good to review once in a while to track where should I be heading to.

1. Keeping Fit

I will religiously continue to engage in an active lifestyle, whether by jogging at least thrice a week, swimming, and maybe have a continuous schedule for badminton.

2. Eating Healthy

I will continue to be conscious of what I eat. I hope I could finally take out eating pork, unless otherwise forced. Therefore, no more pork in my grocery list!

3. Getting a Wise Investment

Finally. This has long been overdue. This year, I hope, when everything turns out well, I could finally call a home of my own. And nope, I don't expect from parents' inheritance. I wouldn't accept it either.

4. Planning More Travels

I am hoping that this year will be full of travels, hopefully a major travel outside Asia. As planned, this will be the year for Bangkok, Vietnam, Cambodia, & Kota Kinabalu. Would love to go back too either Phuket or Bali. And if finances permit, a European tour, covering France, Italy, and Rome as the major places to visit.

5. Re-Connecting to People

This continuous field trip allowed to expand my horizons, however realizing that I should keep connections open to people, most especially those who are close to my heart. In a world where connecting to people is just as simple as a click of a button, it shouldn't be as tough.

6. Going Outside Boundaries

I know I've always been a risk taker, but there are times too that I have been complacent on my job, roles to play, relationships, etc. This is the year to push more beyond my boundaries and exceed expectations. I will do my best in anything and everything.

7. Doing What I Love

There will always be time for everything, if you really want something done. This year, never having time will not be accepted as an excuse. This year, I will do and hone my art. I plan on doing more personal projects, even with little or no budget.

My goals are not ambitious, however simple as it may seem, these require a lot of efforts too. And there's no better time to start, than now.

The Promise of Sunrise

Have you ever woke up to a day where you feel exhausted, yet you had the whole night of should-have-been regeneration? Have you ever questioned yourself about living your life, and not exactly nailing the whole purpose of it?

I hope that tomorrow and the next days after would be as hopeful as ever, would be as exciting as it has always been, would be a grand pilgrimage that I always look forward to.

Reminiscing the enchanting Bali Sunrise.

Ci Bai Plant

One boring afternoon, I asked our Nursery Manager to take me to a walk into our 13-hectare nursery. I always do this when I feel so tired with bottle-neck workloads and I just have to forget them, even for a while. Aside from eating fruits straight from the trees, it has been a hobby to memorize botanical names of plants, and even amuse myself with certain characteristics.

I asked the Nursery Manager the name of the plant, but he was too hesitant and shy. I didn't know why until I insisted. He took out a leaf, and showed me, like the image shown above. It is called a Ci Bai plant. Ci Bai, pronounced as "ji bai" in hokkien or taiwanese is a word for female sexual organ.

When he told me what Ci Bai is, we both started laughing. What a way to turn around a boring day.

Now an added information for the green mind.