~* DAY 1: VISITA IGLESIA *~

MARCH 21: It was "prayer before fun" for us during our three-day family vacation... On our way to Subic, we did our yearly Visita Iglesia (we were one church short though...):

1. Our Lord of Divine Mercy Shrine - Marilao, Bulacan (It attracts pilgrims and devotees from all over the country with its miraculous blessed water which can be fetched from a well in its grotto.)
2. Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral - Malolos, Bulacan
3. Barasoain Church - Malolos, Bulacan (check its image on those old brown Php10 bills! The church was built in 1885 and was renovated last 1996 in anticipation of the 1998 Centennial celebration of the first republic.)
4. Immaculate Conception Church - San Fernando, Pampanga
5. San Guillermo Parish Church - Bacolor, Pampanga (On Sept. 3, 1995, lahar from the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo buried this church -- originally built in 1576 -- at half its 12 meter height.)
6. San Roque Parish - Subic, Zambales

~* DAY 2: IT'S OCEAN ADVENTURE TIME! *~

MARCH 22: Finally, I have done one of the items in my "Things To Do Before I Shrivel & Die" list! I did the whale encounter at Ocean Adventure!!!

We spent most of the day at Ocean Adventure doing all sorts of fun, knowledge-enriching and highly entertaining activities. Here's one trivia I was surprised to learn: did you know that a sea lion and a seal is NOT the same thing? The sea lion is larger and it has prominent ears, big front & back flippers. During the sea lion show, they even have a humorous segment of the sea lions imitating the funny, squirmy way of how the seals walk on land. We watched the sea lion show twice, with 2 different sets of talented, endearing sea lions. They are just soooo cute, I swear! :)

We also spent time marvelling at the colorful fishes at the Discovery Aquarium and we also watched the awesome whale and dolphin show.

All of the crew members, park attendants, whale/dolphin/sea lion trainers were very friendly and accommodating to us. I give 'em 5 stars for excellent customer service! :)

We snapped about 320MB worth of videos and photos, PLUS, my dad took more film shots on his SLR camera! When you're at Ocean Adventure, there's a myriad of sceneries and marine animals to take pictures of. It's practically a photographer's paradise! Here are collages of selected digital pictures...

let's make everyday EARTH DAY! :)

that BIG sea lion mascot sneaked up behind me and suddenly tapped me! man, I got *gulat*! :P

look, there's Nemo and Dory! ;-)

A priceless encounter with Pounder and Hook (both females), the false killer whales... I did the encounter with three Boracay-bound tourists from Denmark. At the shore, a different whale (male this time) and a dolphin joined me for photo opp.


One long, cold, wet, fishy kiss from Brandy the sea lion. Soooo adorable!!!

~* DAY 3: LAST DAY AT SUBIC!*~

MARCH 23: At 7:30am in the morning, we headed for Camayan Beach near Ocean Adventure. Since I've been teased at the office that I've been way too soaked in fluorescent lamp (I'm so white!), I was determined to soak up the sun and tan myself. 'Turns out I overcooked myself at the beach coz when I got home, my skin still felt warm and "burning"... aaand I had shocking tan lines! The next day, my sunburns were swollen that I had to put cold compress on them... even my lower lip swelled to Angelina Jolie proportions that I was a bit alarmed and took some anti-inflammatory pill!

It's been 4 days since our swimming and thankfully, most of my sunburns have peeled off already. I'm just a walking itchy and scratchy show nowadays ;-)

After swimming at the beach, we ate lunch at Yellow Cab before we left town. Across it is a restaurant called The Spanish Gate. (We ate a hearty dinner there the night before. We ordered paella and salpicao *yum*) The restaurant is named after the famous historical landmark beside it: the Spanish Gate, also known as the Old West Gate.




Excerpts from its historical marker reads: "OLD WEST GATE - This gate was the entrance to the original Spanish naval station established in Subic Bay in 1885.... The base at Subic-Olongapo was used by the Spanish navy to provide repair, supply, ammunition and medical support for ships..."

~* PLANNING SESSION @ TAGAYTAY *~

Last Friday and Saturday, my team had our planning session at Discovery Country Suites in Tagaytay. It's a large 3-story house converted into a bed-and-breakfast kind of thing. It's also managed by the same guys in Discovery Suites Ortigas. They have themed rooms there. My boss Jane stayed in a Japanese-inspired room while Vic, Bianx and I shared the Thai-inspired room. The resident manager and the rest of the hotel staff provided great customer service. And the cute friendly Italian (?) chef prepared very sumptuous meals for us during our entire stay. Basically, I ate all these from Friday morning til Saturday noon: chicken macadamia finger sandwhiches, baby spinach w/ smoked bacon vinaigrette, pesto roasted chicken breast provencal, lemon balm panna cota, red wine & various cheese, wild mushroom risotto, pan-seared salmon fillet, torched citrus tart w/ strawberries, french crostini salad, pepper-seared tuna fillet and vanilla creme brulee). *BURP* Almost every meal time, he'd come to our table and ask us how our meal was. He's the type of chef who would notice that all of us did not finish our risottos, however, we ate all the wild mushrooms. Very keen attention to details! He must have wondered what was wrong with his risotto that's why he went to our table :P

The Powerpuff Girls of Entertainment Imaging: Vic, Bianx, Jane and I


Clockwise: the whirlpool, the cheerfully-colored flowers, the semi-rainy morning view of Taal, the cute purple flower & leaf coffee cup & saucer

~* FIELD TRIP SA MAY PAGAWAAN NG LAPIS... *~

hika ang inabot ko
nang piliting
sumabay sa 'yo
hanggang kanto
ng isipan mong
parang sweepstakes
ang hirap manalo...

field trip
sa may pagawaan
ng lapis
ay katulad ng buhay natin
'sang mahabang pila
mabagal at
walang katuturan.

ERASERHEADS ROCK.

I noticed that my taste in music had been regressing back to my high school rock music. Along with my fixation for Pearl Jam (after eyeing the Rearview Mirror Best of Pearl Jam album at Tower Records...), I've been having this craving for good ol' E'heads music. I got myself their UltraElectroMagneticPop (yeah, I was surprised that it was still available now!) and Anthology album (33 mind-blowing hits!).

Astig talaga e'heads as always... It's a shame that they've disbanded :(

~* EVEN CRAZIER THAN YESTERDAY *~

Things got crazier today. Crazy, crazy people in the office! Whaaaat thaaa... ?! Geez, man! I should charge 'em for amusement tax! They are way too charmed with my geographically undesirable life. But hello, I think like a man now so I think it's one big amusing harmless joke... Unless proven otherwise.

~ * THINGS JUST GET SO CRAZY... *~

Things are getting crazy in my head. Last night I was swimming in my thoughts ala High Fidelity. Was really almost inspired enough to SMS the Houdini men of my life and ask the million dollar question. Geez man, I would have been filthy rich by now if I got a dollar everytime the thought crossed my mind.

Love moves in mysterious ways... so friggin' mysterious that you don't know WTF happened. Some lame asswipe jerk just pulls the rug under your feet and lets you fall. F*cking great.

But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do

And I would gladly hit the road, get up and go if I knew

That someday it would lead me back to you

That someday it would lead me BACK TO YOU.

Things just got crazy at the office. Crazy, crazy people. (refer to tabulas friends-only post)

I have come to realize a nifty idea. Why not veer away from the usual emotional dramatic schmuck that I am and think, act and love like a man? You know, typical lives-only-for-the-moment kind of thing. Can go in and out of the moment in a snap with no emotional attachment whatsoever. Purely ego-tripping. Just for the heck of it. Shallow feelings. (What feelings?!?) Love 'em and leave 'em. No commitments. No labelling. No overanalyzing the sh*t out of things like quasi/pseudo/WTF relationships. Surely I can live in a world where relationships are not painstakingly built, feelings are carelessly handled, trust is never earned and everyone is being f*cking reckless with other people's hearts. Sometimes when I find myself feeling/falling, I tell myself: "think like a man! be like a man! goddammit!". I guess it's my new defense mechanism. Holy cow, I am transitioning into a jaded biatch! *gasp!*

Pretty tempting solution to the DQ syndrome. But then again, NOT. Nevertheless, my claim remains the same: I am a biatch only when provoked.

Squint your eyes and look closer. I am 32 flavors and then some.

~* NOW PLAYING: Sunday Morning *~

SUNDAY MORNING

Maroon5

Sunday morning rain is falling
Steal some covers share some skin
Clouds are shrouding us in moments unforgettable
You twist to fit the mold that I am in
But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do
And I would gladly hit the road get up and go if I knew
That someday it would lead me back to you

That may be all I need
In darkness she is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me
Driving slow on Sunday morning
And I never want to leave

Fingers trace your every outline
Paint a picture with my hands
Back and forth we sway like branches in a storm
Change the weather still together when it ends

But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do
Sunday morning rain is falling and I'm calling out to you
Singing someday it'll bring me back to you
Find a way to bring myself back home to you

~* THINGS TO DO BEFORE I SHRIVEL AND DIE *~

Since late last year, I have been running up this small list of to-do things in my mind. With my revived inspiration for trying out new things in life (my boss simply calls it quarter-life crisis and observed that I was just realizing that I am getting older...) and seemingly good moolah karma opening my year, I am suddenly feeling a spurt of determination to finally tick out those things on my to-do list one by one, slowly but surely, year after year. I am now motivated to save up for these things...

1. Whale encounter at Ocean Adventure in Subic Bay. (This is the first one I will soon accomplish-- this coming Holy Week!)
2. Sky-diving (Somebody said it costs PHP10,000 per jump. Geez. I don't think I'm ready to let go of THAT MUCH moolah in just one thrill jump. Maybe next time when I have more disposable income ;-) )
3. Intro dive at Anilao, Batangas (Abbie sez it's really a great experience! I don't think I'd want to go into a full-blast scuba diving though coz I'm fully aware that it's a pricey hobby!)
4. Hot air balloon ride (saw the nice colorful balloons in a recent festival in Clark, I think...)
5. Bungee-jumping
6. Wall-climbing (not in front of the madlang people shopping in Alabang Town Center, puhleeez!)
7. Parasailing (there's one in Plantation Bay Cebu the last time I was there but it was too expensive for me at that time)
8. Paragliding
9. Glass-bottom boat ride
10. Swim with dolphins/whales (My officemate sez there's something like this in Bicol ata or Bohol...)
11. Go to Bohol, see the beach and get to touch a tarsier.
12. Go to Avilon Zoo in Rizal and take lotsa pictures of the animals :)
13. Go to Boracay (the last time I was here was waaay back in the 1990's when it was not yet fully-developed)
14. Go to Puerto Galera (Geez. I haven't been there. Ever.)
15. Go to Australia and do the Sydney Harbor bridge climb. (Cheapest rate is AUD160!)
16. Go to Palawan
17. Go backpacking in Europe... First stop: Paris, France. (yeah. I wish! I'd have to be filthy rich but hey, it's free to dream!).

~* ANGER MANAGEMENT EXERCISE NO. 3 *~

Geez. Strange (and cruel. f%@#.) how the first non-kaizen* thought to have crossed my mind was that I suddenly missed fun weekends with him late last year. The silly heartfelt songs sung til the wee hours of the morning. And the goddamn cursed embrace. Great. Just great. Just what I need to start the weekend. Now how does one exorcise bad, shitty, heartbreak-inducing memories? Hate. Coz my only hate springs from my only love.

**********************

How come I never hear you say, 'I just wanna be with you'? 'Guess you never felt that way.

Doesn't that sound familiar? Doesn't that hit too close to home? Doesn't that make you shiver, the way things could've gone.

Cause I know about her and I wonder how I bought all the lies? You said that you would treat me right but you were just a waste of time.

Oh look what you've done, you've made a fool of everyone.

How stupid could I be? A simpleton could see that you're no good for me. But you're the only one I see. Love has made me a fool. It set me on fire and watched as I floundered. Unable to speak, except to cry out and wait for your answer.

So denied. So I lied. Are you the now or never kind?
Here's to the nights we felt alive.

Here's to the tears I knew I'd cry.

**************************

* I was in a Kaizen team meeting all-day all-week. Imagine the brain-drain of critical thinking more than 8 hours a day (last Thursday, we were in the office til 8:30pm! gaahhhd). Kaizen is this stuff we do in the office to improve operating processes in our business. It comes from a Jap word which means "to take apart and make new". Or something like that. It aims to reduce wastes in transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, over-production, over-processing and defects.