For Whatever We Lose

An entry I jotted down in my journal a few months back while on a surf weekend in Crystal Beach, Zambales. The event described, however, took place in La Union back in May of this year.

(Click break after photo-quote for more.)

Moving Forward

I will pick up, not necessarily from where I left off, but I will move forward.

Sure, two years unaccounted for; undocumented, only on paper though, because undocumented as those couple of years may be, the events and moments were real and the hard-earned lessons engraved into my reckless and stubborn heart.

Having said that, I don't find a need to go back and retell my story. Sure there will be a huge gap from my last entry before this one, but I don't feel the need to tell anyone my story anymore. It's a jaded story after all, one that I've told over and over to my friends as part of my cathartic healing process.

And because I'm ok now, let's talk about happy things ey? I'll try blogging again. Moving forward like nothing happened.

Discovering the Familiar, A Mini-Vacation

The year is about to end and I still have some vacation leaves left. It'd be a waste AND a sin not to avail of it, even if it's down to a measly eight precious days left. So, I decided to take four days off this month and before Christmas, another four days.

I had really wanted needed a vacation but had no destination in mind, and not to mention, limited resources. That won't stop me, though. No budget? No problem! I decided I'd play tourist in my own city/province; see things with a different set of eyes, gain new perspective.

October, in Retrospect

October unexpectedly became one of the best months of my year. At the onset of the month, though, it was pretty clear that October would be one of the most, if not the most, hectic month of the year at work, and because of that I was dreading October. I just wanted to get through the month! But then again, if you're going to go through something, might as well make it fun, right? Right!

Smart People

#723

"Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you." And I'd like to add, be open to learning. Always.

Big Dreams

#725

"Have big dreams. You will grow into them."

Opportunities

#759

"Make more opportunities than you find." It's all about making it happen for you ;)

Try & Fail

#769

"Try and fail, but don't fail to try."

Relax

#770

"The time to relax is when you don't have time to relax"

Palawan Day 3: Culion, Fighting the Stigma

Back during the American occupation of the 1900s, in an effort to manage health issues and as part of America's long-term intention of colonizing the archipelago, Culion was made into a leper colony. Those diagnosed with the worst case of leprosy were sent to this island in the Calamian group of islands in Palawan.

It's been a long time since then and now. With advances in science, leprosy, once one of the most feared diseases that's been around even since biblical times, is now curable and sufferers of the disease, once on the multi-drug treatment, are no longer communicable.

Culion as a town has managed to rise above and, in the early 2000s, has since been totally leprosy-free. The island is now slowly reintegrating back into Philippine society. Success stories like these are truly inspiring. One of Culion's residents hit the point home with this phrase, "We are no longer fighting to find a cure for leprosy. We are now fighting stigma." The strength and pride of Culion's people is admirable.

If you're planning to go to Palawan, Culion is worth the trip. Being a quaint little town with such rich history, Culion is made vibrant with its very welcoming residents so don't forget to talk to the locals! You'll be surprised at the interesting stories they have to share. We met a man there and he told us of the love story of his parents, of how they were both lepers, of how forbidden their love was and of how they fought to be together. It was an epic and movie-worthy story. And oh, you want an even happier ending? The man was born leprosy-free.

Below are some photos taken in Culion's cathedral.

The next set of images were taken inside the museum.

Early medical instruments used in the leprosarium

And to end this post, here's a friendly reminder for everyone brought to you by the Culion Sanitarium and General Hospital:

P.S. This is a super late post. The trip to Culion was taken back in July of this year. The author of this blog loves to share but is just really lazy.

The undocumented life is not worth blogging about. Bow.

I may not have a habit of blogging regularly but I do have an almost regular habit of putting things off. Gaaaah! So much has happened that has been left undocumented! If Socrates were around in this day and age of everything virtual, he would have been quoted as saying, "the unblogged life is not worth living" or something to that effect.

So here's my nth attempt to acquire the habit of blogging, and here's to not only more posts, but to more "regular" posts at that.  And...I'll start tomorrow.

Photo from here

Baby's up and running!

In the Sugarbowl, our little baby, is now on the intarwebs! We're working hard to get in some more great content. To find out what's In the Sugarbowl, just click this and listen up! Thanks, in advance, for listening! Mwah!

Palawan, Day 2: Pure Shores

Take me to my beach
I can hear it, calling you
I'm coming, not drowning
Swimming closer to you

The sights Day Two in Palawan offered were eyegasmic! The majestic cliffs jutting out from the crystal clear blue waters were breathtaking to say the least. The scenery seemed to come right out of The Beach, that movie a young Leonardo Dicaprio starred in back in 2000. In fact, I've heard that the author of the novel The Beach, Alex Garland, was actually inspired by the beauty of Palawan when he wrote the novel. However, the location used in his book and in the movie was Thailand, particularly a beach called Koh Phi Phi. I guess it mostly had something to do with the backpacking culture, which wasn't as big in the Philippines then as it was in Thailand. Ok, I digress. Sorry, hehe.

So Day Two was spent mostly in the water and on the bangka as we island-hopped our way around Coron. If I remember correctly, there were seven stops all in all (but for the life of me, I can only recall six): Siete Pecados, Kayangan Lake, Barracuda Lake, Twin Lakes, Banol Beach and Banana Island where we spent the night.

The lakes were beautiful! I could spend a whole afternoon in any of those lakes. The best part is when all the other tourists leave and you and you're friends are alone. Automatically, you feel the lake transforming into your very own secret cove, a secret hideaway only a chosen few are privy to, just like in The Beach.

With my team in Kayangan Lake

Banol beach was also picturesque with its pristine waters and soft white sand. Again, another location I wouldn't mind spending a whole afternoon in. I can imagine just lounging by the beach front, the cool water lapping at my toes while getting a nice golden tan. Now couple this breathtaking scenery with great conversation with friends over a few drinks and life couldn't get any better.

Idyllic Banol Beach

By day's end we headed for Banana Island where we spent the night. We arrived on Banana Island just in time for the magic hour. I was able to watch a beautiful sunset with my girls and was reassured that all is well and that life is beautiful.

The only drawback from this otherwise perfect paradise vacation was that it felt rushed. We went to seven beyond-beautiful locations but only spent around 30 minutes to an hour in each. Not enough time to soak in all the beauty. Notice how I kept saying 'I could spend the whole afternoon' in this or that place. In the beginning, during the planning stage of our vacation, we chose this tour because we had wanted to cover as much ground as we could in the three days we had. This, as it turned out, worked against us. I really had wanted to just chill and fully enjoy the beach, the ocean, and the coves without being timed and called on when we had to leave for another location.

So if you're more of a quality-over-quantity type of person like me and you don't want to be bound by a schedule while on vacation, I suggest to just choose around two or three places to visit and allow yourself to forget time and get lost in the moment. Don't worry that you weren't able to go to all the places, just consider that all more reason to go back!

(In hindsight, though, because we went to all the must-see places, I now know which beaches/coves I want to spend time in the next time I visit Coron. Oh yes, there WILL be a next time!)

In The Sugar Bowl

A colleague and I are embarking on this new side project called In The Sugar Bowl. It'll be a podcast of sorts but I'm not at the liberty yet to say what it'll be about. We're in the process of finalizing the show and we'll be launching the pilot episode soon! We'd love it if you can be a part of this "birth" by following us on Tumblr: In The Sugar Bowl

Follow us now! We'd love that and we'd totally appreciate it, but if in the course of the next few weeks you finds us boring THEN you can choose to unfollow. LOL. But of course, we're hoping you don't. :p

We promise you great content and substance!

Palawan! Day One.

Sometimes you just need to get away and reunite with what's essential, which is exactly what I did when I went on vacation just very recently to Coron, Palawan with college friends and some new-found ones as well. It was refreshing, to say the least. The trip was also educational and very inspiring especially on the Culion leg of our trip, but that's going too far ahead in my entry. (Actually, I want to dedicate a whole different entry on Culion as I think it deserves its own spotlight.)

Day One found us going on safari in Calauit. The island was once owned by the Marcoses during their glory years and rumor has it that the safari's purpose was to be a playground for his children. It has since been seized by the government and is now one of Coron's attractions. I felt like a little kid visiting the zoo for the first time, only this was so much more fun with the animals being able to roam around freely! Got up close to zebras and interacted with giraffes. I was a bit disappointed to know that there were no lions, though. I wonder how that would've played out if there were carnivores on the island. Hehe.

Gerry, a young giraffe, is one of many on the island. I think the guide said there were about 60 of them all in all.

Obviously, I fancied taking photos of Gerry.

Feeding Gerry! My, he's got a long strong tongue!

The whole group. I love this shot. It's really got that safari-feel to it, hehe.

After the Calauit safari, it was another three to four hour drive to Coron proper and to the Maquinit hot springs. The hot springs were a great way to cap an exhuasting day but personally, I didn't think it was all that. Or maybe I just had high expectations. You have to keep your slippers/sandals on as the bottom is either lined with rough rocks or mossy sand. The sides of the pool were also covered with a thin layer of moss. Oo na, maarte na ako, but that's because I have something to compare it to.

I still prefer Bacolod's Mambukal hot springs. It has the same benefits and I feel it's cleaner (no slimy moss and you can take your slippers off) and facilities like shower rooms are close by for rinsing. At the time we were at Maquinit there were no working showers (but then again maybe it was just that time). So yes, it's just a personal preference but in my book, it's Mambukal over Maquinit.

The trip to the hot springs basically concluded an exhausting but fun Day One, exhausting only because we had stayed up excited and packing the night prior to our flight to Palawan. Day Two would prove to be even more fun but it'll have to wait till another entry (because I write so slow now!)

A Father's Day Post

I love you, Daddy! I will always be your little girl. Love, Tata

And to my little brother. I know I can be hard on you, but that's just because I'm your Manang and in my eyes you'll always be my lil' bro. I love you and more so, I'm proud of you. Happy Father's Day to you, too! :)

A girl can dream AKA Birthday Wish List, Haha

Not that I expect any of these, haha. I'm just putting this out there. Who knows, right? :)

1. Because I'm exploring the joys of cooking, baking and anything kitchen-related, I'd love my very own cookware/bakeware and set of cooking/baking utensils.

Oh, but a basic that I don't have!

This, too! A steel mixing bowl with no edges

Classic ramekins! The white round ones, please. It's so hard to find these here in Bacolod

Plates of different sizes and shapes which I can use for plating the dishes ala-Master Chef!

2. Books. Any (good) title! What do you read? What are your recommendations? I don't want to write down titles because if it's gonna be a gift, I want it to somehow represent the tastes of the person it came from. That way, when I read the book I'd remember who gave it. BUT, to save you some work, Haruki Murakami's always a safe bet. I always enjoy reading his work and because I want to have my own lil' Murakami collection, any of his titles except for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore and After Dark, please.

3. A compact digital camera because I'd like to be included in pictures from now on thankyouverymuch. I love taking photos sure, but I also want those held-at-arms-length kinda photos, which is quite challenging to do with my dSLR and my short arms. I like these two in particular:

Nikon Coolpix S3100: I love the purple shade!
I also want this for the miniature in-camera filter effect

Nikon Coolpix P7000: This is oh so drool-worthy. Read up on it
and it seems like it would make for a perfect compact camera for me!
It's got a hefty price tag, though.

4. A bottle of Perry Ellis 360 and/or Clinique Happy Heart

5. A time-piece I can wear everyday.

6. Nikkor lenses! I already have Tamron 70-300 telephoto lens and a 35mm prime so a wide zoom Nikkor 10-24mm f/35-4.5G and another prime would be nice (and expensive).

7. A cake. Or a pretty cupcake tier because I'm such a girl.

The show goes on...but the polish will have to come off

So I had my nails done but it's such a major fail that I'm too embarrassed to post a photo. In fact, I'll probably have it cleaned first thing tomorrow. The lady couldn't seem to get it even with the photo in front of her. It's disappointing and frustrating really, but I don't want to dwell on that. I don't want to blame her.

On a lighter note, I loved my make up courtesy of Mimilism who, by the way, introduced me to primer (and everything else in between)! You see my routine for special occasions and events would usually just consist of foundation, a little contouring on the nose, a little thickening of my barely there eyebrows, blending in some dark eyeshadow, mascara, a little blush and some pink nude lipstick.

Halfway through the night, though, I'd end up with creasing eyeshadow and what seems to me like "melting" makeup. Retouching would help, but I didn't like that heavy feeling of having all that gook on my face. And as for the concept of moisturizers on my face, I couldn't really fathom it as I already have close to oily skin. I couldn't understand the need for a moisturizer when your face looks and feels moisturized already.

Ah, but alas, I saw the difference last night! So thank you once again to Mimilism for doing and talking me through my makeup. (At least I was happy with the makeup. Gah! I can't even bear to look at my nails! That's how bad the art is.)

Hosting went well, save for one part where I "mispronounced" someone's name and he would later come up to the microphone and tell everybody how I murdered his name. For one, I had absolutely no idea he was a guy. The name on my script was "Janes" for crying out loud! I read it as Janes and, because no one seemed to acknowledge, I also read it as Ja-nes, just in case. Turns out it was a "James". The organizers later told me it was a typo that must have been overlooked. Wow thanks, ha.

I won't say I wasn't furious because I was, and I was really embarrassed especially with the "murdered" comment and him asking me, on microphone, if I really thought that he looked like a girl. I thought it was rude of him to do that but then again, as always, the show must go on. So I apologize politely, smile and carry on. Hay!

In retrospect, I guess I can say that the running theme in the weekend-that-was is carrying on, from the nail fiasco to the hosting boo boo. Yeah, that's it, carrying on. What's done is done and you can choose to dwell on it while everyone else moves forward or you can choose not to be left behind and move on as well.

Po-po-po-po-poker Nails

In an effort to save money, I've decided not to buy a Vegas-y outfit for tomorrow's gig but instead will go with the classic LBD. As for the Vegas theme, I've decided to translate that on my nails and get a poker-inspired mani-pedi. Oh I'm such a girl. Haha.

So here are some examples of what I'd like to be done on my nails tomorrow.

cardnails from here

Here's another one, although I think this one's a bit too messy. If it can be "cleaned up" a bit, it'd be great.

nail art from here

I'll post a photo of my own nails when I've had it done. I'm actually pretty excited to see this done!