the year seemed to be my stand still moment, a time to reflect. that in hindsight seemed over done. who in their right mind would need a year to reflect? yes, i’m one big crazy. the question is am i that big of a crazy. but who cares, supposedly as long as i have learned something from it. that’s all that matters. between you and me, i haven’t learned anything at all. that’s life for me. it’s a short life, i rather live it.

it’s 2010, supposedly a fresh start. it’s not just a new year but a new decade. in retrospect, i am proud of my career. 9 years in the making to be where i am right now. that in fact is what the decade is all about for me, career building. that is what i have for show kids, an untarnished, shinning and dare say enviable career.

but through it all, all the hardships, pain, travels, employers, vacations that i should have taken, 3 hospitalizations, paranoia, weddings, living alone, deals and pursuits, the years have been good to me. benjamin franklin might be a great man but i beg to disagree. it’s not only death and taxes that are constant in this world, also good friends. to the tsongers, we may not be related by blood, but you are my family. you have put up with this crazy, as i have put up with yours. and it’s no easy feat but it’s something we all have helped to build. so dahon stop your whining and sudden bouts of migration plans, we are here to stay.

i thought i’d never miss japan, but i do…

faces of friends as they embark on a trip with no confirmed reservations, no knowledge where to go, or how to get there. just machupichu (white honda jazz) and the will to have the greatest adventure yet.

all we know is that we are heading north to zambales, either potipot or anawangin. we had a reservation at pundaquit in a bed and breakfast (wannabe) residence of a local there. failing to locate a pnb branch and pay the accommodation, the owners decided to give our room to another group, a day before our supposed trip. the only room available is a 2 bed bedroom at a staggering php4,500.00. i don’t know if it was a gimmick of the owners to force us to get the pricey room but i am completely turned off. it’s a makeshift bed and breakfast, i can get an executive room at the shangrila makati for php3,999.00++ (thanks to mom’s membership) with complimentary breakfast. we decided to try search for other accommodation to no avail. no rooms available for us.

being the adventurer we are, we headed north of manila with no clear place to stay. we have set our hearts to anawangin and that’s where we will be. on our way, we were planning contingencies if ever we really can’t find somewhere to stay. it’s either 1.) sleep along the long stretch of trees in pundaquit, 2.) sleep in the car 3.) go back to subic and stay at a hotel or 4.) go to mt. pinatubo instead. good thing we headed early and was able to make good time to scout the local area for accommodation. turning right somewhere in pundaquit, we were able to see a house with a makeshift lighthouse. named wild rose inn, dahon felt a vibe that this is the place that will save us from our misfortune, so she figured having a first name rosemarie. she went to the inn and talked to the owner whom we will address here as tita lover. tita lover is a character, you’ll love her to bits. she is a balikbayan from canada who spoke to us in english and speaks to her husband and house helps in tagalog. we don’t know why, she just does. she offered us an airconditioned room with a queen size bed and a double bed, t&b for only php1,800.00! we settled at tita lover’s inn and asked one of the help if he can look for a boat to take us to anawangin and capones.

after settling to our room, we packed our lunch, change to our swimming gear and headed to the islands. a small boat, just enough for the 5 of us and 2 boatmen ferried us to anawangin. it was a rather turbulent 40 minutes ride since it was a small boat. we were able to get to the island, safely, before the high noon. we ate lunch under the tall pine trees to shade us. irish’s mom packed adobong manok and embutido for lunch. it was a nice lunch together with friends. we were sharing food, eating food with bare hands (yes i know how to), sharing stories and chismis. after lunch we hit the sea, for me, some serious 1 on 1 with the sun.

… to be continued

1.39am – pack lightly. i’m ready for the beach!

listening to:
Bring It On – Da Beat Bros.: Jump Up

i recently got wiser. who am i kidding, i got older, a couple more gray hairs, bio clock ticking. it was hush-hush, no one from the office knew about my birthday except for those i am friends with at friendster. if you know how to turn-off the birthday announcement of friendster, kindly drop me an email. the tsongers celebrated my birthday a week early; as always, we find it difficult to be in the same place/city/country/continent, at the same time. bert is in japan until i don’t know when, martha will be flying to japan as well on the week of my birthday and most of the other tsongers are in a baby boom mode. half full/half empty depending on the perspective on your side, we marched to makati to celebrate my getting grumpier. dahon was gracious enough to have our potluck in her pad. brian was the event master and assigned everyone what food to bring. i brought prawns, one in spicy thai coconut milk soup and a spicy halabos style. kat prepared appetizer (hotdogs and spicy mushroom), eden brought a platter of makis and sushi, martha bought a bucket of good ol’ kfc, bri and helena cooked pancit bihon, art and pearly brought lumpiang shanghai, bin and rish bought yellow cab pizzas and the hostess whipped up a dessert zoe called duh! yummy (dayami) cake.

it was fun being with friends, catching up. hysterical laughter and dissing people without feeling offended. it wouldn’t be a tsongers get together without the insults and love of tsismis. we love to play games, even went to batanggas once just to play bridge. eden brought with her jenga, similar to uno stacko without the colors and numbers. dahon being competitive as hell, is now the world record holder of having the longest time before moving a single block of jenga. after 2, or was it 3?, rounds of jenga, we played taboo a game of unspeakable fun. people laughing and trying their best to guess while the person describing the word not to use the taboo words.

aging this way is fun. all of my guests were in pairs with the exception of dahon and kat. the 3 singles of the group… sigh

p.s. i’m so happy that very few knows my exact birth date, except close friends of course. i don’t know, i’m comfortable announcing my age, but not my birth date. i just don’t want people greeting my happy birhtday even singing it.