Airports from Hell

In Jessica Zafra’s blog, she listed some of the worst International Airports in the world.  Oddly enough, the Philippines is not included.  I disagree.  The first thing I hate about travelling abroad is going through our NAIA.  Can’t I just take a banca to Hong Kong and fly from there?  Please please…

But I agree with this one:

Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Paris, France. “Charles de Gaulle is a disgrace … it’s like a third-world airport.” —Michel-Yves Labbé, president of French travel company Directours, Aug. 14, 2007. Grimy, confusing, overpriced, and the staff is rude. (It’s actually not that bad, but it’s in Paris! It should be better.)

-Jessica Zafra

They ARE rude, those proud Parisians.  I’m told that once you go out of Paris, the french people are actually nicer. 

Charles de Gaulle reminded me of NAIA actually.  But at least going to NAIA, you don’t have to go through ’slums’ and be in danger of getting lost in one of the dodgey train stations… and no rude train officer telling you (nonchalantly) to jump over the gates.  Believe me, it happened to me and my friend Ian Tan.  If there’s any hesitation for going back to Paris, it would be setting foot on the airport.

Bridge to Engineering

I’m getting this error right now

Where is B’Lanna Torres when you need her?  :D

To Shave or Not To Shave

Over the years, I’ve had my hair done slightly differently.  I even went curly when I didn’t want to get a haircut for 5 months.  I was stuck in Copenhagen and I didn’t want to pay 1600Php for a haircut.

 

You see, my hair is straight but gets curly on ends when it grows long enough.  As my sister would say, “Parang Santo Nino!”

Now, I’ve been planning to have my hair done UNO or Semi-kalbo.

Any feedback guys?

Changing Times

Going out with friends, we found ourselves on a rooftop somewhere, drinking the night away.  In the conversations, one told about how they lost a guitar and some other thing I could not recall.  On reflex, I started to say that I had this guitar to give

But I stopped myself in the process.  Nevermind that I will never ever use it, and that it would be better off with that friend of mine.  When it comes down to it, I refuse to put my generosity in scrutiny once again…  In the eyes of unworthy beings no less – a pair that typifies obliviousness and haste of a foolhardy.

Times have changed indeed.  I now have to think first before doing something good.  It’s very parallel to lines in one of the songs of Wicked

No good deed goes unpunished
No act of charity goes unresented
No good deed goes unpunished
That’s my new creed…

All helpful urges should be circumvented
No good deed goes unpunished
Sure, I meant well -
Well, look at what well-meant did…

-No Good Deed from Wicked

Is this the trend these days?  Not my loss, I guess. 

I’m Touched

I know I babble a lot about what I want to get these days, but if all else fails, I’ll make sure to get this

What can I say?  Eyelav.

Freebies at Redbox

Do you know that Tuesday night is ladies’ night at Redbox?  This means that girls can enter free at the KTV place.  We took advantage of it yesterday.

That’s Ivan, Dinah, Kat and me.

Rubi went home an hour earlier (11PM).  I forgot I had a camera.  I only got to take pics at around 1130-ish.  Sorry rubi!!!

I came with three girls and only paid for 2 out of 5.  Nice deal, ei?

What fun!

Hillary Duffle

I know, lame title.

I’m looking into getting a new set of travel bags for my imminent deployment, or shall we say, my Great Equalizer.  I’ll explain why I call it that in the next few entries.

I’m thinking of getting the Waxwear Soft Duffle by Jack Spade.

It’s in chocolate with striped lining.  I’m loving it. :D 

I just hope it’s at the Jack Spade store in Greenbelt 3 though.  And the price?  Well, I don’t want to get flogged by the price police.  It’s definitely not affordable, but attainable.

Since I’m already using The Secret to make my trip a reality, why not put this as an add-on?

Photo Fix

Having a Canon Powershot A400, I probably own the oldest digital camera in the office.

So old that sometimes I opt not to take it out when there are photo opps. hehehe   I don’t know, maybe it’s not a priority.  I have not travelled anywhere spectacular.  At least, nowhere that merits the thought of buying a new camera.  But that may change very soon.

Recently, I learned a trick for taking photos.  I think it’s called over exposing, where your camera flickers slower than usual to get a more vivid image.  I know, this might be ancient for other people.  That’s how lame I am with the camera. 

What’s the best camera to buy these days with a budget of 15-30K Php?

Cortical Suppression

For some reason today, I could not truly concentrate when I tried to get into meditative state this morning.  Maybe it’s because my heart was wounded from a recent encounter.  It shouldn’t have happened, if I had the will to quell the feeling.  Besides, I already have someone else who is  more… emotionally available.

Yet again, my heart failed to receive the memo re: every fiber of being to move on. haaay

I don’t even find this person worth holding on to anymore… being someone who can’t distinguish between acknowledging one’s feelings and crossing the line.  There is a difference…  Love is, after all, an inexhaustible resource.  People can always create as much as they need.

A strong will to make things happen, and a mind closed from this distraction… these things I ask from the Universe.  I want to wake up one day and not feel anything about this predicament.

A Week Twice Blended

I just had the smoothest week of my life.  Perhaps it’s because the Universe finally granted me serenity, after my decision to weather the storm, in silence…

Sure, work gave some difficulty, but work will always be what it is – exciting.  I still found time to laugh about it.  But it ended on a good note… with me having to decide between two great career paths.  Both of which would send me off into another adventure… proverbially and geographically speaking…

Even the commute around the Metro didn’t pose any problems for me.  I pictured how my day outside would unfold, and I got it, The Secret style…

And the dating scene… my so-called lovelife… oh so colourful…

Even friendships grew the way I wanted them to.  There’s a whole new level of honesty in one of my friendships…

FRIENDS… they make my life better each day.

I hope everyone had a weekend as great as mine!

Serenity for the Mature

The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one – Wilhelm Stekel, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

I think I just finally applied this quote to my life recently.  I was faced with a fork in the road - to go down in flames, or to be present in silence.  I realized, in the nick of time, that not facing a circumstance can attract more attention rather than going with the flow.  There is grace for people who quietly glide through the storm, after all.

To affect the change in oneself as quietly as possible, one must not change his outward actions so quickly.  The change must come from deep within, and permeate ever so quietly to one’s surroundings.  Outward changes must be done ONLY at the last possible time. 

What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-bye.  I mean I’ve left schools and places I didn’t even know I was leaving them.  I hate that.  I don’t care if it’s a sad good-bye or a bad good-bye, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it.  If you don’t, you feel even worse.  – Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

When I decide to leave something behind, it will not be like that.  You will not know it.  I will be invisible.  I will be like a shadow.

Duo Music

When my dad first got me my first CD Player and component, the first cd I bought was a set of instrumental music.

It has Terms of Endearment as one of its tracks, I like! 

It’s so old.  I think I got it mid 90’s.  Fortunately it’s still tucked away in one of my cd racks all these years – one of the racks that I alphabetized.  I know!  I’m such a nerd.

This cd will be available on Monday at Fully Booked.  I can’t wait to hear it.

In this collection of Filipino works composed or arranged for two pianos are compositions that draw inspiration from folk songs, kundimans, European classics, and American popular music—influences that helped shape the unique mélange that is Filipino music today.

I just love it when familiar songs are shown in new light, especially if it’s in the genre that I like.   

It makes for a great Christmas gift, doesn’t it?

Missing

It’s the day of my mother’s passing.  I remember, two years ago to this moment, I was building a wall around my heart just to survive the impact of all that happened.  I had to be strong for everybody else from that day forward.

But the walls, they’re crumbling now…

I was listening to the song For Good from the musical Wicked just now.  When I started to sing along to this part of the song, I suddenly got choked up.  I finally burst into tears.

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You’ll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew you:
I have been changed for good.

I miss the people I’ve lost.  After all these years, the pain is still buried deep inside me.  True, it did get better, but it will never be alright that they’re gone.

Intercontinental Effort!

Our batchmates who were deployed in Sweden came back home this week.  They brought pasalubong, of course.  Forget the chocolates, what’s unbelievable is that they hauled boxes of snowglobes for us!

What an effort! Even I wouldn’t do it for myself.

Just A Poem

It’s just a poem, telling you that I love you
It’s just a poem, showing you that I care
It’s just a poem, saying I’m glad that I have you
It’s just a poem, saying that I’m just here

Even though you’re just a friend of mine
The tender love inside will never subside
As you’ve just brought me the sunshine
A sunshine that gave light to my life

I just want to say this to you
It may be plain and simple
Yet these are the words of my heart
Telling you that I’ll never part.

-Excerpt from Just A Poem by Enzo

Lovely poem.  I can relate. (tear)

If I could be like an eagle,
I’d swoop down to steal you,
and take you under my wings…

If my Id was stronger,
I’d act on my desire to be with you,
and quell all the good reasons not to…

If my heart was darker,
I’d destroy friendships
to make you mine forever…

But I am not that man…
I still value friendships…
I still side with what’s right…

I love you,
But I won’t deserve you
if you become mine now…

-If You’d be Mine Now by Midnight Anxiety, Nov 7, 2007

Splash of Explanation

The answers washed over me like water, clearing the hazy vision I’ve been burdened with all morning.

To this person, it doesn’t really answer all the whys.  It just validates why I had to meet you.

I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true
But I know I’m who I am today
Because I knew you…

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

-Excerpt from Wicked’s For Good

I had to meet you because I had to become a better man of my word, and a better friend.

On Strike!

When I asked the Universe for love and friendship, I  had hoped for the best.  But when it came to me, my life was thrown in turmoil… and I have been flung left and right, getting hurt in more ways than one.

Maybe they’re right.  You get trampled on when you bow to make peace.  I am not a humble person, yet I choose humility in times of arguments…  You get abused when you are generous.  I am not giving by nature, yet I choose “giving” as my mantra in life….  And friendships… Friendships don’t always give you what you want…

I feel like there’s this big proverbial joke being played on me…

Just today, after a bad start, a bicycle zooms in and hits me on the side on my way to work.  I just cannot believe it…  The Universe just sent a bike to hit me when I’m down!

“I just cannot believe this!”, I thought in that moment.  That’s it!  I’m on strike!  I’m staying put until the Universe turns my luck around.

A Monday So Manic…

… like you’ve never seen before.

It’s the morning of the first day of work after a long weekend and I just cried my eyes out.  My heart feels like it just broke in two – why does it feel like the hurt is almost physical?  My back hurts for some reason.  I have never ever felt so alone like this in ages.  The thing is, I don’t want to reach out for help… I’d rather curl up in bed and implode.  Sweet release!!!

But my heart still hurts… almost literally.

Why did the universe chain me into a shell with an empathic heart?  What is it in the past that triggered me to become this sensitive and helpful, even to my heart’s expense?  I have not had the sweetest life.  I bear heavy burdens.  Yet I seem to have the luxury to be understanding, cordial, well-mannered and good.  Why am I always predisposed to choosing the right path, however thorn-laiden it may be?

Rant rant rant…  I’m sorry, it’s just my heart talking – a heart that is weary of hurt.

The Space Eyelav

I got my first Jack Spade Newsletter today.  I didn’t subscribe to anything, so I guess the Mister Mort did it for me.

Just look at their space in Boston, a far cry from Greenbelt’s hole-in-the-wall, no?

You like???

Contemplation Over Shopping Bags

While other people throw themselves into a murderous rage when stressed, I throw myself into a murderous shopping spree…

I call this pic, My Ode to Coming to Work Early, because it is never going to happen again.  I decided to restock on supplies and add a few more to my daily routine.

I don’t know… but shopping, especially when alone, is really a big stress reliever for me.  Although I still think of my problems, I reflect on it more inwardly.  Plus going for a fitting and standing in front of a big mirror just gives you a better perspective on yourself.

On my third fitting at Ducks, I looked at myself in the mirror and realized that, “Yes, I am resilient.  I am strength personified.”  Deep inside I’ve always known that.  Remembering it now makes me question why ever did I become dependent on new friendships… Of friendships that turned out to be full of distrust from the start.  I hate distrust, especially when it is directed on me.  I don’t care how minute the situation may be, but distrust is always a big reason to sever ties for my own sake.

When I met these new friends, my life changed… rapidly and unconsciously.  But now, I have to make the same leap to a changed life, only this time it’s a conscious effort and a quiet one.  It might be hard, but I know it can be done.

End result: a shirt, a pair of shorts, beauty products and a plan.  Not bad, ei?