i was in the middle of nowhere off the cost of zambales in the middle of a tropical cyclone trying to enjoy nature and the great company of friends

now, wasnt that a mouthful for a title :) was incommunicado for a good 3 days as me and 11 other brave souls trekked out to the middle of nowhere to face the elements and enjoy nature in its most glorious form.

the trip was organized by my client as a team building session for her new company, a wellness center. i have been preparing myself for the trip for at least a week by hitting the gym more diligently since most, if not all of her team would be gym trainers. i certainly did not want to be the flabbiest of the bunch when it came to shirts-off time :)

the journey was long since the resort was quite remote, on the edge of the the country to the east. upon reaching the bay, we had to haul our stuff to bancas that would take us eventually to the cove on the other side of the shoreline, around 30 mins. away. the boat ride was particularly nerve wracking since im rather aquaphobic and we were also riding into a cyclone, the skies were dreary and the winds strong and the waves, not as quiet as i wanted it to be. but since everyone seemed calm about it, i really could not protest.

anawangin cove sits in between the granite rock face of two hills, hiding it from plain view. quite a good reason actually since as your banca turns in to the cove, your breath is taken away by the sheer beauty of what lies before you. in sharp contrast to the dark cliffs, u have a burst of green as anawangin is covered in trees, pine trees of all things. the forest drapes the entire camp grounds and all the way up the mountains that form the backdrop of what is probably the most beautiful scene i have ever seen. a friend described it quite aptly... like it was taken from the lord of the rings.


after disembarking on the beach and unloading our gear, we started assembling our tents. this is my first time actually to go camping so every single bit i do is new to me. pitching tents, building a bonfire, cooking on the bonfire, looking for firewood and tending the flames. we also went hiking in the forest in search for the source of this river that had the sweetest tasting water. we ended somewhere up in the mountains in front of this waterfall. the trek was quite a feat as i got gashes and bruises from tripping, slipping and falling a few times. the route we followed was mostly dried river bed that we presumed would be fully submerged when the rainy season arrives. our way back to camp was rather interesting. instead of taking the same route we took (where i got injured at almost every stage) my client, a 50 something swiss lady decided to let nature show us the way, she started following a trail of carabao dung. true enough, we were back in camp faster and not as badly bruised :)

our private hut with my client busying herself to prepare dinner

my tent

there wasn't that many things to do in a deserted cove really. we had a few team games and taught our swiss host how to play patintero :) it was fun seeing a european play a pinoy kids game really :) a friend of mine also got me playing ultimate frisbee again. the last time i played was way back in high school so it took me a while and a couple of bruised fingers to get the hang of it again. i managed to get an even tan on my arms. unfortunately, to do so, i needed to bake my entire top and back in the process. im a bit burnt right now so moving is a bit painful :)

on our last night, we had a BBQ around the bonfire and had a gung-ho receptionist perform rihanna's umbrella for entertainment. things were fine and was ending at a high note until so had a little bit of a situation. the weather was rather erratic all throughout our stay so there wud be times when it would rain and then a few minutes later, the sun would be shining. that night, our clear night sky soon started to show rain clouds. while we were all huddled around our bonfire, a stranger out of nowhere popped out. he was shirtless and obviously intoxicated. slurring and incoherent, he kept pestering us to sleep in our camp and that he wont go away until he gets what he wants. he wasn't really a threatening figure, besides, we were a bunch of big fitness trained men and he was just one drunk. still though, the idea of him lurking about at camp was rather unsettling. making things even worse i guess was that someone allegedly saw him having a companion. that night, all the guys were on the lookout. someone made booby traps and had perimeter lights around camp. a bit of an exaggeration really but the guys too were a bit intoxicated and overly paranoid i guess. later that early morning, we had the strongest downpour and gale like winds. it was quite scary actually especially with the sound of the roaring sea. despite the fright, i found myself thinking where that drunk spent the night.

the following morning, i found him nearby, under a hut, sober and well, quite apologetic.

overall, the trip was quite a great experience. i made a lot of new friends and had a fun time as well. i have braved the elements and have proven that i can at least stick it out in the wilderness, even for a short while :) i however don't have plans of doing it again anytime soon. i don't think my sunburt skin would agree anymore :)

a bithday patry, cha-nis style!

i was "man-handled" by my mom to attend the 80th birthday celebration of her cousin last saturday. i wasn't really feeling it since i barely know the celebrant, more so, mostly all the people attending. added to that, i was also trying to cut down on the food intake since i had a camping trip coming (more on that later) and everyone knows what not eating while on a chinese dinner means, right? however, my mom obviously knew how to play me. a pout and a sigh later and she used the strongest weapon a mother can wield on a child... guilt. cunning.... simply cunning.

i tried to make the best of the evening. good thing i was seated beside a kooky cousin and i had a textmate who kept me company :)

here are some of the pics i took while trying to entertain myself. :)

notice the sea of blood... and the cheesy decor? :)

the wedding singer.... not really the best but bearable. at one point he referred to the party as a wedding, a slip of the tongue that EVERYONE noticed.

my grey ensemble. i stood out like a sore thumb but was commented as being artistic :) i guess ppl also grow tired of wearing red on these occasions and just wished they thought of wearing grey as well! :)

erratum

david archuleta, consistent boy american idol aspirant lost to david cook, avant guard, steadily getting cuter due to his hard working stylist, rocker.

im not too sad with the turn out of the contest. i did like david cook as well so if america decided he was more deserving, then he was more deserving. i honestly though last night while i was posting my entry about what simon cowell said about david archulets's performance. when he said it was a "knockout", it almost felt like the kiss of death for me. counting chickens before they hatch simon....
o well. america obviously doesnt like being told what to think, more so what to do.

if there is anything im sure that will happen, is that both davids will come out with albums and it will be another battle. i just hope david a.'s maniacal stage dad doesn't beat him up into a pulp first for loosing.

is there any question?

tonight airs the finale of season 7 of american idol. though i used to follow it before when it started, i kinda lost interest midway after missing a few episodes. however, despite not being able to watch it as much as i used to, i still kept my eye on my favorites and how they faired. tonight, i watch my "manok" slug it out with another singer bearing the same name. the two davids on idol's last night... who would have thought this would happen?

anyway, ever since the kid (david archuleta, that is) opened that beautiful mouth of his and released his siren voice, i was hooked. never would i have expected such beautiful sounds to come out of such a young person, and with so much conviction in his singing.. almost like an old soul. i have to be honest, for very obvious reasons, that i was also supporting ramielle to win. but she just got irritatingly, well, irritating. though she started impressive, she gradually slid down the forgettable road of just being another singer. david a, as i call him (yeah, we're close) on the other hand has been consistent ever since day one. his performance tonight sealed the deal with yet another beautiful number, capping it off with the song that made me fall in love.

here is the clip that basically handed him the prize.

God is in everything

was having a conversation with a friend yesterday and as how all things go with me, our topic slowly veered its way to life and God.

i don't really consider myself a very religious person, neither am i that spiritual. i guess since i grew up in a christian family with my grandparents being very devout, the topic of God and how He is represented in my life always comes up. unlike other people, God to me is almost like taking about what i had for breakfast. i can talk about Him in almost palpable detail without sounding like i'm preaching... well, i hope i dont that is. having a very christian upbringing has made the topic and the person of God quite normal and "un"intimidating to me, and talking about it, i found was something that i especially enjoyed quite well.

now don't get me wrong. talking about God for me is quite different from preaching. i have had my fair experience of doing that and blame it probably in the frustrated teacher in me, i always end up sounding like i'm on a lecture. conversations often end up dry and dead and the progression to such dismal states happen at very rapid speeds. probably the reason why i dont preach so much anymore. cerebral that i am, i have found that i become more eloquent, more comfortable when i just talk about God like He is a subject that is familiar with everyone, with no pressure really of saving another's soul. jobs like that need enlightened people... not those like me who lug their baggage around.

so there we were, my friend and i, exchanging views on life and love when, as expected, i asked him about God and how he was able to reconcile his identity with his faith. since accepting my true identity, part of the acceptance process for me was to make peace with God. though not always a necessary process to some people, i felt being a christian, it should be the first thing on my list of things to do. this being the case, finding out how other ppl deal fascinated me as well.

" i don't do harm to myself and harm to other's" is usually the answer i get whenever i throw this question out. though i now feel that being gay is not really so much a moral issue as the lifestyle usually connoted to it, a lot of people still feel that the mere fact that you are means you are automatically damned. but if you really are immoral, is that really so wrong? wasn't rahab an integral part of how the israelites conquered jericho? didn't Jesus go out of his way just to see the samaritan woman? wasn't it mary magdalene the first mortal that Jesus revealed himself to, even before He ascended to the Father? i feel, moral or immoral, in the eyes of God, we are all the same, we are all in need and unlike people, God has no biases.

how i made peace was to believe that i did not choose who i am but was rather born the way i am. can you really fault me if i like blue more that red? or t-shirts more that polos, guys more than girls? God made me who i am for a reason and that is what i intend to find out. my upbringing, my experiences, my struggles, all were part of this master scheme for me to reach this point, to this realization and i am happy that i did. now i can do nothing but move forward with steps of anticipation. i believe my portion is different, and though it may seem that this will mean a more difficult path, what is God but not my eternal portion. right now, i still feel like i'm not whole. i told my friend that though i can honestly say i am now comfortable in my own skin, i still feel like there is a gap that i need to fill. my relationships with self, family and friends are all taken care of now, but that with God, well, is still in the works. a deeper consciousness tells me there is a rough patch somewhere between us and i feel it is my duty to mend the divide. God has given me so much, its the least i could do.

pick me ups!

i was having a rather sour saturday afternoon. i just thank my lucky stars i had friends who cheered me up by barraging me with videos to lift up my spirits. here are some of them...

first, another teresa teng classic!! i just love her, and this video is just too cute!


macveen lead me to the following videos, this one by jason mraz called "i'm your's". fun video.


here's another by duffy, the "new" amy winehouse daw. i like thisone coz i reminded me of them old black numbers. you know back in the days when tina turner of diana ross were just starting. very retro!!


finally, Feist withthe song "1 2 3 4" just a fun video. a pile of none sense but just really fun!


thanks you guys!!!! thanks for making my day!

chinoy senti

a friend's hilarious blog got me all sentimental all of a sudden. meet teresa teng, by far one of the most famous chinese balladeers EVAH!!! her songs are timeless and known by almost every chink the world over, bridging generations and countries even!!

though her songs used to flood the airways back in the 70's and 80's, now you mostly just get to hear her in chinese restaurants over dinner or dimsum. there are also the occasions wherein chinese wedding singers or half drunk relatives hitting the karaoke machines attempt at her graceful voice but only manage to do a really cheesy number...

i found this video of one of her more famous songs "the moon represents my heart". just to show you that her songs transcend age and culture, my mom was looking over my shoulder as the song played and WE started singing together!!!! ahahahaha....

enjoy!!!!