Monday, April 13, 2009

Subic-ing on a Holy Week



Holy Week went peaceful and I guess I am back to tell you the story on how I spent mine.

First Story (Temptation Island):


I was supposed to go fasting, not on food but on internet usage. CBCP said on a news report before the Holy Week that withdrawing or not doing the usual things you've been doing is one way of fasting sort of what you do on a retreat or a recollection.Texting perse is one and of course the internet as well, because it is no necessity for us but then again if you're used to it it is not so as easy as we think. And so this Holy Week I tried not to go online as a form of sacrifice maybe, I even posted on my status on Facebook that I won't surf the net this Holy Week. I decided to do so since I would be out of town and maybe this is one of the littlest thing I could do in line with the Lenten Season. But then again, Holy Tuesday, I failed to. And its not that I do not have one word but I just have to download and check something before I leave the City. I then thought that the latter surfing on the net would be the last for the week only to find out that the place we stayed in on Subic is a wifi zone. Temptation island right? haha.=)) I left my laptop at home so I thought I was spared from going online, but then my brother and cousins had their gadgets with them and they're all wi-fi capable. Oh snap, the "must-have-been fasting" went opposite. Instead, we went online for like 3 whole days. But the mac isn't mine so I'm kind of regulated with the internet usage but then, I still check my accounts frequently and played some online games and so fasting wasn't successful afterall.It may have been a fault or a failure but I guess, I still spent my Holy Week in a holy manner. Moment of silence, prayers, visited a church and leaving the city behind. I stayed 4 days instead of 3 days since they don't want me to go home even when I really want to. We did have our vacation but we made sure that it would still be a peaceful one.


Second Story (Roadtrip hassles):


When you watch news on, before and after Holy Week, news reports are mostly about traffic advisories. Warning, guiding and telling the motorists on where to go, where traffic is, accidents, and the expressways. This year, there was a new road on where motorists were advised to pass to avoid the traffic on the North-Luzon Express Way, it is called SCTEX or Subic Clark Tarlac Express way. We left Manila at around 9 or 9:30 Maundy Thursday since we are not in a hurry to be in Subic early morning, Mom and the rest woul just follow us by afternoon.Traffic wasn't much a of a hassle by then until we got into toll gates of NLEX. But boy, it can't be compared to the traffic we encountered on SCTEX. Gah, The road was surrounded by mountains, it was a long winding road. Traffic is very vivid even 2 kilometers away from the toll gate, the volume of cars are getting larger. Around a thousand or less I think. We were there for almost six hours. It was quarter to 3 and We didn't take lunch thinking we'll get there by 12 noon but we did not and there were no stop-overs so we just ate sandwiches inside the car. It's funny that people entertain their selves on a traffic jam. There was a foreigner who walked along the long road and smoked maybe he was enjoying the scenery, there was one who jog, some reads inside their cars, some call from their cell phones (I doubt if the reception was good, I do not have a signal then since it was a mountain), some put up their feet so they could relax, others soundtripped,took pictures, some already had car troubles gettin overheat, some drink and eat while I am just trying to text whenever signal's back and observe all of them. The one who caught our attention was a van. The children at the back of the van posted a paper on a window a message: "We are bored!!!" haha. It was nice they even thought of that on a traffic, I should have took a picture of that but I wasn't able to.The road trip was a full of hassles, but it was fun.


Third story (Itchy beach-y):


It was 2004 since I last visited and spent my Holy Week in Subic. There were lots of beaches in Subic and we never missed swimming on it. We went swimming at All Hands Beach, as we also did in 2004. By then, the problem was the rocky sands, you could hurt your feet by walking but the water's fine. Clean. 2009, we had our swimming again, we swam for just like 10 minutes. Very short, because we were feeling something itchy. There was an unknown creature which bites our skin, we later on found that it was a little shrimp. haha. It is transparent so we can't see it. Yeah, it's a hassle as well, but we did not continue swimming since there was a girl from our neighbor cottage who drowned and was on hysteria after. I just took photos of the beautiful beach, it was blue and the water's clear and the sand's not so rocky anymore.


Fourth Story (Spotted):


What's a trip without seeing someone you know or is connected to you? Impossible I say. haha. As I said on my previous blog entries people are connected and it's no destiny that they see each other on a far place. I spotted a model when we were shopping at Nike Outlet and my cousins spotted Senator Pia Cayetano biking. I also spotted some Jamers whom I do not know the names but I recognize the faces. My brother told me that there were Jamers on the village we stayed in, I could not recognize who he was describing until we saw them. Meanwhile, entering the beach I saw someone wearing the AB shirt, by then I already knew he was a Thomasian and an Artlet. I just find it amazing that even in far places there's always someone I knew or I recognize.



I knew this blog entry was long, but I just would like to share that the trip went well, no more traffic when going back and the family or the clan did enjoy and bonded well happily in Subic.Holy Week isn't about vacationing, it's about peace, serenity and holiness.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Summer blabbing.



Summer blabbing that happened so fast.

It's summer and it spells V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N galore!


Wooh! After tedious months of doing Algebra Homeworks, researching for papers, writing news articles for Journ, memorizing names and places for History, doing Logic boardworks, creating powerpoints for Theo, practicing for Arnis and doing lots and lots of school works, SUMMER is officially here and finally It is our vacation. YAY!=)

Students look forward to this every year I suppose. Why of course, It is the only time we can have longer hours of sleep and do whatever we want having no absent record after. Not that we do not have holidays but summer is a little different. It's longer and the weather's good. I started mine earlier this March and I'm glad that I visited HongKong. An addition to my travelling experiences. Let's just see where my feet would take me this April, May and early June. I do not have plans and I am not that rich to go globetrotting in as much as I want to. Even here in my beloved country, I cannot go to places on an instant snap of my fingers. How I wish I can, cause I really love travelling.

Okay, enough of the rants, let me just share to you my HK experience. So we stayed in Dorsett Hotel and went to tourist spots (HK Disneyland, Victoria peak mountain, Avenue of Stars). We also went discovering HK by ourselves, it's not that hard as we thought it would be. Yes, we were on a foreign country, we're aliens but we survived. You just have to be a street smart and people wise as you can't trust anyone easily so you could be safe at all times. It is not so dangerous to step out of your box for a little while and walk alone the streets even if you do not understand the language and street signs, there are a lot of Filipinos anyway. They sure are willing to help their kababayans, and that's one good thing we should be proud of. We roam around the city and we actually find good stuffs, places that are not included on our tour itinerary--an experience of the culture with foods.

So there, this is my HK experience and I am looking forward to more summer escapades this summer break.

It's a Small world afterall



First year's over and I'm up for a new year in UST.


It's amazing to find that with just my first year in College, I met a lot of people, knew names, and at least recognize new faces. A thousand of them maybe or if I am just exaggerating its numerical values then a hundred of them is sure I've met. I read Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven and I found it interesting that even people whom you do not even knew the name can make a big impact in your life, in some ways and how people are connected to each other. For instance, a rich person to a beggar, a celebrity to a fan and many more examples if you may think. But it is more than that. In College, I was amazed how I meet people from the past and meet them in the future as well. What do I mean? I need not to elaborate. I just find it amazing that people are really connected in some ways, somehow. Your brother may know your crush by heart, your cousin turn out to be your classmate's ex-girlfriend, your parents and your profs maybe classmates when they were still in HighSchool..Sounds familiar? This is just a typical scenario on how people are connected. True enough, wherever you may go be it across the globe or just downtown you may find someone you knew or you do not know but has a connection to you. Like when I went to Tagaytay, was surprised that my Uncle knew my schoolmate's family, when I went to Japan I knew kids of my age which were actually my aunt's friend's children and just recently when I went to HongKong I found a schoolmate's sister. This is no destiny, as I thought at first, but this just a way how people are connected. We may not be all related by blood but we are bound by our race, cultures, beliefs and commonalities. At the end of the day, we just find ourselves dumbfounded thinking that it's really a small world.

How important time is?


For the many months I missed blogging, I apologize.


And for the nth time that I've been using these apologies as an introduction of my blog entries, I apologize.


I do not have the luxury of time to update and juggle all my accounts on Social Network Sites at the same time. This made me realize that with this very single duty of creating my identity in the cyberworld, I need time. More so, that the motto "Time is gold" holds much truth to it. Yeah, it's gold or even more than what its worth for with time we incorporate our lives. How well we use our time determines how well we lived on Earth. Because we just can't turn back time when we want to. We should make use of it wisely when we have it. There is a past, present and future where we choose to dwell. Our choice will prevail whether we want to live our lives to our "NOW" or still be haunted by the past, we may also live the future on our choice so we'll be able to plan our lives ahead. Life gives us all the choices, but time runs when we are enjoying. With life's uncertainties, time comes to be uncertain as well. We live, We die, We gain, We lose, We experience this and that because time allows us to. If we didn't have the time we'll never have the chance. My point here is to make our time more meaningful than what we perceive it. It's the start of Holy Week tomorrow, and maybe we should reflect on this over the week. To value the life that has been given to us by God, to share what we have, to say what we have to say, to mend what is to be healed, to correct the wrong things, to grab the chances given to us, to live our life to the fullest is something we should do. This sounds "clicheic" but I am not getting any younger, I am 18 now. Legal of age but not mature enough to realize some things including this very simple thing yet very significant so by now I JUST HAVE TO. I know I am guilty of always being late, taking for granted time not realizing that time is indeed an hourglass, the sands fall down as time passes we never really know when will ours be empty.

So live and value time or else there's no tomorrow.