IIII love IIIIlocos!!!

Ilocos was just slashed off my must-visit list. The great welcome, the amazing sceneries and the lovely night lights in Ilocos made up for the ass-punishing 14 hour bus ride.
We, Camille and bf Cary, Emman and the guy, left Manila at around 8. There was no other available bus so we had to take a non-airconditioned bus to Laoag (I was scared we’d be traveling with chickens and other farm products) and was surprised that it turned out to be ok. We arrived in Laoag at around 6 in the morning and transferred to another bus that will take us to Pagudpud. Finally, at almost 9, we arrived in Pagudpud all geared up and ready for the beach.

I have to thank Myrtle for the warmest welcome and for taking us in during our Pagudpud stay. If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have enjoyed Pagudpud to the fullest. Thanks for the fulfilling meals and for playing host/driver/entertainer. We stayed at the beach until 2 in the morning and the guy and I just slept at the shore while everybody had their issues. (Camille and Cary.. Emman.. the new side of Emman..hahaha)

We left Pagudpud at 9 in the morning to get to Laoag just in time for the 11 am bus to Vigan (that was the last trip to Vigan and we arrived 15 minutes before it left). Upon arriving, Cary, Camille and Emman went to Playa de Oro while the guy and I stayed at Cordillera Inn. We all decided to rest for the afternoon and just get back together for dinner, in time for the Good Friday Procession.

The streets were packed and it seemed like everyone went out to join the procession.
We wanted to join the procession at first but seeing that there were a lot of people, decided against it. We just visited the streets of Vigan and enjoyed taking pictures.

The next day, we went to Chavit’s Baluarte. Vigan should be called Chavit Country for everywhere, I mean everywhere, there were posters of Chavit. I only saw one poster of an opposition candidate in all of Vigan, just one. Good thing they didn’t allow posting in Crisologo st. or everything would have been ruined. When it was time for us to have the required calesa tour, we had a difficult time finding a calesa without Chavit’s face on it.

In the afternoon, the guy and I took Cary, Camille and Emman to the bus station. We were supposed to leave with them as well but we wanted to stay one more day in Vigan. After taking them to the bus station, we had dinner and decided to take one more tour of Vigan. There were less people that night and so we were able to enjoy taking a walk along Crisologo street more than we did the other night. We also found a nice store which sells really great, unique products. We stayed for sometime and chatted with the owner, Leonard Chua, about his products and he gave us a big discount. haha.

We woke up really late the next day, so late that all we were able to do was just pack for the trip back to Manila. The moment I was on the bus for Manila, I just wanted to turn around and stay in Vigan or go back to Pagudpud. This was the best trip for me – staying with him in one of the oldest, romantic cities of the country.

Lent Advisory

myGlobeAdvsry:Don’t 4get to reflect on God this Lent. Text HOLY to 2346 for wkly holy tones and a FREE “IKAW LAMANG” tone P15/wk DTI4638  NoFREEadvsory? RplySTOP

Just got this. Something’s really wrong with this world.

I can’t remember who said it but I definitely believe the person who said, “God does not promote commercialism.” This makes the observance of holy week pathetic and shallow.

Can we please respect the lent season? Christ died.

Do we always have to make money out of things, even if it’s supposed to be holy?

I Ilocos!

I’m going to Ilocos!

I am going with a couple, a friend and the guy. I am so excited for this is my first holy week trip, my first Luzon beach experience and my first out of town trip with him.

Tell you all about the trip when I’m back on Sunday.

Happy Easter.

Stuck and Still

It was the longest night for me. I was afraid that if time stopped at that particular moment, I would have been infinitely miserable. I would be doing forever  what I hate to do most – waiting without knowing.

I wished I were a lot of things that night but I wished to be with you the most. Just so I know, just so I can see for myself that you are fine. I really wished I was there.

But I was here – waiting, hoping for a call or a knock at 4 am.

But it’s done. It can’t be helped.

After what seemed like years, you are here now. As I watch you sleep, I realize that though common sense might tell me to  run away from you as fast as I can (and common sense did tell me to run the very first time we met), I know I won’t even budge. I’m staying and it seems I’m stuck for good.

If the worst thing happens, I know what I would do. I’d make time stop for me as it would for you – so that when we meet again, it would be just like yesterday.

Then we can continue from where we left off.

Babysitting

I have always loved kids and thought that when I have my own family, I’d have around five.

Now, just the idea of having one is making me cringe.

My little brother is with me right now and being 11, he really doesn’t understand the kind of work that I do. He thinks I’m just playing or browsing the internet and what I am doing is really inconsequential and that it is less important than his present whims on what to do next.  I really love my job and the barrage of family members demanding attention for the past two weeks has really affected my productivity.

My little brother, when you try to tell him no, looks at you with puppy dog eyes and starts to really beg like playing the playstation all day is the most important thing for him. Until when will kids use ‘cuteness’ to get what they want? Well, maybe it’s time I tell my little brother that he is passed the age of cuteness and maybe it’s time he consider reasoning than cuteness.

I love my family. I really do. But maybe it’s time that they realize that I already have my own life – that they can’t simply order me to move it aside and put theirs first. I want respect – respect for my time, my priorities and my choices. Yes, I know that my dad’s the one earning for the family. Yes, I know my little brother’s not here all the time and it’s been a year since we saw each other last. But I really want them to consider what I do as important because it is important to me.

After all, THIS IS MY LIFE.

A Job or a Career?

What I have right now is a job.

Don’t be mistaken, I love my job. I get to write at my own time and not have to wake up early, get dressed, make sure that I look good and travel to get to work. I don’t have to deal with office politics and I am never late for work. (Well, there are times that I am late for work..haha)

And then they called.

I was at peace and content and then they called. I didn’t apply for a job, didn’t ask to be considered for a position but still they called me one lazy afternoon asking if I was free for an interview. The call from the clothing company made me consider a lot about things.

I love marketing and advertising. That was one field of journalism I really enjoyed. I just love the show, it’s the closest that I can get to acting. haha..

Now, it’s a question of whether I want a job or a career. The job would give me a salary so much more than what my peers are earning now while a career would give me the challenge and the corporate climb that I was so looking forward to.  It would however give me so much less.

So which should it be?

Just Tidbits

I want to talk about a lot of things.

About the interview that I had for a certain clothing company and about one great movie – teenage mutant ninja turtle. But right now, I am tired and I am lazy and if I force myself to write, I would most probably just be writing rubbish.

There’s always tomorrow. Just have to remember that I ought to write about two things tomorrow – the movie and the interview. hay…

Blogging Hazzard

Blogging should come with a warning, something like – Warning: Might affect Self-Esteem.

I put up a blog with the intention of connecting with friends. The fact that we don’t see each other that much anymore made me realize that this is one way that I get updated with what’s happening in their lives – and them with mine.

I was just riding along and enjoying things when I met traffic. It changed my blogging life.

I watched my blog stats go from 24 views (when I started out), to a respectable 19, a satisfactory 17, a lowly 7 and finally a depressing 3. Again, a depressing 3. Which made me think, only 3 people are interested about me? Worse, that could possibly be just one person who viewed my blog three times. haha

We measure self-worth in a lot of ways. I don’t want to include page views in mine.

Or maybe I can say that now because my page views went from 3 to 32 then to 46.haha..

Heroics/Hysterics

He might have the best of intentions. He might even be an angel to some – but what he did is completely unacceptable.

Ducat, the hostage-taker in the 10-hour drama, might think of himself as a hero but right now I could only think of him as a crazy, frustrated person.

You do not take children, promise them a wonderful field trip and then just let them witness violence. You can NOT really believe that Mrs. Arroyo is fighting corruption (after the fact that we are considered the most corrupt country, my memory’s failing). You definitely do NOT ask for Chavit Singson (when he’s known to always have his way). Somehow, I feel like this is just a show and Ducat is a puppet who became an easy prey because of his passion. Read full story here.

Yes, he has a point. He definitely has a point. Our political system is rotten to the core. The poor are neglected. Children are not able to go to school. To summarize, the Philippines is one big mess. But you do not achieve progress through violence, coercion and definitely not by using children as shields as you try to ram a bus against two firetrucks (ok,I’m exaggerating).

Taking Politics to Bed

I am watching Reporter’s Notebook and I just can’t help but be disgusted with how people are corrupted by power.

The governor of Basilan, Governor Akbar, is running for congress after serving nine years as head of the province.

His 1st wife, Jum, is running for governor.

His 2nd wife, Cheryl, is running for mayor of Isabela. If I may just point out, and if I remember correctly, Isabela is the center of the province.

His 3rd wife, Im, is running for mayor of Lamitan.

What irritates me more is this:

When asked about the good thing about having his wives in office, he said (to the best that I can remember):

“If we can’t talk on the phone or in the office because we are busy, maybe we can solve the problem in bed.”