Just some thought

Just recently, something happened to me that probably could have been… you know what I mean. With this, I tried observing once again as it opened quite an opportunity for me to see the nature of the people around me. I only told a few of what happened to me and, not that I do not trust or consider them true friends, I had different reactions to how people around me reacted. I really do not want to say what happened but sometimes, there are no more escape zones. Some of my friends were angry, not really angry but the sort of group that will  nearly shout at you and ask how come I only mentioned this now. There are some who reacted similarly but I do not know if their concern was really there. That is why I rarely tell events to people because I do not know if they really care or not. Forgive me for my introvert tendencies.

I do not want to say that I call them friends and this is all I can get from them. In fact, I appreciate their concern regarding my condition but there is just this nagging feeling that makes you look once again who the true friends are. The group that went angry immediately ordered a meeting on the upcoming weekend. When the news spread, some of them really sent messages asking how I was and hoping for my speedy recovery. What amazed me, though, are the people who still continue to check on my condition. They were the ones who did not let me go back to shadows because they want me to be around.

Thank you guys for being there and still being there for me. I know we are all busy now with our work but you showed me true friendship and love.

I am alive

Yeah, I want to thank God for saving me right there. 

I do not know if there is a meaning behind all of these things. I survived several blows to head, several bruises and strangling. They got my phone, the one that I saved a lot so that I could get one and that’s it. The doctors noticed hematoma on my right eye and only a suspicion on the head or brain. I still need to observe if my head’s condition will get worse. For now, I am fine and alive. I can still count from one to ten, recognize my family and still evade several attacks from cops in Need for Speed Rivals. Of course, I still have to observe more regarding my condition, like if my headaches gets worse or my vision gets worse.

One thing’s for sure, our place is not the same as before. It is not as safe as before. I also don’t think our local government is doing their job well. Zero crime rate? Come on.

 

To those who cared, thank you. Bawi ako sa inyo kapag naka-recover na ako ng tuluyan. 😀

New year, new….

Well, there were a lot of things that I am thankful for. 2013 was quite a difficult year for me because most of my struggles for the new chapter of my life kicked in at great intensity. Fortunately I went through most of them well and it was a good way to learn a lot of things in this life. The second take of board exams took most of my job-hunting time and job-hunting itself was very difficult especially for me who slightly hates programming and the jobs were all IT-related. However, the struggles gave a good result with me nailing down the boards and landing on a rather interesting job.

Wait…

The blog? Yep, did not change anything except that I tried to keep the whole page much more simple. I removed the links to that there will be minimal distractions aaaaand that’s it.

2013 also marked the start of new projects and opportunities. Mountain climbing started January 2013 when I climbed Mt. Pulag during its worst conditions. I also got the long-awaited RC hobby which gave me a chance to completely fiddle with a competition-configurable radio control car. Yep, it can be set up for competitions with components very similar to a real car. 2013 also gave opportunities to meet new friends and challenges on how to meet older acquaintances.

It was a good year, despite the downfalls encountered but I do not blame other people for it. I also have my faults and…yeah, I am on it. I will try to fix them. 🙂

Anyway, I am very thankful for 2013. 2014 looks promising as new challenges will arrive. (I can smell them already) 😀

Why

Why did I see you again?

Why did I get that treatment?

Why was it when we met, it was as if nothing happened?

You were so great. You knew my weaknesses, threw it to me violently so that I could learn from my mistakes. You knew how to take care of me. You knew how to tell if I am depressed and you knew how to put back that smile to my face. You brought endless topics for conversations. You approached a lot, including me, for second opinion. 

You said I was mature back then but then it disappeared all of a sudden. Maybe I was really mature and then lost it after by your side. Maybe I am over thinking and I do not want to blame you for all that changed. Some people thought that you have faults in this case but I want to believe that you are not deeply flawed as what many said because I am also flawed. But back then, I thought you understood my situation. Some said that a true friend, no matter how idiot you were, he or she will still be there, correcting you with his or her full strength. 

I know that I have my flaws. I know I let so many chances pass that time but I hope you understand. I know I will not be able to bring things back to what they used to be. I am praying that wherever you are, you are doing well. I hope I can still see you for coffee conversations, or dinner, or lunch or just simply a snack. I want to clean the slate and start a new drawing for us, forget what we did wrong to each other and move on.

In the end, you are still one of the friends I cherish a lot. In the end, you are still the best caretaker, the best cook, the best listener. In the end, I will always say, you have the strength, courage and capability to be a man’s perfect woman.

The Sandwich Revised

 

I have never been a big fan of sandwiches or big burgers and that is why when you say SUBWAY, I do not really pay attention too much because what rings into my mind is a sandwich store which makes sandwich you cannot finish within an hour and very expensive. It did not erase my curiosity, though, on how such places work and why some people like it.

Happily, another sandwich maker, Quiznos, recently opened in Katipunan and I gave a shot at eating such food. I researched first how the small, regular and large sizes looked like. Apparently it is a measure of how long the sandwich will be. I went for the Classic Italian because I like eating sandwiches with veggies nowadays.The small goes for as long as 5 inches, with regular at 8 and presumably, the large is longerrr.

It looks like they will prepare first the meat and cheese and some stuff that needed heating, pass the bread and the prepared food to a conveyor oven and then it will be taken from there to have the veggies and remaining stuffing placed in your bun. 🙂 Then the one preparing will sort of compress your sandwich so that when you open it, it will not explode the contents to the wrapper.

Honestly, I liked it. It is still expensive though, for me, but I think if you are in this sort of business then you will not really mind the price tag. I was happy with the one I got, even if it was small. It was just suppose a light snack for the afternoon when at the end of the day, I was not able to eat dinner because I was still full.

These food are best coupled with soft drinks and I prefer eating them for lunch or afternoon snack. They just look and taste awesome. 🙂

Scouting Little Tokyo

A friend of mine told me that there is such a place where you can experience very authentic Japanese cuisine and it is called  “Little Tokyo”, located in Makati. At first, I was hesitant to explore the place because, well, it is in Makati and I am quite far from that place. I, then, looked at blogs of people who actually visited the place and ate there. It really looked interesting and the food seemed to be worth the expensive price tags. However, I still cannot go and the directions I saw were very confusing.

One day, I brought my external hdd to a service center in Chino Roces Ave. and my Dad, clever enough, told me to just commute back home. He pointed the jeep that will take me to Magallanes for the MRT ride back home. After bringing the hdd, I rode the jeep. While wrestling with the noon traffic, I did notice one sign on a place that looked like a bit dead, beside Makati Cinema Square. It says “Choto Stop”.

Wait a minute, that is the shop mentioned by one of the blogs. So I immediately went down from the jeep and took a little peek at the place and, viola, I am facing the so-called Little Tokyo.

Unfortunately, I do not have enough cash at hand to even try something in one of the restaurants. So I thought, maybe there is nothing wrong at taking a quick look at how the place looks like during the day because most of the blogs I saw had pictures taken during the night. It really does look good at night. If you have watched Rurouni Kenshin and saw the part where most of the characters were eating dinner, that is how it looked like. I did say not enough cash because even the decent meal that is worth your experience of that place will cost you more than 200 bucks.

This is how the entrance from outside looks like. Based from the maps I saw, the whole place only has two entrances from outside to the restaurants inside. Some restaurants have their doors facing the road rather than the lovely place inside.

This is how the path going inside, just right after you pass the red Little Tokyo sign. At night, only those lamps at the walls illuminate the path.

Then this is how it looks like inside. It looks even more exquisite during the night but even during the day, it really makes you feel like you are in Japan, except of course those monoblock chairs. Just pay attention to the restaurant signs, all in Japanese.

Because I do not have the money, I did not bother looking at their menus. Maybe next time, when I have a date and I choose this place for the dinner. I did bother looking at one place and that is the Choto Stop. It had the same logo design as our Mini Stop and it made me wonder who came first. 🙂 Nevertheless, I entered the store and, yeah, only Japanese goodies but not just any goodies. We all have seen Japanese products such as noodles in local and duty free supermarkets but none of them are in this store. Neither their products are in the local and duty free shops. I saw all of the noodles there for the first time and I thought I will recognize even just one. It was also my first time to see some variants of snacks that I usually buy. Check this one out:

There are also tons of curry packs, chicken breadings, soy sauce (did not see Kikoman) Beer, and lots of those sealed-vacuumed, ready-to-eat food. It is really nice to go there and buy some stuff and try them. Oh, I forgot, remember the Daiso stores? The ones with *everything 80 pesos* tags? This store is simply no exception with most products costing 80 pesos. 🙂

It was a good looking place. I look forward to visiting this place again and hopefully, eat. 🙂

Looking Forward

Quite a disappointment, isn’t it, if you try to push effort on doing something yet it does not turn out to be in your favor? It is really annoying and sometimes, it sets things as being not so trustworthy all of a sudden. It really blinds you on things, rendering you back to pessimism.

But I don’t want to go back to that. For quite a long time, I’ve been submissive to people’s misinterpretations and decisions. I don’t want them to misinterpret me and moreover, if my effort for trying to get things back to normal is not being noticed then I guess it is not my problem anymore.

I guess it is a good thing that I have other friends who can give a decent opinion on things happening me. Not that they sympathize and say that they are on my side. I know that I have a appalling attitude towards people last year. But that is where I knew the people who really care. People who are frank, tell that I have a terrible set of actions BUT will still go alongside me and guide me until I’m good to go on my own again. Those who are willing to listen, drop everything that they are doing and spend the precious minutes of their lives listening to my rants and see how I can be improved. And these people who really cared, understood my situation, that bad attitude and gave me the advice I need. They tell me, not only the flaws I have, but also tell me if I am already an irritating little *ss. “Pssst, you know what, you just did the worst. Next time, this is what you should do….”

I guess part of being a true friend is sacrificing their time. Not the sort of person who says he/she is willing to listen but does something else, letting you feel like an idiot talking to a wall. The people who accommodated me before, when they said “Let’s talk, I want to hear your story”, they mean it and they even said that when they are busy. Stop typing, stop clicking, stop reading and start listening.

Hopefully, this year will be a year of change. Change of environment, change of places and change of people.

I learned a lot from last year, and I am thankful to the situation and more importantly to the people.

 

*sigh*

 

Yeah, look forward. 🙂

Looking forward to meeting new people and discover new places and adventures. Forget the past? No because I am not the sort of person who runs away. 🙂 Good thing that your TRUE friends are there to tell you “yoohoo, get a move on! :D” then anticipate where you will turn your face on rather than “yeah, ‘maybe’ you should avoid it, blah blah blah.” and then turn away.

Yeah, look forward. 🙂

Friends. Time. Dedication. Commitment.

The Risky Business

With the recent conversations with some friends, I went back into thinking about risking things. A lot of people are not really sure about risking in some decisions because let us be honest, we do not want to lose, be compromised and be left out. Most of us, to compensate, plan things ahead of time and that is great but only to some degree. Yes, we can possibly avoid some issues or problems even way ahead of time. We can even set points in our possible timeline that when *this fails* or *that fails* we can easily go to plan B.

Somehow I find that to deliver disadvantages despite the perks. I, myself, did that a lot before and to be honest, I missed a lot opportunities in life. So many in fact that I had to do an overhaul on the way I think. I am not saying that planning to avoid problems is bad, it is just that maybe one can be overshadowed excessively by fear and worrying that they might not be able to achieve anything (I have been there, trust me. :D). So as most of my friends told me, get out, meet new friends, learn stuff and do not be afraid.

One can say “you do not understand how it feels to be betrayed/ how it much sadness” blablaba but the way I see it is this: do you really want to stay in that feeling of being betrayed, sad, and cannot forget what others have done to you badly? Or stay in that experience because it had dealt quite an extensive and sort of long term damage that it will also take an utterly long time to repair? Think about it, there is a saying in Filipinos: “Kapag gusto, madaming paraan. Kapag ayaw, madaming dahilan” (If you desire, there are many ways. If you don’t, there are many reasons). So I want to ask this again, does one really want to stay in that state? Or a better idea, move on from that and get a better life. Also for most of the time, I consider all the failures as opportunities for you to learn new things about you. 🙂

I do not know why people want to sulk into a corner and cry about a past when you can move on and get on with a new chapter in life. Yes, I know, it is not easy. Even I, at this stage in my life, is struggling to change but I never threw the white towel. Also when I say change, true change. Not just saying meeting new people and then all of a sudden go back to my computer chair and carry on with what I *used* to do before. Even if you are now sitting in your computer chair or whatever comfort zone you have, there should be this constant feeling of getting yourself out to do something else. For example, I was bound to go back to my usual routine of facing my laptop the whole day when all of a sudden, a friend of mine posted pictures of her baking. She is in Japan right now and I asked her how she did the yummy stuff and told me all the basics needed for baking. Then, with the lack of equipment, it pushed me further to learn more on how to go around such limitation and viola, I baked brownies. Plus, it did not stop there as I watched more and more videos about baking and cooking and constantly talking to her about her experiences, recipes and some casual conversations. I might be going back to my computer but trust me, I also keep on going away from it. Sometimes, all it takes for you to get out is money but if you do not have the money, you can always find a lot of ways to get out. AAaaaand I must say, even if I talked to a person I knew, I actually met a new person as I talked to this person even more. We do not talk to much during our college days and now the opportunity came to go deeper on certain stuff.

I admit, again and again, that I have committed a looot of mistakes and missed a lot of opportunities but it did not stop me from pulling myself together again and give a shot at trying to move. I missed some chances of getting into a relationship, sometimes being stupid for some attempts but hey, at least I tried! There are people who are saying that trying is pointless if you do not push so much effort in it. My opinion, the fact that you tried, effort is very well present in there. So how about the people involved? Well, for me there is absolutely no point at being angry with them as that will only prevent you from rebuilding yourself.

Of course, in risking, you still have to step your mind up. I mean, there are risking that are quite stupid at some point of view. Risking will always require you to get a good view and assessment of the situation.

One thing that can help, I think, when risking is a good friend to catch you when you fall down. When I say good friend, he or she is not just going to listen but scold at you, tell you that you are an absolute idiot just to wake you up and more importantly, give you the best advice so that you will be able to avoid mistakes again in the future. I am not saying avoiding it fully, just avoid it as much as you can because mistakes are, to be honest, reaaally inevitable. 🙂

Just give it a go. Nothing will be lost. Only the material side. :))

In the end, as what I have heard before, it is better to say “Oh well” than “What If”

update: any stories, comments or questions to share/ask? I am an e-mail or PM away. 😀

Getting my eating habits on track

Yes, I am sooooooooo thin, legendary for being an underweight and so I have to rethink the way I eat. I start first with trying to eat on time, meaning I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at time spots wherein I will not feel full when the time comes for the next meal. For example, I do not eat breakfast on time, meaning I usually eat breakfast at about ten in the morning. The routine does not let me eat by lunch time because I feel like I am still full and not hungry. Same goes for the transition from lunch to dinner. So while being bum here in the house, our helper found out this bad habit of mine and made sure that I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on time. Moreover, she mandated that whatever she serves and how much, I should eat it. For example, I usually scoop about 3/4 or 1/2 cup of rice every meal. When she took over my routine practice, she always placed rice 50% of the plate and I have to eat them all.

And I realized (stupid me) this bad habit of mine when I went out one morning and saw how I ate outside of the house. Even worse, I realized that I have been doing that bad routine since the start of college. So now I have to eat on time. After getting the habit of eating on time, that is when I will start planning my diet, what to eat to make me, well there is no other word for it, fat. :3

 

First Mountain Climbing Experience

It was my very first mountain climb last January 6, 2013. The mountain chosen by my colleagues was the highest peak in Luzon and the third highest peak in the country, which is Mt. Pulag with its peak at 10,000 feet above sea level. We first went to our inn at Baguio and then travelled to the DENR Ranger station at about 8,000 feet above sea level. Our target for this climb was to see the sunrise at the peak as well as the famous cloud falls, given that it is not raining. With no plans of camping, we set off by 12:30 am Saturday and with timed breaks along the way as well as the overall pacing, we arrived at the peak by 5:30 am.

Starting from the ranger station, we were hopeful for the sunrise as the skies by 12:30 am is still clear and you can still see the stars. According to one of us, he said that the rains are normal on the mossy forest but if the weather is clear, the climb to the summit from Camp 2 should be fine. Unfortunately it started raining on the summit and the chances for seeing the sunrise looked bleak. Also, it rained hard during the previous days which meant that the paths with black soil are so soft and muddy, you can imagine how hard it was to walk through it. It was a super difficult climb with the rains constantly spraying water to you and eventually getting the whole of yourself wet. We were not able to bring rain coats because of our assumption of the weather.

So with the terrible conditions, I slipped down to the ground more than ten times, had a lot of instances wherein I nearly twisted my ankles, lots of cramps and muscle spasms. We arrived at the peak but I had to dive in for shielding from the wind because of my wet clothing. Apparently, the temperature above was playing near two degrees Celsius and with the wet clothes, constant rain and winds, it will easily send me off to death by hypothermia. Glad that there are high plants there that can resist winds so I crouched there while the rest are trying to take pictures.

Going down, I had to remove my gloves to prevent my hands from getting any colder and eat chocolate bars to keep my legs working. Back at Camp two, my breakfast is actually jumping on the plate because of chills. Good thing I have extra shirt so that I can change at least the top body and keep me from chills while travelling back to our inn.

In total, a shirt, two jackets, a mountain climbing bag, jeans and jogging pants and three socks and gloves suffered immense weathering. Also my pelvis included joint pains, legs with muscular pains which made me walk like a penguin afterwards as well as my palms for trying to save me after slipping down and my arms for trying to pull myself out of ditches.

It was a crazy attempt, some say, to have your initiation of mountain climbing on something like Mt. Pulag, even worse at those conditions. They said I should’ve started with lower mountains. Thankfully, I survived the climb. I was also amazed that despite the lack of preparations, both in gear and in body, I still managed to tread along continuously. It was fun.. Disappointing because we were not able to see the sunrise but as a first experience, it was fun.

I want attempt #2. 🙂