Holiday recall

“As little children we would dream of Christmas morn, and all our gifts and toys…we knew we’d find but we never realized…a baby born one blessed night…gave us the greatest gift of our lives…”

Undeniably, when we were kids, we never cared for anything on Christmas day but the gifts we received that we believed came from Santa Claus who would sneak into our house through the chimney (ironically, houses here in the Philippines do not have chimneys, and has nobody ever wondered where he would try to get inside the house?). As we grew up, we had absorbed the real meaning of Christmas, why dawn masses were held before the 25th, and for whom we would really celebrate the occasion.

But, of course, it feels good to relive childhood memories—those times that our concept of the yuletide season was shallow, when a small simple gift would draw curves on our lips and when upon seeing Christmas tree covered with colorful and dancing lights, the joy in our hearts would ignite.

I remember spending Christmas day at my grandmother’s brother’s beautiful house in Marikina City where I played games with other children whom I didn’t even know (were we related to one another?). Toys were prepared and wrapped as prizes for the winners. Of course I got some—a ball, a set of power rangers, a toy gun and other toys I can no longer recall.

That's me, the baby in red shoes, when I was about 1 year old.

Fun served in a Mug

Imagine you’re bar hopping one night. You order your favorite beer or whatever drink you like and at one gulp, you suddenly realize that you’re tired of the usual. Do you have some place in mind where your excitement will level up, somewhere new and unique that you’ll love instantly?

Well, I do and have experienced it myself. Owned and managed by Rose Quizon and her daughter, Ren, Mug Shotz Sports Bar is now making a name and building up a new sense of excitement in the bar and restaurant industry in Calasiao, just a 10-minute drive at most from Dagupan City.

Savoring the ride

I’m not an “It’s-the-end-of-the-world-today” believer, so instead of preparing my ass for that doomsday almost everyone is talking about, I choose to do something else: Start the countdown to my 21st birthday.

It’s going to happen in 17 days. There will be no big party, but the way I’ll celebrate my special day on January 7 will still be big for me in some ways. And I know exactly what to do, something I’ve been looking forward to for years. (But I won’t divulge it yet lest it gets pre-empted. Hehe. And hopefully, I get the budget for that.)

To someone I can't lose

Dear New-Found-Love,

It was an accident. I never meant to seriously like you the way I do now.  I never intended to fall in love deeply with you the way I am about to. We’ve known each other for months now and have become close to each other. And the more I get to know you, the more I get drawn. Your personality may not awe all the people around you, but for me, it’s perfectly fine. I like every inch of it, actually, though there are really some parts that you have to tone down and augment.

Why we don't fit

Dear Princess,

I remember the first time I saw you. You entered the room, looking uncertain and seemingly feeling awkward about your new milieu. Something about you caught my attention. Something that got my eyes stuck on you the whole time you were there in front. Something that until now I haven’t completely figured out.

Being a naturally shy person, I whiled away some time before I finally mustered the courage to talk to you. But even before that, you’d already heard of rumors about me having a crush on you. Rumors that turned out to be true.

Senioritis: Chapter 1

Ten Years Later

The lights man put the spotlight off. I sighed in relief. That blinding light always gave me the feeling a big ravenous monster would come out of it and eat me like finger food.

“Another good show, EJ,” JD said as I inched my way towards the chair next to hers. She was the very enthusiastic director of my travel TV show, En Route. She had been my school mate in college, took up the same course I finished which was Mass Communications, and been my friend since.

Senioritis: Prologue

Graduation Kiss

“I’ll miss you,” she said while looking me in the eyes. She didn’t exhibit even the slightest hint of tears. That was her, hardly the type of girl who cried easily. In more than a year that I had known her, I never saw her cry. Not even a single tear.

“I’ll miss you more,” I answered with the kind of smile she liked best. I knew it made her heart race as she would always tell me how much she liked my sincere smile that I showed her every day, but it was obvious just how much she tried to suppress the feeling. Blushing in front of me was perhaps the most embarrassing thing for her. For what reason, I wasn’t sure.

 

Senioritis

What's life after college?

Someone told me that life in college is way happier than what you had in high school because it’s when you’ll meet people who will become your friends for life.

I disagreed. In high school, you meet friends who will keep you laughing till you drop, push you when you’re feeling stupidly nervous during competitions and comfort you when you feel like the world has turned its back on you. Of course, let’s not forget the fact that you get to meet someone special whom you will never want to lose even for a second.

With all the perks, how can another chapter in life be happier than high school?

I’ve been in college for three years and a semester already and gained a lot of experiences. I met friends who have always been there when I want to hangout somewhere. I’ve met professors and instructors with varying teaching styles. Some are good. Others are just as mediocre as their students. Still others pretend that they are the best when in fact their students can outsmart them. I’ve copied from my seatmates during quizzes and exams when I failed to review the night before because of the pile of tasks I had to finish. I absented myself from a class or two to finish some work for our productions in our major mass communication subjects. There were nights I spent at a classmate’s house without planning to when there’s work left to be accomplished. Sometimes, even without clothes to change. I’ve felt the pressure, the stress and the exhaustion of being a college student.

We combined fun and work during stressful preparations for productions.

I've already met different people, made new friends, been to various places.

Believe it or not, I am happy. And guess what? These experiences changed my belief. I started to agree with what that person told me. Indeed, college life is way happier. But that’s still an understatement because college life is actually the best part of studying. I got to enjoy a lot of things and did many things I never did when I was in high school like copying during quizzes and exams. Of course I cannot forget the fact that I’ve met someone I really love and will always love to have beside me for the rest of the road. But, aside from the enjoyment and the escapades, I learned to become mature enough to better prepare myself for the life waiting for me outside school.

With only one semester to go before I finally leave the university (yes, I am claiming it, I will graduate this March), I’ve decided to prophesy about the life my friends and I will have several years after graduation. How many of us will make it big in the real world? When and where and how will we meet again? At what age will we settle down and finally decide to live life with a happy family?

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce to you a class prophecy of my own creation, a novel I titled “Senioritis.” (First chapter will appear on my next post.)

#7: Daydreaming about the future

When you see me staring blankly at a distance, I'm in some sort of a trance, dreaming about the future and thinking of where life will take me several years from present. I'm silently planning things in my head and building up strategies on how to turn them into reality.

Have you ever done that? Daydreaming, yes. Perhaps, a thousand times. But planning your life while in that state, I don't think so.

Many people don't follow a plan in living their lives. Either because they don't believe in plans and they think that they just complicate things, or because they just want to play it safe and they think that when they fail to get to where they intend to go, they will just feel disappointed and live the rest of their lives in despair.

Others are just too lazy to plan, so they just live life as it is without any goals of making it better. Still others think that planning makes life boring. For them, doing what they feel to do at the moment gives more thrills and sends them to great euphoria.

They're not seeing the point. Planning doesn't necessarily mean that we must follow a pattern to reach our destination. We plan to discover more opportunities and explore other possibilities that are greeting us on the way. Plans are reference points, the starting line of the track towards our goal. If we don't get there the way we want to, at least we know where to go back. We won't have to start from scratch.

There are a lot of turning points along the way. Life is not a straight line. It has curves and forks and winding roads. So, if you don't device strategies in taking your journey, you'll get lost.

Take some time to plan your life and plot points where you can return to when all else fails. When you have a plan, you are sure that you're not crossing the Rubicon. A life that is played safe is more boring, you know.

#6: Truebrewing

Tea lover or not, you’ll definitely want this!

Here’s a fact: I am not a tea lover. I’ve never been and I don’t think I ever will be. The taste of leaves touching my tongue—I just hate it. It makes me feel like I’m drinking some kind of potion that will change me into something who-knows-what.

As a result, I’m not enjoying the benefits of tea. The body cleansing it does and other marvelous effects on the system.

Thank heavens, I found a new way to drink tea. Well, it’s not actually new because even before, anyone with a curious and experimental side can do it at home. But the advent of tea cafes offering milk and green tea blends and other tea concoctions has helped many get a taste of tea. Well, that’s a bit of an understatement because you’ll absolutely crave for more.

So, when I’m not busy, or when I just want to relax after a stressful day at school, I go to Truebrew and drink a milk tea blend.

Truebrew is a coffee and tea café along A.B. Fernandez Ave. in Dagupan City, just beside the UCPB bank. My friends introduced it to me a month before and I have loved it in an instant. The place is good and relaxing. You may spend your time sitting on the cozy couch while sipping your favorite, or you may use the table and sit on cushioned chairs when you’ve got to tinker on your laptop. Probably to finish some work or browse the Internet. Yes, you can get connected because the place is a WiFi hotspot.

 Talking about their blends, they’ve got a lot of flavors and varieties to choose from. I’ve already tasted five of their milk tea blends—Wintermelon, White Chocolate, Black Caramel, Caffee (caramel and toffee) and Milo Float.

I’m not really good at describing tastes, so I’ll just do it by associating each flavor to a trait or attitude. Wintermelon is for the curious. White Chocolate and Black Caramel are for someone who wants to reak away from the regular. Caffee will be the favourite of someone who has a big sweet tooth. And for the young at heart, Milo Float is just perfect.

More flavors are in store for your palette, so I suggest that you try it out. Tea lover or not, there’s a perfect brew for you. So go on, sip from your own grande or venti of tea blends.

How would you know?

If you're taking too long thinking about what will happen when you do something, then you're wasting your precious time on doing that which results in nothing. Take risks. Step forward. After all, plans are meant to be carried out; not to be kept as souvenirs from somewhere you haven't even gone to.

Why, are you afraid that you won't get the result that you expect? So what? A thousand chances for the right decision are still in line. Taking risks and getting bad results is better than sitting for quite some time thinking about what you will get and getting nothing at all in the end. At least, you tried. You can prove how strong you can be when you stand from a bad fall.

Just shut the hell up and act because...

-How would you know how exciting it is to be lying face down from up above and zipping across your way from the top of the hill down to wherever the cable ends if you would just cuss because of your fear of heights?

-How would you know that you could awe someone around with your singing even with those flats and sharps if you wouldn't hold that microphone in front of your mouth and sing your heart out?

-How would you know that you could create a masterpiece out of those creative juices in your head if you wouldn't even make a stroke with the pencil you're holding?

-How would you know that you could persuade someone into agreeing with your thought provoking and well laid out arguments if you wouldn't utter a single word in front of your audience?

-How would you know how deep the swimming pool is if you wouldn't plunge into it?

-How would you know that you could reach an unfamiliar place alone if you wouldn't even lift your ass from where you're sitting?

-How would you know that you could be the most graceful dancer if you wouldn't groove those feet?

-How would you know you could edit a video, or a photo, or an audio if you wouldn't grab that mouse and perform some basics?

-How would you know how wonderful a world a novel creates if you wouldn't flip its pages?

-How would you know that he/she is the right one if you would focus on your silly doubts and irrelevant confusions?

Here's the catch: There are loads of things you can do and be good at, and you will never know unless you try. Come on, you only get to live once and you don't even know when The Time will come. Regrets come rushing in at the end of the road, when there's nowhere else to go, when there's nothing left but your silliness and stupidity.

So, get yourself to work. Time is too precious to waste on endless planning and empty thinking.

Life of a video editor

Viewing my life from afar, it seems perfect. All the smiles and laughter, the good grades and achievements, the strong personality I show—they can be deceiving. But watching it closely, it has a lot of imperfections.

My life is like a flawed video clip. A series of cuts has to be done to eliminate the unnecessary elements. They have to be weeded out. A touch of effects has to be applied to patch up the mediocre parts and make the good areas better.

But no matter how much you try to hide the imperfections, they can still be seen once the video clip is scrutinized well. They cannot disappear totally. They’re all present, things you cannot detach from reality.

Am I hiding my imperfections? No…and yes. I’m not the type of person who sends double meanings about my personality. I’ve shown people my weaknesses and never have I been ashamed of them. I admitted my wrongdoings and did my best to rectify them. But like everyone else, there’s still a skeleton in my closet. A bunch of things I wish I never did. Or, do I?

I will never try to justify them, but I will not look down on myself, either. Because like a flawed video, my life still has a chance for improvements.

A touch of magic

I’d been out of my blogging being for a while all because if the busy schedule I had these past days and one thing that ate most of my time was video editing. I’ve got to work a lot on that because of the talk show we are producing which will air in October.

Having experienced video editing for a year now, I don’t consider myself a pro, but I would love to pursue a career in the world of video clips and audio and sound and visual effects should I decide to live my life in the background—a hundred yards behind the spectacle of my dream of becoming a broadcaster. I got to learn a few tricks on my own, experimenting on clips after learning the basics, and I know I will learn some more being a natural explorer that I am.

Well, basically, that’s how I learned video editing (and many other things)—experimenting. Like purchasing a new toy, or a new gadget, you must read the instructions first before using it. In my case, to make life easier, I asked my friend about the basic things I had to learn about the software such as the tools and their corresponding shortcut keys, the name of the panels, formats and other essential details. I did the rest on my own.

Does this show you how complicated video editing can be?

Through the years, I’ve learned that you can never get to learn something unless you try it yourself. You can never master something unless you touch it and let your hand manuever through it. Simply saying that you want to learn something does not give you the knowledge and skills you have to acquire. You’ve got to do it. A friend of mine said she wanted to learn how to edit videos, but couldn’t because she didn’t own a unit to work with. But actually, even if you don’t own a unit, you can learn how to do it if you really want to. And the first step to that is act. Execute what you say, and you can perform magic yourself. Try it and explore. Don’t get stuck to your stock knowledge. Real learning is applying the knowledge you acquired.

Two months ago, my status message on Facebook read, “I wouldn’t get bored sitting an office if all I had to do is edit videos.” That remains true. It might be exhausting due to the fact that you have to watch a single clip over and over to extract the best part of it. Sometimes, you’ve got to watch closely the mouth of the person speaking on the video to match it with the audio (if you’re getting another visual of the same scene from another camera rolling from a different angle). But, all the hardwork and headache pay off when you watch the output. It sends you to cloud nine when you realize you’ve created a whole story out of fragments. You feel like you’re in euphoria when you’ve transformed flawed videos into something that awes many people.

#5: Feasting on films

The splatter s of the raindrops on the roof awoke me made me jump out of bed.

Oh my God. What time is it?

I snatched my phone from the bedside table and checked the time.

10:30 am. What?! I’m already late for school!

Without thinking twice, I immediately grabbed my towel and prepared for a bath. Then, as if waking up from a daydream, I suddenly stopped on my track as a realization hit me hard in the head.

It’s Saturday. No school.

Thank heavens! I got some time to rest after a whole week’s worth of seemingly infinite school works that almost made me a nocturnal being.

I got one hell of a week, so time to reap my reward for the hardwork I poured. Walking back towards the bedroom, I switched my personal computer, browsed through the movies I saved on it and clicked the play button.

***

So, yeah, when I got time to spare, I grab the opportunity to watch good films for of course, entertainment’s sake. I have developed this interest in films a few years back. Watching movies is like reading novels, since both tell a story although in different formats. While novels use mere words that create a new world in your mind, movies use sounds and visuals that take you to the new world projected in your mind as if you were in the scene physically. But just the same, both make your heart race and once you’ve started, you hardly find the reason to stop.

Movies, just like literary works, are a representation of real-life events, exaggerated and carefully arranged in a manner prefect for story telling. Life, however, is not a movie which you can edit, rewind, skip scenes, or pause. You live it now with all its complications without the certainty that the resolution will come.

Life does not follow a script. Scenes do not start at the snap of the clapper and ends when the director shouts, “Cut!” They continuously flow and transpire. You don’t memorize the lines; you speak them spontaneously.

No, that's not me in the picture (winks). I've grown to love the Harry Potter films back in second year college. The series have opened a new world for me. Somewhere I want to be should I have a second life.

Zipping away in Balungao

Work and leisure combined

What I love the most about my course—mass communications—is the privilege to roll work and leisure into one. It never bores me as it does not follow a routine, although the demanding and shifting and popping-out-of-nowhere schedules burn me out at times.

My latest work-and-leisure combo was the taping of my segment on August 16 and 17 for the talk show we are producing this semester for the subject radio and television production, and directing. My segment’s location? The marvellous inactive volcano, Mt. Balungao, in Balungao, Pangasinan, about 25 kilometers (forgive me for my indefinite calculation) southeast of Dagupan City. Since I used public transport system, and transferred from a bus to a jeepney to another jeepney and finally, to a tricycle from Dagupan, through Calasiao, Sta. Barbara, Urdaneta City, Villasis and Rosales, it took me almost four hours to reach Balungao. If you have your service, travel time will be cut down to roughly two and a half hours.

My destination, Balungao Hot and Cold Springs Resort, sits on Mt. Balungao which stands 382 meters above sea level. Too bad I did not climb to the peak, but I will when I go back there. My interview with Mr. Gerry Acosta, the tourism officer of Balungao, revealed that the mountain was the usual rendezvous of Andres Bonifacio and Apolinario Mabini for strategic planning during the Spanish colonization.

I was with my usual gang—my bestfriend Anissa, Will, Jane and Al. Among the four, only Will is my classmate in the subject. Anissa graduated from the same course this year, and the other two finished the subject two semesters before. But, I had all of them with me because I wanted to share with them the experience on and the wonders of this tourist destination.

Upon our touchdown on the municipality of Balungao, we rode on a tricycle to finally reach the mountain. We, however, did not expect that the ride up the resort would cost us P150. Since we were cutting costs, we decided to just pay P80 and alight at the foot of Mt. Balungao. That meant we had to walk about a kilometer to the resort and endure the strong gravitational pull. Good thing, my weight was not as much a burden as that of my friends, if you know what I mean. Hehe

The entrance to the mountain greeted us with lush green landscape and picturesque scenery. Halfway, the up close view of the well-preserved mountain caught us in undeniable awe and gave us extra strength to move our aching feet.

During the tiresome walk, we were looking forward to a sumptuous meal upon arrival. We, however, were dismayed to discover that there wasn’t enough available food at the resort. No cooked rice, no viands, no nothing; just cup noodles and some loaves of bread. Our mistake was we did not anticipate that and didn’t buy our own food in the town proper. Thank God there were good souls at the resort whom we requested to buy and cook some food for us.

Upon arrival at 4 pm, we put our baggage down in the room reserved for us and rested for a while before we went to the pool side to try out the hot and cold springs.

The Jacuzzi is filled with hot water coming from beneath the ground and is replaced every day. It is high in sulfuric content known to cure illnesses. The five-foot deep pool is also filled with water coming from the mountain, although it is treated with chlorine.

After a long day spent on the road, we laid ourselves to sleep in the air conditioned-room to gather energy for our extreme adventure.

The next day was more fun-filled as we tried out ATV (all terrain vehicle) driving and the famous zipline.

The ATV has no gear shift, so it won’t rattle you while driving. Also, the accelerator is easier to control since you just have to push a lever below the right handle. But, of course, you’ve got to release it before gripping the break lest you send the whole thing tumbling over.

We drove along the path we took to the resort the day before.

With a height of 80 meters, this is where the adventure starts.

The best part of the day was the zipline experience. I have to admit, though, that it made me so nervous my heart was beating in fast rhythm. Zipping away on the 620-meter steel cable was what I was most excited about during my Balungao escapade. While gearing up with the harness, I was imagining myself flying in the air and savoring the dancing wind over the scenic view below. I thought it was that simple. You set yourself in position, say I am ready, and off you go advancing to the landing pad, and that’s it. Heck, no. Not until it was my turn. I chose the superman position, so I had to be attached to the cable face down, 80 meters above the ground.

Signing the waiver.

Gearing up for a wonderful adventure.

We just got marked.

I was expecting that I would be set in position while still on the pad, but no, I was put on the edge. I had to hold onto the cable before they would set me in position. That moment sent my heart racing so fast it took me about 20 seconds before I let go of the cable. My body went rigid when I saw the view below from way up high. I’m not afraid of heights; I just had that feeling that when I loosened my grip on the cable, I would fall. My self soothing instinct kicked in and I reassured myself that I was safely harnessed. I manifested my attitude of not trusting too easily again. What made me more uncomfortable was the camera I was holding. I was afraid it might slip out of my hand. In less than five seconds since I was set in position, without even giving me a signal, I was accelerating.

The ride lasted for a minute. When I arrived on the landing pad, I found myself staring blankly somewhere, my knees trembling, and my heart still racing in immeasurable speed. It did freak me out, but I wouldn’t say no to a take two.

With Balungao's tourism officer, Mr. Gerry Acosta.

I just realized that it was my first time to try out something that extreme. The experience makes me think: Will bungee jumping and sky diving freak me out just the same? I damn hope not.

The talkshow titled "Now Trending," for which this segment has been produced, will be aired on a local cable TV network in October.

#4: Strolling at the beach

Little pleasure in an open space

The first time I went to a beach was in third grade. It was in Subic. That was also the first time I got fascinated with the sun’s beautiful reflection on the sea. The sound of the waves at night was melody to my ears.

Since then, I had always wished I would find myself on the beach again, wherever there might be.

Destiny had its own way of granting my wish—although I didn’t like it entirely at first. In 2005, for some reason, we moved from Antipolo City to Lingayen. I hated the idea of packing my things from the place where I grew up, a place I had grown to love, and unpacking them somewhere unfamiliar and foreign. I imagined that the place would be quite far from civilization. It felt as if I were crossing the boundary of the world I had known and moving on to the great abyss, the point of no return.

Mom said that the house we would move in was near the beach. Perhaps, she thought it would matter a lot to me. On the contrary, it didn’t banish my anxiety. Because of my dislike of transferring to another place, I forgot my wish of seeing the beach again.

I never realized that by near, mom meant less than a kilometer. Until one afternoon after school, I went to Lingayen Gulf. When the beach presented itself to me, it was like ice cream served in front of a child throwing tantrums. At that moment, I realized it was not that bad to live in a new place because new great things were about to unfold before my eyes.

It’s a place I have already tied my soul to. It has become my hang out when I have time to spare. Memorable moments were created on that wide space. That’s where I started courting my first girlfriend and that’s also where we marked our relationship official. That’s where my closest high school friends and I used to hang out when we had no classes. That’s where I cry myself out when I am down. And that’s where I go to when I wake up early to greet the sunrise and the morning breeze.

The waves touching my feet are like gentle hands calming me down when tension has risen to an unbearable level. The setting sun reflected on and diffused by the water is my solace. The cool wind touching my face partakes in my happiness. And the open space hugging me around tells me that I am free from screaming unfinished tasks and energy-consuming pressure.

Riding solo on the beach.

Priceless little pleasure.

#3: Playing GTA

Grand Theft Auto is not new, but for someone who isn’t a game enthusiast, it will always be. I’ve known it for a number of years now, and yet, the missions in the game are all new to me.

So, when there’s nothing to work on, I click the application and enter a virtual world of stealing cars and accomplishing missions.

I have two versions of the game on my computer—San Andreas and Vice City. There are four (or five?) already, but I do not know where to get the other versions (perhaps somebody out there can help me?).

What I love about this game is that I can be a rogue for an hour or two. Of course I don’t want to be a bad guy in real life, I don’t want to commit sins and spend my precious life behind bars, so might as well get the experience from a game. Also, I’ve found my drive in playing this game from my love for action movies. I love doing those chasing scenes and firing guns—just in the game.

You can shoot the police when they're chasing you.

The cheat codes make the game more exciting. With a few taps on the keyboard, I can obtain items that I want to acquire. I can also be instantly rich by just typing a code.

Steal and drive fancy cars around Vice City.

You can steal police cars and do vigilante missions.

Type "J-U-M-P-J-E-T" and get this jet on San Andreas. That's my favorite, actually.

Drive around winding roads and highways and perform insane stunts--just like in actions movies.

The game’s really exciting. Just don’t steal cars and kill people in real life. What you do in the game must stay in the game.

#2: Reading novels

"No matter how busy you may think you are, you must always find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance."

-Confucius

If you want to be taken to another world, portraying a different character, one you’ve always wanted, day dreaming won’t be enough. You need descriptive words carefully arranged in a manner artistically fit for narrative and are figuratively jumping out of the paper to really feel that you are in another world. A world inspired by life’s experiences and realities and made more beautiful by imagination.

My love for reading novels started in second year high school. During break times, I would go to the library and skim titles of prospective finds. When a title caught my interest, I would borrow it.

The novel I most recently read.

The first novel I read back then was something about a frightful summer. I just forgot the title and the author. The plot went on with the main character (a girl) meeting another girl who pretended to be her cousin whose parents died when they lost their house to a blaze and who turned out to be a witch (it was found out that she wasn’t appearing in photographs).

The passion grew more when I read such famous titles as “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden and “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons” by controversial author Dan Brown. All of these have movie adaptations which make them more interesting.

I also sank my intellectual curiosity on the world phenomenon Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. I would always snub it before, thinking that the series was just a nonsense children’s magical fantasy, but when I read all seven books in second year college, I realized that the epic tale of Harry Potter was more than just a children’s story book. Since then, I’ve become a Potterhead. I so love the plot I always imagine myself as Harry James Potter, cursing death eaters and counterattacking Voldemort’s Avada Kedavra with Expelliarmus (yeah, I’ve memorized several spells I read in the books).

Great things happen out of the ordinary. Harry Potter sprang to life when J.K. Rowling started writing his story on tissue paper. Making my heart race when the climax comes, reading novels has always been an entry in my “to do” list when I’m not busy. It always ignites my imagination and carries me to different worlds I can only dream of. I will never stop reading. And someday, I will write my own novel and fascinate other bookworms like me.

#1: Eating 'tokneneng'

It’s pretty clear that I cannot use my size and weight as proof, but believe me, I love food. That is why whenever I have nothing to do, it’s the first thing I look for. And talking about eating when not busy, the first that comes to mind is tokneneng.

For those who don’t know what tokneneng is (perhaps they come from a very wealthy family and the street food they know is the one that’s coming from fastfood chains, or there might be foreigners reading my blog whose curiosity has been ignited), it is a boiled duck egg colored orange and covered with water-and-flour mixture which will then be dip-fried.  Sold on carts along sidewalks, it has become a regular snack of many.

And I’m one of those who have fallen in love with this protein-rich delight. In fact, it has already become my comfort food, giving me a jump in my heart and my taste buds some kind of pleasure it craves for after a day’s hard work. Dipping it in vinegar spiced with red chilli just makes it more delicious and undeniably mouth-watering. 

Add to that the happiness you get, not just from the food itself, but from that moment of eating it with your friends who have also been looking forward to spending quality time with you.

And the best drink to gulp down after consuming a mouthful of tokneneng? WATER. (Burp)

When not busy

Have you been quite busy lately, spending your time on paper works, school projects and assignments and other things flooding your to do list? When you finish them, how are you planning to spend your free time?

After all the hard work you exerted and the stress you acquired from a bulk of tasks, certainly, you want to treat yourself with some activities you've been dreaming to do to reward yourself. Even just for a few minutes, perhaps.

My "When not busy" posts will talk about little pleasures I enjoy when I have time to spare. Dig in.

http://acorner4coco.blogspot.com

The lame game

Here’s a trivia: I don’t play basketball. That’s an embarrassing fact for a boy like me yet I share that information with you because I know that it doesn’t make me less of a man. What’s more embarrassing, though, is that the first time I played basketball with my friends, I was so lame I didn’t play it right.

Good thing, my friends were lame, too when we had our “dumb” game.

My friends Anissa, Will, Jane, Al, and Marie Lyn, out of sheer boredom when we were in Baritao, Manaoag, decided to play basketball in a makeshift court on the yard of Marie Lyn’s kin.

We divided ourselves into two groups: Jane, Marie Lyn and I were one team, and Anissa, Will and Al formed the other. The deal was the winning group would receive a Gatorade drink from the losing group.  And so the game began.

If you were watching us, you wouldn’t recognize what we were doing as a game. It was a total disaster, a complete violation of all the rules in a real basketball game. There were lots of pushing and pulling (yeah, I did that the whole time), blatant snatching of the ball (I would beat the arms of the other team when they would not give me the ball) and incompetent rebounds. And we were laughing for the whole duration of the game.

Only Al knew how to play properly, but though he was on the other side, my team won. So, the next day, my team mates and I had a Big Gulp of Gatorade at 7 Eleven.

We were lame players and we really looked stupid while playing, but we had fun. Well, that exactly was the aim of our game, to have fun. Too bad we didn’t have anyone to capture it on video. Nevertheless, the moment was stored in our minds and hearts.

Of maturity and love (whatever!)

Oh no, I don’t want to write about that girl I introduced to my parents back in April this year. I just want to write about that experience (although merely writing about it is talking about the girl indirectly).

Raised by conservative parents, I didn’t think that it would be easy. My parents, especially my mom, always expect me to do good things and I thought that taking a girl home to introduce her would be a bad thing for them. It might freak my mom out as it might make her think it would be detrimental to my studies (well, somehow it was). Still, I stood by my decision of introducing the girl I was courting to my parents.

It was my first time to do that, but it wasn’t my first time to court a girl. Contrary to what my family knows, I had my first girl friend in high school, the one they only knew as my bestfriend. I did not tell my parents about the real relationship we had because I knew mom would never approve of it. That hurt the girl.

This time, however, I know I have grown up already and understand what I am doing, so I proceeded with the plan, told mom I would take the girl to our house and get them introduced, and did it.

Mom was her usual self, talking nonstop about stories from the past. She was talking the whole time which sort of embarrassed me yet I didn’t stop her. I wanted to see how much of the things about my family the girl could take. That time, she was mom’s opposite. She remained silent the whole time, occasionally talking when mom asked her direct questions. Whether mom liked her or not, I didn’t ask.

We ate dinner with mom still talking (she wouldn’t really stop, you know) which made me want to do only one thing—finish dinner, so the girl and I could leave. When we were finally done, I accompanied her home. That night was my happiest.

Though she wasn’t my girlfriend yet, I introduced her to my parents because I wanted to make her happy. I learned that most girls feel respected and truly loved when they’re introduced to their suitor’s family. What I did wasn’t about impressing her, though. It was about genuinely and sincerely making her happy because I really loved her. And I did it for myself, too. I wanted to send a message to my parents, and that is I’m all grown up now. I can manage my life well and be independently responsible for my actions, however they may turn out. I can make decisions now and no longer think like a typical teenager does because, well, I’m no longer a teenager. Furthermore, I wanted them to know that their bunso isn’t bunso any more. They got the idea, I suppose.

Is she my girlfriend now? No. One week after that, we parted ways. Things didn’t turn out to be the way I wanted and expected them to be. The two months I spent on courting her was so full of happy memories and sweet moments it almost felt like a fairy tale come true. Love arrived at the time it was most unexpected and went away just as fast as it came, leaving me feeling fooled—but it’s just a feeling, not a conclusion. Apparently, it was a love story with a sweet beginning and a bitter ending. Fairy tales are fairy tales. This one was reality, but life goes on for me. Better opportunities are coming my way—much better opportunities.

That beautiful day in Baritao

No matter how many beautiful and high class resorts you may have gone to, you will always go back to nature. What nature offers is a hundred times better than fancy swimming pools filled with chlorine-treated water. I had proven that the first time I swam in the river with my friends.

It was a river in Baritao, Manaoag—where one of my closest friends, Marie Lyn, lives. The barangay is a far flung area of the municipality, so it gives you the feeling of isolation from the industrial world. All you see are fields planted with corn and fruit bearing trees. Farming is the residents’ main source of income.

The first time I went there and slept at my friend’s house was in late March this year, nearly the end of the school year. I was with some of my co-mass communication students to partake in the celebration of Marie Lyn’s 18^th birthday and to finish our final project in a major subject.

The place looks peaceful and unpolluted, so in April, when I needed some time to relax and rest my mind, I went back to Baritao with my friends Anissa, Will, Jane and Al and spent the night there.

The next day was beautiful as we had the chance to swim in the river. It was a one-kilometer walk from Marie Lyn’s house, so we had to endure the searing heat of the sun. It was a long walk, but it didn’t bore us because of our jolly nature. We kept on joking around, laughing our hearts out while walking, and didn’t feel tired at all.

Braving the heat for an afternoon swim.

A few more steps and I found myself captured in awe as I saw the river. It’s not majestic, yet I knew the moment it came into view that I would enjoy my time there.

 

So, without thinking twice, I took my shirt off and jumped into the river. The part we chose was shallow, so we could lie down on the river’s floor. The warm water touching my skin helped me relax and ease the tension I was feeling. The current wasn’t strong, so I was not afraid of getting dragged somewhere dangerous (the mouth of a crocodile perhaps).

The warm water in the river gives a relaxing feel.

The E3D Gang (no, we're not up to something sinister).

As I lied there and looked up at the sky, I realized that I had been missing a lot of good things in life. For so long, I was looking for great things, big things that are almost unrealistic, that would make me happy  without really seeing the good things right under my nose that could give me the same amount of happiness I wanted without having to spend a fortune. At that moment, I had the chance to enjoy a facet of life without worrying about how much I had to spend.

One more realization hit me that day. I missed my friends a lot. I was so busy spending time on something else a few months back that I nearly forgot about them. That was my chance to take advantage and enjoy the time I was with them. The river of happiness flooded my heart that day I spent with my friends in Baritao.