My Paradise Escapade

I slept around 3 am 2 nights ago because i was chatting with a friend. Next early morning, my mother bugged the dreams out of me stating that i have gone more riotous these days, barring quality time opportunities with the rest of the family members. She wants me to go with them at some beach resort. I wouldn't want to. Its just that I would not want to go to Paradise, where SOME phony people breed and prey like "this-is-the-elitists-statement". Plus, the fee is way too overboard to have myself enjoyed, (at least i worry about the family's sake). Yes, this is the same paradise that each and everyone might have been accustomed to coming. We share the glory of how it became improved all these years and how the management has created uber amazing hardworking respectful staff. However my definition of a P100.00 entrance fee is more of "yipee, i can swim barefooted and not worry about injuring myself from what environmentalists call semi-dead corals", "i wasn't bitten by some baby sea creatures", "the black baby porcupine didn't prick the hell off my sole" and "thank God for sustainable long tides, i wouldn't worry about swimming in a “sealess” resort". Oh, i forgot, the sea actually returns by 3:00 pm, after a 5 hour hibernation. I wish the moon's placement is not too drawn over the samal island.
I hereby also encourage elementary institutions to come and see for themselves a great learning experience for their students making something out of the “sealess” resort. Perhaps, the management can further add in their "what you can do while you're here in samal" board, that from 10:00-3:00 pm, they can actually self-discover wonders from what is left in their sand, bring out their collection bottles and play either Mr. /Ms. nemo or that who laughs off seeing unique "masterpieces", taking them up and showing off like they have made a great discovery for their age group.
Others would see this as an opportunity to strengthen their budding love (be guilty lovers). Perhaps, the girl would say "hey look! a bunch of fingerlings swimming" and the dashing guy would retort in the spirit of budding love "wow! stay close, you might be bitten" (as if its some lurking piranha). Or that either of them pretends to be newly trained from walking, cunningly in an imbalanced fashion, the irregular placement and sizes of corals branded as the reason, but the real mask of action is hidden by a careless blush in the sun-tipped cheek. Funny. The top 5 sea creatures you will most likely sea will be: starfishes in all their greater glory, baby porcupines, assorted schools and colors of fingerlings (i would prefer "bolinao", lol), baby sea snakes, and duh, semi-dead corals.
Speaking about starfishes, my father, in his attempt to busy himself from the threat of nearing low tide, found a blue starfish. Because I do not concern my studies in biology, I am infact, a nursing student; I frantically said not to hold the starfish as it might be dangerously poisonous and maybe bite. A 7-9 year old kid heard me and saw the starfish that my father enjoyed looking at and replied obnoxiously (as a matter of factly) as if i'm the dummiest 18-year old alive that starfishes don't bite. Well then, okay. I can choose to shut up and wallow in self-pity. I chose to fight off as if i'm some 7-9 year old running to look for her mummy "why don't you try get it!". He went away as if hearing nothing. Ego back for an 18-year old like me. LOL (but pathetic, haha).
There were some Koreans that came that afternoon and it was timely that salvation shows no signs yet of appearing. Their kids apparently are VERY VERY VERY NOISY. As if really proud of something. One can perhaps hear exaltations of some Korean mantra, but to me its as if saying "we are the superior race".
The height of getting pissed that afternoon is the presence of a bunch of phonies who wore nothing short of "this is the elitists’ prostitution swimwear" together with their boyfriends. They were some teenage bunch who wanted to taste the prime of life by making fun of others who coincidentally just passed by their table. I swear if that happened to me, I will never back off from a punching streak. If they think they are the coolest people alive and that their bodies and beauty are to die for, isolate yourself in wishful thinking dude . As far as I'm concerned, you are just one of those who love to display the "displayable" but fall short in character substantiation. Life is not just about experiencing its prime. All the time its all about respect. You just painted your alma mater blacker.
Paradise actually sell buko at P 45.00 (as opposed to a measly 10.00 in the city proper). This is what the DA or DTI should also be looking into. Buko in samal may be a real prized fruit with fairly recognized impending extinction for the prize to soar absurdly high as this. What pained me is that I actually saw coconut trees nearby. I vocalized my concern of financial preservation to my father who seemed very "I-love-paradise-resort" mode. He replied that Paradise loaned much to develop the area. At least, this is the only way to keep their business alive. Gee, at least they could just have spared the buko.

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Fishy Helper

We have this small household problem. Three nights ago, while I am busy watching chopped movie episodes of Juno, my father propped me to remove my earphones immediately. By the look of his face, he could have passed as the texas chainsaw murderer sidekick. He had been out to talk to our neighbor about the growing strangeness of our helper. Apparently, it was confirmed that our helper brings our own cooked meals for her security guard boyfriend. The "fishiness" started when my father went out early morning for his routine jog. As he curbed around the corner of Venus Street, he saw our helper carrying a bowl of food. Upon seeing my father, she quickly hid it behind our back. Since my mother (seventh from Annabelle Rama) was with my father at that time, my father chose not to react. Then he said there was this second time my mother left a plateful of "lechon" (roasted pig) in the refrigerator. Morning came and my mother rechecked the lechon contents and found it diminished considerably. She asked our helper about the sudden decrease (confident that none of the immediate family members did it). Our helper replied "ambot lng, asa pa man diay nako na dalhon". There was something wrong about her reply. My detective conan instincts say that the last few words were unnecessary and that it preempted something. Mr. Bernales, our neighbor also attested that when my father leaves to drive us to school, her fellow-helper (that of my grandmother's) would say "wala na si kuya lit". Then when the 2 of them are here inside the house, they would use their native language to converse. My father (already partially paranoid) reasoned that if they were not hiding something, why is there a need to talk that way. He said that he will be firing her when my mother comes back from Marbel. He could not imagine if this matter went up a notch higher. If food becomes objects, and objects become money, this thing surely should be stopped. Demo, there is something that keeps me from firing our helper. The thing is, she has been with us for the longest time possible. If the average stay of a helper in our family is 5 months, she has stayed for more than a year. She has been with us when uncle and his family came back, when our lola suffered much from cancer till her death and wake, when our cousins did not have a helper and offered to do their laundry. She has been trusted by another grandmother during her trips to the farm, to where my other uncle worked and has even sent off this uncle to Saudi. I really really like her a lot. She is more than a helper for me. I really don't understand but there's something special in the way she works. I will never forget the time she sends us off to school or the time I vomited and cleaned it up. It’s not just "because-its-her-job" aspect. I could not talk to my parents about this. This is something feely, emotional, corny and apparently, they are not like that.

i updated my blog a little.  i ended up trying to figure out why my first entry is so far from where its supposed to be. i have already edited the html a gazillion times, still the same problem. now, im using this method and hopefully this prob will be over. i also edited my fastweb account. i wanted to find a scholarship as early as now, so i can process whatever it is the requirements needed. i cannot do this alone. and my parents seem so traditional in everything. i happen to view life as an octopus. hopefully, i'll succeed. 2 more years and i have to figure out what i'm really for.

Diary Entree (way back when I had >50 zits)

This is a tribute to my friend izy. During the whole Lapanday (a banana producing corporation at Mandug, Davao) internship, i learned a lot about life and how to make the most of it. She even let me borrowed some of her anime collections (w/c i think is the most obvious reason that propelled me to type all these). I had fun not just inside the lab, but in how my life has seemingly took a 180 degree turn. i am also mindful to the fact that she may never read this, for i think she has never surfed this blog yet. anyways, this is a real diary entry (who cares). i really wrote this from my notebook because way back then and until now i think, i am the type of person who never ceased to be amazed in keeping handwritten treasures.

May 3, 2005
Dear Diary,
Yesterday, our internship ended with a Japanese dinner. The 4 of us went to I LOVE SUSHI for an experience of chopsticks, eat all you can rice, dummplings, chicken lollipops and stir fried spicy noodles! Plus, a great sip of their new strawberry red iced tea! We ate our hearts towards independence day. We reminisced the times we shared during the 3-week company immersion. It was tiring yet fun - especially when you had to go to the coop kiosk to eat lunch. You have to haplessly endure a 30 minute walk (to and fro) from the research facility to the canteen. And speaking about road quality, it was GRAVELED GRAVELED GRAVELED, and the latter part of the way was full of squishy fruits. so we had to endure the squirts as well. and by the way we wore sandals (though i think that was only me)which increased the everyday suffering by 50-fold. For the whole 20 days, we surrendered ourselves fully to dishes of corned beef (because the other dishes weren't palatable at all, haha!). Our slogan: Corned beef yesterday,corned beef today, corned beef tomorrow. If there was a disease that specified an overconsumption of corned beef, we really are highly contagious and are suffering from severe complications. We had our powerpoint presentations from our UBER SIMPLE PH TESTING assignment which was witnessed by 2 managers and 2 supervisors. I was so nervous at that time that everytime I play teacher and point at important details (it was LCD), I saw my hand dramatically tremble. It was so embarassing. In the end, we earned the decision of the manager to use the certain surfactant. He played kindergarten teacher and said we had a very good presentation (personally, i think it was really nice, and the manager was nice also, so nice presentation+nice manager = thank you). He even clapped for it. I learned an important lesson from him; "science is not overnight. therefore, if the hypothesis will not work, then to conclude immediately that the experiment is a failure is a no no for every scientist." He was really kind right from the start of our internship down to the last day. He even introduced us to their boss. The internship in Lapanday garnered a special place in my heart. I will never forget:
1. Fushigi Yuugi nights (right after i arrive from the internship till 2 am)
2. Samurai x nights (at how i really wanted to be like Kenshin)
3. curses towards our blasted DDR, which by the way deprived me the luxury to watch those rented cds
4. the anxieties of being left by the carpool so i always make it a point to rise up at 5:45 am
5. the nice people in the lab (ate elna, ate irene, sir alex, sir chris, Mr. fabellar, mr. delos santos (izy's dad), mr. fabregar, sir toto, ate dizie, the statistics-guy, mr. bernard, at mae 1 &2, ate lenlen, ate matet,ate connie, ate joy of the insectary, and ate elsa)
6. the hatred i had for Mam Irene for underestimating my skills. There was a time she sarcastically told me if I was okay pouring the solution. I wanted to punch her face.
7. sleeping times and the fear that I might drool on the table i was sleeping. sometimes, i wake up discovering that i had my entire mouth opened the whole time. my saliva dried and my lips chapped.
8. the surprise visit of Mam Golvin (our i-am-here-now-to-check-if-you-have-been-productive representative). we were so happy because in the chem lab izy and i were really busy. i was doing centrifugation for sample bananas while izy was heating at the superoven i think. i don't know about dareen and ziggy but they were always busy at the plant pathology department.
9. kuya chris, for stupidly treating us like little kids.
the sayonara party of ate mae 1 &2. we ate chocolate cake and macaroni salad.
10. APPLE-BEAR bakery/eatery and its kawaii owners. we had to stop by because we need to go fetch izy's mom from work. and izy has such big eyes and strong conviction not to let this opportunity pass. we ate leche flan and spaghetti. The brother of Izy's crush was so nice, he gave what he was eating to the poor fellow.
11. our dinner escapade to KFC where we helped ourselves to their gravy. after which good news (read: we have stipend) yehey!
12. the peeping sun. izy's dad always prod izy to take a picture because it is a once in a lifetime exposure. the ever rebellious izy countered that she has already seen it 5 times.
13. my trips to Landbank for getting my 4 time high lost ATM card.
14. the cutest guy to ever set foot in Lapanday, the perkins elmer promoting guy who wore a deep olive green collared shirt inserted in black slacks. I think he's chinese. the whole chem lab sat dreamily eyeing him as he fixed his tie.
15.the charm of codenamed "banana-cow", a tagalog-speaking guy who has eyes only for his PC.
16. our visit to the insectary where we viewed bugs eating insects on infested squash
17. how much i'd like to die when we were forced/ made to fold thousands of filter papers
18. corned beef (enough said)
19. the comfort of staying all day in an airconditioned room.
20. the free lunch, free snacks, free carpool, and free shirt
21. the generosity of my comrades
22. the practice of korean alpabet and izy's help in providing me a resource.

everything sure is missing.... but im really glad i kept the memories safe...

Reviews (although more of emotional outburst)

GYABOOOOOO!!! Last night, I semi-finished watching Nodame Cantabile. I can't bring myself to urgently see the last parts. It will be like welcoming again "the drama goodbye syndrome". I don't feel like saying goodbye to the masochism and sex-appeal (now I'm hentai) of Shinichi Chiaki-sama yet (sniff.drool.sniff.drool). Nodame is a very good drama. My Japanese-drama inclination is not some sort of excuse to further an exaggeration. Cross my heart its really good! Romantics would however, label it as another example of chemical shortage. I always love looking at Chiaki-sama conduct. The seriousness his facial features would convey everytime he raises his baton is just to die for. He's may not be really outrightly as handsome as Takuya Kimura, kedo there is just something in him that makes people tick, including the students of Mamogakuen music academy and... MEEEEEEE (evil laugh). Everytime the orchestra starts to boom the performance hall, his jaw would tighten, his maxillary bones would seem tense and his eyes pierces 3 inches deep into your heart, altogether melts whatever ice is there left in your blood.. Beautiful and passionate. Chiaki-sama! The producers I should say rightfully selected the live action counterpart of the manga! I love the way Chiaka-sama conducts especially when he discerns erroneous tones in the oke. There was a time wherein a slide by slide comparison was made between Jean and shinichi chiaki during the 2nd stage of the conducting competition, I could have swam in my drools. One of the sweetest moments was when chiaka-sama (at long freaking last) hugged nodame in episode 11. It was just so sweet the way the camera tilted, gives you the creeps like you’ve also been hugged. What I don’t like about chiaki-sama is his “pridey” attitude; he never admits that he likes nodame. Its always nodame nodame nodame. Poor nodame (sniff sniff). Also, I partially also share the dislike to noda megumi because she really talks, acts, and looks like a mental retard. NODAME BAKA! What I love about her (which by the way overweighs 50% of my hatred) is that she is a genius pianist. She never realizes this though. For her piano is passion. No techniques, just be happy with the music you want to play. Mine-kun (kawaii ne!), self-confessed bestfriend of chiaki is always that ever passionate oke-member. I will never forget the time when a music student auditions to be the next concert master and mine-kun accepted him wholeheartedly despite the Oke’s concern for Kiyora (who is his love interest). Then he turned to Kiyora and said like “you go to Vienna and study. Do not worry about leaving this oke! Ganbatte as I will also do my best!" – and he hugged her hard. Mine kun!!!!!!!!! A lot of homos were also showed in this drama, but it was fun! Masumi chan wa is the best! “Masumi chan, chiaki-sama is in danger!” Like a renegade avenger he dashes off irrespective of any circumstances while screaming “chiaki-sama!!!!!!!!! The camera will always give the impression that his running speed is equivalent to how light travels from the sun! Minna- I will miss you all! Sakura-chan kawaii! My sister commented on your kawaii-voice. It sounds like a dwarf further squeezed to impending death. LOL! Who can forget the ecchi Strezemann whose Japanese is to die for. I will always be your reluctant student! LOL! Everyone is so lovable, even eto-sensei whose house was really homey. Thanks for the make-up help wife of eto-sensei. Speaking about that incident, I remembered when Nodame was practicing stravinsky’s petroushka, and the wife of eto-sensei found her going crazy drawing her fingers above her head and talking to herself. LOL! She even brought the lunch bowl and left it because she was so afraid of nodame! I just wonder though why the drama is called Nodame Cantabile when its more of Chiaki with Nodame on the supporting role. LOL! I love the way Nodame plays the piano and her philosophies about true enjoyment. I wanted to be also like her. Too bad I did not study piano. This year however, I wanted to learn its basics and by the end of the year I wanted to play Schubert and Stravinsky (wishful thinking). I highly recommend this drama! BRAVO!!!! Can't get enough of it. The manga is continuous, so should be the drama!

PS: When you're old and feel like for the time being its okay to be flaccid, rereading 9-year old personal diary entries or unadmittedly crappy 12-year old-Judie-Abbott fascination episode recalls feels really nostalgic. One good thing about childhood is that when you are really into something, you wouldn't let time immediately determine its half-life (read: you do everything to place it in history). Irrational, dubious mechanisms are always welcome.