WELCOME TO 2019


Blowing the dust off after...9 years since my last post.

Will begin anew once all the cobwebs are clear.


:-)

elbi

Los Baños, I just recently found out, is also known as elbi.

In University of the Philippines Los Baños (or elbi) you will see the sunset boulevard.. a strip of towering coconut trees.

At the very entrance you won’t see the customary Oblation of UP, but you will get stone carabaos. As one Elbi alumni puts it.. its an agricultural school afterall.

The ambiance of UPLB is different from UP diliman. Just as laguna is different from quezon city.

They have their own urban legends (there was a certain statue in campus that is said to disappear on certain nights. Also, it was rumored that a serial killer lurks under a certain bridge).  The main diff between UP elbi and dili was.. the spaces in between.  There were more spaces in between structures.. and there was a lot more green.  And the vehicles have not invaded the streets too much.

Baan Thai

The great things I discovered in elbi are the cozy foodie places nearby campus.  I was able to try Baan Thai.  Great find if you love Thai food.  The waitress said that the chef and owner is Thai.  The pad thai was a combustion of green mango slivers… scrambled egg.. crushed peanuts.. flat noodles.. bean stalks.. and that special Thai concoction of vinegary-sour, herby spice which is a tad sweet. 

The cuttlefish (not to be mistaken with cattle-fish.. which has yet to crossbreed).. is an interesting number of.. you guessed right… fried flakes of fish meshed together with crunchy lettuce, paper thin slices of onions, chopped peanuts, and green mango slivers.  It was sour-sweet with the green mango dominating the other flavors. 

I love Baan Thai’s homey ambiance.. we stayed in one of its outdoor nipa huts with a low table… you have to sit on the floor to eat, preferably barefoot to ventilate your usually confined toes.  (make sure however your seatmate doesn’t mind your feet’s smell. And that your seatmate won’t have the urge to hide your discarded shoes just to annoy you).

I am a fan of milk tea.. and I remember Jatujacks and Som’s milk tea.  How does Baan Thai compare?  It’s color is milky pink.. like baby strawberries.. and it mildly tastes of strawberry milkshake. You know.. a little sour but mostly sweet.

Meanwhile in Boston Café

Has a havianas shop inside but the best part is the aircon. Had to admit, the noon heat of the province is more scorching than in the city. The main attraction really was the aircon, the chairs… and the company…  the board games inside the cafe (one of my friends learned scrabble for the first time).  They also had boggle, mastermind, and WIFI.

Sorry I wont be able to tell you  if the coffee is good..but based from the few sips I had. It was nothing spectacular.

So the top three things to remember when exploring elbi?

    1)    Don’t miss the Original Buko pie (we were able to pass by the buko store 7pm, unfortunately closed na at walang buko pie)

    2)   Do travel with friends (it’s one of the places ideal for foodie adventures)

    3)    Remember that by 3pm, the road up to Mt. Makiling’s Philippine High School for the Arts is closed. If that happens, go explore "Pook ni Maria Makling" nearby. It's a nature reserve with accommodations. One of the few places where you can walk on trails and trip over giant roots attached to giant skyscraping trees.. some taller than the buildings of Makati.

(photos courtesy of artist monk and rhea)

Defying Gravity in Subic

Nice to have exercised my inner potty mouth.

I was dangling 80 feet above ground. The trees below were reduced to the sizes of small broccolis. The two bars and harness felt flimsy compared to the crushing power of gravity.  

When I was yanked backward along a 200 meter cable… I tossed every expletive there is my wind numbed brain could not even process. 

Why did I sign up for this? Oh right, I wanted to conquer my tiny fear of heights… and maybe have fun along the way.

Then we stopped… it was really a pause.. wait for it.. any minute now..

Another almighty tug. This time I am hurtling head first into the air… the flapping greens of the forest blurring.. calming me somewhat..

Heck.. I can do this. Heck. This is fun.

 

And just when I was starting to have fun, the Zipline  stopped.

Time to get off.

*

Never again, the Silver Surfer ride is not for me.  I enjoyed the first few seconds of it.. standing while traversing the air was the way to travel.

But why oh why when we reached the height of 80 feet the machine stopped and started to vibrate… almost bucking me out from my foot hold.  Close my eyes.. shit shit shit.. not helping… this will be over soon.

     The best part? When the ride ended and I realized I didn’t pee in fear like the way I imagined.  When I stepped on level ground, my knees were shaking so bad. I ordered my knees to stop wobbling, but they still kept on.  So this is what "weak-kneed" feels like.  

*

So the top three things I got out of our company outing?

1)      Subic is not just about duty free.  It’s also about beaches, ziplines, and go karts.

2)      If at first you don’t succeed, sky diving is not for you. 

3)      The scariest step is the first one.  I am glad because not only did I dare to defy gravity, but I dared defy my fear with knees shaking. =)

Walking Miracle

Tuesdays are coding, so I usually hitch with my Dad in the morning.  During these car rides, as I maneuver through caloocan to ortigas, Dad likes to fill in the morning with either curses about Gloria... or wax poetic about his young policeman days. In the 80s, Dad was a fearless sergeant who chased crooks in Quiapo and other parts of Manila.

This morning, he recounted how he got shot, and survived.  I wasn't able to fully appreciate that my dad is a living, spitting, cursing miracle until now.

On June 1988 he chased a holdupper notorious for stealing money of the stores in Quiapo.  He thought the man was working alone, so when he cornered him, he was surprised to hear gunshots. Dad acted quickly and used the holdupper as a human shield. Shots were fired at his back, at his front, at his side.  Dad wrestled the holdupper and managed to shield himself for a while.  Only for a while.

One bullet hit my Dad's skull near his ear.

Another hit his arm.

Another hit his back.

And with a final flourish, the henchmen of the head holdupper fired the gun at my Dad's chest.

Next thing my Dad knew was waking up at the FEU hospital.  A cop friend of his said that when my Dad was rushed to the emergency room, he was left in a corner on a stretcher because the doctors and nurses said he was a sure goner from all the bullets in his body.  He was left to "bleed to die".  But one of the merchants who Dad helped recover money from the holduppers came and paid a handsome amount to the doctors. Only then did the doctors did what they can to resucitate him.

How did my Dad survive those bullets?

Even the doctors don't know.  They were surprised why the bullet merely grazed his skull.. and why the bullet on his chest wasn't that deep.. And why Dad was living at all.

My Dad is wont to say that his faith, and the tatoos on his body that inscribes the name of Yahweh, saved him.

My Mom is wont to say that Dad is given a second chance because he has a lot to make up for.

I don't know who  those doctors in FEU are.  I don't know the name of the holdupper who shot my Dad (last time I heard from Dad, the thug was jailed once and bailed out... he's still out there somewhere).


I do know that Dad is not the definite picture of a pious man.  But his faith is something that even now I have a hard time believing.

Happy 65th Birthday Daddy.
  

Insights from the Soup Kitchen

 Location: Typhoon Ondoy Victims, Pasig

 Evacuation Center @ ULTRA

October 5, 2009

Knowledge Channel Soup Kitchen 

1) 95% of the kids and adults i saw don't have slippers

2) A lot of the kids are resilient. Staying at the evacuation center can be like a prolonged picnic..., with many new friends to make, and eating on the floor with a bigger family - about 3,000 members in the new family.

3) It's the moms who are really stressed. They constantly worry where to get the next meal for the family (or for her infant), how to treat their sick children, and how on earth are they going to rebuild their homes again when there is nothing left to start over with.

4) Children don't hold back in expressing their happiness. So when they smile at you, you feel that they are the ones bestowing you a gift, and not the other way around.

5) There is still so much to be done. It's overwhelming. But the things you cannot do should not stop you from doing the things that you can.

6) Being interviewed on the spot is not as easy as it looks. =)

7) It is a humbling experience.  I know deep down it could have easily been me, or my family, in that evacuation center.  Everything I have could be wiped away in an instant.  I don't really own anything.

tough lessons

lessons i am learning recently:

1)  It will take time for parents to truly see the "adult" you

I just had an awkward but honest conversation with my mom.  We are not the type of family that talks about thoughts and feelings, so those two minutes of talking felt like having constipation  -- its gruelling, but I'm glad for the release.  She doesn't approve of some of my life choices, but she already knows that I'm not seeking her approval.

2) when it niggles, pay attention

I had a niggling feeling that i was forgetting doing something last week. I got sucked in the vortex called "everyday urgent tasks" and promptly forgot about the niggling feeling. Turns out I forgot to email our foreign resource person that our event is re-scheduled (for the Nth time).  Now she has a flight going here, and the event aint happening. damn.  pay attention.

3) recognize the silver

I appreciate the random kindness of my officemate. i didn't ask for it, but i got an assist that i needed.  =)

UP movie review

Things I learned from UP

1) Dogs, no matter how trained in the arts of nefarious plotting, will simper for a ball.

2) Eager beaver scouts never give up. They sure come in handy when you are lost and alone in a rainforest.

3) Discovering a lost paradise isn't the greatest adventure -- but doing mundane things with someone you love is.

4) Missing someone who left leaves a blank space for you to fill


Recommendation? Watch this film. It is deceptively simple, but the emotion it evokes run deep.