javamiggs

Blog again?

2006-03-10T01:56:00.000+08:00

Whew! For a long time, I am here again.

It was a bit struggle just to click my text editor to write a blog. I feel like I totally lost my interest in writing.

So much happened for the past months (many months!), I couldn’t possibly recall them all and try to compose a good story out of them.

Hmm.. but I guess it's worth a try..

Hospital Fever

Yep, I was hospitalized for 1 week last year for some peculiar reason. I remember it started one afternoon when I got drenched by the rain. Just before sunset, I was feeling cold and I knew then I have a fever. I was struggling to make it home that evening, and because I don't like taking medicines, I gobbled a lot of water just before going to bed. The next morning was the start of the very long battle that I had to struggle to win. I was not feeling so well that morning but still I went to school, boy I got a high fever!. It was hell for five days, but I need to work so it was really a difficult time. Just getting up in bed was so hard for me. On the sixth day I started to feel fine, I was able to take a bath for the first time and was quite relieved that my ordeal was finally over. But I was dead wrong. I’m just feeling well, but the fever was still there, only mild I guess.

For the next 4 days I was better and I thought the fever was gone. But on the 5th day, the fever showed its vengeance. I have no idea how high my fever was, all I knew was I’m shivering so violently every now and then. I finally bought paracetamol to help my self fight the fever coz I guess water therapy just wasn't enough. Still I managed to dodge a few moments and was able to give lectures in class. I missed the tryouts for our cheerdance squad coz I wanted to rest really bad and I was always in a hurry to go home after sunset.

One night, my best friend had a soul-breaking news for me. Her dad passed away. I really wanted to see and comfort her, but I was in the middle of a violent fever and I was shaking and shivering. Two days after, I was able to visit her. I’m so dizzy that time that I can't even support my head straight less alone walk and just be on my feet. They told me I was scorching hot, crap what a fever. My friend Jay helped me go home and gave me a quick massage. I badly needed it to relax my body. The day after, things got only worse than I expected. The fever was on full force that I had to cancel lectures. A week after the second wave of fever, my officemate can't help to notice the hell that I've been through and he advised me to see a doctor. I did. The doc couldn’t diagnose what's wrong with me not before medical tests. He gave me antibiotics and asked me to come back the next day. That night was hell, I bought a thermometer and I was shocked that my long overdue fever was measuring an average of 39 degrees Celsius! I even reached 40 degrees! The next day I was immediately confined. My mom and brother arrived the day after. After 4 days the doc (not the same doc in the checkup) finally found out what was wrong with me.. it was a blood infection due to a Salmonella Typhi Bacteria.. in short, a I got a Typhoid Fever. Freakin doctor, only after 4 days? It's a good thing my friend Vanessa (the med student) was keeping in touch with me throughout my ordeal and gave me some confidence and comfort. It's funny the first few days I hated the food they serve on that hospital, they only serve vegetables and vege-meat, but after a while I was craving for it. That thing is addicting. I was on a private room and at it got me bored when I was doing nothing. Good thing there's a TV, and I got so many visitors everyday, my students, officemates, and friends. The next 2 days I was feeling better and I was discharged. My hospital bill reached P17,000+!!! That freakin doctor ran more medical tests than needed, and billed a big professional fee too, crap! Thanks to some health insurance, my bill was reduced to P10,000+, still enough to melt my savings away. Plus I have to continue taking antibiotics (this thing is expensive) twice a day for a week, and vitamins for 1 month.

I can't really trace where I got the bacteria, the doc says it could only be transmitted thru contaminated food or water that was handled by an infected person. The bacteria are present in feces and urine when the person is infected. I have no idea how I got it. After the ordeal, I was paying very close attention to what I ate and drink. And I would advice everyone to do the same. It was hell my brother and sister, take my advice very seriously.

Length of fever – more or less 3 agonizing weeks!

Losing my Honee

2005-06-18T17:52:00.000+08:00

Tuesday 7June2005, 9:33 PM. The message: " Am inviting u s ako weding ds sat.@4pm s INC church. Rcption at leyte park hotel..thnx. u ".

We've been talking about it over the phone for quite some time but I didnt take it seriously. Im trying to think she's just kidding, and one day she will say it was all a joke. The truth is I was afraid. Afraid of losing her. For so many years I thought this will not happen. But it will happen soon.. and there's nothing I can do about it. The only thing I have in mind now is to see her before she get tied. The semester is just about to start and I have so many things to do for the coming days and weeks. But Im willing to leave them all behind, it seems like the most important thing for me to do now is to see her... for the last time.

... Fourteen years ago, I adored her so much. She's two years older than me, but because I began attending school ahead of my age, she's one grade ahead of me.We were then a member of our school Drum and Bugle Corps. I have a superior skill as a drummer, and she was a graceful dancer. I met her during one of the practice period of the band. The first time I saw her, I thought she was an angel ...

I have made a promise that I will be at her wedding no matter what and I will be there before the wedding starts. I began surfing the net looking for inter-island vessel schedules. I got all what I need and if everything goes fine with my carefully planned itinerary, I will arrive at the wedding 4 hours early.

June 10. It's the day I’ll start my journey to what seems to be a worthless trip that I'm willing to expend. I was supposed to buy boat ticket for Cebu at 3 PM but I'm scheduled to chat with a friend at 1 PM. My friend showed up at 3 PM and our chat session went on for an hour and a half. I was supposed to get tickets at 4 PM, be at the bus terminal at 5 PM, I should arrive at Cagayan port at around 7 PM coz the boat for Cebu will leave at 8 PM. Phew.. I went to the city proper at almost 4:30 PM, bought some freakin Cheding peanuts for 15 minutes, a friend bumped me and locked me in a conversation for another 15 minutes, and finally I went to Cebu Ferries ticket outlet to buy tickets. It's almost 5 PM when I reached the ticket outlet, and to my horror, it's already closed! The guard on duty suggested we go to the other outlet just a block away. So I walked a couple of yards but only to found out the other outlet is already closed. Now I’m beginning to get pissed. Again the personnel suggested another outlet which may still be open. This time I had to take a ride coz the other outlet is on the other side of the city. After battling traffic, smoke, and dust, I managed to locate the ticket outlet. When I went inside, there's no one in the ticketing booth. A lady said to wait coz the ticket agent will come back any moment. I’m already pissed but I managed to hold my temper anticipating my ordeal will be over in a few moments. After 15 minutes of freaking waiting, I asked again the nearest lady in the ticketing booth where the hell is the ticket agent. She said the ticket outlet is already closed coz it's already past 5 PM. What the..? I almost kill the bastard! Luckily she suggested another ticket outlet not so far from where I am. It's already 5:30 PM and I thought if I could not get a ticket this time, I should start considering the possibility of abandoning the whole freaking trip. But my luck changed, I was able to get boat tickets at the last moment. My travel plan now is to get to the bus terminal and ride a bus to Cagayan just before 6 PM. It's the best chance for me to catch the 8 PM boat to Cebu. Iligan to Cagayan bus ride ranged from 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours travel time. I should pray that the travel time will be less than 2 hours. After some packing and walking, I managed to arrive at the bus terminal and missed the 6 PM bus!! Crap! The next bus will leave in the next 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, my long journey to Tacloban finally started, and for the rest of my trip to Cagayan, I was cursing everything on the road that made our bus slowed down. And even though I don’t believe on superstitions, I was crossing my fingers hoping to catch the 8 PM boat for Cebu. I arrived in Cagayan at 7:45 PM and made a right decision to jump off at the bus stop and flag a taxi all the way to the port. I virtually skipped all the security checks coz the crew wanted me to run as fast as I could if I wanted to catch the boat. Phew.. I managed to board the boat just on time. The boat left the port of Cagayan bound to Cebu just a minute after I boarded. Ako na jud.

... We met again when I got in college. Im surprised she still knows me after almost 4 years. She's one year ahead of me and she's taking up a 3 year course. That would mean we will only see each other for 2 years. We became more close friends and had fun whenever we can ...

June 11. It's her wedding day. I arrived in Cebu at 5:45 AM. The first Supercat fastcraft (sea vessel that travels very fast) bound to Ormoc,Leyte leaves at 6 AM. But due to some freakin delicate docking maneuvers, I managed to jump off the boat at 6:15 AM. Crap! I missed the first fastcraft. My original travel plan is to catch the 8 AM fastcraft from Cebu to Ormoc, Leyte. I should be in Ormoc at 10 AM and ride a van to Tacloban. Travel time from Ormoc to Tacloban is approximately 2 hours so I should arrive in Tacloban at 12 noon. That would give me 4 hours to rest and prepare. My ordeal is not yet over coz there must have been a serious mistake when I took the fastcraft schedules off the internet. There is NO 8 AM fastcraft schedule from Cebu to Ormoc. Instead the next schedule is 10 AM. The 8 AM schedule is from Ormoc to Cebu, not from Cebu to Ormoc. That totally messed everything. To make matters worse, there has been a delay and the fastcraft arrived an hour late from its original schedule. We left Cebu at exactly 11:16 AM. Travel time from Cebu to Ormoc is approximately 2 hours. We arrived in Ormoc at 1:20 PM. I’m starting to get worried coz I still had to travel to Tacloban which is almost 2 hours away! I’m thinking that with this circumstances, I would arrive in Tacloban past 3 PM or worse I'll get there at 4 PM. That would make me freakin late. But still I had my fingers crossed, Im still hoping to reach Tacloban before the wedding starts. When I finally got out of the boat, I was so freaking hungry. I have been in Ormoc once so I’m quite familiar with the landscape. I remember there is a Jollibee store just a block from the port so I wasted no time, I walked but I realized it's 2 blocks away. I’m beginning to worry coz I’m wasting my time walking and I quickly realized there are so many passengers and there are only limited vans. I may not be able to get a van to take me to Tacloban! But I don’t want to starve to death on the way, it's still 2 hours away and I don’t have my lunch yet. Crap! When I reached Jollibee, I still had to wait in line before I can make my order. After few agonizing moments my burgers arrived, and I wanted to piss really bad. I was cursing myself in the toilet as I pissed. I was in the middle of the city I hardly known and I’m in a hurry, I don’t care what the people may think but I think they all think I’m crazy for what I did... I ran as fast as I could back to the port to catch a van. I’m surprised I wasn’t arrested for doing so, they may think I’m a burglar or something. Luckily there is ONE last mini bus bound to Tacloban and I wasted no time jumping in. We left Ormoc at 1:40 PM. I’m surprised my nightmare in Ormoc only lasted 20 minutes; I thought I was there for 1 hour! But my ordeal is not over yet, if the travel time is 2 hours, I will arrive in Tacloban at 3:40 PM! No time to change clothes and definitely no time to clean myself from sweat, dust, and dirt. Throughout the trip I was in constant contact with a friend in Tacloban who is also attending the wedding, we supposedly share a room in a pension house. He's also directing me what to do and where to go. Again for no reason, I kept on crossing my fingers hoping to reach Tacloban before 4 PM.

... She graduated two years before mine. After her graduation we met once when she applied for her Official Transcript of Records and Diploma. After all the years, I looked at her as the same girl I adored back when I was a kid. Time has changed, but the way I adored her has never. After my graduation, I immediately began working. One time I was invited to give a lecture in a National Physics Conference in Catbalogan, Samar. After the conference, I stayed in Ormoc for one day and we got reunited after almost 3 years ...

I arrived in Tacloban at 3:50 PM. My friend informed me that they are on their way to the church and I should go there directly. I was sweaty and dirty so I decided to proceed to the pension house and had a quick shower. After changing my clothes, I was on my way to the church. I then realized I have no idea where and what to ride to get to the church. I flagged down a tricycle and began negotiating to take me to Iglesia ni Cristo Church in Palo. Palo, Leyte is the next town from Tacloban and is approximately 8 Kms away. I was shouting at the driver coz he doesn’t seems to hear me, I then realized he doesn’t understand what the hell I’m talking about coz he is a Waray. Waray is the local dialect of Tacloban. The driver wants P100 and he will take me to the church. I said whatever dude; just take me to the church as fast as you could. I arrived at the church at 4:15 PM. Just in time, the wedding will start at any moment. I failed to get in the church before 4 PM, but I still fulfilled my promise of getting there no matter what, and getting there just before the wedding starts.

... After 2 years since the last time we see each other, we are again exchanging hi, hello, and smiles. For the past years I’m used to crack a joke every time we see each other, but not today. Though she's still the same girl I adore, today is a bit different.. she was not in her usual shirt and jeans. She looked so beautiful in her white wedding dress, and she's wearing a very happy face. For the past few days I still believed that everything is not real, now I’m standing in front of her and I do not need to ask her if she's kidding or not. All these things are real and my fear of losing her has finally came true. I reached and shake her hand and began sucking it all in. That moment I was again reunited to her and assured my self that we were still friends and we can still rule the skies, do anything, and be happy all that we can be. But after a short moment, slowly our hands drifted apart, until the last moment I wanted to stop the time and reverse everything, but time will never go back. Finally our hands were separated and it all sinked to me that I should finally let her go from my self. It all happened in a split second...

The wedding ended. We had our pictures taken, and we proceeded to the reception. I was so hungry and tired. I delivered my message to the couple and had to repeat myself coz the people didn’t understand what on earth I was talking about. I realized they could not understand me coz I was talking in Visaya and they are all Waray. I talked in Tagalog and English, and everyone was happy. After the reception, her mom, dad, sisters, and brother treat me for a short tour around the city. We went to their house and had some refreshment and we crossed the San Juanico Bridge. We had some pictures taken on the bridge but it's already 10 PM so we didn’t had a good view of the magnificent bridge. The next day, Sunday, I was invited to attend a mass on their church. It's the first time I attended a mass in Iglesia ni Cristo church. It all went fine. I stayed shortly at their residence.

... When we are together, we can do anything, and that's what it was for so many years. I was afraid that one day we can no longer do the things we are used to do. That’s why I’m always afraid. Now she's married. It's all fine with me. As long as she's happy, I’m also happy for her. We met again the day after her wedding and it became instantly obvious that she has now a new life and I could no longer demand for her time. We just had a small talk and she's in a hurry to left. I said my goodbye coz I will travel back to Iligan any moment. She said she could no longer promise if she can see me again before I left. I understand everything. I hold her hand for the last time and bid goodbye. She said I can always visit her. But things will never be the same again. Could this be the last time I'll ever see her? Yes this would be the last time I'll ever see her... the last time I'll ever see her as the girl I once adored. This is the last time I'll see her as an old her. She's now a new entity, totally different from before. I must accept any changes. I too had changed after her wedding. The next time we'll see each other again, is like meeting each other for the first time, again. She had been a part of my life and would be forever be part of my life. After all that happened, we will still be friends forever, and she will always be my honee ...

That afternoon her sister and her boo invited me to play billiards. Afterwards we visited the McArthur Landing site, took some pictures and imagining what could it be like during the day McArthur set foot on Leyte. At 7:30 PM we left Tacloban and reached Ormoc at 9:30 PM. The boat left Ormoc at 11:00 PM and we reached Cebu at 5:11 AM the next day. Since my boat back to Mindanao is scheduled 7 PM, I had to stay in Cebu the whole day. I planned to visit the Magellan's Cross and Lapu-lapu shrine but I got hooked watching the NBA Finals Game 4. I went to SM mall at 11:00 AM and planned to stay there for a while. I bought a map of Cebu coz I’m determined to visit Magellan and Lapu-lapu. I even planned to cross the Mactan and Fernan Bridge on foot! But it's already near noon and it's already very hot outside, I decided to stay in the mall. I bought boat tickets, scouted for PC, posed for a photoshoot in the PMA booth, and eventually watching a movie (Mr. and Mrs. Smith). I paid for orchestra, but there's no one guarding the door, so I went to the balcony. Hehehe. Too bad I wasn’t able to finish the movie coz I still had to meet a friend. We had dinner at Pizza Hut. We separated at 7:30 PM coz I thought my boat leaves at 8 PM. When I arrived at the pier at 7:45 PM, I realized I must suppose to be in the pier before 7 PM coz my boat leaves at 7 PM bound for Ozamiz! I missed my freakin boat! After all near mishaps, finally I was hit hard by bad luck. Or tanga lang jud ko. Luckily, there are two boats bound to Mindanao that night, the other one will leave at 8 PM bound for Cagayan. Phew, I transfered my ticket to Cagayan and had to pay P50.00 for surcharge. I arrived in Cagayan at 7 AM the next day. The journey back home is an uneventful one. Along the way I’m still battling between my emotions and I felt the journey lasted till eternity. Time has somewhat froze for me and I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. But slowly as the drift of the sea I am transformed into my new self. As soon as I reached Iligan at 9 AM, I felt renewed and determined to start my new life. A new life without the girl I once adored.

Yodaism

2005-05-28T20:12:00.000+08:00

When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not / Wars not make one great / Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things / You must unlearn what you have learned / Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try / Luminous beings are we ... not this crude matter / That is the way of things ... the way of the Force / A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind / Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will ... / Beware of the dark side. Anger ... fear ... aggression / You must feel the Force around you / Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future ... the past. Old friends long gone / Size matters not / If you choose the quick and easy path ... you will become an agent of evil / Control, control. You must learn control / Mind what you have learned. Save you it can.

1. yodaism - Yoda, the biggest little stoner from the Star Wars movies would awesomely switch up the words in his sentences because he was high 99% of the time. (http://www.urbandictionary.com)

Image from http://www.comicscontinuum.com

sTARwars!

2005-05-26T19:17:00.000+08:00

My colleagues were going to Zamboanga City to attend a conference there and I decided not to join them. Since our laboratory technician Lowell is getting married again in Cagayan de Oro City, I volunteered to be his photographer for me to have a reason to go to CDO and then watch Starwars! The wedding was supposed to start at 3 PM and they said the door will be closed when the ceremony begin. We almost did not make it! We arrived at the Iglesia ni Cristo church at 3:10 PM and happy to found out that the ceremony hasn't began yet. I've never been inside an Iglesia ni Cristo church so I was a bit confused how to behave there. I was briefed shortly what are the do's and dont's and I was feeling relaxed. To make the story short I took some pictures, the wedding got finished, went to the reception, and ate a lot of meat. There's a hot bridesmaid and I hit on her at the reception. She's so sexy and she smells so good, I had wanted to hug and kiss her!.

Anyway.. after the wedding I went to Lim Ket Kai Mall and watched the Starwars Episode III. I wasnt able to start the movie so I watched it TWO times! Man the movie was fantastic! I love Yoda! And Natalie Portman was hot!

The movie ended at 11:30 PM. I decided not to go home in Iligan coz I need to go shopping for new clothes. I looked for a place to sleep but I have no idea where to start so I walked along the highway hoping to find one. After a while I had walked for I think a kilometer and still I could not find a place to stay. It's already 12 midnight and I was in the middle of the place Im not too familiar. Im getting a bit vulnerable to danger so I decided to flag a taxi and told the driver I need to go in some place to stay. The driver took me to a hotel but it was full. Freakin hell I paid P90.00 for the taxi for nothing. The taxi driver told me he knew a place near so I jumped to his cab again. I thought it was free coz he's the one who volunteered to bring me there, but freakin hell he asked me for another P30.00!! This is too much! I checked in at the hotel but there was no available single bed room. The twin bed room was just a hundred peso higher than the single bed so I just paid for the twin bed. There were three cute girls at the lobby when I checked in, at first I thought they were hookers. I learned later that they're not. Nope I'm not thinking of getting laid that night but Im on the brink of getting into. I actually asked the guard on duty "how much" would it be to get a "service". He said it was P800.00. Hmmm.. now I know how much it would be. I actually bargain for P500.00 too, but the guard said it's P800.00. It was very funny! Hehehehe. Im not really wanted to get laid, Im just fooling around to know how things worked in this kind of thing. Phew.. after few minutes I was sleeping bare naked coz I still had to wear the same pants the day after. Good thing I bought an extra shirt.

The next day I shopped till I dropped. I bought several clothes and some stuffs. I was tempted to watch starwars again but I decided not to. Hmm.. finally I took the bus home at 7:30 PM. I arrived home just in time for AXN's LOST TV series, and I was happy to found out that Miami Heat won game 2 of the 2005 NBA Eastern Conference Finals. Yehehehe.

Recent Travels

2005-05-22T13:43:00.000+08:00

Uh! Never had time to blog for the past weeks so Im gonna sum up all the travels I've been into these past weeks.

5/13-15/2005: Davao City.
Me and some of the Tadman staff went to Davao to submit our articles to the printing press. Trave time to Davao from Iligan is about 7 hours. We passed Cagayan de Oro City and the cool Bukidnon province. It was fun! We submitted our articles and visited the Eden Nature Park, had some midnight sale shopping, had some fun bonding moments with the tadman geeks, bought some mangosteen, durian candies.. I've also met my highschool friends which were in Davao and we had fun recalling our highschool moments..Hmmm.. photos uploaded here.

5/8/2005: Tadman (Outing) Location Shoot.
I didnt know they were serious about this trip so I wasnt able to prepare. I had slept that night at around 5 AM. We were supposed to leave at 8 AM so they woke me up at 7:45 in the morning. Ugh! grabbed some biscuits and coffee for a quick breakfast. We roamed around the city taking pictures of the different cool sites. We went to the City Hall Amphitheater and sight seing the panoramic view of the city, Ma. Cristina Falls, Timoga Spring Pools, Taytay Resort, Mimbalut falls, Bukana beach, Sabac Beach, and the Centennial Park. It was very hot that morning and it suddenly rained in the afternoon. I took the pictures the whole day under the scorching heat and I was so dead tired coz I had only slept for barely 2 hours. I went to sleep that night at 6:30 and I woke up the next day at 2 PM.

4/29-30/2005:Duka Bay Resort, Medina Misamis Oriental.
I have been to this place only the third time, we went there for the SPVM planning conference. Medina is about 5 hours from Iligan and on our way there we encountered a huge traffic jam near the new Coal Power Plant site. The plant were transferring it's huge machines to the new site so they had to shutdown the highway for a while. First I thought there was an accident. Out of impatience or just plane curiousity, we jumped out of our van to check it out. We saw a very huge thing right in the middle of the highway covered with plastic sheets and I thought there was a chemical spill or something. We went closer and we found out it was a machine for the the new plant. There was two of them. It was so huge that the truck that carried them consumed the whole width of the highway. Hmm.. anyway, Duka Bay is a cool place, there's a lot of marine animals there to watch. A good place for scuba diving and snorkeling. When the conference was done, it was already low tide. We took a swim and I didnt enjoy what I was doing at all coz there's so many dead corals, sharp rocks, and spiky things along the beach. I got a cold the morning after and I wasnt able to finish the conference due to headache.

4/5-6/2005: Sinacaban.
We're back again to the Misamis Oriental Aquamarine Park. The semester ends and we held the IITHEP scientific conference here, this is also the culmination of our friday meetings. I was the Friday Meeting treasurer so I was in-charge of the funds. I took charge of all the money matters including food, cottage, fuel, water, etc. Hmm.. I was happy coz I managed to do my job succesfully. Yehey! There was wild animals in the Park mini zoo. Plenty of fish in the hatchery. The cottages are nice. But the main attraction is the White Island which is about 2 km from the beach. We almost could not made it to the island coz it's still under development. There was a construction going on for the Dolphin Show. Anyway after some negotiations, we were able to go to the island. We strapped ourselves with lifejackets and ride a motorboat. When we reached the island, the place was a mess coz the construction were not yet completed. We had fun snorkeling and watching the dolphins, whales, giant sea turtles, giant starfish, sea corals, nemo (clown fish), and some other fish varieties.

At the white island grand stand. This is the future site of the Dolphin Show.

At the bamboo ramp. This ramp is almost 500 meters long from the beach to the restaurant and the boat docks.

Skim Interrupted

2005-05-22T12:30:00.000+08:00

I actually woke up very early today at 5:30(which is unusual for me) coz I finally had the courage to skim by my self alone in the beach. I was thinking about it for a long time and actually planned to go skim by my self one time, but when I woke up that day, Im again overwhelmed by a desire to go back to sleep. That changed everything I planned to do that morning.

This morning was totally different, I got up quickly before sandman put me to sleep again. Ate some leftover bread and sipped a hot ovaltine. Soon after I arrived on the beach minutes later, the sea was calm just as I wanted. But to my horror, the beachline is covered with rough and jagged pebbles! Maybe due to the mild waves, the pebbles just got wedged on the beachline and never left there. I checked around to see any good spot but freaking hell there's none. I dont want to waste my morning so I just tried to ride my board few inches away from the dreadful little pebbles. As usual, I fell and hurt my butt so hard. Please dont laugh at me, I still could not ride my board perfectly. Soon I can.

Some 30 minutes of running and rolling, Im starting to feel good and more determined to conquer my fear of falling. Just when I happen to pass where I left my backpack, I checked my things and found out my right slipper was gone! I remember there were so many stray dogs on the beach so I immediately suspected they ripped it off and dragged somewhere. I am not planning to go home and walk with one slipper in the middle of the city so Im furious to find where the freaking dogs trashed my slipper. I asked some people around and they all say they did not see my slipper. I checked around by my own, looking stupid, walking around barefooted while holding one slipper that was left for me. I could feel and see the eyes of all the strange people at the beach that time looking at me as I walk past them looking up, down, left, right, looking for a lowly slipper. I think they think Im crazy.

Im not going to give up and go home with one slipper. That would make me look more crazy. I asked some guys who were cleaning their turf and they say they dont see any slipper that looks mine. Still I will not go home with one slipper. More determined than ever, I keep on looking. Finally after 30 or 45 minutes I think, the guys who were cleaning saw my slippers in their backyard and they called me. Lo and behold, there it is!! My slipper was dragged by freakin beastly fidos for about 5 yards somewhere in the bush. I have never been so relieved for a decade than seeing my slipper once again. It has served me for about 3 years! We have developed a somewhat close bond.

But anyway I swim a little bit after pretending it never happened and mount my board to start skimming again. This time I lost my interest and the sun is starting to heat up. I decided to pack and leave. Well, I looked like a fool looking for my slipper so I think it's a better idea to exit and leave that damn wild-canine-infested place.

Scripting Scripted Script

2005-05-19T19:23:00.000+08:00

The whole day yesterday I was figuring out how to make a PHP script that sends email to someone. I have read and read and try and try until I made it. My goal is to have a sort of "on-line" registration for the upcoming National Physics Conference which will be held in our university sometime in October. I designed a webpage in PHP that would do this and it took me the whole day! Hmm.. I am not that "expert" on PHP, everytime I have a specific project to make I end up figuring out myself how to construct a PHP script out of it. I went home very late yesterday night, and since I was succesful in realizing my project, I was having a good sleep. Sometimes when I couldnt finish what I have in mind, I had a habit of making ideas and thinking over it even when Im already in bed. I hate it coz I almost could not sleep. So funny when ideas came flying even in my dream!! Weird.

Today I was planning to make my project more elegant by adding some images and design but the university shuts down its power for almost one day. Holy Crap! I learned that some brilliant entities want to cut down some tree branches near the power lines, that's why they want to turn off the power. Grrr.. just for that they had to turn off the power for almost a day? WTF! I ended up doing nothing the entire morning. At noon I kicked dust and roamed around the city looking for a nice PC to buy. I haven't seen a decent one so far.

The power returned at 3 PM and I was able to install a new software on my PC. I had plenty of plans this morning for my project but having to wait for so many hours until the power goes back made my ideas fizzles out.

Im not in the mood of writing so pardon me if you find my entry weird.

Age plus one

2005-04-14T21:51:00.000+08:00

My birthday today and I was overjoyed. There were so many people greeted me today than my previous birthdays. For that, I was smiling even when I was sleeping. My birthdays was always been an exclusive family affair. So I’m used to have so few people around giving me gifts, hugs, kisses, and greetings. Even just a simple greeting is enough to make me happy. Having a big party is really not my idea of a celebration.

Not much extraordinary events happening today, except I think for the Silver Nitrate incident. My friend Doc Vanessa (she's a medicine student) asked me to get her a pinch of Silver Nitrate weeks ago and I only managed to get it today. That’s bizarre. I thought she might use it to poison herself, so I was very unwilling to give to it her. Almost everyday she would ask me what happened to her request and I give her tons of excuses until I no longer had a reason to give. So, I finally told her to get the silver nitrate (liquid solution about 10mL) in my office at the school. Grrr.. I waited hours and hours. My officemates invited me for dinner at 6 PM, so I gave up waiting and off we went to the restaurant. Bad move. I should have waited a little longer. Doc Van arrived and got REALLY mad at me when she found out I wasn’t in the school anymore. I was planning to invite her to a dinner (hey it’s my birthday!), but when we finally met, she is smoking red hot! I guess she would have killed me if she didn’t have anger management. I really didn’t understand why she’s so angry. Phew, maybe because she’s a girl. I unloaded buckets of sorry and apologies until I finally made her smile. Sounds like an easy task, but I swear I was like taking a Med Board Exam, she’s one tough nutshell to crack!!!

The rest of the night I was so busy with my cell phone texting old and new friends. Like I said, there were so many people greeted me today than my previous birthdays. Even my high school “crush” greeted me. Something she had never done before! That’s strange. Suddenly memories of high school consumed me.

Anyway, this blog is dedicated to all these people who made my birthday a very special day.
Mom, Ate, Kuya, Tejanie, Sheryl, Jassy, Shai , Mary Razel, Psi, Baz, Jay, Valynn, Doc Van, Loraine, Sittie, Faye, Karyl, Angeli, Brenn, Kat, Phoebe, Charyl, all the physics bams, …

Where on Earth is my mouse?

2005-04-13T21:50:00.000+08:00

(I actually submitted this crap to Reader's Digest's Virtual Hilarity. Poor monkey me. Pila ra gud palad sa unggoy. Hehehe..)

One summer afternoon while I'm are woking in our university yearbook, I got tired looking at the Desktop background in one of the three Personal Computers we are using for Lay-outing and Editing. Since I liked cats very much, I choose a cute, and seemingly innocent-looking cat and displayed it on the Desktop. After working for some time, I took a break and joined the other staff members which were having some discussions at the other side of the room. Without my knowledge, one of the staff members removed the mouse in the computer I'm working on and installed it on the other computer which has a malfunctioning mouse. After I got back to resume my work, I could not find the mouse in my workstation and I yelled to everyone in the room "Hey, where on Earth is my mouse?". Everyone looked at me and started laughing. At first I was very puzzled, but then someone yelled back at me saying "I guess the cat in your Desktop ate it".

The culprit. Freakin cat! But cute.

GSIS, eCard, bunch of germans, and the Cranky Four-wheel Drive

2005-03-22T21:30:00.000+08:00

(Longest post so far, have a cup of coffee first so you can't fall asleep reading...)

Here we go again I had to wake up early. Today we are scheduled to travel to Cagayan de Oro to get ourselves a GSIS eCard. I cant understand why we had to go there personally. Err.. It's a complete waste of time. I had to delay my submission of grades just for this nonsense trip. We had a GSIS field office here in Iligan and we could just have an ID photo taken, sign some documents and let them process the whole thing. It’s their job and they are paid for it. But.. grrr.. they want US to be there, fall in this never ending line, and do all these stupid things. Well I thought maybe they want to see me, so phew I have no choice but be there.

Some of my colleagues has been able to apply and got their eCards few weeks ago. Their stories were freakin DREADFUL! They all say that the line were as long as eternity. There must at least a thousand homo sapiens in the area all waiting their turn in a line. They said they arrived at CDO at 6 AM, waited in line for like forever, and got their card at 5 PM in the afternoon. Err.. 11 hours of waiting in line? Doing nothing the whole day except waiting for the whole line to move? Freakin scary. The technicians doing the eCard application process were like a bunch of turtles in the seashore. It seems like they had to refer to an operating manual every time they push a key in the computer. So freakin SLOW. It's a good thing the Spaniards teach us Filipinos to be maantoson. If it were not, there should be blood everywhere. The GSIS eCard application process sucks! I appreciate their stupidity. Is this all they can managed?

All these stories were just too freakin horrible. As a member of the GSIS, I am "required" to get an eCard and of course had to undergo the same application process. Holy crap.

We leave Iligan at 7:30 PM. We should be in CDO at 9:00 AM but all bad luck on earth break loose. Our coaster's engine suddenly had all these trouble. The fuel couldn’t get to the intake. The whole line from fuel tank to the filter had all this "garbage" that made it difficult for the fuel to flow. Crap! We had to stop every now and then to repair it. We were traveling so slow and we managed to arrive in CDO at 11:30 AM.

The first thing I noticed was the germans with all the colorful dress line up at the entrance. I learned that they are all “chance” applicants, which means they have to wait until the GSIS people allow them to go inside the building and submit their application. You should have a priority letter in order to go directly inside. I feel pity on them, I thought they must have been there waiting in line outside the building for quite some time. It’s 11:30 AM when we got there; they must have been there as early as 6 AM, worse they travel very far and they must be very tired! This must be some kind of racial discrimination, why on Earth they don’t have a priority letter? I can’t answer my stupid question. Whew, since we had the so called “priority” letter (which is just an ordinary paper printed with something), we go directly inside and immediately fall in line. This must be the start of the long agonizing standing ovation I had to undertake. The guard on-duty constantly bugger is to prepare 2 valid ID with picture, and bring only black ink ball pen. Not sign pen, but ONLY ball pen. Again I had no choice but to obey. Since I only have red ink ball pen and a black ink sign pen, either of this two would not be allowed inside the building. Seemed like a red ink ball pen would be a threat in security. Anyway, I searched my bag hoping to find a black ball pen, even though I knew I don’t have one. Then suddenly TWO huge german senior women inserted their huge ass in our line in front of me! WTF? Where’s their manner? I thought they were germans anyway so I didn’t protest. In a very short time we were able to enter the building and I immediately looked for a freakin black ink ball pen, I felt like I would be dragged outside if I don’t have one. Luckily the store attendant inside the canteen let me swapped my sign pen to her ball pen.

Thank goodness our series of bad luck were rewarded by good luck, they were just a very small crowd today and my nightmare of having to stand the whole day in line will not come true! We were allowed to sit on chairs as we waited for our turn. As we scrambled to change our seat (we are still in line, but just seated), these germans were pain in the ass as they would take advantage of the situation to skip from their line. They would immediately stand near the front and try to insert themselves somewhere in the line! I can’t believe this, they’re sure has the guts! Fortunately the GSIS staffs were able to observe them and they were ordered to go back on their line. Which fortunately they had obeyed without complain. I’m just amused coz they’re actually doing the same thing over and over and over, but with no success. I wonder what it would be like in their hometown when they had to submit application form for something, I guess nobody will be considered last coz every one seems to be the first in the line! Just amazing.

Anyway, the whole application process just lasted almost an hour. We got our eCards, had lunch at Kenny Rogers, window shopped a little bit, and we headed home at 1:30 PM. Our coaster’s engine has once again has this all sort of troubles and we were transferred to another vehicle. The females were transferred to the institute van (good for them), and we the guys were thrown to this small, cranky, and odd-looking 1980s four wheel drive donated by Japan to the Philippine Republic. Hail yeah! We were like sardines in the can as we try to settle ourselves at the back compartment of the vehicle. They were 4 of us, and to make matters worse, we could not actually rest our head coz the seat were so small. For almost 3 and a half agonizing hours, we battled dust, heat, diesel exhaust, stiffed neck, butt sore, back pains, and even head contusions since the roof were just millimeters from our scalps. We can’t sleep, we can’t stretch, we can’t move. We just sit there face to face and wait till eternity until we reached home. We just contended ourselves of counting how many police or military checkpoints with road barrier that we could meet along the way. Finally, we reached Iligan at 5:45 PM. I was so exhausted, I wish I would die! But anyway, at least we had the eCard in the short amount of time, but the way we were traveling, it’s just like we were standing in line the whole day just like the others. It’s all even.

By the way, there were exactly 26 checkpoints from the 88 Km stretch between CDO and Iligan. That’s like having 1 police or military checkpoint every 3.4 kilometers. Maybe it’s a world record.

A Trip to Dipolog

2005-03-12T12:25:00.000+08:00

First post for the year..
4:00 AM March 8, 2005. It's unnatural for me to woke very early, but surprisingly I was able to do that formidable task that morning. It was raining that night before and it's very cooold. I prefer to curl up and hibernate. But Im half excited because of two things.
1. We will travel to Dipolog City! One of the places in Mindanao I've never seen.
2. Visit our co-faculty who's in the hospital. (That's why Im only "half" excited).

Were supposed to leave Iligan @ 4:30, Im thinking of drinking something hot, brushing my teeth and a hot bath but by just thinking about it cost me 5 minutes, I only have 10 minutes to go so I just washed my sleepy face and changed clothes. It's 4:10 in the morning and not a single mode of transportation were available, so I WALK the whole 600 meters of wet concrete to the campus. It's chilly! At the next crossroad I heard something crying, sounds like a cry of a woman beaten to death! Now that was freaky. But after a while I realized it could be just a canine somewhere. Or a feline vomiting. Weird.

Exactly 4:30 AM we're all settled on the IIT coaster and hit the road. We reached Mukas port at 6 AM and crossed the calm sea in a barge to Ozamiz City (just a 15 minute boat ride)..

The Bams on the barge to Ozamiz City. It's raining! That's me with a white cap.

We had our breakfast at Oroquieta City @ 7 AM. I dont know what's the name of that carenderia, I supposed to pay P35.00 but the owner just ask for P20. That was weird. As weird as their CR!! can you imagine a CR which is only a small "hole" in the floor? And beneath is nothing but sea? Talk about pollution! The city government of Oroquieta should do something about this.

We reached Dapitan City and finally reached Dipolog City at 10:30 AM and got to visit our colleague. Hmmm.. the nurses in that hospital were cute. We had also a fun moment with a policeman we called "sarge". He seems to be on the right place at the right time. Everytime we're on trouble with locating places, he is there! Weird.

Sir Bobot with his wife and some of the bams. He seems to be okay. Wish he could recover soon.

We leave Dipolog City at 1:50 PM. Im amused coz it seems like everytime we see food on the road we had to stop and buy them. Of course we had to ate them, and for the rest of the trip we do nothing but EAT! We took a short break and visit the Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park (MOAP). The place was amazing. Nature at its best.

A quick stop at the Aquamarine Park. It's funny Im always at the left side of the picture. Man, look at my hair! Hehehe, I looked like a girl!!

We reached Ozamiz City at 6 PM and crossed the sea to Mukas. Its funny the barge lost its bearing in the dark maybe 200 meters from the port. Maybe because it was very dark that time. That's strange. But luckily we landed safe a few minutes later. The last part of the journey back home were boring, it's dark and I couldnt see a thing along the road. Finally we reached Iligan by 7 PM but was delayed coz a stupid trailer truck got stuck in the bridge. We had to detour somewhere else. It's okay coz I've seen part of Iligan which I havent seen so far. Aaaahhh Im soooo tired.

That was a fun trip overall, we had to visit 4 cities along the way. And seeing the green and chilly countryside just makes me appreciate the beauty of our country. While everyone is jammed in the noisy, hot, and dirty cities, here are the vast green, peaceful and happy rural villages. Full of life and invigorating. My dream is to live one of these rural places in the last years of my life. I was born and grow up in a little green town, now Im working in a big city, but chosing between the two I would love to be in the little green place which is my home.

Happy Birthday Karen

2004-10-23T19:35:00.000+08:00

zzzzzzz... it's been a loooong time. I got quite BZ for a while I totally got no time to visit my blog.
(Semester ends and I got so many things to do. Naa pa jud lech na SPVM)

It's saturday!!! Today we went out with my ever best friend Psi to celebrate in advance Karen's birthday (26september). We planned to meet at exactly 11 AM at Karen's house, but with my daily 1 hour ritual in the shower, I arrived there at 12 PM. A whooping 1 hour late. Hehehe.

Karen Mae Uy is the first to get married in our barkada at age 22. She had now a cute baby boy too named Inky. We ate lots of seafoods at Tatay's Grill (gi-atch ang mahal pala dito!!) and cone twirl at jobebs (eto mura lang hehehe).

Seeing her again made me realize that Im really coming on age. Im still acting like a kid somehow. I cant help reminiscing the good old days. Back when it was my first day in university, she's one of the few friends I had made. Actually of all my girl classmates, she's the first one i noticed. First day of school, our professor made us stand and introduce ourselves to the entire class. The moment she stood and say her name, I was kind of saying to myself.. "whew that chick is cute..". Hehehe. I always likes chinitas. Tiny eyes are cute.

Jay(top), Psi, Me, Karen, Inky

100% hand-made hologram

2004-10-08T19:55:00.000+08:00

(I have been making holograms using silver halide emulsions for quite some time. I had wanted to make a "hand-made" hologram a looong time ago. Out of curiousity. Ngayon ko lang na-fulfill. Hmm.. it's basically very simple and e.a.s.y. Anyone can do it.)

..It's a very hot morning and Im roaming around the city trying to find a piece of flat dark glass. I dont intend to buy. I want to get a piece for f.r.e.e. This one store owned buy a chinese said they dont have a stock for that kind of glass. Ows? Maybe they're not willing to give me a piece for f.r.e.e. Luckily this one guy in the next store gave me an awesome piece from a scrap.

Next stop I went to a school supply store and shop for a cheap mechanical divider, the one with two sharp end points. This time I have to shell a ghastly P45.00.

Well, basically I have now a complete ingredients to make a HOLOGRAM. The first time I made a hologram, it cost me about P12,000. Basically holograms are made by lasers, photographic films, and chemical developers. I have made laser holograms before and it was NOT easy. But this time a hologram I intend to make is 100% hand-made. A.K.A. made only buy hand!! I would have to scratch the interference pattern from a 2D object on a dark glass using a divider. Basically you will just have to point the other end of the divider to your object and scratch the other end on the glass surface creating an arc. (images from http://www.amasci.com)

and create a pattern that look something like this.. (the object is the letter V)

The more lines you scratched, the better the result.

For the whole afternoon I've done nothing but scratching, scratching, and scratching. I spray painted the glass on the other side and leave it to dry. Not 1 minute later one of my officemate, having NO idea what Im doing, accidentaly dropped my scratched glass and broke it in half!!! I almost kill the bastard!! Luckily the scratched portion were intact. Phew.

I had to wait until our weekly friday meeting ended before I was able to test my work on an overhead projector (sunlight would be enough but it's cloudy today). Yipppee.. it was a success!! The "V" figure floats majestically behind the glass!! I immediately called my colleagues and boasted what I have done. They we're all amazed. They're all eager to know how I did it. All I gave them was a silly grin. Nyeknyeknyek. I promised them I would explain the whole thing on our scientific conference next week. =)

(I forgot to bring my digital camera.. I'll post the pictures of my first hand-made hologram later.)

losing coolness

2004-10-07T17:55:00.000+08:00

..I woke up this morning finding out my school bag scatterd in a corner. I suspect *too(censored)oot* did it. SHE used to exercise every morning to trim her fat but doesnt seems to work out for her. I dont like someone messing on my properties. She could have lay them neatly in a place somewhere before doing her hopeless exercise. But I guess she just threw my helpless bag violently in a corner. I did my best not messing with her properties and I would not dare even touching them. Grrr.. How dare she!! Whew. Good thing I didnt lost my cool there.

..Im about to wear my newly washed white pair of shoes. Just as Im about to leave for school.. it suddenly rained. What a delay!! Too bad. I have to wear some other pair. Hmmm.. I realized I have about 12 pairs already. Time to buy a new one. Whew. Good thing I didnt lost my cool again.

..Oh that pesky stupid serbidora in a carenderia just mess with my lunch order again. "I want the fish! Isda! kasabot ka?! Dili nang pasayan!!" Grrr.. If only she would listen attentively. How can she mess a very simple job for the 5th time? And oh, hearing the words "kaon? balot?" everytime I make order is very annoying. Can't she remember? I buy lunch from her almost everyday and not a single time I want it "balot". Whew. Good thing I didnt lost my cool there.

..Hmm. Free food. It's *too(censored)oot*. There's cake, spaghetti, soda, etc. I didnt bite the bait. I know there's no such thing as FREE in this world. Sooner you'll PAY for what you eat in some other form. A job request maybe. When that time comes, you wont be able to refuse. If you refuse, you'll be BACKSTABBED! Grrrr.. damn polyanilines! I just treated myself a lowly rice cake. I bought it with my OWN money. Hehehe. Whew. Good thing I didnt lost my cool there.

..Time to go home. I don't know if my coolness would stay. I'll try my best not losing it..

macromedia flash

2004-10-06T19:55:00.000+08:00

hmm.. the templates here are b.o.r.i.n.g.

Well I have just completed my flash animation and figured out how to embed it to the code. Now I got a nice header. Cool.

If I have plenty of spare time I would build my own design. HTML is as easy as 1,2,3 to me. PHP too. I'll just take note of the <$variables$> first so I can map them in the design. =)

ana ka? unsaon?

2004-10-06T19:24:00.000+08:00

Phew.. this would be my first "decent" entry to my blog..

"... ana ka? unsaon?"

For those who doesnt understand what it means, it would be fun asking someone who can. But why bother? You wont appreciate the meaning of it anyway. So never mind.

You probably heard someone say that phrase (well if you're in IIT).. Usually it's the best comment to what have been said to you by anyone.

e.g.
miggs: "gwapa kaayo ka karon ay"
rachel: "ana ka? unsaon?"

see?

I dont know what's with it.. but I would laugh out loud upon hearing it. It could be some brain defect or some innate mannerism. Maybe just a manifestation of a sense of humor. Oh yeah it could be. I dont know why but I could easily make a person laugh, and I would blurt out easily even if wasnt funny at all. Weird. Tsk tsk tsk.

My sole intent in starting this blog is to write write and write whenever I can about me, people around me, and everything. I have a colorful and rich life story but my brain cells are limited. It would be impossible maybe 1 year from now to remember what stupid things or breakthroughs I had made.

Sometimes Im very lazy on finishing my compositions. I would just instantly stop

yippe!!

2004-09-03T19:05:00.000+08:00

I got a blog!!