Blog again?

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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, …