2012 came to a close less than a week ago. No matter how many regrets you amassed
or despite all the joyful memories you had with loved ones, 2012
is forever lost to us. There's no turning back. We have to keep moving
forward and take everything with a grain of salt.
But
moving forward without looking back once in a while is a little too cold-hearted, isn't it? It's healthy to occasionally take a trip down
memory lane. It keeps you sane and less arrogant (because the past
continues to remind you of everything you buried and refuse to
bury). The past is a big bank of memories - good, bad, funny,
serious, life-threatening, boring, insignificant, turning points,
traumas, failures, successes, struggles, comebacks - you can always
look back on for whatever purpose such an undertaking may serve you.
There
are several things bugging me right now. Various thoughts have
plagued my brainwaves since 2012 kicked off (perhaps for as long as I
lived). This hope for a bright and
bombastic future keeps burning, because I fear getting dragged into a bleak one. Or am I already in the very future I was
so skeptic about? Who knows. It's all too discombobulated
inside my head. I wish I can download a mind mapping device and
let it organize my thoughts of its own accord.
If
I can sum up all my thoughts and memories, though, or at least attempt to classify
them according to my own twisted mental card catalog system, they - in the context of my self living in the year 2012 and as a resident of the Philippine archipelago - can be "organized"
(or as near to that) as follows:
January - Gaming, Lazing Around, Nothing Much
Nothing much really. Except for the usual Sinulog festivities on the third Sunday and my mother's 59th birthday, January 2012 was a forgettable month. Nothing remarkable happened.
At that time, I was so caught up in my freelance work and mulled to myself over and over again when I might finally finish my master's degree. On a general note I was a semi-recluse. I hardly went out of the house. I kept playing Immortal King, a MMORTS game that I found accidentally through a side ad at Mangafox.
I was a MMORTS addict then. I became the strongest female non-paying member at our server. I got to sit at the arena's top 5. Sadly, those playing days had to end - much to my relief. It was inevitable. There were no new expeditions. The Chinese developers were too corrupt to bother with the game; they focused more on other profitable ventures and constrained IK to constellation heroes, who were not only so much stronger than any hero you could ever find in the game but also easy to purchase (if you're the kind of gamer who does not think of honor but only on finishing the game as soon as possible). Furthermore, those who finished the expeditions were getting bored. There was nothing more to do. Months of playing makes you weary. IK is the kind of game that requires constant attention. At some point, you got and have to be bored. Otherwise you're not a normal human being anymore. I was, to some extent, human enough to want to go back to my normal non-virtual existence.
February - Big Earthquake, Unromantic Valentines
The biggest earthquake to have struck the country shook the Visayas region - nearly a magnitude of 7. Negros and Leyte suffered the brunt of the earthquake. I was lazing around at home with my brothers when the ground trembled and forced me into action. We went outside the house for safety (supposing the grounds cracked and swallowed us whole). The next thing we knew, text messages that the Colon area was flooded with seawater were circulated over the airwaves. Pandemonium ensued. In the end, it was just some exaggerated piece of news.
No 'Valentino' for me. No flowers. No chocolates. I did get a big, brown teddy bear stuffed toy from a special friend, who has remained a friend. It was more of a belated birthday gift, though. When Valentines came, I got the love I needed to see me through. My family and I had dinner at AA Bbq. It's one of our favorite seafood and grill houses. Then I received silly text messages about Valentines Day. As it was like any other day to me, I forwarded the funnier messages I received to a bunch of people who I thought might appreciate the comic relief in the midst of lovey-dovey expectations.
March - Iloilo Escapade, New Projects
Ah, the ides of March was a significant day for me. From the 14 to the 17th, I was at the neighboring island of Panay at Region VI. My specific destination was Iloilo. It was the first time I got to the place. Never had I set foot outside of Central Visayas before. I literally went and visited another horizon.
Iloilo is a place that's almost but not quite like Cebu. It's both silent and buzzing. There's a bit of city, a bit of province, a bit of city pollution, a bit of clean provincial air - it's somewhere in the middle. I liked Iloilo the moment I stepped on its soil. I even went so far as to ask myself if I could live there for a time should there be opportunity. My answer back then was in the affirmative. Fickle-minded as I am, however, I don't think I can still say the same for the present. My plans are headed somewhere now.
I will not feed you with a traveler's diary. I created a new blog months ago (still under construction) for this special purpose. All my travel rantings and observations will be deposited in that blog for the perusal of no one in particular. There's no specific timeline, so posts will cover random escapades I've had in the past and recently.
We spent approximately 4 days in Iloilo. Upon arrival, we dropped by a beautiful Spanish era church in Jaro, just right across a UNESCO heritage site. Ate Lorraine, my travel companion in this particular journey, gave me a little blue rosary as gift. We also lighted some colorful candles and, under the scorching sun, paid tribute to the big statue of the Blessed Mother with the baby Jesus in her arms. We then proceeded to SM Iloilo to wait for Ate Lorraine's cousin, who was our guide to Miag-ao, our actual destination and where we spent the next three nights.
Miag-ao is a known insurgent den (according to my source, there were times when members of New People's Army roamed outside the University of the Philippines Visayas headquarters-campus). When we got there, though, the town was as normal as any other. Mickey (Miki - however they spell it) was the one who arranged board and bath for his cousin and her often-pensive and very random Bisaya friend. Arrangements were made at one of the dormitories in the UP Miag-ao Campus. The dorm house was called Balay Kanlaon. We stayed there until Ate Lorraine finished what she had to do.
The next two days were spent living like the rest of the iskolars ng bayan (scholars of the nation), as UPians call themselves: visiting old churches in the next few towns; swimming at a deserted beach just ways off Miag-ao (we went there twice); disturbing Mickey as he went about his otaku existence within the confines of his room; exploring the UP Miag-ao Campus at night and during daytime; taking pictures of just about anything and everything we could get our hands on; vainly attempting to speak hiligaynon (Iloilo's majority dialect) whenever possible; and staying up late at night talking about senseless stuff (i.e. how Ate Lorraine hated muscled guys because she feared getting hurt by the sheer hardness of their muscles).
At the end of March, right after I got back from my Iloilo semi-vacation (semi because it was partly an academic and career matter and we really weren't there for relaxation and all), I managed to land an editing project with a local publisher. I was for a time their all-around "editing and content department" until fate twisted us all - whatever his reasons. (:
April - Project Continuation, Hum-drum Month
Still uneventful. I struggled to adjust with the travel distance from our house to the workplace. I had to walk for about a kilometer going to the office because the jeepney stop was a little ways off from the road and the only accessible path was beneath the flyover. Paseo Saturnina, which housed the former headquarters of the Cebu publication office, is a hotspot for the rich and the sociable. It teems with high-end restaurants, glamorous spas and places of leisure that would have impoverished me for a lifetime. I liked the place's ambiance and would have loved it greatly had my pocket been more generous.
The month went by. I cannot remember much what occurred during those thirty April days. I only remember that I got to know a bunch of new faces and that at the end of the month, one of those faces left for Singapore but not before we held a going away party in her honor. The female owner was her godmother after all. The rest of the months were spent eating kwek-kwek outside the office as soon as 4:00pm struck. If the grinder wasn't broken due to the heat (this was summer at its most polluted), we would order some fruit shake and have the saleschild deliver the shakes to the office.
May - New and Renewed Connections, The Life of A Kwek-Kwek Eater
The pretty officemate was gone before we knew it. The publication operated as usual. Nothing much. Some frequent correspondence with people from the Manila office transpired. I thought they were good people, just a little hard to understand (Cebuanos are more readable). Bit by bit, clue by subtle clue, it became known to me that the Manila office had its own type of politics. It's unavoidable in every institution, I guess, but we couldn't help but get caught up in it as there weren't too many of us. Revenue became a big issue and it cropped up every now and then, making my eardrums go deaf with boredom.
I still continued to eat kwek-kwek whenever I could. When there was squid ball, oil-soaked in the frying pan and sputtering in its own grease, so much the better. I particularly enjoyed the service vinegar, which had that strong aftertaste of fermented coconut juice (called tuba in the local dialect). It was also around this time that we started hanging out at Chosun Chicken, a Korean fast food. One of my colleagues from marketing was addicted to their spicy chicken meal. The place uses tons of flour and frequent consumption of their flour-soaked chicken meals is not advisable.
It was also around this time that I bumped into a long lost "frienemy" at cyberspace. I never thought he harbored such delusions of grandeur. I never ever entertained the idea until he all but pushed it into my unguarded hypothalamus. Poor, poor heart.
June - A Few Heartbreaks
So much happened in June. So, so much. First, I enrolled for residency so I could finish a pending master's degree at my beloved alma mater. I only had to finish my final paper, present it again to a bunch of brainiacs who would only rip it off to shreds, and then... have it approved by the same group of people. The whole ordeal was so daunting to me because I was clearly under the impression that I had already lost my edge. Like always, I jumped into the ocean without a life jacket. Only sheer bravado propelled me to do what I did even though for the most part, I was unprepared and my motivation was hanging by a thin thread.
And the SMScapades started. It got worse before it got better. I could not speak plainly in so far as this matter is concerned. This is an off-the-record kind of thing. One cannot speak of personal exchanges so openly in cyberspace. My attempts to conceal my identity have its share of lapses.
There was also that matter with the publication. The two offices were quietly bickering. Although we got to meet our other boss from the Manila branch, things fizzled a few weeks later and the other boss made a declaration that neither shocked nor numbed us. What next? That was all I could think of.
In a nutshell, June broke my heart in more ways than one.
July - The Interim, A Change of Sorts, Nonsense Betrayal and Confrontations
In July I had a stale start - as opposed to a fresh one. Haha. I got stuck working with a homo friend who turned into a monstrous creature during our next work assignation. Never had I felt sabotaged at every turn. I tried to make a compromise, but my weak tolerance for injustice got the better of me and I had to speak then or forever hold my peace. Let me tell you that this was an altogether different case from the one I was caught up in with my frienemy, who was only called such because of our over-the-top banters.
You can say I also turned into a monster, as far as my tongue goes. I shred the person's ego with mere words. It wasn't even a litany - just a paragraph or so but enough to make him cry a barrel of tears. What exactly did I say? I only said (partly in vernacular): "If you want my work so badly, then you can have it. I'm still young, you know, but you're getting old. You must be so desperate to hold on to work that's not even yours. You can have my job. You need it more than I do." Though 7 years younger, I was the one who comforted him. He was crying like a beaten child and had trouble breathing.
Guilt shook me. After he said "sorry" (I said "sorry" too but only because my choice of words was too harsh for people like him and not because I said what I said), he assured me that he'd stick to his work. But ugh... I knew I couldn't trust him anymore. That kiss-ass, attention-getting, and sabotaging part of him bounced back in full force. There was another encounter in later months and I once again reduced him to tears. Ironically, after every tear fall was a kiss-ass comeback, so that was it: I had enough of him. Although I was civil and tried not to give in to feelings of hate, I could not ever restore our friendship to the way it was. He was too selfish, too immature, too jealous and too twisted to befriend. A mere acquaintance would suffice.
Work-wise, I was exposed to finance and human resource because I failed to realize that the grand writing experience initially promised to me would remain a promise. It was not much, but my so-called superiors were equally twisted in their own way, so work was kind of a pastime more than a back-breaking, mind-bursting endeavor. I was in a limbo between taking things seriously and just doodling around. Nevertheless, there wasn't any hitch until the gay colleague usurped some of my functions - and I actually let him. I knew he was gonna get a dose of his own medicine. I was right. He definitely did.
This was the month I got pressured by people to finish my master's. I could only stare at space.
August - A Little Bit of Anything, Another Earthquake, Decisions, Procrastination
August - I was beside myself with a bit of boredom, a bit of trepidation and an influx of philosophical self-talk. I was a schizo reincarnate. I drifted about work, home and somewhere else like a ghost inside the shell of a human being (lol!). Everyday was a routine. When I got to work, I worked. I only gave in to randomness at home or when some friend called me.
There was another earthquake. Much smaller this time, but it took longer to abate. Slaire and I were in Ayala when it occurred. The event was recorded accurately in this blog's August 2012 entry. That was also the day I saw Keena, a schoolmate in College and a colleague way back my public service days. The meeting was like a secret message from the heavens.
I spent some sleepless nights continuing the novel I started way back October 2011. I only got to write around 4 chapters and, as of this very present, am still wracking my brain for more ideas. I've been looking left and right, front and back, and all around for inspiration too. All I gathered were a few specks of inspiring thoughts that were too heavy for me to contain. So I decided to wait.
Towards the end of August, I confronted my pompous colleague about a matter I did not do but was still blamed for. It was just the normal confrontational me, but perhaps I came on too strong (which is normal for anyone trying to demand justice). He cried as usual. I was civil to him after the encounter, but I could no longer stand being a "tupperware," as Ate Cathy would have said it. To add insult to his injuries, he also had a row with Ate Cathy, the general services person whose lively and sometimes masterful personality clashed with his own kiss-ass style.
On another note, friends were posting stuff at my FB wall, asking me to finish my paper already. I didn't know what to say so I said nothing until I could do something. I hardly understood where I should have gone with my arguments. Finishing was, in all honesty, not so deeply ingrained in my head. I managed somehow after weeks of silence. Haha. I kept cursing my procrastinating self but to no avail.
September - The Make-It-Or-Break-It Month, Solemn Memories, Revelations
In honor of the Blessed Mother's birthday, I visited the miraculous Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Kalunasan, a mountain barangay of this city. The locals call it langub (cave) because according to legend, Mother Mary appeared in that very cave. After the apparition's visit, water began to pour from the cave which, various sources said, healed tons of ailments. The Lady of Guadalupe of the Langub Shrine is also said to grant impossible petitions.
I know being religious and devoted doesn't sound like me, but because I was particularly pulled by a force even I couldn't explain, I went to the Langub Shrine and paid tribute to the Holy Mother. Eva was my companion in this escapade. We went there, venerated the Holy Mother, lined up to touch the image, sprinkled droplets of the water coming out of the cave, and prayed for our respective intentions (I prayed for clarity for my life in general and also offered a petition for my batchmates in College who were about to take the Bar Exam on the first week of October).
The 8th of September was a particularly happy day and the most memorable one I had for the entire month. After accompanying me to the Talamban Campus, where I submitted drafts of my final paper (yes, I somehow made it to the deadline), Eva and I lunched together at a fancy yet affordable hidden restaurant somewhere at Sto. Nino Village. 10 Dove Street is the name of the place and it's like a little Spanish-style house with untold treasures (for the stomach's consumption).We ate a four-course meal and enjoyed fresh mango juices.
That afternoon, we visited Ayala and had our picture taken at a photo booth constructed for the purpose of promoting Haojue motorcycle. We stayed there to kill time and then proceeded to Neo Neo, my parents' favorite grill house (much to my dismay). When it comes to food and restaurants, my parents have the tendency to "overkill." Anyway, I couldn't complain. It was their 28th wedding anniversary (they were wed at church on September 8 some decades ago). Bringing Eva with me to this family dinner, we bought a cake with mango toppings. It was silent at first the moment Eva and I got to Neo Neo, but we ended up laughing somehow when my dad joked about being a "master" in one year if you enroll at Southwestern University. Since my friend broached the subject of taking a master’s degree, the conversation swerved in that direction. They even made fun of the fact that, as of that moment, I was still unable to finish my master’s. Haha.
Following our hearty luncheon - we were so incredibly full after the incessant eating - we walked all the way to Mango Avenue and bought ukay-ukay just around the corner of Mango Square. Feeling worn out by the walk and the adventures we had for the entire day, we dropped by a massage parlor and got a body massage (talk about overspending, haha). We talked and talked and talked. The talks never seemed to run out. When the massage ended, as I didn't want to go home yet, I crashed the night at Eva's boarding house. Once there, we bought some wine (haha) and barbecue and siomai at nearby stalls, and then talked and talked until the break of dawn. As we talked, I understood her better and perhaps I understood myself better too. I realized how much stepping up we both had to do to set our lives on the right track.
The last week of September was agonizing. It was my own doing, of course. I finally presented my paper to the panel. Success rate was around 55% - because some idiot disturbed me the night before and prevented me from organizing my thoughts and getting enough sleep. Nevertheless, though skinned alive, I got out alive. A bit degraded, yes, but still callous enough to "keep moving forward." I was able to file for leave and pour all my heart and soul into my paper.
October - Graduation, End of a Struggle, Trip to Manila, Major Changes
And I did finish my paper - after a few consequences. First was two weeks of utter sleeplessness. I had no other source of fuel but coffee. I could just give out gold medals to all the coffee manufacturers in the world for having saved a population of procrastinators, myself included. I spent weeks at the Talamban Campus, which housed the new and ever so big library - probably one of the biggest in Asia. Coffee-induced, nearly overdosed with caffeine, I struggled to climb up the steps of the Learning Resource Center for 12 days. The Social Science and Filipiniana sections were, to my utter horror, at the 5th floor! So imagine how agonizing my 12 days were, walking up and down a hilltop and 5 flights of stairs (not to mention I had to drop by my workplace and take care of some deliverables).
Just when I thought the agony was over, I had to let my panel and the department chairman sign five sheets of paper before I send the whole thing to the bindery. The gorgeous people happened to be in three different campuses. That was a day I would never forget - I mean, the pain was forever etched in my memory. Haha. How I survived such an ordeal, only God can tell. After rushing to the Talamban Campus from the Main twice within the day, with a final stop at Cebu Normal University, I had the approved paper bound and delivered back to Talamban. Ugh, finally! Man, I slept for 16 hours after that.
On the 13th, I was able to graduate and march the stage with a very good friend: Titay (you might recognize her from one of my entries). A deep feeling of relief washed over me. Although as punishment for my late submission, my name was not included in the list of graduates. They’d be putting it up around March instead. They called my name on stage though. More than ever, I was just glad I kept my promise. Two days before the commencement rites, we had a happy time together practicing our graduation march. Later in the day, around lunch, Titay treated me, our eclectic and metaphorically driven friend, and another friend and batchmate who belatedly graduated from College, to a sumptuous meal at Chikaan.
The third week of October was a week full of surprises for me. I was able to go to Manila, perhaps for the second time in my life. There's this political party on-the-rise of which I was and still am a member (due to the nature of this blog, I shall forego launching an in-depth discussion of political parties). I can only say that this party is different because unlike the others, it is dues-oriented and district-centered. The party ideology can be identified as centrist-pluralist-multiculturalist with a trace of the postmodern and with a strong advocacy on decentralization and federalism. Patronage politics is also strictly discouraged. We are neither left nor right and are more pacifist than judgmental.
Eclectic friend – let’s call him Rej – drafted me and other members of the party, including a College classmate, to take part in a two-day seminar on financial management. The institute that handled the party’s operations sponsored our tickets to Manila. Though my ticket was only good for two days, I had to extend my stay in order to visit long lost friends who had just relocated in or went back to the capital. And as much as I silently rallied against this weird turn of events, in a sudden gust of excitement, my friends initiated a visit to our Law batchmates who were well into their third week of exams. I couldn’t voice out my anxiousness because the others would have wondered big-time what was up with me. 0.0
On the 21st of October, a bright Sunday afternoon, along with Titay, Rej, and Yani, we traipsed the streets of greater Manila and rode the Metro Rail Transit and the Light Rail Transit with the end goal of surprising our batch’s soon-to-be lawyers. Our first destination was the University of Santo Tomas campus. When we got there, however, the place was jam-packed with people. Big buses were all over the area. The Bar Ops caused such a commotion, but we innocently glided our way towards the throng. We saw a bunch of people from our alma mater and enjoyed the task of spotting familiar faces. The problem was: the rest of our batchmates were nowhere to be found! The only other batchmate we saw wasn’t even sure where they were.
So, in the spirit of adventure, we – they – decided to go straight to Bayview Hotel, where all the USC Bar takers were housed for the duration of the exams. It was so thrilling. We had to wait for about half an hour before their bus arrived. We were too early – and perhaps too excited. When they finally arrived, I felt like my spirit left me then and there. My heart nearly popped out of my chest! They were drawing near and there was one person I could not bear to see… yet (Waaaah!).
Embraces, hugs, and screams of joy and surprise – whew – that was the girls’ department. The boys handled it rather smoothly, just tapping shoulders and a few kumusta’s. But that idiot – that moron, that jerk – had to keep mocking me. I had to exert sufficient control and not rise to the occasion. Grrr. I busied myself talking to the female batchmates in attendance. Had I taken that idiot seriously, I’d have snapped. Seeing each other prematurely, and unexpectedly, took the wind out of the both of us.
We had a mini reunion at Mang Inasal. Talking about random stuff for about 3 hours was a whole lot of fun. I was glad to have contained myself because the idiot kept provoking me. It was really awkward. Thankfully the presence of the others kept my mind off the awkwardness of having to sit right across him (he was the one who took the seat across me, jerk that he is). All in all, despite mockeries and provocations from one person in particular, it was worth the mileage. I really missed those guys. (:
The next day I visited friends from my previous workplace. Rhey and I had a fun time strolling around the breadths and heights of SM - Mall of Asia before we went to visit Kuya Cesar in his home at Balintawak, Quezon. Kuya was my former supervisor. We had a grand time talking about the past (no matter how nuts it all sounded). He also took a picture of the three of us as we ate pizza, spicy chicken wings and huge veggie lumpias (inclusive of sukang pinakurat), and drank a bunch of light beers.
On my fourth day of stay, I had to go home. And for the first time in my life, I rode a plane entirely alone. I already paid for that schedule change so I could not push my luck anymore by posing as a chance passenger in an earlier flight. A colleague of mine was also leaving homeward on the night I was - except that he was one flight early. Having a companion while waiting for my flight was already a stroke of good luck, so I had to be content with that.
I got home half past 12 midnight. People were already asleep with the exception of my little brother who was glued to the computer like always. My biggest dilemma then was what pasalubong to bring. As it turned out, I could not think of or see any. Hours before our respective flights, my companion wanted to drop by SM-MOA, and since it's just the two of us and the waiting period was too long, I chose to accompany him. He was going to meet an old workmate and friend of his. Before she arrived, the friend, he bought three pieces of Calvin Klein underwear - to my horror. Haha. His reason? Because there's no CK in Cebu, might as well know how it feels to wear this expensive underwear. When the friend finally arrived, we had some late lunch and talked mostly about the SEO business (a topic which I can relate so well having spent a year or so in this industry). Before returning to the airport, I asked the friend, being a native of Manila, if she knows a good souvenir or native delicacy I can bring back to Cebu. Even she had trouble thinking of one. After saying goodbye to the friend, who I thought was a lovely person, we headed back to the airport.
I returned empty-handed. There was no interesting or unique item or food I could bring back home - Manila was as modern as can be and little is left of the local culture. From the airport, after I arrived, I just rode a taxi straight to Asiatown IT Park, rushed to Pan de Manila, and grabbed a loaf of bread, some banana cake, and a coconut jam for my family to gobble up.
The end of October was a transition period in salient aspects of my life.
November - Another Interim, More Changes
There was nothing much going on for me at least for the first half. Well I did visit my maternal grandmother's grave at Danao City when it was All Saints' Day. The visit was a funny episode because my family and I had trouble trying to keep all 16 small candles standing and lighted. A badass wind tried to invert our umbrellas and blow off the fires we lit. It took us some time to start with the prayers because we had to make sure there was a bunch of burning candles before us. Otherwise, the praying wouldn't have been as dramatic.
I roamed with my parents as much as I could. Time flew by as though someone merely pushed the fast forward button. Before I knew it, some blessing arrived during the second half. I took advantage of the opportunity that knocked even though I had to place myself in another lull while waiting for the real show to start. This was the middle ground I've always been looking for. The heavens gave me just that and I was and still am thankful for it. I happened to be in a place full of good people.
During this month, I drank the words of famed literati, Haruki Murakami. I read one of his works, Kafka on the Shore. A good read, I must say, but taking it all in would require an open and expansive mindset. This book is not meant for the narrow-minded and senselessly conservative reader. Having read South of the Border, West of the Sun the year before, I was already prepared to embrace a shocking plot with unique or twisted characters. Though highly graphic, Murakami's novels are a treasure trove of thought-provoking words and powerful insights.
I was also heavily communicating with and seeing old friends at this point in time. Some of the meet-ups had to do with my party membership, brainstorming for some academic endeavor, and simple trysts just to celebrate and upgrade old friendships.
That was November as far as I could recall.
December - Doom Preemption, A Really Happy Birthday, The Culmination of Happy Memories
The first half of December nearly emptied my pockets. There were Christmas parties here and there, and another set of get-togethers with friends. I tried to divide my time as wisely as I could - and at the cost of my room's cleanliness. I had fun with every person I spent time with, though, so the heck with money.
I got to watch all the movies I've been dying to see since their trailers were released - all for free! Watching Rorouni Kenshin with CDP colleagues was a blast. Afterwards, we ate at the famed barbecue place, Larsian, and sat up conversing about a lot of abstract and highfalutin topics until past 4:00am. A few days later, Kuya VJ treated me to dinner and a movie: The Hobbit in 3D! The forbidden and unexpressed joys of free riding - kidding. Haha. I just consumed nearly three hours watching Cloud Atlas this morning, now I can't wait to see Life of Pi.
If you can recall, the world was supposed to end last December 21. People buzzed about it. Yahoo went berserk with doomsday articles, which got me thinking if the world was really a goner (metaphorically, I know it is). As far as death is concerned, do we really need doomsday to get into the “fearful” mood? Even now, what I still don't get is this: what's the point in preempting the extinction of terrestrial life? Are you people in a hurry to end your life? I know I'm not. So yeah, whatever those doomsayers think or talk about, oh hell. I am more worried about China and its growing ego. I am also alarmed at the kind of laws Philippine politicians have been passing. Seriously, politics spells more doom than those vague Mayan predictions. A lot of people believed the world was at its last when the millennium struck. I slept through the start of year 2000 and was surprised at how glaringly bright the sun was (I was expecting huge balls of fire to incinerate our rooftop in addition to three days worth of darkness).
On the 22nd was my birthday. It was one of the simplest and happiest of birthdays. Forget about the food. We Filipinos have the same menu every special occasion - cake, icecream, salad, lechon manok, lechon baboy, etc. Yes, all of those graced our table. What really made this particular birthday very different from the rest was the presence of the 'Mambaling Boys,' six juvenile teenagers who often hanged out at Police Station 11, where my dad was once the station chief. They were so lively, and as expected of kids who live in the ghettos, loud and rowdy. They even sang the birthday song to me at my mom's command.
It was my mom who started calling their group such. It fit them just fine - made it all feel like they're members of a dance group or something. Later that afternoon, my parents and I picked up three of my older friends who I invited to this austere celebration. I had a bit of drama too because someone called my dad at the last minute, asking him to go to a local radio station that mid-afternoon and talk about the annual accomplishments and activities of the city police office. Seriously. They couldn't have picked a better timing. My bad mood vanished the moment I saw my three friends: Ate Lorraine, Ate Cathy and Kuya VJ. I was greatly consoled by the thought that even if it was my birthday, I was still considerably younger than any of them - I was still the youngest. Haha. I occasionally suffer from age complex.
As we returned, the Mambaling Boys, plus an older guy fondly called 'Kid' by the policemen and the rowdy teenagers, were all seated at our sofa and belting out Tagalog songs. They were having such a blast. While we were still in the car, I warned my ate's and kuya of their presence so they would understand why those kids were there in the first place. The rest of the afternoon was spent eating, singing, and talking about random and senseless stuff. It was all in all loads of fun. The boys left to play a game of basketball and my younger brother joined them after a while. Then we had the videoke to ourselves so we sang 'til we could sing no more. Kuya VJ, after gobbling up my dad's chicken tinola (main ingredient was the old chicken from our homemade coop), fell fast asleep. He said he drank medicine that made his system shut down.
When my dad, accompanied by my mom, returned from his radio guesting, the boys, who were drinking coffee, dipping papaya cubes into a bowl of vinegar, and generally feeling at home, became livelier. I was distributing cakes for each one of them when my dad arrived and my mom told them to take my dad's hand and ask for his blessing. They were surprisingly compliant and did as told. The scene was so funny to me as my dad, fat man that he is, was so much like the Chinese Buddha. I was imagining the bulge on his stomach getting bigger and bigger with every child grabbing his hand. Hahaha.
A commotion ensued when my dad asked one of them to take down a fruit from our jackfruit tree. The ripe fruits were so huge and the kid who climbed up was rather small. His brother approached him and said, "You're so small. Can you even carry it?" 13-year-old Jantoy replied, "It's not like I'm gonna carry it - duh." They really are brothers. Their verbal sparring amused me somehow, but it pains me to think that this little boy's elder brother is actually a drug user (I'm still thinking of a way to help him). The huge jackfruit was then divided into several chunks. I was eager to give one to Ate Cathy, who expressed a fanatic fondness for the fruit. In the spirit of Christmas, every visitor was given a huge slab of strong smelling jackfruit.
Despite Ate Cathy's wails, my parents still dropped us off at Mr. A. It's a resto located just above the government subdivision we live in. I've heard rumors of how expensive it is, only to know that - well for the cafe at least - the prices are just right. We were greeted by the breathtaking view of Cebu City at night. A variety of lights illuminated the darkness below us. The wind was heavy and cold. Though our respective mops of hair were blown away, this didn't stop us from taking pictures and posing like crazy. We talked and talked, ate some chocolate cakes, and drank shakes.
It was a fun conclusion to one of the happiest birthdays I've been blessed enough to celebrate. That night, I thanked my parents, thanked Him, and we couldn't stop talking about our unusual assortment of guests. As you may have known by now, I have a fondness for offbeat and eccentric individuals. Haha. I am one, anyway.
Just when I thought I finally had the break I needed, since there was no work for two more days the weekend of my birthday, meetings with friends and last minute Christmas parties took up most of my time again. I wondered when I might stop spending left and right, but it's hard to say no to the people you've always had fun hanging out with.
Christmas came. I was so happy that I got back on track and was able to finish 9 days of misa de gallo (dawn mass). Though I'm sure many people already made their wish the moment they completed, I couldn't make one. All I could say to Him was: You decide for me. That was the only wish I could ask for. I'm already so tired of planning and preempting. I just want to take things slowly but surely, in His time.
Noche buena was like the usual. Because I had loads much fun days before the actual Christmas celebration, on the day itself, there wasn't so much noise - except for the sound of our voices, belting out songs from our own generation. Man, you would have enjoyed our concert. Haha.
So it was back to work again for 3 days. Two days before the 31st, Ate Lorraine, Kuya VJ and I, went to the little hot springs just a city and 6 towns away from where we all live. I was the one who initiated the trip, thinking that we all needed a break from the hustles and bustles of the oft polluted city of Cebu. I mean, who doesn't? The trip has been on my mind for some time now. I just didn't have the opportunity to implement it in the past. Thanks to the two-day break, I initiated the trip without a moment's hesitation.
So we set off on the afternoon of the 28th. I specifically set this meeting time because I was still at the office. After I got off at 3:00pm, we met up at Ayala an hour later. The morons were starting to get on my nerves - what with their silly dramas and all that. Then we took a taxi to the bus terminal bound for the North of Cebu. We got to Catmon, the town that housed the only hot springs in the whole province, past 7:00pm. I kinda blew it off at the start, because as it happened, you had to make reservations if you wanted to stay there the entire night. Moreover, the booking would cost you PHP3,000 (good for 20 persons and consumable).
When we got there via motorcycle (habal-habal), the spring entrance was completely dark. No one was there. Getting to the place also took about half an hour. Hardly a shed of light. Had it not been for the big fat moon, we would have been engulfed in darkness. Since the older folks were still in the mood for a relaxing soiree at the hot springs, Ate Lorraine and I asked to remain at the entrance while Kuya VJ rode back to the town proper and requested for the entrance keys. Ah, you might have guessed - it was a failure! We ended up returning to the town and booked a room at the cooperative pension house. Alarmed at the budget, because we also had to pay the motorcycle drivers extra for the hassle we put them through, we were hesitant to stay at the municipal coop. Thankfully, VJ happened to know the cooperative's Secretary-General (and I know exactly why he does, haha), so we were spared from further exhausting our budget. Boarding was guaranteed free (although we still had to wrestle inside our heads whether it was really free as Kuya had vaguely said).
We were famished that night. Nearly 10:00pm when we got to the cooperative and most of the carenderia's nearby were already closed or had already run out of food. We ended up buying Angel burgers. Haha. Angel Burger was the only store still alive and kicking with food.
Sleep was not the option when we got back to our room. I was unable to bring toiletries and had to borrow from my adopted sister. The aircon was so damn cold I thought I was going to freeze. We also had to help Kuya VJ with his Flight Attendant exams by throwing random questions at him, just so he could get the hang of things and be confident enough to answer them in front of a panel. I was the one who slept first. Putting on my cardigan and turning off the my laptop's music, I fell into a deep sleep and dreamed a dream that was on the verge of becoming a nightmare.
I felt like I was part of yet detached from this dream. The first setting was in a mansion, in the center of a ballroom, and everyone was dressed in old 18th century English costumes. A big bird, which they called 'Kraken' (sorry that it's not an octopus), clawed its way to the mansion, destroyed a wall, and attempted to snatch me and another girl - all because we both wore black pearls. The dream didn't scare me witless. I did wake up shivering around dawn because Ate Lorraine shook me so suddenly while I was deeply sleeping. Sleep-deprived, I could feel my abnormally fast heartbeats. Her sudden outburst caught me off-guard. She was whimpering in fear television and said that the television suddenly turned on. I checked the clock and saw that it was just past 3:00am. And then I heard screams and running footsteps from the TV set. How appalling! Of all the movies one could play at this hour, someone had to play a horror movie. No wonder it frightened the already frightened girl (and she's 32 FYI). I could only say "sheesh" mentally. Getting the remote control, which was right beside our bed, I pressed the power button off and assuaged my chubby sister-of-a-sort that it was only some thoughtless prank. We managed to sleep after a few minutes and when it was morning, we set off towards the hot springs.
We got there a little too early. To kill time and stave off boredom, we took pictures after pictures in poses and antics that would have embarrassed us greatly had we been doing them in the public eye. When the owner arrived, he proposed to take a photo of the three of us at the entrance. We gladly obliged.
The Catmon hot springs sit in between two or three mountains and are a little beyond the main road. The entrance seems flat until you climb down a long flight of stairs and see a big net covering the expanse of the spring area. The area is about 200-300 square meters wide, including the dining area. We made ourselves comfortable at the biggest hot spring pool (there were two pools). The water was as hot as can be and the longer time we spent lounging in there (for almost four hours), the hotter it got.
The area beyond the net is a big, cold spring with small, gushing waterfalls in various places. It all looked so appealing to us from afar, but if you're not courageous enough, you wouldn't have had the chance to explore and enjoy this hidden paradise. The only way to this paradise is a flimsy and dangerous-looking hanging bridge. Of all the hanging bridges I've crossed in my lifetime, I tell you, this is the scariest of them all. If I didn't love adventure and wasn't made of tougher stuff, I'd have bailed out on the experience. When I crossed the hanging bridge, it felt like walking on a hammock. I'm so glad I was born a risk-taker.
The nearest waterfall has three layers. A few hundred meters from there is another waterfall, a bigger one with water pouring in huge torrents (our guide told us that it would have been less turbulent if typhoon Quinta did not disturb us the other day). The pool of water around the biggest waterfall is home to some of the largest freshwater fishes in the locality, tilapia. On the waters below the hanging bridge, there used to be a school of large catfishes, but our guide said that they just disappeared for some reason. We had fun feeding pieces of bread to the fishes. Much to my amusement, the fishes we fed were extremely hungry and wouldn't even mind the size of the crumbs. With our respective life vests fully attached to our bodies, we also climbed huge boulders, swam cold waters, picked up branches, and basically pretended to be part of the Survivor ensemble.
Even in the face of varying concerns - monetary control, deceitful motorcycle drivers, ghosts from whatever past (as Ate Lorraine said she saw a few in our room and at the hot springs), fatigue from sleeplessness, worries about the future in general (I had the gall to bask in the wonders before me only to think about something so distant and intangible), and Ate's silly cries of fear (honest to goodness, she was too scared for her own good she even cried when she crossed the hanging bridge on our way back to the springs) - I took it all in stride. The trip gave me a lot of hope for the life that was waiting for me back in the city.
At the end of our hot springs escapade, we traveled down the mountain road on foot a la Lonely Planet. After two hours of walking, with the main road still out of sight, we decided to hitch a ride on a passing multicab, about to deliver sacks of copra (dried coconut meat) to the town merchants. What perfect timing. Like the backpackers we are, Kuya VJ and I hopped onto the back of the cab. I sat atop the stacks of copra while Kuya positioned himself at the rear end, holding the metal door for support. Ate, girly and frightened of anything, made sure to sit at the front. The Lonely Planet feeling was getting to us until the cab made a shortcut and passed by a road cutting through an old cemetery. A spooky feeling crept, and then came the sudden decision not to inconvenience the town ghosts any further by prolonging our stay. We went back to Cebu that very night and hoorah: big, flashy fireworks greeted us the moment we got a taxi from the North Bus Terminal. I convinced myself it was a good omen.
This entry has gotten soooooooooooooooooooo long already. I think I have to conclude everything by saying that the trip we had at the hot springs was as joyful as can be. It was the mirror of my entire 2012. Though initially beset with drawbacks, the trip ended up unforgettable - one of the most exhilarating I had for 2012.
It is not that I cannot let go of 2012, but I cannot say that its ending does not affect me in the least. 2012 was a year of both ups and downs. As a whole, it was a year I could relive over and over again if given the chance. Shocking and wondrous memories occupied the span of 365 days, and if I had to disregard the negative ones, it wouldn't have been the 2012 that I have come to cherish. I'm just glad that things happened as they did. I may not know how much, but 2012 saw a vital growth in me that wouldn't have been possible had things happened otherwise - had things took on a different course.
It is not that I cannot let go of 2012, but I cannot say that its ending does not affect me in the least. 2012 was a year of both ups and downs. As a whole, it was a year I could relive over and over again if given the chance. Shocking and wondrous memories occupied the span of 365 days, and if I had to disregard the negative ones, it wouldn't have been the 2012 that I have come to cherish. I'm just glad that things happened as they did. I may not know how much, but 2012 saw a vital growth in me that wouldn't have been possible had things happened otherwise - had things took on a different course.
Having shared the bulk of my memories in 2012, it's now time to move on to 2013. I can't wait for another set of adventures. (:
