home...for good

this is what my 699 airfare has to offer. baggage restriction is so stringent, i paid more for my 8 kg excess than my own passage. i'm glad i'm not taking same flight anytime soon. this sight of cebu mainland made me wistful thousands of feet in the air...thinking of the places that i have yet to see, explore and enjoy ...like the picture below. is this a caldera? a natural pool? a man made lake...i can only wonder ...but when i beheld the verdant beauty that greeted me during the plane's final descent, my hope was restored.
i am home.

what I will dearly miss about...

Cebu Electronics
- how it feels to hold office in a cube – heck, it’s the arctic region of petc…the air is so darn frigid…and it can get lonely…like when everyone else is in a meeting, which is quite often
- my own PC that runs @ 2.66 GHz which came with a humongous local disk space of 150 GB and a very handy DVD/CD-ROM combo drive
- record number of overviews/orientations attended in a month
- briefest tenure with the greatest learning experience

IMDS
- nightmare suppliers and counterparts (well, some of them)
- IMDS Sorority sisterhood bound by a common madness to american idol season 7, david cook and Korean/Chinese/Japanese teleserye
- willing and appreciative guinea pigs to my cooking

Lear Football Club
- TTh p.m. routine (and the email chat that goes before it)
- football fiestas, field goals, sprains, field stunts, colorful bruises
- fellowship that the wonderful sport of soccer has inspired

Lear - PETC
- flex(iest) time
- silverado trips to SBT (South Bus Terminal);

Tokiwa
- cringing under sato san’s unpredictability (worst critic at one point and amiable host the next)
- bowling tourneys at gaisano country mall bowlingplex, foodfest and movie marathons at SM on paydays

Lapulapu
- seemingly endless list of holidays and long weekends
- proximity and accessibility to a host of places of interest
- being a nightmare neighbor (hosting a videoke night and getting hushed by the landlady)

Cebu
- first job interview at Sakurai in 2003 where I was quizzed about the similarity of sugar and plastic polymer molecular structure
- getting lost around Colon in search of the Provincial Capitol for the Labor Day Job Fair
- eating dinner at freedom park, carbon market before sir alinio’s 6-9 pm Econ class with daut and kadut
- watching Prince Caspian at SM in the middle of Storm Frank Signal #1
- bisaya (the dialect) siomai sa tisa, “puso” (?) and ngohiong

see you across the Tañon Strait...

cafe 88

more intent on having our pictures taken, we missed learning the three different ways of drinking coffee. it's funny because one of us had to order a hot concoction despite the searing heat outside the cafe for the lesson which we didn't get to take.
uncertain of what to expect, we didn't venture beyond the counter. that way we get to see how each of our brew was prepared (from grinding of roasted beans, manual drip filtration, cold bath-so as not to dilute the brew, and bridging of cream). i had iced mocha blend, pats had iced cafe au lait while cherryl had a hot kilimanjaru brew.

by the end of almost two hours that we spent in the cafe, we were already well acquainted with the amiable barista/proprietress, teresa de la cruz. the regulars, which included the NTC cebu head's family and a handful of japanese retirees, made us feel welcome (even offered to take this last picture with tere).

last scrimmage on petc rain drenched pitch

thanks for making tth something to look forward to every week!

see you guys around!

Malatan-og Waterfalls

what can rival this scenic toilet stop? five years of taking the don salvador route from bacolod to cebu and back, i finally had my chance of capturing the Malatan-og waterfalls (a cigarette falls) from the Viewing Deck or Lantawan.

the breathtaking view makes a happy disposition of a mere mortal despite a sleepless night, a challenging day break, and a long, tiring trip from bacolod to cebu.

lesson from the pulpit

1 Peter 1:24 (KJV) For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.

Meaning, for every victory, give God the glory.

I should have heard this passage before I raved about finding one pre-employment exam too easy. The pride i felt that one whole second was crushed to nothingness the next when i beheld the note that said, I used too many "actuall(ies)" in my sentences and really made a mess with my /ae/, /i/ and /I/.

Great thing is that I have been given a second chance about not committing the same foolishness.

trav(ai)ls

Oil price hike is cramping my style. Not only does it limit my travel, it also makes me opt for a more uncomfortable (but more earth friendly) ride (read: non A/C).
The last time I left for Cebu, fast craft conveyance from San Carlos Wharf to Toledo only cost me 160 for a non AC accommodation. Horror of all horrors, I paid for the same a whooping 230 last Tuesday.
My confidence about a weekday trip via Canlaon, that it would be a breeze was unfounded; an assumption that I learned a difficult lesson from. Because what it lacked from passengers was more than compensated by the humongous amount of cargo that it carried.

starstruck

hell, today is one of those embarrassing moments that i couldn't help myself getting into. it was avoidable alright but someone made it inescapable. i'm not complaining though. it's more than any fan could ask for.

i aimed to impress but i ended up mooning like crazy…i couldn't think rationally…I had to rephrase my explanations as i had difficulty putting my ideas together in a coherent paragraph, though i have explained my process time and again to two other persons prior to this meeting. My ballpen slipped off my grip on a projectile motion from my fidgeting so much.

thankfully, despite my lack of eloquence, he managed to grasp the point that i was trying to convey. what is more gratifying is his suggestion to keep on working with what I have started and that maybe he can apply my stuff to his own creation. Hay…

at one point, when the air took a less choking quality, he came to know of my insecurity…I wonder where that confession came from…

he shifted to a “shrink mode” for a spell and went on to say…"people think here that I’m an ass but (kibit-balikat) that gets things done." he went on saying "I have a work to do…and they have a work to do…"

when I thanked him, he said “no worries” and went out of the cube.

A very long sigh ensued from my lips which followed his wake :)

how to tame a wild cat

i came home after the morning service yesterday finding bjork with his fur sticking together in patches; reeking with that distinct methane odor of a stagnant canal (at the back of the house) where he reportedly fought fiercely with a stray, his left cheek sporting a nasty swell. he was still shaking even minutes after he enterred the shop.

everyone's sore vexed about his sorry state. without preamble, mom prepared his bath and went into an elaborate soaping and rinsing. the cleansing ritual went far longer than the poor feline can endure though the heated water was comfortably warm to the touch. nevertherless, he was pretty sick about it, off to sleep he went.

too wary lest he be subjected to another bath, the poor thing had to forgo lunch and dinner altogether and elected to sleep indeed. i found him neath a table in sweet slumber.

authentic chicken inasal and jobhunting

Waiting is not an easy thing.

It burns more energy than we realize...

well much of it must be from fidgeting.

Jobhunting day 2. Robinsons Metro. Dang's Inasal. This is an example of what a "pecho" serving should look like (note: no wing)

Jobhunting day 1. Gaisano City. Chicken Deli. Not as hefty a portion but it's an old favorite

Masulog

i'm so excited. almost a year ago, this road here almost took my breath away...literally. it was raining at the time and the dirt was freshly buldozed, was wet and slimy...leaving no friction for the bus tires to hold on to. everytime the driver revved the engine forward, the front tires just dig in deeper into the dirt...then slide went the bus down the slope everytime the accelerator is let go. it was a nightmare that went on for five or ten minutes. the driver is to be commended though. he was cool the whole time. he had all of us move to the rear...you know...law of physics...action reaction...to give the bus a push. what a relief!!!
then and there, i have sworn this route off in my ITs. but circumstance demanded that i had to pass kanlaon today... that...or subject myself to unnecessary self flagellation of lugging humongous bags containing books...so i did...and witnessed this positive development. pity though, i won't be able to enjoy this "masulog" portion of the la carlota-la castellana highway. but it's good news, nevertheless...seeing the taxes being put to good use.