AI 11 - Still Hooked

Last night, Phillip's rather indulgent performances were a perfect foil to Jessica's serious renditions.

As I have posted on my FB page, I casted 60% of my votes for patriotism and 40% of it for love

This owes to the fact that I've been promoting Jessica's journey on Idol via an FB page that I collaborated on creating and maintaining (*Save the Best-Save our own-Save Jessica Sanchez*) while Phillip Phillip's had me at "Superstition".

All the while, I thought that the finale would be a battle between two "divas". I was already resigned to Phillip Phillips being in third place. Then, I would have not had any trouble placing my votes. But as fate would have it, Joshua left last week.

It was a tough (hahaha) decision to make and I'm glad I did what I did.

la puerta al paraiso

Barely a week ago, the four divas reconvened and spent three glorious days on the road and under the remaining heat of the summer sun. 

Day 1 (18 May) - Scientist met Lawyer and Engineer at the pier. First stop was lunch at Perri Todd's while waiting for our check in time at Days Hotel. We had a giant burger (as big as a plate) and a plate of pasta which held  us through a very late dinner.

When Teacher arrived, we rested at the hotel and watched the american idol 11 race to the finals. I was already set to see MY Phillip Phillips on third place but the fans prevailed. Then I was torn between voting for patriotism or for love.

All the singing triggered among us to sing as well so off we went to Smallville and hunted for an available karaoke room but we had no luck. Instead, we had a leisurely Japanese/Filipino dinner before going back to the hotel and watched the american idol review :)

the mess hall which doubles as reception

Day 2 (19 May) - Maximizing our stay at the hotel, we spent most of the morning enjoying the buffet breakfast. At 10, we checked out and hit the road going to the pier. Crossing the narrow expanse of water between Guimaras and Panay island cost only P14.00 but the PUJ driver that conveyed us from Jordan to Lucmayan where our resort is located asked for P700. It was steep but if more than four are sharing, the rate is quite reasonable given that the trip was completed in one hour, traversing kilometers of unpaved highway.

As agreed over the phone, we had the hilltop room overlooking the cove below.

The best thing was that we had the pool to ourselves for the afternoon. We lost track of time that the staff had to take our order (for dinner) while we were still frolicking in the warm sea water. We left when the sun has finally set , when mosquitoes started to make their presence felt and when I could no longer keep up with the question and answer :)

Day 3 (20 May) - Water sirens that we all are, we hit the pool after the requisite sunrise shots from our private cove until it was time to leave.  After check-out, we had our driver pull up at the Trappist Monastery The original plan was to spend the night here. That we were not able to do so was fine as it was not as remtely located as I imagined it to be. The noise of the passing traffic was just a complete turn off. It is even distinct inside the monk's place of worship.

What's going home without pasalubong? Before heading to the pier, we grabbed some packets of "otap" and butterschotch from the trappists and delish siopao from Roberto's.

Team Alpha in Manila

Day 1, Apr 19 - Endured an hour delay of Cebu Pacific flight from Bacolod to Manila. Making up card games saw us through the waiting and cruising. Glen had his cam inside his checked-in luggage so we're just left with the memories. Soon after we have deposited our stuff at Friendship Suites, Bepbep had us undergo a  brief commuting initiation (taking MRT from Guadalupe to Megamall). Sure enough, we had our first blunder with KZ not being able get through the gate. She inserted her card too soon.

2, Apr 20 - And I thought my role was limited to chaperoning my kids to Manila, this being their first trip to the big city. I should have taken a hint when my zero level skill set in creating apps was put to test. When we finally got settled in the office at Verde, I was given CMS to work on using Drupal and php. What?!?!?! Exactly!!! I swear, I was laughing secretly thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?".

Day 3, Apr 21 - The team spent the whole day at MINT College located on the second floor of PCCI Bldg at Mckinley Hill.

We spent the morning listening to the Fireside Chat between Rep. of Taguig and Plug and Play CEO. The talk dealt with the state of ICT and the making of  Philippine version of Silicon Valley. After lunch, we witnessed around 18 start up companies attempt to convince venture capitalists to finance their projects. We left during the rush hour and experienced being squashed against sweaty bodies inside MRT going to Trinoma, SM North Edsa and finally Rodic's at UP Diliman for dinner.

Our day did not end there. After a brief tour of the campus and a short pictorial session with Oblation, we had supper of beer and pizza in one of the staff houses.

rumination...

The inevitable has come. I was ready (or so I thought), still it left a bad taste in the mouth. It was tempting to resurrect a ghost from the past to wash it off (which I did not succumb to). Sometimes sleep is enough to make one forget.