Echoing Back

Batulao 1: Ang Literal na Wet and Wild Climb

Ewan ko lang sa mga nakasama naming batikan. Pero para sa newbie na tulad ko at freelancer pa sa pamumundok, masasabi kong ang 3rd Anniversary ng Sabit Mountaineers is in the books.

Madaling araw ng Sabado kami umalis sa Pasay pero may advance party na raw sa Mt. Batulao. And true enough pag dating sa jumpoff point namin sa Evercrest sa Nasugbu eh may sumalubong na:

10 years advanced na yata sa Mt. Batulao. At mukhang 10 years na ring di naliligo.

Kanya-kanyang bili na ng mga dapat bilhin ang mga kasama. Marami ang nagbreakfast para may lakas paakyat ng bundok. Siyempre dahil malayo-layo ang lalakarin eh nag-energy drink na ang iba. Pampalakas daw. Tulad ni Budik:

Ayos sa ngiti noh? Kaya pala. Ako na pala ang next na aalukin. Kuha kasi ako ng kuha. Yun ang welcome party! At para tuluy-tuloy ang party hanggang paakyat sa bundok, itinapon nila yung mga lalagyan nila ng tubig at pinuno ng Red Horse.

Continue reading here: http://jecojourn.multiply.com/journal/item/362

Down Memory Lane

And we all thought this would be the last:

October 31, 1999
Breakfast after our term ended



But it was not.

Walk down NEB '99 Memory lane from 1999 - 2008
and see us in our most unflattering moments.

Click here

May U.P. sa Singapore?

Siguro kung may magpapatulog sa akin at bigla akong dadalhin sa Singapore ala-Jun Lozada, iisipin ko lang na nasa U.P. ako. Hindi sa Los Banos ha, kundi sa Diliman. Therefore di ako magpapanic.

Halimbawa yung daan mula sa mala-warehouse na budget airport papunta sa city proper mukhang University Avenue. At yung mga kalsada sa Bedok area at iba pang suburbs -- parang Acad Oval with matching Acacia Trees sa gilid, at enough sidewalk at space in between the buildings and the road. At gaya sa UP, bawal ding bumaba sa kung saan-saan maliban sa mga designated Bus Stop. (Kung hindi ka naman taga-UP, eto na lang ang isipin mo -- ang Singapore ay isang malaki at maayos na subdivision.)

Kaya nga 'di pa man kararating ko pa lang para bang at home na at home na ako.

Click here  to read more.

Space for all that's new (and another preview)

   

I can't see my bed. And there's no space on my floor for me to step on. My clothes are everywhere and so are my gadgets and personal things and magazines plus food. Three hours left and I have yet to find my belt.

I was told to not bring much and to just get new stuff there.But I just can't decide which one to leave. Mela was right when she asked, "How do you pack your life in one luggage?"

I stare at some 200 photos on my screen. I was supposed to blog about them before I go but instead I'm writing this piece after reading Ken Rockwell's advise -- to save only the best photos and to throw the rest away. I stare again and except for one all I see is crap. Still I don't see myself pressing the delete button.  More than the effort it's the experience behind each photo that stops me from doing that.

Pretty much like life. So many memories, so many experiences and so many dreams to conquer sometimes its just difficult to sort out which things are more important or relevant.

"The first thing you need to do is find some obligations to offload or relationships to free yourself of, for if your life is too crowded in 2009, you will have no space to fit in all that's new."

Click here to read more and see photos.

I now know why I met you. Anghel ka talaga. Dahil sa'yo I won in a promo.

Maybe not my angel. Pero definitely an angel as I always knew. What I'm about to have, won't be mine if not for you.

This is not to sound materialistic. Nor to downplay every non material thing that you shared with me. For making me happy. Pero I got a bonus from you, something which I have always wanted since high school. Actually yun nga ang gusto ko sanang grad gift sa akin. I so wanted one. And pagdating ng college, I have always wanted this brand.

Everyone else, paki-basa pala ang previous blog ko na "In a manila envelope" just to see how magical this is.

To continue reading, click here.

Glad to be back, Quiapo

January 11, 2007

Not that I haven't been here for ages.

Only last year I was here, for work, in the middle of the swarm of devotees of the Black Nazarene. Which means I haven't really been here but to just a square meter of Quiapo or even less, moving only to where the limited space would let me move.

Today, however, Quiapo is back to its usual crowd with enough space for vendors and buyers, fortune tellers and vagrants and pickpockets. I join them and am now walking towards the same street I went to more than six years ago for one special mission. Something that would have changed my life.

For more, click here.

January 5, 2008; Around 20 minutes after 9pm

Dahil disappointed si Red sa nabasa niya sa post ko na "January 5, 2008; Around 20 minutes after 9pm", gumawa na lang siya ng sarili niyang version.

GALENG!!!!

January 5, 2008; Around 20 minutes after 9pm...

Jeco stood up from his chair and walked out of the news room. He decided to pass by the 7-11 at Timog to buy some instant noodles and instant coffee. An unusual choice of action away from his routine but something he could not explain was driving him.

He stepped out of the GMA building and took a whiff of stale, Manila air. With his arms akimbo he took a glance at his surroundings. Some people were milling about trying to catch a ride home.

Jeco sighed. It was a typical night for him. As most of the city's denizens rushed home, Jeco's night was just starting. Such was the nature of his work.

He shrugged and continued on to the store.

As he entered the swing doors he saw her at the counter, paying for an asado siopao and a bottle of C2 apple.

She caught sight of him, too.

For more of this interesting story, click here.

I'll miss telling you stories

   You were never just the reason why I tell them. Still, I always anticipate the times when you finally get to hear them.

In many ways it is because of you that I tell so much detail in most tales I share. I didn't care if I'd be pathetic to others. I shout them in public just so you can hear them, just so you know what I feel, what I do everyday. Just so you know, without me telling it to you directly. Because I cannot tell everything when we were alone. Time always wasn't enough. And my power to express seemed useless most of the time. Only through stories am I able to be with you everyday. Not that you want it but I want it that way anyway. It was my way to make you feel I was always here. It didn't even matter if you leave before the tale was over. You dropping by to eavesdrop was enough for me. At least you know I wasn't far away.

Also, you were the reason why I tell codes. And you were the reason why I didn't elaborate most of the time I was asked to. Not even when it was you who kept asking.

More when you click here.

Done with the last line

"Marie, let's suppose that two firemen go into a forest to put out a small fire. Afterwards, when they emerge and go over to a stream, the face of one is all smeared with black, while the other man's face is completely clean. My question is this: Which of the two will wash his face?"

"That's a silly question. The one with the dirty face, of course."

"No..."

(Excerpt from Coelho's "The Zahir")
Find the last line when you click this.

For the year that was, thank you...

                          thirty-four familiar 34
        16 new  sixteen 
                              thirteen rediscovered 13

 >12 more than a dozen anonymous  

more than a hundred other people in my life   >100

                   this >2007 two-thousand and seven

                                          see who's who here

(will be available to non-multiply users in 24 hours)

Seryoso... may Seminar ako (CDO Part 1)

"Ano ba talagang ginawa mo dun?," tanong ni bossing. "Nagseminar nga sir."
"Hooo... Namundok ka lang dun eh. Nagugulat na lang ako sa blog mo eh.
Inimbento mo lang 'yata yung seminar eh."

There are three things to do in Cagayan de Oro according to this giant poster of Northern Mindanao Territories and Provinces posted at CDO Airport -- rafting, visit Gardens of Malasag and... yes, rafting. Natawa kami bigla.

"O, magagawa naman pala natin lahat," added Mytee, college batchmate, network colleague and fellow trainer during PECOJON's Peace and Conflict Journalism (PJ) Training 1 held in Marco Polo Plaza, Cebu last July.

We were comparing what was in the poster to what we were expected to do for our PJ2 in CDO. Sabi kasi sa sched namin, we'll be doing rafting (probably on the last day). But for the first three days, we are expecting serious training and lectures at... guess where? At the Gardens of Malasag Eco-tourism Village.

To read more, click here.

PECOJON (Cebu) Conquers CDO

To preview more, click here.

At a glance: Bora

...para sa mga ayaw mahilo sa aking Boracay photo album(s)

People from my multiply network may view the photos in their full sizes by clicking the photos or by visiting the photo album here.

Postcards from

The following blog entries posted on my Multiply Album are now open "for everyone". Click the links below to view.

FREE: Backpacking in Los Baños (Part 1)
With a tight budget and limited schedule, this 7-days-a-week media practictioner climbed Makiling, got a taste of LB nightlife and underwent a crash course on Jedi mindtricks and plot twisting courtesy of his media manipulator friends from college.

If only he can use these skills well.


DAY TREK: Backpacking in Los Baños (Part 2)
Welcome to Makiling - where ordinary trekkers meet sports enthusiasts,
high school students mingle with yuppies
and everyone gets greeted by others they don't know on trail.

Including encantos.


ILOG: Backpacking in Los Baños (Part 3)
The contrast of steaming hot MUDSPRING,
and refreshing cool river by the FLATROCKS.

Only at Mt. Makiling.

NIGHTLIFE: Backpacking in Los Baños (Part 4)
Eksenang UPLB: "Oi tara inuman tayo."
"Pare, may exam ako bukas eh... Tara inuman tayo."

(A separate album for photos will soon be opened for everyone's viewing too.)

FREE: Backpacking in Los Baños (Part 1)

With a tight budget and limited schedule, this 7-days-a-week media practictioner climbed Makiling, got a taste of LB nightlife and underwent a crash course on Jedi mindtricks and plot twisting courtesy of his media manipulator friends from college.

If only he can use these skills well.

"Basta bare essentials lang dalhin mo. Tubig, extra damit, konting food. Yung lang."
 
Meet Red. Spin doctor extraordinaire for a big city in the southern part of Metro Manila. A former college classmate who I never really interacted with until we came across each other here in Multiply. An epitome of a contented person with peace of mind, his mantra is "All is swabe."

"Oo, gusto ko mamundok... para magliwaliw, magpahinga at mag recharge."

Meet Frank. Another media manipulator but from a private PR firm. Met him first during the 1999 National Schools' Press Conference in Isabela. Along with four other delegates, we spent nights talking about religion, teenage life etc. under the starry skies of Cagayan Valley. After almost a decade, I'm bonding with him in the boondocks.

"Sorry. On the way na ako."

And then meet me, rushing as usual to our meeting place with nothing but a backpack. Felt like backpacking ala Amazing Race, which I think is pwede na. Wikipedia says, "backpacking" involves use of public transport, spending less on accomodations, short length of trip, meeting locals and sights and well using a backpack to carry essentials. Pwede na di ba?

OUR DESTINATION:

in CALAMBA, LAGUNA

Click here to continue.