The 30 day blog challenge - Day 06

A hobby you have

hob·by

/ˈhɒbi/ [hob-ee]

–noun, plural -bies.

An activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation

By definition, that is hobby to you.  But ever since the gay “lingo” emerged here in the Philippines, the word “hobby” has taken on a whole new meaning, well at least to me.  I call something a hobby when I do it every effin time, like a habit.  Exactly, the supposedly special “leisure pursuit” becomes not-so special to me because I use it as a synonym of habit.  I use it as an expression too.  Like “gawin mong hobby ang maging late” or “hobby ko na umupo ng naka-indian seat sa swivel chair” haha.. you get the point, don’t you?  So for me to point out one “hobby” I have, that would be plain boring *plus, except blogging, there really is no other active hobby-by-definition that I enjoy doing these days*.  So I’m gonna share with you the ten “hobbies” that are on top of my mind right now.

1)      Checking, before going all the way up, if there are cockroaches on my way to the mezzanine of our house, which is also my room. 

2)      Logging in to Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, Gmail in that same order everytime I go online at home.

3)      Forgetting things I would like to say just before I was about to say them.

4)      Procrastinating >=)

5)      Eavesdropping >=)

6)      Singing what ever is on in my cellphone’s music player out loud upon entering our house’s doorstep.

7)      Nilulukot ang mukha while facing the computer at work *while working, of course* (this one’s not done purposefully, a colleague just noticed.. haha!)

8)      Sumimangot (the tagalog word seemed more descriptive). Yes, I’m nakasimangot while walking, while watching something, while reading, while sleeping, while doing anything. This, too, is not being done with a purpose, people around me just noticed. Haha! And I can’t help it! I don’t know how to erase the simangot on my face!

9)   Sleeping >=)

10) Collecting five and ten peso coins. Oh and malulutong na 100 peso bills too! $_$

paying respect to the Yuletide Season

Because I can't come up with an interesting blog post yet, I decided to just revamp my blog site.

Christmas is only 47 days away and I am paying respect to it. Wahahaha!

Maligayang Pasko everyone!

Yes, it's Christmas in my blog, get used to it! ;p

The Versatile Blogger Award

Basking in my (second) glory, 
it’s about time >=)

I have got to be honest, when I read that Maudey got this award, I kinda prepared for my turn, haha!  Not because I deem myself to be a versatile blogger, *because I truly believe that I am not but I’m sure I’ll get there* but because she is a dear friend and it’s somehow predictable that she will grant this award to me.  Hahaha!  Don’t get me wrong em, I will be totally devastated if you didn’t and I really really rea-hee-hee-lly appreciate this. :)  Plus, I look up to your writing prowess ever since the day I met you and receiving feedback from you, it just makes me wanna blog more.  So thank you.  So so so much! :)

Now, just like the first, this too comes with a responsibility.  15 random things about me are not enough, eh?  Here’s 7 more:

1/ I don’t know why but my feet hate shoes.  I go to work on my sandals and only change to the “required” black shoes once I get to my seat.  But even while sitting, I take them off.  I sometimes even walk along our corridor barefooted.  I only wear shoes when I need them, that is when I need to go to the CR or to eat or to a meeting or to somewhere that is one to two meters away from my chair. Haha.

2/ Kingkong is our family dog and ever since the day she came, I’ve been over using her name.  I insert the word “Kingkong” in almost every song I sing when I’m at home.  Heck, I yawn and say “haaaayyyy kingkong” right after, every time (except when I’m conscious with the people around me).

3/ I find Anne Curtis really attractive.  I find her hot more than I find Derek Ramsay hot. Haha! But no, I’m not a lesbo, but maybe for Anne I am, hahaha!

4/ I love cute dogs and I keep on thinking that if the love of my life makes the biggest mistake of his existence by leaving me, I will not have me a next boyfriend.  I will buy lots of cute dogs instead! Haha!  But that wouldn’t happen; V is too smart to lose me. Hahaha! :-p

5/ I hate the smell of Vaseline shampoo.  I also hate their “uno, dos, tres, kwatro” commercial. :-p

6/ On normal days when no one’s pressuring me, I spend a minimum of thirty minutes taking a bath.  But I can adjust to 10-15 minutes when extremely needed. ;p

7/ I don’t use facial wash, I just use whatever soap is in our bathroom for my face.  I actually am scared of putting unnecessary what-have-you’s in my face that’s why I just stick to the basic.  Plus, the basic works for me, because as you can see my face is still clean of pimple marks! :)

*****

Now, I’m passing the award on to two blogs whom I recently fell in love with.

Stuff No-one Told Me >> Gosh, if I could only create comics like this guy, I wouldn’t need a haircut to boost my self esteem!

Mommy Fleur >> Maudey’s been talking about this blog ever since I can’t remember when, I wasn’t interested before because I had my own list of to-love blogs. But once I gave reading it a try, guess what, it swept me off my feet! Haha! I love her bubbly personality (though I don’t know her personally, I can see it in her posts) and how I can feel her emotions in every word she writes. I also love how there’s so much going on in her life that everything seems to be blog worthy! :)

*****

Now excuse me while I let these people know they are being loved. :)

The “do not pass on a chance of getting reunited with your good old friends” Rule

Do not pass on a chance of getting reunited with your good old friends

 

Why? Because you will miss A LOT. 

The stories, the laughter, the to-be inside jokes, the mishaps, the getting out of the mishaps, the food, the drinks, the pictures, most especially the experience (uh, the scenic views are just a plus).

 

It’s been a year since UBE 5 was held.  We were fresh out of college then and having spent every freakin’ day of our lives, plus almost all summer and sembreaks (out of town) together, our friendship was still as tight as any other group who spent five years of togetherness would have been.

 

But since we were all busy building our careers now, we weren’t able to plan UBE 6 right away. It took us one long year to finally think of the idea and to actually clear our hectic schedules for it.

Given this, I thought the reunion would start off shaky.  Since we’ll be doing a lot more of catch-ups than bonding, I thought this time will be less fun.  But no, I was wrong.

When the day finally came, I was surprised by how nothing has changed!  We were still as intact and as loud as we were a year and a half ago.  The long catch-ups I imagined would happen occurred in between laughs and guffaws.  The dead air I thought would take place, did not at all.  It was just like the good old days, the only difference is we are making our own money now, haha! :)

 

I so love these guys and how they were able to suck out all the stress in me all the time we were together.  I love how everybody is fun to be with and how each of us are as excited about this as the other.  Maybe absence really does make the heart grow fonder, because it also made our UBE a lot more fun. :)

To the “famous fourteen”, thank you guys, for the weekend well-spent and for the overflowing supply of lovely memories.

Though our ULTIMATE boat ride was definitely a risky act, and though the Mindoro Sling left us numb (still, let’s thank it for the BONDING it brought about), being with you guys is and will always be an unforgettable EXPERIENCE.

Until the next UBE mga labs, is it Boracay this time? ;p

The “Do not drink the Mindoro Sling” Rule

Do not drink the Mindoro Sling 
(or do, if you wanna get wasted ;p)

No, don’t be fooled by the first taste.  This drink might not spank you at the first few drinks, but it surely will and when it does, you will find yourself… errrr… scratch that, you will not find yourself! Haha!

Don’t get me wrong, the Mindoro Sling is sweet tasting.  One of the few drinks I could stomach because it tastes just like juice, the alcohol content is not dominating at all, which I love.  But after the tenth drink (an estimate, haha) you will experience a little dizziness.  But you will not mind that because you are having a good time, what with the party feel of the place plus the fire dancing going on here and there, you will not mind the lightheadedness.  Heck, you’ll take a few more.  You’ll laugh and giggle with your friends not knowing you already finished one tower and is now waiting for the second.  You will doubt yourself if you could still handle more drinking but you just cannot let this bonding end.  So you take a few more.  And more. And some more ;p.  You’ll take a swaying trip to the C.R. every once in while, that’s just normal, and when you meet your tipsy friends there, you’ll laugh at yourselves and how drunk you are, that’s just normal too.  What the hell, you will not mind if you’re noisy or scandalous with your acts, you can’t control it anyway.  Going back, you’ll see one of your pals vomiting her stomach out.  Is that normal, too? Of course. Haha! If you did vomit, you’ll hate the feeling, but if you didn’t you’ll wish you did thinking that that will make you feel better.

You’ll float your way back to the house, laughing and shouting some more, then you’ll eventually lie flat on your back and fall into a deep sleep.

Waking up, you’ll still feel woozy, but you’ll feel much better now.  You and your friends will talk about the nasty things that happened the night before and you’ll laugh while somebody is reenacting someone else’s comedic feats.  You’ll watch pictures and videos of you thinking “I did that?!” while laughing your heart out. :)

Ahhh… The Mindoro Sling, taking you by surprise, leaving you with unforgettable memories.  What else can I say? Drink at your own risk? :D

The “Take the weatherman seriously especially when you're going on a ferry ride”

Take the weatherman seriously especially when you're going on a ferry ride

Four months ago, UBE 6 was set to a plan. The target dates were October 22 to 24, it was the perfect date then, we saw no problems going along with it. But then typhoon Juan came. And by some sort of misfortune, it came a week before UBE 6!

What seemed to be the perfect plan suddenly became a blur, the reaction was a given, all of us were threatened. Are we going to push this through and risk our lives while in it? >.< But we weighed things over nevertheless. We were dead scared because the transportation by water would last from 1 to 1.5 hours (as what we heard) but we were also excited and we wanted this so bad because this will be the farthest the gang will go to spend UBE. We even had plans B and C (that is to just spend UBE in Laiya, Batangas) if the weather will not be kind to us that day, but to no avail. Kabayan (plan B) and Virgin Beach Resort (plan C) were so darn expensive and we cannot afford them, not yet ;p. We lost three supposed joiners along the way, but 14 remained positive. Yes, the optimism reigned. Or you may call it stubbornness, whatever, but we never said never. To hell with you Juan, we decided to bravely venture into the wild waves of whatever ocean it is between Batangas and Mindoro. We journeyed to Puerto Galera. :)

The bus ride was a breeze. We left Manila at around 7 AM and arrived at Batangas Port after almost 2 hours. No traffic at all. :) While we’re on the way, we saw Mr. Sun smiling, and we took it as a positive sign. Maybe Juan felt our rage towards him and hurriedly flew away. Yeah, well that’s what we thought.

When we finally boarded the ferry (a large outrigger boat that is), the horror began.

It’s also kinda funny ‘cause I wasn’t really frightened of boat rides (before) because I lived in that mode of transportation all my life. But that totally changed as I sit there, eyes closed, fists tightly clenched, praying “Lord God, I know I told my friends “mamatay na kung mamamatay” when we were deciding if we should carry on with the Galera plan, but I was just kidding. You know I was kidding right? I’m not yet ready, please don’t let this boat sink. Please don’t let me die. You’re the best Bro. Amen.”

Imagine you’re on a boat in the middle of a vast ocean where no island can be seen and the waves are aggressively rocking it. Imagine! I can’t even look at the boat’s entrance because when I try to, I could see the water almost coming in. Darn this lucid imagination of mine, I keep on picturing the boat sinking, all of us panicking, screaming, and begging for our lives. :( Oh, and did I mention the guy holding his rosary all throughout the ride? Gosh, looking at him makes me panic even more, it’s like a scene in the movies where the people are all doomed and in the corner is someone praying hardly for their safety, yet they all still get killed, rosary left on the floor or left sinking in the water if they were on a sinking boat. Haha!

But still, I thank God for receiving my prayers on time. We eventually got out of the trickiest part of the ocean after what seemed like a lifetime. We eventually landed on safe grounds. ^_^

Yes, you are correct, going home was a burden we all had at the time, but we temporarily dismissed the idea so we could enjoy the beach. It is, after all, our time to have an ultimate bonding experience. We already had the “ultimate” boat ride; it was time we moved forward to the “bonding experience”.

But if you ask me, will I ever do that again? (the boat ride per se). Noooo!!! Gosh, why don't they have land transpo to Puerto?!

The 30 day blog challenge - Day 05

A picture of somewhere you’ve been to

Last Friday, my oh-so-fun-to-be-with college friends re-bonded. :) Since 2nd (or 3rd?) year, we've been spending our summers and sem-breaks on beach resorts and private pools.  We call it UBE, short for Ultimate Bonding Experience.  And we count them, haha.. We started our UBE zero in Nasugbu, Batangas.  The next ones were generally spent on various Pansol, Laguna private pools (I can't remember the names, though). The only exception was UBE  4 which was on Subic (the farthest we've been to at the time ;p).  Now we're on our seventh UBE -- UBE 6, that is (plus the zero kasi).  

Guess where we went? 

Well..

No less than..... 

Puerto Galera!!!!!

A picture? Are you serious?! I'm not giving you A PICTURE. I'm giving you PICTURESSSSSS!!! Haha! *Daming S?!* It's my first time, so.. yeah. Haha!

 Enough of the above water sceneries, let's go under. :) *thank you my super water proof D10 camera!*

Oh, and here's the gang... the famous fourteen :)

 

Enough of the pictures. Watch out for my next post, I'm gonna attempt and convert the UBE-6 joy into words. Toodles.