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.