"Associative Looseness"

Tuesday. Three more days till I leave a job I learned to love for five months. I was apprehensive at first about being an online English tutor for Koreans. It seems that this has become the job trend for the new blood. That is – jobless, newly grad, experience-less job hunters. I don’t belong in that group, heck no! I was comfortable sitting at home with my laptop, my cat, with the television and DVDs; until I craved to see the sun everyday, and see people in live action.

Hence, I applied. Got accepted and five months later, I resigned.

The experience was refreshing, for the first time I was surrounded with people my age or younger. In my previous jobs I was the youngest usually and the people I mingle with were mostly old men in their barongs and suits.

I must say I had a hard time saying goodbye. I was torn between two clashing rocks and there’s no way for me to escape but to drown or fly – I chose to fly. I will miss the people who accepted me for who I am and listened to all my rants about that concept who haunted me listlessly. I chose to break free and admit defeat and insipidness of my actions, and my existence. Who am I kidding? I like the people but I don’t like being taken advantage of. I must therefore assert myself and stand to my rights and say goodbye to a system that is bound to fail (I hope not, for the other employees’ sake). However, only people constitute that system so probably remove those people and the system would run smoothly, eh?

Nonetheless, I will surely miss the good times.

Thank you for the opportunity.

The trip to Corregidor was long overdue. Ever since I can remember I've always planned to go there and experience the adventure the island offers. The nostalgia of going through the dark barracks and the old-feeling of the big guns and canons scattered all over the island.

The ruins that looked so very post-card-ish were actually only picture perfect. It was not as breath taking as I expected. Well, in part I was expecting brick ruins and huge columns with moss-covered walls -- but I was taken aback. What was there was an exquisite arrangement of rubbles, and very clean, indeed. Huge blocks of cement and large iron bars sticking out was the only thing there. It wasn't as nostalgic as I expected.

The Tramvia ride was a revealing experience. The smell of the freshly-cut grass brings memories of my childhood as I sit underneath the mango tree and create doodles in my notebook and write never ending stories of epic proportions. It was so cool and refreshing...

The big guns were freshly painted with green and were positioned in a funny way (see picture) upright, very upright haha!

That was me in the yellow shirt in my favorite pose, like a signorina surveying her lands hehe

This is the mile long barracks. It has three floors and the whole stretch is 1/3 of a mile so it was called "Mile Long Barracks" because you multiply the floors in three and you get one mile. Capiche?

My friend wanted to climb it but I stopped her knowing the fragility of the structure and since it looked like its going to collapse anytime. Better to stay away and be safe rather than risk getting injured. We are 1 and a half hour away from a good hospital... not worth the pain.

I have this thing with lighthouses. I haven't been inside one and I've always wanted to experience going in there but fate was toying with me. I was excited to see the Spanish Lighthouse in Corregidor and was even ecstatic when in Susan Carlo Medina's Travel Time, they were able to climb up and survey the whole island. Which means we can also do the same thing. However, our tour guide just made a quick stop and didn't let us off the Tramvia. This shot here was taken as we are driving away from the site. It's still magnificent though.

To sum it up, the Php 1,800 that I paid for the trip was actually worth it. We had the ferry ride, transfers and the tour plus a buffet lunch and a ferry back to Manila. It was a notable experience one must take to familiarize herself with history. Kudos to the tour guides who knew everything there is to know about the wars and even the trivial statistics like how many American soldiers were killed versus how many Japanese soldiers were killed. It was actually surprising to find out that Corregidor, although geographically near Bataan, is declared a territory of Dasmarinas, Cavite.

When: February 16, 2008
Where: Dive and Trek Resort, Anilao, Batangas
Event: GMIC Reunited

It was roughly 10 years ago when the four of us had our picture taken together. That was before our highschool graduation. It was just nostalgic. Having this part of my life back again.



G--Gea
M --Maye
I -- Imee
C -- Chanteuse

Long live our barkada!!! :)

Writing Crisis

It’s been three weeks since my last writing project. A project that usually only takes 3 nights to complete, took me a heavy two weeks to finish. Those two weeks did not necessarily mean that I have been working the whole time. I spent the good half of my working time (that is 1 am to 6am) staring at my laptop and playing beautiful eyes with the fluorescent light.

I didn’t know what was going on with me. I have the energy to write but it seems that inspiration has deserted me. My fingers missed the feeling of stroking the keyboard but as soon as it touches the surface of the laptop, I freeze. Literally, and figuratively-I freeze. As I was suspended in a catatonic position my mind also went blank.

That was the first time I was at a loss for words. My mind was speechless and I am not able to write anything intelligible – not even a simple blog entry. Nada. Zilch. Nunca.

The surprising thing was, I was not scared. I was actually relaxed, even as the days turn into hours before my deadline. Perhaps my mind was wandering somewhere else that I had to go find it and force it to work, just this last time… and I did. Five hours before my deadline I spent an agonizing night finishing up a 25-page thesis proposal. Not my best, I know… but better than nothing, right?

AND…for the first time in a long time. This appears to be my first entry this year, after three months. I am writing again. I am back in the creative realm. Not just in the academic-commercial side of writing. Maybe that’s what's missing in my life. The creative flow - It had abandoned me long ago when I decided I am going to make money from my writings; which I did. So, it left me hung and dry. Until I summed up my courage to rouse it back in.