Agyamanak la unay, Baguio!

Tina 3 Comments

Also known as: The weekend in Baguio City
Translation (from Ilocano, a Filipino dialect): Thank you very much, Baguio!
Note: Photo dump coming up.

My weekend was spent in the City of Pines, a trip that I had proposed to my friends at the start of the year when we were playing picnic.  I’ve been to Baguio City thrice, four counting the trip last weekend, but the only time I was really able to appreciate Baguio as a tourist was once when I was about seven and the last weekend. The other two times were for a Kids for Christ conference when I was 12, and last year for a strategic planning for work. Both times I didn’t go around Baguio at all, and all I could remember of it was being homesick and enjoying the cold weather.

So last weekend is a trip that made me a tourist in Baguio again. I wanted to go because I really just want to make the most out of the cold weather, and I wanted to get out of the city. It came to a point that I was so stressed at work and with other real life stuff that I just needed a break — a mental health day if you may. So it was done. With my friends who achieve, and a foreign “delegate”, we trekked up last weekend to the City of Pines for a well-deserved cold weekend.

Where I try to act tourist-y. Not my best picture, but the sign behind me is really more important. :P

And now in bullets!

  • Baguio is easy to get to if you’re coming from Manila…but it is wise to get bus tickets in advance especially if you want to reach Baguio early. We got to Victory Liner station thinking it would be easy to get a bus, but the next bus available is at 5:00am. :O We decided to buy tickets and then line up as chance passengers.The 3:00am bus was our lucky bus, and as soon as the bus started moving, we were all knocked out asleep. 6 hours later, hello Baguio!

    Waiting for the bus
  • We stayed in PNKY Home, a quaint little Bed & Breakfast along Leonard Wood Road. Toni discovered this place but he didn’t have a chance to stay here the last time he was in Baguio, so we decided to book the place.
    They’re doing a bit of renovating so there’s the steel bars behind Cookie. Oh, and Cookie’s the official mascot of the trip, at least until the animal hats came into the picture. :D

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Here’s the thing

Tina Leave a comment

Also known as: Dissecting the reason why I am probably not blogging that much here

The thing about having new blogs is how shiny and blank it is. It’s supposed to be easier to write in, it’s supposed to have more possibilities than old ones do. It’s a blank slate, easy to mold, easy to bring to a new direction compared to having an old one and reinventing it.

I think I’m having some kind of problem with that. Ideally, I should be able to write here more than I usually do, because it’s fresh and blank and all that. I should be posting more, writing more, but I find that every time I wanted to write, I just don’t feel like it. I know I’m not obligated to write every single boring detail of my life here. I just feel like I’m neglecting this blog and not making the most out of it, especially if I know I can write something. I know I can. I know somewhere there, I have the words to fill this blog with thing that matter, not always to anyone, but to me.

But the problem:

I suppose I may really be pressuring myself. Or maybe because I don’t really know what the point of having this blog is about for me. I know the point of my book blog and I’m glad that somehow that’s still going strong. But what about this blog? Why didn’t I just close the personal blog side and just focus on book blogging, which is something I really enjoy doing? Why is this still here?

I don’t know, really, except maybe it’s because I love words. And maybe it’s  because I can’t really be bothered to sit down and write in a journal when it’s easier and faster to write in a blog. I love writing in a journal, don’t get me wrong, but we all have to admit that it’s not always easy to find time to write there. It’s why blogging is so attractive because it’s easier and it’s faster. And as much as bloggers say that they really write for themselves, you can’t deny that there is attraction in knowing that there is some audience. Maybe there’s this part of me — the writer part of me — that wishes somewhere out there, someone will stumble upon these words and feel better. Or at least, feel some sort of kinship and find comfort in knowing that they’re not alone, just like how I find comfort when I read blogs such as hers or hers.

I guess my point is…I need to know the point of this thing. I wrote about this a year ago but I guess I never had an answer. But maybe this is the time for me to know what that answer is, right? Just like I know I can never stop reading, I also know that I can’t stop writing. And since fiction isn’t my only outlet…here’s the blog. Can this be qualified as creative non-fiction?

I guess I should really ease the pressure on myself to write the way other people do, and just write. I’m me and they’re them. As much as I remember that I am writing for an audience, I must never forget that I am writing for myself, too. Sounds contradictory? Yeah, it is. But if you’ve been blogging for a while, you should probably get this.

Or not. I apologize in advance if that didn’t make sense.

So…let’s try this again. No pressure. More coherent entries to follow. But first, I’m going to Baguio this weekend. See you when I get back. :)

31 Days

Tina 1 Comment

Also known as: The end of January, goal updates, and some time woes

Just like that, January is ending. Excuse me for being cliche once again, but where did this month go?

There’s something about this year that makes me want to slow it down. Maybe it’s because of that twenty-five thing. Maybe it’s because I don’t want this lovely cold weather to end yet. Maybe it’s because I feel like time really just passes by too fast and everything is passing me by. Maybe I’m just feeling all of this now because I have a monthly visitor and that has always made me feel a bit more emotional than the usual (see how easy it is to blame the hormones?).

But anyway. January is ending. There is exactly 11 months left in 2011. How is that possible?

Forgive me for being so overwhelmed by the turn of the month. I’ve been through 25 January endings in my entire life, but somehow this one just strikes me a bit more. I guess that’s what happens when you think about things too much. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

So the usual question with this should be: how are your resolutions, so far? Well, since I didn’t really make resolutions this year save for two goals, it should be easy to answer. I don’t know if I’d like the answers…but what the heck.

Goal # 1: Driving

I can’t count how many times I wished I had my own car in the past month. It’s an itch, strange to say. I really have this feeling that I will only really have the confidence to drive if I had my own car. It’s like how I lost weight, you see: I tried exercise videos, leading cutting stack programs, dieting on my own, and all that, but I only really shed the extra pounds when I signed up for the gym. It’s not only about the entire gym atmosphere really, but the fact that I knew gym fees (including trainer and nutritionist fees) were being charged in my card, so I felt that I had to make the most out of it. It worked. I figured the same principle would apply with driving.

This is why I want a car.

It’s a huge investment, though. I know I can’t afford it anytime soon (especially because of Goal # 2). But man. I could count the number of times I wished so bad I had a car — then wished I knew how to drive well.

Of course, owning a car now is not really a wise thing in the Philippines, with the rising gas prices and car-related crimes and all. But I wouldn’t mind owning this pretty little thing:

Honda Jazz. ♥

I also have a feeling I’m just being a tad materialistic there.

Goal # 2: WYD in Madrid, Spain

It is a bit too early to start preparing the papers, but I have started planning my trip dates! I ran into a bit of conflict in the first dates I planned because of work (which reminds me I should write some thoughts about that), I think I have finally settled on dates that is perfectly acceptable to me. The next steps now are to collect requirements so I can start fixing the papers.

Speaking of Spain, My best friend and I were talking about trips and stuff, and a bit of quarter-life crisis (more to that on another post), and I told him that I can’t not go to this trip. I don’t know why, but I feel like this is something that I should do for myself this year, whatever other people say. I feel like I owe this to myself, at least for the part of me that yearns to do something other than what I do.

* * *

I think the saddest thing about January ending is how the start of the year feels over. It’s February, you can’t say the year just started. The freshness is starting to fade. And there’s a sad feeling knowing that it would take 11 more months before we get to really feel that freshness again.

Then again, that is subjective. Every day is a new day, ergo, every day should have the same kind of freshness that January 1 had. It should. It’s not easy, but we all need new days. And we are given that everyday. How beautiful is that?

In less than an hour, January is going to end. I’m kind of sad that it is ending…but I am looking forward to what the February has to offer. And March. And April. And May. And…you get what I mean.

This entry felt a bit all over the place than what I originally intended. Apologies. I will try to blog more often here than I did in the next month. :)