*If you don’t like the music, please scroll down to my Juday post and click on the Stop button to turn it off. I can’t make myself take out the embedded music player altogether. hihi.
Broadcast journalist Ces Oreña-Drilon, her camera man Jimmy Encarnacion, and Professor Octavio Dinampo have been freed by the armed group that held them hostage for 9 days. Another member of their crew was released a few days ago. Read the story from Drilon’s network, the ABS-CBN news website.
I heard the radio interview with Senator Loren Legarda, herself a former ABS-CBN broadcaster, as soon as I arrived home at past 12 midnight.
My dad’s work takes him to Mindanao (Davao and Cotabato specifically) and he works with NGOs and peace advocates in the area. He mentioned that he has met the Professor who was with Ces Drilon.
—————————————————————————
I don’t have any other interesting news today, other than I really pigged out and ordered a full meal, plus a side order of Mashed Potatoes (which turned out to be a full serving) and 2 free buttermilk pancakes. I ate at my boss’ station while he was out, and one of my colleagues had the same idea so we shared the booth. I shared my mashed taters with him too. As it were, I didn’t eat the meal (Eggs Popeye) because I was already full. I brought it home with me and it’s in the fridge. I’ll heat it for brunch later.
Edit.
What am I saying? No interesting news? But there is!
Just at the stroke of midnight for June 18, I booked 3 roundtrip tickets for Manila-Tagbilaran, Bohol. Yes, we are finally going on the Bohol trip that we thought would never happen. Sadly though, there seems to just three of us going, instead of the 5 that we originally planned for.
The trip was supposed to be this June but we couldn’t afford the airfare. Or we could, but then there would be no money left for food, accommodations, and the land trip. My friend casually mentioned Cebu Pacific’s low fare promo that was ending at midnight (yes I had to beat it) so I logged on and checked for available flights and coordinated with our friends for their availability.
I am still hoping that Joy would be available on the dates we picked (it’s still in September) and that the promo is extended even for just one day so we can get her cheap fare too. Vanette can’t come because she won’t be able to go on a 2-day straight leave. I was kinda hoping we could work that out too…
Still, we are so psyched about it though it’s just me, Alfred, and our friend Tengkie.
This will be my third visit to the province but the first that will be strictly recreational and on my own tab.
We have these, and more, to look forward too (the images are linked to where I got them on the web).
I feel like I’m on vacation right now but I’m just on my regular weekend off. I had such a fun day yesterday – water fun under the sun! I had the best company ever – boyfriend, my friend from work Vanette, my niece Dalnes and my nephew Esban.
Vanette loves swimming. She’s gone to two swimming courses in the three years I’ve known her. We’ve been talking about taking a dip for the whole month of April but didn’t get to go then. Oh when we finally got to go, the sun was really on it’s brightest and hottest! Yesterday seems like the only day in the past week that didn’t have rains in the afternoon. There were threatening rain clouds at around 4PM but they didn’t blow over Taytay (the municipality where the resort is at), and even when it started drizzling as we were on our way home, it was just brief like the wind just blew them over there.
We went to Club Manila East, a resort that’s about 35-45 minutes away from here. This was the same resort that Vanette and I went to 3 years ago with 3 of our other guy batchmates from work (who are all no longer in the company). This visit was in stark contrast to the first one: we were practically alone there on that Friday afternoon while we shared the resort yesterday with hundreds of people! They have more pools this time around though so it didn’t really feel very crowded, except perhaps in the Beach Waves pool.
As my dad drove us in to the entrance of Club Manila East (CME), we were overwhelmed by the number of people hanging around at the gate and the vehicles that filled the parking lot. Thankfully, the queue for tickets wasn’t that long so we were in after about 5 minutes. While waiting, Alfred lifted Esban to see the people on the kayaks. We also saw the sign for surfing lessons up front. At first we wondering, how could they do it? Surely, the artificial waves wouldn’t be that strong. Later in the day, we learned just how possible it was to really ride those waves!
The only thing that kept me from really enjoying the trip to the max was that I caught a cold the night before and it’s just no fun swimming with colds. I also couldn’t stand the intensity of the sun’s rays. It was really awesome that one of CME’s maintenance guys put up our table and chairs about five feet from this pool that had the least people in, and right under a mango tree! Shade! We had the coolest spot ever and we only had to pay 100 pesos for it. Before we got that spot we wanted to rent a hut or a cabana but all of them were already taken. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise really.
The kids really maxed themselves out swimming, it was fun to have them because they could both swim already so we didn’t always have to fuss about them. All we had to was just make sure we had our eyes on them. They did venture out on their own to the Kiddie Pool on the other side of the resort. Dal is very capable to watch her brother though so I didn’t worry too much. They came back in less than 15 minutes.
The first pool we checked out was Beach Waves. Of course, within 5 minutes of our arrival, the kids were on there. Good thing too because the waves just started. Us three adults didn’t get to experience the waves yet in the morning, it’s like the waves went on break or something. So we checked out the other pools and found our awesome shaded spot.
When our pool (yes, I claimed it) was closing at 5PM, we decided to go back to the Wave Pool. Vanette and I would not leave without getting a taste of it (not literally okay). Alfred and the kids went there after lunch so boyfriend already knew why Esban just couldn’t get enough. So off we went and WOW, those are some waves. The whole time I was thinking, real waves are more forgiving! Haha. We stayed for like three cycles, the last one were just at the “shore” where the waves break. It was so much fun. I kept worrying about Esban though because as violent as the waves were, he kept taking them on and pushing forward! I had Alfred and Dal alternately chasing after him. Near sundown though, he was the one who said we should go – he was hungry and looking forward to going to SM Taytay!
The shower rooms weren’t crowded as I though they would be. Thank God. There wasn’t much hassle getting the kids cleaned and dressed up. Esban even came back for me asking me to hurry – that’s just because we thought it was going to rain. We had to take pedicabs to the main street as the shuttle was no longer available (too bad, we were looking forward to taking a ride on those). And then we took a jeepney to SM Taytay. We really just wanted to check it out a bit and maybe find something other than Jollibee to eat, but we ended up eating at McDonald’s! I figured it would be easier to get a cab from there too. Okay, it wasn’t easy, but we did get a cab that agreed to take us home.
Esban fell asleep on the ride home, just as expected. He came up here after lunch to tell me he liked it at CME and wants to go back. That’s just as expected too. I want to go back too sweetie 🙂
Any regrets on the trip? I guess only that I didn’t borrow Edsel’s camera pack to get the digicam water proofed. Another would be that we didn’t ask other friends to tag along. There’s always a next time. 🙂
Oh, this has turned into a long post and I haven’t even mentioned the water proof paper bracelet they make you wear upon entrance. No worries, I’ll have another post on this later with pictures! I’ve just transferred them from the camera and checking them out!
It’s been awhile since I went anywhere with my parents so when the opportunity was there on Sunday, I took it. Mom and Dad always loved to go on weekend drives, or just go malling. There was a time in our lives, just a couple years back, when that had to take a backseat because it was an expensive ‘hobby,’ but I’m glad that they are able to find time to do it again these days.
Mom heard about this theme farm in Mendez, Cavite (near Tagaytay) and thought it would be nice to go there and bring along my nephews Esban and AJ. She was hesitant to take the latter because he’s too excitable and she might not have the energy to keep up with him. So I volunteered to go with them to help with the kids. I volunteered despite the fact that I would be coming from shift, and would surely be sleepy. 🙂 As is turns out, AJ couldn’t go, so it was just the ‘rents, Esban and myself. He had his GameBoy with him though he didn’t play with it as much as I thought he would. The only time I wished we didn’t let him bring it along was during lunch when he refused to finish his food and then just pretended to be too involved in his game. The thing is, he was sleepy by then and I guess he was trying to hide it by just playing.
Mom brought along a tubao – a piece of cloth made by local/ethnic communities in Mindanao and used as head turbans, among others. I used to have a lot of those that I carry as my hanky. When I was younger and used to tag along in roadtrips with my parents, my mom would toss me a tubao or two and I’d just let my imagination run along and while away the time playing with those. As for my nephew, it kept him busy for 2 minutes, tops. But that’s also because he kept talking to me too. I had him singing, counting, spelling simple words, all the way to our first stop – Tagaytay. We had lunch at Leslie’s where this picture was taken with the lovely view of Taal Volcano in the background. It was so cold up there, I tell you. It was unexpected at high noon!
ParadiZoo was just in the next town and though we missed a turn, it wasn’t too difficult to find it.
Given that it was a Sunday, the place wasn’t as full as we thought it would be. And it wasn’t scorching hot at all, the sun was actually just perfect for a stroll.
We all had a grand time, my nephew looked so happy and we could tell he was excited all throughout. My mom probably spent more than she anticipated, but it all seems worth it.
As for me? I had a blast too. And I didn’t get tired as easily as I thought. I did sleep most of the way home though. Esban and I both. Hehe.
I am looking forward to scrapping the photos we took, maybe this time I’ll do a better job at adding journalling. Good luck to me! 🙂
