Happy Holidays

The entry below is a rant and is not intended for the easily offended.

What is Christmas? Is it about family? Is it about love? Or maybe about giving? Could it be about a fat man with a long white beard in a red suit? Or could it be about presents?

None of the above.

I hate to sound like an overzealous Christian on a mission to convert the world, but it's really about the birth of Jesus Christ. I see so many people exchanging gifts and wishing each other joyously but hardly anybody remembers the real reason why Christmas is celebrated, which is sad.

From a day that's supposed to symbolize the birth of a life of sacrifice and the dawn of a new religion it has become an overrated general holiday. No. It has cultural and religious significance. And by cultural, I do not mean in a cheap Hallmark Christmas card kind of way which is how the world seems to have taken it.

I honestly think that if you want to celebrate a cultural/religious event, you must at least understand the meaning behind it. For example, I understand what Deepavali or Diwali stands for to Hindus. When I celebrate it with my friends, I respect the magnitude of the festival. That is how it should be between a multi ethnical society.

Okay. I think I should end this rant here before I lose myself. (: Happy Holidays everyone.

Storm struck.

I managed to escape Cagayan De Oro barely hours before it was struck by a typhoon. The death toll has risen to above 1000, some dying of the floods and others dying from the diseases that followed. My family was fortunate enough to avoid it but others weren't as lucky. If you read this, please have a personal moment of silence for the victims.

I'm still dazed.

That time of the year

The Philippines is a truly beautiful place, made all the more special to me by my family there. My mother is from a little town four hours away from Iloilo and we usually visit our grandmother there every year. My cousins are a rowdy and boisterous bunch (all 50 of them or something being male), but decent at heart. Living with them makes me feel lazy. I can't even want to do anything without them offering (or even just going ahead and doing it!) to do it for me.

17km of pure awesomeness!

Today, I went white water rafting in Cagayan de Oro. The river was 17km long with 21 rapids. And cold. Very cold. I stared down at my bikini miserably and stared back up at the hot sun. Then I shrugged my life jacket on and gripped my paddle like a broadsword. I can do this, I told myself.

This wasn't my first time white water rafting. Coming from a sports-oriented and adventurous family, I'd gone bungee jumping, volcano climbing, white water rafting, spelunking and suchlike with my sisters growing up. It was highly enjoyable and the experience trained us to become the adrenaline junkies we are now.

Anyways, right now I have a godawful sunburn on my shoulder blades (my poor tattoo!) and it's killing me!

Right after that, we enjoyed going on a zipline (flying fox thing) or three. The view of the forest was amazing from the zipline and I enjoyed myself immensely (my mother possibly couldn't say the same- she was screaming bloody murder the entire way).

Quote of the day (embarrassingly from me):

"Hey, guys! What's that green thing in the water? Is that an eel? I don't think so, aren't eels brown? Hmm. What the heck is that thing? Guys? GUYS? Oh wait. Dude. No. It isn't a leaf. It's too big to be a leaf. Ohmygosh, guys. It's following us! Oh no. Wait. I think... Yeah, that's the reflection of my oar."

Tutti Frutti

It was almost 6:00AM and we were checking in for our flight to Camiguin. My youngest sister, the one I constantly refer to as my darling baby, wound her arms around me and I wrapped mine around her in return (yes, we are this affectionate!). She sniffed my neck, bending down slightly to do so.

"You smell like..." she wrinkled her nose a little.

"Beer?" I automatically finished.

"Why would I say you smell like beer?" she asked me puzzled as a Filipino man snorted loudly and coughed to prevent himself from laughing. "I was going to say raspberry."

Disgusted, I replied with "I hate raspberry." The Filipino man behind us coughed a little more. I turned to smile at him.

"Maybe she's tutti frutti," he suggested, chuckling a little. We laughed at his comment. "And anyways, nobody smells like beer in the morning," he said with the supreme confidence of a Filipino (they start drinking at sundown- every Filipino man seems to congregate at some house after 6:00PM and crack open several bottles of whiskey, rum and beer after dinner).

"It's a bit too early in the day to start drinking," I conceded. "Maybe it's an okay time to finish drinking, but it's too late to start."

"Personally, I smell like beer only at night," he agreed.

I'm one of a kind.

And as much as you try, you'll never replace me. You may look as hard as you can, but you'll never find another me.

Not the curve of my smile, or the lifting of my brows, nor my twisted sense of humour.

What would hurt the most is that a cheap replacement is all you can make do with- you'll never have the original again.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Far East Movement 2011

Yes, I won 2 pairs of tickets for the concert. I shared one with Natato and the other with my bro whose birthday fell the day right before the concert.

Was it awesome?

Hell yeah!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I live for concerts and parties like these with my bros. Obviously, I had tons of fun. What made it even better was the appearances of Adeline and Arul, two people I happen to like very much. And then Far East Movement tweeted me the next day. :D

All in all, definitely a good night.

Finally 19!

Yep, I celebrated my 19th birthday last month in Kampachi with my family and closest friends. This picture was taken by someone very special to me. (: The very same Friday, I had a barbecue party, also for my closest friends. 

How do I describe what happened?

We partied till almost 4:00 and... That's all. HA.