The Journey. It’s Mine. [Raine’s Mom, Problogger, Techie-wannabe, Wheelchair-Traveler]

Last week, I got a reply from a two-year inquiry of possible internet service in my ‘remote’ location. I’m not going to say what the name of the provider is but it is a satellite internet service. Sounds fine right? Besides we are already on satellite TV. Seems like satellite is the only thing that’s gonna work there.

I haven’t seen how the thing works, maybe they changed their minds for a possible demo. I said the equipment was too expensive and I can afford it.  Well, it definitely isn’t like buying a KVM switch. It’s like buying a high-end laptop — which at the moment I cannot afford.

Sometime. When the price comes down. By then I guess broadband would have reached me. Meanwhile, I remain on 3G GPRS…unless I move to town or the city. Gosh…now I wish I live in a trailer!

We did not watch. He he. For the love of some peace and quiet in the house. We got it, for awhile until the group came home after midnight on Saturday.

The twins’ band? They won 2nd place! Imagine? Ha ha ha!

Even my other bro can’t believe it.

They won 7000 PHP, enough to pay for a new base guitar (all along I thought they owned one!) and pay the rent for the drum set they’ve been using for practice.

They sound good I told them. The band’s name by the way is ‘Stone of Heaven‘ — just a bunch of lanky boys (old friends in high school) who wanted to have fun playing music instead of bumming or drinking around.

Lakad lang sila, mga walang pera, walang sasakyan. Ang papayat pa! Puedeng sipain ng ibang hardcore band players.  They said the audience was just in-synch to their music. But then I guess when an amateur group like theirs just wanted to play good and have fun doing it– they often win over those who are so fixated on the price and the fame. I hope they don’t loose the attitude. Otherwise, I’d pull their feet back! Sulit daw ang galit ng mga kapitbahay na naingayan sa practice nila.

I would have posted photos and videos, but my PC at home is still “out-of-order”.

Oh…don’t ask me the titles of the songs they played — because I just don’t know!  Maybe Raine knows?

This has been long overdue. I should have mentioned this a long time ago. Sorry Ging, ha? I’ve been busy! He he.

Anyways, I would like to inform the readers of this blog that if ever you find yourself near the area of Los Baños, Laguna (Philippines) and would like to order home made specialty foods for just about any occasion, maybe she can help you.

I can veto guarantee on the quality of food she makes, her husband and I were the first guinea pigs of her kitchen “experiments”. We were housemates, but really whatever she whips up turn out great. Whether it be a new recipe or an invitation card or whatever trinkets -big and small - for bridal showers and birthday parties.

Okay, now I am sounding really biased! Ha ha ha. Well I just want to mention now, just in case I haven’t told her before: I haven’t never met anyone as passionate as her in all these little things she does — from song and dance to choreography, from one fashion statement to another, from cheese sticks to fajitas.

Mind you she’s an animal scientist/nutritionist by profession.

Ging, I’m really happy you took this first step of many, knowing you…this little thing you started is going to get big. Time will come, you will be the party planner to beat. All the best!

I just hope I can order soon.

Halos maloka ako na tatlumpo’t-isang oras walang kuryente. Ngayon humahagalpak naman ako sa kakatawa. Dun ba naman sa isa kong sinulatan tungkol sa kalusugan eh merong nagtanong: ano daw ba ang mga sintomas ng kanyang hinihinalang sakit dahil nahihirapan daw siyang umihi?!

Duh?! (Haller?! — sabi nga ni Reynz) Eh nakapaglagay ka nga ng katanungan sa ilalim ng artikulong iyon, eh di siguro naman eh may kakayahan kang hanapin sa ‘mundong abot ng dulo ng mga daliri mo’ ang mga sintomas ng sakit na yan. O kaya naman eh i-text ang iyong manggagamot, di baga?!

SUSME. Gusto ko na talagang sagutin ng: kuyang…maglaga ka ng dahon ng bayabas at gawin mong tsa-a ang katas. Palagay ko makaka-ihi ka na nyan! BWAHAHAHAHA.

Naloka na yata ako dahil kay pareng frank. Pero nasa wisyo pa naman siguro ako dahil alam ko pa rin na walang sintido kumon ang taong nagsulat nyan. Hayyyy….dapat binabaril na lang ang mga ganyan! HA HA HA HA. Patawarin ako ng diyos. Sino ang hindi mababaliw sa mga ganyan?! Buti na lang matagal na akong baliw. He he he.

Typhoon Frank that is!

At least our electricity has been restored our 2 am today. Buti na lang! Else, I think I would have gone totally berserk. 31 hours of no electricity is NO JOKE folks. You’ll get anxiety attacks you thought you’ll never have. Besides, Milenyo and Reming is still fresh in our minds. ‘Pamasdo’ pa ako to the bones because of Milenyo (Sept 2006).

Waaahhhhhh! Times like these? I wish I don’t live in Bicol! Hayyy.

And this ‘uragon’ virus couldn’t have come in at a better time.

Well…I guess all is well now.

I could have gotten lost you know…the road getting there in Paguriran Island (Bacon, Sorsogon) is just getting narrower and narrower. I thought we’ll never get there!

But we did and made it back too. It was well worth the travel and if you know me, I want a beach/island that is as least developed or commercialized as possible.

(Well except for Panglao Island in Bohol! Bohol Beach Club’s shore was just too long you practically won’t bump into anybody else. It was the last week of January (off-peak season) that Raine and I went with Ruth’s family, so it wasn’t really crowded. Besides, the clusters of rooms there are so scattered apart, you won’t see much of all the other guests and so you’ll feel kinda “alone”.)

Anyways…going back to the appeal that Paguriran has to me. The place is just so raw. But then I just wonder how long it will stay that way. People have started to flock in there. (Philippine Tourism, hello?!)

Well I just wish that eco-tourism will be adapted and not otherwise. It is just a shame to spoil a natural beauty such as this:

Okay…enough pictures for now. Those were all taken on Sunday, June 15. Just watch my set on Flickr as i complete my photo upload. The place is just breathtaking and so refreshingly crisp. A hidden paradise indeed. But I gotta stop here before my internet goes off once more. And it’s Wednesday already! Gosh..I haven’t done any decent blogging this week. Either it is my internet…or the electricity is out.

I told you already I went to UPLB over the weekend. As usual, the sights sounds and smell of UPLB is truly refreshing. It feeds both my body and soul.

Here are some photos I would like to share:

Many things have changed in the place but my memories remain the same. I get this secret smile only people who lived here in transient (or permanently) will ever understand why — which made me more at home in this place than anywhere else in the world.

Hopefully if I don’t fall asleep again!

I got back home from Manila/LB on Sunday afternoon around 3 PM. On the way home, I was thinking of going back to blogging that Sunday night. Who am I kidding? I fell asleep of course, even in the middle of an online chat.

Came Monday, the mumps I came home with has gotten a lot worse. What a birthday gift eh? I spent it lazy in bed because Smart Internet has been forever having maintenance activity. I left and came back, the same problem.

(more…)

My bag isn’t packed yet and I’m not done scheduling posts for the week in a couple of my blogs.

But I’ve got tickets already and I’m flying to Manila tomorrow to see my best friend. We’re going to LB and I’d probably get that pancit malabon I’ve been craving for.

Just when I was thinking of having a barbecue party and a live band, it started raining again! I thought I can clean and take out the Ford grills — no, not that kind of grill, but just an outdoor barbecue grill.

Hmmm…maybe on my 50th birthday! Ha ha ha.

That’s what I get for living in bicol. It’s either brownout or raining like hell. Sometimes both!

But, these are better days…actually.

And I never had a barbecue party ever. I gotta keep that in mind. Someday.

9 days to go and it’s time to turn 35. He he. I’ve nothing much planned (always never had plans for my bday!) except that I am looking hard where I can order a good pancit malabon in Sorsogon.

I used to have an officemate who can make a mean pancit malabon and it was the best I’ve ever tasted. I’ve never cooked it either because I am more of a pasta girl and never bothered to try cooking pancit dishes — except for a couple of times I made pancit bihon guisado which was really not bad at all.

BUT, it has always been my rule not to cook anything on my birthday. Either I order food or a bunch of my friends will bring the food.

Well… don’t blame the progesterone at all (imposibleng naglilihi ako, ano!) I just miss a LOT - the city I lived longest my whole life - wherein I know where to get the best foods I want when I want it. This just shows that I haven’t really settled here yet. Not enough even just to explore the city to look for food specialties.

Tita Agnes, pa-LBC naman ng isang bilaong pancit malabon! Ha ha.

I remember when my father had to install cell phone amplifiers so that he’ll get a decent cellphone signal inside our house– the old Nokia 5110 was fixed in one spot, attached to an outdoor antenna up the roof.

Before he came up with that solution, when I came home one Christmas break I had to sit on his jeep’s roof so that text messages and calls from my friends could come in. No kidding!

Two years before that, my Nokia 909 didn’t have a signal here. I had to go 1-2 kilometers from this spot just so I could get a signal.

(more…)

As is the result of American Idol. Whatever Simon Cowell said last night that David Archuleta knocked out he competition, it was pretty obvious that Cook has got more talent.

Thank God America didn’t listen to Simon! He ate his own dust by apologizing to David Cook before he was announced the winner.

Yey! Yey Yey Yey!

Though they don’t say how much an idol winner gets. Or do they? For sure, he need not worry about bar tending, mortgage lenders or any other thing that concerns money, for that matter!

Well…I am not in a any category as the bloggers that Matt Richtel talked about in his In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop, NY Times article.

Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack.

In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.

Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.

I love what Larry Dignan wrote at ZDNet:

Let’s put a little perspective on this blogging thing. You could be getting shot at in Iraq. You could be a single mom working three jobs to stay afloat (Happy Birthday mom). You could work in a coal mine. You could be in a life and death battle with Leukemia.

You could be doing any one of thousands of high-stress jobs. Sure, the Web has a lot of stress but let’s get real: If you’re stressed out over 5,000 RSS feeds chances are good you’d be stressed by any profession you chose.

The point I was trying to make was that nothing (certainly the deaths of Russell and Marc Orchant and Om’s heart attack) exist in a vacuum. You have to take care of yourself.

I agree. Whatever your job is, you’ve got to take care of yourself. Also, like what I have always believe in, your job is not the be-all and end-all of your life. Life isn’t just all work, you gotta have a real life as well, and find the balance that works for you.

(more…)

Today we had 12 hours of brownout. Yes, you read it right. 12. hours. of. brownout.

It was just freakin’ irritating, considering the summer weather and my desperate need to go online on a regular basis.

I didn’t want my blood boiling of frustration so I slept the whole afternoon. I do not have a UPS, and so it irritates me more when the electricity here decides to flicker on and off. Anybody will agree with me that it sucks big time if you are in the middle of a composing a blog entry or paying your online bills, when the electricity goes off. Only in the Philippines, eh?!

Not to mention what that does to the computer, your home theater lighting (which we do not have!) and the rest of your home appliances.

Did i already say the we had 12 hours of brownout today?!!