Unsaid – The Fray

Not that you’re the one, not to say I’m right
Not to say today and not to say a thing tonight

But suffice it to say we’re leaving things unsaid
We sing ourselves to sleep watching the day lie down instead

And we are leaving some things unsaid
And we are breathing deeper instead

We’re both pretty sure, neither one can tell
We seem difficult, what we got is hard as hell

A hundred thousand words could not quite explain
So I walk you to your car and we can talk it out in the rain

And we are leaving some things unsaid
And we are breathing deeper instead
And we are leaving some things unsaid

I can sing myself to sleep no more

Not that you’re the one, not to say I’m right
Not to say today and not to say a thing tonight.

Iloilo

September 20-23, 2008. Went to visit Cy for that weekend. I wasn’t able to take as much pics since I wasn’t in the mood. And I’m still not in the mood to write an entire travelogue now, but what I can say about Iloilo is that it’s a nice, developing place. Sosyal siya. Lots of places to eat (and good food!), lots of places to hang out and go clubbing. And the airport is even better than the PAL Terminal 2 in Manila.

I arrived on Saturday morning– we had breakfast at Ted’s La Paz batchoy, then went to one of Cy’s accounts in Gaisano, then went home. We then had lunch at Peppy’s Thai restaurant (a famous Thai resto in Iloilo), then drove to Miag-ao Church. We then went to another of Cy’s accounts in the other Gaisano Mall, then heard mass at Ateneo. We had dinner in Cy’s fave resto, Messe, an Italian restaurant. I’ve never tried a better turtle cake–chocolate cake with a caramel crust. The best. After dinner we went home to sleep a while before going clubbing at Flow in the Smallville gimmick area. It was jam-packed, and the club was nice!

On Sunday we had lunch at the Dumanggas town, which is about 40 minutes away from the city proper. The best and cheapest seafoods! A tub of oysters at 40 bucks. And the freshest manangat, shrimps, and squid. Saraaaaap. Cy went to another account and I stayed for a while at Bluejay Coffee, then after we met up with his friends at his place to watch the Ateneo-La Salle game. We won, of course! Then we all had dinner at Mango Tree, where the game was supposed to be telecast but there was no one when we got there! Argh. Good food also, I loved the chicken and mushroom and the sizzling bulalo!

We woke up early the next morning to go to Roxas City, which was a 3-hour drive away from Iloilo. Cy had to visit his accounts there, so I just shopped around. There wasn’t actually any shopping to do since the best stores in the most happening mall in Roxas were already Bench and Penshoppe so just imagine that! I just bought the Le Divorce and Bridget Jones books in Booksale– yep I believe in the province you can find the nice titles heehee! When we got back to Iloilo, we had dinner with his friends at Afrique’s, another good Italian resto.

The next day (Tuesday) was my flight back to Davao. I was so sad!!! I won’t expound on that anymore. Haha. Anyway here are some pics from the trip. There’s really not much I took anyway…

One of the posted signs around the Smallville gimmick parking area

The famous La Paz Batchoy (at Ted’s– we had this for breakfast)

The 300-year old Miag-ao Church, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, an hour away from the city. It is here in this church that I asked for a sign… and got it later that day. Wooooh.

  

A yummy Italian dinner at Cy’s fave resto, Messe– and the best chocolate caramel dessert I’ve ever tasted!

Siyempre I really had to put this. Haha. Spent about half the time tagging along Cy’s trade visits. Taken in Gaisano Mall, Roxas City. (We went on an out of town trip to Roxas, a 3-hour drive per way!)

Lunch at Baybay in Roxas City– the seafood capital of the Philippines. Seafoods galore! Our only pic together. Haha. Compared to before, imagine how both of us are losing our cam-whoring habits. :P

Dinner with Cy’s friends (L-R): April, Vince, Cy, Eunice, and Carl at Afrique’s Italian Resto. Good pizza! 

Iloilo’s definitely a place I’d like to go back to. Not of course entirely coz I’ve got one of my closest friends there, but I’d just like to see how it progresses into a really urbanized city. The restos there are really nice, and the food tastes better than here in Davao I think– not too much barbecue places! Plus, just like downtown Davao, everything is near to each other so you can really say “I’ll be there in two minutes”.

I was also able to go to Roxas City, which I didn’t realize until now was a Cebu Pacific destination pala… another 30 minutes we’d be in Kalibo, and if you drive for another 1.5 to 2 hours you’d be in Caticlan! By the end of this year I hope to go to Boracay since I haven’t met my yearly quota :P, with Kara, John Rae, some others and hopefully if Cy can make it. :)

This is making me cry. Big time. :(

Got this from Tiff.

The Meantime Girl

She’s the one you call when you’re bored because she makes you laugh. She’s the one you talk to when you’re feeling down because she’s willing to lend an ear and be a friend. She’s not the one you call when you need a date to your company’s Christmas party, or to go dancing with on a Saturday night. She’s the one you spend time with between girlfriends, before you find “The One”. You know, the one you keep in the MEANTIME.

She’s not one of the guys, not a tomboy, but you don’t look at her as a “real” woman, either. She’s not bitchy enough, moody enough, or sexy enough to be seen in the light. She’s too laid-back, too easily amused by the same things your male buddies are amused by. She’s too understanding, too comfortable. Doesn’t make you feel nervous or excited the way a “real” woman does. But she’s cool, nice and funny, and attractive enough that when you’re lonely and need intimate female companionship, she’ll do just fine.

You don’t have to wine and dine her because she knows the real you already, and you don’t have any facades to keep up, no pretense to preserve. You’re not trying to get anything of substance out of her. She’s not easy, but you know that she cares about you and is attracted to you. And you know that you don’t have to explain yourself or the situation, that she’ll be able to cope with the fact that this isn’t the beginning of a relationship or that there’s any possiblity that you have any real romantic feelings for her.

It won’t bother her that you’ll get up in the morning, put on your pants, say goodbye, and go on a date with the woman you’ve been mooning over for weeks who finally agreed to go out with you. She’ll settle for a goodbye hug and a promise to call her and tell her how the date went. She’s just so cool… why can’t all women be like that?!

But deep down, if you really think about it (which you probably don’t… because to you, the situation between the two of you isn’t important enough to merit any real thought) you know that it’s really not fair.

You know that although she would never say it, it hurts her to know that despite all her good points and all the fun you two have, you don’t think she’s good enough to spend any real time with. Sure, it’s mostly her fault, because she doesn’t have to give in to your needs – she could really play hard-to-get. Bitch like the rest of them do, if she really wanted to. But you and she both know that she probably couldn’t pull it off. Maybe she’s too short, or a little overweight, or has big birthmark on her forehead, or works at Taco Bell, or just really not that type.

Whatever the reason, somehow life has given her a lot of really great qualities but has left out the ones that men want (or think they want) in a woman. So she remains forever the funny friend, the steadfast companion, the secret lover, and you go on searching for your goddess who will somehow be everything you ever wanted in a woman.

You’ll joke to her that she should be the best man at your wedding, and she’ll laugh and make a joke about a smelly rental tux.

She doesn’t captivate you with her beauty, or open doors with her smile.

Mainly, she blends in with the crowd. She’s safe. She doesn’t want to be the center of attention and turn the heads of everyone in the room. But she wants to turn someone’s head. She wants to be SPECIAL to someone, too. We all do.

She has feelings. She has a heart. In fact, she probably has a bigger heart than any woman you’ve ever known because she’s had a front-row seat to The Mess That Is Your Life, and she likes you anyway.

She obviously sees something worthwhile and redeeming in you because although you’ve given her nothing, absolutely no reason to still be around, she is.

- Anonymous

A realization

People always leave.

And things always change.

NO MATTER how much you say they won’t, THEY ALWAYS WILL. Maybe not now, but EVENTUALLY.

Guess you just have to make sure you’re not the one left behind.

Remind me that we’ll always have each other when everything else is gone.

Dig – Incubus

We all have a weakness but some of ours are easy to identify
Look me in the eye and ask for forgiveness
We’ll make a pact to never speak that word again, yes you are my friend

We all have something that digs at us, at least we dig each other
So when weakness turns my ego up I know you’ll count on the me from yesterday

If I turn into another, dig me up from under what is covering the better part of me
Sing this song, remind me that we’ll always have each other when everything else is gone

We all have a sickness that cleverly attaches and multiplies no matter how we try
We all have someone that digs at us, at least we dig each other
So when sickness turns my ego up I know you’ll act as a clever medicine

If I turn into another, dig me up from under what is covering the better part of me
Sing this song, remind me that we’ll always have each other when everything else is gone
Oh each other…. when everything else is gone.

I’m just sayin’…

Sabi mo kanina, “Papalinis pa nga ako ng kotse para sayo eh. Nakakahiya naman.”

Ayoko maging demanding, o condescending, o makwenta… pero alam mo ba pinaggagagawa ko? Wala sa kalingkingan yung gagawin mo…

Nagpa-ayos ako ng kilay. Nagpagupit ako. Nagpatanggal ako ng bigote. Nagpatanggal ako ng buhok diyan sa baba. Nagpakulay ako ng buhok. Nagpapayat ako. 

Sinasabi ko lang. Alam ko hindi mo naman sinabi sa akin na gawin ko yun eh. Siyempre para sa sarili ko rin. Pero kumbaga pinaghandaan ko ang pagbisita ko sayo. 

… Paghandaan mo din naman ang pagpunta ko. Huwag mo akong hayaang magsisi.

Same same weekend

So this weekend was nothing different– I had my usual routine of swimming-mall-home-mall-mass-mall the entire 2 days. Hahaha. I had my last swimming lesson on Saturday, so now I can officially swim, yay! :) I won’t be scared of falling in the middle of the ocean na next time I get on a banana boat :P I find swimming interesting ah, I think in the future I might take advanced lessons, or even maybe get a diving license! I’m taking that from John Rae who got his diving license in Denmark, then his advanced open water diving license in Egypt. Oha! Doesn’t really matter to me where I get it but it’s something I will look into…

Anyway after the lesson I went to Gmall to check the status of my application for a Sun line. Apparently they still needed my payslip even if I already submitted my ITR and 2 competitor bills. Hellllooooo, I’m just applying for the 350 plan no! It’s not like I can’t pay for it, bayaran ko pa yung buong 2 years eh! It’s annoying that Sun Cellular takes particularly long to approve an application. Anyhoo after that I bought a pair of shoes (on sale!), and a bunch of junk food to eat at home.

And so I went home, then left again at 5pm to have my hair dye applied. The color isn’t too light but at least it lightened up my face a bit which is fine. I’m not really aiming to get those super visible, obvious hair colors that people will refer to you as “the girl with the colored hair…” Haha! Then I went to SM to find a pair of shorts since I only have one pair, and I’m particularly fond of wearing shorts nowadays since no one to dress up for anyway :P– so I was lucky to have spotted a perfect pair on sale again at Maldita! Heehee. The weekends are getting to be particularly boring especially when all I can do is leave the house then go shopping and blast my money! Good thing I had swimming lessons to take at least half the day the past weeks, but for the next weeks I have to find something else to do. The long awaited DJ lessons maybe?

Today naman I spent the entire morning and afternoon downloading the new songs based on iTunes. I always keep myself updated of the newest songs based on iTunes or Billboard, so you can find any Top 40 song on my playlist! Haha. I went to mass at 6pm then went to Gmall again to have my glasses repaired and to buy wet tissues. Now it’s 9:30pm and I’m home na. Time is so slow here in Davao!!!

Anyhoo I’m also starting to get the hang of downloading full albums nowadays. I downloaded the following albums today:

Shwayze by Shwayze. A rap-ish album from 22 year old rapper Shwayze. His music sounds a bit like Pharrell Williams, with light, floating beats. I really really love Buzzin’ (my fave song for the moment)! A great CD for hanging out at the beach!

We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things by Jason Mraz. Jason Mraz is back with a new album! I haven’t had the chance to listen to the previous ones after Waiting For My Rocket To Come, but I really really like this album than his first one! Jason Mraz’s cool, soothing voice is really nice to listen to, coupled with his light, upbeat songs. Great for listening in bed. Haha. I especially love his duet with Colbie Caillat, Lucky.

The Block by New Kids on the Block. Believe it or not I’m not familiar with any of the NKOTB songs from the 90’s… the first boy bands I was aware of were already Boyzone, Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, who were apparently followers of the NKOTB boyband phenomenon! Anyway I listened to this album, and in fairness the songs are cool– Jordan Knight and Joey McIntyre’s voices give that distinct smooth, sexy, R&B-ish sound to the album. Plus the artists they’ve worked with in this album are quite notable– Ne-Yo, The Pussycat Dolls, and Lady GaGa among many others!

Right now still on my downloading queue in LimeWire are the 2 Jonas Brothers albums (Jonas Brothers and A Little Bit Longer) and the soundtrack of Camp Rock. Yeah I did watch it and I found it cute naman! Though the acting was really bad the songs are catchy anyway, especially This Is Me– there’s even a local version of it na nga eh! But anyway I’ll post the mini-reviews soon!

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Time really passes by fast… I remember I was counting down since 34 days until September 20th. Now it’s down to 6 days, grabe! It’s just like Christmas where the thrill is in the waiting but once it actually comes then it doesn’t feel any different. I was at mass kanina and I was laughing and cringing by myself thinking of possible scenarios of what can take place this coming weekend. Then suddenly I felt the butterflies in my stomach. I’m both excited and scared, especially during the first meeting at the airport!

… Then there’s an Ateneo-La Salle game pala on Sunday. I hope Ateneo wins and that way I’ll have 2 free dinners, one from the previous game and the other one for Sunday’s game!

Makeover… 75% done

So I’m still not over my vanity streak… today was torture! After lunch I had my upper lip waxed at Hair Zone in Victoria Plaza. It didn’t take long, it just took about 10 minutes total– my upper lip was first waxed, then threaded for the excess hair. I thought that waxing was gonna be just one strip and then there goes all the excruciating pain, but apparently not! The waxer did it portion by portion of my upper lip, I think she waxed it thrice per side, eeeeek!

And as if that pain wasn’t enough… I got a brazilian wax after work too. Hahaha. Okay, was that too much information? :P Well I was planning to do it over the weekend, but I decided to do it tonight nalang. Apparently you can’t wet the waxed part for about 8 hours, and I didn’t wanna waste my weekend not moving– so at least if I do it tonight the 8 hours will go by quickly just by sleeping right?

The brazilian wax was… OUCH! I didn’t shriek at all when the waxer first pulled that strip off (I’ve never waxed down there before), but it hurt! It’s nothing you can’t handle though. And since I had much more hair down there than on my upper lip, it took a lot of repetition to get everything out. So just imagine, my toes would be curling everytime the waxer pulled out that strip… AIEEEE!

Anyway I feel neat and clean down there. Hahaha. There’s a first time for everything and I’m glad I did it. I still feel sore now but I can wash, gym, and swim by tomorrow so, yay! So much for vanity no?! I’m 75% done with my self-makeover and pampering. First I had my hair cut, then had my eyebrows threaded, then my upper lip threaded, then the brazilian wax. Last one on the list? Hair dye! That’s the plan this weekend! :)

Like my new hair?

Haha, yeah I know bangs are in but I DID NOT get these to catch up with the trend! I just wanted to change my look a bit, that’s all… Now I just need to iron my hair every day so it always looks like this! :)

People always leave…

I just got the *sniff*, sad news yesterday straight from the “horse’s mouth”… one of my best friends in MISE– Joost from the Netherlands, resigned! Huhuhu! He wasn’t gonna expat anyway since he wanted to stay with his GF in the Netherlands, and he tried applying to an expat position in Sweden but he didn’t get it. So he then took up a small Dutch company on their offer to join them as a Logistics SAP consultant. I’m happy for him, but sad too that he’s leaving… siya yung pinaka-gusto ko sa lahat ng ka-batch namin, grabe! Gustong gusto ko siya! Haha! Anyway here are some of our good pics from the modules, I’ll miss him whenever I visit Amsterdam since he’ll be assigned to another city :(

So, ayan, umalis na yung tanging dahilan ko para mag-stay sa MISE! Huhuhuhu! Grabe! Siya ang dahilan ko kung baket ako manghang-mangha sa kahit anong galing sa bansa niya, siya ang dahilan kung bakit pabalik-balik ako sa Amsterdam at naging paboritong lugar ko na iyon, siya ang pinakamatalik kong kaibigan na galing sa bansa niya! 

Hinding-hindi ko makakalimutan ang unang beses na naging magka-klase kami at sobrang tahimik niya tapos hindi ko man lang siya kinakausap. Nalaman ko maya-maya na magiging ka-grupo ko pala siya sa virtual forum namin. At sa bandang huling araw ng Module 1, natipuhan ko na siya at masaya ako nang malaman kong hindi lang kami magtatrabaho nang sabay sa virtual forum, pero magkakasama at magiging magka-klase pa kami sa Module 2! Hindi ko siya nakasama noong Module 3, pero naging magka-grupo ulit kami bago mag-Module 4 para sa virtual forum ulit… at noong Module 4, kaklase ko siya ulit! Yayyy! Grabe na kami mag-usap niyan sa class, natutuwa naman ako :)

At pagkatapos ng Module 2 noong nagpunta kami ni Pai sa Paris at Amsterdam, sinamahan niya ako at tinour ako dahil lumipad na si Pai noon papuntang Vienna. Isa yun sa mga pinaka-nakakatuwang gabi ng buhay ko! Kaya naman pagkatapos ko ng Module 3 at dumaan ulit ako ng Amsterdam galing Istanbul at nasa Module siya, nalungkot talaga ako :( Eto yung picture namin after Module 2, noong sinamahan at tinour niya ako sa Amsterdam… with my favorite Belgian fries!

Hayayay. Isa din siya sa mga dahilan kung bakit ko gusto noon magpa-expat sa Rotterdam. Or ngayon kahit sa Europe nalang. Mami-miss ko siya kausapin sa chat namin sa office! Pero alam ko nandiyan lang naman siya, alam ko na ang aming pagkakaibigan ay higit sa aming samahan sa Maersk…