From the monthly archives: September 2010
When I went to Cebu two years ago, I know I said I’d return again the following year. That obviously didn’t happen for several reasons, and I kind of succumbed to the thought that I’d rather go somewhere else rather than visit the same place again. So many places to see, so little time, yes?
But when Cebu Pacific had a seat sale, and my colleague invited us to go to Cebu, I jumped at the chance, dragging Grace and Jana with me. The flight was booked by April, so we had the time to pay off the tickets and save up for the activities for our (somewhat) epic weekend.
My real intention of going to Cebu wasn’t really to go around and sight see since I’ve done a bit of it the last time I was there. The initial intention was to meet up with my best friend who was there for his GX programme, but it turns out he goes back to Manila a week earlier than our flight. We wanted to go to Bantayan Island or those other beaches in Cebu, but schedule won’t permit, so we settled instead on a sort of beach-y and food trip weekend. Not as epic as Coron, probably, but relaxing enough to make it epic in my standards.
What’s with the word “epic”, anyway?
Let’s break it down by days. WARNING: Photo-heavy post!
DAY 1:
Airport, chatting, reading while waiting for the plane. Grace spotted Coco Martin on the same flight at the front, and the plane was full, so no chance for photo-ops. He was really cute in person, though, and I think the FA’s agree. ;)
We got to Cebu after lunch, and headed straight to BE Resorts in Mactan Island to meet with our other friends who flew there Friday. BE Resorts used to be Microtel Cebu. I’ve never been to Microtel, but what I know from the old name was it was also cheaper than it was now. But the hotel is still pretty, and we had a pretty great view of the pool and the beach, even if the beach isn’t that pretty. See how many times I used the word “pretty” there?
Allow me to use a common introduction to horror stories to start this post: This time last year, it was a dark and stormy night.
This time last year, my parents, my best friend and I were carrying our important belongings through chest deep flood water across the street to our neighbor’s house, where they have been waiting for us to evacuate for a while now. The rain won’t stop, and we carried all the important things that we can to their house, where they welcomed us in one room. We cleaned up, changed and prayed and listened to the rain pour down. My parents fell asleep, but my best friend and I were too antsy to do so. We talked in hopes of calming our own fears and listened and prayed for the rain to stop so the water will not go up anymore.
I was expecting the worst the next day. We woke up to this, our house submerged, on our street that has never flooded for the 20 years we’ve lived there:
One year ago.
I’ve been afraid of typhoon season starting ever since that day. Hard rains freak me out, and I find myself always, always praying for sun, and stopping myself from complaining about the heat. Better heat than flood, right?
I always said that I just need to get through this one year anniversary without any major calamity and I will be okay. Just that, and I think I can really, and fully move on. I don’t know how I could say that, but I’m big on dates and anniversaries and all that. I’m not a human calendar for nothing, you know.
But you know what? I will never really know if there will be another Ondoy. It doesn’t matter how much weather watching I do — if there’s another one, it will come and I am only human. I can’t stop it from happening. I can only do so much, I can only prepare myself so much and read about all the life insurance premiums and acts of God on insurances I can read about, but in the end, it’s all…well, God’s. He commands the weather, and everything else in this world, after all.
Ondoy really changed my life last year, and even if I know I’d rather not experienced it, I am still thankful that it happened. I don’t think I would be the person I am right now if I didn’t. I still don’t understand why it happened to us, to me. I don’t know if I will ever understand it, at least in this lifetime. But it doesn’t really matter if I understand it, or know why it happened. It’s kind of hard to explain, but trying to figure it out will just stress me out, when I can just rest in the fact that God knows and God understands and He will never ever give me anything that I can’t handle (1 Corinthians 10:13). So…why worry, right?
I will never forget what happened on September 26, 2009. I refuse to forget because I don’t want to forget how it changed me and the lessons I have learned. It will always be a part of me. But I will also refuse to worry about it happening again. My God is bigger than any other typhoon or calamity, and I rest in the fact that He is always in control, and He understands even if I do not.
I don’t know if I have thanked everyone who helped, prayed and listened to me and my family during the entire ordeal and after — if I haven’t, well, THANK YOU. You were all God’s blessings to us. Thank you, thank you.
It’s been a year, and I am never more happy when I woke up and saw sunlight shining through my window. :)
And for the record, I want to say that despite all that happened last year, I’m not an Ondoy victim. I’m a survivor. :)
Blessed be His name.
Read other Ondoy related entries in Refine Me:
- 09/28 – I feel like I’m Job
- 10/01 – More Ondoy Aftermath
- 10/02 – Oratio Imperata for Deliverance from Calamities
- 10/17 – Checking In
- 10/29 – Lessons from the Flood # 1: I care
- 11/06 – Lessons from the Flood # 2: God’s Plan
- 11/18 – Hello Hurriance
- 03/25 – Aftershocks
- 07/14 – Scared Senseless
Related posts and such in the world wide web:
Jana told me about this song a few weeks ago, but I didn’t really pay attention to it, up until last Friday when my brother was dropping me off to the airport for my Cebu vacation. Jana liked the video first, but since I’m a lyrics person, I focused on the lyrics first. :) From that weekend until now, I couldn’t stop listening to the song.
Just look at the lyrics:
Just The Way You Are
Bruno MarsHer eyes, her eyes
make the stars look like they’re not shining
Her hair, her hair
falls perfectly without her trying
She’s so beautiful
And I tell her everyday (yeahh)I know, I know
When I compliment her she won’t believe me
And it’s so, it’s so
Sad to think that she don’t see what I see
But everytime she asks me “Do I look okay?”
I sayWhen I see your face
There’s not a thing that I would change
‘Cause you’re amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
‘Cause girl you’re amazing
Just the way you areHer lips, her lips
I could kiss them all day if she let me
Her laugh, her laugh
she hates but I think it’s so sexy
She’s so beautiful
And I tell her everydayOh you know, you know, you know
I’d never ask you to change
If perfects what you’re searching for
Then just stay the same
So don’t even bother asking if you look okay
‘Cause you know I’ll sayWhen I see your face
There’s not a thing that I would change
‘Cause you’re amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile
The whole world stops and stares for a while
‘Cause girl you’re amazing
Just the way you areThe way you are
The way you are
So, so, sweet. And yes, the video is very cute, too, especially the girl (love her hair, her cheekbones, her smile, her top…can you say pretty?):
I swear, this song brings on such a good vibe that I’ve made it my alarm in the morning, and I keep on listening to it every now and then all day — at home, while preparing for work, breakfast, drinking vitamins for women, while working, walking, and even later at the gym. :) My favorite line from the song would have to be this: Oh you know, you know, you know I’d never ask you to change /If perfects what you’re searching for / then just stay the same. Ah, talk about a self-esteem boost. :)
You know what would make this more awesome? If the video for the song doesn’t just display one pretty girl, but all kinds of girls. You know, girls regardless of skin color, height, weight, race, fashion sense, etc. I mean, the song is a love song, but I think it’s also a song about confidence, and loving yourself because you are beautiful just the way you are. :)
Don’t you think so?
Last year, I remember that I was doing a 30-day blog challenge at this month, which I ultimately failed because of the flood. But as I was browsing through old entries, I saw my birthday greeting to my brother last year, and how I “complained” that we don’t have any decent pictures together.
Well, a year later, and I’m happy we have pictures together now! It’s not always decent, but hey, pictures are pictures!
So let me take a break from working (so much work left to do!) to take the time and greet my favorite and only brother. :)
It’s not my best picture (look at that oiliness!), but I thought it was a really nice picture of us. The jacket is my birthday gift to him (nay on the best weight loss supplements for him, haha), and it’s been a while since I last gave him something I knew he’d really like. :)
He’s getting married in less than a month, too! But that’s for another post, I think.
Happy birthday, Kuya! Alabyu! ♥
I’ve had a lot of long weekends the past year, but I think this recent long weekend has been the most productive of all. Strange, because this long weekend isn’t really planned, but I’ve learned from experience that the unplanned stuff are always the best. Right? :)
Of course it’s not that I didn’t make plans. I did, but the fun thing is I didn’t stress (much) about any of them, and I actually followed through with most of them. Plus, I realized this weekend became a “me” weekend, and I think it has been ages since I last that.
So what exactly did I do?
FRIDAY
I blogged about this before, but I think it’s worth mentioning again that I used to clean my room three times a year when I was in college, once every term break. It’s amazing how much junk a room can accumulate in three to four months’ time, but it’s understandable then because I was a student and I had a lot of stuff in my room. When I started working, I only used my room as a sleeping place, so it got messy but there was no reason to clean it. I don’t have a “fresh start” for every term, anyway.
Anyway, ever since Ondoy, my room has been a royal mess because it acts sort of like my brother’s closet too since he lost all his room’s furniture in the flood. I had my own mess there of course, and my mom has been bugging me to clean it before she left for Saipan and now she’s back, it’s still messy. I’ve put this one off for the longest time but I knew I had to do it especially since the rains were coming, and I don’t want to lose any more books to a flood.
So I finally found the time last Friday — no more putting it off, mostly because I realized I can’t keep on buying books if I don’t have shelf space! So…I cleaned half of my room! :) Yay! I have a more detailed post (with pictures) on my book blog.
Oh, and I now have a count at the total number of books I have yet to read: 52. Heh.
SATURDAY
Saturday was another me day, with a twist. I wasn’t planning to head to my second home, Ortigas, but I received a box of pastel last week and half of it is for my friend, Cors. So I trekked over to Galleria to meet her and to set an appointment with the salon to get myself a well-deserved (and a bit expensive) hair cut. I wasn’t planning to try something new with my hair, but I’m easily convinced to do something lately, so I gave in. The end result? Shorter hair, and bangs. The last time I had bangs, I was what, seven? I can’t remember anymore.
You want a picture? Excuse the low quality here — I suck at self portraits. :P
I kind of wish I could have my hair professionally treated everyday. Hah. Let’s see tomorrow if my hair will continue to behave. :P
SUNDAY
Now, I really wasn’t planning to do anything today, except hear mass and do some writing in the evening. But of course, plans can change and I’m learning to be more spontaneous this time. My best friend, Toni, is finally back from his GX trip (more details at his blog, for sure), and we met up for a yummy (but surely fattening haha) dinner at Flaming Wings. He has pictures so I can’t share yet, but it was a definitely a great way to end the long weekend.
And tomorrow is Monday again. Sigh. Okay, I really don’t mind, although I’m kind of worried at how much work we’ll be facing tomorrow and the next week. But we shall endure. It will be okay. Plus, I have another trip to look forward to this weekend — Cebu trip with friends! :) Yay! I know I said I’d return the following year after I went there recently, but two years isn’t that bad, right? Remind me to write an itinerary — any suggestions? :)
Oh well. Back to our different offices and technology jobs tomorrow! Have a great week, everyone! :)
I have confession to make.
I haven’t been working out as much as I used to.
Eep!
I wished I looked as fit as this woman...but no.
I can’t remember when it started exactly, but I think it started after I got sick last July. I didn’t go to the gym much because I was battling with my lungs thanks to asthma. It was followed by a particularly good bout of fitness thanks to the Rexona Race, where my body fat % went down to 25%, the lowest it’s ever been in so far. Then I started feeling this weird pain on my ankle after I ran again on the treadmill after the race. So I took it easy for a while to make sure my ankle is okay (which reminds me, I still need to go and have them checked).
The problem with this is my schedule. I have no problems with my gym schedule for day shift because I take classes after work, and I get more work outs then. My newer mid shift schedule makes it a bit of a problem, because it’s late, and there are no classes past 1:00pm at the gym, so I end up running. And since I can’t really run because of my ankle pain…what else can I do?
I used to work out 4-5 times a week, but now I’m happy if I hit 3. Remember my laziness last Monday because it’s a holiday? Yeah, that kind of extended almost all week.
Ugh.
After binging on Ben and Jerry’s Peanut Butter Cup ice cream last Sunday (OH MY LORD THE ICE CREAM GOODNESS!), I gave in to my conscience and hit the gym hard yesterday. It’s a good thing it’s a holiday in the US yesterday so I had an excuse to go to work early, so I managed to get a run and attend Body Jam in the afternoon, followed by six sets of ab workouts (yes, I’m crazy).
When I woke up this morning, I felt something I haven’t felt in the longest time: post-exercise pain.
Let me just say: oh how I missed thee!
It sounds crazy, I know, but it’s been a long while since I felt that. You the muscle pains you get after you work out, especially if you haven’t been doing so for a while? That kind of pain. That means my muscles are getting stronger, and after regularly exercising for the past few months, I rarely feel that now. Feeling that in my abs is a welcome thing, because I missed it, even if I can’t laugh so much because of it.
Earlier today, I was working out again and my abs screamed in agony as I was doing planks. Masochistic, I know, but after all the eating I’ve been doing for the past few weeks? Well, someone’s got to pay. I haven’t even done my whole program yet and everything is painful — what more if I did? Eep. Honestly, I would’ve done more if I had time today — if there were pull up bars there, I would’ve even attempted that. Or…okay fine, maybe not. :P Ah pain. You’re welcome, even if I complain about you.
I weighed myself earlier after two weeks or so of hiding from the scale. I’m glad to say that even if I did gain weight, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. I can still do this. A good 10k race should do the trick, and proper diet, of course.
But first, get my ankle checked.
Fitness isn’t an easy road, and frankly, I’m getting tired of being a gym rat, but I can’t back down now after all that I’ve lost. There is no way I am going back there. Nope, no way.
Of course, the presence of this isn’t helping:
Omnomnomnom Pastel! ♥ Thanks Anj! :)
Ah well. :)
