Balaoi,Ilocos Norte

Maira-ira Beach, blue lagoon

Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte

As far as I'm concerned, I consider Pagudpud,Ilocos Norte is one of the most time-worthy place to visit that is close to Manila. You can just enjoy the quiet life of the province ore enjoy varieties or activity without going to one place far from another. You may laze under the sun, surf, hike, do food trip, dive, stargazing, snorkeling, tour the historical places, enjoy the scenic vies and most of all spend quality time with your loved ones.

We spent our week-long Anniversary vacation just like how we did last year since Aaron doesn't really want to do the whole island hoping in Palawan this month. Being very familiar with the place and the mode of transactions there, we decided that it will be relaxing and less of a stress to come back there instead of trying to discover a new place like classic tourists. Besides we were really satisfied during our visit last year that we can almost predict the outcome of the trip (which is good).

From Eastwood City, we stopped by Robinson's Galleria in Ortigas for about 30 minutes to get snorkels and more memory cards before heading to Florida bus station in Sampaloc, Manila.

We weren't able to make reservation. An.d the Deluxe bus that directly goes to Pagudpud leaves at 9:30pm so to make sure that we can secure tickets for the seat, we took a cab via EDSA and Quezon Avenue, we reached the terminal at 20:50. Good enough time to do a little extra shopping for snacks and drinks in the nearby convinience store while waiting for the stop over in Marsha's.

Our bus left the terminal at exactly 21:35 Instead of playing a movie,the driver chose to tune up to a radio station that played love song which added to relaxing atmosphere of the starry night. And we kept fooling around talking criticizing the lyrics or random songs and reminiscing our last trip to Pagudpud, and how he really crave for the Empanadita's- that we should get a lot of it.

We were just tripped-out because our bus keeps stopping along the high-way whenever we come across another Florida bus. We were guessing that they're just cross-checking the tickets and stuff like that but we stopped for like 4 times or more for he whole trip.

There was no traffic or road trouble so we fell asleep and woke up realizing that we were already in Tarlac,Tarlac at 00:27. I kept looking around at the signboards while doing time checks so here's what I've got in my phone: Buang,La Union -02:01;Candon, Ilocos -03:25; Quirino Bridge in Ilocos Sur -4:19; Marsha's Delicacies in Bantay, Ilocos Sur-4:27; Vigan, Ilocos Sur- 5:40; Laoag City-5:50; Laoag-Cubao Terminal station- 6:18 ; Bangui at around 7:30 Then I started taking pictures of the windmills and the lighthouse along the way so I stopped the precise tracking. I was also exchanging messages to Mean-the owner of Polaris so they can time it and pick us up from the bus terminal beside the Municipal Town Hall.

Its kinda weird since we were like the only one's left in the bus who perfectly doesn't understand and speak Ilocano. And the guys who were talking gibberish with the bus driver and conductor and kept looking at us giggling like they were betting on something. Finally somebody asked us where were we headed to and if we need some sort of transportation to get to the resort, offering their tricycle. I just politely answered that we're going to Polaris and that they're going to pick us up.

We arrived at Polaris before 9:30 so the whole trip was less than 12 hours. We've finally met the owner Mean who wasn't there last year when went there. first thing I noticed was that she's nice and chatty which is a good trait for a host. They took us to our room in the 3rd floor which has a veranda facing the beach.

to be continued...

Chuck " The Ice Man" Liddell in Manila

After losing the fight in UFC 79 to Rashad “Sugar” Evans, The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) legend fighter Chuck "The Ice Man" Liddell graced an appearance before his Filipino fans in the Mall of Asia (MOA) Atrium yesterday, September 21, 2008 at around 4:00pm.

The practice was said to be a show to promote the upcoming UFC 88 fight where Liddell will try to win back his title from Evans.

The Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) enthusiasts flooded the Atrium as early as 2:00pm waiting for their hero's appearance. To most people the wait is worth it since its not like they see "The Ice Man" in flesh everyday plus he showed them some of his practice moves which of course thrilled them even more. After the show he signed up autographs on almost "anything" that the fans can grab to get his signature.

Since MMA is a growing hobby/sport in the country, with the UFC as one of its major influences, we will surely watch all the upcoming fights. Although " The Ice Man " will always be an icon that the new fighters will look up to regardless the outcome of UFC 88.

Deer strapped on the car

Freaking hilarious!

LMAO. I was sitting on the couch with my big-big smile while watching this video.

I personally think this is cute and funny especially the part where a big guy is beating the crap out of the strapped deer like he's still not decided whether he's scared or what (of course its only funny because its not a real one)... I would have done this too just for jokes.

Whoever made this video...Good job guys!! hope you don't get complains from PETA lol :P

Oktoberfest??

Does this famous festival name be dragged and used for the 4-month long "Oktoberfest" of San Miguel Corporation?



True that many of us can't get enough of the Oktoberfest fad eventhough we are already celebrating it in the country for a good long 2 months or so for the last years. Okay fine let's just say that they want to bring fun t more people...

Re- connecting

I haven't really talked to anyone for a year or two..not even my closest friends from college.

Efforts had been made but I gave up thinking that it's just mathematically impossible to fit to each other's schedule. Everyone has a handful of things to do in mind plus the fact that most of us work or moved to another city after college.

A pity... but then you learn to entrust your friendship to social networking sites like Friendster, Facebook or Myspace. If you're lucky enough someone might have created and organized a group for your batch. You can also reach them thrffough Yahoo groups because only a few have time to spare for blogs like this one.

People have been busy running around, fooling around, trying to plant their roots somewhere they can grow hoping that one day their hard work will payoff and they will reap the rewards.

For the past 2 weeks I had some "free time" and the chance to talk to some dear friends and acquaintances. I'll admit that it was somehow exciting to hear from the people that I care about after some time. However, I won't deny the fact that a lot of people who are trying to to get in touch with me means no good at all. I can even consider them as nothing but a waste of time and electricity (using the laptop).

I talked to some of my closest girlfriends from high school and college and we all agreed that we should meet ASAP - and of course we will.

On the other hand, to all those who have aggravated and provoked me... "See ya later hater"!! Say goodbye to messaging me for your blabby chats..Sorry guys - I'm so blocking you from pestering my world! Its time to make something out of your own lives and stop interrogating people like private investigators.

To my real friends... see you all soon!
:)

The way I remember passwords

Wow after months of trouble trying to get into this account..here i am..struggling to put in words the random ideas in my head for the last hour while trying out random passwords.. It's just so secure that I can't even guess my own password. With all the hacking technologies this days, can't be too careless can I?

I recall reading something about how you can tell the person's priority in life just by looking closely to the email addresses they use: the screen name and the passwords they use.. its either the exact words that describes their life or the other way around- the exact opposite. Which do you think is mine??

Its so easy to lose yourself in the cyber world, being in contact with people that you haven't seen for ages and even those you haven't seen at all.

Its like going to a place where nobody knows you personally. Therefore you can feel so free that you don't have to worry about what people will say or think about you if they see you doing this or that.. besides they don't even know you at all so they don't have a point of comparison to be able to tell whether you're being better or worst from the last time they remember you.

An example I can give now is from a news i read this month. Its about a professor who got kicked out of the school he was teaching when the students found his naked pictures in a Gay dating site.

Apparently the students found a weird sort of name at the bottom of thee slide show page prepared by the professor during a lecture. The students got curious and googled the said name and boom!! They saw their professor's profile saying that he is gay; dating gays and stuff like that with photos of his naked body. It turned out that the word at the bottom of the slide was his user name for the gay dating site. Later some student passed the information to the school admin and the professor was removed from the school.

Imagine how all those people around you feel and think when they were filling out the Internet forms where they chose a user name and passwords..

Want to know someone deeper? Give it a try? Crack the password and break the code!

Applying for Passport in DFA

Few days after obtaining my last requirement for the passport application, I went to Department of Foreign Affair (DFA) in Pasay with my friend Charry and just get it over with.

I was told that you have to be there as early as you can because if you're going to be there at around 7a.m. , all you can get is a schedule of appointment for the next day or who knows when?..We as soon as we finished our shift at 3:30a.m. thinking that we're gonna be early enough to beat the crowd.

On our way Charry was reminding me of things to do and to ignore the fixers outside the compound. I've never been to DFA and I don't even know how it actually looks like so that's a really big help. Thanks Cha! :)

I was surprised to see that the road outside the DFA brick wall was so buy and I could have had mistaken it for a pier port because of the ambiance. the bright yellow light; all the people roaming the street; the guys yelling at people like barkers/porters saying " O bilisan nyo na magka-cut off na and DFA!! " I was thinking " What the heck? Its only like past 4a.m. and they're already cutting the line? " and some guys started dragging us to a corner store asking if we have all of our requirements already and if we already have copies and pictures and stuff like that.

They would really put the pressure on you and make you think that they really were part of the DFA process when in reality they were trying to scam the people by overcharging with the services. (You know the supply and demand thing).

Unluckily Cha didn't make it inside the DFA compound because they only allow applicants with enough requirement for either new application or renewal of passport. We both agreed that she'll wait outside until 6a.m. and will go home after and we'll just communicate through text.

I walked in expecting that I'll just go straight to the covered basketball court since its still early. To my surprised the basketball court was already filled and I have to wait in line outside. I had no other choice so I waited for more than 2 hours just to get in and another 3 hours to finish the whole precess.Good thing that I secured all the documents and didn't get my picture from the sidewalk where the fixers are.

As a tip I would suggest future applicants to secure all their papers and jump right into the line inside the court since its more convenient. While waiting you can befriend someone whose sitting right beside so that you can secure your line/ seat (which is always moving as the process goes).

Don't bother getting your pictures and stuff photo-copied outside the compound because there are booths setup inside for those needs. Make sure you don't give them your originals unless the instructions said so. In My case they took the originals of authenticated Birth Certificate and NBI clearance.

In the posters everywhere it says the "rush" which cost P750.00 will be done within 14 working days and the "regular " that cost P500.00 will be ready within a month. So I picked the faster one. Ironically at the end of my process the posted schedules for the rush is more that how ever long its supposed to be.

I didn't really care much at that time. Out of exhaustion and lack of sleep I decided to sign up for the delivery service via LBC or To-Go !which only cost me an extra hundred or so but will save me from the struggles of claiming it personally.

CFO Counseling for Philippine Passport

Prior to my passport application in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) , I had to attend some counseling session and get a certificate from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) in the The St. Mary Euphrasia Foundation-Center for Overseas Workers (SMEF-COW) compound in Cubao .It was a pre-requisite counseling program for fiancees and spouses of foreign nationals before they can obtain passport or migrate to other countries.

I called their office a week ago to check on the requirements and schedule of counseling. They said they have 3 schedules per day and that the counseling can take 2-3 hours.

There'd been other plans for the day so I decided to go for the 8:30 am session. I got up early in the morning and re-check all the documents needed to attend the counseling.

a. NSO authenticated birth certificate
b. NSO authenticated marriage certificate
c. NBI clearance, company ID and more IDs just in case

It was already quarter to 8:00 so i was in big rush thinking of the classical scene in a government office. crowded, seminars starts whether you are there or not, and most of all the snobby workers who wouldn't look you in the eyes or smile. The cab driver took the Marikina road from Eastwood City and it took us less than 20 minutes to get right inside the " Giant green gate" like how they described in the website's direction.

The guard was friendly but he made me nervous when he said that they no longer conduct counseling. My first question was "Bakit Manong?"( Why is that mr.?) then he started laughing and pointed the direction to the building's door. That was the time when i felt the relief and noticed that there are some people waiting in a little shed outside the door wondering if there's some sort of a line.

Basic procedures, First, you will have to sign in a log book then hand them the original and copy of papers so they can verify if you're qualified for the counseling. Second, they will hand you out the information form to fillout aswell as the survey questionaires about the overall service you were provided after you pa the P250.00 counseling fee.Third is for them to take your picture for their records.

I was in panic because I haven't filled out the papers yet and its already 8:30, at least in my watch. And so I walked straight to the wooden tables and sat there until one of the assisting ladies called my attention asking " miss, is that your blazer?" that was when i started laughing guilty. I forgot that one of the girl lend me that purplish-brown blazer for the picture taking because I'm wearing a sleeveless blouse. ( nyek..nyek..i brushed it off after :p )

Surprisingly there's only like 10 people attending the counseling. They told us all to go straight to the video presentation room for the orientation. On my way i saw the rooms designated to some countries like US, Japan, Italy and another room for others.. including me..and we were told that the rooms are for group counseling.

The actual counseling can be divided into three parts:
1.) Video presentation with Q&A
2.)Group counseling
3.) Individual counseling

After the presentation I went downstairs to wait for my counseling and since I'm the only one bound to Canada from that group i didn't wait that long. another point I think is that they can already tell the real circumstances about my case as we went by so there's really no need to ask more questions.

I filled out my survey sheet and gave it a perfect score although the facility wasn't that great. What do I care about the facilities as long as they do the job right?:) and knowing that most personnel gave their best to make the real point, I think its good enough.

The wait fro the print out of the green counseling certificate was also fast and all i had to do is to photocopy the certificate and go to the actual CFO office at the back of the Building. They filed the papers from SMEF-COW and printed a blue certificate that cost P400.00.

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