Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Welcome Shots

As a break from the attack of letters, I decided to post my shots where I welcome anyone to a place of refuge.

Ta Prohm temple


Ivatan house

bahay-bakasyunan ata to

villa in Mimosa

These structures offer protection from the elements of nature. But this basic need is not so basic in our country. Whenever I walk home, I pass by a homeless man who sleeps on the street with pieces of cardboard as his sheets and the cold, hard pavement as his bed. This has been my reality check. I become so sheltered, cloistered in my cocoon of convenience sometimes that encounters like these send me crashing back to Earth.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Terminal 3

There used to be 2 terminals in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Now there are four terminals. PAL is in Terminal 2 while Cebu Pacific, PAL Express and Air Philippines use Terminal 3. The other two terminals include the one serving non-PAL and Cebu Pacific international flights and the old domestic airport serving other domestic airlines namely Zest Air and Sea Air. Until now, I don't know how they determined the numeric order of these terminals.

I know a lot of passengers who end up in the wrong terminal. I myself is one of them. With my PAL-issued ticket, I proceeded to the PAL Centennial Terminal. Only to find out when I got there that I should be in the new terminal since my flight will be operated by PAL’s sister company, Air Philippines. Probably one of the reasons that they require you to be in the airport several hours before your flight is to preclude missing your flight when you end up in the wrong terminal. You should have ample time to switch terminals should the need arise, or better yet make sure what your terminal is beforehand. Good thing, I was early at that time so I had enough time to go the correct terminal.

Amongst the four terminals, Terminal 3 is the newest. As a friend said, "Dama ang pag-unlad!" I like the fact that it's the only terminal that allows passengers inside. However, the birth pains during its start-up were something else. But that's a different story. Now the newest terminal just turned one!

And to pay homage to Terminal 3 which reminds me of BKK's Suvarnabhumi Airport. Here are pictures of its interior. (This is what happens when you arrive in the airport 30 minutes before your friends do, you have a lot of time to enjoy the surroundings.)

check-in counters that are not yet utilized

escalator to the departure area

I love the terminal's shiny floor and the "striped" ceilings!

the persons responsible for the squeaky clean floors

the terminal boasts of a lot of empty spaces

lines....lines...lines.....

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

creature of habit

A creature of habit, I discovered I am. And anything that may disturb this equilibrium troubles me a great deal. But life is full of changes. I told myself if I allow all these aberrations trouble me each time, then I may be so messed up not knowing what has hit me. A friend told me changes build character. I agree that it should do so.

And yet, there are times that I find myself struggling in dealing with changes. It may take some time for me to get adjusted. But I know I will be fine whatever changes may arise as long as I toughen up and brave the waves of change.

But in moments I find myself grasping for constancy, I find comfort in these lines:

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Starstruck

I am such a huge Amazing Race fan that I tried to pretend I was in season 2's finale. The video was nothing close to the real thing but I am satisfied with it.

Last year, I bumped into Marc Nelson and Paula Taylor in a restaurant in Makati. And just yesterday, I "ran into" Rovilson Fernandez in Globe's Run for Home. My collection is complete (almost complete, check out my picture with Rovilson).
And here are my pictures with the most fun team that ever joined Amazing Race Asia. I hope there's going to be an all-star selection pretty soon, cause I bet they will be shoo-ins.

with Marc and Paula



me and Rovilson, yeah he's that tall!

I miss watching Amazing Race Asia. I wonder when the next season will start.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

when birds aren't the only ones who tweet


People's need to connect has been addressed by the postal service, then by the telephone, and now with an unbelievable fashion, the Internet has connected people unlike any other. I can still remember my amazement upon receiving my first SMS. The magic of reading a message and the ability to reply instantaneously, unlike its pager predecessor, is amazing.

Message sent, these are two revolutionary words at the turn of the millennium. We have come a long way from that.

In math, we were taught several relationships exist, one to one, many to one, one to many and many to many. Micro-blogging sites such as Plurk and Tweeter, have put a different twist to one to many.

And now this addicting need (for some anyway) to publish status updates or post one-liners, which keeps you up to date with your friends' whereabouts and sometimes outpouring of rants or raves. These sites have been repositories of simple random thoughts that we feel the need to share. Some rambling may be too revealing and yet we reveal ourselves to our network with more openness than we may have allowed face to face.

So what is this need to be heard? I think as individuals when we need to say something, and you think everyone seems to have heard you but nobody seems listening. And this attempt to reach out is maybe a cry for attention when we feel like nobody's listening in this crazy, busy world.

These social networking sites have allowed even the shy ones to post a shout out to increase the sample size of those who can hear and hope that at least one will listen. But I think even if nobody is listening, we sometimes get a little attention or our own five minutes of fame, in this case, few lines of fame.

Like any form of communication, the message has to be sent first. And that's the initial step.

Or maybe these status updates are just the culmination of our ego-centric culture. This nagging feeling that says "Hey look at me and look at what I have been up to!". Maybe the truth is only a few people care. Some of us just want to put it out there.
Coincidentally, I chanced upon this Venn diagram which attempts to illustrate the implications of these sites.

Source: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/social-media.png

Maybe we're just bored and have nothing else to do. Whatever the reasons maybe, I'm hooked on these status updates. It's nice to be reminded that wherever we are, we go through a myriad of emotions parallel to someone else’s and that we've got company. Reading others’ updates may also serve as reminders that we have nothing to brag about because we’re all in the same boat fighting the same race.

Eventually, I"ll outgrow these updates.

For now, gtg, I have to post a new status update.

Calumbuyan


Mang Crisanto

Mang Crisanto has been looking after Calumbuyan island for 16 years. He and his son are the only mainstays in an island frequented by tourists by day but mostly empty at night. The first time I went to Calumbuyan, I didn't see much besides a nice beach canopied by a row of trees which lined up along the shoreline.


When we visited the island last year, we just ate lunch at the beach. We didn't snorkel around the island. Upon returning to Manila, I googled the island and found out it has the best coral formations in the world. We were there and we didn't get to see it.


Corals near the Calumbuyan sea wall

Thank God, I was blessed with another opportunity to visit Calumbuyan again last weekend. We swam with the current this time as instructed by our very helpful guide, Gary (09184637524). Something that we didn't do last time.

these are colorful corals

And boy, they were the most amazing coral formations I've ever seen in my entire life. For a moment, I had to blink and remind myself that I was not watching the National Geographic Channel or Discovery. With all the multiple colors that I saw, it was difficult to believe it was real. There were several schools of fish. There were the small fast ones, which made me feel like I was watching a video in fast forward mode. There were bright colored ones which seem to glow in the dark. The corals seem to be talking to me particularly those brain-like ones and the cabbage corals. There were also huge table corals which remind me of a lazy Susan. The beauty of the sea is quite difficult to capture in words and picture.

The Calamian group of islands has a lot to offer but I would put Calumbuyan on the top of my places-to-visit in this part of town. I won't get tired of staring at the beatiful creatures of the sea. Now I wonder why Ariel would ever want to be part of our world when her world is like that. Maybe, we really get no satisfaction. Or we fail to appreciate what we really have. Or maybe Ariel wasn't living anywhere near Calumbuyan.

Friday, July 3, 2009

my small flat world

With the Internet, the world has flattened and reduced to a size so small that it has shrank to a size, that it has exploded in my face and expanded to its natural size.

I am amazed by the vastness of the world and still ponder at the possibility of individuals not even leaving the place where they were born. Phew, the size of the world as I know it, changes each moment I try to comprehend its immensity.

And yet, sometimes we confine ourselves to a few square meters of limited space. Such complete waste of space for some but for others, this set-up works perfectly well. To each, his own, as long as your world is not hinged on the expansion or contraction of the space around you.

So however I convince myself that it's a small world after all, its true size smacks me in the face with intensity only a Michael Bay’s alien robot can relate to.

Now, if only I can make sense of this entry.......

Jumpin' high as the world turns