North point 2

(Note: I know this is an extremely late post, 2 months has passed since I promised a part 2. Pardon me.)

Hoping for a calmer weather, we decided to start our trip to La Union in the middle of the day. We were scared out of our wits when we descended the foggy mountains of Baguio. It was such a scary 2 hour ride.

Imagine this: Zero visibility, heavy fog, heavy rains, zigzag roads, cars with no headlights on, and cars surprising you on your way down. You can call me a wuss for not wanting to drive in that condition (let's pretend I could already drive). Anyone would be crazy to drive in that kind of situation. Well, my uncle and my mom are that crazy. 

I was extremely sleepy, but the thrill kept me up. I wanted to close my eyes not because I was tired, but from the butterflies in my stomach. I thought highly of my uncle after the trip for being that brave. Yay for a cray cray family! 

We were wrong in our assumption that the weather was better in San Fernando. To think of it, the weather was worse, minus the crazy fog. It was a good thing the town wasn't prone to floods during the 2 days we were there. My sister and my uncle wanted to play at the local mall's arcade, I just wanted to sleep and play Pottermore. I'm such a lazy-ass sloth. I went to the north to sleep and play Pottermore, such a thrilling vacation! 

My favorite thing about San Fernando, aside from the beaches, is a restaurant called Subong Kawali. They have the best kinilaw I've ever tasted. I think I had all two servings to myself. I wasn't worried about "getting sick" since this kid has been eating street foods since '94 (Oh, have you tried Morayta's hepa lane? I bet you will be horrified). Since my mom's already a suki at the place (it was her team's favorite tambayan), we we're seated at the meeting area. We were so comfortable, we were a mess. We were the only people laughing and chatting inside. I loved that particular moment of our trip. 

It was already Monday and it was time for us to head back to Manila. A trip to the north wouldn't be complete without passing by Manaoag. 

On our way there, we picked these two up at a Total gas station. 

Life so far: tvN 360

I blame our cable provider for this current wave of obsession. I'm pretty sure I'll rid of this after a few months or so, but I'm in a very deep situation right now. I caught the KPop bug and I can't get out of the trap. The trap had many beautiful androgynous Korean men and I can't help but test out if it really worked. Hell, it does, and it won't let go of you.

I was once a Kpop crazy girl when I was 16. I was once a fan of F4 (a thing which I purely regret up to now. If only I could refund the CDs I bought.) and Wang Lee Hom, and thought of trying out Korean artists. I started with Rain and BoA and eventually got on to Se7en, Shinhwa, TVXQ, etc. The whole thing didn't last since I was too busy being "mature" while starting college. Also, I didn't know how to tag the songs (particularly TVXQ, they have so many names). Man, I can't read Hanggul. Thank God it didn't escalate into stage F4-crazy. Clazziquai was the only one I kept listening to, 'cause they actually sound great and are not embarassing to listen to. People here haven't caught the Hallyu wave yet so it's I hopped on to Alternative then the Indie scene and never looked back... or so I thought.

As you know, I'm on a profession hiatus (I just made it sound pretty) and I've been doing stuff bored people are supposed to do, which is to frolick around the interwebs. I was in Manila for a while, and because of the mind-blowing connection speed there, I was able to spend my whole day watching senseless videos on Youtube. I re-watched GD & T.O.P's Knock Out MV, which I thought was really cool. Dude, these guys had the right swagger and were the free napeun namja's (bad guys) of the KPop scene. I developed a crush for T.O.P and it led on from there.

I got sidetracked and thought of checking out TVXQ's Why (Keep Your Head Down) MV, a song which I've been secretly listening to since the start of the year. Curious as to what their new materials sound like, I tried out their recent album and TONE. I liked it a lot.

These past 2 months have been annoying for my sister. I've started listening to a lot of KPop music and she's also at the receiving end of this. I've turned her into a GD & T.O.P. fan after a few repeats of their album. "Knock Out" eventually became our jam. She was even singing along to "High High" proudly during our flight to Legazpi, not minding our seat neighbor. She doesn't approve of my support for Tohoshinki and forever questions my short attention span.

Don't think I only like these guys for their looks. If you look past the exterior, these people are amazing performers. They show where hard work can lead to. Reading about their training and what they went through, you at least have to show them respect. The genre might be a bit formulaic and sometimes really cheesy, but it works... at least for me.

I've admitted very embarassing things in this post. Things I've never thought of writing about. Things I've promised to keep hidden in a place where a fangirl resides whose favorite hobby is to squee. My last.fm is now tainted with a lot of Hanggul characters and Hallyu wave artists. Bon Iver might not like the ambiance there now, but I don't care. I've liked a music genre when a few months ago, I vowed to never get into it. I hated seeing these people dominating music channels. And now I scream along fangirls. One thing I promise though, is to never be a crazy stalker one.

I like having a short-attention span (though sometimes expensive).

Whining About The Future

I wanted to make a Things I Love Thursday post but my sister reminded me that it was already Friday today, so I didn't go through with it. Maybe I should just make a Things I Love September post for the tons of blessings I've received for my birth month. This is not related to my real intention for coming up with this post, too much for that.

I'm making a quick post for my future self to reminisce at. I'd look back a year from now and see if anything has changed at all, or if I'm still a slacker who waits for opportunities to come to her. One thing for sure, I still don't see myself being a big shot pro at my profession. Sad to say that I'm still coming to terms that I'm stuck in this class and economy where high paying jobs are more important than your dream. Now, there's the obvious problem. I've seen only a few people living up to their childhood-teenage profession dreams. For sure, I'm not one of them. My head's still stuck up in the clouds thinking that I could get away with not having a life and living off my mother's pay check. But no matter how much I want to run from it, I have to face the reality of me being 21 years old and the responsibilities that come with that.

The thing that I hate about this lag period is the endless nagging from my relatives abroad. I want to hide from them and not answer their long-distance calls. I know my gestures are a bit ungrateful, don't get me wrong, I'm thankful they are there to help me but I don't like the tone they use when they talk to me about my future. As if they have the full authority to dictate every move I have to do in my life. I have to do things on my own time. But I also have to move fast, or else it would be difficult to get in the next time. 

So right now, I honestly do not know where to stand. I'm a bit clueless about my future. I'm not even sure if I love what I'm doing.

Do I sound like a teenager who is whining about people ruining her life?

No0b Watches a Football Game

I was so stoked to hear about ICanServe Foundation's Football Invitational. Three teams are up for a friendly match: Kaya FC, Global FC and the national team, PHL Azkals. Upon reading the news posted on my Facebook wall, I itched to get tickets to at least one of the matches. I'm a new football fan and I was ecstatic to watch a game on the newly renovated Rizal Stadium football pitch. I was eyeing on the Kaya FC vs Azkals Sept. 24 tickets but they weren't sold in advance. I was able to get my hands on the tickets for the Global FC vs Azkals match which happened last Wednesday.

I dragged my uncle and my sister with me to watch the game. We knew little about the game - well, my uncle played for a school team when he was in elementary, but that was decades ago - and watching the match was a little Football 101 class for us. The Azkals mostly had U23 category players on the pitch with well-known veterans like Caligdong, Gener and Araneta. I was a bit bummed out that the team captain, Aly Borromeo wasn't playing. He apparently had a minor injury during practice. He was the one I was looking forward most to see on the pitch. Global FC's Misagh Bahadoran was such an eye-catcher. Dude has mad skills. I've already watched a few matches on TV and I think I would be able to say that this match was a great one. It was a friendly game, but man, the teams played with so much gusto and aggressiveness. I wished all local games were like these. The game ended with Azkals winning with a score of 3-2.

Saying that I was the happiest kid that day was an understatement. I had a smile plastered on my face the whole night, reminiscent of the day I met 2/28 of the team. People were allowed to go down to the track to meet the players. I got few pictures with my favorites. I also felt stupid for not bringing a shirt for them to sign.

Cap'n Aly wasn't able to play due to a minor injury, but he was there to watch the game!