ian

I miss his crazy antics.

and i thought high school was over

Turns out sometimes it comes back to haunt you.

Which is why I’ll just do what I did back in high school—dedma.

Ripley’s Believe it or not

There’s a reason why our photographer Brian is enthralled with this woman from our shoot:

She writes well…

…backwards!

It’s amazing. She later told us that this was actually common among kaliwetes (left-handed peeps), but it was the first time Bri and I saw something like that so we were acting like little kids amazed by fireworks on New Year. Haha.

Speaking of amazing, this is amazingly cute:

Barbie’s daughter Stina applying makeup on our makeup artist Lindsay’s face! She’s so adorable. We had a shoot at their house and we were all smitten with her. Cutie cutie.

Brunas hit Palawan!

Came home from work a little after midnight, and instead of sleeping immediately as I am wont to do, here I am blogging about last weekend’s trip to gorgeous Palawan.

I did mention it was gorgeous, right?

Yez I deed.

The adventure actually began in Manila, on my way to the airport. I arrived at the right airport (Terminal 3) early, thought it was the wrong one (it didn’t say “PAL Express” in my ticket so I thought I was supposed to be at Terminal 2, which of course caused great panic) and took a cab to Terminal 2 where the guard (who was a little rude) told me I was at the wrong airport, which of course caused even greater panic but at the end of it all, I finally found myself back at the right airport. Ehehe. Yes, these things manage to only happen to me.

But it was all well worth the combined P200 cab fare because an hour later, my brunas Au and Rica and I finally landed at the Busuanga airport where a shuttle was waiting to take us to the town of Coron.

First thing you should know when you get there: it has no beach. Coron is a seaside town, so if you’re expecting to stay at a hotel by the beach, it’s not going to be possible here. It’s sort of just the gateway to the many gorgeous islands in the area. This is where tourists stay the night, while they spend the rest of the day out to sea, island-hopping or going wreck-diving. Or in our case, wreck-snorkeling.

Check out the Lusong Gunboat shipwreck, one of the three shallow wrecks in Coron.

Other highlights of the trip include “Finding Nemo” at the Siete Pecados Marine Park—

Spending around an hour swimming at the freshwater Kayangan Lake, which is an ancestral domain of the indigenous Tagbanua people—

Swimming again, this time at the  Twin Lagoon where we had to swim underneath a small gap of the island, which I found really amazing (later, we found out from our guide Ricoh (with an “h”, yes) that this was where they shot Dyesebel)—

Having an entire beach to ourselves—

Seeing spectacular views like this one—

This aerial shot from the plane—

There’s plenty more to rave about, really, but one thing I can say about Palawan is that it’ll inspire anyone to be more conscious about doing one’s part for the environment. It’s just so beautiful—and the amazing thing about it is that it’s all natural. I remember being impressed by the man-made attractions of the places I’ve traveled to here and abroad, but this is the first time that I was just really blown away by a local destination. Palawan, at least this part of the big island, is really carefully preserved by the people. And I really hope it stays that way because I don’t think this will be the only time I visit the place. There’s still a lot more to uncover, and most of them underwater. So I am really REALLY itching to get myself a license to dive.

This was the vacation I badly needed. It’s one of the main highlights of my year.

More photos at my multiply site: imthewicked.multiply.com. Been trying to upload in Facebook, but it’s gone completely wacko.

Sweet Caroline

Ever since I heard this from Glee, and later finding out I had a copy of Dave Matthews Band version, I’ve been playing it on and on and on. Found out now that it’s by Neil Diamond. Love it.

Sweet Caroline

Where it began, I can’t begin to know when
But then I know it’s growing strong
Oh, wasn’t the spring, whooo
And spring became the summer
Who’d believe you’d come along

Hands, touching hands, reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Oh, sweet Caroline
Good times never seem so good
I’ve been inclined to believe it never would

And now I, I look at the night, whooo
And it don’t seem so lonely
We fill it up with only two, oh
And when I hurt
Hurting runs off my shoulder
How can I hurt when holding you

Oh, one, touching one, reaching out
Touching me, touching you
Oh, sweet Caroline
Good times never seem so good
Oh I’ve been inclined to believe it never would

Ohhh, sweet Caroline, good times never seem so good

Hey all!

I am back from my short but sweet Palawan retreat. It was way better than I expected. I don’t think any camera (even the best of the best of the best) can perfectly capture the natural beauty that is Palawan. You HAVE to be there. And I strongly recommend you guys visit soon.

I don’t have my photos uploaded yet, because I came back just in time for a really hellish work week but I can’t wait to show everyone what a fabulous place Coron island is. My friends and I went wreck-diving (okay, wreck-snorkeling) at the three shallow wreck sites in Coron island, swam at a gorgeous freshwater lake, island-hopped, and even took a dip at the Maquinit Hot Springs. It was sublime. I thought that with me leaving in the middle of deadline week at the magazine, I wouldn’t get to enjoy the vacation because I’ll be worrying about work-related things. But the moment we left the town of Coron and visited our first snorkeling spot, it was vacation all the way.

The place is majestic. Nature at its finest. I swear, it made me realize how truly beautiful our country is and it just inspired me to actually take a step to helping save the environment. There were no skyscrapers in Palawan, but every single one of the rocky islands we saw during our visit will outshine even the prettiest buildings in the world. There is nothing like good ‘ol nature. Panalo. Panalo. Panalo.

I can’t wait to go there again. There were still a lot of places we didn’t get to see because, well, they were pretty expensive; but what we did see impressed us all the same. Next time, I’d like to have a different itinerary so I can fully explore the place.

And I’d like a diving license too. Because I think the best of Palawan is found way below its pristine blue waters. Can’t wait!

Photos and full story after this week!

Because Christmas is on its way

Back to my old RED layout!

Sorry no posts lately—I’ve been really busy at work. Our deadline got moved earlier so it is crunch time to the highest level.

I am also Palawan-bound tomorrow. When we booked it, I thought I’d be having a worry-free vacation. Hope it’ll still be that way.

Have a productive day y’all!

Pot of gold

This week, I’ve been in a really bad space financially. But after seeing this rainbow a few days ago, things really started to look up. As in I’m not superstitious or anything, but things really did begin to get better.

Went to the mall with my grandparents. I rarely get to spend time with them so I’m glad I did.:)

Another voluntary exit?

I’m watching Pinoy Big Brother at the moment and it kinda looks like Delio’s leaving the house voluntarily. Eeep. Another voluntary exit? Anuba.

I wish Carol would follow suit next! I kid. She’s actually tolerable now—it’s gotten to a point where she’s being such a wallflower you I don’t even bother letting her annoy me anymore. Hehe.

I’m mean.

And this after I attended an Art of Living talk made by a Holy Man. A real one. I’ll post about it later. It was interesting to say the least. It actually helped me forget about stress!

I put the NGAAAR in ‘ngarag’

If, as that tagline from god knows where goes, “stressed is DESSERTS spelled backwards,” then how come things aren’t really looking sweet right now?

I am ngaraggggged.

But I still have to give myself kudos—I did manage to finish two and partially finish three out of the one hundred gazillion things I’m supposed to accomplish before the end of the week. Woot woot.