Captured by Camiguin

i went to conquer Camiguin instead, it CONQUERED me.
My friend D and I went to Camiguin's renowned Lanzones Festival. We were disappointed to note that unlike in the years past when Lanzones where given away to onlookers during the street dancing not the Buwahan were so scarce, no thanks to climate change. I learned from the locals that because of the wierd weather patterns the Lanzones season only lasts until September because unlike other fruits the Lanzones cant be picked when its unripe. Dang.
But the island, the beautiful island did not disappoint us. It was amazingly beautiful and breath taking...boy i loss words when recalling the beauty that is Camiguin.
We went to the old church the 16th century church which partly sank after an explotion what was left was the belfry... it was heaven for picture taking. I wished we could've stayed longer, then there's the sunken cemetery which makes one wonder and stand in awe at what angry nature can do, then off we went to the panaad stairs which we decided not to accend anymore for the lack of time, and then there's the Sto. Nino cold springs, and the breath taking Katibawasan, the we-cant-get-enough-of Ardent Hot springs (we went twice and is looking forward to more swims there...) and the sweet discovery that is Enigmata which thrilled as to no end. Thanks so Ate Nelds for touring us around the place. We promised ourselves to go back there and stay longer than the three days we spent there. Which deserved another intire blog entry by the way.
There are places we havent been to yet but i promised the next time i go back there it would be hard core back packing for me...i want to savour its beauty again...i can only understand why the ownew of Enigmata decided to put it there, if i could have the means i'd do the same thing.
I also love the fact that other travelers seemed to be a bit more friendlier in Camiguin probably because the place is so relaxing and small which is not bad at all. Boy i'd love to move there! I will never look at the Camiguin Island's selhouette like i used to before. Sigh* i'm hopelessly in love with the island...
I hope Camiguin wont become an overrated overly commercialized place like in other "touristty" spots. I pray the people of Camiguin will care enough for the treasure that is their island and make it the paradise that it is...

if only (for Muelmer Magallanes who died saving others in need)

I don't know you until I read about you in a Philippine Star article. Tears flowed freely as I went through with the article, even now tears wail from my eyes as I hope to write about you. You're still eighteen. You're working in construction sites when you should be attending school. It pains me to think that when I was your age I was in school hardly doing my best to make the most out of what my parents have afforded me. Meanwhile there you are... I don't know if you've graduated from high school all i know is that poverty drove you to work instead of stay in school.

And now you will forever be immortalized for your heroism, for your selfless act. You deserved more than a post-humous recognation, those things can never bring you back. Only God can give you your reward now. Meanwhile, what i can do is to pray for your family and for our ailing country...

If only our country's leaders are as half as heroic as you, you're probably still alive today and attending school, not working to help your parents nor living in a dangerous area nor caught by surprise by a sudden flood that forced you to go beyond what's asked of you and died as a result. If only they did their part like you did yours all these heartache and pain would've never happened. You deserve so much more...

I'm sorry what this cruel world caused you but i thank you so much for showing me, us, the world what a hero can do, what an ordinary person like you can do if only he will do what is right for others...

Muelmer you will forever live. I dont know you until your name was posted in a news report but because of you I now know what i wish to do... Thank you.

more initao lasang park shots

lasang shots

anna and i went to initao national park and played with my point and shoot..here are some of the shots in black and white....

i love LINUX..need i say more?

ok i will say more...since buying a laptop with a vista bundle that kept dying on me I went with pirated version of windows xp and the works. Now i said enough and since im planning to get internet connection real soon i decided to get Linux and i hadnt regretted that decision. Its cool i mean really COOL! Whoever thought a freebie could be this cool and excellently made? i think people should stop being so dependent on mainstream softwares that they can't afford and end up with pirated copies. we need education here!

mid-20s life crises

lady protests

i was in the Cagayan de Oro Hall of Jutice last Thursday and I chanced upon a bunch of women protesting about women-related rights. What surprised me is that they werent that many. And that's sad. I think we of the female population should be participative in this sort of affairs. I think the protest rally lacked creativity. But then again that's just me. Good thing I brought my dad's camera phone and so I was able to take snap shots of it.

lomokono

i love photography. i just love the act of taking shots, of being behind the camera... maybe because i'm not much of the photogenic type...but anyway...the thing is a i love taking pictures and the irony is i dont even have a camera. i just borrow my father's camera phone. a motorola L6 and make the best out of it. then i bumped into this lomomania thing and i think its nice but very prohibitive. so what do i do? I take shots with my borrowed moto and edit it later in photoshop. i like the stuff i did. i only learned to photoshop after seeing all those beautiful lomo shots. Hurrah for photoshop! so what to call this frenzy? LOMOKONO: the movement of trying to "lomofy" photos using a photo editing tool like photoshop or gimp... here are my sample photos.

Initao National Park

Initao National Park is a patch of wooded land in our small town. Probably the only reason it remained is because of people's fear for the unseen. People think beings from the unseen dimension inhabit the place. That helped the place from getting totally wiped out. Some towering trees are alive and majestically lording over the place. Being in the park makes you feel in another place, but only for a few second though. Not soon after you pay the entrance fee you will be greeted by trash like snack wrappers on the ground, walk to your left path and you'll see the huge part of an old tree's roots chopped off to make way for the concrete path built in place to make walking comfortable perhaps or to make visitors go around the park in their cars without having to step down and take a walk. Which is stuped. Then the garbage pit...its a big hole dug where the old school building used to be. You can see loads of non-biodegradable garbage dumped in there. Not a good sight for a park. Then there's the termite infistation. They need adrress that problem. I heard they are pouring millions into the project... the money can go a long way if used properly and honestly.

The government should think seriously about their plans and aims for the place. If they seriously thinking about preservation and education then they are really off track, if they are in it for they money, then at least make it look like they mean it.

The solution is to set up a foundation like that in the case of New York's Central Park where in they made a great work and preserved the whole place. Now its in place never touched by the long, udly arm of industrialization. This is where the "if i were i millionare..." essay comes in...

I'm thankful and glad that the place managed to survive but looking at how they are handling the place i'm not sure if it's gonna hold long. We need more than setting up a place and charging one hundred fifty pesos... we need far more than that.

the mantra

Teaching is tough business

i'm currently tutoring a middle-aged woman to speak English. She is classified as a "false beginner" meanings she's have had English instructions before she just wasnt listening. I think teaching "Real Beginners" is much much easier. Now i'm going crazy about what to do with the lesson but I'm praying for Devine Guidance...it's that tough!

Or maybe i'm just saying this because this is my first time. But i don't want to be mediocre at it I really want her to learn and so she can be confident and independent when she goes to Sweden!

*sigh* I don't want to be a lousy teacher. I'd break if she wont make any progress. But I think I'm being tough on myself. This morning was the first session we had. I walked her through the basics, no hard stuff. I mean I got the lessons online and custom-fitted it for her. I used illustrations and all. It used to be that I was so good at making the most clueless person get an idea about what is being discussed. My classmates in college seek me out when they had tough time understanding something. I haven't been in that route for like a couple of years after college so this situation right now is also something of a help to me. I am also learning along the way. I never expected teaching to be easy but still...

"The anticipation of pain is more painful than pain itself."

TEN: The Evening News-the coolest news program on Philippine free tv

If you're tired of the usual crappy, cheap sensationalist style of news shows the big 2 (abs-cbn and gma) churn out every day then just change the channel dude and go to TV5 evening news. They're the coolest.
i love the fact that they only tackle the news that really matters...i mean dude who cares if some jobless asses slugged it out in some dirty street in manila? i don't! And neither do I care about some local showbiz starlet crying on the national tv for a bid of some free publicity! i thought the local free tv channels are hopeless. i was wrong.
Just the top ten news that matters every night, no cheap, tabloidish content. the anchors are cool and intelligent. the segments are hot and really matters. i mean where on free tv world in the philippines can you see Lourd de Vera dishing out some words on political street tarps that makes you bob your head in agreement just like the way you would with his music? Only on TEN at TV5!
Two thumbs up to all the people who are behind this news show. Keep being intelligent you guys.

PDI, PHILSTAR, MB listen up!!!

i wanna be a newspaper columnist...i mean i seem to love the challenge of writing things that are relevant. i believe i can bring something to the table that will illicit some reaction from readers in ways that it will affect them and touch them the way written letters does. I've been fascinated with the written word long before i learned to read and write. i remember wanting to learn to read because i was curios as to why my father get so absorbed in a book with no pictures, only black letters in thick pages. i didn't finish any course related to writing but i am passionate about it. i write when i can and take joys in it. i was very ecstatic when my submission to Philippine Daily Inquirer, my first ever, was printed. it was like WOW! i didn't have any confidence in my writing capabilities until i actually saw the piece on the Daily. I wish my dream will be fulfilled one of these days. i'm thinking about applying for a position in Philstar, PDI or whereever as long as i write. i'd be living in paradise if that happens.