| ANZAC Day and Corregidor in my mind |
26.04.2007 | 07:52 |
yesterday was ANZAC Day, and it was a holiday. no work but one can play weather permitting :) the day wasn't bad being cloudy and a good temperature that allowed people to still enjoy activities/festivities for the day. its equivalent to the Philippines' Bataan Day.
This is one of the tunnels in the fortress. As went further into different tunnels, it became colder and the walls and ceilings were moist.
most tunnels lead to flights of stairs to the big gun area, which you see below. the big gun (about 9 meters long) was displayed in one of the dead-end tunnels. how they got it there i have no idea because it's purely metal and very heavy. obviously no crane can fit in the tunnels. even a mini cooper can't!
this is the battery area. however, they just made this room more like a gallery of the machines operated within the fortress. as you can see, the man is dressed up for the ocassion :)
in Corregidor, the rangers are always dressed up, especially if they are manning the tunnels. that's me in with the tall and "cute" ranger manning the huge Malinta Tunnel.
the short visit reminded me of the holiday i took with my friend Ivy in Corregidor. the fortress by the way is atop Wrights Hill, which is what our street is named after. we just rode up the street that leads to the summit. the fortress is open for only 3 days a year. i'm not sure what holidays the other 2 are. the fortress was not spooky at all. i think nobody died up there and that's good. in Corregidor, the island is spooky everywhere! i kept thinking about this hike we did up at the tunnels the japanese made in the hills. i don't really see ghosts, but i have experienced feeling their presence. we went into this dug out tunnel and as i stepped into the part where no more light was coming in, the feeling started. i felt some discomfort, some sort of panic around me. i felt that if i turned my head around i'd see something else besides my friend's face. i was scared because those ghosts were restless, and i could feel them all over me. who knows if they were inches from my face staring at me or were attacking me like paparazzi. at the end of the short tunnel, there was an inclined tunnel that led to a house of some sort. it must be an office back in ww2 days. i asked if i could go up first because i couldn't stand being down there with the weird vibe all over me. when i reached the top and saw the hallow building (with some old tables), i felt the same vibe. i immediately descended and told them that i can't be up there alone. when we were all out of there and walking towards the clearing (the building was situated in the woods), the tour guide came up to me and asked if i felt something. i just looked at him and nodded then we both smiled in understanding. ivy didn't feel anything at all, also the couple who were with us too. so it was just me and the guide.
that guide was really nice and really knew history. you could tell if people do what they're passionate about. he wanted us to experience history. the night before, we went back to the Malinta Tunnel with all our flashlights happily lighting the dark areas we passed. deeper into the tunnel, he asked us all to turn our lights off. it was really nothing but blackness. he said it was exactly the scenario when the island lost power when the japanese attacked it. a lot of people died inside the tunnels because they couldn't escape quickly due to the darkness. in fact, there were still skulls and human bones in other smaller tunnels. i saw one! he was the one who corrected a very wrong lesson i learned in school - Gen. Douglas MacArthur said his "I shall return." words on the radio in Sydney, Australia not somewhere in the Philippines!!!
i strongly suggest that this summer, you pay a visit to Corregidor. it's serene, has a nice beach, historical, and best of all, spooky!
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| What tнē #$*! Ďө ωΣ (k)πow!? |
25.04.2007 | 09:04 |
Last night we watched What the Bleep Do We Know!? and i must say that although at first it confused my simple human mind, after a while it was easier to understand the concept.
i don't want to write things about it because i might just create a foolish interpretation. the best scene in the film for me is the one in the light trail tunnel showing photos of water crystals (taken by Masaru Emoto) after being exposed to photos, music, words, and even mental energy from humans.
if our thoughts can do that to water, imagine what our thoughts can do to us.
ps: as the film was shot in Portland, Jon was more than glad to let me know where he used to live :)
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| birds of nz |
23.04.2007 | 08:41 |
yesterday, we (finally) went to Otari-Wilton's Bush. it is a 7-hectare (17 acres) bush land bought by Job Wilton in 1860 to protect the natiive bush from the demand of timber and land. Otari is the name of the area where it is in. Wilton is also a name of an area/suburb here due to the fact that he bought a massive piece of land here back in the old days.
we packed our new picnic basket with food, dessert, and wine. we took a 1.5-hour hike first, but that was not enough to finish all the bushwalks available! they allow dogs as long as they're leashed (or on leads as they say here). the good thing about taking hikes deep into the woods here in nz is the absence of snakes. yes, there is no snake here at all. they don't even have them in the zoos to protect their local birds. it was enough that the european settlers introduced possums, rats, dogs, cats, etc.
this photo is of a Kereru. it's a HUGE pigeon, almost the size of a cat. that tree is his hang out because the proof of his poop were everywhere around that tree :) he wasn't intimidated by humans passing by and was glad to have photos taken :)
this one here is a Tui. tuis have a really magical collection of noises! they are everywhere here, especially in the summer. a beer is also named after them, and i like the beer! that white cotton-like fur attached to its neck is what makes tuis easily recognizable.
after our hike, we grabbed our picnic basket from the car and headed to the picnic area, which only has 1 table! we had a pleasant lunch, some chats with other bushwalkers, then headed home. i found myself tired after that but i didn't nap. i gorged in junk food! ugh! i went to the bedroom at 9ish and fell asleep too soon! samson was also very tired because his breathing was heavy.
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| Report: Samson and Legal Highs |
22.04.2007 | 09:24 |
sam is a mixed of maltese and australian terrier. lately, i'm seeing the maltese side in his fur. what we thought was white undercoat has been more visible these days. he's like a young man with white hairs! maybe all his terrier (black) hair would shed off and he'd be white for sometime.
we've finally done sorting out the apartment. a good amount of papers were thrown into recycling, the dining table is again visible. folded laundry was sitting on it for more than a week! since sam stated living with us, i have to vacuum the apartment every day. he brings in dry leaves. he goes out and brings in all these take-home toys (empty soda bottles, dry leaves, wooden sticks). he has learned to roll over recently. we try to be good at training him to sit and all that. luckily he picked up on being housebroken easily. we are happy about that, although he wakes us up at dawn to relieve himself outside. he likes to walk over us or lick our faces, but no barking at night. i'm annoyed when he walks on my chest area! i feel like my breasts are being mashed. they are not huge, mind you, just plain annoying when he does that. he still likes to tug the ends of my pants/pajamas. he tends to do that when he does not want to go in yet, or if he wants to go out. sometimes he also bites me to say "hey, i wanna play!". i really think he sees me as his litter mate.
a couple of weeks ago we received a notice from the city council that our neighbor next door complained about an "incessantly" barking dog! we were annoyed at that false report. he does not bark endlessly. who would not be tired doing that after 5 mins? he barks when he is left alone, but not continuously. apparently one of the neighbors is home by afternoon. this is just an observation from my part, because sam was mostly left alone in the afternoons for a couple or so hours. i wish they talked to us first about sam. we also now have a safety wall installed so that sam can't walk into their deck. we have neighbors from further streets away who have barking dogs. the dogs even start a chorus of barks. why don't they report those giant dogs instead of our tiny pup? when they host a party and they have shouting drunk guests, we don't report them. it's a party afterall. they suck.
here in nz, they have these Party Pills sold legally. they also call them Legal Highs. only one major incident has been reported due to the party pops. i don't understand what it's for really. my thought is that this is to get the youth to stray from illegal drugs. i have not tried it yet, and maybe i will just to see what a "legal" high is. most hospitals here deal with overly drunk kids on weekends. i read that alcohol is a bigger problem than the discussion of banning party pills. what do you think about these party pills?
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| Cho's Plays |
21.04.2007 | 09:34 |
The VA Tech shooter wrote plays that were, uhm, well... do your own peer review ok? below are some of my thoughts about his work.
Richard McBeef - if the 13-yr old boy were older than 18, the language would probably be acceptable. however, this written work was not really about familial violence per se. each character represents something bigger, something that is more of political and/or cultural. the boy is confused and had a lot of anger, and to me he represents what youth is today. Richard can be many things. I'm trying to make out a specific person, idea, situation, anything that he represents. one thing i can think of is that he represents the government in certain ways. although he had the best intentions, he also behaved disgustingly. Sue, well, i think she represents society as a whole.
Mr. Brownstone - funny how his character was passive for the most part of the play. he didn't talk to the kids to understand their concerns, and to perhaps correct a possibly incorrect impression of himself. he reminds me of those people who'd take advantage of others who are cornered for what they might have done wrongly. he turned their hate to work for him.
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| picnic basket |
20.04.2007 | 09:34 |
men can be very sweet when they pay attention! :) my loving beau bought a picnic basket for us. sometime in the past week, i mentioned that i wished we had one because we had gone on picnics for 2 consecutive weekends. yesterday he walked with a 10k Steps team mate and saw this nice picnic basket and got us one! :) it's so nice that i had to post it here to share with you :)
it has 2 wine bottle carriers, 4 wine glasses, cutlery, and little white china :) ain't it pretty???
Thanks Jon! Love you!
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| pup is good |
18.04.2007 | 11:09 |
last week we took samson to the vet for his 2nd shot. he's a very healthy dog! i found myself a proud mama for having taken cared of the mutt! he's gained 1kg since living with us. in another 3 weeks, he'll have his 3rd shot. in 6 months, he'll get his microchip and get neutered. in the meantime, he needs to be registered. i'll take care of that... but i'm waiting for my offer letter in the mail so i could hand it in at the council office and get sam registered at the same time. i'll be working at the city council. funny that i've decided to try working for the government of this country. i thought i would never work in public offices. oh well, i'll try it and see what happends. i'm excited to start my role. it's not so new to me but it's definitely a level higher than what i was doing before. so it has a lot of potential and new things to offer me.
weather is still gray and rainy. i woke up at 6am today and it was still dark. with eyes closed, i told jon that it is really really autumn now. winter's just around the corner. honestly, i'm getting used to it. i remember when i first got here having this kind of weather, i got annoyed touching cold things - going to a semi-cold bed, sitting on a cold couch, slipping on cold sandals. again, oh well.
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| what i do to kill time |
15.04.2007 | 17:35 |
1. watch the dog (if you have one) sleep and have dreams of running or barking. it's a funny scene when sam dreams of whatever it is and see his legs move like he's running, or when he barks softly. first time that i also experienced an animal farting around humas! he had farted silently many times and they stink! eew!
2. watch movie after movie on dvd, on youtube, or on veoh.
3. go the beach and have a picnic.
4. read blogs, news, entertainment.
5. talk on the phone endlessly with my family.
6. chat with family, friends from highschool, college, or work.
7. play scrabble online. i'm getting better and better.
8. do chores.
i have a couple of weeks left til i'm back in the workforce. i'll be working at a government office. i don't know what it will be like, but i look forward to it. so while there's a countdown going on, i decided to watch filipino movies on veoh. i've so far watched "Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo", "Filipinas", and "Pinoy Blonde". ayos lang, nothing too exciting about them. any suggestions from my pinoy friends here on blurty?
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| cold autumn |
13.04.2007 | 11:31 |
for the past 2 days or so has been wet and cold. another month of autumn and winter will be here. funny how it was sunny last week. i was able to go out in just a t-shirt, and now i can't go without a warm jacket and a scarf around my neck!
speaking of scarf, i didn't think it'd make much of a difference (i lived in the tropics all my life!). during the transition to this annoying cold, i pulled one of my unused scarves and realized how that can easily warm me up! i once saw samson shivering while napping. insulation is so bad here. i don't know why the people here didn't get into the insulation program long time ago.
i'm no longer annoyed at the cold, or at least not yet. i don't get anxious washing my hands in cold water nowadays.
so this weekend, we have a few to-dos in our list, such as sorting out papers and possibly throwing out unnecessary ones. my loving folks sent us a package of new clothes from mom's nice shopping habits. one good thing to have kids grown up i think. my parents, esp mom, still like to shop for her kids although we've all grown up. she even sent me maternity clothes, really nice and fashionable ones, which are sadly stored until actual need arises.
we're hooked up for a month's fuel expense. the research peeps gave away $50 voucher to each participant. $100 worth is more than enough for our monthly fuel expenditure. that's a very nice saving :)
although we don't plan to buy a house in the near future yet, we (or jon only) are going to a workshop about it. free lunch! there is such a thing you know :)
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| a morning of youtube |
12.04.2007 | 12:35 |
last night i participated in a research about charity. i feel that i can get myself involved if i really try. i actually inquired about the next food drive. i might really get into it. i think it would give some form of contentment because helping always has some good in it.
today i spent some of my time watching youtube, watching willie revillame's interview on sharon. i cried a little when they patched in one of her daughters, marie monti, because she was a very sweet girl and truly believes in her dad. i hope that all moms out there try to instill the value of family regardless of the situation. i was shocked that meryll was already separated! i thought they loved each other so much! maybe the whirlwind romance proved to be ineffective. i like her. i don't really like her ex but i still hoped they'd make it. oh well.
i also watched the video of Grace Kelly by Mika. oh that was in previous post eh? i think mika is unique and would last a long time in the business. i used to think that i should have at least 1 favorite song. but i don't. i don't think i can achieve that at all. there are just soooo many beautiful songs out there. music is the only thing in life where we don't have to be monogamous.
i like to get myself into pensive moods sometime. it makes me realize how much better off i am.
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