the Earth-bound adventures of the Lost and Found

December 25 (home at Malvar and lolo's house in Obrero) and 26 (church at Centerpoint), 2004. All taken using my brother's instamatic camera. In the background you can see the Christmas tree we bought on December 24, just as the store closed....

Description: Here's another unwanted spam but helpful to everyone especially this season. It started through the obsessive texting of Gerry Chua, Mr. Ube Hopia himself of Eng Bee Tin fame, who is also the communications head of the Association of Philippine Volunteer Fire Brigades, the dependable Filipino Chinese volunteer fire brigade group who almost always get to the fire first. And this is no joke, what with all the disasters we have experienced lately. It's called the TXT FIRE. Now if you want to be really serious about it, why not join the group and become a volunteer? We all know, most of us can never be fire brigade volunteers, but we can be atleast TEXT FIRE VOLUNTEERS. This will save you from getting into those horrendous traffic jams caused by fires, and may even save lives and properties including your own. At present there are 2700+ volunteers all over the Philippines helping the fire brigade volunteers respond even faster to fires. The system works, you can try...

Start:      Dec 18, '04 End:      Jan 4, '05 time for a long vacation.... if you want to get together and i love you, you know how to reach me ;-)

Start:      Dec 26, '04 2:00p Location:      Pisay Gym grand alumni homecoming of all Pisay Davao batches since its founding in 1988. P100 entrance fee for fundraising purposes

unpublished (coming out THIS thursday -dec. 23- in Sun.Star Cebu), photos here The sky was heavy with ominous clouds, and it had been drizzling for most of the afternoon. It was getting late. I had been standing on the bridge in Antequera for about two hours now, staring at the clear blue river a hundred feet below. Finally, it was my turn to rappel. I hurriedly put on my harness, gloves and helmet before I could change my mind. By my calculations, it would be pitch dark by the time I’d reach the river, and the thought of hanging in midair in the darkness scared me. It was my first time to rappel, after all, and in an unfamiliar environment. Even our guides had never tried it there before. But about 10 people had already gone down before me. Still, that was earlier, when the sun was out. I stood at the railing, ready to climb over. Suddenly, the rain fell. “The river is rising,” our guide signaled from below, “No more rappelling.” There were about 40 of us on that trip to...

unpublished Photo of falcattas taken in a reforestation project in Cebu Although the Clean Air Act has made most forms of incineration illegal, the smell of burning leaves will always remind me of childhood, and the mango tree in the middle of our garden. It was too tall for me to climb, but there was a hammock tied to its branches. My friend and I would sit there and tell stories in between games of piko . I was fortunate enough to have grown up in a house surrounded by trees, a star apple tree right outside my room to shade me from the heat. After college, I swore I would never work or live in a place without trees. Outside my office window now, an avocado tree keeps me from burning in the morning sun, and even yields enough fruit for a salad on occasion. But not till later did science teach me just how important trees are. Aside from their commercial value as a source of lumber, food, clothing and medicine for humans, they also provide shelter to the thousands of organisms that keep...

Start:      Dec 16, '04 Location:      ? because we couldn't (some of us, anyway) imagine having a christmas party with all those people suffering in luzon, but because some of us couldn't imagine NOT having a xmas party either, we decided on a counterparting system: we raise funds for the flood victims and the the office will counterpart the amount as the budget for the party. so the more fundse donate, the bigger the budget for the party. bring on the spirit of giving!

Start:      Dec 22, '04 7:00p End:      Dec 22, '04 8:30p Location:      Chursh of the Gesu, Ateneo de Manila

Photos from our "island-hopping" in Davao, November 2, 2004.

Photos from my weekend visit on November 13 and 14, 2004.

Category:    Clothes & Accessories for those who don't know, a tubao is a scarf traditionally used by muslims in mindanao. i lost mine in Bohol at Mag-aso Falls . it was given to me by my X-man who bought it in marawi, lanao del sur, when we were there in 2001. incidentally, i lost the other one he gave me in siquijor . must have been blown off by the wind when i was riding the motorcycle around the island. oh well. is this a sign of some sort? i'm buying a new one (and a new boy? hahaha) when i'm back in davao this christmas.

Start:      Dec 3, '04 9:30a End:      Dec 3, '04 12:00p Location:      Sacred Heart Parish, Jakosalem St., Cebu City a chance for the 65-ers and older to parteh! after a mass, there's socializing, forbidden food for lunch, mahjong, etc. every first friday of the month. but what the parish needs are volunteers BELOW 65 years old to help entertain the lolos and lolas. call fr. vic labao at 2543950. also needing talents for gratis work in the parish newsletter, feeding programs and other social action ministry work. do a good deed now!

Nov. 27 to 29, 2004, Puntod Island and Antequera, Bohol. These are the pictures taken with my camera (not one of the many digital cameras and camera phones in the group i was with--still have to get copies of those pictures). It was Roland , an online buddy i met here at Multiply, who told me about it. Kayaked a couple of kilometers to Puntod Island from Panglao while the sun set, watched the full moon rise from the really great beach of Puntod Island, kayaked again past midnight under the moonlight, dropped by Dumaloan beach (another great beach) in PAnglao, walked in the rain from Antequera bridge to Mag-aso Falls, rapelled off Antequera bridge to a river 100ft below, didn't get to go spelunking =( cebuweek.com's 3-in-1 adventure. sa uulitin! PS will be writing a journal entry and an article on the experience. in the meantime, you can read this .

Description: "Cristina Liamzon" Let's help INFANTA and REAL, QUEZON Wed, 1 Dec 2004 12:14:59 +0800 Dear Friends, In behalf of Fr. Francis Lucas and the Infanta Community Development Association, Inc. or ICDAI, we would like to appeal to everyone to support the people of Infanta and Real, Quezon. As you may have heard and seen from news reports, the damage is great in these provinces and until now the solitary road into Real and Infanta is still difficult to go through, if not impassable. Thank you in advance and please feel free to pass on this email. God bless you for your generosity. Merry Christmas! Sincerely, Maricel Almojuela-Tolentino ANGOC Project Officer P.S. Here's Fr. Francis's personal note on the situation... Dear Cel, Thank you so much for your concern and help.I am going berserk just thinking of the people still on the roof, people who have become close to me, the villagers who have nowhere to go some simply holding on for dear life on top of co...

arggh. this is one of those weeks that would be the equivalent of hell week in college. but the worst thing about it is, every tight spot i'm rushing through i created for myself. i mean deadlines at work are understandable, even though it's a little hard to finish editing a 34-page terminal project report if your boss gives it to you at 4pm and expects it back at noon the next day. what's a little harder to swallow is that the more stressful thing in my life right now is my volunteer work for a parish that i don't even go to for mass. not only was i assigned to do a slideshow for the december concert at short notice (again, the theme of my life), but i'm also expected to interview a couple of people and write articles about them within the week, PLUS i'm also expected to sit through a meeting (every wednesday night) that can drag on for two hours and listen to a group of rich chinese people (business people, average fortyish to fiftyish) talk about charity proj...