the wonder and grace of august (and other updates =)

august has always been a so-so month for me, just something to get us across from rainy july to the brr of september. but THIS august was pretty good. in fact, i believe it deserves an update all its own. so here it is, another of those comprehensive-but-not-too-detailed autobiographies. i'm really indulging this time because i haven't done any updating in my personal journal, either. this is for me as much as for anyone who cares to read.

 

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August 30, 2005

11pm

 

DAVAO: business and a bit of pleasure

 

first weekend of august, i was supposed to go to olango to help out with another NGO, and then join the sportsfest for the church anniversary the next day. i was pretty excited. but oh, no, God had other plans for me. july 31, about 730am, my boss texted me (as he is wont to do at odd hours, with sudden announcements) that we would be going to davao for a partners' meeting with our funder. i found out a few days later that the venue would be at paradise, which is on samal island across the city. we would be there friday and saturday and then leave sunday. i wasn't looking forward to it, really, because i wouldn't have that much time to spend at home since we would be on an island, and i was planning to go to davao end of the month, anyway, for papa's birthday.

 

but it turned out very ok =) so ultimately, God is wise in everything he allows to happen =) by saturday afternoon we were at insular/waterfront where i got to swim again in the pool after 10 years or so. and then standing by the beach under a drizzle afterward, i caught the beginnings of a poem =) saturday night my brother and i jammed with katribu, another ethnic music group, until 1 a.m. it was great to dance again.

 

CEBU: partying (once!), working, and the muse

 

monday, i was back in cebu when gina texted me inviting me to the handuraw anniversary party--great music, free pizza. how could i say no? i went by myself again, but of course, i wasn't alone there for long. talked to arlaine and myke while having dinner, then spent the rest of the night with orly, niza, kahlil, and other sun.star people. i went home at 1 a.m. because i waited till Island Joe played. but it was really great. one of the things i love about kahayag/ handuraw is the wide range of bands that play there. from new wave to alternative to reggae to jazz to rock to ska to pop to blues...always something for everyone. plus, i won an instamatic red san mig camera =) haven't used it yet, but can't bear to give it away either because it's so cute.

 

back at work, we finally finished our first electronic newsletter, but at the same time i was rushing the editing of our book (again). the next weekend, i was still at work for a grant proposal writing workshop (help! we need money!), saturday and sunday. at church earlier in the day, however, i had another call for help from another church member who also works for an NGO. she wanted me to do their brochure for their ICT services/ projects (long, strange story why she ended up asking me instead of someone else). so the following wednesday night (starting at 11pm), i wracked my brains till 2 a.m. for ad-like copy for the brochure. i realized only then that i haven't really done any writing for advertising (just editing). but with a lot of desperate prayers, i came up with something that she liked a lot, including the brochure design.

 

all the while, with so much stress from work (my poor eyes... :-/), i began drawing again. it all started because i wanted to join a slogan-making contest (to relive the high school days =) and had to buy oslo paper to write the slogans on (contest rules, don't ask why). while i was at national, i decided to buy watercolor pencils, too, because someone stole mine. they didn't have any. despite everything practical in me (i have a charcoal pencil and 6B pencil at home, after all, from college--or is it high school?), i still decided to buy a new pencil. a green staedler. that night, i brought out my sketchbook which i hadn't used in exactly a year and started copying a photo in a newspaper. i fortunately bumped into chico the next night and he gave me some advice on how to practice. i drew one portrait after another after that. and i managed to get a poem out in the same weekend, too =) i stopped drawing when i noticed i was sleeping too late every night.

 

CAMOTES: beauty and madness

 

boboi had invited me to a media tour in camotes last month, so i decided to forego kadayawan for the tour. i hadn't been in camotes since 2000 when boboi invited me and my PCEEM Canadian co-interns and orly there for his birthday. i have wonderful memories of that trip. back then i didn't have a proper camera so i was excited to go back.

 

because i had been working two weekends straight without a break, i told my boss i'd be taking a day off on friday. i wanted to do my laundry and pack for my camotes and davao trips. (but right before that he gave me the organization's annual report at 11 a.m. to edit. so i told him i wouldn't leave the office thursday until i finished editing it. i left almost 9 that night.) but no, i still had to work the next day on my supposed day off at the printing press for the book. i was editing until almost 730pm in mandaue but had to leave because i was supposed to have a meeting with yet another NGO (i know, i'm crazy).

 

fortunately, myke called to say we had to be at the pier an hour and a half early to catch our boat to camotes because they have this strange new rule that u have to take a bus at another pier to get to your boat in the next pier. so i cancelled my meeting and went straight home where myke and josua were waiting. aside from the three of us and boboi, there was also jad from freeman and greg whom boboi called at the last minute because there was an exra ticket. so it was fun because it was a small group and we all knew each other. we were talking so loudly that we actually got a loud SSHH from some people who couldn't hear Kampanyerang Kuba over our lively conversation.

 

there was a videoke machine on the boat, and josua and i took turns at it until closing time at 11pm (by then we had also run out of five-peso coins). the water was so calm, and a full moon was out, so instead of sleeping in my freezing bunk, i lay on some plastic boards under the moon at the back end of the boat until we docked at 1 a.m.

 

this camotes trip, although just two days long, really deserves a journal entry by itself (as i said in my album, everything about it was just perfect). i'm supposed to write an article about it, anyway, so to make a wonderful story short, on our first day, we went to an islet at the lake where only three rabbits live. we took a paddleboat going there. it was so beautiful with the quiet air and the calm water. on the islet i ran out of film after taking pictures of the driftwood (the lake is a submerged forest supposedly). greg's video cam also ran out of batteries there. so we had nothing left to do but enjoy the moment, the guys lying on the grass while i befriended the rabbits. it started to rain after awhile, a light rain. then the sun came out, golden, and across the lake was a full rainbow. i just HAD to take a dip in the lake. it was icky, though, with all the grass underneath, so i didn't stay long. we took a speedboat going back so we could catch the sunset at the beach. on the ride back to the beach, i asked for the windows of the van to be opened so i could take everything in. there was still both sun and rain. i almost couldn’t breathe from the beauty of the fields and hills and sea, of the moment. you know that feeling of being so alive you want to die because the wonder is overwhelming?

 

that night, we had bulad na tilapia as part of our seafood dinner (the chicken was largely ignored). back at our resort i spent some time in a hammock just looking at the moon. and then, after taking a picture of the beach from the cliff, i took a long walk on the vast sand. it's almost like boracay at low tide, except that this one is more sheltered because it's shaped like a small bay or a very large cove. the next day, we went to see how the residents weave the dried lake grass into mats and bags. because there was no boat to the city, we had to take a pumpboat to danao going back. again, another treat: we saw dolphins and swordfish! and of course, lots of flying fish.

 

as soon as we got back to the city, i had my three rolls of film developed. the resort owner was also excited and brought me to the mall for that. that ate up another 4 hours of my time. no matter that i hadn't had a bath and was so tired from the weekend.

 

i was still so full from all the beauty in camotes that when the skies rumbled that night, i didn't hesitate to go out and (literally) dance in the rain in my bikini (hahaha. this is for you, ana, in response to your previous question). close enough to naked, which is my ultimate goal. but i stayed behind our gate--you never know what crazy people might do to someone walking in the streets in a bikini in the rain. that gave me and my swimwear a good rinsing as a prelude to my overdue shower.

 

DAVAO (AGAIN): the shopping and bumming paradise

 

obsessed with my camotes photos, i didn't pack for davao until 6 a.m. my flight was at 830, i had to be there by 730, and it usually takes me an hour and a half to get ready in the morning. true to form, i got into the taxi at 730 am. but God gave me a taxi driver who kept reassuring me at every stoplight and corner that i would make it to my flight, even though by then it didn’t matter to me (once i'm in the taxi, it’s all God’s will, i say, because i can't do anything anymore, except nag the driver to speed up, which doesn't really help). anyway, he was so comforting i wanted to kiss him when i got down =) but i just said thank you and he said goodbye, as if we were long-time friends.

 

so what did i do in davao aside from celebrate papa's birthday? one of my goals was to shop. and shop i did. i love davao for its very low prices, especially for clothes. ever since i discovered that last year, i've resolved to shop only in davao (i don't really shop that much for clothes, anyway). but i only covered three department stores this time =( had to spend one day finishing the brochure and working on the text of a handbook (no, i don't know why i bring all this stress upon myself) for a parish where i continue to be volunteered. when they asked me to do the photos for it last april i thought that was the end of it, but oh, no, i guess they wanted me to do the writing, too =P i was happy to do the work for both, i just don't like how my time usually ends up at the mercy of my extra-curriculars.

 

anyway, at least i was also able to spend a day in the kitchen making my favorite leche flan and an experimental dish of sour rice with herbs (inspired by the leftover egg whites from the leche flan). i also wasted two nights recording songs and reading a suspense-romance novel (something i haven't done since 2nd year high school) till 5am. so i could find out who the killer was (i actually learned some things about how to fight back when someone wants to rape or murder you haha). didn't get to go to the beach or the mountains, didn't get to eat durian =(

 

DAVAO II: papa's birthday and the departure

 

on papa's birthday, which was also ted and jecyl's wedding day, i bought a chocolate cake, then while he had his birthday haircut at the parlor next door (pictures to come later), josrique and i went out to buy party things. i was thinking balloons and candles, then i saw the candy flowers, which gave me the idea of fully decorating the cake and skipping the balloons (which we decided he wouldn't appreciate, anyway). we got him beach shoes, too, which you'll see in the pictures (he likes to pose with his gifts). we ended up just watching the day’s photos and videos on tv and not going anywhere else the rest of the night.

 

the next day, after church with conching, belen and manding (the resident househelp since time immemorial), we had lunch at dencio's. on the way down, we passed by a subdivision that was having an open house. of course, papa backed up because 1) he likes places that overlook the city, and 2) he likes touring subdivisions. we were just a few hundred meters from the entrance, and i was on the phone with kikoy (who had called from out of the blue) telling him it was noisy because i was in a beat-up fiera, when we heard an explosion. apparently, our front tire had gotten worn out from too much friction. and to think it had just been replaced last year because the same thing had happened exactly a year ago. it really was quite comical. i documented it all on photo and video.

 

that evening, we still went to the agnes locsin/ joey ayala tribute to ang kiukok because i didn't want to miss it. now that was amazing. the paintings were really transformed into dance, and the dancers were incredible in their control of their bodies. haven't seen dance for art's sake in a long while. very inspiring.

 

was booked to leave sunday afternoon because was supposed to go to manila monday morning, but since the manila meeting was cancelled, i moved my flight to monday. as usual, we left the house late. even had to go back for josrique who came down a few minutes after we left the house. and i had to have my ticket re-issued. i think the guy at the ticketing office was so nervous for me because i arrived 30 minutes before the flight that he forgot to charge me for the rebooking. and as usual God came through for me. even with such a tight schedule, i still had time to say goodbye to papa and josrique outside and buy pasalubong before they called my name on the PA (apparently, i was the only one who hadn't boarded yet).

 

CEBU AGAIN FOR NOW

 

when i went to the office in the afternoon, i discovered that everyone had gone on holiday :-/ but i had to go to the printing press again to look at ALL the final pages of the book and correct every single typo i could find on the computer (including line spacing, alignment, heading formats, font spacing, size and type...if the writer does the copy editing, shouldn't the lay-out artist be doing the proofreading of these things?? maybe i’m just ridiculously OC). finished at 10 pm, and now i have this itchy cough. i can't even record any songs without my voice breaking =(

 

as for my new roommate, i only saw her the first three days since she moved in. after that, just once, accidentally. i have no idea where she sleeps, but her suitcase is still in our room and she's never unpacked. so it's still as if i don't have a roommate =)

 

now it's past 3 a.m. and i'm still obsessively pounding on my keyboard. i hope they can photoshop my eyebags when i go to the sun.star yearbook pictorial tomorrow. now let’s see what september has in store... isn’t it great to be alive? =)