2013: Annoyingly Fun

Ahh, 2013. What a great rollercoaster ride you are. From the last Sinulog as a student to the various Christmas parties with family and friends. From the college graduation to finally being a regular employee. From hanging out with college batchmates to having a great time with office batchmates and good friends. From all the happy nights out to the stressful OTs. From the great successes at work to the devastating failures in lovelife. I really had fun going through all of them though I get annoyed by those bad moments and the annoying viral videos. I mean, What Does the Fox Say? Haha.

Thank you to everyone who made 2013 a very memorable one. To the Maluya Family, BSCSMA, @NOW, Batch PHP, NSP Friends, USC CS/IT/ICT Batch 2013, Sci-Hi friends, thank you very much! Thank you also to the person who really changed my outlook in love. I hope you'll stay happy and love the person you are with now.

Most of all, I would like to thank the Lord God for getting me through this topsy-turvy year. Without you, I would never be where I am right now. THANK YOU LORD!

Thank you for being annoyingly fun, 2013. Here's to a wonderful 2014 guys! Happy New Year!

It's Been 21 Years..

Wow. I've been through a lot in the past year. From that harsh times of thesis to the happy graduation day to the first day on the job. It's been really tough to stay ahead of the times. My brain always tends to think of random stuff that even I cannot comprehend as to why I'm thinking about it. Good thing the experience I have throughout those 21 years never went to waste. I may have made mistakes, but I wouldn't be human if I didn't. I wanna thank the people who inspire me to be the best I can be all the time:

Family - They have always been there for me ever since the beginning. When I was down, they pull me up. I always have them in mind for my plans for the future. Whenever I do something good, they support me. They remind me to avoid doing bad things. I really appreciate everything they have done for me. This time, I wanna give back to them.



BSCSMA - These guys are the people I hung out with for the past 4 years. Some of them are even in the same office with me (which is amazing)! I really love this group of people since despite our hectic schedules at the time, we always find ways to chill out and relax even for just one night or something. Hehe. Still, you don't wanna mess with them since they can (and maybe will) outsmart you if you challenge them. Beware. Haha. Love you guys!

Batch PHP - Despite the fact that I met some of these people a few months ago (because the rest are people that I already know from different stages in my life), our bond easily formed during training and will only get better as the time passes. Thank you so much guys for making life at work pretty easy to deal with! Hoping to have more months with you guys. :D

Inspiration ^_^  - I'll just call this person that because I don't want the person's identity to be revealed. I just wanna say thank you for inspiring me to be always happy despite the problems. You never cease to make me happy with your smile, whether sober or drunk-looking. Sorry if I keep on worrying because I have this weird instinct of worrying about people I really care about. I just want you to know that I will always be there for you. Again, THANK YOU.

GOD - He does not need a picture because I don't need to see His face to know that He has always been there for me. Whether I'm up or waaaaay down, He will always be there to guide me through this life I have and hopefully I am able to serve Him well. I love You, God. You know I always do.

In less than 2 hours, I turn 21. I really hope that the best has yet to come and knowing that these people are here, I know I'll enjoy every moment that I have with them. ^_^

Salivating over the HTC One Mini...

I've heard so many rumors about HTC coming out with a competitor to that annoying Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. At first I was hesitant, thinking that it may be too underpowered to be a flagship-caliber mini smartphone since the Galaxy S III Mini was really underpowered. Thankfully, HTC wanted to dispel some myths about that when they announced the HTC One Mini.

The One Mini pretty much kept the older sibling's core experiences: the all-metal design, those dual frontal speakers with BoomSound, the social news aggregator BlinkFeed, and the UltraPixel camera. Despite that, there are shortcomings due to its mini size. It has a 1.4 GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 processor unlike the 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor found on the One, a 4.3" screen, 16GB storage, and an 1800mAh battery. The One Mini also doesn't have the NFC antenna and the IR blaster that was found on the One.

Despite the shortcomings, I'm glad HTC did this. I wanted to try an Android phone but I didn't like the huge screens I'm seeing with the One and the S4 because I wanted a phone that would be more pocketable. I wanna try to be more open to what mobile OS I use (I went through a test drive of the Lumia 720 and it ran Windows Phone).  I've already known why Android's very popular but I wanna experience it for myself. Even though HTC is really hanging in the balance, I love how they work hard to regain the mindshare from people. So far, the One's doing a pretty good job and the One mini's gonna do great as well.

Anyone from HTC, if ever you're reading this, I really wanna try one. I would do ANYTHING just to try one and eventually own one. Like I said in the title, I'm really salivating over this. -_-

While In Pain...

Don't misunderstand this. I'm not hurt emotionally. I'm perfectly okay. It's just that I have this weird pain I got after undergoing a surgery that involved my wisdom tooth.

On the hour after the surgery, I felt a weird kind of pain. A pain that felt like there's a hole inside of me. I know it seems overrated but it was like something that could spread throughout my whole body. Or maybe it's just a reaction from my brain if something like that happens.

Eating really seemed hard to do since I couldn't chew properly. My jaw seemed like it was sprained which could be the reason that I could barely move my mouth. There's also this weird swelling happening inside my mouth which could be an effect of removing a tooth. All I could eat was porridge. Sigh.

The day after, I tried to ignore the pain by going to SM with family. Although I couldn't eat hard food yet, I drank cold drinks and ate a donut. Shortly after we arrived at home from the mall, I got a mild fever. It didn't last long since I felt okay the next morning, but it came back while I was working.

The reason why it happens is due to the infection of the bone that showed after the tooth has been removed. I have to take medicine for fever alongside the antibiotics so that I won't feel weak at work. I also have to lie down on a lot of pillows so that it wouldn't be painful when I sleep.

Last Thursday, I was already able to eat normally. It was a good thing too because I thought I would have to go through a whole week eating porridge. Whew! Here I am today, recovered from the pain of that surgery. The bad news is that I have to go through all this again since I have to have the wisdom tooth in the lower right. With this experience, I know now what to do and what NOT to do.

My Life Weekly..

You may have noticed that I always put pictures on top of my posts. There's a reason why I'm not doing it on this one. I wanna tell you guys something good.

I want to blog diligently. Before, I used to blog when I really feel like it and I never actually finish the post on the day that I really want it to be posted. Most of the times, they get posted during the night. Sure it's effective since most people of my age go online during the evening but I wanna share it to more people.

Of course, there are only so many things I can control, so I may post at night like I always have. But I'll make sure to post one every week just so you know that I'm really committed to blogging this way. It doesn't mean that I'll just stick to this though. I would blog about tech and special events when they pop up.

This is all I have to say for now. If you read this, thank you. ^_^

What's up with me?

Over the past few months, I've been posting about my experiences during summer, graduation, and tech stuff. I really haven't talked about one of the things I should be posting about: ME. I always thought that this should be less about me but I noticed something off and my blog lacked ME in it. This is why I decided to put up a post about how I'm doing and what I'm up to.

First off, I'm working already. It's been more than 2 months since I started but it's only 15 days ago that the real deal began. So far, I'm okay at dealing with work life and its unpredictability, though my impatience tends to get in the way sometimes. The office environment is nice despite the serious and quiet aura. You can approach people fairly easily. The office itself is one big area, there are no walls in between. Overall, I love my job and wouldn't want it any other way.

I'm not rushing things, especially with love. It's not even meant to be really thought of (except maybe the house and the family thing). I'm currently soul-searching and getting to know myself even more than I already do. I really wanna have time to learn more on mobile development. I wanna be healthier. There's so much that I wanna do right now that I almost can't sleep. Too bad I have to because of work tomorrow.

That's all for now. Don't worry, I will post more. It could even get random if I want to. Good night.

II: Captivating Camotes Islands.

There's a reason why there's continuity in the Summer Escapades series: the gap between the trips is just a week! I really found it earth-shattering (exaggerated, but that's what I felt deep inside) to know that we'll have another out-of-town trip just a week after. It turns out, my mom and her close friend planned this trip for their office mates and we're just fortunate enough to come along. I'm very thankful that they planned this so that we can enjoy as much summer as we can. Okay okay, back to the title.

The Camotes Islands were one of the many places I haven't been to in Cebu despite being a local here or maybe that's because I don't go out to these kinds of places that often. A way that you can get there is through a barge in Danao City. It lasted for around 2 and a half hours which was pretty long, so I had to get some shuteye. 

Shortly before we arrived, we saw the islands and they really looked beautiful. The abundance of trees in the place means that the tourist spots in the islands are mostly filled with nature. When we arrived, jeeps were in the port where they get passengers to bring them to places. We had one, and we were brought to a resort owned by the parents of my mom's office mate. After leaving our things there and ate breakfast, we directly went sightseeing to places in the islands. 

My favorite one was the Bukilat Cave.

The cave really looked very peculiar to me because of the formation of all the stalagmites and stalactites (if you can still remember what they are, then you're not getting old yet) inside. What's even stranger than that is the fact that there's water so that you can swim there. Unfortunately I didn't because children may have swam there and who knows what happened. Another place I really loved was the Buho Rock. It was said to have one of the greatest sceneries here and I definitely agree. The first picture you saw? That was from there. Cool right?

The last place I really loved from the islands was one of the beaches there. (I forgot the name. Sorry!) The picture of the view was like it was taken from Boracay. Here it is:

It really looks stunning, especially at that time when the sun was setting. Unlike in the Bukilat Cave, I went swimming in that beach even though it was low tide. Camotes is a good place to relax and unwind. You have to see it to really be amazed with the scenery that you will be able to see. I am happy to have experienced the beauty of Camotes Islands. I hope you visit there too!

I: The Beauty of Bohol.

Bohol was amazing. At first I thought, "Meh, it may seem fun but what's so special about this place besides Chocolate Hills?". After the trip, my mind absolutely turned upside down! This was a very refreshing experience because most of the trips that I've had outside Cebu City were either within Cebu Province, Cagayan De Oro, or Manila. I certainly underestimated Bohol and there I was standing in awe. It doesn't mean I wasn't excited to go to Bohol, I just thought I would be neutral when I got there.

When we arrived, there was transportation for us that will bring us to popular spots around Bohol. It was really nice to see a lot of trees and vegetation around since I only get to see them when I go either to the North or South of Cebu. The weird thing about us when we were on the road was that we kept playing 4 Pics 1 Word! It was really trippy because we pass around phones to one another and it was really INSANE while we were doing it. I even got dizzy after a long while because of passing them around! First thing we did though was to eat breakfast in Jollibee. After that, we started our tour around Bohol!

We first went to the very popular Chocolate Hills! It was very beautiful when we got to the topmost area where people can see the hills very clearly. We took some pictures here but something weird happened: it was about to rain! At first, we wouldn't believe it but then the clouds were suddenly closing in. We had to go down quickly but alas, we were too late as we got hit by the rain. Good thing it was just half of our bodies that got wet, but it still felt weird.

See what I mean? Hehe.

After that very weird and fun experience, we stopped by the pocket forests where we went picture taking because the view was so unique and it felt like there wasn't a sky to look at. It was like the trees are what dominated this place. This just proves that the Philippines has yet to be discovered by a lot more people, even the ones who are from our country.

After that, we went to where the tarsiers were. Since only my grandma and I haven't seen tarsiers in person, Mom asked us to go and see them. They were really cute and their big eyes really astound me. The thing is that you can't take any pictures of them with flash since their eyes are very sensitive. The locals say that when a tarsier moves away from its habitat in a sudden way and it does suicide. Well, enough about gloomy stuff.
After the tarsiers, we ate buffet lunch. We then passed by an old church which was recognized a heritage site.

Then our travelling around comes to an end where we finally arrived at the place that we stayed for the rest of the trip: Bluewater Panglao!

This place was so nice! Staying here felt like a dream. The pools were nice, the food was very delicious, the room was very spacious, and the bed was very comfy. Well, that may be because I had a bed to myself. We actually did a lot here including biking (YAY!) and kayaking.

All in all, I really enjoyed being in Bohol. It made me realize that the Philippines has a lot to offer and I think that tourists will really appreciate the beauty that Bohol brings to everyone who visits. I think I wanna travel more just because of what I've seen there.

(This is actually delayed since this trip happened on April 6. Sorry for that. I'm trying to catch up as I still have 2 more of these to post and more. Work's eating up my time already. 'Til then, guys. I really am sorry for posting this so late.)

Tour.

Yesterday, our teacher asked who among us, the CS graduates, had been offered a job. Some of us didn't have any and others were betrayed with some company so she decided that we visit a company where her sibling is working. That happened a while ago, actually.

It was weird because we thought that we're the only ones going there (including a few IT graduates) but our teacher actually contacted one of us and said that she would tag along. This was great since it's one of the last times we could hang out with her as a group. So we went there in groups: one was riding Charles' car while the others were riding taxi cabs going there.

When we got to the office of the company, we were conscious whether to remove our shoes since they only wear slippers when inside the premises. Good thing they let us go in with them on. After a long discussion about the company and what they do, we were given a tour of the office. There was one area that we really had to remove our shoes but it was okay. After the tour, we had snacks! Yay!

After that though, two of us actually wanted to work in the company. Each of them had a one-on-one interview and were hired on the same day! Congratulations to them! :) While they had the interview, we had a photoshoot! Hahaha. It was really fun since our teacher went along with it because she couldn't go to our graduation. 

Today made me realize that it isn't really the company that you enter that determines your path, but you alone. I will really keep that in mind. TWO DAYS LEFT.

Sleep-Deprived.

I can't sleep again for some reason.

I'm here in my parents' bedroom with my sister doing her school works in the middle of the night and I can't sleep because the light is on. Actually I did, for like a few hours. It really ticks me that my sister always does this to find out that she'll get scolded for not waking up on time for going to school. At least this is giving me a topic to talk about, which is how I'm ALWAYS sleep-deprived when I was still busy with school projects. Sorry for that random picture up there, I have no picture of my bed. 

Of all the times that I didn't sleep properly, it was during the past few months that I realize how important sleep is. Whenever I deprive myself of it, I tend to be off my usual self in the next day or even worse, cranky. I would always be hungrier than most days, and I would get tired easily when I am in the gym. It also caused this sudden outburst of acne in my face. If there was one thing I want gone first, it's the pimples. I wanna sleep early now, but there are still things that are barriers to me doing so more often.

I admit that I don't know how to fully balance my time when it comes to using technology because I basically live and breathe it. It was only now that I should take care of myself more and not take for granted my health because it's important that I'm happy and healthy in order to do the things I wanna do.

And for the record, I made this simply because I couldn't sleep. Good thing she turned off the lights. :)

Sinulog 2013: The Greatest Story Ever Told

Churchgoers attending the Novena Mass in the Basilica del Santo Niño.

Sinulog's just gonna get hotter as time passes by. Every third Sunday of January, we celebrate the feast of Santo Niño. He is the reason why the Philippines became the cradle of Christianity in Asia. When we celebrate it though, we do it over the course of 2 weeks! The Novena Masses are attended by a lot of people and the procession last Saturday was attended by 2.7M (according to Sun Star). I'm sure that the numbers for the Grand Parade are much much more. 

And yes, with the Grand Parade comes VARIOUS street parties around the Metro despite the fact that there's a ban being implemented for those. Too bad there were more party people than even the police! Walking around the streets already counts as a genuine Sinulog experience simply because of the sights you see and the sounds you hear around you. Giant floats from companies were there, including the ABS-CBN float which for me feels like the best float in terms of crowd insanity because of the people shouting and taking their pictures.

Grand Parade from up above. :)

The contingents who join the parade every year are not there to win, but to show their utmost devotion to the Señor Sto. Niño. I really applaud them for doing this. I also appreciate the people who are out there and joining in the celebration. Even though there are times when we get perked up because of the tightness of the crowds trying to walk through the route, it was really nice looking at the contingents giving their all. I think that the street party ban is stupid. We all know what the real meaning of the festival is, but a street party is also a way for people to be happy in the celebration! I'm sure even the police looking at the party people understand that (and the fact that they're outnumbered HAHA) despite their orders.

Even though I didn't get to party much at Baseline (the most trending place during Sinulog, best known for getting yourself dirty and smelling like beer), I enjoyed even the insane walking I did with friends. YES, I was with friends for the whole afternoon though I was with family during the morning and evening. We walked trying to find a place to stay after partying in the night. From Fuente to Mango to Sanciangko then back to Mango again to AllSon's Inn to Ayala (because we were getting our stuff) to Fuente again (because my stuff was there). I really found the experience very amazing, to say the least. I thank God for letting me experience how Sinulog really is. Indeed, it is the GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD.

'Till next year, Sinulog! Pit Senyor!

By the way, here's a picture of my friends making random shiznit. HAHA:

January's about to end. Midterms a'coming. Gotta go.