Tapos na ang mga araw ng OT at OTTY (overtime thank you). Normal na empleyado na ulet ako ngayong March at sa mga susunod na buwan. Marami na sana akong oras magblog kung di lang ako nabubwisit sa WP lately. May posts akong nakatengga kasi di ko malagyan ng pics. Such a dilemma. Grr.

WTF is happening to WP uploader? Ok fine di ganun kabilis ang upload speed ng broadband ko pero OA naman na bigla na lang magfreeze at paulet-ulet kong gawin ang proseso ng paga-upload. Nakakaurat na! SOS! I need help! 

Minsan nga lang ako mag-attach ng pics sa posts ko laking pahirap pa. Di photo blog ang tambayannilex pero minsan gusto kong magpost ng pics. Di naman siguro masamang gamitin ang blog para madiscover at sumikat di ba? LOL

I’m so pissed off. I dunno if I’m the only “lucky” WP blogger who’s experiencing this. I’ve attempted to attach pics many times but I always end up unsuccessful. Asar lang kasi kung kelan ganado na ulet akong magblog saka naman nagkaron ng hassle. Ganun yata talaga yun pag naghiatus nagkakaproblema pagbalik. ampf. Buti nga di pa sumamagi sa isipan kong magdelete ng blog. Malapit-lapit na yata.

Sana lang maayos na to. This is my first blogging home. Ayoko sanang maglayas…

I thought I’d have more time to blog at the start of the year but obviously it’s not happening. It’s almost the end of the month but yet this is my first post. In fact, I can also surf the net only once a week. Yeah, I take my one-day off on Sunday. Don’t be surprised why I work on Saturdays. Since I started as a sales verifier, I work 10 hours a day and 6 days a week. Amazing! I never thought I could work that hard. My work is taking a toll on my blogging career. LOL. We have thousands of sales calls to verify and we only have until February 28 to verify the backlogs. How’s that for being busy? Listening to almost hundred calls a day is a pain in the ears (of course, not in the a**).

I didn’t even realize that this blog has turned three years this month. That was on the 1oth. Yehey, it’s my blog’s anniversary! It feels good to think that I’ve been in the blogosphere for three years. Not bad because in three years I still have three readers. Haha.

Well, I just wanna thank those who are still dropping by this site. I really appreciate it when you guys check on this blog though you can’t find a decent and interesting post here. I would like to thank those bloggers who’ve been with me through the years. Through all the good and bad. I knew how much we had. I’ve always been so glad to be with you. Through the year it’s better every day. You’ve kissed my tears away. As long as it’s okay, I’ll stay with you through the years. I’m quite sure you know the song. hehe

Seriously, blogging has been a wonderful experience for me. And with those three years, I could say that I have found friends. Thank you to those who wanted to see me in person and invited me to their EBs. You are the reason why I’m still here. There have been many times that I wanted to quit. But you keep me going! Despite of my hectic work schedule, I’d still find time to check your blogs. Just bear with me.

Parang ang bilis lumipas ng taon ah. Parang kelan lang eh January pa lang. It feels like yesterday! Pero mas ok na din siguro na matapos ang taon na to. This year has not been so good for me. January pa lang kasi eh medyo may major major sablay na desisyon  na akong nagawa. Kung ano man yun, malalaman nyo rin sa takdang panahon. Element of suspense ika nga!

But this year also brought some good things to me. Syempre di naman lahat ng nangyari sa kin eh matuturing kong kamalasan. Kung nagkataon eh matagal ko nang kinitil ang sarili kong buhay! Ganun raw kasi talaga ang mga cute mataas ang suicidal tendency. Woot!

Anyways, there are some things that happened this year that I should be thankful for.

First, I celebrated my 25th year of existence this year. Hay, I’m not getting any younger. Pero alam ko na iniisip mo. Mukha lang akong 21 di ba? Para kasing bumabata ako every year eh. Parang si Benjamin Button lang. Hehe. Nagcelebrate lang ako kasama ang pamilya at mga kaibigan ko. Salamat sa mga nagbigay ng gift at dun sa mga di nagbigay di na kayo invited next year.

Of course, I should also be thankful kasi nandyan ang family ko. They’re all okay especially my ermat who was hospitalized last year. Wala akong ibang hiniling kay God bago ako matulog kundi panatilihing maayos ang pamilya ko. Good health and long life. Malaking blessing na sa kin yun.

Thankful din ako kasi nandyan ang mga kaibigan ko. Maraming salamat at mga single din kayo! Apir! Malaking tulong yun para di ako maging bitter. At least di ako napipressure magkagelpren. LOL.  But don’t worry guys, we’ll fall in love with the right person at the right time. Have faith! Hehe.

Syempre dapat ko din ipagpasamalat kasi hanggang ngayon may trabaho pa rin ako. One and a half years na ko sa company namin. So far so good naman. Nakakasawa minsan magtake ng calls pero I have to deal with it. Call center ang pinasukan ko kaya wala akong choice kundi tumanggap ng calls. Buti sana kung callboy at tatambay lang ako sa isang kanto at maghihintay ng pipick-up sa kin. Woot!  

Salamat na rin at medyo nag-iba ang job assignment ko bago matapos ang taon. Nung 22 lang eh nagsimula akong maging Sales Verifier sa account namin. Less pressure kasi di ko kelangang problemahin ang stats ko bilang agent. Kelangan ko lang magverify ng validity ng sales at imeet syempre ang number of calls na dapat naming imonitor araw-araw. Medyo ok naman for a change.

Olrayt din kasi nabili ko na rin finally si Mini. Di sya prosti ha. Yan ang name ng bago kong netbook, HP Mini. Naubos ang 13th month pay ko sa kanya pero no regrets naman kasi ang cute nya. I rewarded myself with a new gadget which I think would benefit me a lot. Mas convenient na sa kin ngayon ang pagbablog at pagbabrowse ng porn sites. Joke! Kaso may isa pang problema, di pa ko nakabili ng mobile broadband. Kung sino man ang may mabuting kalooban dyan, bigyan nyo ko please…haha!

Ayos na ayos din kasi sa pagpasok ng bagong taon, ako ay nakabakasyon. Kumusta naman ang rhyme? Oh yes, nakaleave ako from January 3-7. Nine days akong wala sa office kasama ang 4 days na off ko. Longest vacation I ever had! Uuwi ako sa hometown ng parents ko sa Leyte for a family reunion at dahil na rin sa death anniversary ng lola ko. Konting pasyal na rin at eyeball with old friends. Kelangan ko din kasing magunwind dahil sobrang dami naming workload sa January.

At syempre pa gusto din kitang pasalamatan. Oo, ikaw na nagbabasa ng post na to ngayon sa walang-sawa mong pagdalaw sa blog na to. Maraming salamat sayo kaibigang blogger at naging kasama kita buong taon! More blogging years to come! Happy New Year, bloggers! Cheers!

Our second day in Nagsasa Cove started just fine. I woke up as early as 4PM. I suddenly realized I slept on the table under the pine trees but I could barely remember what happened the other night. I was glad though because I had no hangover. Others were still asleep so I just decided to hangout in the cottage and walk though the shore. It has always been a nice feeling to walk by the shore as waves rush through it. It’s like I’m shooting a music video. woot!

After few minutes the group came out of their tents and we  then prepared for breakfast. We only had coffee, cup noodles,and bread. After taking breakfast, we then roamed around the place to have a view of the sunrise. We had our pic taken everywhere! Yeah, camwhores! The sun was burning us to a crisp but that didn’t stop from enjoying it was already early noon when we got tired of striking poses.

After lunch, we started my favorite part: the inuman session. We brought bottles of Tequila all the way from Manila. (kelangan may rhyme?) Two bottles of tequila didn’t suffice so we added GSM Blue which costs P100 each in the island. No choice because there’s no effin way we can buy tequila there.

We decided to go skinny-dipping swimming before sunset so we just brought the drinks to the shore and continued our drinking stints there. Inuman on the beach while watching the sun set was classic. But one thing I didn’t like was that the water was too shallow for me. I had to go farther to get a good swim.

It was already dark when we left the shore. We just had dinner and continued the drinking session afterwards. We gathered around the bonfire that we made out of the dried twigs and leaves of pines. I also got to try to smoke shisha that Buck brought. We had a good time talking about everything under the moon and answering JP’s survey questions.  LOL. I lied down on the sand while waiting for my shot but I dozed off in no time. I was in deep sleep that they can’t wake me up to they decided JP to lift me to the tent. Errr…

The boatmen are scheduled to pick us up at 7AM so we left Nagsasa Cove as early as 9PM. Yeah, we let them wait. Lol. We headed for our next destination: Anawangin Island. We missed to check the place on our first day in Zambales so we asked the boatmen to make a quick stopover. We only stayed there for 30 minutes so we had a quick photo op and sight-seeing. I was just saddened because I never got to try trekking in the hill near the area.

We also initially planned to drop by Capones Island but we ran out of time because it was already noon and we have to be back in Manila before night. It saddened me because I heard many good things about Capones and I think it would have been a great experience if we were able to drop by.

Anyways, there has been safety precautions as well because we heard a group of travelers failed to check the island because of rough waters along the  way. Proceeding with the plan would mean buwis-buhay! Woot! Perhaps we’ll just spend more days and check Capones next time. Besides, our first time in Zambales won’t definitely be the last. I can’t wait to revisit the place where the sun meets the sky (as the sign somewhere in Zambales says).

It’s my kind of adventure. The idea of being free and isolated excites me. That is the reason why my fave reality show is Survivor (not the Philippines version, though). I got so hooked up with the show that I even auditioned for Survivor Philippines’ first season. And yeah, I didn’t make it. Call me a loser now. Woot!

So when my officemate Nes, invited me to join their Zambales trip I instantly said yes without hesitation especially when I was told we won’t be going to a resort but to an island where there is no electricity and some sort of decent accommodation. That would mean we would have to camp out and cook for survival ala-Survivor castaways. Yehey!

So the trip went on and we conquered Zambales with our Survivor Zambales Pa-Celebrity Showdown.

3 days. 2 nights. 8 castaways. Survivors Ready!

The Locations: Nagsasa Cove and Anawangin Island in Bgy. Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales

The Dates: October 30-November 1, 2010

The Castaways:

Buck                              Jovz                              JP

Lex                                      Rose                                  Dennis

Nes                                  Kate

Tribe Name: Tribung Pude*
* “Pude” is a term coined by Jovz and the rest of the girls. We don’t know what it exactly means. Google found no results and the etymology of the word can’t be further researched. I tried to find out what it is but I always end up getting a nasty idea. haha.

Day 1
After shift around 7:30 AM, we loaded our baggages into Buck‘s 4×4 pickup and  prepared to hit the road. It was my first time to travel to Northern Luzon and I thought it was a long trip. We arrived in San Antonio, Zambales before 1PM and picked JP who traveled all the way from Laguna. We then headed to a village called Pundaquit where we waited for a boat to take  us to Nagsasa Cove. It took more than an hour for us to get an available boat so we had some beer while we were waiting. We left Pundaquit shores at 3:30 PM and took the wavy boat ride.

As what my blogger friend, Kuya Dong, who has been in Zambales last May, told me there would be huge waves and rough waters along the way. And he wasn’t kidding when he said that. It was a good thing the weather was fine that day. We enjoyed the 1-hour ride because we passed by some sceneries of green hills and rock formations. We didn’t even realize that it was a long trip because we were amazed with what we saw and what we drank (Red Horse) along the way. FYI, all of us boys were a bit tipsy when we jumped off the boat. Or was it only me? hehe.

It was already sundown when we arrived in Nagsasa Cove. I already had a nice view of the island even if I was still on the boat. As I like asking myself, ‘Am I in New Zealand’? It was picture perfect that when you take a pic of yourself with the place in the background would make a great Facebook profile pic. Woot!

We then met Nes and Buck’s friends who came there before we arrived. We also met some locals who voluntarily offered help when we unloaded our bags from the boat. Many thanks to them especially Ate Yolly. woot! I had fun with her not only because she pronounces ‘tubig’ as ‘tupik’ but also she’s so kind that she always voluteered to run errands for us.

We never had lunch while on travel so they (because I was already drunk and wasted that time) wasted no time to setup their (because I don’t have my own) tents, and they (again, I was already sleeping) prepared the cookset and cooked chicken caldereta.

I just woke up to eat and came back to sleep after. I missed a lot that night. I totally lost sobriety that I slept on the table under the pines. They tried to wake me up but I was already dead asleep. What happened next in the island? Find out next on Day 2 of Survivor Zambales Pa-Celebrity Showdown…

Special thanks to a new friend Buck of http://rockandwood.wordpress.com for some of the photos!