Looking Back: 2006

My colleague said that 2006 was a good year for those who were born on the year of the pig, myself included. She claimed that contrary to popular belief, it's a not-so-good year for you when it's your year. So you might as well grab all the blessings that come your way because when it will be your turn, fate will not be on your side. I am not a believer of astrology and horoscopes, but let me take this opportunity to look back and check if 2006 has indeed been an above average year for me.

Here are the things that I did in 2006:

* Swam in an almost freezing river

* Went spelunking, 4 caves in one afternoon

* Bungee jumped. It's one of the most thrilling moments of my life. Imagine having to conquer your fear of heights, control your bladder from too much nervousness, convince yourself that you're not hitting the roof, and keep from cussing because of the presence of children -- all in a rough 15 minute fast yoyo ride. Whew!

* Snorkelled & aqua biked in the middle of South China Sea

* Rode an airplane for the first time. And ALONE. I am a natural jetsetter. Haha!

* Went to Boracay. My social status is now elevated by a tinge. Sosyal na, pa-bora-boracay na lang. Haha! I am not so surprised why it's famous. It is indeed a beach lover's paradise. And being a natural but tame jologs, I never enjoyed seeing much celebrities in my entire life. The song "I knew I loved you before I met you" kept ringing in my head when I saw Borgy Manotoc and Marc Nelson, oh and Richard Gutierrez too! Fate will make a way to make you guys mine. Haha!

* Ok, call me whatever you like, but I always dreamt of lying on the sands of a clean beach staring at the stars and having sensible conversation with somebody. I can't believe I didn't do it with any of my ex's! Well we preferred doing other things back then. Anyway, good thing I did it with my two close girl friends last April, and I say it's worth the wait. It's still as magical as I imagined. Looking forward to doing it again.

* Braved a strong water current. Picture yourself in a hollywood movie with a bursting dam and you run for your life. Well not that scary but something to that effect. Kala mo naman... Haha!

* Went to Putipot Island, a small nice island south of Zambales. It is like Boracay without commercialism.

* Played with a gay guy's nipples 10 x a day. Nothing special. He's still gay.

* Turned down a scholarship to Spain. I had to. Waaah!

* Went to work overseas. I think this is the most important thing that happened to me in 2006. It started a new phase of my life - a phase filled with struggles and successes. And I never regretted it. I guess I never will. Bitches and assholes may abound and challenge me everyday, but what's life without them? They may say bad things to me every 5 seconds, but do I really have to care? Well they bother me at times. But when I fight back, it's really a breaking moment -- confidence at an all time high. A colleague yelled at me saying she hates me right to my face (she meant it, fyi), and I said plainly "The feeling is mutual".

* Went to China alone. Amazing Race should hold an "Amazing Race China". It's really a challenge to get by in China. I am sure it will be one hell of race. They do not speak English, not even their hotel receptionists. But my Chinese tiangge experience will always be memorable. I never thought that you can haggle by writing.

* Painted my very own plate! This was when I visited our ceramics factory. Guys, please be careful with the ceramics at your home. Producing a plate is really a laborious task.

* Bad experience: got interrogated by very unfriendly HK immigration officials. I opine that they are the most self-centered people in the world. They see themselves as gods prying on a helpless lowlife. My experience was like a dramatization of the local movies where policemen torture a suspect and make him admit something -- minus the big light.

* Lived in a standard ladies' dormitory. I used to call them "filthy and inhuman bunkers". I still do. (Sorry Dette and Reah!) But I'll never regret staying there for 6 weeks. It's where you form true friendships. Having the best roomies make you forget the filth and hopelessness.

* Tried Hotpot dining...in China

* Cried on a Nora Aunor song. Curse me! It's the natural sentiment of a Filipino expat. We're not called Modern day heroes for nothing.

* Realized that two hot people in a room all by themselves do not necessarily equate to a kiss then eventually make out like in movies. It's like one in a million chance! Believe me, I learned it the hard way. Or I'm just not slutty enough. Haha!

* Went sightseeing in Hong Kong. I do not have to enumerate them, do I?

* Went hiking with Chinese acquaintances. I braved the 2nd highest peak in HK. I will conquer the highest soon, I swear!

* Went EB with two PEXers. They are my good friends now. I used to believe that looking for a meaningful relationship online is for desperate people only. Well it can be dangerous, but if you know how to handle things, you can still meet interesting people.

* Skywalked Macau Tower. Refer to my previous post.

* Become a meantime girl for somebody who used to be yours. Pero ikaw pa rin ang mas mahal nya. Sad. But ending everything was one of the best things I did in 2006.

* I almost forgot the treadmill accident!

* Different types of yoga, jazzdance and meditation classes

* I can't believe I haven't mentioned yet about almost getting arrested by HK police! To make the story short: My window fell when I was closing it, caused damaged property, and almost killed somebody.

* Watched an International Ballroom Dancing competition. Such a bore. Give me back my 200 dollars!

* Ruined two phones in 5 seconds

* Saved enough money to shoulder my sister's and mother's trip abroad. I am broke now.

* Made a blog. I never liked writing. I was almost deprived of my grade school medals because I made senseless and bad sulating pormal and formal theme. Things change. Having nobody (physically) to share your experiences makes you a wanna-be writer.

I will edit my post if I remember more 2006 moments. Overall, it is a very good year for me. A few misfortunes came my way, but blessings outnumbered them.

So I'm fine if 2007 will be a bad year. It's just the 2nd week of January and I'm starting to feel the curse. Darn. But that's how life is -- sometimes you get your fair share, sometimes you don't.

macau tower

After draining my savings, I was able to make my mother and sister come visit me in Hong Kong, instead of me coming back to Pinas. So after our company Christmas party, which disappointed me because I really wanted to win the IPOD shuffle, I went to the Macau Ferry Terminal with butterflies in my stomach. I'm hugging my mother again! Let's just say I was never close to my mother eversince I was a kid. Being the papa's girl, I never cared if my mum existed or not. But when I went to HK, I realized how much I love my family, my mother included.

Segue:

Can I just say that I now believe that Filipinos are everywhere?! I thought it was just an exaggeration, but when I accidentally bumped into my two newly found friends in Macau, I realized that the world is really a small place for us Filipinos.

Let's start with Annie. She lives in Macau. She offered to accompany me when I fetch my family at the Macau airport. But I had to turn down her offer because I do not want to shame myself infront of her when I see my family for the first time after half a year. Needless to say, I saw her at the airport because she was waiting for another friend of hers, who happened to be on the same plane with my family.

Then goes Leo. He is a friend of mine here in HK. On the night of 22nd, we sort of agreed to go to the Macau Tower, since he would be touring his friend from Manila in Macau during the day and he will meet us at the tower at night. Unfortunately, my suppossedly auto-roaming mobile failed me, therefore preventing me from reaching out to everybody. To make the story short, he found us at the tower, and we even rode the same ferry on our way back. The latter is another sheer coincidence.

Powerpuff!

Blossom commander and the leader...

Powerpuff will save the day...

I almost lost the child in me by trying to fit in an adult world.

This display board reminded me of the joys of staying young.

To continue:

Macau is a really nice place, if you do not mind the scant public transportation and the inability of the people to speak English (locals at least). I have been eyeing the Macau Tower Sky Adventures since I saw Annie's friendster pictures. The adventurous girl in me reemerged upon seeing the skyrocketing tower. We paid MOP228 each for the skywalk, the cheapest package there is. It looked promising when we reached the observation deck at the 58th floor. You can literally see all of Macau from there -- "The Las Vegas of Asia" as it is sometimes called. You can be mesmerized by the blinking casino lights and the majestic lit bridges. Filled with much anticipation, we hurried to the 61st floor to experience the thrill of our lifetime - walking around the peak of the tower on a 1.8 meter plank.

Much to our dismay, it wasn't even close to thrilling! Not even exciting! Not even worth any positive adjective! Boo! It was just another photo-op session. My sister and I were toured by one of the tower's crew (we're still debating about the staff's gender). And I never imagined that a plank with such width could be so boringly wide. Nevertheless, we still gave our best smiles and made it look like we were having the 'fear factor' moment of our lives. It was a real rip-off, and the experience only lasted for less than five minutes. We haggled with the tour guide so we could at least round the tower again by ourselves and feel the cold air without having to stop every five seconds for another pose. But he/she declined. Booboo! Aargg! And we paid MOP150 for one CD that contained our pictures. Pictures were ok. If I do not rant about the absence of excitement, anybody will get envious of our Macau Tower experience.

Anyway, I am still posting some pictures.

Just forget what I said above and spoil yourself with a Macau Tower Skywalk Adventure.

Charge it to experience! Life is sometimes filled with sugar coatings and bitter chocolates anyway. Huh?! What am I saying?! Labo!

Korea in Hong Kong

Last Sunday, I went to the Hong Kong Cultural Center to watch Korean cultural presentations. This event is a good eye opener because I do not know much about Korea. I only get acquainted to this country when I watch Korean movies, which I love by the way.

Pretty girls in bright coloured costumes doing a sword dance.

Ethnic musical presentation. They even played the theme from Endless Love which was tagalized in our country.

Another cultural dance

Would it be complete without the constant reminder of Korean-Chinese partnership?

And my favorite part of the show! - THE GAMBLER CREW

Woohoo! Breakdancing to nth level!

I love it! Every dancer just leaves you in awe.

Rock on!

nff's

far from the hustle bustle of Hong Kong, I went to Lamma Island (together with the friend who i met a week earlier) to accompany a friend from macau. It's been a fun and busy day for us. We went to Lamma, tried a seafood restaurant, did a little shopping from the posh IFC, went to Victoria Peak to see both sides of the harbour, drank some coffee (my first since i came to HK), and watched PDA through a 32" flat TV. haha. I was really rooting for Yeng. But I liked Ronnie during the Dream Night. He's so freaking H-O-T!

nuevas cosas

Been doing some great things lately:

* Got a new set of pinoy friends here. I had lunch with someone I met through Pinoyexchange. Small world is the perfect description for it. He came from the same university I've gone to, and he's working with the HK headquarters of the MNC that I used to work with before I went here. After that, we had dinner with his pinoy friends. It was really a fun day/night.

* I am a sucker for treasure hunts. I went to this little bazaar at Victoria Park. For 10 dollars, you can eat all the little weird Chinese candies and drink all types of broth and tea for free. What's more (wait, I am sounding like an infomercial here), they have this little treasure hunt thing where you roam the entire park and look for the six stamp points so you can join a raffle for you to instantly win something. So we took the challenge. We lined up for almost half an hour for a jewelry stop with a big number 4 infront of it, deducing that it is the 4th stop. Needless to say it wasn't the fourth stop of the hunt and the booth simply gives out freebies. We got a small calendar. It took us more than one hour to finish the 6 stamps. What we got for free? I got a bottle of soda water which up to now I still cannot figure out how to open. I am luckier actually. My friend got a sachet of something. That something we have yet to figure out. It was all written in Chinese.

* Just finished reading "Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World" by Haruki Murakami. Now I am into "Sophie's World" by Jostein Gaarder.

* Watched Simon Birch. I cried, and I am crying until now. I have been listening to the soundtrack for one week straight.

* Watched Phenomenon. I cried again. But I loved the shaving and haircutting scene. Those are the types of love scenes that I prefer.

* Tried Nike Rockstar Hip Hop class. I am really a bad dancer. Still it was fun though.

* Tried Bodycombat class. I am worse at boxing. I am still going to attend Bodycombat classes if I have the time.

finally!

I have been trying to post pictures. But for the past few days, the menu bar would not appear, thereby preventing me from adding pictures.

Two weeks ago, I was able to come to the Victoria Harbor and take a photo session of the HK Island Buildings while doing the Symphony of Lights. Equipped with a tripod, I was able to take photos which I dare say are mine. Never been any prouder. Haha!

This is my favorite shot. It tells many stories. It contains many contradictions -- all in one frame - darkness and light, modernity and tradition, crowd and solitude, happy and lost, promising future and doom. Many thanks to the people who unknowingly participated in one of the my best stolen shots.

new things

So here are the things that happened to me lately:

1) I got into an accident while using the treadmill. It's a real case of stupidity. I was trying to read a magazine while running. Yes I know it's sort of foolish to do, but I felt like a superwoman that time -- enriching my mind while sculpting my body. The magazine slipped in my hand, so I had to reach for it. Dumb me, I did not stop the machine so I got thrown on the floor. So I was right on the floor, with all the pretentious socialites in the gym laughing at and/or feeling sorry for me. But I had to get back there to restore my dignity. Dumb me again, I returned without realizing that the platform is still rolling, so I got thrown AGAIN when I came back. Somebody yelled "You have to press STOP!", I yelled back "I know!" But it was too late, all the dignity I got left simply vanished. Finally an instructor came to the rescue and asked if I was ok, I had to say "Yes, no worries. I'll just run again.". In my attempt to regain my dignity, I ran for another 20 minutes while still reading (I never learned my lesson), with my entire body aching and some bruises bleeding. When I came back to change clothes, I really felt loser so I called my bestfriend. Even she is laughing at my accident. I got bruises all over my body now. It's been more than a week but the wounds are still fresh. Damn.

2) I got into a Jazzdance class last night. Imagine having to rehearse for an hour just to finish a 30 second choreo. It was really fun. Nevermind the bruises, I'd feel more of a loser if I just rot myself in my room, looking back at all the stupidities I made in my life.

3) I made a Friendster testimonial for my childhood bestfriend. I am not really a testi freak, but I felt like doing it. She made me a testimonial, and I was tearjerky upon reading what she had to say. I realized that I am a good person afterall, modesty aside. haha!

4) I spent another night of photo session of Hong Kong, this time taking it from the other side of Victoria Harbor. Also my first to time to finally use a tripod. Feeling pro! haha!

5) Forgiving my ex who cheated on me. This time I really intend to do it wholeheartedly. Hate is a self poison that I had been overdosing myself with. Time to move on. Besides, I have more important things to deal with aside from dwelling in the past -- like finding my ikigai.

So there. I'll post photos soon.