Notes of Blue and Black

On the road between Pagadian an Ipil there is a nice little eatery that serves the best native and homegrown poultry and fishery called Kan-anan sa Balsa. If you're in town, you should check it out. sign to set you up. Lovely little wishing well before you order. spending the holidays by the pond nice little pathway to the tables. surrounded by the solemn place, there's no other way to enjoy a meal. your meal to be. 5 pesos to feed the fish! cute little water fall that facilitates the water treatment for the pond If you think that you're a foodie, you don't know anything unless you've been to the countryside. Happy holidays! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone while on the road. Location: En Route to Ipil from Pagadian

It's fun to think back on the year right before it ends. One thing that struck me most about this year is being on the road. My year mostly revolved around traveling to different places around Mindanao, to an extent that this 2010 I can proudly say that if you get out a map of Mindanao and randomly point out a place, I can, most probably tell you that I've been there. I know, it isn't as classy if I had said I went to Europe or on an African safari, but really, well aside from med reps and a select few, who would really want to see how Ipil is or ride in the pirate infested beaches of Zamboanga (it's really not that bad)? I don't mind being on the road. On the road, you tend to forget about where you've been because you focus too much on what's right in front of you. Sometimes it gives us perspective about whatever; like you get to examine your life from the outside. It's an interesting phenomenon really, how going 80km's an hour can make you forget ...

This season of Christmas, a whole lot of us tend to feel reflective about our lives. There’s something about this season that makes us look into ourselves; to wonder about what we hold dear and treasure in our lives. To think back on past years, sifting through forgotten photographs and remembering loved ones, we tend to feel a bit overwhelmed by the season that sometimes, we wish that we could go back to a certain time in our lives.  Do you do that? Don’t you ever wonder why the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future won’t visit you this time? Do you ever find yourself wishing that you could go back or forward to a certain time? Let’s just say that we do have the chance to do so; to be the updated version of Ebenezer Scrooge? Where and when will we go? The Ghost of Christmas Past would take me to my childhood where I would be innocently happy to the ways of the world. But whenever I try to think about my early childhood, only a few memories come to mind! Maybe my childho...

There was a time when I thought that we can learn something from every bad thing that happens in our lives. The trouble with that is, no matter how true that may be, you have to be wise enough to realize what that something is. Conjuring up explanations for your own benefit might end up to bite you in the arse later on. If you always think of our own realizations or epiphanies to be always true, it will almost always lead you to believe in an entirely wrong idea. Studying philosophy taught me that being subjective can teach a man to be blinded from what is actually true. For example, there was this girl in a religion class I had a few years back that was so convinced that hell did not exist, but rather it is an illusion and that we who are in the world right now are already in hell. Where did that come from? I wondered that developing your own ideas of something without regard to what is actually true can totally make you sound stupid. Just like you coloring outside the borders of your...

My feet have always been made for Chuck Taylor's. I know that's a bit of a presumptuous thing to say considering; but it's not like I want to promote anything. I'm not; I'm just saying that ever since I bought me my first pair of Chuck Taylor's My feet felt like they were home. I remember high-school when I bought my very first pair. A lot of my friends were in to mainstream rock bands like Linkin Park, Slipknot, and what have you. It was that time that I didn't really get mainstream rock and I wanted to be different. That's when I first saw and heard Incubus on TV. watching their video of Pardon Me and Drive frequently on MTv got my attention. I know that you're probably thinking that Incubus was mainstream; but coming from the high-school I was in, I could say that only a handful of people know what incubus brought to the music scene. I bought my very first record of them which was Make Yourself and I was hooked. I started to sing and play them on ...

It's so hard to do your christmas shopping when everybody else is doing it with you. I mean, why the rush? I can't really put my finger to why these folks decide on the very last minute to get in their cars to the nearest mall. Not to mention the hassle you have to go through because by some stroke of genius, they decide to bring their rowdy kids along. I love kids, I think they are the best. But in a mall with thousands of people and in the heat of the Christmas decision making, pushing and shoving, kids are useless. They do nothing but worry you and test your patience. Although I might understand why you would want to have your kids along; because it's Christmas and family bonding and all that. But seriously, if your kid can't behave themselves in a way that wouldn't make other people frown on your parenting skills, why tag them along? Wouldn't it be more efficient for these people to just go by two's or something; all you really need when your shopping is...

Sometimes, and they aren't all the time, when we crash in burn. I guess that this is true to all of us, living in a planet that is filled with such events chIaotic as what the human mind can comprehend. What we experience everyday in our lives, from the buzzing bees to the cars that stream pass the highways, is filled with chaos. Danger that hides in plain site. Don't you see it? I was able to, ever since I was a young boy. Seated behind the car my mom would make turns around corners, often encountering close calls which cannot be explained except by coincidences or Divine protection. We would fly pass accidents every now and then that a split second difference would or might mean the worst thing that could happen, and something that will soon be forgotten because of its insignificance. I would often reflect that if i hadn't forgotten to bring something, then my mom wouldn't have to honk the car horn willing me come faster. I would have saved at least a few seconds...

It has been so long since the last time I saw her. Sometimes I catch myself wondering where she is; if by chance time has changed her into something unrecognizable, or is she by chance the same person. But I always expect that somehow, she's probably changed. I find myself asking how much, or would she still manage to move me like she did so many years ago... I wonder in my loneliness why I still find myself searching for him whenever I fly in into his town.. Although I never call to let him know, I still look around with a hopeful heart that I could catch him again. It's not that I long for him in such a way that I must see him. But it is a longing like every fool has when she casts a die, or receives her deal, or punches in the numbers of the lottery. It's not like it's okay for us to see each other. My pride is still intact; because the pain despite all these years still reminds me not to fall into it again... ...Like a child who learns to stay away from the fire...

I saw a short film earlier this morning and it really made me think about this whole blogging thing. Anyway, it was about a couple who was torn apart by war. But before the guy had to leave, he made a pact with his wife to be that he would return no matter what, and he'll be faithful and all that crap... Anyway, while the dude was gone, the girl kept writing letters for him, telling him to forget the war and to come home to her. What really struck me most wasn't how romantic those letters were or what they said, but it was because after the girl wrote them, she would tear it up into pieces and throw them into the wind. I was like, what the hell? For one, i love the fact that winds are so easy to come by especially when your a melodramatic damsel awaiting he return of your prince.... But anyway, I'm not really here to make fun. I just couldn't understand why she had to go through the motions of writing all that only to destroy the letter. I mean, really? Why write when n...