conversations et al

wrote this last sept pa.

these past few days i have met a whole bunch of entirely different persona, some famous, the others, just like anybody else. we may have conversed long enough to cover passing hours or just a little chit chat just to make 'tawid' some idle time. one way or another i have learned something from them. indeed we humans are so very complex.

Fr. Tito Caluwag (my apologies if the spelling of his last name is wrong)

if your fond of watching y-speak over studio 23 and other relevant talk shows in 'channel 2' as i may quote him, then he is that jesuit priest who sits at the panel and tries to assess the whole discussion in the perspective of the youth and the church. He is famous. And he's from the Ateneo de Manila.

It was a good, quite bumpy 1 hour-15min flight from manila to cebu and we were seatmates. Despite Henry Sy's (yup you read it right, but hes not the one who owns SM though, hes my officemate haha!) kakulitan, the bumpiness of the ride made him fall asleep so i got the chance to exhange some thoughts w/ Fr. It was casual, we just talked about his trip to Cebu, his mobile phone w/c enables him to set his sms messages better, the iphone w/c he didnt really like to have, about the Ateneo and most of all about television...quite an enriching conversation, and an honour on my part at that.

Ryan and Melissa - PAL flight attendants

in one of my few flights i was able to be seatmates w/ 2 passenger f.a.'s. and for those who know me, i can pass as an interviewer because i ask alot of questions, and im also friendly. haha! ok i admit, it has been a life long dream fro me to either be a pilot or a flight attendant, having been living a few meters away from an airport for 4 years would have been the culprit for this 'wish'. A barkada from highschool recently told me that she was accepted as a flight attendant in cebu pacific, so that triggered the whole conversation. the perks are great, and i can sense they'r loving the job, the travelling, the fame etc. the pay is huge! so as the risk though...namumukhaan na nga daw nila ako eh...sabi ni ryan! oh well, i deserve a discount! bottom line is, 'if only i was qualified'...

the man in the streets of pioneer claiming to be a chinese imigrant who came from the philippines who was asking for political asylum but was rejected...

he wrote some things on bondpapers and posted it in the walkway, tried reading it and i learned he was from china who illegally got into the philippines because he was seeking for political asylum, but he was denied so by the phil. government and he didnt want to go back to china, so he ended up literally on philippine soil. i would have wanted to believe him, kaya lang i almost forgot that i'm in manila. things happen here, gimic, lokohan, etc etc. he might be just some random pinoy who poses as a chinese guy. we can never tell. so idecide to just leave him. harsh but hey, kesa naman sa ako ang maloko.

Mark - Manila counterpart ko

addict sa work, he starts working at 8 am and ends at around 11pm, nakitulog sa hotel room ko since he doesnt have time to go home na, i fell asleep close to midnight and bumalik sya sa office, didnt notice what time na sya bumalik sa room and before i woke up he was already gone again. when i asked what time sya nagising, 6am daw. the next day iniwanan ko sya sa office at arond 1245am, the next day, papunta nako sa work at around 9am, nagkasalubong kami magtututbrush lang daw sya. by lunch time na sya pumasok...nagsorry pa sakin kasi nakatulog daw sya...kinausap ko sabi ko kung anumang klaseng katol ang sinisimhut nya, sana tigilan na nya, hindi healthy for him and hindi rin healthy sa kumpanya...adik nga.

Bisayang Taxi driver

there are lot of bisaya in manila, and they come in baranggays, the taxi driver told me that in fairview daw sa lugar nila tatlong baranggay na magkatabi bisaya lahat. he was from leyte (palompon to be exact) and if only there's an opportunity there, then mas gusto nyang umuwi sa probinsya. the metro is hell for them. inoman lang daw ang pass time. oh well typical hang ups and rants lang narinig ko sa kanya, and pacquiao's 200 taxi units na bisya lang daw hinahire as drivers...

scalper sa araneta coliseum during the dlsu-admu finals game 1

lang hiya! gen ad ticket for 1,500P wa mo kuyapi?!?!?!? heller.....didtn bother to argue w/ the man coz i know im out of his league kahit anong sabihin ko. nagtour na lang kami around araneta center then mrt-lrt roadtrip haha! definitely next season manonood ako. i was that close but it wasnt just meant to be. the scalper even said kahit 1 week before pa daw ako naghanap, i wouldnt find any tickets at all...willing pang ibigay cellphone no. nya sakin for game 2 daw...aba!

if only he knows how precious it was for me to see that game, and i was willing to spend 1,500P just for a gen ad ticket, just for me to get in...but then i realized, i just allow this people na gulangan ako, nananamanatala eh...and i guess i dont tolerate those kinds of creatures na pati ang dream ko eh kelangan muna mag seat back and will have to wait for the next season...hahay.

i still have lets say 79,000,000 filipinos to converse with, and i dont think i can cover them all in one lifetime...

just me.

Travel essentials 101 – packing up can be challenging (but not all the time!)

I have this on the go traveling backpack w/c is ready 24/7 for any planned (but mostly unplanned) ‘lakwatsa’ and I took some photos of the stuff that are usually in it when I travel. I seem to find them necessary and would make my backpacker life a little easier even during on travels which require me to do the ‘kinowboy’ style.

So here’s basically whats inside it:

Malong – its an instant ‘kumot’ that i can use anytime from sleeping to protecting myself from the heat of the sun to etc.

Towel – hotels in our country do have towels, even those cheap inns or pension houses BUT not from other countries. I experienced it in Malaysia and in Hong Kong that I had to do w/ tissue paper after taking a bath because the backpacker’s hostel didn’t provide me w/ complimentary towels. Seesh.

Map – this is a must to bring especially if traveling abroad. Here in our country though, especially here in Manila, i don’t really recommend opening and analyzing maps in the streets as it might jeopardize one’s safety but during road trips where one can be safe in the confines of one’s car, then having a map is very handy.

First aid kit – safety first. I don’t really have to elaborate on this. It’s a must to have one (and update it from time to time so as not to take expired med)

Zipper Bags – I was inspired to bring this one from my fellow travel freak Rovisa when we went to mt. Pinatubo. I didn’t know that we were going to go on swimming. Good thing though she brought a couple of zipper bags so I get to ask one for my wet clothes.

Don’t neglect your hygiene even when on traveling. – Please. Deodorant, lotion and toothbrush will do. And yes, with the recent dengue outbreak in our country, an anti mosquito lotion should be in the list too.

Clothes – traveling in fashion is still possible without necessarily packing in the whole cabinet. A comfy t-shirt (probably light colored), jeans and a fashion worthy sneaks is just fine. (Well im basing this in Philippine climate. Its different if it’s in some other cold country)

Wired stuff – im talking about phone chargers, mp3 chargers and headsets. Self explanatory for the call and text freak and to the music buff in me.

Cellphones (and mp3 players) – even when not traveling we should have these.

Everything keys – house and car keys. It’s a no brainer why we bring them

Book – I always bring a book when I travel but I don’t really get to read them most of the time. Even if I’m on a relaxed traveling mode, I prefer to have my mp3 player instead of a book.

A small notebook – I do write notes during my travel. Really. As in.

Modem – so much for internet connection and facebook even when traveling. Good thing I work in a telecoms company that I get to have ALL kinds of internet providing machines (modem gud) such as tattoo, wimax etc.

Laptop – pls refer to the description above. But I don’t really feel like bringing one because when I travel as much as possible I want to detach from everything and just enjoy the moment. Having a laptop keeps you half hearted and torn in between. But ah, uh, read na lang the description above lol)

Tissue – my stomach always play tricks on me so I kind of need this all the time

So do we have similar essentials in our bags? and yeah by the way, the camera isnt included in the list because it has its own bag. LOL.