Gangsters @ Ronco Beach Resort: Disturbing the Peace Part III

The morning after...

I woke up to a fairly sunny day...

Most of us were already up and about. We ate leftovers from last nyt's feast, along with leda's chiz whiz packs.

The beach was more or less beside a mountain, and the beach house we were staying at was more or less resting on that mountain. So the owners of the beach put up a steep walkway at the back of the house going up the mountain (I'm just calling it a mountain for lack of a better term, but it was hardly a mountain). Up there was a platform where the scenery is better. The group hung out there right after breakfast... nagpapababa ng kinain, so to speak.

Yup, that's Tarzan over there.

After the morning hike, the group decided to swim. Again, I was merely a spectator to the event, especially since Jon decided to join in.

But it was ok, I was able to get pictures of them horsing around.

I even captured Jon tackling Myke...

...and Myke pushing Dan into the water haha!

Even at a distance, the group knew I was taking a picture of them. Haha!

After taking a bath, we prepared to leave to have lunch in Tagaytay. It was just as well that we decided to check out early because it started to rain.

We wanted to eat at Leslie's. We wanted Bulalo. But alas... the place was packed!!

You know what the reception told us? 30mins waiting time. Nuh-uh. No can do for our tummies!

So instead, we went to nearby Cafe Lupe. Total contrast: we were the only ones there so mucho mucho service. Hahaha!

The rain mellowed to a drizzle. But it was still foggy.

Taal Lake was foggy, but you can still see the cages or whatever those floating things are... (yeah, what are those anyway?)

Ahh..the fog cleared enough to get a nice picture of Taal Volcano.

After there, we headed home and made a couple of stops to Colette's to buy pasalubong for out families.

There ends our Calatagan adventure. As we went back to work (and therefore to reality) the next day, we continue to reminisce the time and the gossip that happened --

Drunken confessions.

Puking sessions.

Shared blankets.

Tender sleeping moments.

(Yikituuuuuuuuu!!)

Gangsters @ Ronco Beach Resort: Disturbing the Peace Part II

No, we didn't eat "adubo" for dinner. We ate it for snacks.

Jon started cooking adobo when we got settled into our rooms. I just helped stirring what Jon mixed up, while myke was holding the wok steady. We used Jon's ultra compact stove, the kind they used to bring into the mountains. Cool huh..

Then we started a game of volleyball, with me and jemmi as muses and saling-pusa of the teams,

while the rest of the girls watched from the nearby balsa (balsa cheering squad).

After we figured out no one could ever win a game played to simply bully each other, we decided to swim. Or, rather, they decided to swim, while Jon & I decided to keep guard in the balsa, which we temporarily declared as AC Gangster Property. Yes, I kept my promise of not swimming.

AC Gangsters braving the deep waters of the sea...NOT. Seriously, it was low tide. So even if they are already far out, the waters barely reach their butts.

So yeah, after a few minutes of looking out to sea, Jon and I became bored and spent the time taking pictures of each other. Hahaha! Vanity is the answer to boredom in this case.

* gasp! * Jon is learning to take pictures of himself!?! Uh-oh... I had nothing to do with that...

My JC tattoo... I decided to forgo ,my yearly shoulderblade Dragon tattoo in favor of my fiance's initials on the leg.. it's different and I wanted a design that had something to do with Jon. So instead of drawing a mountain on my leg, I settled for his initials. Lol.

After swimming, we started to prepare for dinner. The picture below shows Myke & Dhang restraining themselves from killing each other in favor of helping prepare the hotdogs. Haha.

So using more of Jon's magic cooking skills, he managed to whip up tahong soup and liempo, while we made ourselves useful on the grill, grilling hotdogs, more tahong and marshmallows on the side hahaha!

Of course, after dinner is the time for T & I. Nope, not the HipHop singer. T & I stands for Tambay and Inuman. And we found the (almost) perfect place in the cottage out in the water. Why almost perfect? because it was damn dark. See, no light? Jon's headlight (see below picture) was the only light to illuminate us. Oh, that and the occassional flickering of the loose fluorescent light.

This picture (below) was taken from the cottage far out to the sea. The path to the cottage is illuminated with light. You have to walk in the middle of the path because sudden gusts of wind might just push you towards the water. It's dangerous...not because the water is deep, but because the water is shallow -- the impact of falling into shallow water is not necessarily very far from falling into the ground.

Inuman Entourage. lol.

One Empe down. Or was it GranMa? I have no idea. But these guys drank it all. haha!

Up next, "The Morning After"...

Gangsters @ Ronco Beach Resort: Disturbing the Peace Part I

We agreed to meet @ McDo Alabang at exactly 0545 Hrs, and leave at 0600 Hrs to arrive in Calatagan early.

Jon & I got there at 0550Hrs.

The rest were spread between 0610Hrs to 0700 Hrs.

And then everyone had breakfast at McDo, because almost all skipped breakfast to get there early. We were all hungry so we ended up eating -- and therefore leaving late -- which ultimately defeated the purpose of skipping breakfast to get there early in the first place. (Did ya'll get that or did I just run around in circles?)

Anyway, we were cramped in the van but were comfortable anyway coz it was nice and new.

We had a brief stopover when some of the boys had to refill our water gallon. (Here's some of us

)

Then we stopped over at the wet market because we had to buy fresh meat, some sea food etc so that we can cook. Imagine how the people there felt when I took a picture of their market... they must have thought I was the type who has never been to a wet market before. Tsktsk. (For the record, I have.)

We asked directions from manong in the market. As I recall, his words were, "Kumaliwa kayo jan, tapos dire-diretsohin nyo lng hanggan dun..." So our driver was delighted, thinking that we were already near the vicinity, because we just had to turn left and go straight.

But I think manong forgot to tell us his definition of "dire-diretsohin lng hanggang dun.." -- because it was actually 5 more kilometers of mostly rough roads with dips and climbs. And I was dying to pee. So imagine my bladder screaming whenever we hit those bumps. Sheesh. But finally, after reaching what I think was the edge of Calatagan (it's true, it was the end of the road already), we finally touched down.

Yeah, the place was nice enough. It was no Puerto Galera or Boracay, but it was nice enough. So the consensus of the group was to buy lunch there so we can eat (yes we were hungry again) and just cook what we bought from the market later. So we summoned our last strength and struggled to wait for the food. Good thing, I was kept company by beach mainstay Zion, a black labrador.

So we ate our overpriced lunch of Menudo, "Kalderita" and Bulalo. We steered clear of their "Adubo" because that was what Jon planned to cook for dinner. But did we really eat Adobo for dinner?

To be Continued...

AC Calatagan Outing: To Go or Not To Go?

AC Gangsters were slated to troop to Calatagan, Batangas last May 17 (Saturday) for a much needed R&R. But, as our excitement reached its peak as Friday arrived, something came up.

Actually, two things came up. The names? Cosme (L) and Dindo (R).




The friggin' tropical cyclones really had to arrive at that date. Naturally, my parents were terrified (especially since their friend recently lost a relative and his girlfriend in a drowning accident in Pagudpod because of strong waves. This incident was publicized because the couple were board-passers in last year's board exams. They went to Pagudpod as their celebration I think, and this is what happened).

So there. My once a year chance of going somewhere (a little) far from Manila was thwarted by elements beyond my friggin' control. RATS!

So then came the task of convincing my parents that the typhoon won't directly hit Calatagan. BUT, the problem was, the eye of the typhoon was in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, which was technically near Calatagan, especially if you rely on common knowlege (to get to Mindoro you need to go to Batangas Pier so obviously they are in the same side of the map).

As of 1500 Hrs, 16 May 2008, I was not part of the group leaving for Calatagan in the morning. Oh my gosh, I was a "loooooser"!!!
As I sulked in the office, I continued browsing for whatever information I could find to prove that the storm would not directly hit Calatagan. But I knew the chances were pretty slim. I was resigned to the idea that they would just be bringing me pasalubong from the trip.

There is a God.

With the help of my friends and my fiance, we were able to gather enough proof (haha!) that the storm won't hit Calatagan at the time that we're there. I don't know where Jon got the image, but somewhere in the depth of the Pag-Asa website, there was an image that shows the track of the typhoon, missing the Batangas area. I sent it to my dad (and demanded that he go online to see it harhar) and I told them that Jon was the one who found it (yes, they trust Jon's judgement more than mine, I guess).

Lo and Behold! My parents consented -- but there had to be a trade-off: that I won't go swimming in the deep end of the sea to avoid the waves (they had to say this because they knew I loved to swim and go farther to sea). So of course, to ease their mind, I agreed, and I had every intention to make good of the deal.

Hey, what's staying near the shore compared to missing all the fun and gossip that was about to commence?!

Yup! It's definitely a GO!!!!!~~

Calatagan, here we come!!!!!!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

FUNctional stuff in Mall of Asia!

It was an impromptu Tuesday date for me & Jon... I was actually kind of rushing since we had to go to Toby's and then eat dinner... On our way to Toby's, I suddenly came across this newly-opened stall with a catchy name: FUNctional

I hurriedly pulled Jon and told him that I won't take long, just around 5 minutes, because I was curious about this store.

But when I stepped inside, all sense of time disappeared.

The place was full of thingamajigs in pink, purple, orange, blue & black!!! It was heaven for me, who likes little things that tend to clutter my desk. The center table contains various items at cheap prices.

The walls were lined with notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers and other school/office supplies in cute, bright colors!

The other wall is full of knick-knacks to brighten up the dullest of tabletops. And they're cheap, too!

So.... what was supposed to be a 5-minute window shopping became a 20-minute shopping trip -- I ended up buying a notebook (which I don't really need) and 2 sets of markers for me & Jon's sister.

The stuff here are not just kikay, they're practical and useful too!

Everything is indeed, FUNctional!

Hair Before, Hair After

I had 2 haircuts in 2 weeks. For the first time in my life.

The first one was done in a salon with a name that I prefer not to name (pun intended). However, the style was uber simple -- something I could have gotten with a haircut that is 6 times cheaper than theirs. So with the help of my straightening iron (which I turned into a curling iron), it came out like this:



...which wasn't really so bad, except that I'm the type who can't stand the same hairdo for more than a year. With the supposedly "new" hairdo just a wee bit different from my old one, I decided to have another haircut plus a cellophane treatment in a nearby salon (the one who charges 6 times lower than those upscale ones)...

I just told them I wanted the korean/anime look with lots of layers but with the same length of my hair. After a little over an hour (with the cellophane treatement too), viola!






I look like I just stepped out of an anime cartoon.
...So, can you see the difference? (The similarity in the angles is actually just a coincidence -- I didn't mean to give an exact before-and-after picture.)

So there, it only goes to show that one does not need an upscale salon just to look good...

Of course, after I took a bath, I couldn't get to keep my hair this manageable anymore. This can only be achieved if I have another re-bond (which I don't intend to do) or use a straightening iron (which I don't have time for each morning). So in the end, my hair had body, with parts sticking out from it.

Hey, who says you can have everything? =D