John Mayer

I remember one sunny weekend in Chicago. I just came from an all-out drinking session the night before and I woke up at 10 in the morning. I didn’t feel like going out since that’s what I have been doing for the past weeks so I opted to stay home and just watch TV. I opened it and checked the shows. I finally settled to watching weekend reruns of last season’s So You Think You Can Dance. I know for some it’s probably cheeezy or trashy but so is a gazillion other shows in the states. I was glued to the screen the whole day because the show was entertaining. That’s the buttom line. Plus I like the performances. Anyway, it was in this bright sunny weekend in my apartment and while glued to the TV that I began to love and appreciate this song since it was one of the performance pieces:

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Waiting On The World To Change

me and all my friends
we’re all misunderstood
they say we stand for nothing and
there’s no way we ever could
now we see everything that’s going wrong
with the world and those who lead it
we just feel like we don’t have the means
to rise above and beat it

so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

it’s hard to beat the system
when we’re standing at a distance
so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change
now if we had the power
to bring our neighbors home from war
they would have never missed a Christmas
no more ribbons on their door
and when you trust your television
what you get is what you got
cause when they own the information, oh
they can bend it all they want

that’s why we’re waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

it’s not that we don’t care,
we just know that the fight ain’t fair
so we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

and we’re still waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting waiting on the world to change
one day our generation
is gonna rule the population
so we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change
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It’s funny how months after I would find myself in the same situation – WAITING…. I hope something happens soon…..

First Month Check

OK so to those who haven’t seen me lately, it’s been a month now since I bought my first brand new car. It has been a lifestyle change for me since I became poorer. Haha! Anyway, driving daily allowed mo to realize and experience some important observations:

1. Think Big – You cannot just cross the street to get to the other end of the road or enter into the main entrance of a mall. You have to look for a U turn slot and find yourself a safe parking to achieve these simple tasks. You have to think big because you’re carrying this ton of machine.

2. Bye bye 20-20? – Night driving is putting a strain on my eyes. Your front is bright and lighted while you see next to nothing on your side mirror until this bright light blinds you on the side. It’s a mix of darkness and light and my eyes keeps on adjusting to that. After 2 hrs of enduring traffic, I find myself wanting to shut my eyes after driving. Is this the end of my 20-20 vision? Let’s just wait and see

3. I have a newfound relationship with other group of motorists:

>> Trucks – this things are scary specially on time slots when they are allowed to freely roam the city. You do not want to be driving near them and if that happens, don’t be afraid to honk yourself to safety
>> Buses – if trucks are scary, buses are dangerous. Trucks are big but they’re slow. Buses, on the other hand, are faster and they know it. They also know they’re big and can bully anyone. Driving between buses along EDSA is an experience that rivals other extreme sports like bungee jumping and sky diving. Haha!
>> Motorcycles and Tricycles – If buses know they’re big and they use it, motorcycles and tricycles are small and they take full advantage of it. They will squeeze their way anywhere and it’s annoying because there’s really no warning, you just suddenly see them in the strangest places and hope that your breaks still work to avoid them.
>> Taxis and FX – this group is the most aggressive son of a ***** I have encountered. They just do what they want without regards to other motorists. They don’t care if you scratch them because they already have a lot of that anyway so they just do what they want.
>> Jeepneys – it’s about the money for them. Even if they’re in the middle of the road, when a passenger hails them, they just stop right smack in the middle of the road. It’s so annoying sometimes. They’re like unpredictable creatures driven by the P8 fare.
>> Other private vehicles – you’d think that only public vehicles need some more training. Apparently not. Some private vehicles are as reckless as the public vehicles. Sometimes I wonder if the people driving them used to be truck, bus, taxi, jeepney or tricycle drivers themselves. Good thing there’s still a lot of private vehicle drivers who knows how to be considerate.
>> Pedestrians – this is especially true when I drive in Kalayaan going to C5. Oh my, they just cross the street nonchalantly outside the pedestrian crossing, like they own it. Sometimes they even walk very slowly so that you’ll miss bumping them by just an inch. I don’t know what joy they derive in knowing that cars stop for them to save their lives. One of these days, somebody is just going to drive along and also not care if they hit them. They will meet their match.

4. Gas prices are getting higher and higher – I used to be just mildly affected when I hear in the news that gas prices will go up again. Now I feel bad when I hear those clips. I am deeply affected. Haha! I guess my only consolation is that my car is very fuel efficient relative to other vehicles with bigger and more powerful engines.

5. Owning a car is expensive – Thus I am now poor and broke. Hehe. Between gas expenses, parking tickets, maintenance costs, insurance fees and ‘panglagay’ to traffic enforcers (Hahaha!), a big portion of my income goes to this machine. So if you plan to own a car (not just drive them), be prepared to have considerably deep pockets.

But you know, at the end of the day, I still think it’s all worth it. The benefits still outweighs the cost and I am one happy car owner so far.

Hong Kong Trip

We’ve planned for this trip since last year as part of our family vacation since it’s been really a while since my dad, mom and sister were out together for days and days. The last one was I think 10 years ago (whew!) when we took a road trip up north (Ilocos, Vigan, Pagudpod etc) where we checked in to different hotels and just become a family without any disturbances from our own separate lives. This time we traveled outside the country and got to experience the joys of being tourists. It was also a much-deserved break for me since I’ve been working to successfully stabilize my team since the start of this year without any break. Now that my teams are more stable, I can leave them and just enjoy some time to relax.

Saying that the trip was amazing is an understatement. I was everything I had hoped it would be and a little more. It would be very long if I detail out every activity so I’ll just let the pictures paint the thousand words. There were 3 cameras documenting the trip so you can just imagine how many I have now in my notebook. I just uploaded some and I’m mostly in them. Haha! Enjoy!

Pictures in my Multiply