May 14

I remember I shared my birthday with another girl in my highschool--a really brilliant math wizard named Ernestine. Where she was a whiz with numbers, I was crap. I did excel with words though. And literature. It was all good.

Last Monday, I shared it with the nation, as registered voters trooped to the polling precincts to get their thumbs smudged and their index fingers inked. I think this is the 4th or 5th time the elections fell on the 14th of May. While it's a novel thing, it can be annoying that more people forgot to greet you (or maybe they just decided not to, hehe).

So to celebrate my 32nd, I decided to be a good citizen and vote. I only voted for 8 senators, a congressman, a mayor and vice mayor. I had lunch with my dad and brother then went home to rest from the oppressive heat. In the evening I had dinner with my other siblings, the Hubby, my dad. Then we went home. This was also the first time my mom wasn't around on my birthday. (She was busy managing --and winning-- the mayoralty elections in her home town with my uncle as mayor.)

It was a rather quiet celebration. I guess you get more of that as you get older. I was hoping to give it a kick by announcing I was pregnant...but I wasn't. Baby test came back negative. So I will try again. Maybe it will work the next time.

If it does, and I do get pregnant say, in August, I may be sharing my next birthday with my baby. :-) Now that would be a blast!

Happy birthday Me!

A well-deserved break

Wouldn't you know it? January has all but ended, and here I am trying to catch up on stuff that happened this month. Between this post and the last, I guess the thing worth noting is the trip we took to Boracay last week!

We went with Papa, who had never set foot on Boracay. It was actually our (the siblings) Christmas gift to him, which bowled him over. He was always the one who gave the grand gifts, and he was amazed that he was on the receiving end this year: an all-expense paid trip, plus a Boracay survival kit. The kit contained a beach towel, trunks, a small box of imported cigars and other beach essentials--simple things really, that make one's time at Bora worry-less. I will never forget the look on his face when he got the gift, and the time he spent mulling over the fact that the kids have "taken over." I just told him, well, we learned from the best.

Anyway, we took an early SEA AIR flight from the Manila Domestic Airport. It was our first time to take such a flight...I was nervous about being in a small aircraft. There was a grand total of 34 passengers, and most were Korean. It was a pretty smooth trip. The served us a drink and some chips, and we entertained ourselves with views of Batangas and Mindoro. The flight only took 40 minutes, with some shaking and some turbulence near touchdown because there were some thick clouds over Aklan. The landing was a bit startling because of the short runway in the Caticlan airport, but otherwise, we got out in one piece, hehehe.

It had been three years since I returned, and so much had changed and improved. Having flights like those of SEA AIR was such a blessing. I loved the fact that we no longer had to endure a 2-hour coaster ride from the airport...something you had to do if you landed in Kalibo. Here, we took a three minute tricycle ride to the jetty port. I found it funny actually. We could've walked! I didn't know how near the airport was to the port. Another change: the ferry to the island now only takes less than ten minutes. Boats no longer dock on the shoreline of the beach. Instead there is now a port on the island and a new paved road that runs behind the beach. Hurray! Less clutter, more space to frolic on the beach. One simply takes a trike from the Bora port, and depending on where you're staying, it could take anywhere form 8 to 15 minutes to get to your resort.

We were staying at Villa Simprosa, on station 2. It was a resort where Ian and I stayed before. Simple accommodations, basic amenities, but comfy. Villa Simprosa was a stone's throw from D'Mall, and was a closer walk to either station 1 or 3. After settling in, and changing into our swim gear, we hit the beach!

Papa hadn't been on a vacation in a long time. He was amazed--as we all are--about the powdery white sand, crystal waters and bustling community. At first he wondered why the vacation had to be 5 days, when 2 days would do. You could only do so much lang naman daw on the beach. But when he saw the place, he realized na 2 days wouldn't be enough.

We lounged on the sand all day, took photos, explored the shops and cafes. We would dine at D'Mall. It's unbelievable how much this section of the beach has changed as well. They created new restaurants, and there are rows of new boutiques. There's a Hobbit House, CYMA, and Andoks. And! There's actually a budget mart behind the mall. D'Mall gave us convenient and affordable options for meals. So we got to stick to our budget. We didn't go as far as the talipapa anymore and decided to spend our time enjoying the conveniences here.

What we did splurge on were milkshakes at Jonah's, breakfast at Real Coffee and coffee nightcaps at this new place called Lemon I Cafe. This cafe reminded me so much of the restaurants on Capri and Anacapri. :-) Coffee and cakes are pretty good here too.

A few nights we stayed up to listen to music and drink a bit at BomBom. The place was fine, but the music... could be better. I mean, it's all right for the singers to sing covers and all, but it would do them well to inject a little variation in their repertoire. It would also do them well to actually GIVE IN to requests, and not just ask for them and collect paper napkins on their laps. I also wish they would talk to the audience, to develop rapport with their patrons and better entertain them. There was this one guy who sang songs from the supposedly first ever Boracay album! Akala ko naman kung anong music. Unfortunately, they were not as good as they were making it out to be. The lyrics were literal and pretty uninspired. They sounded like something the PIA would write--you know those government public service announcements that sound so "pilit" and cheesy? The lyrics were like that. The bars of the songs all sounded the same and the singing was less than mind blowing. In all, the album's lyricists and producers could do with a good creativity and writing workshop.

But we didn't sweat those moments. The gorgeous mornings filled the rest of our time there. We continued roasting in the sun, and wading in the water. We made Papa get one of those under-the-tree masssages, which he enjoyed immensely. I loved seeing him doing nothing and actually relaxing. I know he works really hard, and it has been a very long time since we were together for a long stretch of time like we had in Bora. I know there are many things he has missed, many things he didn't know about us since we went our separate ways, but I know this time with him allowed us both to re-orient ourselves. This was also one of the reasons why I was excited to be with him on this trip.

It wasn't always easy for him to get away. He had many responsibilities, and most of the time it wasn't easy to make ends meet. Like all parents, he put us first, himself last. That's why it was particularly special for us to do this for him now that we're grown up. I liked seeing him doing nothing (did I say that already?) and staring out on the water, and eating heartily (eating was important because he had just quit smoking. For real!). He loved the peacefulness of the water and was excited to see the unique sunsets only beaches like this could offer. He liked Boracay so much that, at the end of our first day there, he was brainstorming on what businesses he could establish so that he could make a modest living and live on the island! :-D It was the exact same thing my siblings and I were thinking during our first visit there. We are our father's kids, really!

Though the trip almost ended on a sad note--Denise's bag, which contained her money, id's, atm cards, Thea's digital camera and cellphone, was stolen on the beach--we tried to make the best of it. There was too much that was good about this vacation for it to be ruined. We spent our final evening eating a special dinner at CYMA and shopping for souvenirs. Papa smoked his last cigar then, as if to punctuate the air one last time with his presence there, and to sort of remind the elements that he would return one day.

We woke a little later than we were supposed to on our final morning there. We ran out of time to have a leisurely breakfast at Real Coffee. Too bad. Next time, we know better. And maybe next time, all of us -- my siblings, my mom, and whoever else would want to join the fun -- will be able to enjoy the beach together. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that next Boracay trip!