caterpillar talk

“A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”
–George Moore

my lakbayan grade is B-!

B- is not a bad grade but it’s not good enough. hello, i was born to deserve A’s. i really do have to travel more. i have to reach palawan, albay and sorsogon, sulu, and, of course — would i ever forget — batanes!!!

i need to cover all those remaining white spots in my philippine map. among other things, i have to see the hundred islands, enjoy pagudpud, visit kalinga, set foot in the islands of mindoro, romblon, and masbate, enjoy roadtrips in leyte and samar, get friendly with the tarsiers in bohol, feel the surf in siargao, climb mt. banahaw and mt. apo, have an adventure in maguindanao, maybe play hide and seek in basilan…

well, i’m only 24 years old now. by the time i’m 26, i’m gonna be an A traveler! how’s that for a self-prophecy? not bad, i say. i dare say. after all, i do believe in fairies… (hahaha, those who know trivial stuff from movies will surely get what this means!)

p.s.

june 23-24, 2007: weekend in sta. cruz, tangub city

my blogger friend, abaniko, came up with an “original, ever creative meme” — a “brand new fresh never ever seen tag anywhere in the world before,” according to his blogger friend, simple american.

the “noteworthy, prize-deserving meme” is simple and it goes like this:

Choose five blogs and associate each with an object/thing.
Briefly explain the association.

abaniko, in his turn to do his all original meme, included my blog among his chosen five. he associated this blog to a map because of my fondness for discovering places. he further said, “Shouldn’t she be paid by the Department of Tourism for all her Philippine travel posts?” i agree! maybe the department of tourism should sponsor my trips!!!

since i want this meme to live on, it is my turn to do it and perpetuate it to the rest of bloglandia…

my dear readers, here are my chosen five:

:: the ocean of my being — book

babypink, the one who owns this blog, is not only a self-confessed bibliophile, she also writes very well — visiting her blog is similar to a nice encounter with a good book. one can easily sense her passion for the things she loves doing with her word-weaving.

:: ang anino ni abaniko (the shadow of abaniko) — camera

i have two reasons. first, abaniko is a proud owner of a digital rebel xt and is sooo into photography. second (and this, i believe, is the more important reason), abaniko’s blog is a wonderful window to his life and his experiences — it’s like having a camera capturing his moments. he talks candidly about scrabble, photography, badminton, math, jokes, sudoku, aircon issues, davao, pipework gone awry, memes, and other what-have-you’s. in one of his noteworthy posts, he shared this awesome picture of a red ant which his close friend took — WOW.

:: happy faith — tux, the linux penguin

happy faith is the blog and podcast of fr. stephen, msc — the only priest i know who blogs. he is also one of the biggest advocates of linux and open source, hence the association with tux. among the bisaya bloggers, he is the linux authority. he has convinced a lot of people of the advantages of open source technology. aside from linux and open source, fr. stephen also shares in his blog and podcast his views on life, faith, filipino migrants, the worldwide web, photography, and movies. his site is worth visiting… take a look at his sunset pics and drool.

:: gizmodo, the gadget guide — magazine

gizmodo is the site for tech-savvy people. it is a web magazine (hence the association!) where the latest buzz and news bits about gadgets, gizmos, consumer electronics, and related stuff find their way in the form of reader-friendly blog articles.

:: bisaya bloggers — globe

…because bisaya bloggers are everywhere in the world!!!

there. if you’re a fellow blogger, feel free to do this meme (like i just did). pass it on and make abaniko happy.

“Do you have to love your job? No. Love your children, your spouse, and your country. Love your parents, your neighbor, and your dog. Loving is too important an emotion to attach to the way you make a living.
But it’s OK to strive for satisfaction.”
– Reader’s Digest Asia, May 2006

i got tagged by bambit, so here’s four the record…

FOUR JOBS I HAVE HAD
1. science research specialist
2. university instructor
3. teaching associate
4. student assistant

wish i could put security guard, circus performer, armored vehicle driver and foreign diplomat to that list.

FOUR MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED OVER AND OVER
1. finding nemo
2. march of the penguins
3. rent
4. pirates of the caribbean

FOUR PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1. diliman, quezon city
2. tambo, iligan city
3. bayug, iligan city
4. pala-o, iligan city

FOUR TV SHOWS I LIKE TO WATCH:
1. prison break
2. CSI and the CSI spawns
3. goong a.k.a princess hours
4. i-witness

FOUR PLACES I HAVE BEEN ON VACATION:
1. tangub city and misamis occidental
2. baguio and benguet
3. davao and samal island
4. iloilo and guimaras

FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:
1. ice cream
2. swake
3. pizza
4. bulad na pusit

FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1. batanes
2. hundred islands, pangasinan
3. swiss alps, europe
4. antarctica

FOUR PEOPLE WHO WILL ANSWER THIS MEME
1. babypink
2. javamiggs
3. the bread
4. clerihew

about the image: it’s a photo i took of the strawberries in la trinidad, benguet on april 30, 2006 using my SE phone.

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.”
–E.F. Schumacher

it’s meant to be cracked.

hint: it’s in english!

top layer: 15 3 26 26 12 8 25 26 25 8 25 12 21 15 26 21 13 25 10 13 10 4 7 7 20 7 21 25 7 10 15 4 15 15 22 13 10 2 7 10 2 10 23 21 1 12 9 2 11 12 13 10 26 18 18 13 12 1 26 25 2 13 16

bottom layer: 25 13 8 3 7 15 23 25 7 15 10 22 7 25 21 12 15 11 12 7 14 8 23 7 3 21 7 3 15 10 23 21 3 12 12 15 3 5 15 25 12 15 4 7 14 15 22 14 2 12 15 9 8 2 18 26 26 8 15 22 14 26 7

here’s the surefire way to decipher this…
divide and conquer. mark all the up’s-and-down’s. be number-free. always choose right. be willing to go through all the up’s-and-down’s. simplicity is key. feel good. share.

the solution guide sounds like unsolicited advice on how to go through life, huh?

pen and paper would be useful, too.

“Consider yourself a caterpillar…
the one who loves you is the nourishing leaf,
the one who hurts you is the cocoon.
you won’t be a butterfly without nourishment
and you won’t develop wings without the cocoon.
there are no heroes nor villains in life,
just people with different roles
to teach us one great lesson
and that’s to fly.”
– forwarded text message

i’ve been tagged by kuya sam so i have to do this meme:

The writer will create a blog entry with “6 weird things/habits about yourself.”

People who get tagged will have to post a blog of their own telling 6 weird things/habits about themselves.

At the end of your 6 weird/things/habits, you need to choose 6 people that you would like to be tagged and list their names.

Don’t forget to leave a comment that says “You are Tagged!” in their comments and tell them to read yours for instructions on how to proceed!

owkey, game! aside from my tendency to bite my drinking straw and my habit of eating those small brown watermelon seeds one by one, here are the other manifestations of my slight (hehehe) eccentricity:

(1) i like sleeping in “contortionist positions” — sleeping positions which my first ever roommate in diliman likes to refer to as my “yoga sleeping positions”. if you happen to look at me while i’m sleeping, you’d wonder how i get any sleep with the way i sleep. i’m most comfortable sleeping under the blanket with both of my legs tucked under my thighs while my back’s fully touching the bed. go figure!

(2) i stopped biting my nails three years ago but, until now, i still bite the skin surrounding my fingernails. i do this especially when i’m jittery. as of the moment, there are wounds around two of my fingernails because of this habit.

(3) i usually make my friends write something on unused disposable table napkins of establishments like starbucks, jollibee, yellow cab pizza co., etcetera for souvenir/scrapbooking purposes.

(4) i do have a wallet but i don’t put money in my wallet. my wallet’s use is limited to securing in place my swiss card, my old ID cards, business cards of family, friends and acquaintances, old calendars, and gollum’s picture. you may ask, “gollum who?”. gollum of the lord of the rings. you may ask again, “why?”. beats me.

(5) i tend to touch (pinch?) the edges of my earlobes when i’m very aware that dogs are just around me. i never really became aware of the habit until my younger sister started teasing me about it.

(6) i’m intimidated by math and numbers. given that i chose (and still choose) to be in a field that uses math as its language, i know that’s hard to believe.

i want to tag trickmeister, kars, abaniko, gwapo_na_baktin, (tito) zimm, and sealdz.