HOME SWEET HOME
In just a few hours I'll be back to reality again, back inside the confines of my cube. :( Thus, I'm writing my second blog for the day to share with u folks what transpired during my few days of freedom, if only to savor those moments some more.

Wow, I was glad to be back "home" again. I have visited Cebu more than my usual (of once or twice per year) this year. But this vacation was special as I had more than just the weekend to be with my family and friends. Not only did I taste meals prepared by either dad or mom again, but I had long talks with them after dinner, like we used to do. Of course, my sis, Eyen, and I also engaged in our usual marathon kwentuhan till wee hours in the morning, talking about how similar we both are, being Aries, and about boys and our aspirations.

One of the highlights of my vacation was the Malapascua adventure with my best friends. Not only were we visiting one of the more beautiful, white sand beach islands in Cebu, but this was our first all-girl trip, in the 15 yrs that we've been barkada. I have three best friends, btw. We all have our own careers now -- Laryang and Arlene are based in cebu, both doctors, and Fudzy, based in Manila like myself, is a marketing manager moving around in the glam biz. Our busy schedules leaves us a few days in a year, if at all, to see each other and talk. So now you can understand why this trip was very memorable. Arlene, btw, was not able to join us as no one could cover for her in the hospital.

What can i say? We had so much fun! from the (bumpy) bus ride to Maya, to the 40-min pump boat ride to the island to the "near-death" experience in the floating bar, to the tour around the island, to the profound conversations about life, careers and relationships... One blog is just not enough to talk about that adventure! Suffice to say that nasuya (nainggit or got envious in tagalog and english, respectively) gyud si Arlene.. hehe..

Ok, so maybe I'll talk about the floating bar thing a bit. We were there, trying to get ourselves drunk with vodka, tequila, rhum, and suddenly it started to rain and the winds was blowing so strong that a few chairs fell into the sea. A tiny paddleboat took us to that bar, and we were wondering whether the boatman could bring us back safely to the shore! But thankfully he did, and despite the wet cameras & money, and us drenched in rain, we were able to get back to our cottages alive. Unfortunately, our attempt to drink till we dropped was foiled. :(

Back in the city, we checked out some of the new hang outs located in Ayala Center. (btw, i just had to taste Cafe Laguna's puto bumbong as laryang swore it tasted a lot better than Via Mare's - mine and Fudzy's fave! i still like the latter better, though the former still tasted good in it's own right.) We had dinner in Sol y Luna, with another high school barkada, Jude, the queen and her friends whom we just met that night. But we had a great time since we had interesting company. Dessert was at Dish (no relation to the one in Powerplant and this is not located in Ayala), and leave it to the La Pinay girls (Laryang, Fudzy and me) to order mango crepe. During my last night, we checked out a club called Mi Vida where waitresses danced in the bar counters! There's supposedly nothing like that yet in Manila, and I should say it's pretty interesting, and we saw some interesting dancers and faces that night... We salsa'd our night away until our feet hurt, then capped the night with a quick stomach fix in Banilad.

And now, I'm back in Manila. I had started reading through my emails as soon as I arrived in the apartment. And as expected, my inbox was full. arrghh... some good things never last...

So am I ready to be go back to reality? The size of my inbox, the pending work and the start of the 2nd tri of my MBA tomorrow definitely spells a big YES! sigh