wander, woman

"that's it, i'm staying here". donostia, bizkaia, 2011. A friend and I were talking over the weekend, about plans, upcoming trips, more plans. "The thing I hate most about travel is that after-feeling." She confessed to not being able to go back to productive work for a week or so, post-trip. The relishing, that ache and longing for it not to end. I was nodding my head the whole time as I knew of that feeling. I remembered how it took months for me to let go of my first European adventure, not to mention the efforts to 'extend it'-- that endless googling for work opportunities, overseas scholarships, projects. Boy, that "European holiday withdrawal syndrome" is a bitch. However, having once in my life--been able to successfully get into everyone's dream sequence of an extended holiday, I thought I should give insights on how to cure this "decease". 1. Have something to look forward to, upon coming back My uncle

Yesterday, on our way back to Singapore from Manila I had, for the first time in a year and hours to 5 months-- I had my me time. It dawned upon me an hour or so midflight, With the two loves of my life beside me, and there I was, flipping through a magazine. I finished reading two. I even made it halfway through Walter Mitty. It was the quiet, that moment of peaceful bliss. Things are unfolding, just so you wait.

ze itchy feet eez itchy! oh look, i even plotted our train route. (dork)

for just the tremendous number of opinions and expert advice a mother gets in raising her child, i would have to conclude that there should be a correct, universal, one true way of doing it right. and man--it's breathing down my neck, ready to "wrong" me. that peach.

so i haven't updated this blog for what-- 2 weeks? i need more discipline. quick, let me give you a short one for the moment, i promise (right...) to write more by the time my toddler is snoring happily (simply put, before midnight). haze season came early in singapore. we usually get it by mid year, and this coupled with this dry spell sweeping the region, is simply a norm now. i don't hear that much grumbling anymore, it's a regular day. it may have something to do with the past few days and weeks, with all these natural and man-made disasters going on around the world. On a more personal level--why do I keep on hearing about friends' kids getting 'bumps' (and dog bites. yikes) that need to be stitched? As of today the Malaysian Airlines flight is still missing, it is confirmed we are suffering El Nino, there's this building that collapsed in Park Ave New York due to fire. My heart goes out to MH370 (especially now ). Now there's news of the ai

Anyone who's flown in to Manila knows what I am talking about, it's those 'official' looking yellow cabs on queue at the arrival area of all three airports in the city. There was actually a time when they did not bleed us dry from their strange metering system so imagine the horror when all of a sudden, a traffic-less (very early in the morning) trip to Ortigas cost us close to a thousand pesos. We already have a point of comparison (it should be less than 300 pesos), being frequent travelers of the same route so it was very annoying, you don't even want to argue with the cab driver. After this heartbreaking ordeal I figured out that you can actually get a regular cab from the departures hall, a floor above. Okay, so some people with lots of luggage won't like that (there's actually a lift somewhere), and convenience unfortunately comes with a hefty price. Of course you still have to practice caution and be sensible, but come to think of it-- you can scree

My son found a friend in our floor by the name of Raymond. Okay, so I probably misheard that. Bloody language barrier. This scooter riding little boy about 2 years ahead of A likes to wave every time he sees us. He's a bit of a snoop too. Raymond has a scooter and a bike, one of which he'll ride towards our end of the floor. I swear A will be getting those too, when the right time comes so for now it's just a matter of amusement, seeing him get all excited with Raymond and his toys. The husband and I have this running joke of A befriending our Block's pint-size bully, giving him the immunity of the neighborhood. haha. Actually, he's done that already. I don't know, he finds odd-looking people cute. This kid on our floor is far from looking like a bully, he is just too damn charming. He visits A everyday, late afternoon. No kidding. Even if A acknowledges his presence (reads: tries to grab him, even chase him on the scooter) or not. One day I decide

i finally found something i would write about in this series! i know its not the sexiest thing ever, writing about nursing rooms and baby-friendliness (although a friend of mine just made 'clean, hygienic, discrete and comfortable' sound like a place to get ehem). i failed at sexy many years back anyway. motherhood is something new to me, so i guess it would be an interesting study. Here's a few things on top of my head: 1. plane travel for babies 2. plane travel for older babies whose parents are on a tight budget 3. commuting with a baby in Manila, for those who do not live there. 4. an oasis called the nursing room. 5. Tokyo 6. Hakone 7. Bangkok 8. um-Aura sa SM Aura For more than one week! Harabas* lang. tagalog word of the day (thank you, SBP !) : *Harabas:  pronounced hah-rah-bahs. Verb:  root. 1. to wear out.  Inf.:  maharabas.  Conj.:  naharabas, wore out; nahaharabas, is wearing out; mahaharabas, will wear out. 2. to strike with something. 

I have forever been a frustrated musician. the human voice may be a musical instrument, fine, but I've always admired people who can play an instrument. and play really well. my first 'real' foray into this, and by real i mean i got into it by my own derision, so the 'shared' organ and the 'wtf, i did not see that coming pa, but thank you' guitar both gifted to me by my parents does not count--  well, it was the flute. my freshmen bff menchu. note the awkward -looking geek on the right. i played in a band, gedemit. not that 'cool' band, more of a school band. we played marches and a little bit of pocahontas if you get what i mean. the flute was a dream come true, I felt like Hikaru Katsuragi, minus the pleasant face and coiffed hair. i didn't have the money to buy one (thank god not everyone was good with it so i don't have to share it with so many others--i meant you, clarinet playahs), so I had to borrow the school's. Unlu

Traveler Public Service. : ) The site link can be found here. Anyone up for Hanami?

I think i've said it before and so I'd say it again-- the amount of rubbish we get from the internets is amazing. Scary times ahead, especially when people rely on anything googled as references. And the Philippines-- well, being the social media capital of the world (given the meager bandwidth and speed the local broadband providers sell, that's something), has this swarm of hot-headed online citizens who are most likely to 'repost' hoaxes, with good intentions of course. Parang yung The Onion na article before kung saan madaming nagalit na pinoy. AT pinatulan pa ng journalist na si Carmen Pedrosa. The irony. Josko. --- In other news I am trying my nimble fingers on playing the ukulele. Don't judge now, the only musical training I had was when I was twelve, and it was with a wind instrument. So yes, tanga tanga lang ngayon. At fine, I never imagine the learning curve to be hard. Potah, ngayon ko lang nga nalaman kung ano ang frets eh. Ang hirap kaya ng

1. try to do pilates you hot muffin top mama 2. walk, walk, walk 3. get more info on coding project 4. more fruits and veggies 5. and fiber. hay ageing. 6. book tickets for end march 7. talk to boss about career before project ends 8. set up educational/meaningful activity with adam on a daily basis 9. buy rosehips tea 10. get new sandals. please. please.

i have a couple of notes that i've saved but never published online. following the trauma of a crashed laptop which resulted to more (maybe nicer but I can't be too sure, nor cocky) notes that could have been posted, I am posting these right away. well, one every day. i've bought myself time to post updates, didn't I? I called these notes my '10 minute luxury' (the first series where wittier pakingsyet, but moving forward...) --oo-- 01 June 2013 dearest me, yes me. this is a letter to myself, and is something i'd have to resort to, when things get too "daily", and regular.  the adventurous, cool cat in me in one of my awesome days. this is just to remind my 30 something self that i used to be so cool (no, not really), and adventurous, and so driven to see the world with my two tiny eyes. i lived in the netherlands and spain for a year. went around new york city for a month. travelled around spain for one week on a bus, and

and i hope to get better. but since some of you are not 'readers', i'll post pretty pictures too. i've been blogging since 2004, and have failed to post anything new for the past year. well this is why. Tokyo. Autumn 2013, Now don't get me started on the extra pounds.