Thursday of last week, we went to see the Bicol Trade Fair (OK Bikol, Gayon Bikol) in SM Megamall. The hall was full of booths displaying all kinds of products, from knives to candies, which were claimed to have been made by the bests in the region.

Bicol is one of the 17 regions in the country. My town is located in the southern tip part, and it's called Gubat. In the Tagalog language, the word gubat literally means forest. So just imagine the innocuous mockery thrown at me whenever I tell a group of people that I grew up in Gubat. I still find it funny sometimes, but I've developed an immunity to the jokes. So I just tell them that industrialization has reached our town, we have phone lines and my family owns a microwave oven. As for the actual etymology, I'll blog about it in the near future. I'm feeling lazy today.


Ate Mags, Ate Bing, Me

( More pictures under this cut... )

Ate Bing killed a rock. So we left earlier than expected. Yesss, it is possible to kill rocks! Ate Bing just murdered one. xP Haha! She stepped on a prop while posing for a photo. It let out a crrrraaaaaack!~ that echoed through the hall. Manong Security Guard was left speechless. And we couldn't do anything else but restrain ourselves from rolling on the floor, we exited before Manong Guard remembered what he needed to do. I couldn't stop laughing. It was the first time in such a loooong time that I laughed that hard! Haha! I still laugh out loud whenever I remember it. Haha! xD It was so hilarious! xD


Waiting for the kidnappers' vehicle


Ate Mags, Ate Bing

Anyway, we got kidnapped. We were brought to Tonio's Grill, Pioneer Center (Mandaluyong). I had fun. For the first time in my life, I finished a whole bottle of beer! Woohoo! A San Miguel Light. Haha! xD I need applause, people. San Mig Light is still a beer. Beer!!!

Saturday, I went to the exhibit again. Gubat was going to be in the limelight. The local government was given an opportunity to have a culinary presentation. And they decided to conduct a cooking demo of a delicacy called timitim. As far as I know, timitim can be found nowhere else in the country but in my hometown. Not even in the neighboring towns. And Gubatnons are proud of it. It's also one of my favorite foods, next to cream cheese and ice cream. :D

The culinary presentation was a big opportunity for the local government to showcase what Gubat has to offer. And it was great that they decided to let the outsiders know that we have something unique like the timitim. So I was very disappointed when the whole thing failed, the demonstration was awful. No offense to the local government, just a person in the crowd giving a critique. We're all entitled to it, right? There were just...so many wrong things. They could've done better, so much better.

The narrator wasn't very knowledgeable of the cooking; they should've prepared a script. Her voice was too low and too hush-y -- it looked like she had a throat problem; they should've assigned a different person to do the talking. The demonstration couldn't be seen, for chrissake, you were supposed to be showing your audience; they could've placed a mirror (you know those mirrors above prep tables in culinary classes?) or could've set-up a camera and projection. The PowerPoint slideshow was useless; they should've just given the audience hard copies of the recipes beforehand. And the narrator should've been more jolly and talkative, so the experience could've been more entertaining, because it was boring.

I bought a box of timitim after the show. As a Gubatnon, who knows the difference between a good timitim and a bad timitim, the ones they sold were bad. No, no, it didn't taste bad, it just wasn't very delicious.

Oh, I feel awful already. I didn't want to say those things. But that's how it is.

After Saturday, I couldn't help thinking that the local government still fails at promoting Gubat as a tourist destination. The town has great potential and, no doubt, tourism can be a very powerful revenue source. Maybe, the fund isn't enough for such programs. Haven't they conceived a feasible campaign? Doesn't the local government think that tourism can generate enough money so we can get all those roads fixed up? So those local public institutions can give better service? So Gubat can be more self-sufficient? Maybe, they do. But after Saturday? It was sort of a one-time opportunity, the trade fair is an annual event, surely Gubat is not going to be given a chance to showcase again next year.

Or am I exaggerating? I'm just disappointed.

A video by Jiku Ereño:


Say yay for Gubat!

Oooh. Haven't had the energy, creative energy at that, to update.

So, for the past six days? I haven't actually done anything that can be considered productive. (What's new?)

'Twas Thursday went I went Citibank hunting. I found one at Greenhills but they refused to encash my cheque. Simply because they said they have no way to access Citibank USA. So, I was like WTF? They suggested that I try to deposit it in a savings account under another bank. I hope my Metrobank account will give me hope. It's still a couple of thousands in Philippine peso. I need that money badly. Gah. Now, I'm regretting why I didn't open a dollar account while I was in Texas.

I looked around Greenhills Shopping Centre(?) while I was there. And, gawd, I want to kill whoever conceptualized the interior of that place. I entered one of the back entrances of the mall and thought I could just walk through to the front exit. Damn it. I ended up running in circles; I got lost for chrissake! It happened a couple of times before I decided to just walk around the building instead. But I'm not sure if it's just my poor navigation skills.

Friday, I went to visit my maternal relatives. Ate Betty (cousin) gave birth to an adorable baby girl a couple of days before I left for America last March. I was so busy then that I wasn't able to visit them. Say hello to Monica everybody!



Crappy image quality. Blame the camera phone. Monica is sooo big already. And Owen is huge. O_O I felt like I missed so much of his life. Forty kilos at 7 years old? Huge, really. But it's like huge-healthy not huge-obese. Is that possible? xD Guilt visits me every time I refuse to play with Owen. But I always feel tired whenever he yanks my arm to signal that it's time to goof around. Gah. I'm a bad aunt. I'm glad he still remembers me. He's so sweet and clingy, the thought makes me want to cry. Though I have to admit I miss the younger Owen who used to cry when I give him a goodbye hug. Bah. T_T



Lately, I've been hooked on a social networking site. Nah, it's not another MySpace.com which houses the perverts of the online world. GUBATNONS Everywhere! is a community created by Ate Mags for the people of our hometown. It's the most phenomenal thing that has happened to the Internet after the release of Firefox 3. Ahaha. At least for me.

The site makes me nostalgic, which is more reason to obsess on it. Ah, homesickness is love but bad love. The feeling of wistfulness overwhelms me so much that it ruins my schedule and body clock. There's a live chat feature, so I've been online almost every night, from sundown to sunrise, chitchatting with fellow Gubatnons. Whom I hardly know. Pictures of the hometown are uploaded, pictures of friends and schoolmates and relatives. The forum consists of posts about tourism and our long ago high school lives, from the significant to the most trivial.

The site title is GUBATNONS Everywhere! Pampara sin pung-aw. The tag line actually means: to get rid of/erase homesickness. The purpose is defeated sometimes. xD

I also got to know people who used to be strangers, or just friends of my sister and parents. In fact, I went to Sarah's (an [in]famous drinking place located inside [technically] UP Diliman) tonight and hung out with a group of people that I met on the site. Ate Mags, Ate Binggot, Ate Pwee, Ate Ning and Kuya Ronel. (Jay, I already met a few years back.) And, surprisingly, they all graduated from UP.

I was rather quiet though. But I'm that. Maybe next time, I'll be a little louder. It was the introverted me kicking. But, hah, I surprised myself when I agreed to meet up with them. I'm not the kind of person who goes out with someone only after a couple of online conversations. But Ate Mags and company xD are different. I sense familiarity. We speak the same language. And we laugh at jokes other people are unable to comprehend. That's because we all come from the same place where a thing called timitim is a delicacy and the word tricycle is pronounced traysikol. That place is called Gubat. :)



I'm thinking of deleting my Multiply blog.

I feel my ears stinging, Nickelback's Rockstar still ripping the insides of it. Last night, I fell asleep with earphones plugged in my ears, banging away with my rock songs collection. Oh, it feels rejuvenating but ears need rest

I have to get to work. After I submit all the needed requirements for my practicum application to Sir Guerrero, I have to go home to Bicol. My sister's engagement party is on the 24th, and she needs me a couple of days before the event. There are quite a few things that I've been assigned to do.

Yes, one of my sisters is getting married, and she's making a hell of a big deal out of this party! But I understand her anxiety. After all, she has no choice but to get married in another continent which is thousands of miles away from her family. So she's making a pseudo-wedding out of this engagement party. And when she does fly to the US, it'll pretty much be goodbye. Unless I find the luck to be able to permanently reside there as well. The idea doesn't appeal to me though. I hope Dearest Mother gets to fly all the way for the wedding. I'm going to miss my sister. Here is to hoping both of their visas get approval!~

Oh, I can just imagine the party. It'll be a big reunion for both sides of my family. But I smell deceit and aversion. The maternal side of my family has never really approved of my Dearest Mother's marriage to my Dead Father. But I'm sure everybody is well-bred enough not to bite off other guests' ears.

In other news, I got my PSP modified!~ Yay yo!~ I also bought a 4GB-Memory Stick Pro Duo. So I have all the good reasons not to be productive! Yay!~ I'm just going to pull an all-nighter if the worse comes to worst. Haha. I've been challenged to battle in the holy game of Tekken. Therefore, I must practice. The last time I played Tekken was 2 years ago on a Game Boy emulator on my PC. And the last time I really got in the game was on a classic PlayStation 1 and that was 12 years ago. I did plan to buy a bigger memory drive but I was thinking about revisiting the amazing world of practicality and prudence.

No, no, I haven't abandoned this blog yet. xP
I just don't have the necessary time and resources to update. But, I've been lurking.

Anyway, I'm in Bicol (home sweet home). Will go back to UP on Wednesday for the enrolment (wish me luck). I'll probably get my Intarwebz connection back on the 3rd week. Photo galore!

Right now, the TV's on. CABLE, people, CABLE. Dorm TV sucks. And I'd hate to go back but I don't really have a choice. Dear Mother's snoring beside me. Sick Father on the bed complaining about his leg.

My sentences are incomprehensible.

Bye.

P.S. Is SMART GPRS Internet really slow or is it just my sister's Notebook? Is the 3G Internet service faster? It says I'm running on 115.2kbps, but I seriously feel it's only a fcuking 20kbps.