Hotbed

Sitio Balagbag in Barangay San Isidro, Rodriguez (Montalban), Rizal is currently the site of a land dispute between the municipal government and other groups. All of them are claiming legal rights to use the land.

I tagged along with some friends who went up there to survey the area. The mountains in Sitio Balagbag are part of the Sierra Madre range of mountains, stretching from this part of Montalban, all the way past Quezon province. Sitio Balagbag is situated near the border of Bulacan and Rizal. Similar to Baguio, Antipolo or Tagaytay, the uphill winding road leads one to the peak, from which one can view the mountains and valleys below. Makati and Ortigas are tiny buildings jutting out from the horizon, and Manila Bay is a vast expanse of gray in the horizon. The Angat Dam watershed is an elongated lake, and one can see tiny houses dotting the mountainside.

In the distance, clouds bring heavy rain to the business district.

The area itself is still being developed. Roads are still being paved, occupants are still being forced out, court cases are still going on as to who is the rightful owner of the lands. There is still no electricity up the mountain, and strangely, no cell signal when you're somewhere in the middle of the mountain. Up at the peak, you get a signal, coming from the Bulacan area cellsite. Entrance to the area is being guarded by the military, and if you have no rights to the land, you have no business going into this area. "No registration, no entry", the sign at the entrance said. Registration here refers to registering for land ownership.

The place is idyllic, the view fantastic. But the place reeks of political tension. In my opinion, this is not a place for a naive stranger to get lost in.

Comings and Goings

Traffic on the way to Makati.

For some reason, Osmena Avenue going towards South Super Highway has been experiencing extremely slow traffic around 1-3PM. If I'm driving a car, it can sometimes take me 20 minutes to get to this area, and 30 minutes waiting to get out of the area. What causes the traffic? I don't know. It's one of the mysteries of life.



Lights on the way home

This is Malacanang Bridge near Nagtahan. They've installed lights on the bridge that change color every few seconds, from white to purple to blue to yellow to red. They're quite different, and maybe, you can argue that they're aesthetically pleasing. But still, it makes you wonder, how much do these lights cost? Is this where my tax money goes? To techni-color bridge lights?

ramblings on a friday night while working

MUST....MOTIVATE....MYYYSELLLFFF...UGH!

It's past 6:30 in the evening and I haven't done anything yet. I managed to arrive in the office around 3:30 pm, checked my mail, got hungry, went to Greenbelt, got back, ate some more, surfed a little (ok, a lot), opened applications, closed applications, and now, it's 6:30.

While at Greenbelt I had an air-brush t-shirt made, with a cool Superman-going-through-the-flames picture. Tenantz had a shirt made that day (featuring Wolverine tearing through the shirt), and I thought it would be cool to have a baby-tee made with the same picture. But...what can I say, I got distracted by Superman.

It's gonna be a hectic weekend. Almost. My officemates are holding a despedida for Des, who's going to be assigned in Germany till May. We're going to spend the night (and Saturday) at a resort in Los Banos, Laguna. Naku, inuman na naman...e sa totoo lang, ever since I got that terrible hang-over last December, I don't like the taste of gin or alcohol. The past few gatherings, I've been discreetly 'passing' on the drinks, even I myself am surprised. Usually these after-hangover resolutions last only till...well, till the next morning.

After Laguna, I need to go back early and prepare for my college blockmate's wedding. By "prepare", I mean put on something other than jeans and put on some perfume. Ha, I didn't even have time to buy a new dress, so I'm recycling a dress I wore in Ed's wedding last January 2004. Unfortunately, I only have two dresses I can wear to a wedding, and the other one I already wore last December in Arbee's wedding (more recent). I'm trusting nobody will notice my un-manicured toes, much less my un-salon-ed hair. Hopefully, I'll be able to arrive home a bit early so I can at least comb my hair before heading out again.

After the wedding, I'm still thinking if I'm going to head out to Island Cove, Cavite. QCBA has a planning session there, and Tenantz is urging me to go there after the wedding, so we can go back together to Manila Sunday morning. There's another planning session scheduled for Sunday, this time for another org, and it's going to be held in Makati. This may or may not be an overnight planning session, and all this going back-and-forth is giving me a headache. It makes me want to plop down on MY bed and just sleep the weekend away.

Anyway, it's gonna be a good weekend. All I have to do is show up.

Confessions off the top of my head

I procrastinate...a lot....

For some reason, these days, time passes quickly. Like tonight. I came home around 12:30 am, I think. Then I sat down, turned on my computer, read some email, surfed some stuff, and tada! It's now 2AM. And I haven't even started on my work backlog!

I don't know why the day passes too quickly. I do know I need to get over this aversion to buckling up and actually *doing* work. I've been in this mode since late last year. To me, it's never a case of not being able to do something because I can't. I can. And I know I can. It's just a case of not having enough motivation to actually get going and start the stuff.

But things are actually improving...sometimes I get that drive back. And I manage to start the day with that optimistic belief that today, out of all days, would be a different one. Today, I would actually *finish* all the tasks I set out to do. See, hope springs eternal, and if you don't believe it'll suck, it won't.

Osho osho

"Live dangerously, live joyously.

Live without fear, live without guilt.

Live without any fear of hell, live without any greed of heaven. Just live"

--Osho

I read this quote in the email signature of a colleague. Nice, I thought. Intrigued, I searched for "Osho" in google. I mean, who's Osho? A poet? A songwriter? A band?

I stumbled into www.osho.com, and found out from the site that Osho is a person. Or was. He died in 1990, and derived his name from "oceanic". "It is not my name," he had said, "it is a healing sound." Uh...okay. A bit weird, but cool. Osho...osho...osho...is this guy real?

"Jesus had his parables, Buddha his sutras, Mohammed his fantasies of the Arabian night. Osho has something more appropriate for a species crippled by greed, fear, ignorance and superstition: he has cosmic comedy."

Yes, we do need a laugh now and then. Osho offers "The Osho Experience", and as far as I can tell, Osho the movement verges on meditation and yoga. But with a website that has as one of its meditation techniques "Gibberish & Let-Go", I guess this would not be the silent, serious yoga that we are (at least I am) familiar with.

“Remember, the first step of the meditation is Gibberish. Gibberish simply means throwing out your craziness, which is already there in the mind, piled up for centuries. As you throw it out you will find yourself becoming light, becoming more alive, just within two minutes."

This, according to what I understand, is dynamic meditation. I guess the best description for that would be from this link: Dynamic Meditation ...often starts with strenuous physical activity followed by silence and celebration. These were expected to lead the individual to overcome repression, lower their personal inhibitions, develop a "state of emptiness", and attain enlightenment. The person then would have "no past, no future, no attachment, no mind, no ego, no self."

Ahh...I am, therefore I am not?

Osho the person had been accused as a cultist, and though most members lived frugally, he himself was extravagant. He died of heart failure in 1990, but was also rumored poisoned by the CIA. Yet, his words are intriguing, and they remind me of the feeling I had when I read Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. There is wisdom there somewhere, and if I seek to understand it, I will find peace.

"And to me, seriousness is a sickness; and the sense of humor makes you more human, more humble. The sense of humor ― according to me ― is one of the most essential parts of religiousness."

A guru that advocates cosmic comedy and jokes. That's a bit different from the seriousness that we usually equate with religiosity.

"Wherever you are, remember yourself, that you are. This consciousness that you are should become a continuity. Not your name, your caste, your nationality — those are futile things, absolutely useless. Just remember that: I am. This must not be forgotten. Walking, sitting, eating, talking, remember that: I am."

And I am...just killing time by researching on the web. =p Who knows the surprising things you can find out from the information superhighway? As my Osho horoscope mentions, "The search for truth need not be a serious affair." It can start by typing www.google.com.

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**Disclaimer: Quotes and information regarding Osho were read from www.osho.com and www.religioustolerance.org. Research for, and writing this blog entry took under thirty minutes, so the author (that's me), gives no guarantee that the information presented here is true and correct (in other words, have a sense of humor, please don't sue me.)

Pulag

It was one of the worst times to go to north. There was a meningococcemia scare in Baguio City, and the bacteria was threatening not just Baguio but other areas as well. If you watch the evening news (which I don't), you'll think everybody in Baguio was either sick, or very scared of being sick.

But my friend T. was about to go back to Canada next week, and no way would she go back without going up Pulag. Out of the original 28 people who agreed to go on this trip, only 18 proceeded, armed with multi-vitamins, anti-biotics and surgical masks (just in case).

Pulag had been my dream mountain. I haven't been there before, but I did hear about how beautiful and enchanting and cold it was there, and I wanted to go. So after reading up on meningococcemia (you can only get it through direct contact with an infected person, through bodily secretions, saliva, or sharing utensils), and assessing the risks, off we went.

• 11:30 PM, Thursday night -- The Victory Liner bus left the Cubao station for Baguio City. Not too many people on board...overdosed on hand-sanitizers and vitamin C.



• 4:30 AM, Friday morning -- We reach the Victory Liner station in Baguio. Really nice station! Reminds me of the Greyhound station in San Francisco (am not so sure if greyhound). Haven't been to Baguio in quite a while, so this was a pleasant surprise. While waiting for our other companions to arrive, I notice some men watching the news. The report was about the meningo outbreak in Baguio, and they were horsing around. Not really scared. So far, haven't seen anyone wearing gas masks.



• Rest of Friday -- Proceed to Babadac, with scheduled stopover at Ambuklao Dam. Ride jeepney through dusty wish-i-drank-bonamine-even-if-i-was-never-roadsick-before roads. View was great though. Finally reach Ambuklao.
  
  Ambuklao Dam is a dam built in the Marcos era through Ifugao ancestral lands. According to my companions, a tribal war resulted in the effort to build the dam in the area. The government only succeeded after practically all the members of the tribe were dead. Hmm...interesting history. Surprised that they were fishing tilapia in the lake. After some picture-taking sessions (see photos in link somewhere in picture above), ride jeepney again to Jangjang eatery. Very hungry at this time.
  
  After eating a tilapia breakfast, proceed to DENR station, where the administrator/park superintendent gave us a bit of a lecture about nature and Pulag. Was pleasantly surprised that Mt.Pulag was actually a national park. We were all quite sleepy by then though, and the administrator/superintendent was talkative although quite strict. "You, in the red jacket, don't sleep!" Like a very strict teacher, she lectured us on the meningo, the difficulties of protecting such a big park as this, the lack of support from the government, and the tribes that consider the mountain as sacred.
  
  Another jeep ride to the Ranger station, then proceed with hike through Ambangeg trail. There are several trails to Pulag, and Ambangeg is the so-called "easy" trail. Set up camp at around 5PM, cooked some dinner amidst the freezing drizzle, and struggled to sleep through the rest of the night.



• 3:30 AM, Saturday morning -- wake up call. Need to go to the summit in time for sunrise. Quite cold though. Upon reaching the summit, it's even colder. Wind chill factor, they say. It was a bit cloudy/foggy, so the sunrise wasn't as spectacular as those in the pictures. But we did reach the summit, and every now and then, the clouds would give way to a spectacular view of mountain ranges.



• Rest of Saturday -- More picture taking, cook breakfast, eat, break camp, go down, go back to Ranger Station, take cold shower, ride jeep back to Jangjang eatery, eat late late lunch (4PM), ride back towards Baguio City



• 7:00 PM, Saturday night -- Reach Baguio City again, go straight to Victory Liner terminal. Was a bit hungry so despite meningo, bought a donut from the nearby Mr.Donut stand. By 8PM, we had boarded a bus back to Manila. Too bad we weren't able to tour around more though, hopefully next time, it would be a more appropriate (and healthier) time. =)

Verdict: Go there while you still can! :)

Happy New Year!

Our little new year's eve noche buena...

Happy New Year!

It's another year, another time to re-make resolutions and hope that this year, everything will be better. Hope springs eternal, so they say. And it should. Because you cannot really live if you have nothing left to hope for. So hope. Dream. Love. Do whatever it is that would enhance the essence of who you are. Life is a matter of choices -- choose to be happy, choose to be sad, choose to decide that it's never too late for anything.

"If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you." -- Muhammed Ali

La vie boheme.