PASSERBY - ala lang, labay lang

Passing by the Sto. Nino Basilica, the Magellan's Cross, the Cebu City Hall and Fort Santiago, I took some snapshots again. i liked most the photos of the two old ladies selling candles. i felt a tug in my heart seeing them there under the heat of the sun working to the bone when their bodies are too old for it. . But then again, i was glad they're not one you see begging for pennies. Oprah should give them a vacation in that Tucson, Arizona Spa featured in one her show episodes where she gave some 50 women a treat of a lifetime for being such formidable forces in another person's life. Well, she ain't seen our ladies at the Sto Nino church. Somebody should write Oprah real quick...








and yes, i was only passing by all of them...LOL...

TULAY ni KA MARCELO

(Sidenote: Remember how Cebuanos are so lazy to pronounce the letter L so that balay is pronounces as ba'ay, wala as wa, batikolon as batikon and so on? The list is endless but Cebuanos never fail to pronounce the word TULAY as it is...hmmmm? what possibly could it mean?)

In a truly unplanned trip, i and three other friends - Nanoi, Diane and Eric - went to the Marcelo Fernan Bridge. It was not some big trip idea but that which randomly pops up and beats your ass to keep that feet moving instantly.







It was my first time to be under such humongous bridge and be on top of it. There is a nice small park under the bridge which i noticed is pretty popular hangout of lovebirds. we did a little videoke in a small sari-sari store where diane belted almost all Regine songs effortlessly. when dark cam, it was time to go. But not until we have crossed the bridge from Mactan island to Cebu. Yes, we walked across the bridge and took pics along the way. It was a such an experience. i probably won't be able to do that again. the Cebu city nightscape is breathtaking.

i was tired. but it was worth each sweat.

As i learned, the bridge was named after former Senate President and Supreme Court Justice Marcelo Fernan - a true-blue Sugbuanon and the only Filipino to date who has the distinction of having occupied the highest positions of two separate branches in the government. the bridge was opened in August 1999 and is 1237 meters (4058.40 feet) in length and is 185 meters (606.96 feet) high at its center. Thanks go the bridge, traveling to Mactan is not so much a hassle.Well, the fare still is...tsk tsk..

The TERRACES at AYALA

Competition is good. SM opened the North Wing a few months ago and it was spacious with its high ceilings, wide alleys and high-end shops that I could only afford to peep from their shiny glass windows. My meager salary ain't enough ticket to even look at those pricey tags. Duty Free also recently opened its doors to those who have passports to get inside and dollars to spend on chocolates that could otherwise be found in the supermarket. Bread Talk had also got people talking about the prevailing price of flour and sure, coffeeshops is almost everywhere like a painful reminder that i can only afford to drink the free coffee at the office pantry. Thank god there is Powerbooks!

Well, Ayala seemed to notice most people are flocking at SM recently. And so they came up with The Terraces - an extension to the the jigsaw puzzle architecture of the Ayala Center. The Terraces boasts of its ambiance. The park feel of the area is an easy spot to lounge around for people who don't really have cash to spend in the mall, errr like me. At least the designers were kind enough to consider the fact that, really, most of the people who go to the mall are simply window-shopping or just cooling the steam off their heads brought about by the increasing world temperature due to pollution. And so there are a few Talisay trees around, a carefully maintained garden and nice sights of the Cebu skyscrapers. Coffee shops are virtually everywhere. Food is in all directions. It is a well-planned design, I thought. Most people think so too.






Now, i can go to the mall without having to worry i am not bringing a paper bag from one of its shops. I can just sit around the its garden, ponder about life, get lost among the people and go home. if budget permits, i can always go upstairs and watch a good movie..tsk tsk...or better yet, just keep my fingers clickin' on my cam..

ANNE FRANK-what's with this girl, eh?

I have just finished reading THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL by ANNE FRANK. I know, I know.... I should've had read the book already a long time ago but it was only last weekend when i got to convince myself to pick the book up and bring it to the cashier at National Bookstore.



It was a good read. I was expecting stories of death, of people saponified, gassed to death, bloody killings and bombs raining from page to page. Instead, i was welcomed by an intelligent young lady recounting each day of the lives of 8 people hiding in a Secret Annexe from the Gestapo for 25 months during the holocaust. It was a very honest, heartfelt story of unwavering hope despite the odds. Bombs did rattle their very beings but it did not stop them from searching for that light in a dark place where clouds seem to close in faster and faster. It showed their brave attempts to live normal lives in times that simply do not allow them to live normally. The girl has such great insights and maturity it made me feel like an idiot. I couldn't have reasoned the way she did on things that I may have similarly experienced. It also reawakened my desire to read more books...sigh!

HMMMM......right now, i'm starting to read TWILIGHT... yes, its because of the movie. ..and yes, i read the book at work.. tsk tsk...

ESCARIO

i travel the whole spine of Escario each day to work inside the speedy jeepneys that seem to drive their drivers. it worsens a bad hair day. stepping into the elevator has become such an awkward mahangin-ba-sa-labas moment. it's easy to pick who rode the jeepney or the taxi. thank God, its dressdown all week -- a bad hair day can easily be mistaken as your mood of the day...

i snapped the pics while waiting for a jip bound for home...