the moon walker

He is the greatest performer, if not one of the greats. Michael Jackson is an absolute legend. He changed the music industry and was able to cut across the racial divide. MJ reached people of all age groups, races and nationalities. His life was marred by numerous controversies and for this we may have been unkind in judging him too harshly. He was misunderstood and a troubled man but he was an inspiration to millions too. Michael Jackson entertained and produced some of the best music ever. For this, the world will surely miss him.

His is sheer talent. Utterly genius. And despite all his scandals he is a superstar in every sense of the word. Goodbye, moon walker.

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I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of flak for doing this and I'll understand if you give me some lashing. But I just don't think there will ever come a time when it'll be appropriate, so my apologies for thesse offensive bits.

After it was confirmed that the King of Pop passed away I received text messages from my Brit friends. Most of the messages were about shock of the untimely demise and of great loss but there were a few that were definitely done in poor taste.

Here are the messages:

1. Reports of MJ's death are incorrect. He didn't have a heart attack at home as was previously believed. He was actually found in the Children's Ward after a fatal stroke.

2. Doctors at the hospital where MJ died were unsure of the cause of his death. Some blamed it on the sunshine, others on the moonlight. A few on the good times and there were those who blamed it on the boogie.

3. Due to the fact that Michael Jackson was 99% plastic, he will be melted down into Lego blocks so children can actually play with him for a change.

4. In memory of Michael Jackson's achievements, McDonalds has announcedit will be releasing the Jackson Burger- 50 year old meat between 10 year old buns.

Some people can be cruel.

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Ketty is pretty bummed out of his passing. She feels sorry that she'll never have the chance to watch him perform live. When MJ performed in Manila 13 years ago, she didn't have the money to buy the ticket being only a high school student then. I told her, I haven't seen him either. Although I did have money to buy the ticket (the cheapest one, if must know), it was impossible to get one. For weeks, I visited the Ticketnet outlets in National Bookstore only to be told time and time again that it was sold out.

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Top Five Favorite Michael Jackson songs are:

What are your favorites?

chapter 3: on the third day, we climbed again

Here's the last part of the buhol-bohol trilogy.

Because of a heavy downpour when we visited Bohol's most popular attraction on the first day of the tour, we decided to go back to the Chocolate Hills again some other time. And so on our last day, that was what we did. Just after 8 am, a coach picked us up and once again journeyed to Carmen, the site of what most describe as one of the World's Geological Wonders.

The Chocolate Hills is a sight to behold. Spread across 50 sq kilometers are some 1,200+ cone-shaped hills in the middle of Bohol Island. And just off Carmen's town center is the largest hill where an observation deck was built where tourists can gaze and marvel at the spectacular scenery. Here, all of us had a blast as we took the wackiest shots of ourselves as we jumped and posed against the hills as our backdrop.

Geologists have long debated about the formation of the hills, resulting in various ways the origin of the Chocolate Hills are stated or explained.

One legend has it that the Hills came about as two rival giants threw rocks and boulders at each other for days. Exhausted, the giants forgot about their meaningless conflict, became friends and left the island without cleaning up the mess they made. The hills are testimony of their great battle.

Another myth tells the story of Arogo, a young, powerful giant who fell in love with Aloya, a mortal girl. When she died, Arogo shed thousands of tears and when they dried up, they formed the Chocolate Hills.

As far as the eyes can see, the Chocolate Hills are not really made of chocolate, but they do look good enough to eat. But we didn't. Instead, we headed back to Tagbilaran and had a quick lunch at the Island City Mall before catching our plane back to the capital.

Our 3 day tour would've been stress free if not for the minor hitch at the airport. Our return flight to Manila via Cebu Pacific was scheduled to depart at 1355. At exactly, 1310 I was at the check in desk only to be told by the attendant that we were "late" for check-in and as consequence, one of us was bumped off the flight in favor of a chance passenger. Boy, did he piss me off.

Let me just say, I am not one to complain. Being in the service industry, I've had numerous experiences when I was yelled at and accosted to for doing my job. I know what it's like to be at the other side of desk. And so it really was hard for me to argue with that poor chap at the check in counter. My point was, they should've realised that as a group there was no way we'd let one of our party be left behind. Especially since the next flight was at least 24 hours away. And the fact that for the 15 of us it was immaterial that we were "late" because they still would accommodate us on the flight.

And the nerve of them lecturing us on time management when their plane wasn't even there when this was all happening. The plane landed in Tagbilaran almost 10 minutes after we were supposed to take off at 1405. Taking up the cudgels for the family, I, with Lorraine, argued with the entire ground staff of the airline. Ang aming dugong Batangueño ay nag-aalab, we held our ground. All for one, one for all, was our battle cry. And after more than 30 minutes of wrangling, the supervisor relented and let us all in to the flight.

Albeit short, our 3 day Boholiday was very memorable. We had lots of fun visiting beautiful places, eating the most delicous food and spending the most precious times together. Travelling with some of the people you love the most was truly fulfilling.

On to our next trip...

spawn

I am at a loss for words.

Boredom led Ketty to here. Madness drove us to try it.

Thank goodness we have good genes!

bohol day 2 round up

Our second day in Bohol started at the break of dawn. Four-friking-forty-five early! Dolphin-watching and island-hopping was the order of the day.


The spot where dolphins come out is at least a 45-minute boat ride from Panglao Island’s shores and we have to be there by early morning.


There were at least 2 dozens of them. The marine mammals were greeted by oohs and ahhs everytime they jumped out of the water.

Balicasag is an island off the coast of Panglao. It was a 15 minute boat ride from where we spotted the dolphins.

The island is a popular snorkelling and diving destination. More than half of us went swimming with the fishes in their sanctuary. The rest of us frolicked in the crystal clear waters of the Bohol sea.


Virgin Island is tiny crescent-shaped white sandbar island half an hour from Balicasag. It is postcard pretty and perfect for picture taking. Here, we took hundreds of photos and I'm sure when we left, it was not so virgin anymore.

The banana boat ride that my siblings and a cousin took. For 15 minutes and two taobs, we howled and laughed like there was no tomorrow.

The experience in one word is exhilarating!

For dinner, the family went to the Bohol Bee Farm. We were treated to another delicious meal. We sampled the (in)famous flower salad- with gumamela, bougainvilleas, katurays etc. It was surprisingly good. Or perhaps it was the dressing that made it really yummy. All the dishes served were honey-based and made made from organic ingredients. There was also a mango ice cream which, I shall proclaim, as the best ice cream in the world! It was weird because I don't like ripe mangoes, period. Yet, I abso-frickin-lutely loved it. The ice cream was creamy, smooth, subtly sweet and delightfully tart.

no to mining

Mindoro's natural wonders are under threat from mining. I am one with my provincemates in opposing the proposed Mindoro nickel project of Intex Resources Philippines Inc. I fear the damages this development will cause to the people of Mindoro and the environment will be massive and irreversible. This is personal because my hometown is the site of the project. Experts believe it will cause destruction of critical watershed affecting the food supply and security of the island. It will also invariably evict the Mangyans from their domain. Please help not to let this happen by spreading the word. Thanks.