[the baguiosas quest-log]

I had planned to write some kind of bakasyon-sa-Baguio update here in the blog while I was there, but got lazy (nag-indulge lang ako nung nandoon ako, hehe). But now that I'm here, online with nothing to do, here's the quest log.

the Baguiosas to-do list:

Sleepathons
Sarap matulog, lamig sa gabi e. [mission success]

Early morning jogging
I guess the geeky homebody self defeated my athletic self. [mission failed]

Movie/Series Marathon
Kare-Kano
I borrowed Kuya's Kare-Kano (Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyo) DVD set, stopped over at Makati on my way to Baguio so I could marathon something once I get there - so I can give myself an excuse to stay up late, and wake up late. So you see, the movie/anime-marathons are in conjunction with the sleeping marathons ^^.

I already saw half of the series back in my college freshman days, but it's only now that I was able to finish the series, see it as a whole. I like the humor, the psychoanalytical take on teen romance, and the intentionally messed-up and lazy animation. The characters are great, there's so much about them you can relate to, and to be perfectly honest - I was able to realize a few things about my err.. own condition thanks to Souichiro and Yukino's interations. Overall, most people who've seen it will tell you that it's one of the best Gainax has ever produced, so I guess I'm most people ^^. [mission success]

Moments of Love, Don't Give Up on Us, the Skeleton Key, among others
My aunt brought some local movie (pirated, malamang) DVDs, I had nothing else to watch and they were right there, so what the hell. "Moments of Love" is an "Il Mare" rip-off, and no matter what the Kapuso says, the said "critically acclaimed" movie is nothing more than that. "Don't Give Up on Us (Baby?)" on the other hand, starring Piolo and Juday was surprisingly good (honest!). The plot was simple, but the script was great; insightful, witty and funny.

I also saw Firewall (it was crap), and this Korean horror flick, "The ..Something Stairway" or whatever - another cute-girl-dies-and-turns-into-another-Sadako story. But speaking of horror/suspense movies, "the Skeleton Key" (Kate Hudson, always had this crush on her ever since "Almost Famous") was another surprisingly good title. This was the last movie I watched before leaving - to kill time before I go to the Victory Liner terminal. It only manages to scare you a bit, give you a few chills, but what's really good about the movie is the twist in the end. It was good because I wasn't able to figure it out 100%. [mission success]

The Return of the King: Special Extended Edition
My LoTR Extended Edition collection is now complete! [mission complete!]

Gain some Weight
I don't really know whether or not I was successful in this or not, I just made it a point to eat and eat while I was there. Taking initial and final weight measurements was supposed to be part of the plan but I forgot to. Pero hindi na masyado maluwang yung pants ko kaya feeling ko tumaba naman ako kahit papano... Oks. I guess this is [mission success]

Catching Up
Agate Grad Dinner with the batch at Matutina's (I know, the name sounds funny) Seafood Resto at 7pm, Black Saturday. After that, we all just went to Rhoda's place (as usual); congratulated the graduates of Batch 2006, catched up, talked about each other's intrigues, failures, hang-ups and successes, got noisy, got drunk (on tequila, 1 case Red Horse Grande, and gin longnecks), and got wasted. I hadn't had THAT much alcohol in my system since I can't remember. Some of us got so wasted that we all just started blurting out things I never thought we'd be able to talk about. One in particular involved myself and Dette (hehe. binabasa mo pala 'to. Apir!) clearing things up. It seems we both have had the same conclusions about our predicament, and I'm glad (and quite relieved) we agreed.

See, that's the great thing about beer, it manages to squeeze things out of you, aside from buckets of piss.

Another inuman session was with my mom and dad (and an officemate of theirs), Ryan, his (new) girlfriend, and his friends. It was the first time I had a drink with my constantly-missing-in-the-most-important-occasions delinquent brother. Again, it's amazing how beer can fix some old wounds. [mission success]

I couldn't meet up wth Nicole though, and the others. I was stuck with the (false) info that summer registration was Thursday-Friday this week. I planned on seeing them Monday, but as you can see, today's Monday and I'm here. Sorry po ^^; I'll make it up to you guys, pramis. [failed big-time here]

Gebrankan Ownage: Baguio Edition
I don't know if I should be disappointed most of the players I got to play with in Baguio weren't very good, or I should be happy that I got to dominate for a while. But then again, although I played in a lot of different Internet cafes, I obviously didn't encounter the best the hometown has to offer, so I shouldn't be complaining.

The Kougah team was famous around Baguio for being the best CounterStrike players back when I was in highschool - so I it was natural to assume they're also good with DoTA, a team-game with a lot of similarities with CS. I played a couple of games with the players at MagicBox (I don't know if the netcafe is still called that. It's a PC Gaming/PS2/Magic the Gathering hobby shop), and they were quite good - but not as good as the best players in LB. They're not exactly the type of players who pay attention to and make a big deal about creepstats. There also weren't a lot of players at Outer Haven (another famous netcafe) when I went there, the ones I played with and against weren't very good either. Pero sabi ko nga, I'm not convinced I encountered the best players in Baguio.

The only really good player I know in Baguio is Neal, one of my best buddies in Baguio. I could beat him in Tekken, but never in a Warcraft normal game. It feels great though, I was able to impress people with my relatively high creepstats when I played, I was at top form. [mission success].

Reflection
I had a lot of time to think about ..many things. I wasn't able to confess (in fact, I hardly practice anything Catholic anymore), but I *was* able to got on Church on Easter. Holy week this year didn't have as much of an impact on me as last year - whose impact was mostly attributed to watching "the Passion of the Christ", it didn't make me cry (unlike my mother and sisters) but it did manage to get my eyes watery ^^. The closest thing to a spiritual/Christ story I've watched is The Return of the King (take a moment to recall. How many allusions to Christ's life can you see in LoTR?). [mission somewhat a success]

Overall, I've had a nice summer vacation - that's *it* for my summer, Classes start this week.. unless sumama ako sa Puerto Galera... hehe.