it was something i badly needed.  to get away from it all–stressful work, city life, scorching heat at home (in my room to be specific), among other things–and marvel at the view of the sea, the surf, the sand, the gorgeous ladies, and empty my mind of things both serious and useless.  not to mention having episodes of realizations along the way.  never mind the hordes of people who flocked there to spend the weekend, or to the surprising non-appearance of celebrities who, from word of mouth, frequent the island, or the amount of money i spent for food and booze (i nearly had nothing left on my wallet).  what's important is that i was able to, finally, hit the beach after two years.  over the next couple of entries that'll spread over a couple of days, i'll be recounting my three-day, two-night experience at one of the country's premiere summer destinations.  i thought of putting it all in one entry, but most of you might not have the patience nor time to read a very, very, very long entry (as if most of my entries are that short).  so better yet to spread it in installments.  now i'm not much of a picture person, but i did bring my camera and took some pictures.  i don't know if you can see them posted at the middle to lower left portion of this page, but some of them are also on my friendster account, so feel free to check it out.  for now, this prologue will do for today.  since the month of may starts tomorrow, and to celebrate my birth month, i'll do a 31-on-31 segment on my blog.  31 entries for each of the 31 days of the month to mark my 31 years on this earth.  and what better way to start my 31-on-31 segment tomorrow than day one of my galera getaway.  right now, i'm still having galera hangover.  anyway, hope everyone had a good weekend as i had.  😀