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.  😀

i'll be off to puerto galera tomorrow!!  woohoo!!  finally… i'll be able to get away from work and enjoy the sand, surf, babes and booze galore!!  i'll be back home on sunday.  until then, enjoy the weekend!!  😀

it was a fairly warm saturday afternoon, a bit lighter than the usual humid and prickly days over the past week.  he had been trying to get some sleep for it was the first day (or night) of the work week in a couple of hours.  he had been having difficulty sleeping because of the heat for the past couple of days, even though he'd took a shower beforehand.  this time was not quite different, though the humidity was quite bearable.  he was trying to empty his mind in order to get some shut-eye as he tossed and turned around his bed.  his mobile phone suddenly alerted him with a message.  he gamely ignored it, even not bothering to look at his phone, telling to himself, "there's no one i know right now who would send me a message containing something important at this time."  he turned to the opposite direction where his phone lay and still tried to get that precious sleep.

after which seemed a quarter past an hour, his phone sounded off again, another message just came in.  he was still conscious, although halfway into dreamland.  he continued to ignore the alert tone and listened to its entirety before starting over in getting some sleep.  yet this time, something at the back of his mind was urging him to read that second message.  like angels and devils floating above his head as he lay, silent arguments ran back and forth about whether or not to pick up that phone and read the message.  he tried to ignore the constant prodding of this mysterious entity as he tried to stick with his plan.  until the prodding got the best of him.

he sat up and picked up the phone.  "2 new messages," it read.  he went to his inbox and saw the first message which came from one of his colleagues asking something trivial about work.  he skipped that and proceeded to the newer message.  what he read wiped all that was left of his drowsiness and left him with shock and awe.  the message read, "hey there.  i miss you.  let's go out some time, is that ok with you?"  it was from her.  yet his surprise quickly disappeared and was replaced with the i-know-where-this-is-going feeling and quickly dismissed at what seemed to be an effort on her part to re-establish communication lines or whatever.  being himself, and knowing well in hand that this would probably go 95 percent nowhere, he replied, "sure.  i have thursdays and fridays off" and sent the message.  a reply came quickly, saying, "ok.  where will we go?  how about grabbing something to eat?  i'm sounding weird, am i?"  to which he replied back, "anywhere you want to go.  when will it be?"  expecting a non-reply from her, like she would most of the time do in a middle of a conversation, a message then came in, saying, "i don't know when yet, ok?"

he took a while to think of what to reply back.  in the hopes of trying to continue the conversation, he sent, "ok.  so how are you?"  the span of silence that it took for the phone to alert him with a replied message suddenly became longer.  and longer.  and longer.  "typical,"  he said to himself as he went back to trying to get some sleep, to which this time, he was quite successful in doing so.  another bizarre episode with the mystery woman has passed.  when will it ever end?

i just hope, for his sake, manny pacquiao loses his fight today.

if it takes a loss to make him realize all the stupidity he's doing outside the ring, then so be it.  because sometimes, a lesson needs to be learned the hard way.

i used to be a fan of pacman, but apparently, success is going way over his head.  his intent on running for congress proves it.  i have since then, lost respect for him.

i just hope he really loses.

maybe i spoke too soon.  maybe i jumped to conclusions.  maybe i even wrote things off this early in the game.  but whatever i did, there's no denying the fact that things can change in the blink of an eye.  the next day after i wrote my previous ranting entry, the woman whose name is associated with sweets, and i had lunch.  well, a late lunch at that.  i actually never saw it coming.  i mean, just when i let my foot off the accelerator with regards to pursuing her, we actually had our first date.

it was thursday morning, and i was looking forward to ending my work week and a team building session on friday night.  we were a little short on personnel on the management side, so my boss asked me to extend my hours until whatever time i can to help the closing shift have coverage.  i naturally said yes, it being my final day at the office and having no plans of watching a movie, which i normally do as i leave work.  i planned on extending for a maximum of two hours, feeling that is sufficient help enough for the closing manager to cover the floor.  she then arrives at her usual time and like clockwork, we exchange pleasantries.  we both went about our work, notwithstanding at times we would exchange short conversations whenever she would pass by my way and vice versa.

towards the end of my regular hours, during one of our short conversations, she mentions that she was getting hungry.  thinking that she would never say yes, i jokingly asked her out to lunch.  she replied that she doesn't take her lunch during their lunch break per se which was at 12 noon, but work can sometimes extend up to two in the afternoon.  "no problem," i said.  "i don't have nothing to do after work so it's ok.  plus i'll be extending my shift around two hours."  she then nodded in agreement.  while i was glad to have finally asked her out for the first time, it still came as a surprise she actually agreed to go out with me, even if it is just lunch.

we went to north park at ATC at past 2PM.  she was doing most of the talking, while i, of course mostly listened a lot.  i dunno if her being talkative is a sign of nervousness, but at least it made me ask less questions about her, like she's naturally telling me about herself.  she still talked during lunch.  she talked about her recent relationship which ended a couple of months ago and would sometimes ask me what i thought about what happened and the what if scenarios involving their break up.  from her stories, including her teen years and college days, i have come up with the impression that she's a strong-willed woman and someone who is not afraid of expressing herself.  she told me also about her dream of becoming a flight stewardess before, and i agreed that she'd make a gorgeous one at that, but she became afraid that she might not make it.  then i suddenly realized that she's not all devil-may-care, headstrong woman.  that she has also times of self-doubt and prone to weakness.  i told her that it's never too late to chase her dream.  to which she jokingly replied that she already has marks on her legs.  i almost asked her if i can see them, but common sense told me not to.  but honestly, who wouldn't want to see her smooth legs?  maybe next time, i told to myself.

i brought her back to the office after lunch and headed on home.  but not without finally getting her mobile number.  i admit that i had a good time getting to know her.  is this a sign of things to come?  i don't know, and i'm not thinking too much about it.  hey, i'm just hitching on a free ride with nothing to lose.  as i've said, i'm not expecting anything from what i have with her now.  to quote a colleague when i talked about my cancelled plans of seriously persuing her, "i'm no longer on edsa, but on the service road," or something like that.  but it's all good.  i was watching mighty ducks 3 on cable yesterday afternoon and one line from that movie summed up everything i need to do about her:  "don't be careless, yet not too careful either.  if you see a shot, take it.  don't hesitate."