Conquering Zambales: The Race (first of three parts)

Seeing the teams early in the morning, we started to doubt ourselves. There were individual corporate sponsors? Yes, there were! My brother and I were raising our eyebrows, but we said, “well okay, we’re underdogs, then.” But we were in for more surprises.

It was clear, during the morning briefing - after being treated to a very unassuming breakfast in styros - that this was not a car race; that you would not be judged by your car’s speed (where we at an obvious disadvantage, having a mere family sedan). The other competitors brought 4x4s and AUVs.

At the sound of the gun, we were told, the race officially starts. The first task was fairly easy: search the nearby stores (most of them the event’s sponsors) for a certain clue, if I remember it correctly. (Gee, give me a break here it happened almost a year ago!) Upon getting that clue, we would know what to do and where to go next. My brother was G-R-E-A-T. Why? He simply took off like the wind; and I was the one going the gym and having weekly basketball stints! I look behind my shoulder and we were already at a disagreement on which way to go. I don’t know, but I guess I trusted his hunch and went with him south of the starting line to a fairly wide road off the plaza of Iba. Teams were hustling and looking for hints on which stores have the clues. I was winded, but was still running. I bet the excitement took over me, because I wasn’t normally that easily tired. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my brother running to me: “I got it!” he exclaimed. It wasn’t too late then, it appears as though we're at least on the top seven of the first teams to have found the clue.

The clue led us to drive to a nearby town to get some bagnet, the famed Ilocano treat that’s almost like the Tagalog’s Crispy Pata. Only, I think, bagnets are dried up in the sun? (I’m really not too sure about that though. Could just be a myth of sorts) We had to drive to the next town that had this delicacy, and we had to find it in the palengke stalls! This is starting to get to me and my brother (he’s Mark, a.k.a. “Eco”, by the way) – the good way: we’re starting to get hyped by the “Amazing Race” feel. So is it going to be like that?

Getting to the town that had bagnet was really a breeze, of course there were mandatory brushes with other competitors, on and off road. Some were overtaking others as it started to become more of a car race this early: people boasting their engines.

It was a bit of a spoonfeed when we sa uniformed guys almost ushering - wait, really ushering - us to where we were supposed to go. But heck, we thought, this isn't really the Amazing Race. Eco decided to jump out of the car and try to find it as I parked the car politely. Again, Eco breezed out like a real reality show race specialist! I went after him only to find out that it should really be a piece of cake. All the people were leading us into the ally where all the stalls with bagnets are. They even made a man-way for us! I was not even in the market for a minute when I saw Eco running back at me holding up the bagnet he got. He had to pay about P120 (if I remember it right) for it though. There goes some of our pocket money!

We rushed to get to the next spot. It told us to get to San Antonio. And damn, did I think we had an advantage there! I was like "Dude, believe me I know the place," and hell, was I wrong.

This is the part where we get to island hop to the famous islands of Camara and Capones, off Pundakit beach. Getting to the resort where we're supposed to ride a boat to the islands, I started getting my panicky, paranoid me: I didn't know if we were supposed to bring along the bagnet. I mean, what if they asked us to camp there and eat the bagnet? Should we leave our things? Our bags? We really didn't know. We ended up giving a lot of headway to the other teams as about seven passed us by while we were planning, thinking of which things to bring. I think this is one of the parts where we just lost it - big time.

(end of The Race - part 1)

"Twitterizing" the net: When there's too much "What are you doing now?" questions

I'm getting fed up with all this "what are you doing now?" questions. I mean, isn't having a twitter account enough? You might say, "well, why the f did you sign up?" Let's just say I don't wanna be left out? I'm still a kid and I think I'd forever be - at heart, that is.

Just today, I opened my email and found a pop up on Yahoo that asked me the same thing. I mean, has everybody forgotten the world "original" already? In this dog-eat-dog world of information technology, I'm sure, no one cares much about "originality" when the dollar sign is always taunting them to just ride the wave of what's "in". Heck, I'm guilty riding it myself!

But my message is this: let's not be predators. Let's just take it forward. I mean look at Facebook. First there was this friend frenzy with Friendster. Facebook was a clone, so everybody thought. But then you sign up and you instantly feel, "hey, this is different."

I guess the challenge, for each and every one of us these days, is to push it to another level. There are no original ideas already, most of them have already been thought of. So, just for the sake of contributing, let's better each other and challenge our creativity. Let's not waste our time copying. Yahoo!, shame on you!

Now, for my original idea. Good luck with that.

UPCOMING POSTS:

- Conquering Zambales part 2:
- "Cubaohood"

Conquering Zambales, and not quite - really (Part 1: Random thoughts and Iba)

It was almost about a year ago when I stumbled upon this "Conquer Zambales" thing while surfing channels. I quickly looked for the two things I need: a buddy, and a car (which was a requirement). I just sold my car then and I was fantasizing about the idea that my Dad would actually let me use his. I had another person to come along with me in mind, but when my Dad learned about my plan, he wanted in. That would be cool, I thought: me, my dad, a pseudo Amazing Race kind of a deal… but then I think the race required that the participants had no heart condition? (Or maybe, me and my brother nonchalantly conspired to come up with that)

So I took my brother along. This was going to be fun, we thought. Dad came with us still, though. He was not about to let his two boys have all the fun! And it became a father-son-son road trip of sorts immediately, going through NLEX in the late hours of the day, trying to catch up to the specified assembly time at Iba, Zambales.We took the SCTEX after traversing NLEX. The travel lasted for about four hours. Quite fast, really, if you compare it to normal day travel or a bus ride that takes about two to three stops before finally getting to your destination.

Our trusty “UBK”-plated (get it? “UBK”? My Mom insists it’s short for “U B OKAY”) Mazda 323 was to be tested, at least for long drives, as we were informed. Getting a hand on the map which the Sidetrip Magazine people gave us, we immediately realize that this was going to consume gas – and lots of it. We didn’t have a considerable amount of money. The mechanics said we just needed “some extra cash”, and upon double-checking, the organizers gave us a more tangible ballpark figure: our cash just might hold up.

(PART 2: THE RACE on the next update)

Oh, Eminem!

"Relapse" is just crazy. It's the - I don't know, fourth, fifth album of Eminem? But it really doesn't matter. There are goods and bads. I'm actually quite undecided...

You're treated to a lot of things that he's already done, and that's where it gets quite boring. I was hoping for a hungry Eminem - you know, just like when Steve Vai (anecdotedly) stopped playing guitar for years and then went in the studio and did "For the Love of God"? (If you don't know the song, here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp1fLW-DS8Q) There just seems to be a lack of hunger in the music, a lack of passion, maybe? And actually, he sounded tired. Now I don't really understand why he's being given a lot of thumbs up by the press. That, I find weird.

But if you like your artist staying still for his entire career, you'd definitely love this album. Okay, I might have probably killed the album when I said it lacked passion, but go on, give it a listen, maybe you could find something in there that I didn't find.

There are NO standout tracks, like "Cleanin' Out My Closet" -standout, and also not much of the Rock/Rap Eminem I came to love. Oh well, he sounded a bit "safer" in "Encore", so maybe there really isn't much there to look forward to for this album.

BUT!!! I heard there's a "Relapse 2" and I'm kinda wishing that he kept the best for last? 'Coz if this is "it" - you know, the thing he could come up with after being gone for like forever - maybe he should retire, like how he hinted on a song in the record.

Oh, Eminem, where are you going?

I still love you though, and you're right - you still are a "tough act to follow". Yeah, he actually said that in one of his songs in the album. Quite narcissistic, eh?

Take two

I seem to have lost my first blog ever. Well, not exactly lost, but I just can't update it anymore. Anyway, that's bullshit.

***

So here's a take two. I think now I'd have time to write. Plus, yeah, this should be a good practice because I'd be hellbent to make this readable, acceptable - just like when you're writing on a real publication. Oh damn, what am I saying, this is a real publication!

Blogging has come a long way, and it has earned my respect. That's why I'm obviously reviving mine. I used to think it was lame, really. I even relegated it the lowest form of writing. And here I am succumbing, haplessly, to the power of the fourth media.

***

Don't you just love second shots? Because that's where I am now. A second shot, at almost every facet of my life. But I don't wanna delve deeper into that - at least not now, not yet.