Picture is Worth a Poles Apart

I’m making a blog post about these photos because these probably show how Mark & I are on the opposite ends of a pole. (Photos by Reynan Opada)

That’s why we could never be running alongside each other unless I want to be unhappy and keep up with him; or he’s injured, slow, and he’d use me as his scapegoat. 🙂

[Day 1 Biliran] She said, He said

I was still on “The Affair” series during the trip. I was hooked to their “he said; she said” kind of storytelling. I’m chismosa, and so I’m always fascinated with that kind of thing.

We brought a car the whole trip; Mark was driving. I think this was our first with just the 2 of us. I don’t know if he wanted the road trip or he just wanted to level up his waze status. So that thought, it’s like “he said; she said.”

So let me try a “he said; she said.”

Driving. Mark asked me how would I handle driving on an unfamiliar place. Mark’s OC; he probably has 3 GPS devices with him on treks or road trips. He can’t go to a place or do any thing without any research, like a lot of research, that he probably already know the place in and out that we no longer need to go there.

If I’m going to be driving on/to a new place, I would probably realized that I’m going on the wrong direction after 50km. Ain’t I’m more fun to be with?!? 🙂 

So let me just do a #bloggerpose for that.


Then make you coffee on the road because #yolo like that.

And make tusok2x, etc.


And, I’d drive like this with one hand feeling the winds. #chos

[Day 0 Leyte-Biliran] Late Reaction

(I really wanna do a random daily summary update a trip just so I could have a memory of fresh first impressions / thoughts of a place but internet in Biliran is slow. So this is no longer that fresh like a late reaction.) 

A Workmate once commented why do I always have a delayed reaction. I really did not get quite what she meant by it. But anyhow, I guess I’m kinda like that “late reaction.”

Like this trip, I know it was planned since last year but it did not really sink in to me until we’re really going there. Somehow, it’s always like that. So I always like crammed up on things to do the day before a trip.

On this trip, I was still making my “swimwear” on the trip. Surprisingly, I hate being on a slow boat. But this time, I was happy to be on the slow boat as it gives me time to crochet my “beach wear.” 


We took the slow boat, Super Shuttle RORO (roll on roll off), in Polambato, Bogo for Palompon, Leyte. 

That was my first time to Leyte. It deserved a hot bingka freshly baked on the streetside somewhere up north of Cebu. 🙂


We landed in Palompon, Leyte afternoon. As being my first landing, it deserved some food fest celebration.

We loaded on some caffeine before proceeding to Biliran, which I think took around 2-3 hours.

We went to Cafe Umberto which was probably the only cafe in Palompon Leyte that serves brewed coffee, where the staff were trying to be extra nice by pouring more water to your coffee so that either they want to save you from the bitter taste or they like the idea of serving you with a cupful of coffee. 


And twinning, our official first day of trip shirt. 🙂
Leyte from the car window looks so green; that laid back kind of green. 

Hitch-hiking like this.

[Not a Book Review] Nothing to Envy

I just finished reading “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick.” It’s my very first book that I finished this year, actually for some time. I’m so proud of myself. 🙂

The last batch of books I had read we’re kind of gloomy; they’re all about sickness, dying, and death.

Then I pick up on crochet, and reading a book has totally not in the to-do list. Also, no book fancies me lately. I no longer have patience for fiction except for Crazy Rich Asians. @.@ 

Until someone commented if I’m not into reading books. I think the person was kind of worry that I spent so much time on “crochet,” and was just trying to be helpful by suggesting that maybe I could try reading books to kill time instead of hooking.

I was this tiniest felt “insulted.” Like really, you can tell me I’m ugly or my instagram posts are so vain but to suspect that I don’t like or don’t read books…. char!

So there, I updated my goodreads. 


If you’re following interviews and documentaries about North Korea, there’s nothing really much new from the book. Well, except for the part that “defactors” (North Koreans escapes) will pass through or may not get over the adjustment phase of being in a free world, which I wish the author wrote more about it in depth. When you come from a very strict structured country, then suddenly you got freedom, it can really be paralyzing, right? That would be something nice to read more about.

No. I have no fascination with North Korea. Though socialist & communist ideologies, but not on any deep level, kind of intrigue me thus I pick a book about this from time to time. So maybe this will be theme of my books-to-read this batch. 

#squadgoals

Meg had been uber excited talking about this event for a month in advance: her friend’s going to have her birthday celebration in Ayala mall. She had tasked Mark already to bring her to and from the mall, her budget and such.

It was kinda surreal that this thing is happening — Them doing this “big people” kind of stuff. And, yes, that “mall stuff” is another thing but that’s for her to “understand.”

So there she was in my jeans and my shirt. She’s been using my shirts and jeans for some time now. @.@ I wish I were more fashionable and have “taste” but ohwell.

No one’s excited to #squadgoal with me.

It will be very few years, and she’ll probably not needing a papa or a mama to  bring her to whatever destination she’ll be uber excited to go.

Well, the boys, they’ll be most probably be happy to just be at home with videogames.