#brucelim888

[brucelim888]

E-Cigs

I know.  It's nearing the end of 2011, and nobody really smokes now. And yes, i know too.  Cigarettes can kill you.  They will.  And they make you look ugly.  And they can harm others around you too. Smokers die younger.  Smoking causes lung cancer and heart disease.  

Believe me, I have been told many times by friends.  The media is not lacking in communications regarding the hazards of smoking.  I've been trying to quit, but maybe I just never had the pure will to do it.  

So now comes the Electronic Cigarette.  A lot of my friends have switched to "vaping", and they swear by it.  Some have even graduated to NOT vaping anymore, and by god, they DO look healthier and younger.  I guess I must look like I'm a hundred years old now.  

Maybe it's time.

All kinds of E-Cig stores have mushroomed in the city.  For a country that imposes minimal tax on cigarettes, it isn't a mystery why the Philippines is still teeming with human chimneys.  I will try to cut down the population by ONE.  Me.  

This week I must find myself a shop.  Gotta buy that E-Cig and attempt to finally kick this ugly habit.  Now, stress please stay away from me.  Just this one time?

[brucelim888]

Ay, Apo!

One hour and forty minutes by boat to Apo. Nice boat, and Brucie is having the time of his life. We thought the trip would be cancelled because it rained so hard at around 4am it seemed like there was a typhoon coming.

Oh but the sun is out today. Water’s a bit choppy but it can rock me to sleep. The constant “brrrrrrrrrr….. Frrrrrrr….grrrrrr” sound the motor makes beats the clicking of the geckos at night so i think i will be fine.

The captain says we will get to swim with the turtles today. I am thinking maybe i should introduce myself as one of the TMNJ. Hullow. I’m Michaelangelo.

If Mondays are like this all the time, i would never get grumpy at work.

Now if you will excuse me, Brucie and i will get cozy and take a nap. Sunscreen’s on so no worries about getting his chest burned.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[brucelim888]

Coco Grove

6:15am flight via PAL. I tell you, it is such a pain to fly with them. But no choice. The tickets have been booked. So off we went to the airport, me with only 30 minutes of sleep and the Bad Gurl lucky with a little over an hour’s worth.

Naia3. I thought we didn’t have to stress over the check in line because we came pretty early. I counted. 4th in line. 30 minutes later we were still 4th. Right behind a family with a cageful of pigeons and another cage with two puppies trying to rip off each others’ fur. Another lady had a cat. At the counter behind us were three curious boxes with holes. Then the roosters went cock-a-doodle-doo. We were flying with the animal farm.

If the crowing of the roosters was any indication, we were running late. The sun was rising and we were still agonizing in that frozen line.

But we made it, and had enough time to buy ourselves some coffee. At the Dumaguete port we were led to the ferry that was to take us to the island. It was probably older that our ages combined. It felt like we were a bunch of refugees fleeing a war torn country.

After almost an hour, with cramped legs and nauseous from the fumes, we made it to Siquijor. Thank goodness the resort is just wonderful. All the hassle went away after we were welcomed by the great staff and Macky the resident parrot.

Today we will go around the island. More pics soon!

[brucelim888]

Hello, World

I deactivated my Facebook account a couple of months ago.  I don't know if I will ever miss the news feeds and the juicy gossip that come with FB, but I do not feel I want to go back yet.  Not just yet.  But only recently I started to miss WRITING.  And I realized, being out of FB shouldn't mean my blogs should stop too.  Afterall, my online life is about WRITING first, socializing second.  Gossiping, well ... somewhere in between?

So I am here, attempting to keep you, my new friend/s, from leaving my page.

But first things first.  Let me clarify a few things and introduce myself to you:

1. I have no mission to change the world.  :)  I am here to share my simple Points of View about, well... food, travel, life (as I live it anyway), and anything under the sun.

2.  I am NOT a food critic.  I didn't go to culinary school and will never go to one.  I just want to enjoy eating.  And maybe cooking.  In my next lifetime I guess.  My mother raised me with an invisible reinforcement fence by the kitchen door to keep me out of her business.  But that didn't stop me from enjoying what came out of her wok.  I simply love to eat.  So i just intend to share with you the stuff that make me happy.  If my tummy likes it, I write it.

3. I am a 44 year old lesbian.  But no, I have no mission to be a spokesperson for Filipino Gays and Lesbians.  I think there are other people who can do the job better.  So this info is just that.  Info.  For your info.

4. I love to travel.  I grew up looking forward to our month-long trips to Baguio City during summer, and for more than a decade that was the only kind of travel I knew.  I grew up in a simple household, with a bank manager for a father and a home maker for a mother.  Their only objectives were to put a roof over our heads, send us to decent schools and put food (good, home-cooked food, thank you very much) on our table.  So Baguio it was, for a very very long time.  I have fun memories of that city, and I will forever appreciate my parents for saving up what they could to give us the summer vacations their money could afford.  Now that I am older and have the means, I want to see the world.  I have started to travel to cities out of my own country, and I will not stop until I am old and gray.  I just happen to prefer to travel than to build a mansion.  I feel richer that way.

5. I promise to TRY not to bash other people and I will poke fun only at myself.  But I will NOT hold off my opinions about badly cooked or presented food.  Especially bad food that isn't cooked by me.  But remember, I am a pedestrian. So you have all the right to have a different opinion of the world we live in and the food we masticate.  I will not have any quarrels with you.  I will TRY not to quarrel with you :)

6. I will TRY not to make this too personal that you will be lost while you read.  I want this to be just about food and travel and the fine things in life, and it's as universal as it should be.  Of course, personal just means I shouldn't share my deepest, darkest feelings with you because I know you have better things to do than read a stranger's life story.  If I want to start a fight, I promise to re-activate my account and do it on Facebook.

7. I call myself a pedestrian, because I am just passing by this thing called life, and while "pedestrian" may also mean boring and uneventful, I only mean I am simply walking by and will try to enjoy whatever I encounter during my earthly existence.  I do not intend to give you lofty opinions about life, love and our inner souls and all that... Life is simple.  And I just intend to share my simple joys. 

So here I am, on Day 1.  Let's see where this takes me.  If I get my mojo back, then I may just find myself writing everyday, or at least each time there is something nice or funny to share.  Wish me luck. 

Meanwhile, let me go back to eating my chicken pasta and drinking my Mountain Dew.  Good night.  :)