So Sick

No not of love songs. This weekend, I had the worst attack of allergies in my life. Or maybe they're not allergies at all. I took Claritin but that wasn't enough to drain my runny nose. One night, I felt like I had runny nose and I just let it drip since I was tired of wiping it away (plus I ran out of Kleenex). Then I tasted rust and I realized I was dripping blood. One bloody hell of a night it was.

But anyway, this weekend, my friends helped me move my huge TV, couch and mattress to my new place. Then we went biking for a good 15 miles or so around town. Then on Monday, we ran the golden gate bridge again, like we did exactly 1 year ago. This time I didn't stop at all :) 3.4 miles in probably 40 minutes. This time, I was the one waiting at the end of the bridge - a definite change from last year!


I got Leuth to do the thumbs up too.

To adjust or not to

Foosball and poker during my last week in my apt.

There are only very few people who read this blog and I don't know if I want to keep it that way anymore. Google pages will allow me to make my own webpage again and I've toyed with the idea... hmm.

Last weeked, I partied too much since my European co-workers came over to visit. Add to them some guys from Brazil and the US and we had the world cup in my apt. As a result, I never quite adjusted to the PST time zone. I just received my next itinerary from June 8-24: SF- Tokyo- HongKong- Philippines- Hong Kong- Singapore- Penang, Malaysia- Kuala Lumpur- SF. Should I even get adjusted to the time zone? Well at least I get to visit the Philippines for a weekend.

24 hours and explore

I can now enjoy a new city and consider it "checked" within 24 hours. Any longer than that, I get homesicklikeness, the feeling where I just want to leave and go somewhere else. Today, I'm so homesicklike; my flight to SF got canceled because we hit a bird. Yeah. The 747 was about to take off when we hit a pelican followed abruptly by the pilot hitting the brakes so hard while announcing to the panic of everyone "Remain in your seats, remain in your seats!" I thought I was finally getting into a real adventure, but alas not quite the one I imagined. Now here I am in a hotel close to the airport but miles from the city centre thinking about what I could have done with the day. But hey it could've been worse, at least I'm booked at a 4 star hotel tonight.

Tonight at the bar, I was chatting with some of the other stranded travelers. There's Rachel who is now working with the government as a foreign service employee and there's Joe who is a real estate broker visiting his children in Au. The topic of where home-home was came up and all of us couldn't decide where home was/is anymore. We defined it as the place where you feel at home and with that criteria, sadly for me it's no longer the Philippines, but it's San Francisco or Los Angeles.

Which led me to think about my recent naturalization - did I betray the Philippines now that I'm a US citizen? In a way I did. But does that make me any more criminal than the others who left it too? The way I see it, I just have a different role now. I still want to help out sure, but for now I actually see myself more as a global citizen having seen so much of the world, unavoidably feeling responsible for it.

Someday, I wish to understand the collective and distinctive attributes of humans. Will it really matter whose citizen you are anymore? Don't we all fight to afford the same rights and privileges to live? Oh, what I would do to take those rights and privileges to the ends of this world... but for now let me just take a picture.


Greetings from Manly Beach, Australia. Named because this man was there :)

The past weekend and next

This was the longest birthday I ever had. Started celebrating last weekend, and then everyday til yesterday since Thursday night. Clubbing, dinners, wine tasting and mountain biking. Wow, thanks to all you guys :-).

Meanwhile, preparation for Australia is now on turbo.

1. May 6: San Francisco - Sydney
2. May 8: Arrive Sydney
3. May 9: Sydney - Canberra
4. May 11: Canberra - Sydney
5. May 11: Sydney - Adelaide
6. May 13: Adelaide - Sydney
7. May 13: Sydney - San Francisco

After this trip I can fly to London and back for free with my frequent flyer miles - crazy!