Bahrain Trip: Al Areen Wildlife Park

Dear blog,

Yesterday was the first day of Eid Al Adha here in the Middle East. Since me and my dad had no work that day, we decided to go to Al Areen Wildlife Park in Sakhir.

Seeing all of these animals is a relief from being confined inside the house almost everyday (Sigh, I'm still working for the same company, but that's another story to tell). It also brings a sense of nostalgia when I was still very much interested with my first course, Biology.

 

Some of the animals looked unhappy and lethargic. 

I've read about the park's program in taking care of the endangered and the extinct species of some of the animals (they take care of the Arabian Oryx, which according to wikipedia, is already extinct in the wild).

  It's good that some people are making an effort to reverse and control the destruction of the world's flora and fauna. I hope more people will be aware and join this crusade to help and protect mother nature.

Abi :)

Hello? Are you there?

Dear blog,

Yes, I know I've turned into one of those bloggers who swore on their first blog entry to always update their blog, then after a month or so, will just pop back and apologize to their so-called "readers" because of being on a sudden hiatus 'cause of some lame excuse like "I was out living my life" or "I got caught up with (insert more lame excuse here").. blah blah blah.

So to live up to that cliche, I do apologize to my readers (if I have any) for not being able to update this blog for quite some time. No lame excuse but a simple confession that my life just got so boring, I don't have anything "interesting" to write. Until now. 

Remember I posted an entry last May regarding my resignation? Well, that didn't happen. I filed but revoked it few days before it was effective. My reason? I don't know, maybe I got too coward to let go of the routine that I was so used to... Until this morning.

As I sat down in my room, I look back and remember the events that occurred. It happened so fast, I didn't get to enjoy the moment when I got my freedom (freedom, overly dramatic naks). I won't go into details, but to summarize, I got tired of my work and just took the plunge, sent a skype to both of my boss and an email to seal the deal. I know it's informal to resign via email/skype but I'm more than 10 thousand miles away from the office right now and I think it's more informal to plainly dismiss the issue and just go AWOL. 

I actually felt good after it happened. I finally stood up and told them enough is enough. In the past year that i've worked with the company, sure I had some glory days, but it was mostly bed of nails. The workload was terrible and these people had no definition of set duties and responsibilities. I guess their motto is: "wherever there's work to be done, you will be assigned there and you need to finish it, pronto!"

I've been a doormat all my life. A pushover. I may exhibit a little bit of resistance, but I accept all shit and say yes all the time. 

Maybe I didn't get tired of my work, maybe I got tired of being the yes man, of not being able to say what's on my mind and just accept things as they come because I am to scared to let go of my routine. 

I was trapped in this bad habit all this time, and maybe what happened this morning was a wake-up call for me to embrace change.

Empowerment. 

Realists vs. Dreamers

“There are dreamers and there are realists in this world. You’d think the dreamers would find the dreamers and the realists would find the realists, but more often than not, the opposite is true. You see the dreamers need the realists from keeping them from soaring too close to the sun… And the realists? Well without the dreamers, they might never get off the ground.”

One of the best quotes from Modern Family. You'd think that the show is just all about fun and shit, but you'll be surprised that you'll actually learn something from watching it...

Well except for this vid: 

LOL. Parrot Scene.

Hilarious.

Easy Peasy Sunday

A day like this makes me regret the decision I just made to leave my position and these people behind..

*sigh*

Rainy days and Sundays

Tried this new photo editing app, VSCO. 

View from our office window, Gloomy.

Review: Chateau Royale Sports and Country Club

Dear Reader,

A few weeks ago, me and my bestfriend decided to purchase a deal for a day trip to Chateau Royale in Ensogo. The deal costs 299 and it included:

"Lunch, free use of the swimming pools, kids playground, free guided tour in Orchidarium and Organic Farm, unlimited internet, free meditation in Lotus Garden and free use of Shower Room"

  

Since both of us are dying to have a weekend getaway, we immediately called for a reservation for three pax for May 19.

The Place

Chateau Royale is located at Batulao, Nasugbu, Batangas. In our case, it's a 1-hour drive from Las Pinas via Emilio Aguinaldo Highway (We left at 6:30am, then arrived at 7:30am). The place is not hard to find and the map that they provided in their website was very clear and easy to follow.

 Entrance

Check-in

After getting our stuff from the car, we went to the reception area for check-in. We were asked to pay P300 pesos/per pax for security deposit (which will be returned upon check-out). Although it was stated in the fine print in the website when we purchased the deal, they didn't explain what that "security deposit" was for. We just assumed that maybe if we broke something in the resort then the 300 pesos will be used to pay for the damages.

Reception

Amenities: Swimming Pool

After checking-in, we were simply allowed to go our way, no instructions or whatsoever. They didn't tell us where the shower room was, when and where the free lunch will be served and when the "guided tour" will start..

Swimming Pool (kiddie pool on the other side)

There was only one pool that we saw, we asked one attendant there if we could also swim in the indoor pool (as advertised in ensogo), the attendant told us that there was only one pool in the resort, but when we told her that we saw an indoor pool in their advertisement in ensogo, she just told us that there was indeed an indoor pool and we should ask first the front desk/reception if we are allowed to go there. Tsk. Ano ba talaga? Meron o wala? Since the pool was so inviting and the people are starting to take a dip in the pool, we let their shortcomings pass.. AGAIN.

In less than an hour that we started swimming, *boom* the pool was slowly being crowded with people. The ambiance was nice since pool is surrounded with lush trees in the back (as you can see in this picture)  and sand to emulate a beach feeling.. But it lacked enough shade for people to lounge around by the pool. Painitan ang trip dito! 

By 9:30am it was already to hot to swim so I decided to switch with Nas (my bestfriend's boyfriend) in safekeeping our things (we decided to take turns in looking after our things instead of renting a locker). They swam for another hour then they also decided to get out of the pool as well. 

I wasn't able to take a picture of the shower room, but the doors in the rooms had no lock and the glass door had a mixture of frosted and clear glass (there was a part there where other people can see you taking a bath), so we covered that part with our towels and soiled clothes. Some showers were not functional (no shower head, no water coming out of the shower).

After taking a bath and changing our clothes, we left our things in Nas' car so we don't have to bring our luggage everywhere.

"Free Lunch"     

Since the good receptionist didn't tell us where we could claim the lunch included in our deal, we went to their cafeteria to inquire where we should go. The girl told us that lunch was going to be served at the Grand Ballroom so we went there. When we got there we assumed that they're already set-up since it was only a few minutes away before 12noon. But to our disappointment, there was no food ready to be served... Only an empty long table with the OJTs standing behind it. I asked one OJT there what time the food will be served, and she told me that it was just 11:25am. I looked at her, then looked at my watch, then looked at her again then told her that it's just 5 minutes till 12noon. Since most of the people in the room had the same time with my watch, they started falling in line to the buffet even though there was no food ready to be served.

15 mins had passed, and that was the only time when the food came and they started serving people. So yay! we thought, food is here! But more time passed  and we started wondering why our turn to be served is taking so long, so my bestfriend asked what is taking so long. One OJT told us that they ran out of food. WHAT. How can you run out of food? We saw people leaving with the same amount of food and I guess no one came back for seconds since the attendants are getting the food stubs/coupon before serving.

It was past 1pm when we were served, imagine more than an hour standing and waiting in line, only to get this amount of food:

Chicken bones, dry tasteless pancit and 1 cup of rice. Yes, this was our free lunch. 1 hour of waiting time for this. SMH. 

Naubos po ulit yung manok.

Very disappointing. Just because our lunch was a part of a promo, we shouldn't be treated short. If they didn't include a free lunch in their promo, we could have just ate somewhere ahead of time instead of being subjected into this kind of ordeal.

Since we were already dismayed with the service that we were getting, we decided to just finish the whole trip and leave immediately. 

Zoo, Organic Farm and Orchidarium

Nobody told us when was the guided tour so we explored the whole premises.

Ugh, the plants are poorly maintained and the animals are not receiving proper care.. One horse was even loose and was allowed to roam freely the premises. Tsk.

Final Verdict

I give Chateau Royale 2 out of 5 stars. Poor service and the major lack of planning in behalf of the management brought a complete disaster to our supposed to be relaxing getaway (we heard from another guest that Chateau Royale failed to include the guests who availed the day trip promo, instead of their estimate of 100 guests, they accommodated 600, imagine the difference). 

I do not recommend this place at all.

Photo Diary: Matryoshka dolls

Dear Reader,

Today, I decided to take out my camera and take a picture of our Matryoshka Dolls. These dolls were given to us by our family friend from Azerbaijan. Matryoshka dolls are a set of decreasing wooden dolls placed one inside the other. I only took a picture of 4 of them, but there are more than 10 pieces of these dolls. I'm pretty much amazed of the manual dexterity of the artisan who made this doll because when you reach the smallest doll inside, you can still see the full details of the face (as seen in my last photo, stubby fingers I know, but those hands may save your life someday, lol i'm digressing). It's sad because from what I've read in some websites, the craft of making these dolls is slowly dying. Hope they'll continue to make this kind of doll or else we'll all just be relying on photos like these to appreciate.

Growing up..

Dear Reader,

Gosh I forgot to write "Dear Reader" on my previous posts.. You see i'm trying to write ala Stephen Chbosky in his novel "The Perks of a Wallflower" which by the way, I haven't finished reading up to now... (shame on me, I know). Anyway, to update you of my shitty status at work...

Well, we had a meeting as mentioned in the previous post. Nothing drastic has happened since (except for the good boss leaving), but the big boss has been trying subtly to "make-up" for their short-comings. We've lost and will lose a considerable number of people, so the workload is still and will be shit craaaay. But she's been   saying "Thank You" a lot these days and showering us with promises of candies and fingerless gloves. Whatever she's doing, it's cool but you cannot sweet coat the harsh reality that we're still underpaid and unless they send someone to manage us, things will always be the same.

Enough of that negativity. I'm so excited for tomorrow! Me and my (2nd) college buddies will be having a reunion.. I'm thinking of bringing my cam tom since it has been a tradition to take pictures during gatherings. Hmm.. :) 

Anyway, I'm so sleepy! Still have work tomorrow. =(( Good night!

    

Dinner and Juice

Yesterday was supposed to be my day-off but I had to go to work 'cause we had to attend a meeting to address our "issues" with work and the management. What happened was totally just an utter waste of time and in my case a perfect day to rest. 

But I am glad I came to work yesterday for one thing and one thing alone and that is, I get to hang-out with my college buddies. We had dinner at Giligan's ATC and then proceeded to Jamba Juice to flush down all the carbs with "health juice" and a good dose of catching up and laughter.

*Sigh* I wish life will be much simpler instead of becoming more and more complex as we get old. Priorities to meet, money to earn, family to build. Hmm. 

Consider this a way out

A lot has happened but nothing's changed.

I'm still in hell.
In corporate hell.

I can't understand why people value money so much... You can't bring money to heaven or hell or wherever you're going in the after life.

Sure it can buy you things that can make you happy. I won't be a total hypocrite if I'll tell you that I hate having money. But making money as the center of your life? Ruining friendships and family ties for money?

C'mon.


Still hoping for another bright day tho my future in the office looks very bleak right now.
So many unresolved issues, piling on top of each other.

Invasion of privacy.
Stress.
Poor management.

These words are inside my mind right now.

I sure hope this will end soon.

I'd like to live a peaceful, happy and rewarding life.

Hmm.

Dear Reader,

First of all, I'm terribly terribly sorry for the lack of update since last week. I've been very busy with work. You see, I chose to work for 6 days straight so I could have Friday and Saturday as my permanent off.

Anyway, this past week was one helluva ride for me. I was pushed to the limit of stress due to so many demands from my boss, but thankfully, I still kept my cool and kept some words to myself or else I would be jobless right now.

My future is a blur right now. I don't have any goals nor dreams or whatsoever. It's sad really 'cause I'm not like this when I was in college. I often daydream about what i'll be 5-10 years and i'll make a plan on how I could accomplish it. I'm super focused on my goals then. *Sigh* What happened to me? It's like this job has sucked me to a dark place.

I don't know where to start... I do want to quit my job so bad but what will I do after? Apply in another job that's not related with my degree? It pains me so much whenever I see pictures or status from my batch mates from both degrees showing how successful they are or happy they are with the life that they have. I know it's wrong to be jealous of them (I keep telling myself last night, "Abi bawal mainggit" *browses more pictures of batch mates who ended up practicing their career and are doing great* "Abi sabi ng bawal mainggit eh."

I wish I could get out of this phase. This uninspired, full of angst, confused phase.

*Sigh :(

Photo Diary: Visita Iglesia 2012 (Church 4-7)

Dear Reader,

We continue our travel to…

Fourth church visited: Parish of St. James the Great (Ayala Alabang)

(Inside AAV en route to the church, my mom and my aunt kept wishing they could own a property here.. Someday mom, someday.)

(I can’t take a good pic of the whole façade of the church because the sun is too bright!)

(Another attempt, edited on PaintFx, UST ang peg!)

(Inside the church)

(Bio friends, help me identify this tree! ^_^)

Fifth church visited: Shrine of the Five Wounds of our Lord (Alabang-Zapote Road)

We weren’t able to stay long here because there were a lot of cars and people doing the station of the cross that we had a hard time securing a parking for our car…

(Nagmamadali na, but I still managed to take a picture of my mom and aunt doing the station of the cross)

(Much improvement since last year…)

Fact about this church: A piece or relic from the cross where Jesus Christ has been crucified and died is placed inside the shrine.

Travelling during the lent is great ‘cause…

(THERE'S NO TRAFFIC AT ALABANG-ZAPOTE ROAD!)

Sixth church visited: Good Shepherd Parish (Dona Manuela Subdivision, Las Pinas)

We always include our parish church in our Visita Iglesia. Even if we always go here to hear mass, this church feels like home…

Seventh church visited: Our Lady of Fatima Parish (Phil-Am Village, Las Pinas)

This place reminds me of that last scene in the movie “Closer” when Dan realizes that Alice’s name isn’t real. =)

To end this post, here’s another artsy fartsy pic of a tree…