Where is Jervilis~

I'VE BEEN TO Cagayan De Oro City and Camiguin Islands last weekend, made possible by a massive price drop of Cebu Pacific Airlines tickets last March. Since I've been traveling to different places, I thought of creating a journal for my travel stories. 

Convincing myself to create a blog for my trips is actually very easy. Thinking for a title isn't that hard too. I remember Aileen, one of the first friends I made when I was hired in my company four years ago. She fused my name and the word bilis (tagalog word for fast) into one because she thought I was too fast for everything, work, walking, running, waking up late but still managed to swipe on time and many other things. Since then, she began calling me Jervilis persistently, until she resigned her post, a long time ago. So I guess it makes a good name for my new journal.

Do check out my new travel blog in Where Is Jervilis~

Rated C Minus

I'VE READ ABOUT it in Yugatech's Feedburner email. Then learned it was programmed by Eugene.

Using his wonderful application, I was rated a C- Philippine traveler.

I spent my early years living in Luzon and traveled only to as far as Benguet, to the north and Metro Manila, to the south. I have several relatives in the Nueva Ecija and Bataan, and during family get togethers I get the chances to embrace those places.

My Lakbayan grade is C-!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

When I started working, I move out of my comfort zones in Angeles City and transferred to Laguna. I owe to my colleagues and friends in the office whom I bonded with and learned the language of trekking and travelling. I went to as far as Sagada in Mountain Province, into the outskirts of Pagsanjan Falls, the beaches of Anilao, climbed into the cliffs of Mt. Daguldol in San Juan and Mt. Maculot in Cuenca, both in Batangas, took pictures of the Chocolate hills and dolphins of Bohol, smelled the cool breeze of Tagaytay and Baguio City, and witnessed the Pahiyas fiesta of Lucban. This weekend, we will be revisiting the beautiful island and wonders of Camiguin and drop by the waving rapids of Cagayan de Oro.

Hopefully, I could jumpstart the travel blog I've been cooking up for almost a month now. Next year, I aim to target and wish to achieve an A+ rating. I'll be focusing higher into the north, the likes of Hundred Islands, Vigan, Pagudpod, and Batanes!

So who's with me?

Freedom. Filipinos, Be Proud

YESTERDAY WAS A holiday because the President shifted the schedule for reasons I can only guess. She wanted to stretch the weekend so that more money would be generated through taxes because people will have three days (instead of only two) of trooping into the malls and empty their pockets. I see it as an opportunity to spend rather than a time to reflect and revisit our history.

And the holiday was made more than a hundred years ago. Dr. Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio and the legions of our national heroes each had their contribution against the tyranny of Spanish occupation so that you and I, right now, can speak our hearts out, have the right to own the ground to which we stand, and live freely outside the jurisdiction of invading foreigners.

We should push the collective effort not to let our rich history remain in the doldrums, left and forgotten. Yesterday was a conversation that I wished my nephew and niece would never forget. I keep on trying to impart them the importance of education, and learning a piece of our history.

So to all my Filipino compatriots, lets be proud of ourselves! Mabuhay ang mga Pilipino!

Saving Earth

IN THE PLACE I call work, I exercise the following on a daily basis.

One. Never switch-on the fluorescent lamp right above my head. Instead, I absorb the stray illumination from nearby lighting. To be able to accomplish this, the facilities department has provided each lamp its own pull switch for a better control, when to turn it on or shut it off. This way, I am maximizing the energy consumed and simultaneously saving some of it.

Two. Turning off the computer monitor during breaks, which accounts to as much 1 hour and 20 minutes of the total 9 hours I spend at my desk. That’s about 14.8% of monitor power saved.

Three. I usually forget my handkerchief whenever I go to work. So what I do whenever I have a trip to the rest room is used the tissue available, sparingly. I care for the trees, that’s all.

Four. Call me unhygienic but I don’t flush the cubicle after peeing. I assume that the next person after me will do that, thus, saving a considerable amount of clean water. That is hitting two birds with one stone.

Five. I have a pair of scissors in my drawer. And I see good reasons for its simple function of cutting and trimming; muscle exercise to relieve stress in the hand and arms, and transforming waste papers into tiny notes to write on.

Early this morning, the voice in the PA system has announced that today is World Environment Day. As part of its contribution to the worldwide reaction in chasing and solving global warming, it encourages everyone in the offices and elsewhere in the production to save earth from the wraths of global warming, by a collective effort of conserving energy.

And I hope that the voice of encouragement spoke to everyone who heard it and put "saving the earth" practices into a daily habit.

Super Lotto

HOW MUCH IS a 10-peso worth?

One balut.
A tricycle fare.
1-minute celfone call.
A tabloid newspaper.
A whopping P126,880,212.60.

That's right! You can exchange your 10 pesos with that amount if you were the "lucky" person yesterday, who saw and lined up in one of the lotto terminals found in every SM mall, some street corners or wherever tickets are being sold. With the right combination of 6-numbers in your possession, you could probably be rejoicing now, or having your heart jump out of your chest, in doubt that you are now an instant millionaire. Whoever that person is, I somehow wished it was me. Or a friend who's always the first person to update me of the results of the millionaires raffle.

These long lines are not mere indicators that the prize money of the Philippine lottery is a huge sum, but shows how a hole in a roof can be seen as a passage of miniscule rays of hope.

If it's me who won the prize, my mind would either:

a] Go crazy and quickly be cluttered with material things to lust about. A Canon 1D-Mark III, the latest in BMW line of cars, one way ticket to Paris and elsewhere, a house I have never dreamed of having and my own jetski. (Or)

b] Remain sane and set priorities on how to properly spend more than a hundred million pesos-- which probably would include raising a business related to photography, publishing, internet, web design, farming, food, and coffee, among others. Donation to charity and environment conservation causes. And of course, share the treasure to the long lines of the family.

However, these are just scripts born of imaginative mind.

I was in my second year in college when I learned about the game, bet on it and eventually lost a countless times. I have seen different kinds of people, too, that have gone through these lines. I remember at one time, the guy next to me was donned with dirty baseball cap and rugged clothes. He was holding his bicycle which appearance told me that he used it to go to work as a welder in some metal fabrication shop. He had put his hopes in a single bet as he let out an exasperated sigh. He must have been very tired of his kind of work, and his eyes showed he's dead tired of being poor. That's why he probably invested his remaining cash for the day, because his one ticket could save him from his debts and mundane living.

Beyond the money game itself, it brings us the reality of the lives of many Filipinos who belong to the lower class. These long lines are not mere indicators that the prize money of the Philippine lottery is a huge sum, but shows how a hole in a roof can be seen as a passage of miniscule rays of hope. Hope that in every bet, it accounts a degree of chance where the bettor put his prayers in winning the jackpot, and eventually, a better life.