2022 Roundup

 

I describe this year as a rollercoaster of emotions. This is a year started calmly, and then went on a high before dropping down, then up, then down, then up, then down that I didn’t care anymore by the end of it. I just wanna get it over with and start another year, one that’s not as much of a letdown. I feel like I’ve been pretty fragile this year, allowing myself to take in a lot of burden and pain. I can’t say up to what point it was that my hormones played, but it happened often enough that I can’t fully blame it on hormonal imbalance. This year I took a bit of a beating that I wasn’t expecting it to turn my head upside-down. There’s a specific reason for the cover photo that I used as it perfectly represents my year. What seemed like a perfectly well curated photo and promising at the start turned out to be a big disaster in the end. 

Scary Stuff: Part 7

 

Performing an Exorcism at Home

It was last December 25, 2020 at 3:00pm when my grandmother died in my room. She was 99, ten days short of celebrating her 100th birthday. That day devastated a lot of people, but it was those who lost their mother that were hurting the most. She had thirteen kids, two of whom left before her. My aunt (my mom's younger sister) was the one who spent the most time with my grandmother the last couple of years of her life. In the few months that my grandmother got sick and was bedridden I noticed my aunt deteriorating as well. The lack of sleep, stress, and anxiety of knowing that it was a only a matter of time before she'd lose her mother took a toll on her. She lost a lot of weight, her eyes deepened with eye bags, her hair unkept, her skin aged, but worst of all her mental health went into shambles. Immediately I noticed this the first time I saw her after almost a year of not being home due to the pandemic. She gave out a blank stare, her voice inaudible, and her thoughts clearly out of the norm. My first thought on our first conversation was that, what happened to the aunt I knew? So was her case. At first we thought that it was because of the situation of having to deal with a dying mother that messed up her head, plus the severe lack of sleep. We expected that she'd be able to recover after my grandmother had passed. Unfortunately it didn't happen, in fact, it turned into something...paranormal.

Atok Flower Farm in Benguet

 

Last April I had the luxury of going on a mini-adventure with my friends to Atok's Northern Blossom Flower Farm. What was supposed to be a beach trip to Zambales to accommodate our friend who arrived from Australia ended up an instant trip to the mountains of Cordillera...leaving our balikbayan friend in the process. It was one of the best decisions we made.  

To get to Atok, we left Baguio at 5am to reach the Northern Blossom Farm before 7am. The road was pretty fun to drive through the zigzag, so fun that I was holding myself from throwing up as I was driving. Getting to the farm is easy as it's situated right next to the highway. The only hard part would probably be the parking as the road is tight and not a lot of space to navigate with. 

As soon as you arrive, you'll have to go down a steep driveway and register your names at their center. You'll pay the entrance fee of Php250 per adult; Php200 per senior or PWD; Php50 per kid between 6-10 years old, this will include a snack and unlimited brewed coffee at the end of the walking tour. They also charge an additional Php20 for the environmental fee.  

Snippets: Bago Rice Field

The drone shot was taken last January 9, 2022 by my friend Matthew (@eyeronicmaniniyot). This was a defining moment for me, for all of us who were here actually. From a supposed cancelled trip, this turned out into something amazing. We initially invited a different set of friends, but a miscommunication with that group made us rethink the trip. But as fate has set it, we contacted another set of friends and in a matter of minutes it was decided that we're pushing through with our initial plan of having a picnic at this magical spot. We bought what needed to bought, and immediately set to meet with our friends right after lunch. 

Getting to the spot took us to a couple of wrong detours, and chasing the sunset pressured me a bit, but we managed to make it just in time. The moment we arrived we did the set up, laid the food on the table, and opened our bottle of wine...this all happened while taking tons of photos. Just as the sun turned to dusk, my cousin arrived from the brink of giving up because we were at a spot where there was no landmark to tell her otherwise. 

She ate what was left of our food and wine, and we laughed until the darkness fell. There was a lot of laughter that happened that day. It was a first for all of us. Definitely one for the books. Definitely not the last time this will happen.