ILYSB by LANY

There is something very sensual about this song, and it helps that it's sung by a sexy voice. I've had this on repeat since last week because of the casualness of it all: beat, lyrics, and the works. 

The simpleness and the heartfelt chorus is what gets me. It describes perfectly the title of the song: I Love You So Bad

Oh my heart hurts so good

I love you babe, so bad, so bad

Oh yeah, oh my heart hurts so good

I love you babe, so bad, so bad

2016 Birthday Series

My birthday celebration marathon started a few days before my actual birthday. It started with a series of unfortunate events on our supposed eventful trip to Legazpi City. How badly did it go? It began with a cancelled flight a few hours before the trip. The rest of the story will be told on another post though because I want to focus on my getting-a-year-older-day rather than the trip.

My birthday was on a Wednesday, so the weekend before we left for Legazpi, Albay where me and a couple of friends went out on the ATV trail up Mt. Mayon. We left Saturday then went home by Sunday. I remember sleeping practically most hours of Monday, while on Tuesday I went out with college friends for a 3-hour Videoke/Karaoke/KTV/Singalong night at Song Hits in Metrowalk, Ortigas. Prior to our rendezvous I watched the movie Kingslave: Final Fantasy XV because I miss playing the series so much, but I have no choice but to settle for video clips and the movie due to poverty. The movie was far better than the FF: Spirits Within, but seemed more like an extended prologue for the game than a stand alone story. Urrrrghhh! It made me want to play the game and explore the world and get my hands to bringing down those Behemoths. My last FF game was Final Fantasy XII...so...so...long ago.

Knots by Charlie Lim

Charlie Lim was first introduced to me by Spotify though their Ultimate SEA Indie playlist. It's basically a playlist of South East Asian artists with an indie vibe to their music. I cannot even begin to explain how grateful I am of Spotify for exposing me to so many great international bands that I could never have realized on my own. 

I have been repeatedly hearing that Charlie Lim is the John Mayer of Singapore as his love songs are meant for the brokenhearted─kinda like breakup songs...which leaves the whole love part out in the end. Anyway, I've played his song on repeat since last year, and I still love it until now. It's about not giving second chances. It's about shoving at his face that he's not getting another chance at you. Here are a few lines of his lyrics that just make you want to feel the burn. 

Wish you'd wrote it all on water

Watch it all go to waste

So help me understand why

Why you wanna go back

Still running to your past life

When there's nothing left

And sort of ends on this note...

Don't you think it's for the best

That we don't always get what we want

Oh how easy we forget

When we could've had it all

Lesson learned...don't screw up the first time by taking it for granted.

Snippets: Pre-Birthday Celebration Trip Up Mt.Mayon

Taken August 21, 2016 at an ATV trail up Mt. Mayon in Legazpi City, Albay.

A few years ago─rough estimate is about three or so years ago─when I realized that I didn't want to celebrate my birthday as parties, you know, the kind wherein you invite everyone over to your house and have them feast on your home-cooked buffet. I've done that far too many times that most of my birthdays were spent a blur because either I was too tired from all the preparations, or, too preoccupied trying to host the invited guests. It's like a rerun; year after year, like a stressful annual requirement that obliges you to experience that awkward moment wherein everyone gathers around to sing you the Happy Birthday song and you are stuck there unflinching in front of your cake hoping the torture to end. I mean seriously, what to you do when everyone is staring at you yodeling, "Happy birthday to you!"? My closest friends knows that I'd shut them up the moment they start singing. I like the blowing-off-the-candle-on-the-cake part though, because it means I get to eat the cake right after. Not a big believer of birthday wishes...if you want it done, bluntly ask the parties involved of making it happen, using your birthday as an excuse.

In any case, after much self-refection...I realized that what I want for my birthday is to experience a moment to remember a year by. Three years ago I celebrated it by torturing my friends into jogging with me. Two years ago, it was my first time to zipline at a mountain resort in my home province. I remember how my arms hurt a few hours after because I was holding onto the rope far too tightly. Last year, it was the first time I celebrated my birthday abroad, in Yangon more specifically. This year, it was this, riding an ATV up to the 2006 lava flow of Mt. Mayon. Pre-birthday because it wasn't exactly my birthday...but it was what I will remember most on turning late twenty-somethingish. Also, my fourth time to zipline that day. 

It was monsoon season, so it's no surprise that it rained that day. It was one of the unluckiest trip I went on...that story will probably come on my 2016 roundup post under the "Worst Luck Moment of 2016" section. I went to Legazpi two weeks prior, and saw the most beautiful volcano from afar─EVER!!!─not that I've seen a lot though...but I swear on its perfect cone that it is breathtakingly beautiful. On the day of the trail, where we'd go up to the foot of the volcano, she decided to go shy on us and veil herself in very thick clouds. We ended up just seeing a wall of white from the view point at the end of the trail. But despite that, it's the experience of riding an ATV for the first time, up a rugged and puddled path, down to a newly cemented road with the view of Legazpi City below is what mattered. I love driving off to scenic routes, and to be able to do that so much closer to nature, that was awesome. 

Trekking Up Masungi Georeserve

I was planning on a long vacation to Bacolod when a friend said, "We have a hike up Masungi on the 26th! We've waited four months for this reservation to happen!" That's when I had to book a flight back earlier than should. Apparently all of us forgot about the reservation save for that one friend...who was also responsible for booking us all. Haha! She must've reminded us a couple dozen times not to make any plans on that day, but because of months of idle wait we constantly strayed from the thought. I mean, seriously, we booked February for a June slot. Although there is a higher chance for you to experience Masungi sooner if you book for a trek on a weekday, it's the weekends that are fully booked for months on end. They limit the tours to eighteen a day, which is why it took forever, considering the popularity of the place and the weekend-adventure trend going on.

I'll give a brief walk-through of the hike. To begin with, expect a lot of steps to be made. My friend recorded a total of 14,100+ steps after the trail, which took us five hours to complete because we weren't exactly built nor made any preparations for this endurance test. They say three hours should be ample time to finish the course, but having to wait for so long it'd be a shame to take the view and photo opportunities for granted. Also, what I meant with course is that the trek is in a loop, so once you begin the only way to exit is to go through all of the point-of-interests. It's not a linear trail that once you reach the end point you have to about-face and retrace your steps back in order to make your way out. And as the guide said, "Take your time to enjoy the view." 

Up&Up by Coldplay

It's mid-July and I have yet to write a post...so instead I'll just share this awesome music video of one of my favoritestestest band Coldplay because I've been looping this on Youtube for a while now. 

This is a good source of inspiration, visually and audioually. It says a lot about our generation of go-getters who are lost in our struggle to get through a messed up life. You know, the quarter-life-crisis thing. We want so much in life that we end up frustrated, but Chris couldn't be more right with these lyrics:

We're gonna get it, get it together right now

Gonna get it, get it togther somehow

Gonna get it, get it together and flower

We're gonna get it, get it together, I know

Gonna get it, get it together and flow

Gonna get it, get it together and go

Up and up and up

Ohhhh~~~oohooh Oh!

Recipe: Chicken Annatto Adobo Flakes Fried Rice

That long title basically explains the entire recipe. When I got home from Bacolod I brought with me a box of inasal, with it the addictive chicken oil, a recipe I can tell you as a side note. Another Ilonggo food item I brought with me is adobo flakes cooked with atsuete...it's also known as adobong pula. It's actually my favorite kind of adobo as it's one of my mom's specialty and it has a lighter flavor compared to the one made of soy sauce and vinegar.

*To make adobo flakes, simply simmer the adobo until it's so soft that the meat breaks apart when you flatten it with a fork. So you just shred the adobo until it looks like fibers, then there's two ways to make it...deep fry it or dry fry it on a non stick pan until it turns into a crisp brown substance resembling the floss-of-the-floss-bread-topping-part of Breadtalk.

**As for the chicken oil, you can either ask your local inasal place (like I did) to pack it on your take-out order or make one from scratch. There's the authentic version where you use the oil from the insol or chicken butt and infuse it with annatto, or my quick version of using vegetable oil and frying in the annatto and garlic then adding chicken bouillon until everything infuses then straining it in a glass container.

This fried rice recipe came together after I needed to consume the adobo flakes I made but got bored with it after eating it over white for three meals. The recipe is also great with kimchi on the side.