Corregidor Day Trip

Wow Philippines Jeepney in CCP Terminal

As you know that Tom is in town and I've been taking him to different places around the metro and also in provinces. One of the first places we visited was Corregidor Island which was about an hour and a half away from Manila. We chose this one first because it's just a day trip and we wanted to have a historical exploration around this island.

I've been seeing the Wow Philippines jeepney whenever I'm in the CCP complex and thought that it was only for display. I now realized that it had a purpose; transporting travelers from the ticketing area of Sun Cruises to the dock where the passenger speed boats are waiting.

The photo above is the passenger speed boat that we rode going to Corregidor Island. It was very fast and it only took us an hour and a half to arrive to the island. When we docked in the island, we have to ride the tourist tranvias for the historical tour around the small island.

The ruins in Corregidor Island is a reminder of the dark past. It's part of our history. These ruins already serves as a memorial to the Filipino and American soldiers who died there during World War II.

Hi, I'm Charitable Charlize

Since I was a child, I liked involving myself in charitable and fund raising activities. Probably because I studied in a Catholic School which taught me to extend charity to the unfortunate ones. The cliche "I am lucky because I am not like them" is an elitist statement for me but I guess the reason I do this is because I just wanted to and I feel that I have a social responsibility in my community and most especially to my country. With the rampant social injustices that are happening in this world, being apathetic will not help anyone.

Others would argue that social injustices serve a function in society, without them, then life will be so boring. On the other hand, hardcore Marxists want to achieve a classless society wherein everybody will be equal and there's no need for material things anymore. These are both extremes of theoretical ideas but I guess we all have our own perspectives that we can't really label of. There is a part of me says that I am for functionalism while there is also a part of me that says that Marxist ideas are correct. There is only one thing I am sure of, there is no one social theory that can absolutely describe how I think and why I do charitable works. Maybe I am a pragmatist. This works for me now and previously, that is why I do this.

I have lots of experiences in fund raising and outreach events. I experienced teaching young children every Saturday in a slum community in Manila. During the Ondoy operations, I also extended a helping hand in the relief operations. I've also organized fund raising concerts and parties for different beneficiaries. All of them were time consuming but believe me, doing it was an adrenaline high.

Sorry for keeping you boring with my intellectualization of my thoughts here but I just wanted to point out on how I arrived in being the person I am right now. I am glad to have been part of outreach in St. Scho, NGOs and Companies that have Corporate Social Responsibility activities. Most especially, I am grateful for my friends who support me in my fund raising events in the past. I love you guys!

Travel Destination: Pandan Island, Palawan

Ahh. Pandan Island, Palawan. One of my favorite in Puerto Princesa whIenever I want to just get away from everyone. If you've been reading my blogposts, Tom and I just had a fight (again). I just want to be alone and see the pristine waters of Palawan. Whenever I see nature, I forget everything. It's like my own perfect drug (the legal one of course) which you can technically get for free.

Many people say that whenever you appreciate nature, you're feeling sad inside. Probably we seek nature whenever we want perfection in our lives. I guess this the reason why I love nature.

Making Up and Breaking Up In the Past

My close friends know that Tom and I frequently break up and make up. When he was in Canada, we always chat and do crazy stuff in the internet (ahem, like cybersex :) ). We enjoy talking anything and everything under the sun. Even though we were so far away, we still fight and even break up. Last time we broke up was when he was still in Canada because he's "nagpapapampam". I became frustrated of him being so needy so I broke up with him. I guess I was having my monthly visitor then so I acted impulsively. I don't know why I did it but probably because I know that he'll come back to me. That's how we've always been.

Usually, as a revenge, I go out and hook up with other guys. Because I was so angry at him, I logged on to my favorite porn chatroom (nope, I won't tell. It might be your favorite too!) and chatted with this hot guy. Well, I don't know really if he's a real hottie but only based my perception on the photo he sent me. Of course, the photo was ahem, kita ang kanyang baktidol. (BAKat TI**) LOL. So we decided to meet, looks juicy naman. My girlfriends don't know this, but now they know. After a few exchanges of dirty talk, we decided to get it on. Hmm, I won't tell the juicy details anymore. I guess my girlfriends who are reading this are super anxious to know what happened. ;) Well, nothing really happened. The punchline of this story is that this hot guy turned out to be a super doll collector. I suddenly thought that he was gay but apparently, he just likes to collect dolls. We only made out and got turned off when I saw his dollie collection. But in fairness, the dolls were cute! Wanted to take home sana pero I guess he'll just make away me.

As mentioned, this isn't the first time that I did this. I've done this the whole duration of my relationship with Tom. I wonder if this is something that I really want in the future. Is he the right one for me? Or am I just staying in this relationship because it's part of my daily routine? As the saying (and the song goes), love is a battlefield but what if you're always in battling with your partner? Now that he's here in Manila, we're ok but I don't know for how long...

Gays Gaga-fied, Ladies Gaga-fied.

Lady Gaga is the gay icon of our generation. She's the pop star of this generation just like when Madonna was still topping the charts during the 80's and 90's. Since Madonna is not my generation, I would prefer Lady Gaga. Anyway, she has a new video called "Telephone" which features Beyonce. This is quite an interesting video. First, it's 9 minutes long and second, Beyonce is not quite her usual self in her videos. She's like Gaga-fied, if there is such a term.



Because of this popularity, there are a lot of gays (and I believe women) who tried to parodize this video. One of which is our very own Lady Gaggita. One of the funniest because of their resourcefulness. I will give them an A+!.

With the proliferation of these gay Lady Gaga wannabes everywhere, I wonder, can we Gaga-fy ourselves (I mean biological women) to exert our womanhood and uniqueness in this world?

Just the other night, I went to a small gay club together with my gay friends. There were drag queen performances in between and the very first show was an impersonation of Lady Gaga. The drag queen lipsynched "Bad Romance" and noticed that she really took much effort in dressing up herself like Lady Gaga. Then there's another performance and it was a real woman dressed up and lipsynching Lady Gaga. I know that Lady Gaga is known to be a deviant. She's unique in her own way but when a woman impersonated her, it just became like a TH (trying hard) performance. I was wondering why and how did that happen? Is it because we are "levelling" ourselves to gays which we know are not being treated equally in this society? If only there is equality in this world, then maybe we'll not feel this way. This makes me wonder.

Polaroid PoGo

Polaroid PoGo looks like an interesting camera to me since I can print photos from it directly. How cool is that?!? ;) What's even cool about this is that it does not use any ink. The only consumable that you'll have to buy is the photo paper (2" x 3"). The catch here is that you cannot buy any photo paper. You need to get their ZINK Paper.

It'd be great to camwhore with Tom or with the girls using this camera.

Sunset

Beautiful sunsets

Lovely blue and orange hues

I just love sunsets

How Yoga Can Help Your Sex Life

There are many benefits of Yoga in our life and one of the benefits that will surely interest you guys (and girls) is its sexual benefits. By doing Yoga regularly, you may bring a different kind of energy while having sex. There are 2 levels wherein Yoga can help improve your sex life: mental and physical. Remember, whenever you are stressed and having fatigue, your libido levels go down. Thus, you will definitely turn down your partner because you're not in the right frame of mind. By doing Yoga, your mind will be cleared with all these unnecessary things going on inside your head and will also gear up your physical want to have sex. This is what keeps my mind balanced whenever I feel that I am not in the mood for sex. But, always remember, that everything should be done in moderation. Do not overindulge yourself with such pleasures as it will also destroy you in the future (or even the after life). By the way, Tandric Yoga or Kundalini Yoga is the one that is really focused on harnessing the sexual power. Here's a video below which can show you the basic yoga positions you can do with your partner for sexual virality.

Blogging Live in IBlog6!

This was actually my first time to attend IBlog. Thank God there's free wifi here so I can blog my experience here on the spot! The topic as of this moment is Photo Blogging and this is really interesting for me because I love photography! I used my new Canon S90 in taking the photo of the speaker, Juned Sonido then I realized that my tweet was on the video wall (because I used #Iblog6 in Twitter hehe). I really learned a lot with Mr. Sonido's presentation. He showed his cameras. His cameras are a combination of the old and new ones (DSLRs and point and shoot ones). He also has a super zoom lens (i.e. papparazzi lens). I got interested in his Ricoh point and shoot camera because it has a fixed focal length and it's aperture is f/1.9

Anyway, it's nice to be in this kind of arena wherein I get to learn more about blogging. I'm alone and don't know anyone at all. I left Tom at home, decided to have a time alone for myself. I've been with him everyday for the past week!

Cooking with Love

Many say that one of the things that can please your man is not just through sex but through his stomach. This is the reason why I strive myself to be like my grandma, who cooks very well. I still have yet a lot of things to learn but I know I'll get there. Whenever I see my grandma cook, I remember the book "Like Chocolate For Water" by the Mexican author Laura Esquivel. Because, like the lead character Tita, my grandma expresses how she feels whenever she cooks. And as like what Tita did, she used her kitchen skills to have Pedro's affection. I believe that by cooking good food, this will please my man. Sex isn't everything but knowing how to take good care of your man will definitely drive your man crazy.

My greatest inspiration to cook would be my boyfriend Tom who will be coming here soon from Canada. I am planning a special romantic dinner for him, of course candlelit and with romantic music playing in the background. I'll cook his favorite dish which is Pochero. I'll share you the ingredients of my grandma's Pochero below but I'll not write the measurements as this is a family recipe. ;)

Ingredients:

dried chickpeas
chicken
pork
2 chorizo sausages cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large onion, sliced
salt
whole black peppercorn
oil
10 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 ripe tomatoes
sweet potatoes (kamote)
1 Bok Choy cut across 2 inches thick
green onions

Lady Gay-Ga

"Di ako bakla, kla kla kla kla kla. Babae po ako". I am usually called babaeng bakla because of the way I speak. What can I do? Miss Friendship akey sa mga vaklers?

I remember when I first learned my very first gay lingo word which was dakota nota. I think I had a crush at someone at the office at that time and then they were talking in gay lingo which I cannot really understand. When I asked about the meaning of the easiest term that I could understand, which was dakota nota, they laughed and told me that the meaning is "you're nice". Then I used that term to a guy I had a little crush on and the guy asked me "do you want to touch it?". I was really surprised with the way he replied because I only meant to say that he's nice. I narrated this story to my gay friends and they were laughing so hard....

Hmm, it's only now I realized that since he understood it, therefore he's gay? Maybe! Haha.

I Thought That My Brain Got Stuck With Ideas, Thanks to Couch Surfing!

Being a freelance writer is not easy especially when you write different topics that are needed by your clients. Just a few days ago, I was experiencing the most common dilemma of a writer, having the writer's block.

What's writer's block?

According to Wikipedia, this is a condition associated with writing as a profession, in which the author loses the ability to produce new work.

There are different factors which affect the writer seem not to produce anything new as the deadline approaches. In my case, I guess it's because I was experiencing uneasiness due to my painful menstruation and pressure from my client.

Good thing is that my friend, Vanessa, was talking about couch surfing a week ago. It was something new to me thus I proposed to my client to write about this new and sensational topic since I was writing for her Travel Blog. I discussed on the pros and cons of doing this. I got to incorporate the things I learned from my very preachy OBGYN a few days ago. Thanks to my girl friend Vanessa for shedding some light about this! :)

So there, my temporary writer's block is solved and I assume that this is not the end of the rope. Freelance writing is allowing yourself to be exposed in different kinds of topics with no hesitations. All you have to do is be open minded and the ideas will be free flowing.

Inflicting Pain with Chick Flicks

I love watching chick flicks. I was pondering the other day why I am so fond of watching chick flicks or romantic comedies. Is it because I'm a chick? Well, I can't speak in behalf of all the ladies who just love see adorable and cute boys in chick flicks but I guess this is a way for us to imagine (and see) the ideal men that we really want to have and can never (ever) have in real life. These are what us hopeless romantics want. We all want romance; we want a guy to sweep us off our feet.

Just recently, I had a chick flick marathon alone and watched all my favorite movies such as Sleepless in Seattle, The Notebook, The Lake House and Never Been Kissed.

When I thought that I was having the time of my life falling in love again with those movies, I realized that it only made me think of Jeff again. (sigh) This is my first time that I'll be divulging this little secret of mine that I have been keeping inside. Ok, here goes. Jeff is or was my object of affection during Junior College (right before I met Tom). If you're going to ask me if he's an ex-boyfriend, hmmm NO. We used to date for quite some time then suddenly he dropped me like a hot potato. He never communicated to me after our last romantic date we had then. I never knew why he left me.

Years after our "break up", I met my wonderful boyfriend Tom. I thought I'm already over Jeff but there are times when all those good memories keep on recurring in my head. I still feel the pain that he had inflicted on me and I feel that I'm still in love with him. Our "relationship" then was short lived. I am was still hoping that probably someday, he'll come back.

Why do I do this to myself? I know I'm already with Tom but why am I still obsessing over Jeff? Whenever I watch those chick flicks, I wanted myself to think that the ideal, perfect men there is Tom but I imagine Jeff.

I got an LDR not an SLR

I have a boyfriend named Tom who lives in Canada. We were already in a relationship before he moved to Canada. He's been there for about 2 years now because he's an immigrant but we've been together (on and off) for the last 4 years. For 2 years, I have longed for his passionate kisses and the warmth of his embrace. How I wish he's just here so that whenever I need him, he can always come. For 2 years, we are already included in the couples who are into this so-called LDR (Long Distance Relationships).

There is a notion that long distance relationships are hard to maintain. I disagree on this because all it takes is that the couple should just have constant communication. Plain chat through YM is boring so, Tom and I Skype each other. As much as possible, we make it a point to make our skyping moments special. We have video dates wherein we have candlelight dinners and celebrate our monthsaries.

There are moments that we want to express our affection with each other more than the sweet nothings. We sometimes go crazy and have live cybersex. Tom gets turned on whenever I wear the pink-laced lingerie that he gave me for our last anniversary. When he sees that I am wearing that, it means that I am in the mood for some hot cyber-loving. I know that some people would perceive this as a taboo but this is one way that we can express our passionate love for each other. I was born and raised as a Catholic but I am open-minded.

So for those of you who are currently in this kind of relationship, don't lose hope. My boyfriend and I get along very well even though he's so far away. What's important is that both of you trust each other and keep the lines (and even internet lines) always open.

My New Baby: Canon S90

Tom is so sweet, he sent me a Canon S90 as a gift and shipped it from Canada! He knows I really love cameras and travelling. Because of this, I recently went to Carabao Island in Romblon. This is a very virgin island where commercialization does not exist yet. The sand is much more finer than Boracay. I immediately fell in love with its pristine waters and the very friendly people. How I wish Tom was here to witness this with me, most especially watching the beautiful sunset.

Anyway, the camera was super awesome! This is the newest point and shoot camera released by Canon. I have been raving this to Tom while we were having our usual conversations over the net. You know why I was raving about this? Well, here are some of the specs that I really like:

• 10 megapixels
• wide angle 3.8x optical zoom
• f/2.0 lens which is good for low light conditions
• maximum ISO setting of 3200

I'm really so happy that Tom bought me this camera. I hope that when he comes back here in Manila, we can use it and have our camwhoring moments with it.

Hello World!

Hello World!

I'm Charlize, a freelance writer who loves to travel, take photos, read books and hang out with my girlfriends, Pam and Vanessa, as well as my gayfriends. Some people say I am a fag hag because of I speak the gay lingo but what can I do? I used to work in mass media that's why nose ko talaga ang language nila. Oh divuhh??

Yoga is my thing. Like ko talaga ang magmala-Pilita Corales sa pagbanat back. I have a gym membership wherein all I do is just Yoga. I used to play tennis when I was young but I am more interested sa Yogi. Bet ko ata maging yogi. Not yogi bear ha?

By the way, I have a boyfriend who's currently based in Canada. His name is Tom. You'll probably read about him here so just get used to it. :)

Hmm, now, what to write? Well, you'll get to know me more as I write in this blog. This will be where I'll do my soul searching, reveal my secret desires and also my experiences.