Dear Vancouver,
You are utterly unfair. How dare you have beautiful beaches, after already laying claim to one of the most bewitching mountain views I’ve ever seen while standing in the middle of a city?!
That’s all.
Love, Ish.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I’m going to use the rest of this post now to absolutely gush all over Vancouver.
Continue reading “To Vancouver, A Letter”I haven’t seen anyone from my side of the family in over a year, and it was starting to show. Me throwing jealous looks as my husband jokes around with his siblings around the dinner table, me counting all the holidays I haven’t spent Filipino-style, me insisting to follow the lone Filipino food truck I’ve found around food festivals. Of the 10 years I’ve spent living abroad, I have never been homesick — that is, until now. Maybe it’s all those postpartum mommy hormones that are to blame, but I was now reaching new levels of brooding, and it wasn’t pretty.
Maybe that’s why I was desperately counting down to May 10, like I was gasping for air after holding my breath for so long. It was the day we were to fly to Toronto, for my then 6-month old baby, Tobias, to finally meet the Filipino side of the family for the first time. Continue reading “Baby Meets the Flip Side in Toronto”
It’s every flyer’s dreaded sight: that parade of babies through the priority boarding queue, threatening to crush any dream of peaceful sleep during the flight. I confess, I used to cringe whenever I would see a family with a baby settling within a 10-row radius from my seat.
Now, I find myself on the other side, the bringer of the ominous boarding infant. I braced myself long and hard, and obsessed with every detail to prepare ourselves for Tobias’ first long-haul flight. I even dressed him up in an adorable tiger onesie, to make it at least a bit impossible to stay angry even if he makes a scene. Continue reading “Lessons Learned From Our Baby’s First Long-Haul Flight”
Ever since I stumbled on the Holstee Manifesto, it has been my beacon for when I’m lost, or for when I lose sight of my real dreams. What’s so striking about it is that it speaks of things that you already know true, but also things which you just need help being reminded of every now and then.
If you want to learn more about the story behind the Holstee Manifesto, or if you want to download your own Holstee wallpaper (like the one below), you can check out their site at www.holstee.com.
Song: Ultima Version by Jenifer Avila
I must confess: for each photo you see posted in my web albums, there’s around 10 more photos you’ve been spared from seeing. EVER. The blurred ones, those with colors beyond repair, the countless accidental shots of my thumb, the plain ‘why-the-heck-did-I-take-this-one?!’ photos — yes, all of those were zapped into the virtual limbo of my laptop’s hard disk, erased ala-‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’.
The first photo I ever take on my trips rarely make it to the cut. Usually, it’s a test shot of my bag, or of people hanging around the airport’s boarding gates. Or, more often than not, of giddy travel companions who simply can’t wait to land before taking the first shot. Continue reading “That First Photo”
I’m known to have bouts of wanting to wander aimlessly anywhere, and more often than not, these are the times when I run into street performers. I adore these chances, as they make me feel that I was on the right place at the right time. At one time, I may think I’m lost, but I may be actually meant to bump into something special.
Here’s a montage of some of the fascinating acts I chanced upon in 2011. Yey to brave hearts and creative minds.
From the land of hockey, poutine and the Mighty Falls that lure in honeymooners and daredevils everywhere. You’ve seen the photos and been flooded with the write-ups — you should have known that the video was coming. =P It was nice to relive the memories & experiences through the clips, especially the ones with family and friends with whom I haven’t shared a road trip with for ages. Hope you enjoy them as well!
And oh, if you have no idea of what photos and write-ups I was talking about, you can check out my endless blabbering and raving about Toronto over here.
Fall 2011
Toronto, Canada
Song: Jet Lag by Simple Plan ft. Marie-Mai
Fenway Park’s a fun place to visit even if you know zilch about baseball (I sashayed in wearing a Miami Heat jersey — wrong sport, for crying out loud!). One thing I discovered was that Boston was home to probably the most loyal fan base of the sport. Locals speak of their home team (and ballpark!) with much pride. Probably the only thing that can match their worship of the Red Sox is their fervent hate of the Yankees. Continue reading “Having a Field Day in Boston”
Cambridge, my personal land of could-have-been’s. If you want a sure way to torture me to no end, riddle me with endless what-ifs — what if I pursued the academe? What if I gunned for a scholarship to MIT? What if instead of selling out to the lure of a corporate career, I was actually meant to happily slave away with like-hearted geeks working on the next big thing for my thesis? Argh, it’s driving me crazy just to write this post.
A true masochist, I whisked myself off to Boston. Rina, a friend who recently moved to this college town to pursue her MBA, kindly let me crash her place, as I subject myself to anguish with tours of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Continue reading “College Flings and Second Chances”
This is one lady that does not need an introduction. Imposing, alluring, heart-stirring, the Statue of Liberty is one of those landmarks that make you say, ‘Yes, Dorothy, you’ve arrived.’ Continue reading “Thoughts on Liberty”
My sister kidded that maybe I should consider being a journalist instead, since I keep running into the Occupy movements as I move around. We chanced upon Occupy Toronto on a drive downtown, and we literally walked into an Occupy protest march while in Montreal.
The one campsite that I did deliberately flock to was the mother of the movement — the Occupy Wall Street base in Zuccoti Park. I had to see it for myself. Perhaps more than anything, there was this intense desire to witness why these men and women, who had the sheer luck to be born in an affluent nation, have grown so discontent that they had to take to the streets. Shameful it might be to admit, but having grown up in a third world country that has more or less given up in expecting any sort of productivity from its own government, I guess I sort of felt smug. I was genuinely puzzled, and I had this need to understand how protestors on this side of the world felt and what they had to say. Continue reading “Crossing Paths with Occupy Wall Street”
Ever since I discovered that my feet had a huge propensity for abuse, I’ve loved loved LOVED wandering afoot. But then again, there are some things that *might* just look better when gazed upon from above.
.: ishcapades 