First of summer

My summer has already begun and it is still February.

My first trip was to Mt. Gulugod Baboy in Anilao, Batangas. I went on a hike with four friends and two of their dogs. It has been my second time to climb that mountain but this time without “legit” camping gear and that made it more difficult because I was limited to a backpack that really took a toll on my back and it meant cutting down on what I could carry going up the mountain. However, it was still worth all the trouble in the end.

Our humble abode

Going on hikes is really such a wonderful experience. Not only does it limit a person’s definition of necessary but it also makes time seem meaningless. Imagine if there was no time at all? No matter what time of the day it was, it did not mean a thing because up there, there’s not much to look forward to except meals, card games, going up the peak or having a few shots of hard liquor.

What I like about hiking is how everything becomes so simple once I get to the top. It is really just the mountain and myself. After packing only what is necessary, on top they become essentials. Not to mention the struggle of having to use the outdoors as the bathroom.

The peak of Mt. Gulugod Baboy

Enjoying the view

The view of the spectacular Philippine sunset from the peak

The way going down – although greatly relieving considering the pull of gravity and a lighter load after consuming all the food we packed – evokes a certain kind of sadness because I know that once I get back to civilization, time does mean something again. Reality returns and I realize that it is all about time, that it should be spent doing something important, productive, meaningful or creative. When I’m up there, I feel like time cannot reach me. For the first time I actually feel more powerful than time itself.

I always keep my watch on when I go on hikes and I still do check the time but whenever I look at it, the numbers do not make sense to me. There is no denying that it makes me happy to come home where I have my own bed and bathroom but the sound of real quiet is not the same, it never will be. And the view of the night sky, which never fails to mesmerize, is what I look forward to the most. Lying on the peak gives me the perfect inclination to view the starry night as well as the sea that was below me.

But all the sadness and heartbreak I experience after going back down to the real world makes me look forward to the next mountain I will climb and even the stars that never fail to show up and try to make themselves visible to me regardless of whether I’m looking at them from my garden or from the edge of a mountain.

...Just because I can never get enough of sunsets

Keeps me guessing

It is funny that crush is the word used to describe the one person I admire so cautiously.

Crush is what happens when he and I meet and I realize that he is just like all the other guys I know (who aren’t crushes). As the Crush, he is still mysterious. He could be the bad boy or the well-rounded guy but this is just all in my head. The moment I get to know him a little – even just a little – makes a big difference. His voice ends up sounding higher than I had imagined or it turned out that he’s pretty cocky up close.

What happened there was expectation getting beaten by reality again. The figure of him that played out in my head was crushed by the real one and by doing so, the person I thought of who I admired even, became almost sort of nothing. It is as if I tricked myself into thinking that it would actually work out in my favor but it seems I never would have guessed it in the first place.

It seems wiser never to know my crushes but by the very term used in pertaining to someone I am paying closer attention to, it seems that he is ultimately going to end up as a crush because he will never be like the person produced by my own thoughts.

And this may be connected to why some people no longer feel the need to talk about how they feel about one another. There is no need for cheese bombs. If they talk about their love, it is likely that ideals will start to form. They are creating discourse about something abstract and unique to them but also different for each one of them. And even though it may be warm and touching to talk about what has been shared but talking about it won’t bring the moment back. It was only good in that moment at that time so instead of going back and talking about something lost in history, why not just make more that are going to end up lost in history again?

Like crushes who we find are better while they were still mysterious, sometimes relationships are better kept having no titles or labels.  The curiosity is worth another shot at making more moments that will be lost anyway, the important thing is what that memory means to me.

Legal Recreational Marijuana: Not So Far Out

Reblogged from TIME Ideas:

The drive to legalize marijuana has long been a fringe cause, associated with hard-core libertarians and college-age stoners. But it could go mainstream in a big way in this November’s election, when Washington could become the first state to legalize recreational pot use. If it does — or if voters in any of several other states do — this year could be a turning point in the nation’s treatment of marijuana.

Read more… 749 more words

I am the sun, you are the clouds

I am the sun. I’m aggressive, intense, and yet I am needed to survive. During the bitter cold, I am still able to bring warmth. I remain while the earth turns. I keep still otherwise, immense chaos. My rays can penetrate through you but how are you able to spread far enough and have a shadow so tall?

With me, things get done. I am with people when they are awake and sleep while they do. But I sleep with one eye open so that the other stars that are bigger and brighter than I will not show how simply I shine.

I am the sun who watches you move along, flowing. Sometimes, rolling. You are much needed to go on as well – for growth. A real quencher after having me for too long.

You are the clouds. Random and free. You go this way, that way, unless you choose to stay. You can be many different things because you are seen in so many ways.

Kids love including us in their drawings.

Despite your thunderous roars, I know, you are just as essential as all that there is. You know that despite my intensity I am wanted right behind you, all the time for hope.