Jalama Paradise

Culture shock... that's all I can say.. It's way too different from Hermosa and Santa Monica beach coz Jalama is isolated from the city. They reserved it's natural beauty.. seagulls flying.. scattered limestones, campers ground.. Nice..

When we got there, I asked for a map coz I don't want us get lost again. Yeah, we got lost on our way to the beach from skydiving site, but it's ok.. the scenic drive to the beach was great. Ollie reserved an area for camping so we didn't pay any entrance fee. I changed my outfit to beach wear at Mads' tent coz walking in jeans is really not comfortable. We walked, talked and of course took a lot of pictures..

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Ollie's mom called everyone for lunch and we had BBQ and adobong manok with kamatis. Kelly's boylets came too and she introduced everyone to us. They're nice.. it's good to see how Americans like Filipino foods.. they really like adobo. We played 1-2-3 pass after lunch and instead of putting powder on the loser's face, we used Kelly's eyeliner.. It's funny coz we have to think of crazy things to draw on ones face.

Archie, Eric and I left at 6ish and the rest of the group stayed for camping. I would really want to stay but I have a lot of commitments to finish. We did a lot of photo-op before leaving the beach.. it's really captivating. I wanna go back here.. http://www.jalamabeach.com/ I got home around 8ish and watched my skydiving video with Darwin. He was so proud of me.. hehehe Neither I cant believe I was able to do it...

What comes up.. must come down...

Last weekend, me and my college friends went up north to celebrate Ollie's birthday and to do the most adventurous experience I've ever had... SKYDIVING. Actually, all of us never tried it to before so we're all excited. I took Archie with me and he was accompanied by his friend, Eric. Since they're both coming from West LA, we didn't need to meet Ollie & Co at Tins' place. Also, the group that's coming from Tins' has to leave at 5am.. I'm still dreaming around that time.. hehe =P Anyways, on our way to Lompoc from Solvang, we got lost coz yahoo map sucks!! We followed the direction from yahoo map but we didn't see 'H St' that will lead us to the airport.. Anyways, we got there at 9ish and I met Tins and John on their way to the landing zone to meet Mads, Kelly and Tes after their jump. They're only 9 brave individuals who'll jump and we're the last group (since we're late).

We watched the 15minute video of tandem skydive that shows us what to expect and what to do in case an accident occurs. I had second thoughts of doing it after watching the video. Archie noticed that I'm so pale.. But what the heck, it's a once in a lifetime experience and so I told myself.. I can do it.. My instructor helped me setup my harness and he told me that he's gonna be my bestfriend for the next 30minutes..=P He showed me the "arch" position of jumping from a plane. He also explained that the acceleration of gravity is about 10 meters per second. That means if you were falling in a vacuum you'd reach 1,000mph within 9.5 seconds. But, of course, we're not in a vacuum. What makes skydiving possible is air resistance, which provides an equalizing force to check a body's acceleration. This limits a skydiver's "terminal velocity" to around 120 miles per hour when the diver is in the arched, belly-down position.

The last four words I heard from my instructor was: three-two-one-jump!

"Scared" doesn't accurately describe the feeling that precedes my first jump. It's closer to sheer terror. As the door in the side of the plane opened, I screamed coz I'm right beside the door of the plane and I'm the first jumper of the group. My heart beats so fast and I prayed really hard that I'll be safe. My mouth goes completely dry, I can't hear anything (even my scream) and my eardrum's like gonna pop up.

The 60 second free fall from 13,000 feet was awesome. My instructor told me that I'm doing good. I told him I can't breath and he said coz I'm nervous and I should just relax. So I did.. I kept waving to my cameraman but it's really hard to do the "arch" position so most of my shots are faced down =P

The seven to eight minute canopy ride from 5,000 feet was awesome too coz I get to see the panoramic view of the earth. It's very peaceful up there. We had a graceful landing.. I'm ALIVE!!! It's good to be back where I belong.

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I received a certificate signed by my instructor and the video of my jump. I chose Alive by POD and Elevation by U2 as my background music ;)

*I've been planning this event since last year (check 2004 To Do List). Thanks Ollie for oranizing it.

.. to be continued (JALAMA BEACH)

Work... work... work...

It's good to be preoccupied on weekends coz usually I just hang out at home and not do anything... It's a blessing to make money out of the things I like to do.. I never imagined that this would be such a sucess (sort of).. Three weeks have passed and the demand is still good. I hope it goes on without me getting into trouble. I'm supposed to go to the salon last Saturday but I wasn't able to coz I'm really busy. No regrets though coz I can do my thing anytime and I'm really not in need of it. I still feel pretty.. hehehe

"Strike while the iron is hot" right??

The downside: I dont have time to watch TV or even finish the DVDs I rented. But it's ok.. ;)

I was offered a part time job last weekend but I already made arrangements with my relatives that I'll visit them. So it didn't materialize. I think it's a blessing in disguise coz "maybe" that job is not for me.

Sunday: Went to Apple store in Northridge to get my iPod repaired. It got messed up when I did "scandisk" in Systems tools of my WinXP. The tech guy from Apple's "genius bar" told me not to trust the error message from Windows.. That's funny.. of course they're MAC. After troubleshooting what's wrong with my iPod, he told me that there's a problem reading the HDD and he needs to replace my iPod with a new one. Good thing I backed up all my mp3s to my PC.. While the tech guy is looking for the new iPod, the other guy beside me told me that it's a good practice to backup files. He was really worried when his iBook got messed up and he didn't make any backup.. He's telling me how scared he was coz he dont wanna lose those files coz those are all important.. but all his files where restored by the tech guy who's helping me too (like he's telling our tech guy is good)... Anyway's, I'm happy coz I got a new iPod. I asked if I can still get the engraving but they dont to do it there.. (sayang!)

More work... I did my laundry, run some errands, grocery... BUSY.. busy.. BUSY...

MY REWARD: BLT with cheese and egg A.K.A. The Greatest Sandwich (check out the special feature of the movie Spanglish for it's recipe). Thanks sweets for preparing it...

* I can't Prt Scr this movie clip, so I took a shot from my PC. It's the scene after Adam Sandler prepares the GREATEST sandwich, =P Looks yummy aight! It tastes good too!!!

Relaxing Weekend away from the City...

I visited my relatives in Bakersfield last Saturday. It's a good to get away from LA's smog, traffic and annoying siren for the meantime and have a relaxing weekend far far away. AJ picked me up at the bus station and we ate lunch at Chuy's Mesquite Broiler (pronounced Choo-wees) with Sernan. We had tacos and mesquite chicken and it tastes good. After lunch, I met my other cousin, Ate Mayet, to get my package from the Philippines.. I was so excited coz I'd finally get the my "habilins". It's in a small white box and mom listed all the things in it.. dyahe nga eh But anyway, it's all good.. we looked at the pictures in the box too, made comments on some and noticed changes with my siblings.. it's been 2 years since I havn't seen them.. I miss them so much..

Visita Iglesia


Dinner at Vivere (JC's graduation)




Went to Valley Plaza to shop, met some of AJ's friends, went to Albertson to buy dinner, discovered a new healthy drink, Arizona Green Tea, watched Ring 2 (bootleg) with AJ and his friends, can't sleep coz I keep on remembering Samara and her long hair... WHHhhhaaaa!!! I screamed so loud and I think I woke up the neighbors. We argued if the time will push forward or backward for Daylight time and AJ doesn't wanna listen to me.. So there, he was late at work.. for 2 hours... =P Sorry man.. You should always listen to me next time then...



Yummy Drink


I stayed at Chris' room (who is in Cuba right now as one of the reserves) to check my emails and blog hop.. I can't live without the internet.. Good thing he has wireless router setup and I was able to use my laptop. I did some collage too and I just love what I did.. You can check that out here...NYC Collage

Last Friday, I almost had an accident. The car overheated while I'm driving on the freeway.. I only noticed it when the speed slowed down at 405/101 Freeway junction and I see steam coming out from the hood.. I didn't realize that my temp is already at H (high).. After a few seconds, I see the engine malfunction flashing and hear weird things and it becomes louder and louder. I thought I'm gonna die and the car will explode... Man, I never had anything like that before. I didn't pull the car over instead I took Sherman Way and parked my car at the curb near the Lutheran church. I can't help but cry coz Im really scared.. scared to death.. I called Darwin and he was able to calm me down... He arrived after a few minutes and called a tow truck to bring the car to his mom's house.

I'm ok. The car is in good condition now. Everything's back to normal. Thank God I was safe.. Thank you Lord for guiding me.. I love you...

*Eternal rest grant unto Pope John Paul II, Oh Lord. And let Perpetual Light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.