Without having to go to the malls, I know that the games shops all over UAE have gone crazy again. With thousands of gamers waiting for their turn to buy Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, I doubt if the shops can cater to all the fans waiting patiently outside their respective shops. I was surprised that the part 2 have more number of fans all around the world. I can see that these people are particularly after the campaign and the story. Well, the multiplayer gameplay comes after of course.

Back at the old times when the original Starcraft 1 and its expansion Broodwars was still a big hit in almost all internet cafes in Davao City, I would always play with 2 of my friends against random team of customers. Zerg was my favorite race, next to it was the Protoss. It all depends actually with what our rival would choose as their race. And my all time favorite map was Big Game Hunters.

I can’t wait to get my hands on this game. But I’m rather more excited with the release of Diablo III. Which will be sometime next year. Hope it’ll be sooner than I expect.

After a few months of staying away from blogging, I must say I missed it a lot! Now everything is new to me again. I can’t even believe that I am still using 2.9.2 version of wordpress. It’s a good thing though, because it personally slaps my face on how long I was gone.

A lot of things happened in those days. I was even able to join an IT firm and from there I realized my experience in IT world is nothing compared to the experience I got from there. But, everything has its price. I decided to leave the firm when I started to realize that the working schedule is not worth it. Anyway, after a long pressing decision making I finally decided to take the job my sister helped me to get in.

At least it gives me more time to blog. Now, it’s about time to rediscover blogging once more. LOL

November 17, 2009. That’s few weeks after I arrived here in Dubai, UAE. And for some hundreds of personal reasons, I thought I have lost the passion to write. There were also several problems that took a bit of time to settle. So I apologize for not really attending to my blog these past few months. When you are in some place and you have to re-adjust yourself it’s not too easy to jump back on the old habits not to mention the loss of interest because of the challenges that keeps coming time to time. So much for venting out. Let me tell you about my recent sentiments about Dubai.

Dubai have drastically changed from the last time I was here. A lot of things including unemployment rate, the world crisis that almost buried Dubai to the grounds, the massive downfall of the real estate business which was also one of Dubai’s main source of economy, and the worst part; the constant changing of rules.

Way back around 10 years ago, Dubai would pride itself as hope for those who struggle in life. There were countless of success stories everywhere. Those who can’t find their luck in finding their career back in the Philippines would easily make their happily ever after. People could keep trying their luck even if it takes for them to do the troublesome visa run after 2 months and a month of stay as an extension for the visit visa ; be it in Kish Island, Oman or Queshem.

Those happy days are over. They only allow you to stay for a month and another month for an extension, then you’ll have to leave the country for at least a month before you can actually come back for another visit status. Those who recently arrived in the country found themselves with no choice but to quickly grab any offer to gain their employment/residential statuses.

Another issue I’ve also found out was about the real estate business. I came from a real estate company and worked for 2 wonderful years with them as a web designer and a property consultant as well. The property prices have shockingly dropped to 30%-50% from their original prices. And I’ve heard from one of my previous employers that those people who bought properties from before suffered a massive loss. Imagine my client before who bought a property in the Discovery Gardens near Ibn Batutta Mall for a selling price of around AED 1.2M and just a few months after the property value have dropped down to as much as AED 500,000. Yes, he’s paying a half more from what the price was supposed to be now.

The worst part doesn’t stop there. Before, people who bought properties were entitled to a residential visa making them eligible for sponsoring their families to stay in Dubai. As the real estate law have also changed, effective immediately, those who haven’t gotten their residential visas had lost the priviledge just like that and it majorly affected those who are still paying their plans or waiting for the hand over of the property.

I’m not really trying to discourage anyone from trying their luck. I just want people to think things all over again before ending up with big mistakes and decisions. And I’m also basing my story from the countless of number of Filipinos I encounter with their own sad stories particularly the ones I met in Kish Islan, Iran. To all the Filipinos who struggle real hard to support their families, my big salutes to you and wishing you all the best and good luck as you continue your journey. You’re the real heroes!

Since day one of Modern Warfare 2 release, the gaming market is still sizzling hot with fans who wanted to grab a copy of this awesome first person shooting game who actually sold 4.7 Million Copies in its first day of release. This is probably the most number of sold copies in a day. As well all know, the game is the sequel to the original Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare story.

I only find one bad part about Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2…is that until now I still don’t have a copy of it. And worst of all, my friend David won’t stop tormenting me about his prestige copy of Modern Warfare 2.

While I’m still in my not-so-blogging-mood, for some reason I keep on watching war movies. Female soldiers usually catches my attention and it’s so amazing when you see them in action. GI Jane is sometimes what they call them. Imagine ladies who can disassemble and assemble a high calibre rifle in a matter of seconds, fearlessly plant high explosive bombs, work in a command centre or even join the ranks of dangerous missions. These ladies makes me feel less about myself more. Being snappy and all while I’m a whimp who can even jog half a mile. Or ask my wife, I can’t even walk a quarter mile. LOL.

Today’s story is about crowned Ms. England who also turned out to be a frontline in Afghanistan war. A 22-year old british soldier and a beauty pageant, Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge. Pretty amazing huh? Why not check out after the huge jump and let’s get explosive!

Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge, a British Army soldier and a part-time model who also made it to Miss England. She was dubbed as a “Combat Barbie” because, well obviously of how she looks. Her nickname was a result of her showing up for boot camp dressed head to toe in pink and carrying pink suitcases. Katrina Hodge is 22-years-old and is in the Royal Anglian Regiment. She is currently based at Frimley Park Hospital in Camberley. She is a military clerk with The Adjutant General’s Corps.

Ms. Hodge says she hopes the exposure she is getting through the Miss England pageant will show others that you don’t have to be ‘butch’ to join the Army and will encourage other women to join.  But there’s a lot more to her than her than what the image of ‘Barbie’ might conjure up in someone’s mind. She apparently is quite capable of holding her own in the rough world of rough men in combat.

She was deployed to Basra, Iraq in 2005 when she was just 18-years-old. Regardless of her nickname, no one under estimates her courage and skills following an incident in which she was able to grab two (YES, TWO!) rifles from an insurgent who was holding herself and other members of her regiment at gunpoint. She received a commendation for her bravery.

It’s not just all about the action, imagine a young lady in her early age enduring all the rough and tough trainings in the world of combat. Now tell me, with beautiful soldiers like her, who needs a bodyguard? STEP ASIDE PERVS! LOL

Few weeks ago, I posted my advanced announcement regarding the fight’s streaming. There was a misunderstanding between me and my streaming provider regarding the bandwidth issue and credits. And there are couple more of reasons they came up with and I didn’t really want to hear everything.

What about the Boxing Match? Oh yes, I didn’t forget it. LOL. Check it out after the big jump.

Here are the streamings I have found so far. If none of them are working, it means it’s currently bombarded with viewers so just be patient. Have fun guys!

STREAMING ONE
STREAMING TWO
STREAMING TWO

All in a sudden, I decided to leave our house as early as 10am in Panabo City after my dad told me it would be a risk and a waste of time waiting for a tricycle to pass by our place because as early as 2am, it would be a rare chance for me to get a ride going to the highway. And even if I am conviced that walking would be the best idea, the problem is buses who takes the route passing by the airport doesn’t pass by that often either. So after an optionless situation, I immediately left. I arrived in the Airport only to find out that they’re closed until 4am. I even insisted the guard to just stay inside the airport premises or even near the guard house but the ever loyal guard would really feel no pity at all. So called a few of my friends hoping that I could at least find some company while I kill time, but there was no one who would answer my call.

One of my best friend, Raissa, suggested that McDonald’s Damosa is the nearest place that I could stay and kill time. (Bes Raissa, thanks for the advice. Sorry for pestering you while you were having fun in never never land.) So, instead of waiting outside the gate of the airport with bunch of taxis, I decided to go to Damosa.

In my previous article A Vampire’s Shakey Tale Before Taking Off I shared my soothing experience with Shakeys Pizza of Domestic Road, Pasay City. This time, I’m going to share my experience with McDonald’s Damosa. I actually arrived at McDonald’s Damosa around 11pm. In the same manner as I did before, I ordered a cup of coffee and shamelessly asked if I could stay until 4am since my flight is at 6:55am and the airport opens at 4am. The bad part was, there was no electricity socket anywhere. So after eating a twister fries and drinking a cup of coffee, I left the restaurant in the hope of finding a place where I can get hooked in the internet and at the same time plug my laptop to charge my battery.

I looked like battered husband sent out by my wife as I sat outside a closed bakeshop and a bar. Man, people rarely pass by and I was so sleepy. I walked a bit in the hope of finding a place where I can crash in for awhile. But I still ended up going back to McDonald’s and ordered my 3rd cup of coffee.  Stubborn by nature, I asked the same question if I could stay in the restaurant til 4am. I sat for awhile in one of the corners while I was talking to my wife through Sun IM in my cellphone. Few moments later, one of the managers named, Mr. John Monton, approached me and told me I could refill my coffee at anytime.

For awhile I thought I was just hearing things due to dizzyness. Even if I was a caffeine lover by heart, I kept my cool and controlled it for awhile. Just a few more moments later, one of the crew was told to tell me that THEY COULD plug my laptop since I am somewhere near the counter. Since my cup was running out of coffee, I decided to approach Mr. John for another dose of coffee. We had a bit of a chitchat regarding their newly established branch and a bit more about success stories with McDonald’s. From there I’ve finally realized what would kill my time, writing a blog about their branch and the friendliness of their crews.

With Mr. John Monton’s impressive attitude towards treating customers, I could really stop wondering why they have regular customers. You could really see that his outmost concern is not just all about sales. He also takes care of his customers and immediately responds to their needs with no questions asked. Along with Dale Odulio of Shakeys Domestic Road Pasay, personally, they should be the best examples of quality customer service and leadership. Being a manager doesn’t only mean control over the store branch or some sort like that. A manager should be the best example among their team. The example of leadership, hardwork and dedication.

To Mr. John Monton of McDonald’s Damosa Branch: Sir, keep up the good work. And thank you for keeping me safe until the time I had to leave for my flight. A salute to you and your friendly crew members. I’m looking forward to see you and your bright future in your career.

Here in Philippines, I’ve already tried all the three popular airlines such as PAL, Cebu Pacific, and Air Philippines. I’ve had bad experiences on all three of the airlines I mentioned. PAL  for their very expensive airfares. Cebu Pacific for their numerous delayed flights and Air Philippines for their very very noisy aircrafts. It was one day when my mom told me about a new airline offering extremely low rates. I first thought it was just a scam or there’s a big catch behind it. But not until I have tried it myself just a few hours ago. Let me share my piece of Pros and Cons about the new airline, ZEST AIR who is also owned by a company who produces the very popular fruit drink, Zest-O.

PROS

• Cheap Airfares
• Less Delays on Flights
• Most of the Planes are Brand New
• Friendly Crews
• Excellent Maintenance on Aircrafts

CONS

• No Free Meal or Snack Onboard
• Only 7 Aircrafts Available
• Flights are usually starting around 4AM

Overall, I am satisfied with their service. Considering their low rates and promos, I could really say it’s all worth it.

If you guys want to know more about the airline, check it out HERE.

In a few hours I’ll be off to my hometown. I was dropped off here in the airport 9 hours before my flight. Excited? No. Not really. Why? First, around 5pm we picked up my sister who just arrived from Dubai and sent her to the domestic airport. My flight is actually on September 22 4:20AM. It would be totally tiring to go back home and travel again to the airport so I decided to stay here at the airport instead rather than missing my flight because of my don’t-wake-me-up habit. For a couple of hours, my eyes was so helpless that it was too lucky to see arriving hotties either from Boracay or Puerto Galera. There were countless of them. Enough with the imagination and let’s get on to what really happened.

After fighting with extreme hot humid outside the airport, I decided to go out and stay somewhere I can at least forget time and hopefully be able to blog about something. While I was walking outside, I saw Shakeys with a big WIFI ZONE poster outside. I didn’t think twice, I immediately rushed in. I ordered a bottomless coke to keep me up all night and shamelessly asked the manager if I could stay only until 2pm. It wasn’t a big deal for them actually but the saddest thing is they’re closing at 12 midnight because they have to repaint the ceiling. Since I don’t have any option, I could at least rest easy and kill time for at least 4 hours.

It was around 11 pm when the manager approached me and said “Sir, since you’re a passenger waiting for your flight, you can stay here even after we are closed. No big deal.” Wow! I was flattered by his generosity. As a shameless human being, I couldn’t say no to it. I was even assisted in moving my things to a more comfortable couch. And right now I’m still here, sitting my ass while the service crew are serving me like a king. OMGWTFBBQ! Must be a very lucky day.

If you guys want to have a very good service, with polite attendants and managers, come to Shakeys Pizza fronting Terminal 1 Domestic Airport. It’s just beside Jollibee. Look for Mr. Dale Odulio. He’s a very nice and polite manager. Probably the best manager I’ve seen. He treats his crews like his own brothers and sisters. To top all of that, he makes sure all the customers are well served and happy. A plain example to all restaurants and other establishments.

To all the crew of Shakeys Pizza in Terminal 1 Domestic Airport, I all salute you for your excellent service. I won’t have a second thought of coming back pretty soon. Kudos to you Mr. Dale!

Anyway I’m about to leave in a few minutes. I’ll see you guys time to time.

It’s not a secret to anyone that I was raised and grew up in Mindanao. But that didn’t mean I had all the chance in the world to go anywhere I want since I’m not really fund of traveling before. I always thought of doing mountain climbing, hiking, trekking and a lot more outdoor adventures. I missed doing these adventures and I can only thought of doing them in my dreams or at least when an opportunity knocks once more. Anyway, I’m going to share you my piece of experience that happened last October 2002. Quite awhile now, isn’t it?

When I visited my relatives in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat, I immediately thought of dropping by to Marbel, South Cotabato to see a good friend, Fritz. He later asked me to check out Lake Sebu, a lake located in the Municipality of Lake Sebu, South Cotabato. So it didn’t take too long til I packed up my stuffs and prepared ourselves for an exciting nature trip. We tagged along his good friend, Vladimir with us and took an hour and a half  jeepney ride from Marbel to Surallah, South Cotabato. We arrived around 3pm and since we don’t know the way going to Lake Sebu from there, we asked the locals how to get there. And the adventure started right there.

A local told us to take another jeepney ride going to Lake Sebu town proper and another told us to take a motorcycle ride. Quite confusing at that time but we took the best option, riding the jeepney. And to add more fun to it, we insisted to ride on the baggage rack so we can see everything on our way. Man, it was like another hour of travel but I’d say inspite of all the dust that powdered us all over, it was all worth it. And when we arrived on the town proper, the next thing we need to know was on how to reach the lake itself. A few townmen told us to take the motorcycle going there, but since it’s getting dark no one was willing to take us there. Not to mention it rained heavily the day before we arrived so the road is still wet and muddy at that time. No one would like to take the risk. It’s not like we could just check in to a cheap hotel for the night and move our asses the following day. So, we stopped over a mini store and bought ourselves bottles of water. While we were resting, a guy approached us and told us he can take us to the lake resort but for an additional price of course. Well, we rather wanted to pay more than stay in a very quiet and creepy place.

At that time, you couldn’t see any houses in between Surallah to Lake Sebu town proper and from the town til the lake resort. In short, it’s a really dark road going up to the lake. Yes, up. After the agreement, the guy went to get his motorcycle. He warned us to take out our shoes and sandals. So from there, I already had an idea that it’s gonna go rough. After 30 minutes of travel, we were already slowing down because the road starts getting slippery. There was mud everywhere and not to mention, it was showering at that time. The only light we had that time was the headlight of the motorcycle. I asked the driver “How long until we’ll get to the resort?” and he answered “around 20 more minutes…if we’re on a fast pace”. Just right after I asked the question, the bike started dancing in the mud. The guy said, he cannot take us any further because the mud is too deep for the bike to get through. He even instructed us that the resort is just a few minutes away. Come on! With all the mud and the rainshower, I didn’t really believe it was as easy a he said. What option did we have? So we started walking. As the guy was moving away from us, it started to get darker and darker so I pulled out my flashlight.

While we were walking, we were both pretending that we’re not scared. So we were telling stories and cracked some jokes. In truth, at that time I was already beginning to remember those creepy stuffs from horror movies and even from pc games like Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil. I was even beginning to imagine, what if some werewolves or vampires or whatever monstrosities comes out, I’d be so helpless. They wouldn’t really enjoy fresh meat from me since I was so thin back then and funny but I have thought of pushing Fritz to be their supper. LOL. Anyway, so much for my horror nonsense.  After around forty minutes of walking we could already see the resort from where were standing. The sky was so mad that it poured heavy rain…as if surviving that dark and creepy road hurted him. In a short while, with all the mud on our bare foot and after getting soaked in the rain, we finally arrived at the resort.

The attendant immediately gave us set of towels, soaps, shampoos and etc. As if this was not the first thing it happened on their resort, or should I say they were amazingly prepared. So after getting all cleaned up, the three of us immediately took a room and went to the cafeteria for dinner. Man, I’d say after the rough travel we had all night, the food was worth the wait. Since I felt like I was getting sick after that rain, I ordered Lomi so I could sip some hot soup while enjoying the noodles. After the dinner we decided to relax a bit, so we played cards and took some beer to warm us up for the night. That night, aside from our interest to see the lake, the receptionist got us curious after telling stories of waterfalls all over the area. We all looked at each other and it’s as if we have the common thought of asking “where is this place? how do we get there?” After getting all the instructions and tips, we immediately planned leaving early in the morning.

The next day, we started hitting the road. And as instructed by the receptionist, we dropped by in a nearby village to look for someone who could guide us to the waterfalls. A guy volunteered to give us company for a price of course. At first I was so cautious because this guy had a gun with him. But later on I slowly ignored him since I was more focused in reaching our goal. After around 30 minutes of our walk, I couldn’t help but ask why he was carrying a gun with him. He told us that since the waterfalls is not yet that known to people, it is believed to be inhabited by few NPAs and it’s best to protect ourselves from those. A bit scary but that didn’t stop us from our goal. We stopped for awhile to drink, change our wet clothes soaked in our own sweat and took a bit of rest. When the guy told us we’re around half an hour more to our destination, we immediately stood up and kept moving. I can’t deny the fact that I’m already dead tired and I’m about to pass out soon. I ran out of bottled water and started to ask for another stop over when I started to hear crashing sound of water. From a useless human being, I started to gain back my spirit and kept walking. We started to pick up pace since we’re actually moving down to the river.

When we all reached the river, everyone was shocked while looking at a distance. The very sight of the waterfalls made us feel as if we were there on the very day the earth was created by God. Our presence on that place made us think, “why in the world this one was never told before?” No resorts, no stores, no entrance fees and no charges. Everything was surrounded by the beauty of nature I only see in the books or tv.

As I was watching the waterfalls, the guide stood before me and said “You should know there are 3 more waterfalls around here. You haven’t seen anything yet. I can only guide you until the next and the best one. Rest of the falls are very risky.” After spending a few minutes taking crazy pictures of us, we prepared for another walk. We didn’t care about how far more we have to walk to see the next one. To kill boredom and fatigue, we started talking crazy fantasies relating to our location. Like, I was making an imaginary “what if” there were elves all around us and such.

We didn’t actually notice time anymore. Everyone was so excited. It didn’t take much time until we started hearing another crashing sound of water. After the long walk, walking uphill and taking a long turn on the road, the very first sight that welcomed us was the magnificent scene of the second and the steepest waterfalls in the region.

I couldn’t help it but smile. The fact that I am somewhere I can only be in my dreams. The place is naturally cold. You won’t complain about the scorching heat of the sun because the coolness of the place beats the heat. While we were there, we brought out our food and enjoyed our lunch within the realm of Mother Nature. At that time, I also didn’t care about the horror we had last night while walking in the deep mud, in fact I’ve forgotten about it already. After eating lunch we all decided to get wet and feel the cold water coming from the falls.

For some reason, the guide enjoyed our company. It’s not even about the money we paid him for. He plainly likes it when we crack some jokes and some funny stories. So as bonus, he invited us to a spring where we can enjoy fresh water. It was just around 10 minutes when we reached the spring.

Then it was around 2pm when we called it a day and walked our way back to the resort. It was a very tiring day for us after having to walk all day in different kinds of terrains. We reached the resort at around 4pm and while we were craving for food, another beautiful view seemed to be waiting for us at that day.  The very lake of Lake Sebu. We took a table so we could take our dinner and ordered some fried tilapia and sweet and sour again. We were all surprised when we saw them catch live fish in their tilapia farm from the lake itself. Fresh from the lake then to the kitchen I’d say. Their food was very tasty and cheap too!  Probably the cheapest and the tastiest food I’ve ever had in my travels. Imagine yourself dining in the premises of the lake.

Then the following day we all went back home to meet our friends in the city. We’re happy we all lived to tell the tale. I just wonder what Lake Sebu looks like now. I do hope they have electricity and they’re visited by more tourists now.

Hope you guys enjoyed my little story. *winks*