It's dang hot here mang.

I have so many lil stories to tell but I really don't have the time to tal(this letter don't wor(dammit)) about it right now. But here are the top 10 things that came to my mind in the 2 minutes I had to write this: (will elaborate when I get bac(dammit))
1) My stay here definitely isn't long enough
2) A dollar goes a long long way
3) I hate planes
4) It sucs to have sprained my anle right before coming here...
5) I hate mosquitos, or "lamoc" he he he
6) My lola is an awesome woman
7) I love my family, too bad I didn't really get to meet them til now
8) A/C is a luxury I will never tae for granted
9) It's cool to have friends out here, but sucs that I don't have much time to see them and hang
10) Can't wait to go bac home!!!

I miss everyone bac home...and for the issue(I'm trying to avoid words using the 11th letter of the alphabet) of saving some people from vomitdom, I especially miss u no who... =p Happy GOBBLE GOBBLE DAY EVERYONE! SEE YOU SOON!

-ME

I am an incomplete cycle...

So since my last entry, I have gone to Vegas and sprained my ankle, what a combo, huh?
Vegas was the biznomb. We went there for Cic's and Belle's b-days. I did okay there gambling wise, which is a true rarity for me, becuase I'm usually in the red after a vegas trip. I had a blast. But had I not done so well out there, I still would've had a great time in Sin City, as I always do. Went with the beebs, Chris, Belle, Lou, Ryan, Joesan, Tommy, Joe, Jon Jon and Dana. Good times man...good times... Whether it was getting there in the wee wee hours and staying up until past breakfast time...sleeping in and doing it all over again, averaging less than 4 hrs of sleep per night and trying to catch up on it later, Club Drama(oh so fun), drinkin all night, eating, or gamblin gamblin gamblin, we were just having the grandest of times. Probably the thing I enjoy the most when we're all hangin out for the weekend are the laughs we all share. I love just hangin out w/ everyone, tellin jokes, playing games, and just making fun of each other. So it's not where you go, it's who you go with. And I must say, this past weekend, we were in good company...most of the time, he he he...just kidding. All drama aside(which is laughable, now looking in hindsight), it was an awesome weekend!!! WOOHOO!

Oh yeah, the ankle...
So I was reluctant to go play bball on Monday night this week, cuz I was a little tired. But I decided to go play anyway. Word to the wise...ALWAYS stick with your first instinct. I ended up spraining my freakin ankle that night! I didn't even get to play in my playoff game the next day! After a visit to the doc and a few x-rays, the prognosis is a moderate to severe sprain. I am now on crutches and will be out of action for possibly a month or even more. I'm praying to the healing Gods as we speak! So please, feel free to add your own prayers, I could always use them, he he he. So yes, I will be in the Philippines, gimpin it, but at least I can get around. Chris did it w/ a broken leg, I better be able to do it w/ a sprained ankle. I've forgotten the difficulties of everyday life when one can't walk. Getting up stairs, getting in the shower, showering, getting dressed, going to the bathroom at work, getting around my room, even sleeping. All are affected. Man, I wish it weren't so, but alas, it is. Argh man, argh...

Isn't it weird how some people just irritate you? No matter what they do? I mean, it kinda sucks, but that's reality... No story to follow up with that one, it just popped into my head.

T-minus...
So in a little over 24 hours, I will be en route to my parents(and mine? I don't really know if I can call it that) homeland. That's right, the P to the H to the ILIPPINES. I am both nervous and excited for this trip. I haven't been back there in over 20 years, and a lot has changed since then over there, but most of all, I've changed a lot. Back when I was young and in the philippines, I could still speak ilocano and tagalog a little bit, far more than I can now. I'm scared that my family will look down on me for not being able to speak. And I just hope they don't blame it on mom and pop...they did what they thought was best for me during that time and this is the end result of that. Hopefully, it doesn't go down that way and being immersed in the heart of the country will re-teach me the language I once spoke. I'm excited to see my family...family I've only e-mailed with, talked on the phone to, and seen pictures of. But mostly, I'm excited for mom and pop...pop more than mom because mom went a while back and well, this is just their big reunion w/ all their loved ones. You could almost say, I'm there partly as an observer. Got the camera all ready... I can't believe the flight is so long though...16 hours...KRIKEY! I'm totally dreading it already...gotta get some more books and stay awake all day so I'll just sleep on the whole flight, he he he.

Life can get pretty tough sometimes. Recently, I've learned of several situations various people I am associated with are going through. Maybe if this were a completely private journal(which I still keep but haven't written in for over 2 years now, and am too lazy to, he he he), then maybe I could be a little less ambiguous. But for privacy's sake of all parties involved, I shall remain anonymous in reference. Hard times man, and each, in its own respect is quite difficult and the situation is being dealt with. I can't believe what some people have to experience in life sometimes. It still kills me though that I can't really do anything to help any of these situations. And sometimes, I just can't help but feel anger and frustration and empathy for them. There are so many things we have no control with in life, and here we are, trying to struggle against the tide. Oh, if only we could know NOW why things happen. Alas, we must wait...but eventually, we do find out. Keep on keepin on...

"In care, there is no excess."

I am an unpredictable trajectory...

Man, I'm gettin sleepy...what better way to keep busy than to blog, he he he.
It's birthday extravaganza week man...so Happy post birfdays to Arleen and Roselle(Nov 8), to Cic(Nov 9), and to Iya..today. Man, that's a lot of birfdays. Anyway, we went to Crabpot for Cic's b-day dinner last night. Well, THEY went, and I followed after my playoff game. Good food there, haven't been there in a long time. And of course we had good company, as we always do when in the midst of friends. I rode w/ Rob after the game and she came w/ the roomie and roomie's bf, and we got stuck w/o a ride back home. So Iya gratiously dropped us off, and the ride home was quite entertaining. Thanks Iya and Anna for the amusement, ha ha ha. So I hope you had a good b-day beebs and Vegas, here we come!

I'm finally getting around to taking care of myself, healthwise. I've started to eat a little better, been exercising(basketball, but I wanna get back into the gym and running routine as well), and I have an eye appt on friday and a dental appt on wednesday next week. All before I head out to the PI...man, it's been pretty busy...but at least I'm gettin on top of the ball.

I read an interesting passage from this book I'm recently read, Xenocide. about people and maturity. It was saying that we are all children and even when we think we're adults and when we are supposed to be at the age when we are "responsible," we are actually just children who learned vocabulary and we just use complicated words to make ourselves sound more mature. I'm guilty of this, I always try to use sophisticated words to make myself seem intelligent...when in all actuality, I'm just a simple mind trying to make a simple expression. I guess I always want to sound smarter and more mature than I really am. Now I'm not saying that other people who utilize extensive vocabulary are not mature, nor are they simple-minded. I know a lot of people who really are intelligent and who are quite mature, and because of this gift they have for words, they can express it so artistically. It's pretty impressive. I don't really know where I'm going with this, nowhere in particular to be honest. It just popped into my head. I guess it just seems to be that we often toe the line, sometimes being very mature and speaking out ideas that move and inspire those we are in contact with..and at other times, we can be so incredibly naive and childish and make situations worse by convoluting and complicating things with words. There's a lot of truth in the saying that if you have nothing good to say, then don't say anything at all.

A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can finish tying its shoes."
-Mark Twain

I am an eye wide open...

Freakin Dry-bear...
My gosh, I have yet to describe the driver we have on this trip. Totally laid back and cool dude. But O - M - G, he is the worst driver ever!!! And not that he drives so bad he makes me sick because he drives too slow. BUT DUDE, he doesn't pay attention to his driving. He runs all the reds at the traffic circles, misses turns, and slows down at EVERY intersection. Even if the light is freakin GREEN!!!! I now know what my sister feels when she used to say people were driving so slow her knees were getting weak. But this extends beyond that, becuase he is driving like 20-25mph on a 35 mph street! It's ridiculous man, people are always honking at us and cutting us off and all that, but he doesn't even seem to notice! I mean, there's such a thing as an extra cautious driver, but this is definitely not it. Earlier, he parallel parked the car on the OPPOSITE side of the street!!!! While we were in there and I was pissing in my pants, a cop even drove up next to us and said, "Hey, you can't park there." And he replies, "I know, we're about to move.." I'm hoping that it's only in this area cuz the roads are all crazy and stuff, but he seems to be just looking around all the time...and I don't even know what he's looking at...oh great, ANOTHER car just honked at us cuz we were driving too slow. And NOW, he just ran another red light. The other guy and I just told him it was a red light and he just chuckled and said, "Really? I thought it was a stop sign." WTF?!??!?! And it's not a good idea to be driving around like this today when there are cops EVERYWHERE in the nation's capitol on election day...aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

Dress accordingly
In my haste to pack for my DC/Pittsburgh trip, I forgot to look up the weather in Pittsburgh. So I don't know if I'll be dressed warm enough for the 35 degree evening weather out there...eeks. I guess I'll head out to the mall if I'm not. Another thing, I forgot that I'd be in our beloved nation's capital. And I'd be staying at a hotel that's probably filled will politicians and in a city that's FULL of politicians, and I'll be here on election day. I didn't bring many nice clothes. I have to remember to dress the part when i go out on trips from now on... Well, we'll see how I fare tomorrow... On to Pittsburgh

Polls close in...
I was watching the news earlier about the election stuff. I think people made a pretty good point in that after the election is over, it's our job to support whoever gets elected completely. It'll be OUR president after this election is over, so hopefully things turn out for the best. But one thing that stuck out was this one construction engineer who was interviewed about not voting and he said something along the lines of: although it is our civic duty to vote for who we think is the right candidate, it is also our civic duty to stay away from voting if you don't support either candidate. What a cop out man, that's like saying, "Neither are good, I don't care who leads us for the next four years..." What is that? What an idiot...

I'm curious to see what's gonna go on here tonight. I heard Bush is gonna be here to party it up, whitehouse style, he he he. A whole bunch of politicians, partying...hard to imagine. I'll probably hang out on the streets to see what's crackalackin...

Speaking of the White House, I ran over there tonight. I'm only a few blocks away. And man oh man, it's pretty crazy, there is so much security set up. I never realized how far away that fence was from the actual White House, it must be at least 300 yards away. And there's even cops walking around the perimeter w/ submachine guns. I tried to take pics of them and the dog, but I don't think they're gonna come out too good. I got some nice pics of the white house and the Washington Monument though... we'll see how it turns out.

I am a cast ballot...

Close calls
Good Lord, I almost missed my flight yesterday. I checked my luggage in and got my boarding pass early, and then I headed out to my bball game(This proves to be vital to what happens later). We won by 20, and I should've left early...but I think I got way too into that game and didn't leave early enough. So we're already cutting it close, and while me and Cic were hurrying to the airport, she got pulled over and got a damn speeding ticket...all on my acct. I felt so guilty, but could not really dwell upon it at that moment, because I was still tryin to get to my boarding gate. As I was going through the security gate, I hear, "Jay Bermudez, this is the last call for Flight 202 to Washington DC, last call." So I freakin book it towards gate 75A. It was like the scene out of a movie. I finally get to the gate, yell out my name and the guy says, "hurry, they're closing the doors." So I run down the little tunnel thing to the plane and catch the up to the lady. I proceed to my seat and almost faint out of exhaustion. BARELY got to my flight. So at THAT point, I got to think about what had happened not even 20 minutes earlier. Now I was pissed...Cic got the ticket on acct of me, and anger turned to guilt and there I was, on a 4 plus hour flight to think about it. Eventually, I got through it and dealt with it. Well, the only thing I can do is to take care of any expenses related to the ticket and hopefully, she'll let me make it up to her...if only I had left earlier...or even if I had driven...SORRY BEEBS!!!!

Things I saw today:
-Watergate Building, didn't get a pic
-Washington Monument, didn't get a pic, will try tomorrow
-A million traffic circles. The road network out here in DC is a little crazy. LIke 5 or 6 roads meet at certain points, so they have to put in traffic circles. Even with a navigation system, it gets a little confusing. "Take the 7th exit." SEVENTH exit? Sheesh. Getting around w/ a map must be close to impossible.

I'm gonna try and sleep early so I can run to the White House and Capitol Hill and try and get some pics....HOPEFULLY....

Gas is only $2.01 over here...good gosh. I'm movin.