trips are for unwinding

last weekend, i grabbed the chance to get away from the madness of manila. carlo, a good friend, will be leaving the country soon, and he invited us over to their family's place in sta. teresita, batangas.

the trip reminded me just how much i needed to relax, lay back, and just do nothing. this is how we have "vacations" together--we congregate in a peaceful province, bring a lot of entertainment ammo (various DVDs), make sure we have some food and booze, and just lay around the place all weekend. lying down and stuffing your face in front of the tv are high on the list of things to do whenever we all get together.

my contribution for this particular weekend consisted of seasons 1 and 2 of scrubs, and a pack of keebler soft batch cookies. it was my first time to be at carlo's place, and i found it lovely. it was a round, wooden house with a view of taal. it had a nice garden, and plenty of supplies for a group of six.

when night fell, we took out our fire poi and spun it a couple of times. it was fun to rekindle my love-fear of fire. i doubt i've improved much, but i think i'm getting more comfortable playing with flames.

i retired early, as i was still carrying some stress from the past work week. woke up at a reasonable hour, and took photos of the wonderful view. nico made breakfast--hereford corned beef and rice, and we enjoyed it while watching episode after episode of scrubs. every now and then, we would snap out of the scrubs trance and go out to enjoy the plants, the flowers, and the outdoor area of the place. but we would always gravitate back to the tv, refilling our stomachs every now and then with tilapia, keebler, popcorn, and leftover corned beef.

susie and i decided to cut the sloth routine before the sun set. we drove back to manila and managed to catch dinner at brooklyn pizza. our bodies were sore from the two-hour drive, but the weekend was still pretty relaxing. i can't wait for the next one.

the next one will be an adventure, i promise!