Sour Strawberries

My roommate cannot understand why I like strawberries that are not ripe. "Usually, it's eaten ripe and juicy," he would say. Not for me. I like it still young which tastes kind of sour. And the more sour the better.

Wanna know why?

Because sour strawberries taste very similar to one of my favorite Philippine fruits called santol. Yep, it tastes like that. And how much I liked that fruit.

It got introduced to me, fairly late. Unlike the regular fruits banana, coconut or guava, I got a taste of santol when I was already past 10 years old. And I immediately enjoyed it's sour dull meat. And when you get deeper, you get to enjoy the texture of the meat around its seeds. Just don't eat them or you might choke, since they're pretty big.

While eating them, people would usually dip them in soy sauce. It's to give it some extra taste. Mmmmm.

I have tried dipping strawberries in soy sauce. It did taste good, but I find just the plain taste enough. I guess my roommate will just have to contend with my fascination with unripe strawberries.

He's happy anyway with getting the "left over" ripe ones.

The beginning of the end

There have been things that I would like to talk about. But I would probably prefer a more anonymous way. Maybe I will close this blog. It has been good, but I feel I cannot really say what I want, unless I'm anonymous

I want a blog where I can be honest. To say what I'm thinking and at the same time, talk about my past in more open light.

I have come to a point today where there's no longer a need to hide my past. There is no need to glorify it either. But to revisit it and come into terms with what has happened and to forgive myself for the roles I have taken part of.

There's no longer a need to be ashamed about them, to cast them away in a shadow of guilt. It is what it is. It is what has defined me. It's scars, I will carry for the rest of my life. And previously, that thought would make me hide in shame. Hiding the scars that have defined me.

I tried to hide who I was...

But today there is no more shame. No more hate. What is left is understanding that what I did in my past that I wasn't proud of was what I thought was the best given at that time. And what's more significant is that I feel a little love--for myself, for what has happened and for the characters in my life during those times.

I love.

Orlando 2

6/23/2006

We finished the Hulk coaster and were eager for more. We saw the line has gotten to a 90 minute wait though so we decided to move on. At this point, the sun's heat was in full force. Manu and Claudio had a beer while I had a soda.

The next stop was a ride called Tower of Doom. It'll basically lift you up straight up and free fall. And it will do this several times, until your balls are somewhere between where they should be and your throat.

So we lined up...this time "only" a 45 minute line. At the final moment however, I opted out of the ride. I don't respond well to falling down. Oh well.

After that, we walked a little further. Another beer for my friends, and another soda for me. It was already near 1pm, and we decided to eat lunch. We had rottisserie and the topic of conversation turned to our moms.

After that, we decided to get a map of the place, and realized we haven't visited the majority of the rides. We discovered, to my dismay, that there are two more roller coasters in the park. They're basically twin roller coasters, overlapping each other. One is faster, called the Red Dragon, and one has more loops, called the Blue Dragon.

The two excitedly hurried up, while I wasn't really that excited to ride another coaster. One is enough for me, and I can't imagine riding more. The two were insistent, fueled by alcohol--by this time, they had a third. So we lined up for the 3rd one. It's basically a 30 minute wait, and we had to choose near the end whether to go to Red and Blue.

I decided we'd go to Red, since it's faster, it will be over soon. *smile* Again the steep ascent which always puts my heart beat in overdrive. Then we're off! It was fast indeed. Probably a minute or so of intense Gs and speed.

Yay! I survived! Now, let's move on to another ride, shall we?

WRRROOOOONNNGGG!!

Let's do the other one. Insisted the two, like two small kids in a candy shop. Only here, they aren't small, and they smell alcohol.

So, fine. The Red Dragon wasn't that bad now after all.

We went to the Blue one. Same thing. Only this time, it felt longer, which is to be expected. Since it was slower and had more loops. This time, I shouted at the top of my lungs. Half of which is from anger of why I am in this ride, and the other half from sheer terror.

I was pretty shaken when we finally got out. I had to get to a restroom and puke a few. I also changed my shirt, wet from the sun and the rides.

At this time, by the time, I have to comment on the sun. Though it's bringing it's full energy down, there's an upside to it. The girls... Aaahh, the girls of Florida... They wear these white string blouses. Lots of boobies everywhere you look. White, black, small, big, round, a little bit flat, and all shapes and sizes in between.

I feel like Hugh Grant's room mate in Notting Hill, Spike, when he saw Julia Roberts in the bath tub. "Thank you Lord" for the views.

Anyway, we rode a few more rides which were relatively tame, until about 7pm. We had a blast. The two had more beers, and my feet were aching. Still, they wanted to see more...

They were talking about that ride that was so scary, little children come out crying. Manu said it's a ride based on the Aliens movie, and in it, you'll feel the Aliens breathe down on your neck at one point. Sadly, the ride was banned due to riders' reactions to it.

So in search of this ride, whether it still exists or not, we exited the theme park, and with the knowledge that it's on the other park beside it, we made our way there.

To be continued...

Drunkards and Billiards

Sunday, July 2, 2006

The day started slow. As my usual routine during weekends, I woke up pretty much in the afternoon. Then slept again at around 4pm. I thoroughly enjoy the warm Florida afternoon, probably the best afternoon in the world I've seen. Some cities boast of a busy nightlife, and Florida is even one of them. But for me, the Floridian afternoon is just as good.

Through my room window, I gazed at the warm day outside. The plants and trees, unmoving and eternally still, it's a picture of tranquility. The sky is nothing but a vibrant hue of blue with a few patches of white. It's as picture perfect as it can be.

A gentle almost imperceptible breeze of air brushes on your skin, the afternoon seduces you to just accept it's caress. The sun streaks through my blinds invites me to lay down and lazily let the day pass through.

Finally, I awoke, at around 7. After some talk, my roommate and I decided to go have buffalo wings. I casually tossed around the idea that we should go to Hooters, since they serve pretty good wings there. An hour later, we were headed to the nearest one.

We got there and Manu ordered a draft beer. Me being unknowlegeable about beers and not liking what I have sampled so far the past few weeks, decided to try something new. A smirnoff. It sounded cool.

I had two bottles before we decided to call it a night. While starting the car on the way home, I think it was Manu who started the topic of me wanting to know how it feels to be drunk.

Yes, I haven't been drunk all my life. How Manu came to know that I want to be drunk is another topic in itself that I'll probably write down in more detail sometime if I get a chance. The thing is, I have a list of things that I want to do before I die. And since I haven't been drunk, doing that is one item on the list.

So, Manu said to stop by a Walgreens on the way. Maybe we can purchase some tequila. Unfortunately, it was around 11, and the Walgreens we went to closed at 10.

But alas, across the street is another bar and it has some billiards tables. We can go there and not have drinking be the primary thing that occupies us.

We got inside, and got ourselves a nice billiards table. We each ordered a Long Island Ice Tea. Manu said since I liked Smirnoff, I'll like this one. We played one game, which I won of course. By the 2nd game, I finished one glass and a 2nd one was on the way. At this point, my focus was at the game and not on getting myself drunk.

In the middle of the game though, I feel completely different. I couldn't keep my balance and I was so talkative.

I guess I'm drunk!

We finished the game, and ended up tied 2-2. I let Manu drive, cause even when we both drank the same amount, he's more experienced and he seems to be still in control of his senses.

On the way home, I was laughing at the whole situation. Cause I can see that I was fully in control of what I was doing. I mean, I wasn't like being unconscious of my actions. I was fully conscious and pretty much in command of my choices. It's just that my motor skills are screwed up. And I had less inhibitions. And I was less scared of consequences that might result from my actions.

Once we got home, I pretty much went straight to my bed.

Orlando

6/23/2006

For Claudio’s last day, we planned on going to Orlando, which is a good 4-hour trip one way. It’s a city famous as a vacation destination because of it's multiple theme parks, the famous of which is Disney World. I let the two of them decide which theme park to go. We don't necessarily want to go to Disney World, since it's usually a bunch of kiddie rides. After some discussion, they decided to go to Islands of Adventure—-A theme park with supposedly adult rides.

To be honest, I wasn’t _that_ thrilled to go to Orlando. It was a long trip just to get there. Although I couldn’t think of any other good places or things to do, to send Claudio off.

I’ve always hated long journeys. *grin* It just seems to me to be the most tiring part of a vacation. Anyway, I reckon that it’s my first time to go there anyway, I might as well go for it. And besides, it might turn out to be fun. I was curious to see the famed theme parks that Florida is so famous for.

We started out early. We woke up at around 6:30 in the morning. And got out at 7:15.

Screw breakfast, we're out to make the miles as early as we can. By 10am, our bellies got the better of us, and we stopped by at a station to get coffee and some breakfast. After a hearty meal, we continued our way.

We arrived there a little after 11am. And the sun was starting to beat on us. This is on a Friday, and I was half expecting the park to be empty since it was a workday.

I was to be proved wrong... Throngs of crowds greeted us as we parked our car. It was a lot of people so early. Undaunted, we worked our way through the entrance, paid the entrance fee and got inside.

The first thing you'd see is this huge green roller coaster named the “Hulk coaster”, with a picture of the Incredible Hulk right beside it, to scare of any would-be riders. He didn’t scare us though and we braved the ride entrance, only to be greeted by a 60-minute line of humanity. Yes, for a ride that lasts less than 5 minutes, you have to go by a 60-minute line.

To be honest, I’ve never ridden a roller coaster before. I’ve always been too nervous to ride one. And this day would constitute the very first one. My roller coaster virginity will be taken away… and who better else to do it than the Hulk?

After a long wait at the line, we finally got there, strapped ourselves into our seats and awaited the ride to start. As the roller coaster started to move, our laughs became laughs of nervousness. During the line we talked about shouting “NACHOOOOO!!” from our midnight movie watching the day before. We tried that, but the nerve-wracking slow ascent is just sheer terror.

If that wasn’t enough, I saw the top of rails. It curved in such a way that the roller coaster will be upside down and make a loop down towards almost ground level. My heart almost skipped a beat.

Time seemed to have frozen. I can’t possibly get out of this now. I guess this is it. I want to scream, but I can’t. Why did I go through this in the first place? But at the same time, I felt this surge in me. It was probably adrenaline. I just said to myself, “Oh, it’s on now. Bring it, bitch.”

To be continued...


Nervous laughter as we strapped ourselves into the ride. And it was kind enough to get our pictures at the beginning. (At least not during and after :p) Note they superimposed some background that I just cut. That's Claudio, me, Manu and some random guy.