G-OGRAPHY: a southeast asian lady travels...

Number 1 soon to be addiction: Plants VS Zombies extended play on XBLA (click on link for the super cute music video dedicated to the game). I love it! The game designer, George Fan, really did a great job on this indie platformer.It really puts the fun back in fighting zombies. None of the COD Nazi stuff that spooks me out! Who would have thought that plants can be bad-ass?! With colorful 2d graphics and a catchy in game tune it will have you chanting to brainsssss! BRAIIIINSSSS! in no time.



Number 1 current addiction: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I know...I watched some of it back in the 90's but have lately been hearing about how good it was from fellow Joss Whedon fans (Firefly is the bomb!). Lucky for me my cousin has the whole 7 seasons. One of the things I love about watching a series after it has been released to DVD is that you don't have to wait for the next episode or the next season to find out what happened. Also, you get to know and understand the characters better and watch how they evolve. I like how Buffy takes a unique twist to the monster/occult/vampire genre- a blonde cheerleader saves the world (Heroes you were a decade too late). Plus, Whedon really knows how to pack a punch with those witty one liners. Makes me wonder if teenagers of America really talk this way? And are there real slayers out there? Hmmmm...Buffy much?

Photo: Buddha's Halo (dawn), Mt Fuji 2005

It's minutes away from the end of the year. At least for me it is. Seven years ago I started celebrating the beginning of my year during my birthday. I was 25 and I had just climbed Mt Fuji. There was something very inspiring about being up in the clouds looking at Buddha's Halo. It made me feel invincible. I thought if I was able to endure hours of trekking 12388 ft of stratovolcano solo (no guides, no buddies), then I could do anything. That was when I started making the list. It was a list of things to do before my next birthday which I do every birthday.

For the 31st year, it was:

1. Visiting Darwin in Galapagos [check]
2. Exploring the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu [check]
3. Experiencing the unearthly beauty of Salar de Uyuni [check]
4. Learning to choke and throttle while balancing on two wheels. [check]
5. Discovering the deep sea- well at least 60 ft or so of it. [check]
6. Completing my second triathlon. [check]

As for year 32, well I've got a lot of ideas. It may involve a Felucca, an iron fist, fresh mozzarella, the lost world, an island, some French and LOTS of imagination.

Happy New Year to me!

So I went out with my new sassy gay friend tonight at Urban Mo's (I randomly met him at this same bar a couple weeks back) which is in Hillcrest- a gay friendly neighborhood. I was excited because it has been a busy past couple of months on the new job and a new town. I had so much fun dancing and being silly with my new friend in San Diego when BAM he told me he wasn't gay (*cringe*)! At first I thought it was a joke but he was pretty serious. I was speechless. So why the hell would you invite me to hang out in a gay bar? Why? All signs indicated that he was gay! I have been around tons and I mean TONS of gay guys before and have a pretty good gaydar.

Ugh, I thought the weirdness would stop after I left LA. Yes, I felt pretty disturbed and a little violated (gay bars are my awesome mini getaways from the straight world). But there is one good thing that came out of it. It made me realize that straight women are more themselves with other women or with gay men. There totally is a different dynamic happening between heterosexuals. Maybe I speak for myself but it's like the mere fact that we acknowledge the difference in gender makes communication instantly complicated. I definitely had my guard up after that revelation. I guess I can become a little more uptight around men (uhm, come think of it who wouldn't be when it comes to meeting men in bars)! Now I know it's only in the head. Moral lesson: always be yourself and always make sure you get a second opinion when you gaydar fails!

Last October, I decided to get scuba certified. After diving the Catalina and Anacapa Islands I thought it was only proper to go on a scuba adventure. What better place to go than the Galapagos for 2 weeks of exploration. I have always been a fan of Darwin and the Galapagos is a place that has always captured my imagination. I envisioned a rustic prehistoric island isolated from civilization. I got there along with bus loads of European tourists wearing their matching khaki expedition outfits and saw a bustling little town filled with every creature comfort which included ATM's, wireless internet and LCD TV's with satellite cable. I guess I was 50 years too late. I know any other "normal" person would have loved these modern amenities but I really wished that things were a little more bare...a little more untouched.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed exploring the little island. It was very diverse in flora and fauna. The wildlife was amazing and so far it is the only place I have been to that had a bunch of iguanas, sea lions, tortoises and albatross' scattered around delightfully apathetic to us annoying tourists.


Ok maybe not so apathetic...Mr. Tortoise was hissing at me at this particular moment and I had a brief chilling vision of being attacked by an 1800 pound reptile (which is absurd because the only thing you have to watch out for would be their powerful fist crunching jaw if you were within it's reach).



One of the other things that I enjoyed about Galapagos and Ecuador in general is the people. Extremely friendly, always a smile on their faces. This being my first trip to South America, I also noticed a lot of similarities to the Philippines in terms of the food (their ceviches were scrumptious) and the culture. They were, after all, occupied by the Spaniards and though this may not make obvious sense to everyone Filipinos are the Latins of Asia. This is another long topic of discussion and debate that I think I will write about after I've traveled the world and collected more observations.






Anyways, back to the scuba story. So my friend and I had courageously booked a 5 day dive session from the awesome Scuba Iguana shop. I highly recommend that for beginners not to do the same because it is exhausting! You should pace yourself and allot time to roam around the different uninhabited islands. A lot of divers do a live aboard but I did not want to deal with the constant motion of the boat especially when going to the loo.

I think I was able to do a total of 12 dives after the trip. It was not the colorful tropical underwater setting that I am used to but the marine life was spectacular. We saw sharks, hammerheads, pelagic fish, rays, sea lions (they are as cute and as playful as puppies), eels, seat turtles, dolphins and a bevy of other sea creatures. A particular highlight was me cowering behind a pinnacle of rocks to witness a shark pit! The current was whipping around us and I had to grab on to the rocks for dear life. I also tried my hardest not to hyperventilate because there were a LOT of sharks up close (granted they were small reef sharks there were the bulkier Galapagos sharks that hovered). I was about to chicken out and swim away when this seal dives from out of nowhere and starts clowning around with the reef sharks. The group was able to capture the video here. Oh and 28 seconds in to this video a reef shark was filmed stalking me!! You can hear my friend yelp out GRACE!

Here are some more photo highlights of Galapagos:




Dolphins are always a good sighting. We saw a whale after this but I was too slow to take a photo.


First time doing a back roll. I like it more than a high jump!






Eels are really ugly.


Stalking a bat fish.


Deadly urchin.


Sea Turtle and a friend.


Bat fish up close.


An eagle ray...the manta rays were more majestic. They look like alien underwater birds.


Funny fish.


I think this was a Torpedo Ray.


Sharks!


We went inside a big ball of mackerel. To be honest, I got a little claustrophobic.


A school of fish.


The dive crew.


The cutest pelagic fish ever!


The dreaded stone fish...it's poisonous.

It's been a long three months since I last posted on this blog. Ugh, I know it's disgusting how I take my blog forgranted. So what's been happening? Well...

1. I made my second trip out to South America to explore Peru and Bolivia (best of pictures soon to be posted).
2. I quit my old job in LA and moved to San Diego where I got a really cool gig.
3. I bought a new car
4. And, oh yes, I have new highlights in my hair =)

As you can see, I haven't really made an effort to write since I wanted to focus on getting a lot of personal projects off the ground. I do, however, feel like making a lot of changes to the content on this blog. I feel that I have not been too engaging or personal.

As for what is up next? Being the serial hobbyist that I am, I have the tendency to dabble on a lot of different things. So this time I am committing myself to blogging more, getting back to reading books (I used to read a book a day), becoming consistent with my yoga practice and to improving my swimming techniques. I am also enrolling in motorcycle riding classes by the end of this month. Moreover, I'm considering taking up Krav Maga for self-defense. All this before my 32nd birthday which is just around the corner!

So did I miss anything out here in the blogosphere?