Hinahanap-hanap kita Manila, ang ingay mong kay sarap sa tenga.

And so, after four years, I'm back in Manila. I arrived at 4am. Things are so different, and yet much is still the same.

I traveled with my brother, his wife, and little Swarles Barkley, their 3-month old baby boy. It was a fourteen+ hour flight, but praise the Lord, we were in business class, where seats are comfy and food is delicious. I had salmon for dinner, steak + scrambled eggs for breakfast, and a corned beef + swiss sandwich in-between. Giddy. What. Up. The baby was, for the most part, super-cooperative. Good times.

So here I am. In Manila. Where the average temperature is around 30 degrees Celsius. Do not want. But oh well. I'm hoping to get some good photographs with Rabbit and Apollo. I loaded up on the film and I can't wait to play around. There is so much history here, and amazing architecture, and lots of photo-worthy things to check out.

I'm also looking forward to seeing friends from elementary and high school. It'll be nice to see them all again. For now, however, I must depart. Venturing outside to one of the nine (yeah, nine) posh malls that are immediately across the street. Giddy. What. Up.

Manila Cathedral

(Photo from manila.tumblr.com)

I hope to take photos like that while I'm here. :)

It's my life - it's now or never.

And just like that, my trip to Toronto comes to a close. I'm finished packing now, and I'm leaving the hotel at 5:30 tomorrow to head to the airport. The trip went both slow and fast, but more importantly, I had the absolute time of my life.

Early on in my trip I went ice skating with Michael at Nathan Phillips Square here downtown, and after maybe 15 or 20 minutes of being absolutely terrified and barely moving, Michael actually got me to skate. On my own. In a "Look ma, no hands!" way. I am quite pleased with myself. Quite.

Friday the 19th was a museum day. I spent a total of 8.5 hours in three different museums (the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Gardiner Museum). I would have stayed longer if I could have. Friday was the day that reminded me why I had originally been so devoted to becoming a history professor. I got quite nostalgic.

I spent most of my time on this trip the way I had intended to - with Karrie. And let me just say... it was absolutely amazing. We did everything and nothing together, and that is the best kind of friendship. We could be doing 32480239 things, or we could just be lazily sitting in her room, rewatching Glee, and we're both perfectly contented in one another's company either way. There is such comfort and peacefulness and wordless understanding in our friendship. Anyone who knows me knows that quality time means everything to me, so to just be able to spend that with one of my absolute best friends is just a blessing to me. I still find it so unreal that it all happened. But it did. It actually did. We have photographic evidence.

I cannot wait to move back to Ontario. It would make spending time with some of the people I love the most in this world so much easier. And it would involve a lot less actual spending, you know?

Thank you, God. You made this week more than I could ever wish for.

Just the stirring in my soul.

I'm not that much of a game player. Sure, I love my Beatles Rock Band more than anyone else I know, but when it comes to games like first-person shooters, or non-linear third-person adventures, I'm a spectator, not a participant. I don't like the pressure of completing missions or the fear of getting killed by a bad guy in a game. I panic and freak out about it. But I love getting engrossed in the intricate storylines.

This is where my brother comes in handy.

My fantastic older brother has the utmost patience and determination when it comes to these things, and for that I am utterly grateful. So what I do is I sit down, get comfy, have a snack and a drink, and watch him play games. The game he's currently on is Assassin's Creed II, and it is just fantastic. Continuing from and improving on the first one, ACII has gorgeous graphics, great attention to detail, an engaging story and - my favourite part - SO much real history enmeshed within its intricate web of a story. Ezio Auditore, the main character, meets the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli, and the Borgias. As a history buff whose favourite time period is 1400s - 1600s in England and Italy, you can imagine how much this game pleases me.

So that is what I do. I sit. And I watch. Occasionally, I'll ask my brother questions regarding the intricacies of the game and how it's played, but for the most part, I don't care for those details. To me, it's just like watching a long long movie. A movie wherein the lead occasionally falls to his death when my brother accidentally makes him fall from the roof of a tall building.

...but anyway. I digress. The point is, it's fun. I enjoy being a spectator as much as being a participant in things, but in this instance, the former beats out the latter.

Moving on from that, I wanted to share something with whoever is reading this. The other day, I discovered the amazing talent of this gentleman from Montana named Tyler Knott. His tumblr/blog can be found here. He posts beautiful photography, musings, and some of the most beautiful haikus I have ever read in my life. Aside from that, he and his friend also have Treehouse Photography. You can hire them for weddings, engagements, sessions with children, and all that jazz. They have an excellent portfolio; I'd highly recommend checking out their galleries - especially the fine art one. Every shot is so inspiring, and is such a reminder of the presence of beauty in everything.

On that note, I leave you with TWO of Tyler's haikus which resonated the most with me:

You are gravity
and from the moment I wake
I’m pulled back to you.


If we should get lost,
throw away all of the maps
and stay lost with me.

Have a beautiful day. :)