Wishes on Faulty Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a sick love story so they say. In the literal sense.

The book tells the story of Augustus "Gus" Waters and Hazel Grace Lancaster, both of whom had had experience with the Big C. They became friends, fell in love, went to Amsterdam and met with the author of An Imperial Affliction, a book that ended without an ending. It's a love story and more. 

The story I guess can be summed up in the last few lines of the book - "You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say, in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.." (*avoiding spoilers*)

I used to think that I can save someone from suffering the pain that I can cause. By staying away, I thought I was giving the person a favor by not experiencing the pain in loving someone like me, but I realized I'm robbing that same person of something else - the freedom to choose the person who provides that pain, that hurt.

Quotes:
"Apparently, the world is not a wish granting factory."

"Sometimes it seems the universe wants to be noticed."

"Some infinities are bigger than other infinities."

"I cannot tell you how thankful i am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and i'm grateful."

"Funerals, I have decided, are for the living."

"Pain is like fiber. The stronger it is, the more it's worth."

"Grief does not change you, it reveals you."

"It occurred to me that the voracious ambition of humans is never sated by dreams coming true,  because there is always the thought that everything might be done better and again."

"The marks human leaves are too often scars."

"The real heroes anyway are not the people doing things; the real heroes are the people noticing things, paying attention."

"That's the thing about pain, it demands to be felt."

"Sometimes people don'tunderstand the promise they're making when they make them.... Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway."

"To be with him was to hurt him - inevitably. And that's what I felt as he reached for me. I'd felt as though I were committing an act of violence against him, because I was."

"In freedom, most people find sin."

"It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you."

"She wishes to spare you pain, and you should let her. You may not find young Hazel's logic persuasive, but I have trod through this value of tears longer than you, and from where I'm sitting she's not the lunatic."

"No matter how hard you kick, no matter how high you get, you can't go all the way around."

POU

If you're an 80's or 90's kid, you probably remember the Tamagotchi Toy. It's a very small gadget that fits in your pocket and contains a virtual pet that you feed, bathe, and play with. It grows, may get sick, and may eventually die.

Reminiscing about all the fun in my childhood, I tried to look for something similar in the Google PlayStore with my very first Android powered mid-range smartphone.

A number of trying hard apps are there, some even using the name itself.

There are also some pretty nice apps that's got talking birds, cats or dogs, and the graphics and some of the features are actually amazing.

But nothing caught and retained my attention the way POU did.

What's Pou?

Pou is an alien pet, that's actually a little bit shaped like poop.

Like Tamagotchi, it starts out as a baby that needs a lot of care.

The first time you play with it, it's a simple triangular shaped, colored brown, small pet without any clothing. The rooms of its house may look bare. But this is what makes it so fun. You play the games, earn some money, and you get to modify the way your pet and its house looks.

What's Fun about it?

You and/or your kids get to take care of a pet without the hassle of taking care of a real pet (Note though that I do not in anyway deny that real pets can provide us a different kind of satisfaction.)

Moreover, the developers just never seem to stop to create new games that will satisfy the diverse followers of the game. So expect to have an update on the app every now and then!

• KITCHEN/FOOD - Never has any restaurant offered a wide array as Pou does
• BATHROOM - Choose your bath tiles, soap, shower, etc.
• LAB - oh yes, you get to give your pet some potions and energizers
• GAME ROOM - The number of games you can play with just about considers a number of other games available on the market (Want brain games? Try out Sudoku, Memory or Find Pou; Into virtual basketball? Try Hoops; Love Flappy Bird? Try Jet Pou), and many many more. Oh did I mention, you can also play with other Pou pet owners!
• BEDROOM - Design your pet's own room by choosing its pillow and lamps and wallpapers. Make sure to make it sleep a lot to re-energize!
• OUTSIDE - Pou can go outside! Water the flowers in the garden, take a ride, swim in the pool or play football.
• SHOP - The number of things you can shop just keep on expanding, it feels like having a small pet store next door that turns into a huge pet mall (from household items like lamps, shower, wallpaper, to cosmetics like lipsticks and eye shadows, to clothing and apparels, tattoos, drugstore, food, you name it!)
• ACHIEVEMENT - but of course! how else can you attract the generation of today without tracking their own achievements?!
• ACCOUNT - Ever afraid your gadget might just crash and you lose all the achievements you've worked hard for? Worry no more as you just have to sign up for an account using your email and your progress can be saved anytime
• CONNECTIVITY - If you have an internet connection, you can easily meet new people with their own Pou, play with them, and sign on their guestbooks, and like how they look..
  

Cebu Cebu pag may time

Airfare
As the usual basis of my travels, I booked a trip to Cebu because of the airfare promo by Cebu Pacific. My roundtrip ticket MNL-CEB-MNL was bought last July 2013, at a price of Php1,358.04 only.
The time of travel is just right, because there are numerous daily flights going to and from Cebu. This enabled us to maximize our 3-day stay.

Hotel
It was my first time to book through Expedia. They had the lowest rate - Php 3,231.91/night for a Superioir room for two.
The room was okay - no spectacular view, the bed was nice and comfortable, bathroom was clean and large enough, aircon, ref and tv are working, though there were cable signal problems during our stay.

The hotel has a nice pool and a beach that's enclosed by a man made wall. They also have their own restaurant so you don't really need to go out for your meals if you aren't really planning on eating anything specific outside. But I think it is rather priced a little high. We only tried their longanisa breakfast meal and it was just okay. Nothing fancy for a fancy price.

And we were also required to pay an incidental deposit, in the amount of Php 3,000, even if the hotel booking has already been paid for. I think this may be a policy in most hotels, but it would have been appreciated if we were advised ahead when I contacted them directly some days before our travel. Their staff were nice enough but were not as nice as some other local places I've visited.

Eats
Part of what I've learned and appreciated during our trip to Korea was food. If you don't try something new or special to the place you're visiting, it would feel like your travel isn't complete. Taste is another sense that has to experience. In Cebu, these are our main food trips:

Fredz Sutukil

Located just beside the Lapu-Lapu Shrine is a place much like Dampa here in Manila, where a number of eateries selling fresh seafood cooked in the way you please are located side by side. A number of them will rush to you the moment you step in the compound and shout their various marketing blahs.

We chose Fredz Sutukil, and ordered for crabs cooked in butter garlic, Lapu-lapu cooked the Sutukil way (Sugba-Tinola-Kilawin), Guso (seaweed), and of course our favorite drink! There was an ingredient charged to us - the Lukot, which was used for the tinola (but we were not advised ahead). The food was more than enough for four people, but it was too pricey. Our total bill reached Php2,000.

Larsian

A little bit like Mercato, with fewer choices, Larsian is like a market with various sellers, mostly of grilled food. What's unique is their sticky rice rolled in a triangular shape and wrapped in leaves. They leaves 10pcs for each table and they just count how many you've consumed, to be added to your bill, And oh, you eat with your hands, though they give you a plastic glove so you don't get all messy.

Their isaw, much like in Boracay, tastes fresh, without the sandy feeling in your mouth, as is typical of isaw in Manila.

CNT and Zubuchon

Two of the best lechon eats in the city of Cebu. Which is better? I can't quite decide. Zubuchon's lechon is chopped in smaller pieces and is more crispy, while CNT is more tasty and has that thin layer of fat beneath the skin that makes some people crave more and more. It's up to you to decide. But should you ever visit Zubuchon, their Kamias Shake is a must try. (We've always neglected the Kamias tree in our backyarduntil I've got a taste of this! I wonder how would their Lolomboy (Duhat) Shake taste like...mmmm...)

Transportation
Since our hotel was located in Mactan and most of the places to eat and visit are in Cebu City, our mode of transportation was mostly taxi. There are tricycles available but I'm not sure they can bring us to the city. We might need to ride a public jeepney (which looks a little different from what we have in Manila), but the roads under construction  and the heat of the summer would not make the travel very pleasant.

Itinerary
Day 1 - City Tour
Upon arrving in Mactan Airport, we headed straight to Cebu City for a quick tour. The taxi driver offered to bring us to the various tourist places for Php 1,500. These are the places we visited and their corresponding entrance fees:

• Fort San Pedro (entrance fee of Php 30)
• Magellan's Cross and Sto. Nino Basilica
• Casa Gorordo (entrance of Php 40)
• Taoist Temple
• Lapu-Lapu Shrine
• Allegre Guitar Factory
• New Susing's Guitar

In Magellan's Cross, elderly women who hold a bunch of colorful candles, will come up to you, tell you they'd pray for you, with each candle color representing a part of your life. The woman asked for my name, and upon answering, she immediately went to a prayer chant, holding all 10 candles. Each candle costs Php 10. After her prayer, we placed 5 of it in Magellan's cross, then leave the other 5 inside the Basilica.

Day 2 - Whale Shark watching 
The original plan actually was to go to Bantayan Island after the City Tour. However, with the calamity brought on by Typhoon Yolanda, and not being able to get much updates about the current status of the place, we had to change our plans. We decided to have an encounter with the Whale Sharks instead (also known as the Butanding).
I've booked a package from Oslob Whalesharks website for Php 3,750 each. This already includes the transfer to Oslob, breakfast and lunch, the whale shark encounter, a short trip to the falls, and all the fees that has to be paid.

Our additional expense was just the souveneirs and the rent for the underwater camera at Php500.



We also went to Tumalog Falls, where we had to ride a motor (Php50), and trek for about a minute. And we were welcomed by clear pristine waters. 

Had I brought my towel with me, I couldn't have resisted the urge to jump!

Day 3 - Swim/Relax/Shop for Pasalubong

Day 3 was a relaxing day as we spent the morning taking pictures along the beach, swimming for a little bit in the pool, having breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, and packing our things.

After checking out at 12noon, we went to buy our pasalubong, starting with Shamrock to buy some Otap, then to the market for some Danggit, and to the factory of Guadalupe dried mangoes. Aside from the normal dried mangoes we love, they also have chocolate covered mangoes and other variety.

Our total expenses is around Php 10,000. And this is quite high, considering the hotel we got and the mode of transportation we availed of. If you're feeling a little more adventurous, I believe you could slash this down to half.