Tagaytay Getaway, Part 1

Yesterday was a dream, although it started ordinarily enough. Woke up to Roger's phone call; snoozed for maybe half an hour longer before getting up and taking a shower and getting ready. Went downstairs to the guest room, where Roger slept, waited for him to freshen up, and off we went.

Stopped over at a gas station to withdraw money and buy something light just to keep out stomachs settled. Stopped again at the next gas station to ask for directions and because the ATM at the first station was busted.

We didn't follow the directions. Instead, we took another route, one we were slightly familiar with but not really all that sure of. The day was for adventure and exploration, after all. We got the first part of the way right, going by hunch and vague memories. The second part, well, it was right, too, but it was the long way. We had intended to go the short way. But props to us coz we didn't get lost. Whee!!!

We drove the stretch of Tagaytay, sort of just checking out places. We ended our drive at Sonya's Garden (Roger kept hinting at and mildly insisting on going there). Although the sign on the gate said it opened at 11 AM (it was only around 10), Roger wanted to go in anyway. We went in, parked, saw that the staff were still kind of fixing things, and decided to leave. Once out the gate, Roger saw some guys hanging around, figured they either worked at Sonya's or had information, so he rolled down the window and asked what time they served food. The guys said the restaurant itself opened at 11, but the bed and breakfast served food before then. Possibly breakfast food, not the all-natural food they served at the restaurant, the stuff people came to Sonya's for, but we should go check. So we went back in, trekked to the bed and breakfast, and there found out that they serve breakfast until 10 AM only but that if we would just wait a little longer, they would serve lunch/dinner soon—at 11 AM. Hah.

So for the second time that day (the second time in less than 30 minutes), we exited the gates of Sonya's Garden and headed to Breakfast at Antonio's for, well, breakfast. Lunch. Brunch. Whatever. As we were headed there, it occurred to me that by the time we got there and ordered and had our food served, the restaurant at Sonya's would have already opened, but I decided to keep that thought to myself, because I didn't wanna have to wait idly for 30 minutes. Sonya's has these gardens where we could have strolled and taken pictures, but I don't do pictures well when I'm hungry and not doing anything about it. Much better to actually be actively headed toward somewhere I could have food, even if I'd end up eating at the same time anyway.

Breakfast/lunch/brunch at Breakfast was lovely. I had roesti with beef, onions, Swiss cheese, and two over-easy eggs. Roger had tuna tomato basil pasta. Both were amazing. I mean, now that was brunch. We had some herb tea to go with. We also had banana walnut caramel pancakes for dessert (yes, we eat a lot).

Took some photos, too. The deck has a great view of Taal. The place itself is nice, too. Kind of country club–like. White walls, green roof. Big indoor dining space, an outdoor deck with white tables with green umbrellas. And clean, homey restrooms. Er, with torso-to-crotch-level windows open. The windows faced a hillside not really touched by civilization, so it was okay, but still, it felt a little funny. But also nice and homey and provincial. A homey provincial luxury kind of thing.

Then we decided to check out places to stay. The nice ones were at varying levels of priceyness but nice (duh, the nice ones nga e, also with varying levels of niceness). There was also an ok place, simple and clean, with an ok price. There was one lame-ass place, the downward-sloping driveway of which scratched the underside of my car, both coming in and getting out. Which was pretty much all we did there. When we saw the place, we didn't even bother getting out of the car. Well, I did, to lighten the car load in the hopes that maybe without my weight added, the car's underside wouldn't scrape the top of the driveway. We know how that went.

Then we went to Cliffhouse, which is a nice little town center–type place with a store and some restaurants. Looked around a bit and tried to figure out what to do next; bought 55-peso ice cream to avoid paying the 100-peso parking fee for those who don't have a meal or buy anything (when we asked the ice cream lady for a receipt, she gave us a suspicious look and asked what it was for; we said it was for parking, and she wouldn't give us one at first because our purchase was worth less than 100, but receipts should be given by law, hello); bought some stuff at the store too, which rendered the whole ice cream thing unnecessary, but hey, it was done.

Headed back to Sonya's Garden, where Roger finally got what he wanted, heheh. Everything about that place is magical. It's like being in the forest, the enchanted woods, and living like/among pixie-fairies and witches (good beautiful ones that are good with plants and herbs and charting the stars) and wise old people. Breathing dew and walking on good clean earth lit by little glass lanterns and sitting on beds draped with gauze and adorned with jewels among the flowers and drinking their nectar and eating the fruit of the earth, watered only by love and magic and water from sparkling streams.

Then we headed home, making a quick stop at Collette's for buko pie to take home to our families.

I guess that for the most part, we did pretty normal stuff. But what made yesterday a dream was... being away, and on a weekday, too. Not too many people around. We should have been in the city, at work, like the rest of them, but instead, we were there, in this blessedly cool and wonderfully fresh place, exploring and discovering. It was like being suspended, yknow? Like for a day, we were granted a place and time all our own, apart from everything else. It was also the first time I went away with someone special, just the two of us. All of that put together just made it seem like... like we owned the world, like every place was a place to discover and celebrate and grow in love. It was like being in a place where we could be ourselves—and ourselves with each other—fully. It was like bathing in all the love and beauty around us and inside us and between us.

In other news, today, I just beat Olivia's most infuriating on-the-road moment: I was overtaken by a sweet soy custard (taho) vendor on a bicycle with an attached side cart. How's that for a jolt back into reality?

Hospitals

So tonight I thought about becoming a doctor (physician, as per AMA) again. I don't know if it's because I saw Enchanted today, and McDreamy was in it. Maybe. Or maybe because I accompanied Roger to the hospital today and saw all those doctors in their professional-looking white coats and their nameplates with "M.D." after their names. Roger asked me about med reps, too, and for some reason, I woke up from my evening nap (yes, I take naps in the evening... pretty much anytime I want to, actually, if I'm just at home... batugan much) thinking about those nifty little prescription pads: the generic, hospital-issue ones; the commercial ones from pharma companies that the docs end up giving to their children (these were the reason I decided to come up with a signature even when I don't think I knew how to write yet); and the neat- and kind of classic-looking but somehow very practical personalized ones, with the doctor's name at the top, followed by his/her contact information and clinic schedule. But yes, for the first time in a while, I gave attention to the thought (usually I let it just sort of brush the surface of my immediate consciousness and allow it to be a fleeting thought). I do come from a family of doctors. I did take a pre-med course. I think I have the brains for it, and I suppose I have an EQ sufficient to gather the discipline for it. So what if it'll take me years and years before I actually become a doctor, and I'll be more than 30 by the time I have a life and a career? So what if I have to go through the ordeal of school again? I'm really planning to go back to school anyway. And at the end of it, I'll be a doctor! A friggin doctor! But, as always, I came to the same conclusion: no go.

If I go into med, I'll have to give up my art, my music, my dreams (and I don't mean dreams like ambitions, not really). I won't have time to just think and feel and be, to explore the world and my mind and everything beyond and in between. And all that is essential to me. I know because I lost it once (with my current job, which left me no time at the end of the day to even just think, and which I am leaving very, very soon... I'm not just saying that, either; I'm handing in my resignation next week, hooray for me!), and it was horrible, like I didn't know what to do with myself when I had free time, and I just didn't know who I was or what I was all about anymore--and I'm still going through the process of finding it. Retracing my steps, being moody and impulsive sometimes, the occasional cry or all-out bawl. It's fun, exciting, painful sometimes... but it's a journey. What I mean is, I am actually moving. I am no longer stagnant; my life is no longer stagnant. I'm headed somewhere again. For someone whose occupation on Friendster is "explorer," dammit, it's about time.

I took my youngest full sister (I have a half-sister) to see a movie (Enchanted) earlier. She's 14 today (technically yesterday; it's past midnight). My mom told me that she cried last night because my lolo is in the hospital (minor surgery to remove a tennis-ball-sized cyst under his armpit, *youch*), which means no family celebration today. There'll be another time, for sure, but she had this day all planned out: instead of dinner, sit-down ice cream at the newly opened Haagen-Dazs ice cream parlor in Town. She's big on birthdays, and for likely longer than a month or two, she'd been really looking forward to today, thinking that today would be her day. She even prayed that there would be classes today (typhoons waiting to happen lately) so that everyone at school could greet her. So she felt bad about today not being her day, after having looked forward to it for so long: she's a kid; at the same time, she felt guilty about feeling bad about it: she's a good kid. Good thing I bought her a 5-pack of these cute miniature boxed chocolate candies. When I got home, I left them outside her door with a note that said, "NO GUILT. We cannot help how we feel. It is how we choose to act that counts. Happy 14th birthday!"

This morning, there was a thank you note from her under my door. I decided to ask some of my friends to text her a greeting. After much debate with myself, I also decided to skip work, visit my lolo if I could (which I ended up not doing; he was in recovery till the afternoon, and after that, it started to rain pretty hard, with some pretty strong winds), and take my sister out. She was so happy when she got home from school; she was practically skipping. I gave her 3 options: shopping on a P500 budget (so that isn't really shopping, but I'm not rich yet, ok?), a nice meal/dinner, or a movie and cheap food. After some deliberation, she went with option 3. So she dressed up all nice (I didn't bother to change out of the shorts and a giant T-shirt I had been wearing all day), we headed to Town, bought the movie tickets, and got some KFC (which really isn't so cheap, after all) to eat during the movie. She loved the movie, kept giving me these awwwwwww! looks, got all blubbery but didn't cry (which she was so proud about; she always cries), and spilled some of her KFC on her nice little birthday dress-top thing (the new ultimate sandwich really is ultimate, but it's kind of hard/messy to eat; worth it, though). On the way back to the car, she raved about the movie and told me about Ashlee Simpson getting her face done (we saw an ad with her on it, and she looks hella different), and we got our feet wet braving the floody puddles in the parking lot. At home, she hugged me and told me thank you. I told her to wash her feet, and as she hopped along on her merry way, I got into my room (sanctuary), eased myself onto my bed, pulled up the covers, read a bit (Stephen King's Dreamcatchers; I'm pretty far along now but still don't know what I think of it, though at this point, I think I liked all the others I've read better), and had a lovely lovely gorgeous sleep. Whose arms I must now return to.