The Dark Room

location: On safe land.

mood: groggy

music: Octopus's Garden - The Beatles

The day started pretty early. We all got up at 5/5:30, ready to go at 6. The boat left in France at 8:30 and we had to check in at 8. It's about a two hour drive, so we left right on time.
We arrived at the check-in about ten minutes to eight, so we were pretty happy we made it on time, but our happiness was quickly reduced when we found out there was something wrong with the dog's papers.

The nice, friendly English fellow, who had let us pass immediately, was followed up by a bald, mean, annoying, French idiot.

Apparently, the dog had to be vaccinated between 24 and 48 hours before departure. It was the 14th. On the dog's paper it said, 12th. It was 8 AM. (These factors are very important if you want to get where the mean baldy had been too stupid to figure out.)
At his paper, it said "date/time". Unfortunately, our vet had forgotten to fill in the time and we hadn't noticed.
Still.
Think about it.
48 hours tops... 8AM... 14th... 12th...
He said: "12th could also mean at 2AM in the morning, and that is above 48 hours."

That may be so, but why in the world would we be so stupid to get our dog vaccinated at 2 AM in the morning while doing it the day after is more accurately and easy?

Yet, the man's brain had probably been blocked somewhere in his logical thinking area, and he didn't let us pass. What he did however (how nice of him) was give us an address of the closest veterinarian in Calais, where we had to go to, let the vet in Belgium fax through the correct information (that it was done at 4 PM in the afternoon like normal people) and THEN we could come back.

Thank you so much mister asshole, we'll get right on that.

We did what he told us, but missed the boat, so we had to take the next one. This time, we DID get through, and we got the boat at 10:10 AM. Now, you might think, two hours, that's not too bad. They still have some time left on Saturday in London.

Well think again! When we arrived at Dover, the captain let us know that he couldn't get to the port since it was such bad weather and the wind wasn't going the right way. Dover port had closed.
So we would have to wait about an hour. Everyone waited, yet an hour later, he let us know that we would have to wait for yet another two hours.

This continued quite a while, and altogether, we were stuck on the boat for eight hours in total. Normally a boat from Calais to Dover takes about an hour and a half.
We arrived in England at 6PM.
Mind you, we couldn't get in because the weather was so bad, but we were still STUCK AT SEA in such bad weather! So the boat was rocking and shaking and water was splashed at the windows and I was terrified.

If the French guy at Calais had been so kind and told us "I know you probably let the dog get his vaccination on time, let me just fill in the time so you won't have any trouble in the UK", we would never had gotten into this. Never. Ever. Ever.
So thank you LOADS French dude of whom I do not know the name.

We arrived at the hotel in London at about 8, and quickly sped to the city after checking out our rooms. We just saw Picadilly Circus and Oxford Street and grabbed a bite in one of the cozy restaurants. (Pizza... it was delicious!)

Fortunately, Sunday was a grand success, as we went from one place to another, seeing so many stuff and walking so many miles that it should have been a record. We saw Tower Bridge, London Bridge, London Eye, Kensington Gardens, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Portobello Road and probably so much more but I can't seem to remember it all even though it was yesterday... Anyway, we saw loads.

London really is beautiful. It sucks that we had so little time...

All the photos should be available for everyone HERE! Not sure whether the London ones are already there, but they will be soon!

Anyway, we took the boat back at nine, and arrived one hour and a half later in France (MIRACLE!). We drove and drove and drove back home and got here around 2 AM, where I found myself passing out in bed exhausted ten minutes later.

And so, here I am, blogging about our crazy adventure in the North Sea.
Please don't let anything like that ever happen to me again.

~~~

location: 2012

mood: cold

music: ladida

I have been forced to join this silly letter-writing contest in our school with the theme "To My Fellow Filipinos - Uplifting the Filipino Spirit.". I just finished it! o.o And time check brought to you by Starbucks, it's like 2am XD

Yes, yes, yes, I am alive, and I AM VERY VERY busy with stupid University so no, don't expect any more posts from Sade. (audience: YAY!) Ehem.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help critic the stupid thing as HARSHLY as you can.. Being a sadist, I enjoy being downgraded and having my work shred to bits. So be as brutally, painfully honest as you can and help disappoint me and crush my hopes and dreams. (Although I have none SINCE I was forced in joining this thingy)

And oh, how be you Soetkin?



~Sade

P.S. I JUST read Pride and Prejudice. And I DARE SAY Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are fucking AWESOME. Totally reading old/classic/periodical novels now for the first time in my life because of that. o.o Update later. REMEMBER, BE HONEST!

To My Fellow Filipinos

Do you remember when our ancestors sacrificed their own lives in the simple belief that we, the Filipino people, could stand on our own? Do you remember Marcos’ regime, how we fought for democracy, for our Inang Bayan, and literally made history?

Of course you do. So why don’t we care?

Why are you stealing from your own country? Why are you content in being simply known as Manny Pacquiao’s country? Have we not fifty times more to offer?

Why do you hide behind your powers in office and knowingly abuse your fellow men; your own brothers, your own sisters, your own BLOOD?

Why do you commit acts of atrocities; kidnapping, beheading fellow Filipinos, innocent tourists, old missionaries? No matter how much you kill, you will NEVER gain power, the wealth in which you seek. No matter how much you hate and complain about our current state, admit it, most of us have done nothing relevant to help prevent it. You try to act when there are issues, yet you often lose interest because of being ningas kogon. Brothers, sisters, we need to act whilst there is still TIME.

You have prejudices on Ilokanos, Bisdak, Tagalogs, Ilongos, Waray, Muslims, Taglish. Yet when will you realize you are actually making fun of a Filipino, of YOURSELVES. Can not you see that you are worth MORE than what everyone thinks? What everyone assumes you to be?

Hypocrisy. Pride. Prejudice. Cowardice. Ignorance. STOP! These are NOT your values.

Indeed, one is obliged to love his or her country and be proud of whom he or she is, but at our current state, it’s unfortunate to say that the bad times outnumber the good. Often times, people, young and old, like I, can not help in feeling embarrassed or disappointed in being a Filipino. That is a fact. But a fact that you can CHANGE.

The world has virtually left you behind. I am sick of the dozen ‘revolutions’ that lead to nowhere, of our deaf leaders, of false hope and promise, of being an object of ridicule amongst foreign jokes, and of my fellow youth who is content in being NO ONE.

Aren’t you?

I alone can’t fully enhance the authentic Filipino that our heroes have tried so hard to attain and preserve for centuries. YOU and I, WE need to do it for the Filipino is at stake. The true Filipino is in a threat of extinction.

THINK. What is important? Aling Dionisya’s issues? Or the need for UNITY, REAL BAYANIHAN between rich and poor, TRUE PEACE amongst Muslims and Christians?

You need to start to love and accept who and what you are, the children of the marriage of the West and the East; for no one else can help you gain perspective but yourself.

Always remember that your existence as a Filipino is, in itself, a cause for celebration. You alone can show the world that Rizal, Bonifacio, Aguinaldo, Silang, Aquino, and all our bayanis did not die in vain, that they were right in believing that YOU are destined for greatness and potential, whichever part of the Philippines you were born.

If you can be so good and great during Ondoy, then you are capable of being GREATER even if there is no state of calamity. Do not wait for tragedies to happen to give you a cause for action.

Brown, White, Poor, Rich, Muslim, Christian, MILF, NPA, Abu Sayaf, Fil-Am, Chinoy, Josenian, Carolinian, UPian, Home-schooled, Farmer, Businessman, OFW, Man, Woman, Homosexual, Old, Young; we are ALL Filipinos, Filipinos who have lost sight of themselves, their purpose.

So before our values completely disappear, before we forget who we are, what we stand for, let us act now. REALIZE our issues and BE the TRUE Filipino our heroes have died for.

The road ahead is still long, and very difficult, but you are not alone. WE must have faith in God. In THE FILIPINO.

My fellow Filipinos, we WILL get there, towards a higher purpose, towards our goal. I hope you will realize all of this and I wish you all the luck in the world.

Let us make history once more.

YES WE CAN.

God bless you always.

(By Sade Andria Z. Braza)

P.S. Uh, Soetkin, or Steve, could you like add the counter link for me if it's already working? THANKS. MISS YOU BOTH.

YES YES YES, I realize it is not very inspiring. What can I say? I hate my own race XD

I told the person who basically harassed me to join that, "I DON'T want to join, I HATE the Filipinos." And she was like, "Fine, then write "Dear Filipinos, I hate you" just join."

SO there you have it. It might not BE as inspirational as the rules WANT, but I'm still somehow honest with it, and no way am I sucking up more than that to something I dislike >.< And basically don't believe in. You could say this is just for the sake of compliance so I don't care if I don't even win or get printed LOL.


P.P.S UPON MUCH prodding from my boyfriend, I've edited the entry and made it as inspirational as I possibly could without sucking up -.- Sigh. Fail.

P.P.P.S. ZOMFG WE JUST REACHED THE 1000 MARK OF VIEWERS!

Thank you so much to all our viewers AND readers AND commenters! (No, it's not a real word) We appreciate your support!

Virtual cake-y goodness for you as a token of our super gratitude! THANK YOU once again for reading our blog, though I'm quite sure you prefer me to shut up, and I hope you'll continue to support us, read us, comment, and spread the word!

God bless you! Enjoy!