Abigail’s Blog

Everytime I get back from my vacation to Jamaica, I get really sad - almost "homesick". Like I’ve mentioned before, I might as well call JA my home away from home. Before leaving, I wasn’t as excited as Eliza and Megan - I was more of "eh, I’m going again, been there, done that". But now that I’m back - I miss it!!!

Eliza, Megan and I had a great time during our week stay - sailing, The Pork Pit, Scotchies, drive around and away from town, night swimming in the ocean, Margaritaville, Street Dance Party, etc. The view from our room was amazing (the perks of getting VIP treatment!). The guys at the bar made the best drinks - hell, there’s another named after me (just ask for the A.B.I - "someone" wanted to deviate from everyone by spelling my name differently). The best part of the vacation was we were able to not just hang out and party but also do a lot of relaxation (a lot of relaxation I might add).

Sigh… I miss everything about JA!

I swear - I think JA might as well be my second home these days. In about a half hour, the car service is going to pick up me, Eliza and Megan to take us to the airport for our flight out to Jamaica.

We’re all staying in the same resort that I’ve stayed in the last three times. However, this will be Eliza and Megan’s first time both in the resort and in Jamaica. As long as we’ve all known each other, this is the first time we’ve all gone on a vacation together. Fun times! Fun times!

I received this link via email from one of my friends who can appreciate the humor in this. This is too funny, I had to post it. Don’t they teach them the lyrics to the song? or proper grammar? or enunciation/pronounciation? Two words - speech class!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leW9nn8ZCAM 

Actual lyrics to the song Kiss Me by Sixpence None The Richer:

Kiss me out of the bearded barley

Nightly, beside the green, green grass

Swing, swing, swing the spinning step

You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress.

[Chorus:]

Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight

Lead me out on the moonlit floor

Lift your open hand

Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance

Silver moon’s sparkling

So kiss me

Kiss me down by the broken tree house

Swing me upon its hanging tire

Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat

We’ll take the trail marked on your father’s map

[Chorus (repeat)]

I just so happen to flip through TV channels when I noticed that Spike Lee was given an MTV award. I couldn’t quite remember the name of the award, but it was their version of the Oscars’ Lifetime Achievement Award. He was given the award for his work (writing, directing and acting) on the movie, Do The Right Thing. Great movie - and I think I may have written a paper for it back in my college days (probably for my Sophomore Core - Social Responsibility class… come to think of it, that was a pretty good class too).

Spike Lee wrote this movie in 1987 and was later released in 1989. Yet 17 years later, the issues addressed in Do The Right Thing still exist among us. Not sure if these issues really still do exist? Take a look at another great movie released in 2005 - Crash. Two movies written over 10 years apart but are discussing the same issues. To quote Spike Lee in his acceptance speech - "These issues are still with us today. So how much progress have we made?".

Memorial Weekend felt like one big, long day…

05/26/06, Friday - The usual Happy Hour with the guys and running around to get everyone’s change of clothes for the night and for the next day. They all crashed at my place with the intentions of waking up early the next day to head down the shore and not get caught in traffic.

05/27/06, Saturday - Leaving early to go down the shore did not quite work. Luckily, we didn’t catch traffic - this was quite unusual. Spent the whole day down the shore. As much as I’m not a big fan of the Jersey shore (I got spoiled with the beautiful beaches of the Caribbean), I had a good time of not doing anything. All we did was lay on the beach, catch some sun and drink. Decided to hit a Cuban restaurant before heading back home. Exhausted!

05/28/06, Sunday - Rochelle’s bro, at the last minute, decided to have a barbecue. Good reggae music all afternoon and all night, drinks, drinks, more drinks and great food - can’t beat jerk chicken on the grill! It’s been so long… The barbecue lasted ’till the wee hours of the morning.

05/29/06, Monday - Another last minute barbecue. I guess this is what happens when you have more than one group of friends - there’s always something to do. Water gun fights, dominoes, water balloon fights (which resulted a toe injury, bummer!), soccer and "fake" baseball.

I’m just now trying to recuperate from this long weekend, and the week is half way over…

The crew - myself, Rigo, Joey, Andres, Omar, Tone, Fred, Marco and Chris. Whenever someone asks me who exactly are in the crew, I sometimes forget one or two people. Not sure why when there’s not that many of us. Probably because there are other people that also hangs with us from time to time. I’ve known this guys for years now and we’ve all shared so many things. Everytime we’re around each other, there’s always a hilarious story to tell - never a dull moment. Our incidents almost always result a new term for the crew - the "Pincho" crew, the "Vampire" crew, "PBA", "BMW", "Inca", "Magic" to name a few…. all have been from some incident/story we experienced.

It seems like the two things that are preoccupying everyone in the crew are planning for Rigo’s surprise bday party and our trip to Bahamas. Yes unfortunately, we haven’t quite finalized plans for that trip yet. The only thing final is that we have all decided that we are going - that’s the easy part. We’ve been having issues with coordinating our schedule and vacation days. Making this trip for the end of July was moved to mid-July, which was then changed due to scheduling conflicts. So now, we’re all shooting for late August. Hopefully, everyone’s schedules are clear for this time and everyone will be given the go-signal from work. Reservations are pending vacation approval. I’m thisclose to losing my patience with planning and coordinating. But then again, if I don’t take the initiative of coordinating, it won’t get done. Guess I’ll just have to be more patient and remember that not everyone’s as lucky as me when it comes to work’s flexibility with vacation schedule.

As for Rigo’s surprise bday party - it looks like everything’s in order. The guys got everything they need to get for his party. His major surprise gift is all packed and wrapped. Just a few minor details are needed for it, which should be done in a day and I’ve already made rooms reservations at the hotel. Only thing needed are his T&A cakes. Being that the party is this Friday, I might just start baking the cakes on Thursday and decorate it on Friday. Hell, I might just even do everything on Friday. We’re all looking forward to this Friday, everything we have in store are hilarious… Guess that’s a few more stories to tell, a few more terms about to be pegged…

I realize that I completely missed your bday… I only remembered a few days ago - two days after your actual bday. One of those things where we we get so preoccupied with so many things from all our daily "hustle and bustle" (that shouldn’t be an excuse). I need to remember to stop by your site this weekend. I may be a week late, but better late than never - right? I’m sure you understand - 2 hours late to a party only 3 blocks away, 4 hours late to a barbecue. So many memories…

Happy Birthday Ray! Rest in peace and I miss you…

Not much going on… Just a little bored at home, relaxing before I have to head out for work. 

Crew and I did our usual Friday night thing last week, and it was also good to see Verdict again. Although I’ve kept in touch with Par and Mas, I haven’t seen them since CBIP. Good music, loads of fun, lots of dancing, and "Turn Your Lights Down Low" (thanks for the song!). Only thing I wasn’t too happy about was waking up the next day with a really bad cold - thanks a lot Par! LOL…. *note the sarcasm*. Plus, it didn’t quite help that I decided to still go to Club Nest with the rest of the crew, Saturday night. Needless to say, I was sick as a dog the following day. Lesson learned? If you’re already feeling crappy during the day, it’s best not to go dancing that night…. not that I didn’t think about that beforehand…. *again, note the sarcasm*. My excuse? We were all obligated to go because it was a bday party.

I suppose the crew and I will have to hit up Marco’s restaurant for dinner tomorrow night. We haven’t been to his resto since our Christmas dinner, and it’s been awhile since we’ve all seen him. Some friends we are huh?…

Eliza, Megan and I are looking forward to our Jamaica trip. 7 nights and 8 days of fun and sun. June 22nd still seems so far away… Now if the guys and I can just decide on the dates for our Bahamas trip. Are we still shooting for end of July?

This was supposed to be the year wherein Eliza, Marc, Megan , my crew/the guys/Pincho Crew (however I refer to them or they to me), my brother and I were to visit Cebu and spend the summer there. Then plans started changing. It started off with Eliza thinking of doing two trips this summer - Cebu and Jamaica, which quickly changed to her wanting to just go to Jamaica. Being that I was in JA 3 times last year, at this point, I was willing to go back there with my cousin AND still go to Cebu with my bro and friends.

Then, I received a bulletin from my firm that Ernst & Young personnel has been restricted from traveling to the Phils., until further notice, due to political instability. What the hell?!?!? I understand there has been some political turmoil from the Muslim terrorists there, but I would like to think Cebu’s not even close to being affected by this.

Nevertheless, I extended this news to my cousin and friends, which made it easier for everyone to completely change our travel plans for the summer. The concern was not so much the fear of the "political instability" (I still think that it’s hyped up too much), but more on the possibility of traveling back with hitches. There shouldn’t have been any setbacks, minor or otherwise, if this was the time we were meant to go. That, and (I hate to say this) the interest quickly shifted from going to Cebu to going someplace else.

So now, all our travel plans have changed… Since Eliza and Megan didn’t get to go to Jamaica with the guys and I last summer, and Eliza’s always wanted to go to JA, we decided that the three of us take a trip there in June. So now I’m off to making travel arrangements to go back to JA with the girls. Funny how when I was just there over the holidays, I told the people there that I wasn’t coming back anytime soon - and now, I’m going to be there in a couple of months. And as far as my travel plans with the guys go - it looks like we’re headed for Bahamas either in July or August. That’s another travel arrangement I have to make.

Although I’m a little disappointed that we had to postpone our plans to go to Cebu, for the time being - MAN, I LOVE THE CARIBBEAN!!!

• The physical distance and schedule conflicts between my cousin and I makes it harder for her and I to hang out and spend time together. It used to be as easy as picking up the phone and saying "let’s go", but now we actually have to schedule a time.
• I’m so glad I brought my ipod to work, I can at least blast my music.
• I noticed that in my ipod playlist, even though I have a variety of music genres, the most songs I have are reggae.
• I had a great time at the Ernst & Young Winterfest party  a few weekends ago. Food, open bar and good music had everyone going. CEO of the company spent time with us and passed along some cigars.
• I think Curling is one of the stupidest games in the Winter Olympics - gliding a rock, scraping ice with brooms???
• Had a lot of fun with co-workers and friends for Happy Hour last week - dancing and drinking. Got to know some of Verdict and have been in touch with them since then.
• Still need to have dinner with my friends for Joey’s bday.
• Hanging out with friends tonight - Chris is in town from Germany for only a week, so everyone’s coming out tonight. Another friend is celebrating a bday tomorrow, so everyone will be out then too.
• Need to remember to follow up with my travel agent for tickets/prices for trip to Cebu this summer.
• Also need to remember to follow up on my charity/fundraiser - need to get more info from orphanage for the charity when I go back to Cebu.
• I should try to swing another vacation - before or after my trip to Cebu.
• I’m so sick of this cold weather. And the snow! My truck needs another wash after this snow storm.
• Have to sync up my Smartphone to my PC… it’s been awhile, and there’s quite a few new info in my phone already.
• "I cannot be with you if you can’t stimulate my mind. You need to be able to bring an intelligent conversation into the table." Do I need to carry around that sign? LOL

Enough ramblings already….