last weekend we had a major production release at work, but since my project wasnt due til october, i escaped and jumped on the first plane out of town. destination: chicago.

on the way to o'hare, i had a brief stopover at mccarran, i was surprised to see slot machines scattered around the waiting lounges, i must admit, it distracted me from finding the next boarding gate hehe. another surprising thing i discovered is that our mike phones still work outside the country; that means i'm still reachable by the office.

first thing i did when i arrived at my friend's place was to unlock my new iphone which was delivered earlier that week. of course after making it work, i was all set to explore all the places i saw on the movies ^_^.

i feasted my eyes on the breath taking architectural highlights of the city, went on a speed boat ride along lake michigan, and a shopping spree at the magnificent mile; met up with old friends and had a great time sampling the godiva cheesecake; climbed the tall towers and tried my hand on window washing at hancock. rode the double decker bus and got lost at union station; watched the giant pixelated faces spurt water at millenium park and saw the skyline reflecting on the bean; craned my neck watching the bears game from afar and the cranberries in the celtic festival at grant park; my favorite building has got to be the chicago tribune, i love its spires and i went around it looking for the pieces of rocks from different parts of the world. i found the one from fort santiago. =) my trip was too short, i need to return so i could see shedd and adler and wicker, and of course, try the nightlife.. hmm, when's the next release?

going back, i had a connecting flight in seattle and went aboard the smallest aircraft i ever hopped on. it consisted of two cramped seats on each side, and around 30 rows i guess, with propellers on its wings. good thing i'm still in one piece.

next stop: dallas.

two weeks ago i was chatting with someone who used to be my friend and he said that he wanted to be happy, and that for him meant he had to find the person he wants to spend the rest of his life with. i am insensitively bitter or immune to those things so i told him that happiness is overrated, we all do what we can and it has to be good enough, if it isn’t good enough then it has to do. i mean really, what percentage of the world’s population is actually "happy". it’s so subjective and fleeting, i can go hug my iPhone and say "wee, i’m happy" and then suddenly weep coz i don’t have it with me right now, or i could eat my favorite ice cream and sigh "happiness in a cup, at last" then whine about all the calories i would have to burn afterwards. it’s absurd to be dependent on others for your own peace of mind. i remember some years ago when i asked that same question to a friend "are you happy?", and i got this reply: "just contented". maybe that’s the key - to be contented with what we have but then again i don’t think man was ever created to be content, otherwise we would have not invented the wheel or the microwave. there’s always room to innovate even if everything is working just fine. we are always in search of something better, something more meaningful, a purpose, a reason..

so today i sent this message to yet another friend "life is sad", only because i’m like a sponge that absorbs all the negative energy around me, and when my cup overflows, i would need someone to remind me of my own words in the first place. he retorted that just days ago i was doing great and loving life then he asked what was bothering me. i couldn’t really say anything. for me, everything is a choice. i could choose to lament all the woes of my life and enumerate every reason i should be grieving but then where would that lead me? pumped up with tequila or contemplating to jump off the roof which is plain silly - i’m done with being angsty, it used to be fahionable in college, to wear your heart out on a sleeve and be an idealist who marches on the streets wanting the world to listen. the world is deaf, its a body of mass revolving around the sun. it is numb and neither will it stop turning when you fall down and hurt yourself. you will have to be strong enough to dust yourself, step back into it and get lost in its blinding speed.

life is too short to waste on melodrama, there’s the tv for that, for everything else there’s mastercard haha

went to alberta for the labor day weekend, it was a gruelling 12 hour ride! visited the rockies, the town of banff, had a glimpse of the breathtaking lakes - louise, peyto, and maligne. rode the ice explorer and trekked on the icefields, had a tour of calgary, spent the night at jasper, rediscovered the dinosaur ruins at drumheller, and finally on the way back to bc, we visited the okanagan region and sampled the wineries of kelowna. we skipped
the stops were pure nature overload. can't help but be awed by the vastness of canada's land area. it's a good thing the weather cooperated to make the long weekend more enjoyable. the 3 days, 4 nights trip was well worth it despite being sleep deprived and broke afterwards. ^_^

next stop: vancouver island