Can You Hear Me?

Hey so I'm sitting in a different internet cafe. Though it's not really a cafe. There's no coffee or anything. Just maybe 25 other computers occupied by teenagers playing Warcraft III and other cool games like that. I feel at home. Heh.

It's noisy. That's one thing about the Philippines. It's a noisy place. No Smog checks or anything like that either. Right now I hear a bunch of people yelling. Loud music blaring from somewhere. and some really loud spray thing.... like one of those high powered water blaster things. In the morning at home, I wake up to people pounding metal into shape for a thing they're putting on top of the wall. Like a security thing. Long sharp poles. You get the idea. At night while trying to fall asleep, Every minute or so, I hear motor vehicles pass the house. They are LOUD.

The only time it's ever really quiet is... well... never. I'm looking forward to my trip to the countryside. My mom's hometown is more rural, so less noise, more peace. /sigh

And this internet cafe is in a mall. NCCC Mall Davao to be specific. There's maybe 6 malls here. A lot different from the Antelope Valley where we have 1. Each mall pretty much has the same stuff. A grocery store, retail outlets, two food courts, internet cafes, etc. And... they're noisy.

Again... I miss everyone. Pretty homesick and all. Hope everyone's doing well. I'm really trying hard to put up a blog every chance I get.

PS: LOST has been INSANE.
Cy

So... I'm here... in the homeland.

Hey all you crazy viewers out there. Yep. It's me. Cy. And I finally found some time to sit at an internet cafe and type out a Blog.

It's Thursday the 27th at 7:40pm as I write this, and if you look at the bottom of this blog, you'll see what time this was posted U.S. time.

My flight:
From the time leaving LAX to arriving at DVO (Davao Int'l Airport), I was traveling for 26 hours. Yikes. It was exhausting.

Today I enrolled (sorta) for classes at Ateneo de Davao University. It was confusing and I didn't really understand what was going on. I'm still not done with the process and I guess that I have to finish it sometime by next week.

So far, it's been pretty good here in the Philippines. I'm kinda homesick, but it's all good. I miss a lot of my friends out there in the U.S.. I miss my mama. I miss everyone. It's crappy. But hey, It's a good experience out here for me, eh?

Ugh, I miss playing WoW too. I know, still the nerd :P but there's people I know on there now too who I miss talking too. And my priest is 2 levels away from 60 and is a Master Sergeant now too! Man! I wanna play it so bad.

Wireless DSL should be coming to the house sometime in the next week or two if everything works out. It'll be compatible with my dad's apple laptop, but when he leaves in 4 weeks, I don't know if it'll work out with the computer we have here now (my old piece of junk we sent here last year).

This is like my only communication with everyone back home. I've got a cell phone, but it's hecka expensive for me to call anyone and sending texts back to the U.S. costs 15 pesos... My phone has 500 pesos worth of "Load" on it (think prepaid)... well it had 500 pesos. Eh. Oh and the exchange rate here? 55 pesos to a dollar. So... do the math... one text to the states is like 30 cents or something around there.

Well... I don't have a lot of time to write all this out... It's costing 15 pesos to be on this computer right now for one hour and between writing this blog, checking my myspace, and responding to emails, time is something I don't have a lot of these days. Keep sending me texts though, that's encouraging. And if you have the money, a phone call is nice too. It doesn't cost me a dime (or a peso... i guess)... but it might cost you a pretty penny. If you do want to contact me... my cell number here is 011-63-906-218-1454. Good luck with that.

When we do get internet back at the house, I'll be able to put pictures up, which I know is all you guys want to see. So until next time, just know, I'm safe. I miss everyone. I'm having a good time. I'm learning tagalog. And I am eating. haha.

Alrighty then.
Cy

PS: One of the "comforts of home" that I have right now is the Complete First Season of Lost. (The TV show). The Slater-Lunsfords bought it for me before my trip. So I'm watching it... and I'm hooked. It's a crazy show. Right now, my mom (who is still in Cali) is watching the second season of The O.C.. When my dad leaves in a couple weeks, He's gonna bring home Lost and my mom is going to send The O.C. with some friends who are staying at our house right now and are coming back to Davao in December. We're trading. How funny is that.

Ok, I'm out for real.
Cy (again)

"Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends"

I'm listening to Fall Out Boy right now and that's one of their songs of the new album.

I think it's a great title... for a song... for life. You know?

Last Friday, I gave my two-weeks notice to Anchor Blue. It went well. My manager was sad though. She was like, "Awww Cy, we're gonna miss you for the Holiday season!"

I felt bad.

Just got in from watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Man. This movie is crazy. If you have any kind of spiritual beliefs, or even if you don't... this movie gets you thinking. It has some nice jump parts in it too :)

So anyway, on friends...

It's interesting to find, when you take a second to think about it, who your true friends really are, and who are just "friends".

I use to be able to say that I have a lot of friends. However with that, I think that the word "friend" loses some of its significance with each friend I make.

Let me explain. In high school, I thought I had a lot of friends. And don't get me wrong, I still have friends from High School...

Hmm... maybe I should try to define what a friend is first. To me, I think a friend is someone on whom you can truly rely on - Spiritually, Emotionally, Physically, etc. A friend is someone who would go with you through anything.

Restricting my list of "friends" to that definition, I'd probably be able to count how many true friends I have on two hands.

I'm finding that as life goes on, you start to see who exactly your true friends are and how much you really need them.

I have this fear in the back of my mind, though. When I was younger, my set of "friends" was different from the friends I have now. Five years from now, will I have the same friends? Will my current friends be at the same level of trust and commitment in the future as they are now? Or will that be replaced? Time can only tell, I suppose.

Interesting to think about...

This thursday, I'm going to Knott's Berry Farm with a bunch of my friends from school. This little clique, if you'd call it that, has been together since my Freshman year of high school and we've all remained pretty good friends, some of which I am closer to than others. It's odd though, in this group of friends, there are some things that I can tell some of them that I can't tell others and vice versa. It's like some kind of double life within our group of friends. I don't understand it sometimes. For instance, there are friends in this group that I feel comfortable talking about spiritual things with and there are some that I don't.

Hard to explain I guess.

Then, there's my friends from Church. It seems like they are an entirely different breed.

Eh... friendships. It's an incredible concept.

I can't imagine life without friends. Without fellowship. Without going to some family restaurant to order Chili Cheese Fries and talk about "The Alliance".

I'm thinking that when I go to the Philippines, I really see what's valuable in my life... (who and what).

meh.
Cy

It's Been One Week...

...since you looked at me
Cocked your head to the side and said "I'm angry"
Five days since you laughed at me saying
"Get that together come back and see me"
Three days since the living room
I realized it's all my fault, but couldn't tell you
Yesterday you'd forgiven me
but it'll still be two days till I say I'm sorry


Heh, yeah it's been a FULL week since I've last posted. Mainly it's because only Justin reads this, and I got tired of trying to update it every night, searching myself for something remotely interesting to post.

Well, the countdown to the Philippines is at 17 Days. Yeah, that's pretty insane. I'm excited, reserved, nervous, anxious, scared, and fired-up all at the same time. It's quite an odd mix of feelings.

Tomorrow, I have to put in my two weeks notice to Anchor Blue. This was the first job I've ever had, needless to say, I've been attached to it. I've become acustomed to my managers, Maria, Rita, Ani, and Santiago; My co-workers, Jordan, Brian, Amanda, Danielle, Bianca, Veronica, and the ROPs. It's been tons of fun though and a great first time experience for me. I'm hoping when I get back from the Philippines in March that I'll get rehired. From the comments I've gotten from my managers, it seems like I've done an awesome job working there...

No updates on HOBY news yet... but more on that as I stay in contact with Lisa...

Yesterday, I signed up for a CapitalOne Student Platinum Credit Card. Got approved, waiting for it in the mail. Yay for starting up good credit!

My bank account is growing, that's nice. Tomorrow I get paid! Yesss....

Last Sunday, I actually tithed with a CHECK. I felt so... old.

Next Thursday, I plan on going to Knott's Berry Farm's Halloween Haunt with my really close friends Justin, Heather, Justin, and Emily... It should be fun.

I'm hungry, so this is it for today, expect more updates soon :)

Cy