28 - The APC Speaks Outing

Foreword:

I have already made this blog post way during my term break, I just have not published it for some odd reason. Also, this is going to be a LONG story. For those who love to read, you are in for a treat (I suppose). Oh, and this blog post originally had a lot of grammar errors, but I have already corrected some (if not, all) of the grammatical errors here.

September 12, 2015—the best Saturday that I have ever had. This was the day where my fellow members of APC Speaks and I went to Tagaytay. It was a day full of fun and friendship. Literally, a whole day bonding with friends and the other members of our organization. Now let me start from the beginning.

The day started out just like any other day, I got dressed and I headed for Asia Pacific College. Until, on the way to APC, I met Luis Ginno, a fellow member APC Speaks that I admired a lot. He was carrying two or so bags that were filled with bottles soft drinks for the trip, and I immediately noticed that I did not have anything to bring for the trip. Upon arrival, Luis went to Select and I headed straight for the ATM at the first floor to withdraw some cash for the trip and for snacks. I went to the cafeteria first and I saw Osh (my favorite member of APC Speaks) along with other members of APC Speaks. I asked him to watch my stuff for a few minutes and I quickly ran to Select to buy some soft drinks and snacks for the trip.

I passed time by talking to my high school friend, John Ryan Miranda, in the cafeteria until he saw that Osh and the others were leaving. I said goodbye to him and headed out to the parking lot, and I passed the time by talking to Benj and Kenard until the others called our attention so we can pick which vans we were supposed to be in. We had 2 vans for the trip: one was this comfortable and large van and the other was this smaller van. The seniors have decided to make things fair by making us switch vans on the ride home. So those who got the large van in the morning will ride the small one going home. The seniors then asked us to pick a piece of paper, which will ultimately decide which van we would get to ride in. Unfortunately, I got the small van—van number 2. At first, I was sad because I would have to ride in the small van, but I soon realized that we would have to ride the big and comfortable van going home. This was a plus for us because there is nothing better than riding a big and comfortable van after a long day of activities.

A few minutes later, we got in the vans and we were ready to start our adventure.

On the trip there, I had to sit next to one of the best public speakers in our organization, Betina Dela Cruz, and the trip going to People's Park in the Sky went by smoothly. I mean, everything was picture-perfect. The weather was fine, there were no clouds in the sky. (Although the climate was rather hot, I was still having a fun time eating food in the van.)

Upon arrival, we saw Osh waiting outside our van. My fellow "vanmates" joked on how Osh looked like a cute kid who is lost and is currently looking for his mommy. I do not know why they joked about this, but I laughed along with them :)

Osh does look like a cute lost kid. Wow, the others were right.

We got out of the van and then, seemingly out of nowhere, a thousand (2 or 3) espasol vendors approached us. It was as if we were meat and the espasol vendors we the tigers. They approached us and they did not stop asking us to buy their espasol. Fortunately, I got away and I headed towards Kenard and Benj past the ticket booth. Fast forward to when we were on the top of the mountain and we unpacked our things and started eating.

I was fooling around with the selfie stick that someone had lent me and I was using it to take weird pictures (heck, I even took a picture of what was inside the trash can for some reason). I mostly took pictures of the landscape and of the Taal lake. (I did not take a single selfie, mind you. I hate taking pictures of myself.)

Oh my God, I can smell the trash just by looking at the picture. Blergh.

Grass, trees, leaves. Green, all green.

Standing near the edge of a cliff to take a picture of a tree at the edge of a cliff and a large body of water with some big rocks.
What could possibly go wrong?

I have to admit, I was a little scared because I stood near an unprotected cliff, and when I said "unprotected" I meant that there were no fences, nor barricades, nor any form of safety to protect you from falling over the cliff and plummeting to your death, really. If some force had pushed me off that cliff, I would most definitely not be here making this blog post. Thankfully, nothing happened (although Benj almost fell over).

We ate (and ate again) and everything was fine there; unless, of course, that time when that old lady shouted "mga madadamot kayo, mga Satanas!" (or something like that). I cannot really recall what she said because it had been almost a week since the trip, but I know it had the words "madadamot" and "Satanas." Also, while we were near the big statue of Jesus, Benj accidentally slipped and he injured himself. Thankfully (again) the injury was not a major one, just a scrape.

After that, we went to our second destination: Mushroom Burger. I was surprised that the place also served other non-mushroom and burger related items, but I still ordered a melted cheese burger with mushroom fries. I have to say, their mushroom fries were the best "fries" I have ever had. After a quick meal, we went to our final destination in Tagaytay: Picnic Grove.

Once we got there, Osh pulled this huge horse mask out of his bag. I remember I held on to the horse mask while we were heading towards the horse range nearby. Honestly speaking, I was shocked to see that a horse ride would cost 350 Pesos just for 1 hour. However, I saw that you could ride along with a partner. Ken managed to ask Gila to ride the horse with him (those two have been talking together ever since we were at People's Park in the Sky). Sadly, I did not have someone to ride a horse with (mostly because I was single and that no girl has ever liked me, but that is another story for another day).

Disappointed (over the fact that I was reminded that I was single) and nearly broke, I headed towards the part of Picnic Grove where the ziplines are. Unfortunately, riding the ziplines cost more than riding on a horse, so I just hung out with the guys—Luis, Zept, Jess, and one other senior—and I followed them.

I sat beside Luis and the members were having some sort of discussion. I did not talk much because I was still bummed about the fact that I was single (and that I have never had a girlfriend, and all those teenage edgy things) and that I was not able to ride a horse with someone. I zoned out for a while until I noticed Osh was standing beside me. He pointed out a cloud in the sky that stood out for some reason. I do not know why, but the cloud interested me.

My camera (a Nokia Lumia 900) does not work well under places with very low light.

I do not remember much, but the others talked and talked while I slowly drifted into my imagination. I do not know what I imagined, but I am pretty sure it was about some Russian dude kicking an empty water bottle in the middle of a street. My mind works in weird ways, do not judge me.

Anyway, it got dark and we headed back to the vans. I saw Kenard again and we got to ride the big and comfortable van, which was perfect because I was itching to get some sleep. Oddly enough, I was not able to get some sleep at first and I just ended up playing some songs from Air Supply (I also listen to other artists, I do not just listen to Girls' Generation) and I slowly slid into a deep sleep. When I woke up, it was already raining and we were at Magallanes, heading for Asia Pacific College.

I got off the van and walked home in the rain. Honestly, I did not even bother to bring an umbrella because the MSN Weather app told me that it was going to be sunny all day, and I was surprised to see that it was raining heavily. I decided to just not cover myself from the rain and headed towards Gate 3 from APC. It was already past 8 p.m. and I knew that it was close to impossible to come by a jeepney headed for FTI, as most of them are already packed by the time they reach Magallanes.

I was sad—for some unknown reason—and I was singing in the rain about some song about being sad and singing in the rain. I was walking until a car passed by and stopped over PHILSCA and a tall man got out of the car and waved at me. I was shocked to see that it was actually Lloyd and Betina was driving the car.

Thankfully they were kind enough to give me a ride and I was able to "hop on" (sabit) to a nearby jeepney that was headed for FTI. I got home safe and sound and, by the time I got home, I was shivering and I was probably soaking wet from the rain.

Despite what happened at Picnic Grove and the rain, it was the best trip I have ever had. I mean, honestly, a full day with your friends and other members of your organization out of town? What could be better?

At the end of the day, no matter what happened, I genuinely had the best time of my life and none of it would be possible without the help of my friends at APC Speaks—the best organization/club that I have ever joined :)