This is the text that started it all (background is Keidis et al doing their thing).
A good friend texted me that on the evening of the 22nd explaining the original owner, another friend of ours, was unable to go, and instead of selling his two tickets opted to give it to him instead. It took a few texts back and forth to confirm he wasn’t shitting me before I said yes.
Like I said when we were abroad. Without you I wouldn’t do anything. Without you I wouldn’t go anywhere. I’d spend my days at home thinking about what I should do and where I should go, but I wouldn’t do it.
You make me go and do it. Without you I would just fade away without consequence. With you and with our beautiful perfect little boy, I finally have the family I had dreamed of, and consequently the people who will back me up whatever I do.
I love you baby. Thank you for being patient with me.
Well, long awaited by myself mostly.
I’m a vintage scooter / motorcycle geek, and Vietnam is scooter heaven. Here I’ll compile some of the interesting ones I found during our short stay in the Old Quarters, Ha Long Bay and the trip going there.
Let’s start with the most amazing find ever, an actual ‘i never thought i’d see one in my lifetime‘, Mobylette.
Here we are the morning two days ago on a Ford Transit Van. We’re off!
Their holiday was just about to end so we were just getting our first taste of something Vietnam is infamous for, their unbelievable traffic, the thousands upon thousands of motorcycles and the random way they all drive.
Two days ago was our first Hanoi day proper. As of writing this we had already gone to amazing Ha Long Bay, quite easily the most spectacular visual experience I’ve ever had. But before writing about that I wanna get the stuff we did our first day out the way.
First thing you’ll notice the moment you step out the door are the amazing buildings.
We’re in downtown Hanoi!
Until the 9th. Just had breakfast where Ace made a few friends. It’s Tet however, the ‘most important celebration of Vietnamese culture’ according to Wikipedia, so most of the shops I was told are closed.
The weather is a very Manila December like 20 degrees more or less and it’s almost like we never left.
Ok some random pics. Here’s a view from the balcony.
I don’t have anything planned to say, I just wanted to blog. Right now it’s Sunday and the wife and boy are at her parent’s house where all the relatives are as well. I will be joining them later in the afternoon or when I am summoned whichever comes first.
I wanted to say how happy I am at how things are at the moment. Of course everything can theoretically be better, but that’s just negativity talking. For sure though things can get worse, I’ve been there often enough to know that to be true.
It’s hard not to gush as a first time Dad would at Ace’s progression these past months. He’ll be 8 months this 15th and he is as round and cute as ever with the added ability of now being more interactive with those around him. He is just a step shy from starting to crawl after which he will eventually walk and then run, an event his months older cousin is starting to show as well. The minutes I spend with him urging him to crawl at our other empty condo with play tiles for this purpose, or just walking around the swimming pool make me happy and content. He has filled our lives with happiness just by being around and when I look at him I marvel not only at him but also at that amazing fact.
James Cameron called this the ‘greatest space movie ever’ or something like that. I am differing not because it isn’t great but I don’t think it’s a space movie. It’s a survival movie, and so therefore when that became evident I started comparing it to other survival movies, particularly one of the best of them all in my opinion, Castaway.
And what makes me use Castaway is because it had all the elements of a great survival movie. Tom Hank’s character is in a fantastically desperate situation that would make most of us want to give up. Not only are the challenges tremendous, he needs to take them on alone. So alone is he it is almost like he is in a vacuum for most of the movie.
Bullock’s character Ryan is clearly in such a bind. With emotional baggage from an earlier incident to boot, she has to fight a frightening array of random disasters until it came to a point where she had to make a choice – find it in her to bring on the super human effort needed to fight harder and harder odds, or just give up.
OTJ (On The Job), directed by Eric Matti, features Gerald Anderson and Joel Torre as leads. Joey Marquez, Piolo Pascual, Angel Aquino, Shaina Magdayao, Michael de Mesa and Leo Martinez are supporting cast to name a few.
