I was looking at little knick knacks from the past today when these photos hit me right in the eye. Quiet unbelievable. But, has it really been more than six years now? Even the photo couldn't lie as it comes with the date: March 8, 2007. Phew! We're getting old. I peer at my 20-year old self and give an impish grin.I thought "Jeez! What an ugly duckling! Ha ha ha."

Welcome to the Surf Camp! c 2007. I hadn't been able to go back to the island so I'm not sure if this signage still stands on the same spot to date.

Date: March 8-ish 2007-ish

Location: The Surf Camp, Calicoan Island, part of Guiuan, Eastern Samar.

How did we end up there?: Management Research for the class of Prof. Dacuyan.  Interviewed a couple of people from Guiuan LGU and The Surf Camp because of the growing popularity of Surfing in the area.

We? So who were you with? - Groupmates: Edward, Orvisa, Julie Ann & Shella Mae. Collectively known as BORDZ.

Me, with Shella, Lian and Orviza.

BORDZ! Just saying that really makes me laugh. My memory of that trip is fairly sketchy. But I do remember it was nearly summer and very very hot.

Me, standing infront of the Church of the Immaculate Concepcion, Guiuan, Eastern Samar.

I had to debate with myself if I would include this photo of mine. Why I uncharacteristically raised my arm here I don't actually remember. This photo would have been great if I wasn't in it. But anyway, for good fun and memories sake I'm posting it here.*LOL*

That trip was more like making it by all by ourselves. We haggled with a landlady so that we would be able to stay at her house overnight for P200.00 (for all five of us, yes!). We roamed the streets of Guiuan at night and ate street food. We hitched a ride from Calicoan back to Guiuan because there were no scheduled trips anymore. On a dump truck, yes. Oh! Father wouldn't have approved.

All in all, it was an amazing trip. Even if we went home with really dark skin colors, it was all worth it. Sadly I don't know where the other photos have ended up. The swells were huge. Calicoan has a really beautiful beach front and the sights inside the camp were downright amazing. I got hold of some nice seashells as souvenirs.

This was 2007 and would have been my first encounter with a white-sand beach. Who wears sneakers to the beach?

XO,

Carissa, Forever BORDZ

"Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:

What if my leaves are falling like its own?"

Those lines may sound all too familiar. You may read the entire poem here. It's Percy Bysshe Shelley's 'Ode to the West Wind'. Those verses, along with a few others are my most favorite from that poem. A powerful line as I prefer to call it.

I will tell you how this poem makes me feel, but I hope you won't call me delusional. Or over-imaginative even.

Reading the 'Ode' makes me feel like I'm standing on the edge of a high cliff. With eyes closed I can feel the West Wind blowing, making dead leaves swirl all around me. The soft white cloth of my dress billows at its strength, my hair blown in organized disarray. And with all my hearts desire I wish I were the dead leaf, the wave or the cloud borne and blown by this untamed wind.

But I am not. I open my eyes instead and with all the strength I could muster, scream unto the invisible, everything that I keep and hold back inside me, to be spirited away to who knows where.

"Make me thy lyre..." Indeed, am I trying to flirt with you that you may play me with your gentleness?

"Even as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own?..." 

Now why does this part make me sad? As  if lamenting old-age while I'm still at the prime of my youth. Do I also have that dilemma?

I will give this a fitting close, with the final lines of the said Ode. Whatever you make of these lines, just reading them gives me goosebumps.

"The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

So I'm reading a book : One Day by David Nicholls.

Boom! It's probably old news for bookworms such as you because it's not even a new book. Well, I just got hold of a copy alright, alright?! And it's already been turned into a movie (starred by Anne Hathaway) so you probably already know the plot. However, nothing beats the details of the good ol' book so...I'm not even halfway through and it's looking beautiful. The book I mean and how it's written with such wit and smarts. So I've decided to take down notes about my most favorite lines. There'll be many, this being one.

It's the beginning of yet another wonderful month. And by the looks of it, it doesn't come short of challenges. Well then, I guess all it takes is for me to embrace the challenges with full confidence in myself and in my abilities. And to fight like there's no tomorrow. To give my best and let things take it's own course, knowing that in the end I would be given what I deserve.