Jay Lagare – Page 236

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2006 June 25 Anilao, Batangas

By Jay Lagare on Sunday, June 25, 2006

Just came back from a day dive trip with Rhichie. It was supposed to be a reunion of sorts of my advanced open water (AOW) classmates but at the last moment, everyone begged off. Only Rhichie and I were left but we decided to push through anyway. We drove to Aquaventure and met up with Norman, our AOW instructor, for the dive. With him were Seema, a new diver, and Kiko, our underwater videographer for the day.

First dive, at Mainit, was hohummm. The vis was great but there was nothing much to see. The second dive was more exciting. Waay more. We dived Layag-layag but we encountered a very strong tidal downcurrent. It was so strong that the fishes were no longer minding our presence and were just swimming to keep their position. It’s so interesting observing them up close and motionless. But the current was so strong that we had to essentially abort the dive. As we ascended, air bubbles we were making were no longer rising up but were staying around the depth they were made. It was quite a sight: thousands of bubbles filled the water. After surfacing, the boat came to pick us up and delivered us back to the resort for lunch.

After lunch, Seema left for Manila while the rest of us rested for the third dive. Just as soon as we prepared for the third dive, it started to rain and I was growing a bit lazy about taking it. But I decided to anyway since I’ve already committed to it. And good thing too because we saw not one but two blue spotted rays, two rock fishes, and some weird bottom-dwelling winged fish. That dive definitely made my day.

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Slide For Life

By Jay Lagare on Sunday, June 18, 2006

I was supposed to play airsoft yesterday morning. Unfortunately, when I checked my battery, I found out it didn’t charge even though I left it supposedly charging all night. I was left with a non-functional AEG. So I decided to instead just go watch my friends play with the guest team, a largish airsoft team. When I got there, everyone were gearing up and started playing soon after. The games were skirmish-type BUT with respawn (yeech!). People keep rotating into the game and they were just pumping pellets everywhere. All regrets I had for being unable to play evaporated right then and there.

Wasted morning? Not quite. Beside the game area, there’s a rappelling tower with a slide attached to it. It had been under construction before but now people were using it: rappelling and sliding down. Naturally, we got interested. As luck would have it, my friends know the people facilitating the activity. So we went up the tower and slid down. Quite a rush since it was my first time. I suppose, though, it could have been more fun if we didn’t put on a safety harnesses. Risk sure is a strong drug :D

General

The Constant Gardener

By Jay Lagare on Sunday, June 11, 2006

The Constant Gardener based on the book The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre is a story of love and revenge that pits Justin (Ralph Fiennes), a minor diplomat (and hobby gardener) against the evil pharmaceutical industry. The movie’s cynical view of the pharmaceutical industry reflects our own. Okay my own :P But seeing prices of medicine in Thailand to be way less expensive than in the Philippines, could you really blame me?

The movie is set mainly in Africa and begins with the death of Justin’s wife. His wife was an activist who had been involved in activities aimed at the pharmaceutical industry and he suspects that this was the reason for her death. Flashbacks abound as he slowly unravels the conspiracy that led to her death. He ultimately tracks down who was responsible. This he accomplished with great difficulty due to the power of these people. But in the end, he finally gains a measure of bittersweet revenge and deliverance.

A good movie with superb acting from Rachel Weisz as the activist wife and, to a lesser extent, Fiennes as the soft-spoken and reserved guy who is raging underneath. The director is the one who directed City of God and you can also see his realism style (think news footage) here.

Rating: 4/5

General

2006 June 7 to 10 Bangkok, Thailand

By Jay Lagare on Saturday, June 10, 2006

Just came back from Bangkok for meetings with a client and some partners (and partners-to-be). Actually, I was just there to accompany Migs and provide technical consultation.

We arrived wednesday and spent the time walking around a mall called MBK. It’s main attraction seems to be a HUGE mobile communications shopping area. While walking around, I noticed that there are MANY pretty Thai women (heck there are even some pretty Thai men!). Bangkok was nice already! Later in the evening, Migs interviewed a Thai who is interested in working with the company.

Thursday was all meetings. We met with the client, met with a partner, had lunch, met with another partner, then another. I mostly listened since technical issues didn’t come up. But it was still hectic and quite tiring. We ended late in the evening and simply crashed when we got back to the hotel.

General

Coraline

By Jay Lagare on Tuesday, May 30, 2006

“As the first stars came out Coraline finally allowed herself to drift into sleep, while the gentle upstairs music of the mouse circus spilled out onto the warm evening air, telling the world that summer was almost done.”

The last line of Coraline, as I finished it on the flight back from Bohol, seemed to me to be a fitting end to a great summer. I was able to watch backlogged TV shows, watched some movies, read a book or two, played airsoft, went to some beaches, even dived. I wasn’t able to cook, climb, nor go karting but I guess I can always put them off for the next summer. But I’m digressing, back to the book.

As everyone probably already know, Coraline is a children’s book with a twist. A dark twist as you would expect from Gaiman. It’s the typical premise of a children’s book: bored kid(s) having imaginary adventures that become all to real. But Gaiman was able to make it dark and creepy (a crawling severed white hand with loooong nails, now if that doesn’t raise goosebumps). It plays on every child’s (and who wasn’t?) fears (spiders, rats, etc) and multiplies them tenfold (the vividness of your imagination plays a factor). But most importantly, he was able to make it quite entertaining.

Rating: 4/5