Sunday, October 30, 2005

Roy Allan S. Bugaoan, 1977 - 2005

Today a very good friend, a great musician, took his life. He was 28 years old.

Roy, a son, a brother, a bandmate, a husband, and recently, a father, decided to end his life. His close friends and bandmates found no reason for him to. He had a stable job as a professor, he was taking his Masters, was happily married and had a son this year, he was gigging around town. It seemed everything was going for him. I've met people who've had things worse.

What was it that pushed him off the edge? This thought kept nibbling at me, keeping me awake at night, keeping me baffled each time I thought about it. I've asked around and a common item those around him mentioned was that he and his dad had clashes. Was this enough for him to neglect the fact that his new family needed him?

I don't think so. Nothing is reason enough for you to take matters into your own hands. As Marlon mentioned, all problems will pass, you just have to wait. Also, you always have
friend around to talk to, to ease your burden, to get matters off you chest. What ate him up inside, accumulating, building up pressure, until, BOOM, he'd had enough? Everybody commented that he was the last person you'd think would commit suicide. Everybody
else had more reason, more tendency to. Everybody was wrong.

I don't think we'll ever know the reason. Now we have to accept it, Roy's moved on. So should we. The great and not so great times we had, the experiences we've shared, the music we played, these will stay alive. If you shared these with Roy, then he's become a part of you as well.

Roy was a great bassist, one of the best I've met. Now he's jamming with Jimi, Jaco, Janis, and Jim. Baguio's lost one of her best musicians. His music and his life will always be remembered...

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Time log:
5:00am - Finishing up on reports
6:00am - Began writing updates
6:30am - Message received from Danette: Meet up at 8am, same place
6:31am - Rushing updates
6:55am - Shutdown laptop
7:00am - I'm outta here!
8:00am - Breakfast at Petron, meet up with Chucky
8:20am - Aldrix shows up
8:30am - Where the F is everyboy else?
8:40am - Jason and the SUV show up
8:50am - Danette, Nick, Donna and Tamla arrive
9:00am - Off to San Juan


Danettes 4x4 and 8'x24"

We were finally off to San Juan by 9am. Danette, Nick, Donna and Tamla in the civic aka 4x4, Jason, Chucky, Aldix and I in the sentra aka SUV. Yeah, cars with identity crises. I was up all night so I decided to catch some z's on the way down. By 10:45 were in San Fernando, haggling over prawns being sold on the side of the street. After we finally got a decent price (or got less ripped off, depending on how you look at it) we were on our way.


All those in favor raise your right hand....



The SUV man himself


Chucky trying to hide his excitement


Manang, P300 na lang!

Nearing the curve overlooking Carille, everybody got hyped up staring at the white water in the distance. A few more, twists, turns and rough roads, and we were at Cabarsican checking out surfable spots. There was a slight swell, good enough for longboards, but we decided to check the pier.


Uhm, Tree?


Checking Cabarsican


Aldrix a bit disappointed


Next stop, The Pier!

It looked like the pier was the spot today, there were a couple of surfers there already along with some newbies they were teaching. With that, we headed to Aldrix's to grab lunch and gear up. Since we lacked time, today wasn't going to be pinikpikan Sunday. After a great meal, we grabbed our gear and headed to the pier.


Gearing up

We got to the pier around 1:30pm, Jocel and her friends were just leaving, it was our turn now. We then offloaded the boards and hit the water. Finally, after weeks, I dipped in saltwater again. The waves were 3-4 foot fun waves with maybe an occasional 5 footer. Everybody was obviously having a blast because nobody wanted to get out of the water and take pictures! We were literally catching waves until the sun went down. It was a great sight, being in the water while the sun slowly dipped into the horizon. Ah, this is the life.


Dusk at The Pier

The 4x4 all loaded


Last look

Back to reality: I was home around midnight still half asleep from the trip, another work night tomorrow...

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Ah, the beetles almost done. I brought it home last weekend, there still are details to finish but it generally is done. Next on my list are rubbing / buffing, a tune up, final paint details, a roof rack?, registration, upholstery...



I hope the conditions improve for Sunday, I wanna surf!

Monday, October 03, 2005

What do we do when there aren't any waves?

I think that was one question we were forced to answer last week. All the spots had zero waves, they were all dead still with almost nothing but a ripple. So, we were forced to look for other activities to spend our energy on.


All packed and nowhere to go


Activity #1: Staring at rocks


Activity #2: Staring at the beach (Look, not a wave in sight)


Activity #3: Pinikpikan



Activity #4: Amateur Photography



Activity #5: Birdwatching


Activity #6: Playing with Mahogany seeds


Activity #7:Hanging out by the river mouth

Activity #8: Fisherman Watching

It still was fun, but I hope we get a swell next week....