at certain times of the year, or in my particular case every other month, i become hormonally-imbalanced and have too-close-for-comfort encounters with my emotions.  i get too bloody sentimental, pun intended.

i also become a little more OC than usual and have been known to fall into cleaning frenzies.

on one such occasion, i decided to attack my bedroom, the one i spent nearly all my pre-adulthood in and the silent witness to nearly all my teenage dramas, the one i came home to after college.

before the advent of the internet and the unsentimental electronic mail, my friends and i kept in touch through snail mail.

yes, we actually took the time to hold a pen and any handy scrap of paper--charmalou once sent me a paper napkin--and filled the page(s) with every minute detail of each other's day.

my friends were especially creative in what they use as envelopes.  there were torn magazine pages and cartolina paper.  once, elly used onion paper and stuck butterfly stickers all over.

i always felt a rush of delight every time the postman delivered.  invariably, i get called on the dorm intercom every week.  my high school barkada were very diligent letter-writers and i saved practically every piece of paper, even a fastfood receipt one of them wrote on.

among the letters, were also playbills of some of my favorite luce auditorium presentations.  i read each one all over again and silently sang the tunes i can remember.

needless to say, it halted my cleaning frenzy.  i went into a sentimental haywire instead.

the most relaxing two days ever! and i have but a few pathetic photos to show for it.  the digicam conked out at the last minute.  i suppose it is God's way of keeping my bragging in check.

last week had been quite hellish.  watery eyes, nonstop sneezing and dripping snot--not a pretty picture of me and so i spent almost the entire week confined indoors and socially regressing. 

thank God for generous and sympathetic aunts!

right after i got over my cold, i was told to pack my bikini and we headed off to pearl farm beach resort in kaputian, samal island!  five unmarried women in their prime plus my mom may seem unlikely companions for such a romantic destination, but i didn't mind.  it turned out to be a really fun trip!

it was a 45-minute-boat ride from the mainland and when we docked near the parola bar, we were met with leis and welcome drinks by the friendly staff. 

we were booked at the samal houses, which are built on stilts right above the water.  we had to pass the infinity pool, the man-crafted falls, and beautiful vegetation by the hillside lane to reach our rooms.  i could see schools of fish swimming right under our balcony.  i was quite speechless and giddy.  it was all so serene and lush.

the resort prepared a lunch buffet, a very generous feast.  the first morsel i popped into my mouth was suha or davao pomelo.  it was mouthwatering.  the sea air had whet our appetites and we all ate more than we probably should (and that's how it went with the rest of our meals during this trip). 

drowsy and sated, we settled into our lounge chairs and took a nap along the shore.  there's nothing like fresh air, calm water and fine sand to compose the ultimate relaxing experience.  we couldn't see the city line from our viewpoint and it seemed like everyday life was far away in an alternate universe.

later, we didn't have a roaring night-out; everybody was too tuckered out from swimming and laughing.  of course, getting drunk was not an option for me with my mother there.  too many old white men also made me leery of hanging out at the bar.

the following day after breakfast, we headed off to malipano island.  it's a secluded island about two hundred meters or so off samal, on which exclusive villas were built for paying guests and also for the floreindo clan, the resort owners. 

only one villa was occupied and manong felix, the island caretaker, was graciously accommodating.  he let us stay on the more private beach strip and later took us on a tour around the island. 

i immediately ran to the water and swam off to a platform floating a few meters from the shore.  i wanted to sunbathe--so desperate for a tan!--but the heat got to me and i sought refuge in the cool water. 

it was heavenly, floating on my back and looking with half-closed eyes at the clear blue sky.  i could feel tiny nips from little colorful fishes swimming around me unafraid, and i could see small crabs slowly climbing from the sea to the wooden platform.

alas, the dream must end.  all too soon we had to head back to samal for our check-out.  it was all so surreal when we once again boarded the boat that would take us back to mainland. 

i was in a holiday fog...until i smelled the petroleum from a nearby oil depot when we docked.  back to reality.  at least, i got a tan--just half a shade darker, but it's still a tan!