Here's to Family Computers

The world of video games is a perfect place to find some sense of accomplishment if you cannot find it anywhere else in life. I contrived world where there are only self-imposed expectations and no real consequences. I devoted a good part of my childhood trying to master the art of leaping over turtles and mushrooms, and making dragons fall into a flaming lake that does not move. Spent a good time trying to rescue a flute-toting princess while she is held captive by ninjas—going through an entire host of hostile enemies and a fire-blasting, faceless Vietcong. In case you are not a family computer geek, those are references to Super Mario and Legend of Kage. 

Back then, there were no “saves” and “cheats” were minimal. It’s either you spend an entire day trying to “survive” a game or be permanently condemned to repeating stage one every time. Of course, being the Sisyphus of Video Games is not the title anybody wants so if you have played family computer before, you probably know the number home works you did not tell your parents about just so you get that extra hour you need to get to the next level. And, of course, you know that those home works are cosmological in numbers, so were the hours you spent at dawn or midnight sneaking your fingers into those joysticks. 

Graphics were minimal back then, so a lot was left to the imagination. Regardless, those games were packed with the adrenaline of making or breaking. These days, our video game adrenaline is completely dependent on the amount of gore and the hope that the girl character we are playing RPG with is actually a girl and she lives in the same town. 

Levels and stages and titles are given because manufacturers are aware that they give some sense of accomplishment to the gamer. But today this need is over-exploited, which explains why there are hundreds of different stages and infinite number of badges out there for grabs.

Recently, my parents bought a “China version” of family computer from a popular department store in Mandaue City. I realized that it’s called “family” computer for a reason—it actually gave me a lot of bonding time with my sister and younger cousin. Being from China, sweet China, it did not last long so I’m back to this personal computer (which is actually a laptop, whatever) doing stuffs that we can’t scream about, stuffs that does not make us flail the joystick all over the place just so our character can reach the next landing. There’s no “hurrah for this new comment” or “you almost finished that comment, let’s try again better next time.” 

While I am at this, allow me to share the sense of superiority I get from kicking the brains out of my bot opponents at FIFA 99. I chose a team with a huge transfer fund, played perpetually in the “amateur” level, turned off the offside rule, so a lot of games have ended with Rugby scores (to my favor, solely, as I care not for how these random binary codes feel).

Keep out of position, only one way for the ball to go.

Penalty kick, he's a dead keeper.

I wonder how I made him pass all the defenders.

Spot kick, keeper guessed it wrong.

Left or right, high or low, how far left, how far right, how high, how low, a keeper's mind is a bagful of dilemmas.

Penalty!

Our body will never be as fast as our eyes.

Precarious...

So strong, the keeper did not have the chance to dive.

Anticipating the ball for a header.

It's not football if there is no martial arts involved.

"Life is not fair, neither should be sports." That's a goal to me, but no go says the ref.

Guy in blue is me. Ball went it because of the tackle. lol.

Penalty, it lives up to its name on the keeper's end.

Oh well...

Super onside pass.

I heard that's called aggression.

Walking the dawg.

My (mid) Week in Photos

    Tuesday: Challenged my cousin to show off some tricks. Bailed out after missing out.

   Tuesday: Got lost in the trail. It was already 5.30pm but still I decided to diverge. It was
   already dark  when I got out.

    Wednesday: I felt socky. Knee socks that the Boss gave me a couple of months ago. Used only
    once so I wore it again.

    Wednesday: backdoor trail, it was night when I arrived at the Parola. Bagacay Point,
   Catarman, Liloan.

    Thursday: Flowery world.

    Thursday: From the road up ahead.

    Thursday: "Mountain" bike. Parked in Brgy. Mulao, Liloan.

    Thursday: Options at Tabla junction.

Chasing Waterfalls: The Elusive Binalayan Falls in Samboan, Cebu

I had a two-day unplanned trip on January 28 and 29. It started as fancy tweeting between the Boss and my high school classmate Mr. Tan, who happened to be her workmate as well. Neither had a destination, they just wanted to get out. Like a quadrant with a very high “Y” but no “X.” So much energy, no place to channel.

I am lingering too much on my reluctance here. It’s because I did not really want to go out last weekend. I just rode a 160-km route Monday of that week and I wanted to stay in my bedroom in a fetal curl. No, the distance is not traumatic. It’s just that I’ve been out too often, too much for the past four months. I want to make myself feel that I have a home. Remind myself that I don’t have to stay out in the open all the time. Lol. So much for that.

Actually, it was a crazy fun weekend. We kicked off at Aguinid Falls, spent a great time at Pebbles Beach in Santander, then finished up at Inambakan Falls in Ginatilan. I have only posted about Aguinid Falls so far and this one wil lbe on Binalayan Falls, which I erroneously wrote as “Gimbalayan” at the previous post. I will post about Pebbles Beach later since it is the only place you can stay at when you are far down south. Then Inambakan Falls maybe tomorrow. I wanted to be more helpful lately after finding out that bots are not the only ones who visit my blog. Kudos to you if you are human, dear reader of this entry!

***
I’ll be anti-climactic and say that we did not find Binalayan Falls. We did not intend to go there in the first place. Mr. Tan and Chyrel Gomez just noticed that tarp on our way back to the town of Samboan. So we dropped by. If you are familiar with the south, the junction is along that perpetually under repair bridge in Samboan. It’s where your bus takes a turn around the bridge since that bridge have been under work since like the Big Bang. The water that flows under that bridge comes from Binalayan Falls. The locals told us that Binalayan Falls is just “near.” Again, let us remind ourselves that descriptions which do not involve numbers are always relative. We forgot about that and we assumed that near is, well, actually near.

We thought it’s just a walk in the park from the high way. But there was no park, only lots of walk. Actually, if you are familiar with the place, it would only take 15 minutes to reach the falls. Just walk upstream. You will have to criss-cross the river and even part from it for a while. Just don’t walk too far from it. You will eventually reach a point where all footpaths vanish. From there, you will have to walk in the river, Jesus Christ style. We did not proceed because there were leaves and twigs that block the river passage. We found out later from our friendly locals that the falls are just a short walk behind the river block (it’s not a road block!).

 If you want to go out falls cruising down south, do check out Aguinid, Binalayan, Dau, and Inambakan falls. Make the most out of you 4-hour bus trip. Was our 20-minute of aimless wandering it? Yes, the river trek is worth getting lost for.

 PS: There is nothing romantic or poetic about getting lost. I hate it, in fact. I just had a great night drinking-till-head-whirls, which I have not done for quite some time now since I have not been seeing my whore high school friend Michael. Fortunately, getting lost has no hang over or I'd put two people on top of my hate list.

The Fabulous Mr. Tan: How to Get to Aguinid Falls in Samboan

Aguinid Falls is a cascade-type waterfall located in Barangay Tangbo, Samboan. There are a total of four falls that make up Aguinid. They are located widely apart so it takes a few minutes’ walk to get from one to the next. The junction to Aguinid Falls is located just near the barangay center so you will not have a tough time finding it. Tangbo, by the way, is a 10-minute tricycle ride from the town center of Samboan. I forgot to note how far it is from Santander but I guarantee you will not have a tough time finding it since it is quite popular among locals. Many locals bath at Aguinid Falls because it is easily accessible, being only a five-minute walk from the provincial road. I will let these photos describe the falls for me. Please check Google Earth if you do not know where Samboan is. Google Earth/Map is a very powerful tool and I even use it to find single-track trails. Thank Google for it. 

This trip is totally unplanned on my part. I just logged on to Twitter one morning and James Tan (my high school classmate which I thought was my friend) and the Boss were tweeting about going to the south. The next morning, I was on a bus with two oppressive people (details about oppression omitted to for this post to suit general audience). I got too ahead with the bus ride there. It rained that morning and I was dripping and cold while waiting for my “friends” to show up on time. Luckily, the backpack that I borrowed from my five-year-old cousin had a rain cover. His father got it from the ukay-ukay. The brand is Genova and it was quite good. Amen to patience.

   The rotunda at the town center of Samboan.

    The Boss and the Fabulous Mr. Tan walking behind her.

   On to the first fall.

    The first mini-fall.

    Second.

    The third fall.

    Chyrel Gomez and Mr. Tan minus the felt hat.

    The fabulous Mr. Tan in his contemplative mood.

   The fourth fall. It would be great to climb up and see what's out there.

    Back to the third fall.

   Going down the second waterfall.

***

There is another fall just a few minute's walk from the Aguinid Falls junction. It is called Gimbalayan Falls, located in Brgy. Bonbon. Bonbon is just right beside Tangbo. It's less than five minute's walk.

We tried going to the falls but we failed to find it. We walked up stream and just followed the tracks but at one point all the tracks vanished. We could not see beyond the river because it was covered with leaves and branches and twigs that cross over it. As we reached the highway, we found out from locals that the falls were just right behind it.