JOURNEY ON THE HIGHWAY OF LIFE,
WITH SIDE TRIPS ALONG ALLEYS
NO ONE WANTED TO EXPLORE.

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Another New Year With And Without You




Another year, another chance to be better.

Aside from saying my prayers and thanking God for the new chance He has graciously given me and the world, I mentally ticked the entries on my new year resolutions list, one by one. Among them, of course, is none other than deactivating my Facebook account. Why? Because I just don't see how I can't live without it. Good grief, I had enough of the crazy stuff people share on Facebook, thank you.

Okay, moving on. New year's eve was of course celebrated at home. No crazy antics for me. Just took pictures of Sophia holding a cardboard with a greeting that goes out to her dad. Spur of the moment idea. Good thing I have tons of art stuff that I can make do with. I just wrote the message and gave Sophia the honor of coloring the hearts I drew. (Sophia never complained. She loves art. :D)



Happy New Year, Tatang


When Sophia fell asleep, I had nothing else to do. I just sat in a corner, ignoring the noise of the firecrackers and the sound of the neighbor's forever-playing videoke machine, while mucking around with my laptop. I'm not a KJ, okay? I just don't like smoke and noise that much, I'd leave them to people who don't mind getting stiff necks from watching fireworks in the sky.

Media Noche was simple yet happily shared with special people. I had a plate of Carbonara and toast, a spoonful of fruit salad and a healthy serving of salad greens.

Three hours after Media Noche, I was on my way to work. Talk about sleep deprivation.

The first day of my new year was partly spent at the office. It's not that bad. Free lunch was served at the pantry. Fewer callers meant fewer issues to deal with. I was even permitted to leave work early.

The highlight of January 1? We went to Star City! I had long been planning to take Sophia there because I've read lots of good reviews about Snow World and I so wanted her to try it out. Fortunately, the opportunity presented itself.



 Sophia's grandparents and nanny went with us

Okay, so this might seem like not a good idea considering today is a holiday and there could be a lot of people in Star City, and if you have that in mind, you're absolutely right! "A lot of people" would be an understatement. There were, like, millions of people there. (Okay, I'm exaggerating. But still..)

I wasn't really able to document Sophia's experience in the Snow World. The staff advised to put mobile phones and cameras inside plastic wraps to prevent them from getting moisture/water damage. Still, I wouldn't be able to take videos even if I could use my phone, because I was holding Sophia's hand and was too busy making sure that she's comfortable. Fortunately, there were two photographers inside the attraction, we paid one to take our photo. (Photo cannot be posted due to privacy reasons.)



Lots of people falling in line


As an attraction which boasts of bringing the winter experience to the Philippines, I'd give Snow World four stars out of five. Sophia was very happy about the experience and that's good enough to me. My only not-so positive observation was that the area is so small and that it could really get uninteresting after the first ten minutes inside. I have also heard comments that the jackets they let people use for the tour smelled like they have not been washed for a long time. (Good thing I brought my own jacket. I had Sophia use her own jacket, too!) My take is that the management should look into the areas of improvement in order to make Snow World something people would really enjoy and consider going back to.



Exploring Star City with Lolo


Sadly, we were not able to try other rides. Each attraction had a really long line of people wanting to get a piece of the action. Sigh. We 'll probably try them some other time. At least we got what we came for today.. Sophia really enjoyed her Snow World adventure.

It would have been really great if her daddy's with us. His presence is the only thing that could have made this new year celebration happier. It's another new year with and without him.




Day's done. Tomorrow's another day.