amusement -- yokohama cosmo world

had to tour a new housemate last sunday though it was against my will for i had to speak a different language other than english, japanese, and cebuano the whole time. it is a big headache listening to yourself sounding weird. so we went to an amusement park, best place to go for those with no itinerary. just ride any ride you want...

we rode the 13th highest ferris wheel in the world, Cosmo Clock 21, situated in yokohama. it was my second time riding that and i admit i was quite scared--i have acrophobia and the wheel rises up to 112.5 meters. that is freakin' tall. it would take more seconds before reaching the ground if ever you fall. and more seconds means more time to think of what will happen next, though most will end up dead. wahahha...

up there we saw the whole place, we made plans on where to go next depending on what we saw. we took lots of pictures and we rocked the ferris wheel capsule scaring ourselves.

after the 15 minute ride, i saw something amusing but kept it to myself. if most people go to amusement parks to enjoy the rides, well these two had a different kind of amusement planned. wahahahaha... the girl was massaging her man's groin. what the hell were they doing??? there are many kids in places like this ok. there are virgins like me.. oh.. my innocent eyes were glued to their actions.

the pervy me.

they should have done more. wahahha. ooops... innocent brain, be innocent again. wahahaha

mt. fuji -- the great escapade 2/2

we were branded as team kalaban (the opponents), the four-membered team. don't get me wrong though, it got us pumped up even more. we got a team name, and we got a team cheer. we went there with AWS pips so our cheer was.

if AWS fails, we won't!!!

pretty solid don't you think? but it was all for fun. later on, "boom boom pow" of the black eyed peas became the team song. wahihihihi...

from the 5th station of the kawaguchiko trail, we started climbing at 2pm. reaching the 6thstation was just easy. the path was short and we were still full of energy, but i was sweating like hell. i wasn't expecting the sun to be that harsh on us. other than that, everything was fine. if the trek is as easy as this, then we will be up there earlier than planned.

(this pic above is from esther)

but the path to the 7th station was a big change. i was a complete mess. the road was inclined which zigzags left and right endlessly. after an hour of walking, i wondered where the 7th station was. finally, we reached the 7th and i got my much needed rest. what have i got myself into??? we climbed some more and to my surprise, the next stop was yet another 7th station. what???? there were like 6 seventh stations total. we still managed to meet our mates in here and have some chat before our team headed on. the whole 7th station leg was a roller coaster. it started with the endless zigzags. then there were also steep trails where you have to step on rocks and use your hands to hold on to more rocks. i very much enjoyed paths like those. what i hated the most were the long and high staircases; so tiring. my legs said "stop" a couple of times. at the end of this leg, team kalaban was leading the pack.

(this pic above is from esther)

moving on, night slowly fell. it was not only dark but it was very cold. we had to put on our flashlights and more warmers. by 9pm we reached the second to the last 8th station: yes, there were also many stops like the 7th. we have decided to sleep outside the lodges. we have eaten cup noodles in the previous stop so hunger is not a problem. it was cold. very cold.... and we had no bed: we laid on the benches. but i managed to sleep for a couple of hours until the lodge owner woke us up. he said that we cannot lay down in there. as sleepiness overcame reason, we had to find a place to sleep fast. we bought hot cocoa and we were allowed to enter. it was heaven inside; there was no strong cold wind trying to enter every pore on your skin. but the hot cocoa didn't last that long... that means we have to face the strong cold wind trying to enter every pore on your skin once more. we were completely caught by the lodge owner's bait--we paid 1000 for an hour stay inside heaven.

at 12:30, it was time to face the strong cold wind trying to enter every pore on your skin. the last 8th station was just a few meters up. in there we decided to wait for the others. this means more sleeping time. we called them up and they said they were still somewhere and had 30 minutes sleep only. poor them... wahihihi. joke. strong cold wind trying to enter every pore on your skin finally had an effect--we passed air the whole time. wahihihi

at around 1:30am, they reached us. we started climbing yet again. but it was so much fun now, it was like a fiesta. there were so many people and so many headlights. watching the lights against the dark night showed us how far we still need to climb. how ironic... but where do these sudden flood of people come from???? i have no idea..

the sun was about to rise but no matter how fast we tried to climb we were blocked by the huge number of people ahead of us. we sat down instead while watching the rising sun. i truly can say that it was the best! i wasn't expecting to see another sunrise after joining this trip. for a colorblind person like me, i was able to appreciate the reds and oranges. breathtaking!

looking around, the huge number of people ahead of us were all sitting down as well. if we have wanted to reach the top fast, we should have ran at this point. right after that magnificent display of the rising sun, people appeared again. where have all these people come from????

the moment i reached the top, i paused for awhile and thanked God. i did it!!! it was a very good experience! thanks to all the people who didn't believe that we can do it, they only gave us more determination to climb up and succeed.

looking down from above, what a wonderful world...

MT FUJI... VENI, VIDI, VICI

(this pic above is from esther)

ps. looking down the long, steep, descending trail from above... i told myself, i will never do this again.

i'll keep the descent to myself.

mt. fuji -- the great escapade 1/2

it was but a plan, and i got excited by it. but as the time drew closer, the excitement became fear... there were just so many bad news... but after everything, it was an achievement for sure...

so many problems on the week before the plan. it's as if fate was telling us not to go. could you believe that i rendered around 20 hours of over time on that week???? our boss was also apprehensive on it. we have mentioned about the plan way earlier but he was fine. of course, many things are still bound to happen. and knowing us, we cancel almost all the trips we have planned. it dawned on him that the plan will push through only when we started borrowing stuff. i am not quite sure though on which he was more concerned on: was he seriously concerned on our well-being or was he thinking only of the fact that no one will be bringing in the money if something bad happens... i just hope it is the first... but with the words that transpired, one can easily judge it is the latter. it also seems that he doesn't believe in us. this only fueled more my determination to succeed.

just right before the dreaded day, there were outstanding number of calls. trouble came after trouble but nothing can stop us. i have jogged for months as training and i don't want to put that to waste. but something inside me was scared, what if fate was really trying to stop us??? at that night, we enjoyed our lives. we watched a movie (GI Joe) and dined out. we even drank wine. it seemed like the "last" supper. but i know it won't be... we went home unsure of the future but with burning competitive spirits... (ows....)

morning was great. with only 5 hours of sleep, off we went to the bus stop to meet the others. oh, i'm still too sleepy: we had a dress rehearsal last night before sleeping at 2am. the bus was incredibly fun, but i just has to sleep. i woke up and it was foggy. and so cold.. at 12noon.

then it went clear...

and foggy once more...

so off we went at 2pm. no turning back.

THE GREAT TREK UP MT. FUJI IS STARTING AT THE FIFTH STATION....

...2,305 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL. August 15th, 2009...

the sin

had some time alone last saturday. all of my housemates went somewhere. they are all busy with their lives which is like the opposite of mine. the house is so empty... and so silent... and so empty... and so silent... this is driving me crazy.

i browsed for my daily dose of asian stuff. i even watched live feeds for some show airing somewhere. good way to kill time.. great music. hmmm. good music for working out. out of the blue, i did some floor exercises to flatten this bulging tummy. that was fun and hard. great way to sweat it out. ohhh, the show ended and the house felt empty... and silent...

out of the blue, i played "hiphop abs". and after two 40-minute sessions, waaaah.. these routines are killing me. its fun grooving it out, but you feel the burn all over. why are my arms in pain when the program is called "hiphop abs"???? owwww.. this is too much. but i would love to do this again some other time. i just need to eat dinner though.

so out i went, ate dinner and strolled. as i wondered, i wandered... i thought of stuff i normally don't think of. and then i'm far away from home. i guess thinking is bad for me. the more i think, the more i get lost (pun intended). i think too much thinking is bad but yet, i was thinking even with that statement.

my housemates have gone out too long now so i called up only to find out that they went clubbing. owkey... i didn't even know about that. at least they should have invited me. but then i still would have declined. but still, there is a big difference right?

yesterday, sunday we all went to kawasaki to buy things for our fuji mountain climbing expedition. i bought a thicker winter jacket just because it was in the news that someone died from freezing in fuji. i just don't wanna die yet so i'd rather be prepared. much to my surprise, i think i would not die from climbing a mountain but rather from over eating. we had a buffet for lunch and another one for dinner. it is very hard to even laugh nor bend down to get things from the floor.

then there was a long earthquake. maybe it is a sign from above that i've eaten much and should leave right away. but no.... the earthquake didn't stop us from eating more. oh my. all the calories i burned the day before were replenished in 8 folds. oh my...

gluttony kills...

outsider

i am not that active in whatever talk is happening at home. i know that i am somehow at fault in that. i failed to have have conversations lately. who would want to engage in talks about boasting and stuff? i can't do that. i don't have anything to boast. so i'd rather stay out.

there are times where i feel so alone even when i am at home in the midst of my housemates. i know that everyone has secrets, i too have lots. but when all knows about it except me, i can't help but wonder why. don't they trust me?

last night, they went out. they invited my roommate to go with them. but they never mentioned anything to me. they never asked me if i'd like to come with them. they only hid behind the door and whispered to the other. they even forced him to come with them. but never said anything to me. somehow i was affected by that. but i didn't mind it much.

today after coming back from the cinema, they were frolicking on the way back. people who don't know them would surely think they are lovers. it is just too much; looks more like flirting. there is nothing wrong though because both are singles but please please tell me if you have something. i certainly don't like to look odd, i don't like to interfere and even witness your flirtatious acts. and now, they are all outside talking of something they don't want me to know. they even closed the door of my room. it seems like i'm an outsider trapped inside the room inside the house. an outsider that no one even bothers.

it looks like they would only care if they need something from me.

push me back to my shell some more.

i guess i'm just getting too emotional over something irrelevant.

i better sleep now, i don't want to hear the lame jokes outside.

hope i'll get better tomorrow...

i'm not even sure if i'm making sense.