Glad to say things have finally made a turn for the better. Things DO have a way of straightening themselves out, in one way or another.

Moving on from that, I had a swimming trip with Mia, Kat, Smarla, and the rest of Mia's family at Splash Island 2 days ago. The last time any of us had been there was at least 5 years ago, when we (that is, Mia, Smarla and I, along with Ate Ana and PaKetch) celebrated the birthday of Mia's mom in 1999. For Kat it was a first-time visit, but for the rest of us it was a funny experience being back in that place again, especially with the knowledge that even after 5 years, the place still managed to look exactly the same. :D Hweehehe... pati yung kulay ng tubig sa Balsa River pareho pa rin. The place seemed so unchanged that at one point, I seriously had hopes of finding my old scapular at the bottom of the Balsa River, where I lost it last 1999 (Smarla, Mia and I had been 11 then).

We weren't complaining though, because the absence of change in the waterpark seemed to have preserved the old fun it brought us years ago. The Balsa River, which is the closest you'll get to a real swimming pool (alongside the mock ocean with artificial currents at the other end of the park), didn't seem to get any dirtier or cornier as most childhood places usually do, as it even became our main highlight for the whole trip. We kept on going back there whenever we wanted to relax, get a break from the wackier slide attractions, or just plain swim. Kat even tried to teach me the Breast and Butterfly strokes while swimming there... I guess I never really got to get past my freestyle lessons after an imaginary-shark-caused trauma from having to cross a depth of 7 feet when I was eleven.

The whole trip was, as usual, tiring but incredibly fun anyway, and I'd like to go back there again sometime. The chlorine and the sun painted us darker shades of brown, but the feeling of being in the water beats that. Besides, I like my new fried chicken color now, even though it came home alongside temporarily red, addict-and-high-on-marijuana, chlorine-infested eyes. The Aquino family was extremely kind too.... they even gave each of us a pack of food to take home, mine being Chocolate Mallows. b: hehe... thanks Mia!

By the way, my cousin, Kuya Mark, just arrived last Saturday from Tacloban to take Review classes here in Manila. :-) We haven't seen him in 2-3 years and I'm glad he came for a visit. He and the rest of our cousins in Tacloban haven't exactly been able to spend their Christmases with us as much anymore (er, try never since 1997)... but hopefully we can work this out in time.

Anyway, it's also a bit of a double break this summer because my other cousin-tita-bestfriend-when-we-were-younger, Cherie (who also resides in Tacloban), is also coming to visit tomorrow. Yehey =D