The November That Was (Part One)

Hello, world.

I'm back to writing blog entries again. November has been one hell of a month.

From the sights and sounds of a white sand beach to the inner recesses of a fictional city filled to the brim with masked vigilantes, it felt like I've been able to do a lot with my time last month.

I have a couple of reviews in the next few weeks, and I'm probably going to slog through a bunch of things for December. What has changed, really?

NaNoWriMo 2014
I decided to join NaNoWriMo again this year.

I wanted to write a story from scratch, and the weeks spent watching tons of Batman-related things probably had a lot to do with how things turned out. I've planned for the details a couple of months in advance, then decided to move from science fiction to superhero fiction (and start my notes afresh).

Unexpectedly, my laptop died a few days before November. Luckily, I did a backup of my notes literally minutes of this happening - probably one of the best decisions I've done in a while (and probably saved a good chunk of my sanity).

It's been a mentally taxing thirty days, but you know what they say about doing the things one loves to do - it never seemed like work.

To be honest, I don't really know why I decided to have a go at this again. Secretly, maybe I expect something out of it. For now, though, I'll probably stick to it (and if things go as planned, have another go next year).

The Boracay I Used to Know
This year, we went to Boracay. It was more of a mixed bag for me, to be quite honest.

See, I've managed to visit the island once - around eleven or so years ago. Back then, it was nothing but pristine white sand filled with relatively few seaside establishments - just like how one would picture the place if it would be seen from a postcard.

The first thing that greeted us was a pier adorned with massive billboards and a tricycle terminal. It was a far cry from what we did all those years ago - stepping out of  a small boat just after dusk onto the beach and wading towards the shore like it was D-Day.

On one hand, it was kind of sad that there was no longer a sense of isolation to the island.

You can barely walk a few steps on the beachfront without someone selling you a monopod or a hat. I guess modernization took a lot of magic out of the place.

Still, I guess the place has its charms. There's something about island life - real island life - that makes me wonder how it's like for someone to live in a place like Boracay.

Fire dancers, parasail personnel, dive instructors - I wonder how their lives are, being so drastically different from someone who works a normal, boring desk job.

These are people who probably live day-to-day, in a seemingly spontaneous existence. It seems strange, unthinkable even, to see myself living as such. Still, I wonder, as if I'm looking at a world through a window.

I guess there's one thing that troubled me most. There was this one chap who was using a laptop in one of the cafes we went to. Apparently, his job allows him to work remotely and thus he can afford to go anywhere in the world as long as he has an Internet connection.

I guess I must admit that some part of me wanted something like that. It's a bit of wishful thinking, but knowing that such possibilities exist scratch at me from the corner of my mind during those of the more quiet hours at work.

The food, at least, was amazing.

Boracay seemed like a hazy dream to me - the sun, the sand and the waves always felt so far away even as I stared into the cloudy sky as I allowed the waves to drift me away from the shore. After a few days, we had to get back to the real world.

I guess I left the island wanting something, but for the life of me, I can't tell what it is.

Later!