All's Fair in Blog and War (NOVELLA EXCERPT)

#HowDoYouWakeUpOnTheWrongSideOfTheBedIfYouHaven'tSleptYet

"I'm Jesse," he introduced himself in a matter-of-fact manner, as if his name was the most important thing in the world. "I enjoy traveling and taking photos. When I'm not doing either, I'm probably being an art director." He named an elite award-winning ad agency as his workplace. That explained the smugness. "It's not appropriate to call it a day job anymore since I'm there at probably every waking hour." After finishing his spiel, he flashed his matinee idol smile toward where Sexy Meghan and Miss Dorie were sitting.

I rolled my eyes; here's another guy who thinks he's all that. Okay, granted he was cute, with the messy mop of hair that hits just the edge of his collar, coupled with clear skin a teenage girl would kill for. But come on, I mean, flashing your dimples at susceptible women? "Other than that, I like extreme sports and trying out new things."

How clichéd. Art director slash photographer slash extreme sports enthusiast. He probably goes for early morning jogs with his Labrador retriever, before stopping for fair trade organic herbal tea. He probably used a Hasselblad and wouldn't touch a mass-produced Canon camera with a ten-foot pole. I could've gone on and on with what I thought of Mr. I'll pretend-to-hold—make that Mr. Arrogant Elevator Guy (Yes, he deserves the Title Case.)—but Miss Dorie called on me next.

"I'm Five Cuevas; I write and take photos on my blog, www.fivearoundtheworld.com," I started, saying things evenly and without fanfare, a marked contrast to Mr. Arrogant Elevator Guy. "I've been travel blogging for two years now. During the nights though, I work from home as a virtual assistant. I haven't been to Macau, so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the casinos and the UNESCO Heritage sites."

"I'm glad someone did their research. And yes, Five, you'll be seeing a lot of both," Miss Dorie beamed at me, rising from her seat to go to the center of the room again. I restrained myself from smirking. Score 1 for Five, 0 for Mr. Elevator Guy.

"Welcome to the first Macau Bloggers' Familiarization Tour," she addressed us all. "First, because this is the first time we'll be holding this tour for bloggers, so you know how special you guys are. We usually hold this for traditional media people, but we decided to extend our invitation to bloggers because we recognize how people now run to the web for information when planning trips," she explained.

"Macau is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Like Hong Kong, it follows the One Country, Two Systems policy, that's why Macau continues to enjoy the benefits it possessed even before the handover. Macau's earliest settlers were fishermen from Fujian and farmers from Guangdong, who turned it into a trading gate because of its location at the mouth of the Pearl River, downstream from Guangzhou. In the early 1550s, the Portuguese arrived, signaling the start of Macau's status as a Portuguese colony. They adopted the name Macau, after the local name A Ma Gao, which means place of A Ma, in honor of the Goddess of Seafarers." After her introductory spiel, Miss Dorie continued on, pulling up more slides about Macau.

Her talk was fascinating. Miss Dorie was a wealth of information, sharing everything she thought we needed to know about the place we would soon visit. When she finished talking, she gestured to Gail who approached our table with handouts. "Now let's go through your itineraries."

I went through the pages of the itinerary as soon as Gail handed them out. Senado Square. The Ruins of St. Paul. The Red Market. The Macau Science Museum. The City of Dreams and the Venetian. Macau Tower. The list went on and on, listing all the sites we were to visit.

"You'll be there for four days and three nights. Departure for Macau is on Friday and arrival back in Manila is on Monday. I hope that's not a problem for those of you who have day jobs." Miss Dorie went through the daily itineraries, starting from our arrival on Friday noontime, to our departure on Monday at roughly the same time.