'

in love again

2011-09-26T13:41:00.000+08:00

This is isn't one of those cheesy write ups about relationships. Oh, but I am happy with my own right now. But what I've found about yesterday is that I can't keep my mind of football again. I woke up this morning trying to comeback to sleep 45min before 8:00 in the morning. I keep tossing and turning my mind is somewhere afloat, on a field trying to picture what went wrong, why weren't able to convert a goal. I was frustrated despite the medal hanging over our necks. I know it was not the prime of the team's capacity. We can do better but only with constant practice only then we can have our game and my game back to how it was used to be.

I love this photo so much, it shows how I have fallen over football. Thanks Alao for your great timing and powerful camera.

food versions

2011-09-19T11:14:00.000+08:00

If I am not out playing, I'm cookin'.. that explains why I have the hardest time maintaining my diet. What I cook is influenced by the places I've been to, TV cooking show I just watched, a movie, a cartoon series, the weather, and what's probably available in the kitchen.

The banana Q is inspired by "what's available in the kitchen" since I got those bunch from Brgy. Tabunan where we had our tree planting. I like the part after tree planting when everybody is so busy buying vegetable at the market laid down beside the road. They do know that we're coming, so it's nice to buy quality vegetable that you will get in the grocery either wilted or an old stock.

The noodles is inspired by Naruto that Greg and I follow if we get a chance to download the episodes online. Greg was diagnosed last year of having kidney stones, we banned noodles for quite some time but not for me. I love noodles so much I know I just could not let go of it so I make my own soup and get rid of the flavor pack that comes with the package. There was no meat in our fridge so I had to be creative with it, I heard though that in Manila they make corned beef sinigang, so I thought, why not corned beef ramen, right?

The dumplings is one of the recipes that I stumbled online while looking for Singaporean dishes. This one is travel influenced. The recipe of course is a traditional Chinese dish, it's not new to us however that most of the population in Singapore are Chinese. So there you go.. I really did not follow the proportions online since I only have a cup of ground pork stored in the ref. The new ingredient that I bought to complete the dish's recipe is the rice wine. I had trouble looking for the right one though, I go only for the one with english label just to be sure I bought the right one.

What's next? I really don't know but I hear there's going a S&R special this Sep 21, new stocks and more items coming. I have settled my mind in buying dishwashing & toilet cleaner, diced tomato sauce for my all time favorite pasta in tomato sauce.

experience worth a gig of memory

2011-09-02T11:33:00.000+08:00

The long august holiday falling after weekend days opened a chance for travel-lovers to explore the world and what it has to offer. Singapore was the target destination. Last year and celebrating the same Eidl Fitre holiday, I went to Malaysia. This time I was with Greg and it was his first time to travel. I am so thrilled to see what's in Singapore and see why it draws a lot of Pinoys to their haven.

Despite of the Muslim holiday, most of establishments are open for business because majority of the population is Chinese and are Buddhist by religion.

There are many things I would like to note about the city. I would like to mention on 3 of my likes and dislikes.

Likes:

Transportation - Buses and trains are most convenient choice during peak hours. Taxis charge extra on a certain schedule and your bill goes up to 150% after 12MN. So make sure you ride a taxi before Cinderella's curfew. The flag down differs if you happen to hail a limo.. which we did one time, the car smells expensive.

Food - Singaporeans make it to a point to make food junctions available inside the mall. They have plenty choices of different cuisines. You should not miss the famous chicken rice stalls and try out local desserts. Hawkers centers are popular to the locals and tourists. Before heading to the city, read reviews in the web about the food and the location of the centers.

Cleanliness - I envy the way they implement the rules on littering. Who can afford paying 1000 SGD? If you are around the city and tempted to throw just a piece of litter, think twice.. although police are not visible around that is mainly because they are in civilian clothes.

Dislikes:

Discrimination - Blame it to the language gap between chinese, indians, and malays.. or the different religions they believe in. They just don't hang out together. There's some kind of an invisible wall between them that they don't see each other eye to eye.

Aromatics - If you have taken a fully packed bus or train ride, you know what I mean. The smells take you to another dimension, to a memory when my grandma was applying her dragon balm and the curry that I ate the other day. I also learned that even insiks are not fond of taking morning baths. Filipinos are quite unique.. in the morning, if you see somebody whose hair is moist with water not because of rain, that one is Pinoy.

Pass - I dislike the fact that it is difficult to be eligible in any of the working passes Singapore is offering. Not unless you earn an equivalent of a manager's payroll then you'll have a shot of acquiring a pass.

It seems that I am displaying my intention of working abroad. I do not close my door to opportunity as such. Why not? Maybe I will take my travelling to another level just like Lotte if I start earning dollars and not just speak in dollars... ;(

the coast is clear

2011-06-10T14:55:00.003+08:00

dozing off in the office will give me more than just a headache. it is not a good idea to even try it. i've finished coffee after lunch but it's not quite helping me. i thought i have a meeting to attend by 2pm then i realized it's not really a meeting but just a deadline to handover my report. the real meeting is on monday at the same time. ok then i have 1 hour spared from my not-so-busy schedule this friday. when it is friday, it seems the day is lagging. you want to end the day as soon as you see the tangerine sky. oh, i hope this writing will help me get through the extra hour. but i am writing with my mind just typing what i want to say. it is like talking to an old friend, spontaneous, not really minding wvhat topic to babble, just scribble, pause, think, babble, and babble. though my mouth is shut when i am doing this, head slightly tilted, hearing very well tuned in to the conversation around and most of all my eyes are always in a spy mode with a little help from my side mirror, a very good tool to see whose entering our laboratory turned into office - the coast is clear. hayy..

Short notes

2011-06-02T09:53:00.001+08:00

today I read some blog from a friend. the one's that really make me think and although it is short the meaning keeps flooding in. it is mysterious, poetic and sometimes can be mocking... when you don't know exactly what the person's message is trying to convey. i should read a lot of books and study contexts.

-isn't this a short blog? haha...

Seafood lunch

2011-05-30T11:37:00.000+08:00

One lazy Saturday, I decided to add a viand to my fried bangus for lunch. I read a lot of recipes, cooking tips and this right here is copied from the video that I watched. Well not really copied, I tend to make changes to adapt to what is available in my kitchen. First off, I do not have a griller but I have skewers, pepper, salt, paprika, lemon, butter, olive oil, and a pan! And that is all I need to make me a very good pan grilled skewered prawns. I love it!

LOL

2011-05-16T18:58:00.000+08:00

Wishbone

2011-04-26T12:37:00.000+08:00

Where can I get a dog like this?

I remember Wishbone's TV series in my early years. I liked his adventures and the costumes that he wear. This brings my memory back in the old days. I've always prefer dogs among other domestic animals. We had 1-3 dogs when I was young at a certain time, all in all, I think we've manage to raise 10 of them but not at the same time.

When I was in college, I can't remember if we still had a dog. When I graduated in college my parents had given up raising any and when my niece came, it would have been a miracle if they entertained just the thought of having a dog in our home.

I am still fascinated with dogs but the feeling is not enough to take the leap of getting me a pet. Breed dogs comes with a high price tag throughout its life. I would prefer an askal, the local and always available breed in town. This is just me wishful thinking. I know I won't have time to do all dog-master bonding like when I was a kid. I had all the time back then, but now it is comes down to work, sleep, and some side activities that I could not trade with a dog. Someday I will have my own and I want a Jack Russel Terrier, not too big and not to small.

Just another victim

2011-03-01T17:26:00.000+08:00

I am a victim of an attack that happened four (4) times to date since 2010. I hate the memory of it, it gives me the creeps.

The first time it happened, I felt it was normal, the second was the worst. I was in the land they coined from a root crop. I had sleepless nights after acquiring the unspeakable thing. The third time, I was ready that it could happen again, it never missed but it was nothing like the 2nd. Today, I am suffering from its fourth attack and I had to endure many days again. The culprit of these wild and viral attacks are the jelly creatures, some unseen, while I was snorkeling.

Argh! This will not stop me from seeing beautiful life under water though. I just have to give intervals to this activity. And be sure to be ready of the consequences.

The doctor gave me medications already and gave a strict diet to avoid foods like shrimp, crabs, chicken, eggs, and eggplant. I feel uncomfortable I can’t play badminton, jog or just be subjected to stress because I could get irritable. The trade off though is that I get to shower early in the evening, limit my mobility inside the house by just laying in bed, wearing baggy clothing, and sleep early and get a max of 7-8 hours of snooze.

1/30 lunch

2011-01-31T12:51:00.002+08:00

It was the first lunch that the four of us (me, greg, dadat, & joep) had together since moving in few weeks ago. It was sure fun to prepare food for all. I wasn't prepared to cook for four people, in fact, I have not considered it not until when we were grilling the pork bbq skewers on our little "pogon" outisde our place. Without any other viand planned, I decided to prepare tortang talong. Joep on the other hand is not fond of eating vegetable, so the eggplant dish had to be palatable on his first try. I try to prepare vegetable on Sunday also to encourage them to eat healthy choices aside from all-protien and fatty diet. The pork bbq was an experiment. We borrowed the recipe from Greg's brother. I used the measuring cups I got from last Christmas, this is to make sure that I have my own marinade proportions for future reference, in case I have to make adjustment on the flavor. After saying our graces, the moment came when the experimental dish was put to the test - it taste a little closer to the LCC pork bbq that is very popular back in my hometown. Yes! I feel that the marinade had to be adjusted though to improve the taste and I can't wait for the next weekend that I would have to try it out again. This time, I would have to make the slices bigger. Hehe.. The way the pork was tied up into the sticks didn't seem too appealing, so the EC must be implemented on the next production.

Xenon AX 100 2.1

2011-01-25T15:15:00.000+08:00

My new fad this January is the new set of speakers that I bought for a very conservative price, a peso short to make it a 4-dig. Anyway, I am not very particular of the technical specs. I just listened to how it sounds when watching a movie or simply plugging in to an mp3 player. Yeah, it sounds goood. The first product I tried was pretty shakey after turning the volume full. The second one on display that I liked was was the last stock, so after hearing that from the salesman, I did not hesitate and lined up instantly to pay for it. I could not wait to go home after that. If I can only apparate like the witches do I would, hehe.. The first song I played was Michelle Branch & Santana's I'm Feeling You.. I was feeling everything right there and then, danced like nobody's watching. My roommate joined to celebrate that moment and Greg was busy fixing the connections for the LPG burner. He was determined to use the burner that night, so it was okay that he did not care to join. :D

Heavy rain

2011-01-25T14:47:00.000+08:00

A 30-minute heavy rain hit the city this morning. It delayed my plan to come in arouind 8:30 AM. Timing in 15 min before the tardy mark isn't bad considering the conditions from outside. Some of my colloeagues were not able to make it. We took the longest route coming from home to the office. The popular route that we always take had knee-high water gush. Our neighbors were very kind to us and gave us advise which path to take where water was conquerable. They really know their place well. I thank them for their good deeds. With the heavy rain, we couldn't just wear our office foot wear instead we had to wear slippers all the way, eww! It is a better idea though than soaking your shoes as well. So when we finally got to our floor, we rushed to the comfort room and washed clean our foot on the sink. The scene was funny to look at but it's better clean than sorry.

Salty and sour

2011-01-25T13:36:00.002+08:00

Fish cooked in vinegar, salt and some spices, paired up with cold rice or what we call "bahaw", hmm.. this is what I had for lunch. We have a stove at home but I did not bother to heat it up. I wanted to eat it like the old days. I always enjoy eating such viand when I get home at the end of the day. Today was different. I forgot to bring my lunch with me so I have to go home. I copied the recipe the way Cebuano cook their version of "pinaksiw na isda", known as "inun-unan" in Cebu. Negrenses cook it with toyo to put color on the dish. But I kinda liked how vinegar and salt taste now. It is something new to my mouth buds and I love it.

Moving out, Coming in

2011-01-13T15:14:00.000+08:00

Two bedrooms, one bathroom, big kitchen and dining area & a living room - this will be our new home on the 20th. Me and my housemates (Greg, Dadat, and Jeoff) got a good deal from our landlord/ lady to rent their ex-flat on the 2nd floor of the same building for a conseravative price. The deal was unexpected to think that they are not considering the place for a lower price of 10K. They know us as good tennants, very sensible ones and particularly keen about cleanliness. The reason that prompted us of transferring is our frustration towards our boardmates. Every day is a constant adjustment when it comes to cleanliness maintenance & the unauthorized use of our stuff that is placed outside of our rooms. First of all, you don't use the things that are not yours w/o permission. Second, you are suppose to help clean the common area because you contribute to entropy generated outside your room. We are very much excited to move out of 3Fand to enjoy the serenity that is waiting in our new home.

siesta stories

2011-01-10T15:18:00.001+08:00

going for my 2nd cup
my headache has been going on for 2 days already. this happened after my swimming activity in abellana last saturday. it's been heavy since i got off the pool, took the shower and blah blah. the point is, i've not recovered from being dizzy yet. i never gone more than one cup a day for more than a month already and now i'm back with 2 dose of caffeine per day. i hope this does not continue for the whole week. but i still plan to go swim on saturday, i feeel that it'll wash the heavy feeling away i have now. as if i am not too excited to do my laps again, i bought swim cap and cheap goggles that will keep my eyes comfortable the whole time for this weekend.

wgc post xmas party
this friday, i'm meeting up with some of WGC members. we never got the chance to have the xmas party before everybody went home for the holidays. it's just reasonable to have the event at the early week of january and it is important that it has to be payday week. as for my part, it's not 13-28 anymore.. so i had to do with the leave conversion that i had left for 2010.

novena at sto.nino
last year was memorable because it was my first time. this year will be different, we hope to be ready for the rain, for the long walks, stands, for the near-stampede situation, for the hair-raising praising, the waving, balloons, nature calls, hunger, thirst, and anything that is there if you are going to join the novena and the mass in honor of the Child Jesus.

street dancing parade
in my 5 years in cebu, i missed only one year of taking the street from ayala to mango. it was exhausting at the end of the day. the day should not end until you watched the fireworks in the sports complex or in ayala. i have always preferred to witness the one in ayala, it was much easier to ride your way back to mactan (when I was still renting there) and now it is much more convenient for me because I rent just around the bush.

Bad cat

2011-01-10T09:44:00.002+08:00

Monday is always a difficult day to get up in the morning. I woke up from the rumbling keys that opened our room. It was Greg and his usual routine getting food from the fridge and cook for his breakfast. He asked me where I placed the fish paksiw because he could not find it. The casserole where I cooked the fish was outside, empty. I was still caught between my forgotten dream and the fish that I prepared the day before. I know I cooked it of course but I could not seem to remember transferring it into a food container. When I checked the casserole, it had 1 pc of sliced tomato and 1 fish bone. Then we thought "bad cat" and bad me for dismissing the thought that we have little friends all over the place, climbing the roof, messing up the other room's trash can if they put food waste in it. It was a waste and I felt bad that I could not go back to sleep anymore at 6:45AM. Still I laid back in my bed, waited for my alarm clock until 7:30 but still was thinking about the fish and the bad cat. It will be something I will learn from. Revenge would be nice but then - it was just one hungry cat.

4th day of the year 2011

2011-01-05T14:12:00.002+08:00

Hi! Today is the 4th day of 2011 and I am making this blog my first for this year. 2010 did not hand me this year that easy by giving me a fever to carry on the new year's eve! Thank you very much. What do I have lined up to do for this year? First off, Palawan on February, my niece's birthday on April, see my sister back from UAE on May... possible trip to Leyte on December or early January of 2012 to attend a wedding, yey! No plans for the other months I've not mentioned but I am really trying to cut off my travel for this year, you'll never know when rainy days come, or worse, stormy days, haha.. This was a good year for me I can say that. I hope it was for you too.

-ooops! I was suppose to post this on my estoryah blog, not on WGC's...

Happy Holidays

2010-12-09T10:17:00.001+08:00

somos novios (it's impossible)

2010-11-05T10:12:00.003+08:00

this a song originally made popular by king of rock n roll, elvis presley. andrea bocelli's solo version and duet it with christian aguillera's of this song has been banging my ears for the last 2 days. a sudden change of taste of music is something i am amazed at times. my ears still favor cool acoustic music and dislike hiphop beat most of the time. but this song.. just rips my heart off.. i can sleep and work with this song for whole 2 weeks. the song is in italian and i can't sing with it. haha.. i'd rather listen to it, than sing aloud, my officemates would think i'm going crazy. "it's just impossible" are just few english lines in this song. i can recall many heart-warming memories just listening to this..hmm.

temple grandin

2010-10-28T14:51:00.000+08:00

is not a temple for worship or a place related to religion. it is a name of an autistic professor and doctor of animal science. her life is truly an inspiration for people who are special. her story was captured in a movie entitled after her name. her character was portrayed by claire danes. i thought she did a good job playing the role as temple. without knowing her early filmography, you'll have little appreciation of the effort she did for the movie.

the movie's drama is focused on the love of a mother who pushed herself to give her kid a shot in living a normal life. special people react differently in normal society. you will find the struggles are quiet different for these people and to cope with the society, they actually have their own way of buffering through circumstances. the funny and insiprational side of the story is temple's eagerness to pursue her passion.

who missed what?

2010-10-28T14:28:00.000+08:00

missing two important meetings in a week means i need to do something to boost my internal human hard drive dedicated for reminding me of my schedules. i got away from the first meeting because i took the day ff on my bday. the second one, i'm just lucky i wasn't asked where i was!! there's no particular agenda which i was happy about. that means that there's no issue to discuss that needed me to explain some stuff. this week did not turn out to be smooth. however bad, food this week was superb - shrimp tempura, pesto pasta, ice cream, chikaan lunch and yellow cab pizza plus tacos.. the last two (2) are free, that makes it even more pleasing. hihi..

happy halloween!

new do

2010-10-26T13:00:00.002+08:00

i got tired of my long straight hair.. figured i play around with my hair. i had to say goodbye to my rebonded hair yesterday. why i did that was to fulfill a promise - if greg finds a job, then.. i'll cut my hair short. it feels like a weight has been pulled out of me. when you see people with a new do, you'd always ask if he or she had just a major relationship fall down. not in my case... i'm blissful.

truly asia,

2010-09-15T16:48:00.005+08:00

Malaysia... is my first out of the country trip using my own money. It doesn't hurt to invest in things that you really love to do. I love exploring, going to umfamiliar places (but not dagnerous). My recent travels are based locally and I've had so many things to say about it, it is beautiful, it can be stressfull at times, adventurous, wild (?), funny, etc. It is the same feeling I had when I went to Malaysia but even more to it is to see the different culture, food, language, faces, technology, and much more!

One of the things we look forward after the day ends aside from sleeping and dreaming is the total of our per day cost. Whoever had the most total expenses for the whole trip loses the bet against the Ultimate Budget Traveller! The winner gets to have a dinner courtesy of the loser. Haha..

Day one
Malacca is 2 hours away from KL city. You can reach it by bus or train. In our case, we catched the 7:25 bus to Melaka from Bukit Jalin. We arrived Melaka Sentral around 9:30. And from there we took a cab going to the center of Melaka tourism, A Famosa, Clock tower, etc. Entering the heart of the city speaks of the era of Portuguese occupation. Too bad we had no tourist guide to walk us through the sites. Almost all historical spots were just close to each other. We are left with no choice but to walk around. The place was a mix of different culture and religion - indian, chinese, malays - islam, hindu, christians, and buddhist. It was peaceful place at first but when it was around noon it was flooeded with tourist already. Popular chinese "restoran" were infested with customers eating ang Q-ing. I have a thing for noodles that's why even with the long "Q", I insisted on waiting. Haha.. I feel sorry for Verna though, she did not like what she oredered and I did not have the stomach to eat her part as well. I bought a key chain in remembrance of the place. If it was not holiday that time, I think we could've spotted a nice place to eat and chill out.

Transportation
Coming back to KL did not pose any trouble for us except that we did not know how to get from the bus station going to our guest house. We did not have that planned because the bus station we expected to go was closed for rennovation, good thing that the taxi that took us to the bus station going to Melaka was polite and did not take advantage of our ignorance. We took a "teksi" from Bukit Jalin to our guest house and we were tricked by a "shalala" driver (a term I and Verna agreed to call the Indians that we feel are unpolite & dishonest) . Charged us flat rate of MYR 35, almost 2x the meter rate. It was something we'd learn about the drivers, they will over power you with their big voices, it feels like you were being scolded, and to think that these shalala are bigger than us and looks really frightening. I just settled in not arguing with them.

Taking the train is the best transporation to opt if you're travelling just around the city.

Where to stay?
We did not want to be tricked again so we asked Travelhub (our guest house) for transportation tips within the city and to be ready for the next day's activity - Genting Highlands. The place is managed by a family and they treat their guests very well. If you ask me, I'd stay at their place if I return to KL. The place is strategic for bargain shoppers since it's just a few meters walk to the famous Petaling Street (Chinatown) and the place is close to 2 train stations, amazing!

Day two
Woke up at 5am in the morning to get to the earliest 7am bus to Genting. In preparation for the whole day activity, we had peanut butter and jelly for breakfast and a cup of noodles, we even packed sandwiches for the trip. We were geared with maps and turned ourselves into a compass. We catched the 2nd earliest bus which left Titiwangsa around 7:45AM and arrived at Genting 2h after. On the bus ride, it was the longest bus ride for me, I was not seated with Verna that time. I don't know why we got separated. A "shalala" man was seated next to me and the smell was not very pleasurable. The chinese man standing beside the door was talking the whole trip non stop that made the shalala even more irratated. It could've been nice if he had just slept all the way, but because of the loud-mouthed chinese, he just could not stop moving on his seat!

Anyway, I diverted my thoughts on how excited I am to see Genting. Upon arrival, I felt the cool breeze of the air. Since it was a holiday, the place was very full, mostly chinese. There were so many rides both indoor and outdoor but the problem with coming in on a holiday is that your time will be consumed more with Q-ing rather than enjoying the rides. We paid online for the All park ticket to avoid lining up to buy ticket and we only tried 4 rides, haha.. not that I was not happy coming on Genting, the place was still memorable.

In Genting, we saw billboards saying Manila, Philippines "The place to play" .. I don't know how they've come up with that banner for Philippines. I guess for the many casinos and patriots of lotto, haha.. not counting the jueteng. hehe..

Where to eat?
Going back, we bought a returning ticket on the same bus line 2h before departure schedule. We took the same route going back but we stopped at Bukit Bintang to have our dinner at the popular street food capital at Jalan Alor. Food is prepared fresh as you can see the veggies are hanging on their stores. The place is popular for tourist, the atmosphere is warm, people babbling in different languages, somebody is holding a mic singing a karaoke chinese jukebox song - that's how I remember the place, and of course the food was good.

Day three
This is our last day in KL and we are going on a city tour. We had cold fried rice for breakfast (left over from dinner) and coffee. We had to be well fed for this day because we feel we'll be crammed with the tour around the city. It is a good thing though that Travelhub allowed its guests to leave their bags after check out and even allows them to have a shower after checking out - aren't they amazing? The idea that we'd be carrying our bags around was dismissed and we settled in going around the city on foot (with shoes). We went to Petronas earliest as possible to buy a ticket to the bridge BUT then again it was still holiday and they are close until September 14. This was unexpected but we were not discouraged with that. The usual routine to every tourist spot is to take take pictures, so it was the drill for every nice place we saw. The second point was Menara tower. From Petronas, Menara can be seen already. 3rd stop was Bukit Nanas (City forest) where Verna had an intersting experience with a city monkey, hehe.. By train we went to the 4th stop - National Musuem and from there we walked to 5th was Bird Park passing by the Planetarium (closed for holiday). By "teksi" we went back to Travelhub. Whew it was the day we walked about 5KM (or even more).

Who won the bet?
After painstakingly accounting every expense we spent (which was done every night before going to sleep), it was decided - Verna won the bet by MYR 12. It was a close bet, if not with the little pasalubong, we could've not gone over MYR 6 of our budget.

With that, I will end this blog by invititing you to do the Ultimate Budget Traveller Challenge on your next adventure. Be sure to carry with you a handy pen and a small paper to write down every purchase you had. :)

unlikely fact

2010-08-06T16:57:00.000+08:00

i never imagined that someday i would go to a clinic to take an ecg test. i just did last thursday, took the whole day off just for that. although i was feeling okay, i decided to take a day off. i was happy to see the result read: ...otherwise normal ecg. but the company doctor is not quite convinced after srutinizing the graphed result. the doctor told me i have arrythmia - irregular heartbeat and that it would be better just to be sure that i'd get a second opinion from a cardio specialist. arrythmia is normal to people who engage in active lifestyle e.g. sports activies, marathoning, etc. i was relieved she mentioned something about that. i am confident that i am perfectly okay but as i age "younger" and look back on my diet choices few weeks ago, it's not ideally healthy though i eat less most of the time. next week, i hope to go to the cardio clinic. i pray that everything is just fine. i told my mother after my doctor's appointment this morning, her advise for me was to stick to fish and vegetable diet and no more running. i could deal with any diet.. but take out running, football, badminton from me - NO!!! i don't think i can handle any running as of the moment, i feel i could faint. it's very unlikely of me to be frail on any physical activities.. but it's how it is. uff...

overTime

2010-07-17T12:40:00.000+08:00

for some odd reason i stepped up and told my boss that i'd make a video as part of awareness program of our sustainability goal. so here i am in the office shooting for some scenes that i'd be putting in the video. i was given a 2 weeks deadline to wrap it up. so, there it is.. instead of spending 10hours of sleep today, i had to wake up early and make sure i'd report before 9am which is not my usual time-in during weekdays. haha.. well, it something i am very much motivated to do now... until i have the fire in me burning, i should make use of it. i have a tendency to dump some stuff and get busy and interested with other stuff.. i forget about those "unfinished" business.. hehe goodluck to me!

post office update and my active life

2010-05-18T10:40:00.003+08:00

got a note from cebu city post office this morning and i am so happy that my pickguard purchased over the internet thru ebay will be with me few days from now. i've not decided as to when i am going to pick up the parcel though. i am also not sure whether the parcel is in good condition but i hope it is not damaged. after i get the pickguard, i plan to visit the guitar maker which my friend referred me to. i can't wait to see the final product. i miss the feeling of being passionate towards music. i admit that i do not have much dedication in practicing my guitar playing these days because i am more engrossed in playing badminton. if not badminton, i've could've gone back with jogging and marathoning. hahaha.. i can't afford to sit and do non-sense when i know there are things i can do to loose weight. i am very concerned with my weight although many said that i've trimmed down, the scales don't lie and they show up the same figures that made me decide to be serious about exercise. my knee hurts when i play badminton, this maybe due to my heavy upper body built. i counted 3 days from the first day of tournament after i became comfortable with walking. i am straining my legs too much with the activities that i am in. i can't help it because i am enjoying it and i tend forget about how it bothers me until the day ends then tomorrow comes and getting up from bed is a lot of struggle. waaa...

hummingbird

2010-04-29T18:35:00.000+08:00

hi avid readers! i thought i'd write something for April 'coz i don't want to leave it blank. i'm sharing you my dream guitar - gibson hummingbird.

the gibson hummingbird was first introduced in 1960. the vintage guitars are still available for sale and they cost a lot. that destroys my dream to ever acquire one, haha. what drawn me into its style is its unique shape of pick guard and the humming bird artwork.

i had a plan to buy an acoustic guitar ever since, so i thought why not find a maker that can produce a guitar of my own design. i did found one, with a help of a friend. i spent a lot of time looking for pickguards on ebay and found one, yey! the package is on its way here, so i'm hoping it wouldn't look cheap.

been up to..

2010-03-11T01:48:00.002+08:00

March is a cold month here. It's much colder knowing you're away from your comforts, friends, foods that you love, etc. Making the most out of what is here is a big thing. Making use of heater for example to keep you warm is essential. Plotting out what you wear the next day because you only packed few blouses and jeans. Having to do your laundry once in while just to make sure you'll have socks, undies to wear the next day. Stores are pretty far from each other, having a car is like having a cellphone here. Friends - I observe many people from work that they don't go out with friends or people that they work with. Maybe because they're all not so young, they are more family oriented. For people like me (single), this kind of set up is hard. I can't survive weekends going out alone and if I do, I make sure I'm going some place where I can see people and actually engage into chitchats. I'm making "finding friends" a task that I could work on while I'm here. My counterparts are really nice people, they are all married and have families. So they don't stay late in the office or go to some bar have drinks, eat out, see movie with co-workers, they just head home. How sweet and simple life is here! I'm happy though that they are doing stuff that hasn't been done in a while like dinner at home with the team. I'm excited to go next week. I just got invited yesterday, a dinner that it is intended to welcome me I guess. Now I get to see how they do it, spouses are also invited, haha so this should be fun. I could like be their daughter for my age. I love my team.

Tomorrow, I'm going to run with Alicia. A friend that my counterpart introduced me to. Last monday we had our first run around the company's compound. Went around it and the park for 40min. I saw squirrels, robins, and at the park they had basketball court, soccer field, children's play ground. I thought I would not sweat out at 5 deg. C. It was not until the 15min mark that I started to get warmed up and my sweat just felt so cold on my neck! We're gonna do it again this Thursday and if she didn't forget about buying me dinner, to some place I have not eaten yet, I might just get lucky!

Meeting is up 15min from now. This is it for me today.

I'm a foreigner

2010-03-05T08:41:00.000+08:00

"Im a foreigner"

The land of milk and honey.

My first sunshine since I got in Lexington.

Pasta bolognese for dinner.

Test bLog

2010-03-03T11:03:00.000+08:00

I'm just Checking this new apps using a gadget that I just bought...wee!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

weekend in manila

2010-02-23T15:47:00.004+08:00

It has always been a struggle not to start my sentences with the word 'I'. Haha.. When you tell a story of course you have to make reference with the character or the subject of the story, which always happen to be ME! When you're reading this, don't attempt to count how many of "I's" used on this post. It's normal, why don't you count your "I's" too.. Haha

My visit in Manila is a gift, not to mention that it is in time with the Vday. It's not always like me to celebrate that day because for me it sounds mushy and corny. But there's no escaping the chance that I was there. There are only 2 places that I would like to go during my stay there. First is SLRSCC (San Lorenzo Ruiz Student Catholic Center), where I stayed 6mos of my review and second, the Ocean Park. I was happy to have visited the places I wanted to go. Side trips are inevitable of course. I also had a chance to visit St. Jude church next the Malacanang palace. I've been to MOA, Greenhills, SM Megamall, Robinsons (Mandaluyong). I traveled by bus, LRT, MRT, taxi but no jeepney experience that time. Thanks to Greg for knowing the routes and for taking care of me all the time. The number of cars, public utility transpo, buildings in Cebu is nothing compared in Manila. The people thrive in this kind of place where jobs are everywhere. This place is not for me though. For two days I stayed at Lila's place, my college classmate and friend. My stay there was enjoyable and also an awekening of my love in music. I didn't know I could put chords and sang Lila's composition. I lack the talent of writing songs because I particularly don't like it to sound scary and emotional. Maybe becuase in reality I am a mushy or an emotional person, bwahahaha.. Gucci stayed 1 night at Lila's house to bond with us. It was like a mini reunion. I hope we could get together again and this time some of our classmates would join us too.

Collage 1 - Creatures in Manila Ocean Park

Collage 2 - People at Ocean Park

Collage 3 - SLRSCC, St. Jude, ChE Friends

flying with pal

2010-02-23T15:09:00.000+08:00

I had an oppurtunity to fly just last week with PAL. The ticket looks flashy unlike the one that I am used with Cebu Pac. I hope the other airline doesn't get offended on how my blog would sound. It is a fact though that PAL is expensive and Cebu Pacific is cheap. It is also a fact that you are paying for good service and accomodation when you choose PAL. I hope that justifies everyhting. So, I still have my notebook with me during the flight. I listed all the stuff that I noticed from the moment I boarded the air bus.

1) air bus is big - 2 aisle
2) complementary snacks with a choice of water or hot coffee (brewed)
3) tv screen display - showing flight duration, ETA, and location
4) news paper distribution
5) nice stewardess unifroms for both male and female
6) big comfortable seats w/ foot rest

glowing toes

2010-02-23T14:54:00.002+08:00

I wrote this down while the manucurist is busy cleaning my toe nails. I jotted this down on my small notebook that I have with me in my bag. I finally had a chance to copy and paste it in on my blog. So here goes...

I was 3rd on the list and from experience it would take you about 15-25min before you get your turn. So I listed my name and told the counter that I'd be back after picking some stuff. I went to watsons where I bought my toiletrees and some moisturizing effects for my skin. I checked out a number of shoe stores after that, looking for boots. After days of boot-hunting, still I wasn't successful of finding the style that fits me or the one that I can carry. So, no boots for that day. I went back to the salon and luckily, I was next on the list. It didn't take a minute then my name was called up. Perfect timing! I studied how the manicurist handled my feet. Her hands were very fast. I have to commend how gently she cleaned my toes. I went out of the salon very pleased of how my toe glowed, of course with a little help of nail color. Char..

saturday high

2010-02-01T10:29:00.002+08:00

it was a beautiful saturday morning. the clouds were clear. sun was not so high at 6:30am when we started our run. so we took the usual route that i take everytime i decide to run after work. we stretched our muscles, oiled our joints..
it was my first time to jog at saturday morning, i didn't expect the number of people that was already there sweating their way through various activities. but most of them were of course runnning.

so after 1 minute of jogging, lotte was lagging already. haha.. sorry lotte but i think she spent more time clicking her cam than jogging.. ace was running and stopping from time to time. yayah was doing her slow pace running... i wasn't feeling well that time because i lacked sleep. but still i was able to pull a 30min jogging.

the reason why i didn't get enough sleep was that i slept 1am on a saturday and at 5:15am in the morning, the baranggay band woke the neighborhood up with their usual fiesta routine.. "boom-boom-toot-toot" oh yes, the drums and trumpet were so loud you'd want to throw water on them! it feels like it's fiesta every month in our place but without the "pakals" except for that one grand fiesta that our landlord prepared for his tennants superb dinner.

anyway, wgc runners originally planned to have breakfast at our place after. but we had our "taho" at the park already and esyang and yayah were excited to go home already. i didn't eat afterwards either.. i was too tired to cook but i finished doing laundry. ew! i felt like i was having hangover or some drug caused my hyperactivity. really, i did not came back to sleep the whole morning. at 12NN i even met up with baruk at ayala to buy bolognese sauce ingredients when we got home, i cooked.. and we ate few hours after. i was just happy to finally have a recipe i can call my own proportion for the bolognese sauce.. yipee!

i was so tired at the end of the day that i decided to retire to bed at 9:45PM...hoo! i woke up 7:30am because I forgot to turn off my alarm clock. it was okay..

so, i want to jog again every saturday morning... i hope wgc runners would still want to do that, it was fun.

day before sinulog

2010-01-18T17:02:00.001+08:00

i really would like to share my sinulog experience with everybody who gets to read this blog. i grew up in negros and bacolodnons are not that much of a devotee for their patron, san sebastian. unlike any other big fiestival in the philippines, masskara is one that i know that is not related to saints or to any religious icons. so imagine my surprise when i attended the mass celebration in sto. nino basillica. it was jae's, my roommate, fault why i was convinced to join patron's activity day before the sinulog fiestival. she told me that i was too lazy to join the procession that i'd rather run 21k marathon. it was true! i'm a negrense and i'm totally numb about how big sinulog is for others. so, my conscience was talking me into it. i planned to do my laundry that day but thanks for dang, they are still soaked and unwashed up until now. i didn't know what to expect when i met up with ace, rubai and cele. i thought we were going to join the procession, but they had a better idea.

1) taking chances - we were lining up the back gate of the basillica, hoping the gates will be opened any time soom. people were literally rubbing elbows with each other, it was raining, my feet is drenched with dirt. not until somebody lead the people in shouting out aloud the words "open, open". i'm sure the novena was distrubed by that commotion, so they decided to open the gates for us.

2) good samaritan - who offered part of his plastic cover so we can sit nicely and clean.

3) long wait - novena that almost took 4(h)ever to finish. 3h for the mass

4) the wave - batobalani wave was a little awkward for me first. you'll get used to it if you don't think about how stupid you look, hehe. i get goosebumps when i see people doing it. the song was like crying to my ears. photographers go gaga shooting here and there everytime the song hits the chorus. haha

5) the ninos - people everywhere were carrying small, some big, some very big statues.. and they're raising it up from time to time.

6) kidneys - you better take your cr routine and not drink any liquid few hours before you decide to crash the site.

7) balloons - tied up with it is their petition. one balloon didn't get so lucky, after few attempts of taking it in another level, it just couldn't make it. it swerved all over the bleachers and down to the altar.. and back again. it was funny.

it was some experience that i would love to share with my mama. she's a sto.nino devotee... she couldn't keep her hands off the little statue she has during the new year's eve!

Can't think of a title

2010-01-15T16:51:00.001+08:00

Nosebleeding isn't just a physical torment, it also is a mental and emotional torture. I don't know how people discovered nosebleed to be related with too much use of the dollar language. It suddenly just became a hit to people. You can hear them say, "nosebleed ko" if they fail to understand a statement or if they spent too much time listening or speaking english. The term is also associated to the wrong use of grammar. Not everybody is born having a dollar tongue. Sure it's true that it can be learnt but without practice and influence of the people around you, you'll never be good at it.

So, why am I bragging about nosebleeds? It's because I am having it now. I have 3 reports to make within 2 weeks - it's two down and one more to go. Preparation stained my notes with blood and when it was finally time to speak in front, I couldn't stop imagining the rising level of fluid slowly climbing from my knee to my hips until it was high enough, feeling the bouyant force pushing my weight towards the surface. It's a gross way of picturing the fear I have of speaking to an audience. It's always been a struggle.

I just wonder why speaking is harder for me than just singing. It's very odd but when there's a tune to the words I speak, I don't seem to have a problem with it. Maybe because it does not let me worry about what I am going to say next simply because it has lyrics already. I could memorize a song faster than memorizing a speech. Why have we not fused music and learning english at the same time? We could all be musicians, vocalist, some out of tune but we'll all be the masters of the dollar language.

I have to end this now. I'm just saying, it's okay to make mistakes, it's okay if you pronounced it awkwardly. Make sure you made your point because the thought counts more than the lavish words.

My 21K story

2010-01-11T09:58:00.003+08:00

Crazy as it sounds and maybe a little ambitious too, I did not settle on the thought of finishing a loser on my first 21K. When I registered for this run, I felt like I bought a hammer, ready to hit my head any time I remember that day I paid 450 for the race only for simple reason that we'd like to have that ChampionChip attached to our shoes. The chip stores up the exact time you finished the race. The thought of conquering the longest run ever in my life was secondary to the chip. Now, that sounds funny.

To make the long story short - with non-stop running, I finished the 21K for 2:42:26.

The most boring and longest route for me was taking the SRP. There wasn't so much to look at except for the houses and opposite it is the sea. The air is not so good and the sun was almost coming up during that time. So it was hot and dry. I think we spent almost 50min there. I enjoyed running more on the city because there were people cheering us up and motivating us.

That is me (#1772) and my parnter Albert behind runner #1114 (stranger) taking Jones.

I did not feel discomfort from any parts of my body except for my right knee. It almost gave up on me on the 17K mark. Good thing there were water stations on every 1K that we've passed. It fueled me and eased half of the painful 4K remaining. I discovered also during the last stretch that I was having difficulty running downhill compared to uphill road. I had to change from heel-strike to mid-foot or fore-foot and widen the angle of my legs just to give comfort to my aching knee. Whew! I had to give it up to my partner, Albert, for putting up with me!

If you ask me, if there's going to be another round of 21K? Just to make sure I don't get my right knee injured, I would have to lose weight first. I feel that my upper body is way too heavy for my legs to handle.

Lexmark Runner's Club

01-10-10

2010-01-08T09:16:00.001+08:00

My motivation to be in shape while in vacation is this race. Sleeping not later than 11PM and waking up as early as 5AM are just few of the adjustment I had to do during those times. When I don't have the schedule to run, I try to make up for the hours of sleep I missed. The second motivation for this routine is to actually control my weight brought about by the new change of appetite I had, hehe... I may have a gained around 2lbs but I'm sure I've stored up enough carbs that would serve as my battery for this race.

The question is - was my preparation enough to finish 21K?

Ten Things Before Two-Oh-Ten

2010-01-07T16:24:00.001+08:00

1) Avatar - sci-fiction film.. nice effects, story,etc. you've got to see this one!

2) First taste of gotu kola from our frontyard - accdg to studies eating 2-3 leaves a day will let you live 100+ years...umm, don't you think it's pretty exhausting to live that long

3) Rainbow Roll at RaiRaiKen - sashimi on top of california roll

4) Kuppa Coffee and Tea - located near SJI in Bacolod. They have excellent coffee and food choices and very nice ambience

5) 1 Hour Jogging at Panaad Stadium (2X in 2 weeks) - P10 walking/ jogging fee is free when no one is watching. The track is still in tact. Smell of eucalyptus trees cleanses your lungs.

6) Jogging around the neighborhood (2x a week) - I wake up usually early 5:15 am. I did that so I can eat without worrying about my weight.

7) Naruto Shippuuden Marathon - Oooh.. dattebayo! I'm a certified fan.

8) Grey's Anatomy Season's 1-5 - I bought it at 888 mall in Bacolod where you can find cheap but good quality Blue Ray DVDs..

9) Got new pair of studex earrings - my 3 ear piercing closed up long time ago. I felt I need to do something somehow with my bare ears...

10) Siomai making - I copied this recipe from a friend... I may have added too much salt, but it turned out ok when Mama fried it. hehe

New Year's Eve caught in video - I can't forget clanging ang clashing the casserole cover in welcoming 2010. It was really fun to see my 3 y/o niece getting along the fun. Reese, at her age now may have little understanding about christmas or new year but she sure does know how to celebrate!

sand bar

2009-12-10T09:47:00.000+08:00

What suppose to be a sand mass compared to a cadbury bar now turned into m&m size sand bar... it's just a comparison i made accdg to what the kapitan of the banka said about how the area of that islet has decreased over time. It was blamed to some men taking out the sand during night time so that no one would notice them. It's a crime.. but it's never a crime to visit beautiful resorts, seeing and feeling the fine sand on our feet as we stroll along the shore line. Ever wondered where and how did that once-was rocky shore became now a comfort for our feet to walk on? Sigh...

Anyway, we sailed last November 28, paid the whole boat trip 4K, ate a lot of food, swam around corals and sea weeds. We avoided fish sanctuaries due to budget constraints, hahaha... Just being with friends was worth the fun.. I mean, where can you get your worst nosebleed in your life? We are not from BPOs.. we're actually just trying hard to practice the language. Thanks to the initiatives and creative minds of the Wrong Grammar's Club - Where you can never be WRONG!

Thanks for the wonderful shot that ace and lotte took.. I used my camera much less because I was afraid of getting it wet... unfortunately, I grounded my Sun phone with my water bottle inside my bag. That's so unlucky of me.

7 non-working holidays

2009-08-27T13:18:00.002+08:00

...remaining days that I look forward to spend and celebrate!

august 31 - national heroes day
september 21 - end of ramadan
october - none
november 30 - bonifacio day
december 24,25,30,31 - christmas holidays, rizal day and last day of the year

i have nothing to write. i just want my blog updated. i feel bad that may birth month has zero philippine holiday. so my bday wish is this - make a GOOD difference for my country someday, so we can finally have a holiday for october, but i hope to see that dream come true while i'm still alive...filipino heroes get the honor when they're 6ft underground already. hihi... something you get for asking too much. (just kidding)

new template

2009-08-14T09:36:00.002+08:00

as you notice, i've changed my template. somebody commented on the previous one that i used. the background is black, so it's not very easy to read. i was having the same trouble and i couldn't agree more with meeche's comment but before she could even blurt out her concerns, i was already trying new ones. i like the way it looks now. i remember though, i intended to have that dark blogger porfile so it wouldn't be very easy to detect from the other people's prying eyes when i check my site.

i hate the margins from both sides though, it eats up a lot of space. i think all templates have that.

blogging tips: i am having trouble pasting my composed write up sometimes. what i usually do, i paste everything on the "edit html" tab instead of "compose". it is in text format and you can't choose any font, courier is the default. what you do after you paste the content of your blog (no pictures yet), go again to "compose" tab, the contents will not be erased, so you can choose any font you like. if you like to add pictures, it's very easy because you can just drag the pictures when you've uploaded it already.

daydream come true

2009-08-13T18:17:00.002+08:00

one day, isang araw, while i was walking on the sidewalks of cabantan, headed to the office, i stumbled into a thought of a creamy, sweet-sour taste of mangoes melting delitght on my mouth. hmmm.. so instead of crossing my way to the office, i had a reroute to the metro grocery to grab the basic ingredients in making mango float. my thoughts were racing on how i would be able to prepare them in a very limited time and lack of kitchen gadgets to use. I thought of the basic stuff that we had at the pantry, there was a knife, no can openers, no tapalan, i have 3 plastic containers where i can put the final product and i have a team with a very healthy appetite. of course, it's not for free, everybody has to pay the expense but no labor will be charged to that. it was a test.. that i hope would succeed!

it was surprising, it surprised me also, i made 2 1/2 boxes of mango float in a span of what.. 20 mins?! haha.. when one of my teammate saw me scraping mangoes, he thought, ooh.. i was shifting to fruit snack instead of the usual green salad. they did not really know what i was making, so it was the perfect chance to introduce to them my 20min mango float. bwahaha.. and so we ate all of it during snack time and i'm glad to hear that they liked it. they were my inspiration in starting a small business...i thought about it.

after the work week ended, i decided to make more floats! i never thought of orders.. i was thinking of selling! haha.. so i made 7 boxes, 1 goes to me (reward for my labor). I sold it out in 4 days.. whew! it was something new for me. i wouldn't do that again if i don't get orders beforehand, it's hard to sell when you're market is not sure.

On the second thought, this was not new to me at all... i tried this before when nampa was still here in Cebu, i remember the SamPat tandem.. now its just me. I'm not stopping at mango float, there's more to come!!

u tube

2009-07-30T18:23:00.001+08:00

this is the life! i wonder when's this going to be blocked again.. haha..

run

2009-07-27T15:02:00.001+08:00

Running is good and healthy. So far it has proven its point during the last 2 runs that I participated in.

My first major run this 2009 was the 33rd Milo marathon. It was a 5k fun run. The street near the Abellana grand stand where the marathon would start is packed with noisy students at 4:30 in the morning. I did not expect student's participation on that event. Later, I found out that it was required by their shcool. I wasn't prepared for the run physically and mentally. I wasn't conditioned for running that far! I only run at the gym on a treadmill for 20mins max and the environment is very much different. I finished 5k in 32 minutes. It wasn't bad... but I was so tired after that run. After breakfast, I went home and dozed off for around 2h. I feel that my body was recuperating from shock of that 5k run.

The second was the Great Lapu Lapu Run. It was the first marathon they put up. There was no 5k on the category so I chose 6k, the closest to 5k. The additional 1km was a challenge for me. This time I prepared my mind for it. Physically I wasn't but before that day I went to the gym and ran 30min straight without stopping and walked 10min on a treadmill. I was prepared I thought because I did not feel muscle pains after the trial run. haha... At 4:15am I was up already, ate bread, drank milo, showered and took off by 5am. The weather condition was unlikely because it was raining. It was a rain or shine event. I found that the starting point was in Gun-ob rd., a place that I am very much familiar of. I never thought I'd be back on that street again. I remember the last time I walked through the raod was the fiesta of the baranggay. No vehicles were allowed to enter the road as it would cause further traffic. The scene that morning was just the same...only that almost all wore the same shirt which spells "RUN"... I finished the run of course, it was my ticket to become a member of our runner's club.

It was surprising to see an elderly woman run in native costume with matching dangling ornaments and bolo. There was a male version also which we jokingly called Lapu Lapu. It was weird. I got to see Donna Cruz in person, she was just 2m away from we were sitting at the gym. And I was amazed to know that she joined in the 20k category. There were still 20k runners just finishing the race when we left the gym. It's rare to see celebrities go to such limit...

Today is a day after that great run and I feel just fine... no pains what-so-ever...

As long as the registration fee is affordable and I get to earn double points for my club - bring it on! Btw, I am not ever going to try 20k.

chocolate (2008 movie)

2009-07-20T14:48:00.000+08:00

a movie title that i could associate to willy wonka, a fantasy story, or maybe a dog with reasonability, etc.. but contrary to the sweet and almost innocent title of the movie is a story based on vengeance. an arena of martial arts display. a typical death,vengeance story. it is a thai movie, i would give perfect 10 for the stunts itself. not to mention the skills possessed by the main character - an autistic girl (not in real life). for her first major role or first appearance, she's superb. i see her as a female version of jackie chan, a dare devil. hahaha..i just think she performs her own stunts! i had to read subtitles because it is in thai... even though the translation is bad. they don't talk while fighting.. so it's ok. haha...i'm amazed and entertained. i think i'll just continue kicking balls, smashing shuttle cock and running around. just sticking with something that will keep my face, nose, limbs, etc. intact....?!.?@#$@

watch it guys!

yakarob

2009-07-08T15:19:00.002+08:00

I wanted to write everything in blog about our boracay trip but I'm too tired to put in details per day... so I just iterated the unforgettable stuff that we did, went and found out...
This blog is dedicated to my boracay buddies: tito grape, bruk, cele, lotte, rubai and ace.

Mt. Luho - highest point in boracay where you can have a goof look of the beautiful beach shore line, lush color of the coconut trees add to the wonderful scenery too. Different water activities can be seen from the tower's peak: banana boat rides, jet skis, para-sailing...

Pukka beach - this part of the island is not fronting the big waves brought by the moonsoon wind. Not so many people come in this place bcoz it's quite far. We we're just lucky to be able to rent a cab and tour us around the area.

Station 1-2 - If you think you've had enough of the white sand at station 3, you should walk further down to the last resort at station 1 (the fridays resort). The sand there is much finer, you'll have better view of the sunset, the grotto is in station 1 also, carefully placed on a rocky islet.

Unknown bar - there is this bar located at station 3 (near dead end, where you'll find private owned beach houses). We've discovered this place because of the unusual native lamp attached to a tree in fron of it and the drums they have which they let the customers borrow while hanging out. At first there were just to 2 djembes, the barrista let us borrow as many djembes we would want to play. haha.. It was like a therapy for anger management. Just drumming your heart out.

Fire dancers - you have to go out and party with the people!! But NO, I did not party with people, but you really have to go out at night. If you're exhausted from the morning tour, you may ride a trike on your way to station 1 (assuming that you're staying somewhere in st3). Fire dancers are the easiest peeps to find at night... just look for unusual light motions along the streets or along the shore.

Banana boat - whoa!! fast and furious ride. I have a tip for first timers, do not sit in front of the boat. Trust me unless you have protective glasses properly tied to your neck, so you won't loose it,, this will shield the water splashing your face.

Island hopping and snorkeling - i've been to many island hops already, I can recommend only you to take this if you want to see the crocodile island(s) and go snorkeling. The fish sanctuary is ok, not so fancy, I enjoyed feeding the water creatures (fish).

Have someone take a picture of you with the sand castles made by the locals. Taking pictures with the sand castle would cost you a donation.. take note "no coins"..??? bwahaha...

Bug cars, Parasail - this I would like to try someday. I think it would be nice to experience riding a bug car, even though I don't know how to drive. It would be nice also to scream out loud when you fly high while wearing a chute tied up on a speed boat...

Underwater walk - this is expensive. for those who has a budget for exotic experience, try this. you'll have a glass bubble mounted on your head so you can breathe underwater and have a clear view of the underworld... for 15min or so, you'll feel like you're ariel, except for the big hair dress... ehehe.. i wasn't able to try this one. if you're afraid to try, then don't.

Jonah's Fruit shake - this one is indeed a FRUIT shake not an ice shake. Yummy! one order can be shared by two, how sweet...

Red Bean Halowich - they serve the largest bowl of dessert I have ever seen.. hehe but I wasn't able to dig in the mountainous joy... that time I was having problem controlling my gastric juice secretions, eww! It was a choice between few minutes of melting taste in your mouth or enjoying the rest of your boracay stay...

We stayed at the Orchids Resort. One thing that attracted us to stay there is that the room rates are not costly and they have a good reputation coming from those that stayed there before. And I would like to commend their staff for a job well done. We were able to save during our stay at the Orchids because they allow guest to cook their food. What we did was to buy the ingredients that we need from the wet market talipapa and cook our own stuff. They let us borrow everything that's in the kitchen, from cook wares to utensils. We also prepare our tables, wash our dishes and clean the kitchen before we leave. We only cook our dinner and have sandwiches and coffee, milo in the morning, and eat out during lunch.

So that's about everything....

for the love of the game

2009-07-08T14:30:00.002+08:00

i miss playing soccer already. this past 2 months instead of running around the grassy field, i would run for 30min on a stationary rotating belt. instead of kicking balls, pushing opponents, and practicing my foot coordination, i would carry dumbbells; do crunches, tightening my loosened fats using several gym equipments. it's boring me sometimes, I don't get to talk to someone or laugh at awkward moves i see, even laugh at myself for doing crazy stuff. everyone else is so serious... not like those people you find in the field.

yesterday, july 7, was the first time i stepped back into the field where i've learned the sport since i voluntary kicked my self out of the company. we played 3vs4 for 2hrs. i teamed up with maddie, dex and rina(ping) versus the group of gary, chanix and oddie. i worry so much that i will not be able to make a fly ball... i am just glad that i was still able to make the ball fly, haha... for this particular game, only ground balls are credited as a goal. whew.. I really enjoyed it, it’s nice to be back but I won’t be able to play 2x a week now. It’s too costly for me… 

There is still hope for me to continue my passion for the game. From where I am at now, they too have FC. The club just started early this year... I hope to join them on their practices on of these days.

planning for boracay

2009-06-30T18:09:00.000+08:00

looking back, boracay seemed so impossible place for us to go, especially this year, with all the lay-offs going on, no overtime rules, leave enforcement all because of the turmoil in the US economy. that time i was still with an automotive american firm and that really hit our company hard. still we did not loose hope. char... it sounds as if going to boracay is the most important thing on earth. i just refuse to think that there's no life beyond the crisis the depression is offering or that we have no right to enjoy when hope is the only right we have during such times. why can't we hope and enjoy at the same time. bwahahaha...

they always say prices soar high when you go there during peak season, so we planned the trip months ahead. the date of the trip was based on the following criteria: the month should be off-peak, should have at least 1 holiday that will occur on a friday/ monday, ample time to save up (should be atleast 2 mo. before we decide to book our accomodation). coming up with the date was a little hard decision, there were 2 dates were looking at and it was all in june. not until i have booked a june 12-16 round trip tickets. the downside however of the decision was, the seat sale automatically closed in the moment i purchased my ticket on line. the group had no choice but to stick with the date but take a different route. i felt bad, but im just happy to know they decided to stick with me (and tito). they could've decided to take on the other date but thank goodness they didn't. hehe... after our tickets have been booked, lotte moved in and displayed her talent in hunting for superb accomodation. the booking she made was thru email and it was built in trust mostly because you really don't know the person you're dealing with. of course, lotte researched the reputation of the orchid resort and because they were good, we agreed to book at the said dates.

few days before june12, chakka backed out. celeste almost did but because she had an assignment (job related) in boracay, she decided to join the group. if only AH1N1 did not swarm the philippines, chakka wouldn't have missed the experience. hehe

tales up... i'll write about the trip on my next blog, this will my first blogging saga... wekekeke

"white beach, the finest white grains i have ever seen! i have been to banatayan but there's no way the sand can compare to what's in boracay." - pats

the mirror principle

2009-06-30T15:28:00.001+08:00

the mirror principle

today, june 30, is my turn to do a report on the mirror principle. the topic is taken from the book written by John Maxwell, Winning the People. I've read the topic over and over for 9.6h last monday just to absorb and understand it better. whew! i couldn't get at first...basically because i am not interested with the topic and 2nd it defies my built-in ideas i already have in mind, so i can't justify anything written about it. i wouldn't be able to explain the topic however if i don't open up my mind and respect the author's thoughts. so what made me open my mind to his ideas? by defining and believing in the purpose of the principle. there are many routes to take to help people improve and develop. this one is a popular version...and not to mention it is written.

so goodluck to me!

clap, clap, clap

2009-06-29T13:05:00.001+08:00

After almost 3 hours of sitting inside Cinema 2, I found myself clapping at the end of the famed movie: Transformers 2. I've heard bad critics about the movie on the first day of the showing, but that didn't keep me from not seeing it. I guess I am just another easy-to-please person among the crowd. I totally forgot about nature calls and the need drink water..I left my water bottle unopened until I got out of the movie house.

I am not going to write about the details of the story, my advise is that if you're reading and you have not seen it yet, go watch or get a copy of it.

...here's some scenes, lines, just anything about the movie to ponder

1) my officemate's comment on megan fox's first scene / appearance -- "igat"
2) old robot line "take my parts", mistakenly heard as "take my spark". Well he took the blue ball inside of the old robot which I think is the spark, but then optimus magnitized all the parts from it which made him transform into a super robot.. but with a little rusty touch - hehe
3) i wonder what kind of make up line megan is wearing, it doesn't loose its touch even with all the action taking place... hehe the secret is - retouch
4) i can't tell megatron from his assistant (i dunno the name) - they should put some colors to the decepticons... ?#@$ pink!!
5) The fallen - a robot name! which i thought was referring to the decepticons as a whole or megatron, but no...
5) my opinion on sam's near death experience - "i see dead robots"

weeeeeee... happy viewing!

weekly meeting

2009-05-19T17:44:00.002+08:00

Just this afternoon I almost missed our weekly meeting. The meeting invite did not register into my calendar. There was no reminder that popped so I really I forgot about it. I was starving and was ready to go out for a snack but my officemate ask where I was going as I changed my status on the locator board “OUT”. Whew! So, I changed my status again as “IN”. A charge of P1 is donated by the offender every time you miss to update the locater board, hahaha…

I am surprised on how things are being done here. A topic presenter leads the meeting and discusses the subject to the team. Before starting the meeting, a prayer is said which is a very good thing. The topic is taken from a book. I wasn’t able to take note name of the book or the author. The topics usually relates in promoting team work, work ethics, etc. After the discussion, there would be usual interaction between the team members. Comments and questions and entertained. My initial reaction to this kind of meeting is – a waste of time. But later I realized it would help the group. Knowledge wise and relationship wise towards the team members. I will have my turn in presenting also, soon, but not now or this month, I hope. I wonder how they pick the topics to tackle.

camotes island

2009-05-15T17:06:00.001+08:00

Camotes Island (May 1-2, 2009). The final decision as to where I and my friends are headed for the long weekend was decided late afternoon of April 30, Thursday. Everybody was busy emailing each other, extracting our minds to destinations that we could possibly go. Time was something we did not have. Planning and budget for the trip was supposed to come first before anything else. But it came dramatically and luckily we were able to agree to go to Camotes and even the budget was okay for the most of us. We planned for to stay there for 2 days and 1 night only. Thanks to Chakka for calling up Masamayor on the last dot and reserved for us 1 family room.

Day 1

Woke up 4:00 am and went out the boarding house with Ping at 4:30 am and meet up with the rest of the gang at chowking. At exactly 5:00 am we boarded the bus to Danao already. The trip from Mandaue hi-way to the Danao port took about 45-50minutes. Going off the bus, we ran towards the boat to catch the 6am trip. After setting ourselves on the boat, I completely forgot about the time. Although we weren't able to sit at the benches of the boat, it wasn't so bad because we sat on the floor “yaka" with an open view of the sea just behind our back.

San Francisco/ Masamayor/ Mangodlong

We were picked up by the jeep provided by Masamayor. The family room was okay, it can accommodate up to 5 peeps. It has 2 double beds and an extra mat can be provided for an excess person. We did not expect to engage in day tour for that day because it wasn't even included in our budget. The driver guy asked if we wanted to avail the land tour and there was another guy that asked us if we'd like to see the other side of the island, and to go to Mangodlong Beach resort, by riding a pump boat. Lear group (composed of 2 lear and 3 ex-lear gals) and Lexmark group (jae, anj, joanne, ian and ruchi) decided to share expenses for the boat trip. The whole day was spent swimming and not to mention the tireless picture taking over and under water.

The experience was fun. We were all a bit tired already when we came back. While waiting for the CR to be vacant, we kept ourselves busy with the soccer ball that we borrowed. What's also nice with Masamayor is that they let their guest borrow soccer, volleyball balls, frisbee and skim board for free!! When everybody was all tidy, we decided to dine out to another resort just few walks from our place. It started raining though so we sheltered ourselves to the nearest karenderia. The rain didn't stop for a while and everybody was hungry already and we decided to eat there. We had pork bbq, pancit canton, noodles and isaw. Yum2x! We saved a bit of our meal budget that time.

The rain finally halted and we still did not dismiss the thought of visiting the resort near by. We checked the menu for some luck we can have desserts but they did not have that on their menu. We went back to our place and ordered mango shake while watching TV and reading some magazines. Masamayor's bar was very cozy. It felt like I was just sitting in our sofa. Even ping early that afternoon had a short nap, haha...

Lotte, cele and ping went to bed early except chaka and me. Curiostiy, curiosity... We went to the beach as there were guys near the shoreline with a traditional lamp. We got as close as we can without disturbing them and giving the slightest hint of our interest towards what they were doing. They felt our presence when we got closer and lit their flashlights towards us, so we retreated. It wasn't a good idea sneaking around, hahaha... We went back to borrow a flashlight and used it to check out the creepy aura of the beach. The beach from a distance was very dark. It was a perfect place for stupid things like jogging, practice our cat walk (in my dreams) and even see how we do cartwheels, which chaka and I did, bwahehehe…Everybody was sleeping like a baby when we came back, it was late I guess, I wasn’t able to check on the time. It wasn’t that late for Jae though, few minutes after dozing off, she knocked loudly on our door. From that ungodly waking, I knew right then she was up for a dare which she admitted morning after.

Day 2

At 5:00 am we were roused by my beeping alarm clock. It was time rise and experience and see the sunrise. The sky was still dimmed lightly so we opted to play a little of frisbee catching, soccer and enjoy the cold waters of the beach. We also tried skim boarding. It was really a thrilling experience. I remember falling hard twice. haha...Lotte was just around capturing every action packed moments. After a while, we grew tired and head our way to the karenderia where we had our dinner the other night. We ordered food and while waiting for it to get cooked, we washed and changed into our traveling clothes at same time also packing our stuff.

Going back

The boat ride back to Cebu Island was behind schedule. Stress, heat and discomfort from the boat ride starved us pretty much. Ping having much experience with the food from the Port (which I forgot the name), lead the group to the popular place. They had lots of grilled sea food readied for the guests there. The grilled fish was cooked already but tinderos and tinderas heat it up before serving. The price is right, just right to feed our hungry tummies.

It was the last memoirs we had from the weekend galore.

PS. Pictures will be posted as soon as I get the copies from celeste and lotte.

What’s new?

2009-04-22T12:49:00.001+08:00

Group/ AKA’s
1) BFF – bruk (Paris), mummee (Lindsay) che and me (Britney)
2) Dambus – are pretty, lira, juvy, yaya, racs and me
3) Loser – is yaya
4) Sheep – baldu, juvu
5) Donkey – yaya
6) Patu Patu – is me

Where I have been lately?
1) Kan-irag Nature Park – nature tripping, food tripping, resting, feeling the clean air
2) Lagkaw Beach Resort – ate lunch and swam the waters across the little isla
3) Bisita Iglesia – Regla, Carmelites, Mabolo Church, Cathedral, Sto. Nino, Sto. Rosario and St. Joseph
4) Colon – bora outfit shopping
5) Handuraw – where the best pizza I’ve ever tasted

What’s keeping me busy lately?
1) Job hunting – PEZA and Lexmark from January to April
2) Lexmark interviews, physical exam, requirement processing from March to April
3) Tendered resignation last April 1, 2009
4) Turn over workload
5) Signing of clearance
6) Clearing my r2d2

What’s next?
1) April 27 – first day in LDRC R&D
2) May 1 – Carnaza IF yaya decides to return on a Sunday, otherwise I won’t go
3) June 12 – Caticlan, Boracay hopefully IF my leave will be approved

Working with Lear for 3 years and 8 months has been an experience. I’ve literally grown up in terms of attitude, outlook in life, and even physically (hehe)! I became responsible of my self. From being dependent from my parent’s care now I’m living alone and surviving daily life struggle. I have problems of my own and the freedom to decide how to deal with it. With friends, life became comforting also. With the help of my church community, it installed in me the sense living life the way it should be lived. Now, I will be facing yet another chapter of my career and I’m wondering how this experience will affect my life. :D

out of the office

2009-04-21T16:33:00.001+08:00

Hi,

I am already out of the office and will be back on XXX.

Regards,

Kristine

63 32 340 7950 loc 6011

================
FYI – For future Substances of Concern (SoC) reports requests, please forward them to XXX. She will assume Compliance Engineer position effective April 27, 2009. You may reach her through email: XXX@lear.com and phone: 63 32 340 7950 loc xxxx.
================

you are invited

2009-04-21T16:19:00.002+08:00

What: Lunch
When: 24 April 09, Friday – 11:00 AM
Who: kinza interested mkipag-salo-salo and willing mg-contribute ug food
How: bring yourself, bring food, habhab, paiyakun si Chuchai..zimpol!!
Why: ky last day ni Chuchai. Arun mg-amardz xa zamut..arun mabuzog pd ta!

For more info, coordinate with sender of this invite.. you know hu! ;D

spooky

2009-01-20T12:46:00.000+08:00

January 20, 2009 - I had the weirdest experience this morning. I woke up 30 min after my alarm rang. I took my uniform from the “sampayan” and took out the flat iron. I noticed though that my extension was full, I thought, I only had my TV and electric fan plugged but why in the world was my rice cooker plugged!?!?!? I couldn’t figure how that happened. I checked the water inside the cooker and it was hot, not boiling, I checked the floor mat and it was ok, not melted. I was afraid I’d let it all night but I know I did not put that thing ON last night because if I did the water would’ve evaporated! I knew very well that it only had little water in it. I did not mind it all until now. It is something unexplainable to me. Last night, I asked Jae if she would like to have a cup of hot milo. The problem was we did not have enough water in my container and so I dismissed the thought. I already had gargled Orofar that time so it was perfect excuse not to drink milo. I did not touch my cooker last night. So, I was wondering, how did my rice cooker get plugged? spooky… I’m trying to shove it off my head now. I don’t want to think that there’s someone, something, somebody else’s living with me in that room.

hot sunday

2009-01-19T14:54:00.001+08:00

January 18, 2009 - the first hottest Sunday fever I had this 2009. What I hoped to be an adventurous Sunday ended up lying almost the whole day in bed watching TV, napping, feeling my knees aching, head spinning and nose suffocating from solidified membrane blocking my airways to inhale properly. Ewe!! Hehe… I was sick after last Saturday’s visit to SM. I enjoyed very much watching The Curios Case of Benjamin Button. I didn’t realize how sick I was until we got out of the movie house. My knees went wobbly due to lack of sleep the other night, my temperature was slightly up and I had to run down at Watson to buy Bioflu while my dinner was being ordered by Ace and Bruki. I was still determined after eating to watch the fireworks competition. But before we went out the parking lot, we passed by a crepe store which Lira and I was always planning to visit. So, I bought blueberry flavored crepe. Yum!! I’m looking forward to try some of their flavors some time soon… but not now. I still have sore throat to treat and cold giving me slight headache from time to time. Why do I always have sore throat?!! And why wouldn’t this cough go away?!! My friends would always ask me and I just simply have to answer them that I’m allergic to stress, cold weather conditions, to pollution, etc. I really don’t know why I’m like this. Hehe…must be the price to pay for being hyperactive.

mission – failed

2009-01-13T11:19:00.002+08:00

January 12, 2009 (Yesterday) – I carefully planned my diet and for breakfast, I’ll start with Nesvita. The inspiration to lose weight is triggered with my discomfort towards my TTh uniform. The long Christmas holiday was by far my busiest vacation as far as I can remember. From December 24 to 31 my schedule was already full. Almost all activities I had however, invites you to EAT and celebrate (e.g. reunions, weddings, birthdays, dates?? wek!). I was busy celebrating and at the same time - eating!!!

So back to my weight loss program - when I came in the office I waited for Pretty to arrive so we can join for breakfast. Juicy however had some packed stuff set on her table but was carefully placed at pretty’s side waiting for her arrival. I already had a bad feeling that somewhere in that plastic ware is a luscious meal for free and assumingly I’d be invited to that small buffet. A minute after I swiped in Pretty followed. It was time for breakfast now and I had my nesvita on my pocket. Opening the lid of the plastic ware, I was expectantly asking for some sign that I could say pass to it and have my nesvita. Unfortunately, it contained chorizo and bihon and uhmm.. I couldn’t resist the invitation. Nope, I decided that I’d have my healthy cereal drink tomorrow (that means today), and yeah that’s what I had for breakfast matching it with a hotdog. Haha… I was looking for hotdog since Sunday and was happy to be able to taste again my all time favorite junky. Hehe ;D

wary thoughts

2009-01-13T09:53:00.006+08:00

I came in the office having quite the excitement to check on my outlook emails today. I am expecting a lot of work now compared to what has happened yesterday. To my dismay, outlook status was still DISCONNECTED. What’s next?? No internet connection or worst total lock out access of our PC meaning we’re counting just hours to make our exit from the place I’ve grown to love for 3 years. Hehe.. I love this place and the friends I have made here, not the work, not the management. Salary sustains me but only enough to maintain my not-so-fancy lifestyle. I don’t want to worry about the things that I could not see before my eyes. But it is always best to prepared for the worst thing that could happen.

The future is not certain - almost all companies here are affected. Stable companies are ok but still anxious with the global crisis making it more difficult for jobless ones to apply because there isn’t any hiring!! First 3mos of the year has always been the time to hunt for new jobs. But now there seems to be a scarce of just about anything related to money. Last December when businesses started laying off workers, I found myself also alarmed so I prepared items that I could use for future application. I was looking for the one necessary thing needed in all application, long white letter envelope. Department stores were even out of it. “Clearbook” was also out of the shelves.

So far, application I sent was always online (to my fellow bom writers: shush...let’s keep this to ourselves, hehe). There’s no need for the stuff I bought lately. And so far, that’s all there is and I am still waiting for responses of companies which I sent my CV. Hay…

disconnected until stabilized

2009-01-12T16:07:00.000+08:00

January 12, 2009 – I thought my outlook was corrupted or something then I noticed the status below my outlook “Disconnected” has never changed after I closed and reopened it again. I asked my colleagues and they too are experiencing the same down time. This means for most of us – less work. But today for me, it means LESSER work except from updating DR tracking and shift codes. I still have my private mails to check, few applications to submit, bom site to update and catch up with the latest company stability status.

It has been a harsh 2008 for some of our company’s employees. And I don’t want to think what will happen 1st quarter of 2009. One our engineering department has issued mandatory leaves for their associates. The thought of mandatory leave came originally from “forced” leave. It was changed that way I guess not to scare some associates. Hehe It was explained later to me about their difference. Mandatory are paid leaves as long provided that you have saved a lot of paid leaves from the past year. Also, 2009 paid leaves can be used to cover the leave. Forced leave however are unpaid.

How long will our paid leave sustain until our company regain stability? And how long will our outlook succeed in trying to connect and re-connect. Hehe…

foggy monday morn

2009-01-06T16:07:00.005+08:00

Monday, January 5, 2009 - was my first time to catch the earliest AC trip from San Carlos City to Bacolod. Ultimate destination would be Canla-on View, Subd., Murcia. I fell asleep during the ride and woke up approx. 1km away from Bangga Domsat. Ehehe.. it was a funny experience knowing that I paid only 1km short from where I was dropped off. The kundoktor didn’t even bother to comment seeing me with heavy eyes and tipsy stance.

So before I sank into deep sleep I remember being numb from the icy cold temp inside the bus. The weather conditions somewhere Don Salvador was not so good that time. There was rain and what I thought was a cloud surrounding the mountainous route was fog. brr… as in brr…

davao collage

2008-12-30T20:21:00.000+08:00

Memories in Isla Reta, Davao

ChE Reunion

2008-12-30T20:15:00.000+08:00

ChE Batch 2004
Reunion (12-28-2008)

davao tripping

2008-12-22T13:58:00.002+08:00

My first trip to Mindanao area was in Davao last December 4, 2008. The planning for this visit was planned as early as September…? I am not sure but it was planned beforehand so we can attend Karol’s wedding.

First Night

First night in Davao was pretty exciting yet I was stricken by the quietness of the city. The streets were wider than the usual streets in Cebu that made it almost empty but not bare. My tummy was grumbling just after we dropped out things in our pension house. We surveyed the area for some fast food chain so we would know where to eat just in case… and we saw TAPS just around the corner. I read about TAPS, tagged as a popular tapsilogan in the area from Smile travel magazine. The food was okay but the service for me is slow. The group decided then to go a place where we could hang out for a while. When all girls go together and considering the possibility that we don’t have any idea where to go… you’d all probably end up going back to your rooms. But lucky us we’re all not girls, we’re all bayots wrapped up in a woman’s physique, haha… So, we were able to finally come up with the place – Matina Town Square. We found a bar there where we played pool, drank beer, ate some pulutan and took some pictures. We did not stay late at the bar coz we had a big island tour day the next morning.

Isla Reta, Samal Island

Float bound to the isla is around 9-10 in the morning. At this time, the waves aren’t so big. The banka was also large enough to give us comfort during the trip. We sat on the boat for almost an hour till we finally docked to Isla Reta. The sand was white as I’ve expected. Karol’s bro already took care of our accommodation. We already had a table under a big tree waiting for us. Pare took out his IPOD and speakers. The place was perfect for relaxation and matching the mood with cool music and fresh buko juice. Ahh! Going back trip to the city was scheduled 3PM.

For dinner, we decided to go to Jack’s Ridge and eat at Taklobo. I was especially looking forward for the seafoods. The food was excellent and so was the bill. Haha… Just outside the restaurant you can see the city night lights of Davao and cemetery lights near the place. We just sat there and hanged out for a while. Talked and laughed a lot mostly. When we finally head back to the city, we decided to stop at People’s park. We got there 30mins before the closing time. So we had a quick tour of the place. From the park, the pension house was just few minutes away and so we walked our way to the pension house. But along the way, we got a little thirsty and hungry so we stopped at some Chinese restau and ordered halo-halo.

Eden Park, Eagle Farm and Crocodile Park

Eden Park is a haven for people who love to go nature tripping w/o feeling exhaustion along the trip. The park has a lunch and snack package that includes a shuttle ride around the area. They serve tuna sandwich/ spaghetti and juice for snacks. There I found colorful peacock, birds, deer and beautiful sceneries like flower gardens, cabin, pond, etc.

The highlight of the trip was the zip line…The idea of zip line is to start at an elevated place and ride your way through a rope attached at the other end of the line. The ride would take about 10-15 seconds. Haha…

Eagle Farm is a sanctuary of the wild eagle family. I like the idea of preserving the birds but putting them into cages eliminates the wild characteristics of this species.

Crocodile farm is not only home to crocs. There are also a number of animals that can be found on this place. The largest and I guess the oldest of the crocs name is Pangil. We arrived on time for a show and Pangil was displaying stints of protecting his territory using his sweeping tail power splashing water all over the place and unto the audience too.

At the end of the day, we were all so hungry because we only had a snack for lunch at Eden. When the van driver dropped us at Joe’s Inato, we were all starving. Good thing though is that the restau was just around the corner from our pension house.

BIG Day

The spare time we had before Karol’s day we spent buying wedding gift and pasalubongs.

The wedding ceremony was short and simple. I didn’t hear mommies crying that day. Instead I noticed the most unusual thing that day – wearing sun glasses in formal barong attire while taking family pictures. Hehe…

Good bye Davao

Finally it was time to bid good bye to one memorable place. I couldn’t think straight that morning due to lack of sleep which only lasted for a mere 3h and due to alcohol intoxication which ran through my system that whole day. I couldn’t file SL that day because I had to finish a report which I need to submit the next day. So, I came for work and was even surprised to also see my drinking buddies Baruk n Pare also showing up. Pare however did not finish his 9.6 while me n Baruk endured the ordeal between work and sleep that day. Whew! Girl power.

sunday

2008-12-21T14:58:00.002+08:00

Sunday is my favorite day every time I spend vacation back in my home town. We would usually attend mass in the morning and after I would join my mama go to the wet market to buy food supplies. I especially look forward for our lunch. Night before Sunday I remember always asking my mama what to prepare for the next day and I also make some suggestions for the menu. My papa would prepare the kalan outside and light the oling. We use charcoal to cook grilled fish/pork and specialties like tambo, lanka n mongo, pangat, etc. the list goes on.

Today is a Sunday, December 21, 2008 and we’re eating late breakfast aound 10:30 AM. The fish tindero from the market is my ma’s suki and he gave us one plastic bag of fresh talaba. That’s what we had for breakfast plus a spoonful of ginisang ginamos to match it. People are friendly here and charitable, hehe. We plan to have lunch also at a later schedule around 2PM and we’re having tambo and grilled pork ribs… yum2x!!

Going the church this morning I remember how cool the air was. Now that the sun is high, the windy breeze is still prominent but the air is hot already but still tolerable. At our backyard is a little “goat house” were my papa would keep the goats at night. A week ago the mother goat gave birth to two healthy kids. I called the female white one “White” and male black “Black” hehe… obviously, made the names by their color.

I’m keeping my self busy now just not to be tempted to sleep. I don’t want to sleep obviously because I’m afraid I’d gain a lot this holiday since I missed 2 weeks of playing soccer already. Bad news for today is we’re having a “brown out” schedule. I don’t know until when the lights would go back. I hope the laptop would have enough battery to survive until then.

stiff necking

2008-12-16T17:59:00.003+08:00

I’ve never seen a meteor shower before. Last Sunday, Bruki told me there was going to be “meeetyerrr shower” around 12AM-1AM. I was ready for bed already but then curiosity won over my sleepy head. I decided to go watch some stars fall out of the sky. I got out of my bed, wore my jacket and yeah stared at the sky for an hour. The moon was up and so full that night, the air was December cold already. I sat on the bench at the rooftop just few steps out my room. There weren’t so many clouds making my observation unobstructed but then I get jumpy every time I see an airplanes passing by. I get distracted just by looking at those blinking tail lights. My patience and perseverance however awarded me 3 sightings of shooting stars and 1 big green falling star. After exhausting myself from lack of sleep from the previous day, I decided that it was really time for bed. I remembered just now, I forgot to make a 4 wishes. I'll save it for Christmas. hihi... I know the subject sound weird, but have you tried staring up the sky for an hour? ;D

bad head day

2008-12-16T17:15:00.000+08:00

I’m having a bad headache today because of my cold, cough and fever and not to mention the many hours I’ve been staring at the computer…leaving my eyes half opened while reading business mails and making reports as usual. I happened to pass by momi and I saw a familiar white stone just beside key computer key board. I don’t know what’s it called but it’s a quick fix for nausea, headaches, colds but the effect doesn’t really last that long. I wanted to buy that white stone at Clark SM when we we’re headed for Baguio but I was discouraged because it’s kinda expensive. Anyway, I decided to take a nap today at around 4:30 PM in the clinic but to my dismay, the sleeping room was already occupied. So that brings me here, writing an overdue bom. I was supposed to write something about my busy weekend trips but due to my hectic schedule and deliverables I wasn’t able to do so. Four days from now I’ll be home. I’ll write about baguio and davao when I’m all set there. Can’t wait to go home and live like a tambay. Haha

chuvanez day

2008-11-28T09:38:00.001+08:00

I’m a day late in posting my writing about Chuvanez day (Appreciation day). For the first time in my 3 years in Petc was this activity launched. It has something to do with PAPE Training that we had last time (as what Carlota said earlier on her post http://carlots23.blogspot.com/2008/11/appreciation-day.html). I have not made special tokens for the special people that I work with. As much as I want to make them feel that I appreciate them, a smile could always win first prize! Emails came flooding about chuvanez later that afternoon. After lunch I had few lines already in my mind for a simple poem and so I continued composing again and again until I had about 2 stanzas. I went over and over the lines many times and found that 1 stanza is enough to tell the peeps they are truly valued. I chose “value” and “chuvanez” rather than the latter so as to avoid overusing the word appreciate.

Before I go and play
Before calling it a day
Will take this chance to say
I value you in anyway

weekend spree

2008-11-26T19:00:00.001+08:00

Busy busy busy – has been my status for the last 2 weeks already since the SOC elimination plans came in. ew!! Talk about work.. ;p Anyway, I can’t keep my concentration because of the workload, deadline, timing, my pea brain is suffering because of my memory gaps – I tend to confuse Lead from DecaBDE, well just take a look at the report format they look the same... my hands always at mercy with all the concatenate and lookups…The hardest part is actually asking help from other teams so you can come up with the report. I work alone but I need help. Bwahhaha… I am just about 40% done… at least there are developments.

2 days from now, I’ll be enjoying the cool air of Baguio. I have not packed anything for the trip yet. The clothes I’m bringing are still hanged outside my room. I hope rain did not damp them. I’m excited but every time I remember work… the thrill evaporates.

Following the trip to Baguio, I’ll be in Davao next weekend. After that week, I’ll be attending a 2-day, 2-night retreat. After that week, I’m going home sweet home! Hope I’d be able to stretch my budget till Christmas and New Year.

i write the songs...

2008-11-21T14:04:00.002+08:00

Lately I’ve been pressing my head with words that would somehow rhyme. Some of it just won’t. I made 3 poems already but I decided not to bom upload it. I was thinking maybe I could put a tune to it. Last week I tried but it just couldn’t find the right tune to it. It would really help if I have a recorder. I keep forgetting the melody I just did few minutes ago then I lost my interest after 3 days of trial to no success. Thanks to Colbie for refreshing my passion in music. She’s one of my favorite artist already not to mention her talent in using the 6-stringed tum2x. Is there any school that could teach me how to write songs? Help!!

Catching the first shift

2008-11-10T19:55:00.001+08:00

I woke up 8am and was waiting for some sign to get my lazy me get up then I remember that I had “bahaw” left from my last night’s dinner. I planned to have sunny side up, yakisoba and bahaw for breakfast. Within 15min I already had eaten breakfast and washed dishes. I was running out of time, so I rushed and took a short shower. Now, I had to iron my uniform, put on sun block lotion and all the rituals I usually make. I planned to wear sandals but then I saw my feet still an epitome of a trekker’s feet, so I took my socks and had to look for my black shoe which was somewhere the shoe boxes I hid under the bed. By 8:50 I was already gliding our stairway, taking it slowly so I won’t slip. I did not dare to check the time so as not to discourage my flight. The trike ride was fast but when I waited for a multicab, I felt hopeless. It took about 5min until the cab passed by. I was with a bunch of Lear peeps so I was pretty confident that the route would just lead us straight to Lear. To my dismay, the driver took the right turn, and picked-up a passenger headed for Lexmark, uff. Laoski who thought a girl employed at Saturn, because her shirt reading the company’s name, announced that somebody’s headed for Saturn. Laoski was looking at the girl and in reply, she said “no” she was not going there. But the kinda “deaf” driver heard about it I guess, and not all the details took another right. We were laughing at it already but the driver did not find it funny so the cab went zooming after that, haha… Just before we reached the crossing street, another passenger said “western watts”, and then Laoski and I just smiled at each other coz we were just talking about how he hates it when somebody’s headed for wats. Luckily, the driver went “deaf” again and went straight to where we should be – Lear. I was keeping my fingers crossed until I saw the clock, I timed-in 9:10, and I was 10’ 1” late the first shift. Next shift is in another hour and 20 min. Oh well, I learned a lot just today.

trail-trek planting

2008-11-10T15:26:00.008+08:00

The Cebu Outdoor Adventure Team Inc. (COAT, Inc.) spearheaded a trail trek-planting activity last November 9, Sunday at Guadalupe - Kalunasan - Babag route. The activity was supported by DENR, providing the planters with 200 seedlings. There were four different groups that participated on the activity: University of San Carlos Mountaineers, U.M.O.D. Outdoor Club-Inc., Lear Employees and 88th Floor Employees. A week before the said event, we were told to bring about 4 L of water (3L for the seedlings and 1L of trail water), bamboo splints which will serve as tree guard from abominable goats and other green leafy eaters on that side of the trail, and tools like bolo, guna or just anything that can help with the digging and clearing up the area where the tree should be planted.

We were expecting a rainy weather that day but it was quite the opposite. Mother Nature knew that were planting trees so she did not let rain intervene our way. On the contrary, I hate the sun that day but my interest and curiosity beats away that feeling and I thought that I will really enjoy the nature trip.

The activity was started with a little chit chat on the covered court beside Guadalupe church, introductions of the group were made and assignments on the planting zone. The group was divided in to two, the more experienced group gone ahead of us to cover the farther zone and for us newbie and we were assigned to zone 1. That time I had a chance to look on the get-ups of the trekkers, they look all so rugged, men in ponytails, goatees, bags that almost matched the brands of their shirt, shoes… etc. I was only wearing slippers and I thought – I could really get my feet into trouble for not wearing sneakers or climbing shoes (which I do no have). Hahaha…

Along the way we passed by many houses, small roads, trike, PUJ’s until the concentration of domestic structures, utility vehicles were reduced into 3, 2, 1… and finally reaching the earth’s greenery of trees, bushes, wild and random growth of grass, etc. The air was also cooler and I am almost drenched with sweat. We settled our bags to the area which were already marked with holes were we should be planting the seeds. We worked our way in clearing the planting area and added more holes where we can put the little trees. I brought with me a knife with no handle because I did not have “guna”. Everybody was then busy, bending our backs, sprinkling water, etc. When everything was all set we continued walking uphill to meet up with the other group and I was hoping there could be snacks there, hehe… The other group were munching meat rolls already when we reached the spot and drinking tetra pack juice. Just around the meeting place was a wholesale of fresh green mangoes. Mangoes were unpacked from its paper covers, put into basket and when already filled it was loaded into the jeepney. It was a nice view. Group pictures were taken then after few talks from the organizers decided that it was time to head home. The trail going back to Brgy Guadalupe was different from what we took uphill. I can already feel the pressure on my feet. The soles of my slippers were not so thick making every stone a pity to my “lapa-lapa” hehe… But I was not tempted to ride a “habal-habal” because I wanted to experience finishing it without giving up even with my feet’s angst. At the end of the trail I was proud to be able to finish that tiresome walk – I made it.

My feet did not hurt morning after. I was even happier when I put on my tailored slacks – it wasn’t that tight anymore. ;)

missing home

2008-11-07T18:34:00.002+08:00

I miss home already and I’m counting 2 months more til I get to see my family. I felt a little sad when I got a glimpse of reese’s picture coloring our walls with her crayons. I miss that old wall with cute random vandals. There are stories behind those writings, it could be her own version of hieroglyphics, a language unknown to man, but can be read, written if you are an incarnate of some calligrapher of the ancient times. Hmph! Hehe… This whole home-sick thing is telling me impossible tales. Believe it or not, no scientific proof can attest to my wild imagination, just a mere hallucination... I just miss home.

Scorpio’s delight

2008-10-27T12:54:00.004+08:00

I remember a line Indiana Jones said about scorpions “the bigger, the better”. It means mature scorpions have lesser venom than young ones.

Last October 25, two scorpions dropped a few concentration of their venom.

It was a very exhausting day to start with because I slept almost 2am in the morning. Maybe I was quite excited and little preoccupied with all the stuff that I planned to do that day. I was waiting for Nampa and all the stuff that my Mama prepared for me. I missed my motherly friend nampa, hehe.. she lost some weight and she’s going to loose more after this day. Haha… After having breakfast, we decided to ready ourselves for the big day which includes, going to the grocery store, the merkado and last stop would be at rina’s house where we’re going to cook and have our double celebration birthday party. Lira and ping tagged along also to help with the chores. We had to start early because I was going to hear mass by 6pm and not to mention that my group had assignments on the mass, so I can’t be late. I left the bunch around 3PM, the pancit canton is cooked, salad already chilled, KBL almost done. I left them with molo to cook and fish to grill.

I couldn’t keep my mind off the party while on the celebration, I knew I heard my phone ring that time but it wasn’t that loud that everybody could hear. I’m familiar of my ring tone, so I was kind of worried. When the celebration has ended I checked my phone and found out that they did not start eating yet!! Haha.. I feel sorry for them because it was about 7.30PM already and I knew they are very hungry.

Finally, when I reached the tacoloy’s residence, they were all full and a little occupied watching MMK. I expected singing and dancing when I arrived but it was quite the opposite. haha… magic sing was not there to entertain the group because for some reason, the magical toy was not available that time.

After the long wait, lisha and I had the chance to blow our candles. The guys bought us a cake!! Sniff sniff… hehe well, I knew about it beforehand, it was not a surprise, but I really appreciate their gift for the two of us. Sniff sniff…

Tagay time – lisha brought 3 bots of tequila, prepared 1 big bowl of punch and I bought 1 bot of vodka. Now how are we going to finish all that?!! It was for the first time that Lira drank alcohol and Ace her first to take tequila!! There were lots of first times on that day and not the mention that day before… ;) Thanks for making my day extra special guys!

Online guitar lessons

2008-10-24T11:14:00.002+08:00

It usually looks so easy to watch somebody play a guitar. Looks pretty cool to be able to do it but learning how to play it takes a lot patience and determination.
Basically you have to start with learning how to read the chord chart and memorize the basic chords: major, minor, M7, m7, etc. To be able to practice your grip and quick transferring of chords, look for a song with simple chords to start with. Choose a song with an audible guitar strum and make sure you are familiar of the song so you won’t get lost when you start practicing. The strum is very important. You can tell just by the way the strum goes what song is playing on the radio. Each has its own signature or type strum that is only unique to one song. Some may sound alike but chords do the trick or make it different sounding from the other. When you’ve mastered one song, move on to a music you picture you could do magic rendition. hehehe… Now, if the song you chose is more challenging, with out of this world chords, go online and look for extra tips if you can’t figure out what the net says, ask for somebody who can explain it to you better and of course teach you how to do it.

Right now I have the pleasure of giving lessons online. I have a friend who is very “determined” (I hope) to learn how to play guitar. It is difficult not to be able to teach in person especially when it comes to the strumming portion. It is good that she had learned the chords already and even read the tablature. It is amazing… I’m giving her assignments, like a piece for her to practice. But I can’t figure out sometimes what to give her that would improve her strums. I’m thinking of recording a video of my hand, strumming, I hope this one is effective. Hee…

I am not advertising. I am just happy to be able share what I have so others could benefit from it. ;)

Outpost hangover

2008-10-23T16:31:00.005+08:00

October 17 – what was planned to be a girl’s night out morphed into boys-girls-bayut’s night out. Outpost is one place I’ve never been in my 3 years stay in Cebu. I only have one solid idea about it – easy access to a bottle, a shot of any drinkable ‘ols.

By 7PM gatecrashers came out of the office and as planned to be among the early birds in the place as Outpost attracts lots people on Fridays and weekends. I was told that the place was once a residential place and now converted into a restau bar. I only remembered that when I actually saw the interior of the place. I could imagine then where the sala would be if it was still a ‘home’. The ambience had a relaxing effect.

As agreed, the group ordered one pitcher of kamikaze for everyone to share. The Samplers was my favorite pica pica. I swear I can finish one set, hehe… delicious! The evening was filled of boisterous laughter coming from jokes and non-stop teasing of group’s all-time favorite love team of kigz and sonab. I could not stop eating that time, I think it has something to do with the beer. As usual, my face turned red and my head felt bigger that the usual, it grew heavier in every glass of ‘ol I take in. I did not enjoy very well the picture taking session coz I was uncomfortable with my face red as a tomato and eyes, which looked like I was ready for bed already.

I was looking forward for the playing band that time. The first song was ok, I could relate to it because it was a revival of Jewel’s Foolish Games, after that…I went deaf. I could not distinguish their music from noise… another round of the Sampler was ordered after that, another round of colt and lastly accounting of payables.

butterfly on a wheel

2008-10-22T17:21:00.002+08:00

The title is quite intriguing and from it I could not guess the movie’s genre. I did a little research about it and here’s what I found.

The film’s title is an allusion to a line of Alexander Pope’s Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot: “Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?” The line is usually interpreted as questioning why someone would put massive effort into achieving something minor or unimportant.

The movie started slow and I thought about finishing only half coz I watched the movie around 11PM. But the gist of the story came when tom ryan (played by pierce brosnan) popped into the scene. As in literally “popped” into the car backseat of couple’s neil and abby randall (played by Gerard Butler and Maria Bello) announcing captive of their only child. the situation was hopeless. The motive of kidnapping is usually equated to the need of money but the story has its own twist. There are lots of questions unanswered by your thoughts as the story goes along and it will actually tempt you to go back into the first part of the movie, when all is quiet and nice and if you’re trying to pick up some clues – well you actually won’t see them unless you let the movie finish. It was getting late and so I thought that an hour short of sleep is better than prolonged anticipation.

I swear at first I wanted to strangle tom ryan because I was so affected at what he was doing, later when the movie nears its end, I realize that everything happens for a reason. The twist was actually turning your punch to the victim… but which one? … watch it yourself and tell me which one you’d like to hit that hard. ;)

Balloons

2008-10-17T17:09:00.000+08:00

Balloons are symbol of happy moments, celebrations, birthdays, weddings, etc. But sadly, there are people who go down to the level of this lifeless matter and not understanding what they are suppose to imitate, become full of their selves – full of air.

People who pretend to know about everything are like balloons. They look big outside but empty in the naked eye in the inside. Its shape is defined by gas. Anything sharp, small or big, could threaten the life of a balloon. When it burst out, it doesn’t care if it exudes the loudest sound you’ll ever hear or if it shakes you off from your still moods. It doesn’t care it if *poofs* right in front of your face because balloons, unlike human, doesn’t have life and is dependent to where the air will take them.

I had a challenging start this week. It lasted three days and all I can think until now is that balloon. I discovered then it is possible to loose your cool to balloons. Many times in my mind I darted that thing with push pins, needles, anything jagged but it was pointless. I let it get the better out of me…my composure was already alienated. I don't know what could’ve happened if not for all the help I had.

for all the mess it made, here’s my ode to u…

i will go on with my life
with a dart in my hand
just in case I see
that same ol’ balloon
guess what I’ll do?
i’ll be few meters from you

hahaha…

cry of an idle blogger

2008-10-14T13:04:00.001+08:00

i have been off the blogging arena for few days now...my oil of blog-spiration has gone stale and I’m going to fuel my mind with the thought that i miss being in action… rather an action item for IT people in our org. i really don’t know what went wrong? suddenly blog sites have been really spicy items and i’m a little worried that they’d completely block sites as such. i mean, i just started this thing, i was hoping this would me a lot with my writing skills and maybe apply weekly english grammar lessons we get from our colleagues! aside from answering emails and ear-deafening conferences calls, where else will we be able to apply those? char! i don’t have the talent – i just have imagination. these lovely sites are private, non-sense, out of this world and we could actually NOT allow YOU to access our web posts. we are just lacking too much attention that these writings go public… but hell IT attention is too much, i can’t handle the pressure! hehe just let us post here… it is like doing copy-paste while waiting for data to load in our system. stuff like these sharpen our minds… without compromising our deadlines.

“ridicule is the burden of genius”
-daffy duck

2 cups are better than 1

2008-10-03T12:35:00.004+08:00

Taken from a popular statement “2 heads are better than 1”, the cup of something refers to a cup of coffee. My daily routine includes 1 round of coffee in the morning and another in the afternoon. When I was just starting to work in the office, I only drink 1 cup per day and sometimes none at all. This has become an addiction already. I have identified the reasons to this addiction,
1) My legs and my back needs a little bit of stretching with all the sitting and slouching I do, so I go for a walk and end up in front of the coffee machine.
2) It is a perfect excuse to ogle at something OR somebody you know you’ll pass by along your way to the vending machine.
3) Boredom, Irritation and Stress

All in all, I know that this routine relaxes me, clams me down, makes me happy, and stirs me up when I feel like dozing.

Hungry Young Poet

2008-10-01T14:31:00.000+08:00

I am thinking about ice cream
It is soft, sweet and tasty
It soothes my mouth and my lips
Lick it, scoop it however I like it

I am thinking about noodles
I like it hot, spicy and meaty
It warms my soul and body
Taste a spoonful, fork a mouthful

I am thinking about pizza
I like it cheesy and gummy
A bottle of beer, its best buddy
With bundle of friends, that's a party!

Soon: Laag sa Baguio

2008-10-01T13:30:00.000+08:00

Laag sa Baguio tops the most “unplanned” out-of-town adventure of the year. It was like a spur of the moment decision triggered by the promo air ticket fares of Cebu Pacific. Thanks to Irene and PMart for their quick action and for sharing the good news to the rest of the peeps. I would usually plan out maximum of 2 spots to go to in a year depending on the budget of the trip. Last summer, I and my friends had the opportunity to visit the beautiful island of Bantayan and were able to side-trip on the neighboring isla, Virgin Island.

This cold and exciting trip will be on November 28 – December 1. See details of the trip below.

Nov.28 Cebu-Clark

Departure: 6:10PM
Arrival : 8:00PM

(please take note wait pa ta till 3:00AM para sa first trip to Baguio)

Nov.29

8:00 AM - ETA Baguio(Itinerary:laag2x c/o pmart)

Nov.30

Laag laag (Itinerary:laag2x c/o pmart)

Dec.1

3:00AM - Departure to Manila(laag2x to Mall of Asia until 2:30PM)
2:30PM - Departure from Mall of Asia to NAIA
3:45PM - ETD to Cebu
5:00PM - ETA to Cebu

Estimated Damage:

Clark Plane - Php 716.00
Manila to Cebu - 716.00
Terminal Fee(Cebu) - 300.00
Terminal Fee(Manila) - 300.00
Accomodation(2nights) - 600.00
Bus(Clark-Baguio) - 300.00
Bus(Baguio-Pasay) - 700.00
___________
TOTAL: Php 3632.00

South Park

2008-09-26T16:11:00.000+08:00

Watch the following episodes of South Park: The Initiation, the Lesson, the Dream and the Sign. Coming soon!

To Reese

2008-09-26T15:34:00.000+08:00

Defenders of the title: 2nd Inter Corporate Football Cup

2008-09-23T10:16:00.000+08:00

LFC Women's Team '08

Consolacion Sabijon – Forward, Mid-field [aka: YOT, Feng, Ping]

Lira Baldomar – Right Wing [aka, Wiwa]

Brooke Shields Yranela – Right Defense [aka: YOT, baruk]

Rina Rose Tacoloy – Left Wing [aka: YOT, Rin]

Jo Anne Carino – Left Defense [aka: Jo]

Me – Mid-field, Forward [aka: YOT, Pats]

Madeleine Hinolan – GK [aka: Mads]

Arsenia Cenabre – Defense, Forward [aka: YOT, Ace, Jayson]

Mary Ann Bacus – Defense [aka: Bacus, Ann, Anot]

Lorlie Maloloy-on – Defense [aka: Sallie]

Jennifer Trinidad – Forward [aka: Jen] Lecia Fe Cantal – Defense [aka: Lish]

Racquel Malubay – Defense (Promoter) [aka: Racs]

I can’t imagine how we were able handle calling out a teammate and refer to almost all of them but was able to respond accordingly. hehe

LFC Women’s team has defended the title as Champs of the 2nd Inter corporate football cup. The other corporate teams that battled for the title were WesternWats and PeopleSupport and one guest team, SRFC, showed up to join the fun. Guest team’s play did not affect team standings but they had to battle for the 3rd place. Finals ended between PPS and LFC. This reminded me of last year’s victory over PPS. But their team was a surprise to us. They had varsity players lined up that included a forward and a GK.

Moments of the game
LFC did great in the elimination, with PPS, we were doing great job until the referee gave out a call that was supposed to be against PPS, but was called out against us – handball inside the GK’s ring! Imagine that? Maddie had to face the pressure by herself…and bang! It went in…we never recovered because of our frustration over the ref’s call. We did not choose to loose just because of that, the team redeemed that frustration having won over WW, 1-0 courtesy of Ping.

And so finals came. We got frustrated again that at middle of scrambling on PPS goal area, the referee did not call in “goal” when the ball came in the line and was bounced back. It did not touch the net so no movement caused the ref to call it in. The game ended with 0-0 and officials opted for the sudden death shoot-out. At first 3 best kickers were lined up each team for the shoot-out. I assumed GK post at this point. First, kicker of PPS came through me and the rest I blocked out in frustration of that 1 goal. My kick also came through their keeper. Score still was draw, 1-1. Other players were allowed to kick also until PPS ran out of kicker so teams agreed to have each team, 1 kicker. PPS chose to have the first kicker who got through me vs. me and their keeper vs. me. It was quite a show for me, but the pressure was too much I feel like I’m going to burst into tears. Then rain came…drama kaau! It was my turn to kick, I took all the time I had, looking closely at the ball, and kicked it as hard as I can, it slipped between the keeper’s flying hands – GOAL! Then my excitement died out after realizing I had to defend the goal from their powerful kicker. I learned one tactic on that situation. The first kick came through because I was looking on the player, and her eyes, that was mistake #1. The whole time after that I decided to look at nothing but ONLY the ball. Eyes could fool you. Without any anticipation as to where the ball would go… she kicked it and bounced on the BAR! Score LFC 2-1, we WON! It was not how I expected. I guess God shoved it off so the ball would hit the bar.

It was some game… now I know why they call it – sudden death shoot-out. Whew!

Not bad for a newbie

2008-09-09T14:05:00.000+08:00

i will take this opportunity to say “thanks” to racs for introducing me with my new freaking sport – badminton. Also, special thanks to racs unlimited for letting me borrow badminton racket for the 2 tournaments we joined. For my apparel to lear, for teammates for the support, my colleagues for cheering. What did I gain from this sport? One trophy, two medals (I am not sure) and extra pack of thigh muscles (which I dislike the most). Grr…

tournaments joined:

Mabel's Cup - Mixed Doubles(C); Women's Doubles
Inter-MEPZ Sportsfest - Mixed Doubles (1st); Women's Doubles (1st)

needles bite!

2008-08-23T21:33:00.000+08:00

yes, acupuncture needles bite but ants bite hurt more. i got a few sessions during my vacation. the needles stay for 30min. it is good when you doze off while those needles are attached to you. the first 3 session, i felt uneasy. so i crammed my arms after few minutes, that was agonizing. i had 16 punctures every session. i did not totally plan for that, i did not even prepare for the cost. a set of needles cost p350 and per session cost p150. i was told to buy 2 sets and complete a 5-day session. imagine that cost? mama said she'd pay for everything... why not go for it?! haha... i don't usually believe in these stuff. i committed myself to this so i could stop breakouts on my face. the acupuncturist targted the points that affects my skin, and i did have few needles on my face, head, stomach, arms, legs, feet and even my back. i hope it would work. hihihi...

vegetarian david cook pizza

2008-08-23T21:13:00.000+08:00

i remembered the pizza2 adel and i helped prepare for a bunch of lear peeps. i couldn't keep my mind off the thought that it could've been more 'yummier' if the crust of the bread was toasted using a pan or a toaster.

ingredients:

french bread

pizza sauce

medium size tomatoes

button mushroom

green bellpeppers

cheese

how to prepare:

cut the bread diagonally. grease a spoonful of pizza sauce on the bread. slice thinly a tomatoe, 2 slices of tomatoe is enough to cover the bread. slice the mushrooms and put some on top of the tomatoe. slice bellpeppers and put just enough to add color for presentation, and finally put the grated cheese on top and toast it. just a tip for a rustic pizza effect, remove the pizza if the cheese has tanned into brown. yum yum....

my lola

2008-08-23T20:58:00.000+08:00

my lola's name is trinidad hechanova patubo, a very primitive name isn't it? she's been my guardian when i reached my age of reason. she accompanied me to school when i was in kinder and prep. i would always bribe her from buying me food (e.g. cheese curls) so i would take my tes. hehe and i also learned from her my negotiating stints when she asked me to keep her afternoon mahjong games to ourselves and not to tell my parents in return i could play all afternoon and skip my siesta. also, she taught me how to play mahjong. at an early age i joined building the walls to start the game. the other lolas didn't know that i kinda knew how to play already. that time i helped my lola win - bwahaha!!! now she's 96 years old and i pray she'd live for 100 and plus years.

it started...

2008-08-23T20:41:00.000+08:00

my 9-day vacation started when i hopped into a ceres bus 4am early in the morning. the ride up to san carlos city was ok. but my stomach turned topsy-turvy with the crazy up-down, curvy route of cebu-bacolod via don salvador route. whew! last time i had this trip was april - i was then recovering from days of hospitalization. anyway, i felt relieved when i finally stepped into the front foresty garden of our 'home'. waiting to welcome me was my niece, father,mother, and sis (sleeping at the moment) and a very healthy lunch. yum yum i cracked 2 crabs which my mother brought.

swiper no swiping

2008-08-15T15:01:00.000+08:00

i am not talking about dora's favorite villain, swiper, who starred in most of her episodes. i am thinking about tv, dvd player, orocan cabinet, even fancying the thought of a laptop, all with the help of swiping it into my credit card. quite tempting but i'd like to consider being just contented with what i can afford - as for now.

estorya

2008-08-15T14:43:00.000+08:00

estorya - separate e and a and read the word out loud mummas.. that's it! this is what my blog is about. i am not a think-write person, i am a think-think-think-write person, haha.. i don't write that much and good and my ideas evolve parallel to time. maybe this way, i could harness myself in writing and discover that i might have a talent!! - that i am not sure.. heee...