Fishyfishy Chronicles 24531: The Davao Incidents

Sorry for the late post. Doing so many things at the office recently. Photo attachments to be done later.

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Hayaaaa... Fishyfishy availed of the 10-peso flights from Cebu Pacific and we were lucky to get travel dates for Davao's Kadayawan Festival (Festival of Festivals). For 4 days, I, Richard, Marijo, Tin and Buddy checked out what Davao has to offer at its peak tourist season.

Well, yun yung official 'reason' nung trip. But underneath that, the trip in itself is another junket session to (1) humorously torture Marijo and (2) get to know Buddy better (aba! eh pakakasalan nya si Tinters next year so kelangan ma-scrutinize siya ng malapitan at matagalan!).

If this were a traveler's diary, I'd simply say that we:
1) Spent the first two nights at the Marco Polo hotel
2) Dinner in Davao City's street party scene(which looks more like an open-air booze-and-barbeque tiangge)
3) Went to Paradise resort for a day at the beach
4) Went white-water rafting
5) Watched the Kadayawan festival dancing
6) Shopping for souvenirs and durian
7) Spent one night at Eden Nature park

But there's nothing exciting in that, right?

So here's a list of the exciting and memorable incidents.

1. As usual, the group sticked together --- nasa isang hotel room lang kaya kaming 5 (officially checked-in 3, yung 2 itinakas!). May target budget kasi for the trip e. So everybody had to bear with MJ's no-lights policy, hilik ni Stip at kakulitan ni Chard. Si Tin and Buddy... hmmm... wala e, ang tahimik nila. *hehe*

2. Eating durian is an acquired taste. Eto proof. Does it look like that we're saying 'yummy, ang sarap ng durian!'?



3. Football catching at the beach (Paradise resort). Okay sana, except nag-fumble si Stip on one of Chard's throws. Ayun, he got his finger forked. Kelangan tuloy i-splint yung pinky finger nya.

4. White-water rafting! Enjoy kami sobra! It's an exciting activity. Buddy, Chard and Stip also went drifting. At the last section of the rapids, they were 'encouraged' to get off the raft and drift in the last section of the rapids with just their lifevests and helmets on. Safe naman daw e. End-result: lahat sila maraming nainom na tubig, got near-death experiences (that almost-drowning-and-i-can't-hold-my-breath-underwater-any-longer trauma), bumped into rocks underwater, that washing-machine-tumble-dry feeling. The three boys agreed that it was exciting but doing it once in their lifetime is good enough for them.

Question: Sino sa kanila ang naiiba at bakit? :D



5. Kadayawan Festival. The street dance performers were very entertaining. Daming pa-cute na kuha si MJ and Tin with the dancers.

6. Shopping at Aldevinco. We bought a lot of shirts. And, magaling pumili si MJ ng blouses para sa mga nanay nila Chard and Stip. (Actually, si MJ yung pinapasukat nung mga blouse --- so mala-mommy pala yung appeal/projection ni MJ).

7. Kwentuhan sa Eden Park. Spent the night there. Over beer, pringles and snickers, we got to know everyone better specially MJ (tungkol sa automatic rejection nya sa mga suitors nya) and Buddy.

8. Fishy-fishy goes fishing. Ni-science ni Stip yung fishing dahil sya yung unang nakahuli ng isda using worm bait lang (no aid of fish food pellets while fishing). Chard insists na chamba lang daw yun. Hahaha.

Davao's been fun. Have to do that again in the future, or something like that.

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OUr official travel itinerary: 2 nights booking at Marco Polo hotel, 1 night booking at Eden Nature Park, day trip to Paradise Beach resort, dinners at the following places: Kaan Dawet, Inihaw sa Flyover, white water rafting (jump-off fro Crocodile farm), shopping at Aldevinco, durian hunting at Magsaysay, watch Kadayawan at Roxas avenue.

Climbing with the Charmed Ones

Blossom invited me to join her, Val, Kat and Agnes in wall-climbing at Play Underground in Power Plant Mall last Saturday. I met them at three in the afternoon.

Here's my assessment of their climbing skills:

Kat: Has highest potential. She managed to do some twists (I think it comes naturally to her), and almost conquered her first overhang. And her competitive nature is a plus.

Blos: Okay for a beginner. She knows how to shift her weight and use that to get a better hold. She also has some of the basics right (see Val).

Val: She has the basics right. She extends her arms fully and at least one of her legs. Both Val and Blos breezed through the beginner walls.

Agnes: The ultimate beginner! Hehe... Okay, Agnes needs to avoid being in a squat position while climbing (hence her legs become shaky). She also has the tendency to lean into the wall (trying to keep her body as close to the wall as possible) which is a bit demanding to the forearms. Lastly, she settles in grabbing the next nearest hold (when there are better holds a bit farther off) and rarely tries to extend her arms fully.

As for me, I was really surprised in discovering that I managed to climb on my first attempts walls number 5 and 6 (intermediate) with ease. Wall number 5 had an overhang, while wall number 6 had a negative gradient. At least my climbing skills haven't disappeared yet despite my 10-month absence from the wall-climbing scene.

Anyway, I had fun with you girls! Hoping that there's a next time! =)

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After the climg, we rested a 'bit' at Starbucks and the girls grilled me on my lovelife. Hahaha!

Getting My Blood Boiling

A high school acquaintance of mine recently contacted me insisting on meeting up with me. Honestly, I don't know him with enough familiarity so I naturally have some hesitation on his request.

I found out from some of my friends that he's been asking almost everyone for money, even small amounts will do. Most (if not all) of them declined, citing financial obligations and their personal fiscal statuses. And none of them were able to elicit information from him on the purpose of his money-borrowing spree.

Anyway, when he contacted me last Friday night via SMS, I asked him blatantly what's the money for. I told him to lay out his cards and that there's no sense in giving me vague stories.

And the only thing he told me is that he needed the money to (1) avoid a court hearing and (2) finance his niece's education. He was hoping to meet up with me to help him out and discuss a payment scheme, granting that I'll agree to it.

That got me thinking and my blood boiling.

Charity is a virtue, but helping out someone on his fiscal problems due to his personal/business activities does not merit charity. I believe in the saying that 'you reap what you sow'. I deduced that he must have involved himself in some 'get-rich-quick' scheme (which I very much disapprove of) like those multi-level marketing scams.

But his is a business proposition. Too bad that I have an occassional business frame-of-mind.

If he's resorted to borrowing from friends (and to some people that he doesn't know well), then clearly his credit is already bad that formal credit institutions are not keen on providing him credit.

The fact that he's soon to be undergoing litigation also points out that his fiscal problems have been around for quite some time. And I presume that it must involve a fairly large amount in order for it to be presented for litigation. Under these circumstances, a gentleman's agreement will not suffice. Business controls will need to be set-up and observed.

How much does he need?
How much does he owe?
How much does he regularly earn?
How much does he regularly spends?
What payment scheme do you propose?
Will you agree to surrendering all your financial controls to another person so they can monitor and control your financial activity?
Will you agree to meeting with your creditors once every two months to update them on your financial status and capability?
...
..
.
and so on and so forth.

And using his niece as an excuse is very lame.

He'll need to pass through a needle's eye before I lend him any amount.

Again, the reason for all these scrutiny on my part is that he's just an acquaintance.

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If there's one thing I hate, it's those pesky telemarketers who are very insistent despite me politely declining to whatever promo or product they are pushing. I understand that everyone has to make a decent and honorable living, but everyone has to have some sort of respect to whomever they're dealing with.

So after burning out my limited patience nowadays, I thought I'd give them a lesson.

Last week for five straight days I've been receiving calls at my mobile phone AND my office phone AND my residential phone from telemarketers (let's see, their names are Nicole, Samantha, Rachelle, Grace and Angie so far). Suppossedly I won a 2-night-3-day stay at any of the Days Hotel. All I needed to do was just go to a nearby Days Hotel and attend a product presentation for 90 minutes. No financial obligations for the prize, they added.

I politely declined, saying that I'm not interested and that my schedule has been very busy with work recently. They'll probe and probe, and I'll say that I'm not really interested. Finally, I'll manage to say 'Goodbye and thanks'. I thought that was the end of it.

But nope, another telemarketer would ring my mobile a couple of hours later and we'll go through the same routine again.

And then another one would call my office phone and repeat the process.

And they repeated everything the following day.

By Friday, I was already pissed off that I decided to spend my lunch break by surprising them. I trooped over to Days Hotel in Batangas. Boy, I've got everything ready. I was actually pumped up in delivering an ultimatum to them.

"Hi Sir, what I may do for you?"

"My name is Stephen Cruz. I'm here for the product presentation that your telemarketers have informed me about."

"Right this way, sir."

I was directed to a function room full of people, tables arranged in such a way that there's one agent for each prospective customer. Some tables were already midway the presentations.

"Hi Sir. I'm Samantha and I'll be orienting you on our product offer. blah blah blah blah.... Before we begin, is there something you'd like to ask?"

Bingo. That's the opening that I was waiting for.

"Now that you mentioned it," I stood up and said in a loud voice, "I have a brief announcement to make."

"The only reason why I came here is that for the last 4 days, I've been spending nearly an hour every day on the phone talking with one of your telemarketers. I have politely indicated that I am not interested in your product or service that you're offering. Despite that, they'll still call the following day and we'll go through the same routine again."

"Seeing that your telemarketers seem not to understand the meaning of the word 'NO', I am here in person to say that I am clearly not interested in your product or service. Am I clear?"

No reaction from Samantha. Her mouth was hanging a bit.

"Can I talk to the manager?"

Manager whatsisname raised his hand in acknowledgment.

"Sir, as manager, I suppose that you're capable of understanding what I mentioned earlier."

"I understand, sir."

"Thank you. And if any of your telemarketers call me again, I will personally talk with the hotel's manager and express my dissatisfaction with the operations that you're conducting. Shame on them for partnering with your group which currently rates zero in terms of customer service. I hope there are no questions for I have no intentions of entertaining them."

Saying that, I walked out. Smiling.

And so far, I haven't received any phone call from them.

ANNOUNCEMENT

I am pleased to announce that Glenn Pamplona

-- rotating engineer, casanova-in-disguise (like a wolf in sheep's clothing), armchair warrior, diver-in-hibernation, occasional athlete, movie addict (including those cheesy Tagalog movies that go well with popcorn) and football fanatic --

is now 30 years old.

With regards to Glennski's future plans on the termination of his bachelorhood, that will be the subject of a separate announcement. Hehehe.. =)

Happy birthday bro!

Huli Ka!

Godddammett!

I got flagged down by a Makati Traffic Enforcer yesterday afternoon for making a left turn when it wasn't our turn yet. Red-light violation. Geeezz...

That's what I get for stupidly following the car ahead of me while singing in my car. I wasn't paying attention to the traffic light at Pasay Road corner Paseo de Roxas. Anyway, the enforcers flagged three vehicles (including mine). After some discussion, I didn't contest my traffic violation ticket. I agreed to claiming my license at Makati City Hall sometime in the future.

On hindsight, I was singing "Wasting My Time" [Default] when I got flagged. How apt.

My Smugmug: Australian Vacation

Out of necessity, I availed of a smugmug account.

http://stipmeister.smugmug.com



Happy browsing! =D