HO HO HOS!

(this blog post gets appended for the various holiday 'moments' that i'll find myself in. Season's greetings!)

3. The Godfather

Quito hosted lunch last Tuesday and brought his mom and my godson Maqui along. I got to the restaurant earlier, hence I was already seated comfortably when they walked in.

Maqui comes running to me.

"Ninong Stiff!!"
I stand up and extend my hand. "Oy Mak... Merry Christmas! Bless?"
Maqui takes my hand to do the mano gesture.

"Ninong Stiff, exchange gift tayo!"
"Huh? You have gift for me?" Maqui's five years old.
"Yes, I have a gift for you! Di ba Papa Quito?"
"Yeah man. Maqui's been excited the whole morning... he's been counting the days when we'll get to meet para makapag-exchange gift daw siya sa 'yo."

Mrs. S leans towards me for a kiss on the cheek. "Oh yes, Stiff. Maqui's been busy the last two days for your gift. I think ikaw lang yung ninong who's getting a gift from him."

....
...
..


2. Delivering Chrismas Presents

I did my milk-run of Christmas gift deliveries for my parents earlier this week. Had to go through Alabang Hills, PhilAm Las Pinas, Villamor Air Base, Palanan in Makati and then head north to Valle Verda V and Wilson in Greenhills. Mom made her traditional rellenong manok and leche flan, complete with storage and serving instructions, as her gifts to family friends.

At every stop, I had to get off my car and walk up to their respective gates. In almost all of the houses that I stopped, I got invited in by my parents' friends for snacks or coffee at their gardens or salas or kitchens.

My parents' friends meet up more frequently than I do with my college friends, so there's none of the usual "how's your mom/dad?" interview. Instead, I got interviewed! Some of them haven't seen me for 4 years. They would give me their own snippets of what it is that they best remember me for. I liked Tita Jing's story best -- of how she and my mom connived to set me up with her daughter when I was about to graduate from college (hahaha!).

I'm so glad to do this errand for my parents. Got to re-connect with some family acquaintances. One of my dad's friends even gave me a 500-peso pamasko (he insisted!).

1. HO-HO-HO BQ 25 Christmas Dinner HO-HO-HO
It’s been a while since I’ve hosted a big dinner. All my past dinners were limited to at most 10 people. Having more than 10 people is a bit difficult hosting-wise --- the food, the utensils, table settings, etc.

Now, Christmas is just around the corner, but I haven’t heard of any parties for the bachelors’ group at our workplace. Planning for that is a major time-drain and will require significant time and resources to prepare for it.

So, I compromised a bit.

I hosted Christmas dinner for my housemates and some choice friends, even though if it meant planning it for more than 10 people. There’s the food to prepare, setting up the tree and holiday decors, sending out invitations and of course… the gifts!

I didn’t need to prepare any games.
Nor did I have a difficult time managing everyone that I invited (that’s one of the challenges of being a host --- making sure everyone’s comfortable).
And I did manage to enjoy the party myself despite being the host.

Almost everything about the Christmas dinner turned out well (one invitee decided not to go though) --- lots of food, hearty conversations, wine (*no beer!*) and plenty of laughter. One of my friends commented that he found the party relaxing and reminiscent of how their generation used to have bachelors’ nights.

Ho ho ho ho!

The Circle of Life's Successes

“At age 1, success means being able to stand up by yourself.
At age 6, it’s being able to use the toilet on your own.
At age 7, success is being able to ride a bike.
At age 17, it’s getting your driver’s license and driving your own car.
At age 20, success is having been able to make love, or get laid.
At age 25, it’s landing your first job and being financially independent.
At age 35, success is having a loving family and looking after their well-beings.

At age 60, success is still having a loving family with everyone’s well-being in a good state.
At age 65, success is leaving your last job financially independent and secure.
At age 70, success is still being able to make love and/or still be able to get laid.
At age 75, success is still being able to drive a car and ride a bike on your own.
At age 80, success is still being able to use the toilet on your own.
At age 90, success is being able to stand up by yourself.”

- shared by Boss Andrew this afternoon at our office over chocolates and coffee, right after we commented that his hair is noticeably more gray ever since he got assigned as our facility’s Operations Manager.

Economics

... is defined as the study of how resources, profits and losses are allocated to maximize happiness.

I just completed a regional course on Refinery and Supply Economics; its arguably the best learning course I've gotten so far in my corporate stint.

My favorites:

1) Application of John Nash's "Game Theory" (global optimum is achieved when everyone thinks in their best interests AND the interests of others), and seeing how the default behavior of most economic deals are a result of Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand" theory ("the best solution is achieved when everyone thinks in their best interests, and an 'invisible hand' takes over to guide them to the optimum solution). John Nash was right, Adam Smith was wrong.

2) Investment economics is loosely based on the story of the bear chasing two men. Don't worry about the bear; worry about being better and faster than the other guy.

3) Risk management is about the rabbit in the middle of the road. If the rabbit stayed in the middle of the road, there's no risk management. If the rabbit chooses whether to stay on the left lane or the right lane of the road because it thinks it won't get roadkilled there, that's risk management.

4) Oil futures and Trading Economics is nothing but a paper market of guarantees. Only smart people can make money using Trading Economics, but engineers can't make sense of how is it possible to make profit out of guarantees. Therefore, engineers aren't smart enough to take Trading as an occupation.

5) Accountants will give you a numerical answer for a "How much is...." question. An economist must give you a counter-question of "Why do you want to know?". The accountant's answer is absolute, the economist's answer is always relative.

It's been great to be in a classroom again.

Ramblings in a Hotel Room with the newest Stephen King book before me

is nike the god of speed? can't really remember.
climb sweet
dream rock
smash quick
dive frisbee.
work.
play.
party.
talk.
swoosh.
fight.
sing.
think.
peace.

id.
in a few days, all these words will mean something. and hopefully more.
thanks.

-------------

I got to meet up with my cousin Pao in Singapore this morning. He was all beaming happy when he got to see me. He's been homesick pretty bad ever since he started working as an OFW two months ago.

Both of us are mama's boys -- we spent an hour talking about our respective moms' dealings-with-life. Then the talk shifted quickly to the fun we had with our batch (we were classmates from 1st grade until senior year). We reminisced the many times he acted as a big bro for me in the classroom or in outings -- always keeping me in check and in line (believe it or not, I am the more "evil" cousin between us two). Too bad Elips or Maloy weren't around because the winning story for the day was reminiscing the time when we got the two of them "introduced" to magic shrooms and its induced euphoria on a rainy summer night on the beach.

In a nutshell, both of us enjoyed the few hours of reunion and wished it were longer ("Pao, baka umiyak ka na naman mamaya... hahaha). There'll be a next time bro, don't worry.

And next time, we'll party. On me. It's my turn to be the big bro.

The Birth of STD Nights

16 pieces of good-sized crabs prepared in 3 ways and shared among 5 guys.

Welcome to the 1st S.T.D. night!

Last week, Jay sent out this photo of a crab dish he craved for to me, Emer, Glenn and Bai. It looked really really mouth-watering on the photo and soon all of us wanted some of it. Too bad that it's a plane flight away just to get that particular crab dish.

So we settled for the next best thing. We cooked our own! Hahaha...

I went to the SEASIDE seafood market last Sunday afternoon to pick out and purchase crabs. Got a really good bargain for it (~240 Php/kilo after some intense negotiation, medium sized, plump crabs).

Brought the crabs to Batangas, cleaned all of them that night, steamed them, chucked them in the ref and had 1 beer after.

Monday night: Glenn took care of the rice and drinks, Jay did the chopping of the spices to be used, I cooked the crabs and Bai and Emer brought their appetites (hehehe...). After a half-hour of chopping, frying and baking, we had:

* Oriental-Style Fried Crabs
* Baked Chili Crabs
* old-fashioned Steamed Crabs

Spreading all of the cooked crabs on the table was like looking at an oasis in the middle of the desert. We dug in! Sarap!

Until next month's STD night. Hehehe. And we'll have photos of the dishes next time.

Did you know that "crabs" is a term for a particular sexually-transmitted disease? Just in case you haven't figured out yet why last night was the 1st STD night.

Move It

I like to move it, move it...

1.
It felt like I was on Amazing Race again last Saturday. Left Batangas at 10 am, lunch with my cousins at Alabang, sped thru SLEX and C-5 to be at Ateneo by 3pm for my frisbee game, Ortigas at 6 pm, then finally Mall of Asia by 8 pm.

Whew…

2.
I skinned my knee area, right arm and chin on separate goal attempts during my weekend frisbee game with the team. The injuries are not that bad though as compared to Eric’s and Pretty Boy’s (who by the way has earned a new alias --- Iced Tea Boy) who both had longer cuts on their legs. The field was deceivingly dry, packed and hard.

I think I’ve slightly upgraded my passing and catching skills. Hey, I was able to throw an air-bounce during the game. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t intend it to be an air-bounce pass. And all of my backhand passes were good. As for catching, I’ve been able to execute a full sprint-jump-one-handed-catch combo many times over.

3.
Madagascar 2’s a good movie. I used my brother’s last batch of free IMAX tickets to treat the fishyfishy group (plus Emer) for the animation’s IMAX screening. King Julian and Maurice are still funny, but this time around the penguins with the Mafia attitude steal the show --- from launching off their Air Penguin plane to tricking safari tour groups in leaving their vehicles and finally negotiating with monkeys about maternity leaves.

After the movie, we had a couple of sub-zero-degree San Mig Light beers at the San Miguel by the Bay just across Mall of Asia. Having a supercooled beer on a cool evening… woot!

My Name is STIP and I Am Here To Rescue You

A.
Many years back, ALIAS was my favorite TV series. The spy-action plot involving the lead character Sidney working as a double-agent mesmerized me over four seasons.

My favorite episode is when the lead, despite all her martial arts and pistol skills, gets cornered by her enemies and gets imprisoned. The heroine becomes the damsel-in-distress. And so, somebody needed to rescue her.

Back at her agency, the one identified to have the necessary skills for the rescue mission turned out to be their gadget-specialist. They needed someone with the know-how of all the high-tech safeguards which Sidney’s captors are using in their hide-out. The extraction plan was simple: get past through all the security safeguards, blast a hole through Sidney’s cell and extract her. So, Gadget-Specialist Guy gets the job of rescuing her.

Anyway, what made it my favorite episode is because Gadget-Specialist guy (I can’t remember his name) doesn’t have any action scenes throughout the season. He’s usually on his desk, speaking through a headphone set. But in this particular episode, he’s part of the action.

And when he was finally able to blast through the cell of Sidney, he calls out to Sidney, “Hi, my name is XXXXX and I am here to rescue you!”.

That was cool.

-----------------

B.
Last week, I was “nominated” to attend a 5-day Advanced Rescue course conducted by the Philippine National Red Cross. It was a Rope Rescue / Rope Technician Level 1 course.

It’s easy to describe: I got to learn how to rescue someone using rappelling skills.

I’ve done rappelling before back in my Boy Scout / Eagle Scout / Nature Badge days. It’s easy for me to get down on a rope by myself using various rappelling styles, but this course is 100% different from what I’ve been exposed to.

This time around, I need to rescue someone which can be accessed only using ropes, and bring myself and the victim down to a safe place. With NO belayer. The rescuer will have to belay both himself and the victim simultaneously.

Hence, it’s definitely a physically-demanding activity. Not to mention the mental pressure of trying to assure myself that I can do this life-risking activity. Nature also added some sense of realism on the course by striking us with sunny overcast mornings then drenching us with afternoon downpours every day. Rain-or-shine....

A rundown of the things unique to rope-rescue (and be able to be certified for it):

1) Be able to neatly tie 15 different kinds of knots and combinations of them with bulky leather gloves on. And that you have 15 seconds to tie each of those knots neatly.

2) Laying out your own rope and anchoring them securely by yourself.

3) “On-rope….rappelling!!!”. And performing your own test-jumps.

4) “Locking-up” – the skill of securing yourself on your own line by maneuvering your rope to lock itself on your descender. Requires split-second timing and hand+body coordination. Allows you to free both of your hands for other uses, such as trying to rescue someone else. If done wrong, either two things can happen: either the rescuer falls to the ground OR you end up with an injured hand because it got caught in the rope. (Note: one guy in our class ended up with his thumbnail torn off despite the leather glove protection). This is the skill which I had the hardest time figuring out how to execute it.

5) Making rope hitches and emergency harnesses, and using them as your leverage control when doing ascending. Ascending skills will demand good upper, lower and core body strength on the rescuer, not to mention flexibility.

6) “Unlock” – the opposite of “locking up”. Has the same consequences as “Locking-up” if done incorrectly.

7) Buddy checks are a requirement --- have at least two other people check your straps, carabiner gates, rescue-8 rings and harnesses.

8) Accident recovery --- Recover to the rappeller’s neutral position in case he finds himself face flat on the wall or hanging upside down.

9) Transfer – You’re currently rappelling on rope A. However, you need to go to rope B which is alongside rope A. How do you disengage yourself from rope A and secure yourself in rope B at a height of 25 meters with no belayers?

10) Evolution. Combining items 1 through 9 in order to perform the last required skill for certification.

11) Victim Rescue --- Recover a victim from an area accessible only by ropes. Don a harness on the victim. Secure victim onto your rope. Bring victim down to safe area. Note: You’re doing all of these by yourself, so you should be capable of rappelling both yourself and the victim at the same time.

During my “graduation exam” wherein I had to perform 3 victim rescues, I psyched myself by calling out to the victim before allowing direct contact between us: “Hi, my name is Stip and I am here to rescue you.”

Hahaha… it sounded as cool as how I remember it when I was watching ALIAS.

Lastly, a photo of our class, now officially my workplace's elite pool of rope rescuers.

On Being Poor, My Parents and the Outdoors

1.
sigh...

It's already November. It's the start of my monthly amortization.
I'm officially POOR.

Have to subsist on my salary for the next six months. My passive income all goes towards what I would like to think of as a "good investment".

I'm back in the rat race.

2.
My parents decided to stay this weekend with me at Batangas so I wasn't able to go anywhere else. It was a great, quiet weekend for us.

My mom cooked all my favorite foods (paksiw na lechon, menudo, bulalo, pork steak, monggo with shrimp, beef tapa) for the last two days with me, of course, as her kitchen assistant. She even brought her charcoal stove so that the bulalo flavor would be at its best. Hahaha. By the way, last Friday night, Bai, Chewy and Jay talked my mom into "adopting" them for dinner (menudo, fried tilapia, ginisang pechay with shrimps).

After dinner, my dad would have his customary drink (I keep a bottle of Chivas on-stock always) and chat with me about current events (this time around, his favorite topic is the Obama presidency).

My parents also got me a gift. Hahahaha. It was a remote-controlled dragonfly! When was the last time your parents ever got you a toy? I spent a couple of hours this afternoon figuring out how to operate the dragonfly. =)


3.
Finally, I found a group who's interested in climbing Mt. Kinabalu! Wahoo! We're gonna do it next year! I'm excited about the whole trip. It'll be my first climb outside of the country, and what makes it better is that we're climbing the tallest mountain in the region. Whoop! It's a 6-day climb!

A couple of my colleagues are still "encouraging" me to take up diving. My problem is I can't fit those diving lessons into my schedule (specially with Christmas season fast approaching).

Hmmm... maybe next year na rin?

When Angels and Demons Have Fun

Who: The Team

Venue: at some particular hotel suite in Ortigas

Date: on some particular day of October 2008

Why: October/November celebrants party + Halloween(?) party




After a hot afternoon game, around 30 people, including myself, partied in a hotel suite in Ortigas this month with an “Angels and Demons” theme. Initially, I thought they were kidding on being in costume. But they weren’t.


Good thing that Joc had the foresight to buy some extra “props”, in case some of the guys (like me) doesn’t show up with an Angel/Demon costume or accessory. Thanks for the angel wings, Joc!

A rundown of the night’s events, based on what I remember:

1. Hands down, the most exciting game for the night was Bato-Bato-Pik. The whole room was shouting at the outcome of the Bato-Bato-Pik challenge.

2. Best costume was Vern’s, who came as Sweeney Todd. Chew in a Japanese school girl outfit with a halo and JP arriving as George Michael with fairy wings probably battled it out for the second best costume.


3. Ron calling me “dude”, and me calling him “dude” as well because neither of us have been introduced to each other, until somebody else pointed out that we “stop calling each other dude”.

4. A certain Chinese girl was so tipsy after one shot of Rhum coke. But I give her credit for trying hard to still be “lively” throughout the party.

5. I’VE NEVER game statement: “I’ve never given a woman 3 O’s in one minute.” And somebody drank up. HE THE MAN!

6. Marlon and Rodney as booze runners --- the two of them combined, they gave me (this is the sequence as I remember it) 3 shots of vodka, 2 servings of rhum coke, 3 shots of ginebra+lime, 3 ½ shots of tequila, 2 shots of Jag, 1 glass of Jag later on, and 2 shots of schnappes. That last shot of schnappes sent me running to the toilet for a… uhm…period of reflection.

7. Playing Dance-Dance Revolution on Wii is twice the fun if you’re drunk.

8. The girls lining up for a group shot.

9. By 2 am, only 3 people were left sober.

10. Had to use my first aid rescue/transfer skills on soemone; he was too drunk to stand up, and was becoming a hazard to the rest of the party.

11. Party was still going on at 6 am!

12. Taking photos, and half of them are ones that you don’t remember taking. Hahaha.

13. [Stage whisper]: “Shhhhhhhh….. that’s supposed to be a secret!”


By the way, on record the Angels group won the night’s games. But who cared? =)

Until the next party! Oh, and lest that I forget, happy birthday to the celebrants!

Somebody floated the idea of a “Merry XXXmas and NAUGHTY New Year” party.

Friday, 1600H

At last. Pwede ng umuwi, tapos na duty ko.
Yahoo!

I haven't gotten used to it yet, but here's an attempt for having a bit of weekend team-spirit:

BOOM.

Laying Down my Domino Piece on Black Friday

The newspaper headlines last Friday hit me hard. It got me worried.

”Massive sell-offs on world stocks: Nikkei, Dow Jones plunges”

I’ve got a small portfolio on stocks, about 9000 USD in worth as of end September. My net gain so far is about 14%. Some of my stocks were gifts from my parents and a godfather, but more than two-thirds of these I’ve accumulated slowly over the last five years.

Ever since I’ve gotten my first stocks certificate (25 shares on Intel), I haven’t sold any of them. Until last Monday though.

I sold about half of my portfolio value in order to raise enough money for a cash downpayment on a condo unit I’m keen on buying this month. I’ve been poring over it for weeks, analyzing my financial situation and cash flow. After consulting my status with a couple of financial experts, I’m convinced that I can manage this project.

Now here’s the thing: After reading the headlines last Friday, did I somehow contribute to the sharp decline on stocks values all over the world? I felt that my action there was like laying down my personal domino piece on the event leading to last Friday’s world headlines. I’m wondering if my stocks selling was part (even a tiny bit) of the “massive sell-offs” being acknowledged around the globe?

The upside of the whole thing is that if I didn’t sell my stocks last Monday, I would have lost about 400$ in value today (talk about a bearish sale!). It’s a measly sum compared to the 1 TRILLION DOLLARS reported be lost in the global stocks market plunge last Friday but 400$ is a lot of money for someone who works in a country with an average annual per capita income of around 800$.

I do hope that the country won’t fall into the same mortgage crisis as to what happened in the US. Otherwise, I’d really be in deep kimchi 4 or 5 years from now. (Fingers crossed…)

--------------------------------

Just an update on my frisbee playing: our team lost 8-6 last weekend. It was, again, a Spartan effort for us. I scored 3 goals, had a couple of picture-perfect catches (but no photos of it, darn!), overstretched my left arm/shoulder (now I understand why some of the guys have medical tape on their upper arms) and cramped my right hamstring again. It was tiring but fun.

--------------------------------

Get a copy of Wedding Essentials 2008, and look for the feature article on Glenn and Janice's wedding. =) I tried looking for a copy at ATC last weekend, but no success so far though.

It was raining heavily. Visibility was down to about 40 feet. We were down 12-8 on goals.

At the end line, all of us were already weary. We were only five, against the other team’s ten. We’ve been throwing, catching and running like hellhounds for the last sixty minutes. No substitutions, no chance to catch our breaths or rest our cramped limbs.

In the rain, I can see my teammates’ resolve to push on for the remaining ten minutes of the match. Water streaming down our faces, we gave each other whispered words of encouragement.

“We can still do this.”

“The next goal is ours!”

I just nodded. I’m conserving what remaining energy I have for a burst sprint that will most probably be needed from me in a few minutes.

Rod threw the disc for the pull. We were playing defense for this next goal.

We ran, taking up a man from the opponent’s team and marked each of them. I can vaguely hear the cheers coming from the grandstand, drowned out by the water splashes made by our cleated shoes pounding on the rain-soaked playing field.

I and my teammates were already at the limits of our endurance. Running and defending against our opponents, hoping for a possible interception and turnover. I can sense that all of us were already slowing down.

And then luck smiled upon us. An opponent fumbled on one of the passes and failed to catch the disc. It was a turnover. The rain receded slightly.

We seized the opportunity.

By some mental connection, all of us knew where to go and what to do.

Vern, at midfield, threw the disc to Rod. JP and I were sprinting towards our goalzone. The disc's flight was arced, but Rod caught it while running.

Rod held the disc for a few seconds longer, waiting for JP to establish his position at the quarterfield.

I kept on running towards the goalzone. I glanced back, and saw Rod threw the disc backhanded to JP.

Two defenders were going towards JP. While running, I gave JP the nod to throw the disc.

He threw it. Forehand throw. High. The disc gained elevation momentarily.

And I ran like hell after it, feeling the rain streaming down my face. I could hear the cheers coming from the grandstand.

I was almost near the end of the goalzone, but the disc is still 6 feet above and away from me.

I jumped, my left arm stretched upwards, my momentum bringing me directly under the disc.

I felt my fingers connect with the disc.

I finger-clawed the disc.
….
…
..
.

“AAAAOOOOWWWW…”, the crowd cried unhappily.

The disc slid by my fingers. It flew on, outside the goal zone.

I landed on the wet ground, frustrated, and collapsed my whole body on the grass.
I was panting.
The puddle I was lying on comforted me.

------------------------

Our team lost eventually, 13-8.

We were tired and wet. We huddled underneath a tree. Our white jerseys were now brown, soiled with mud. We clapped each other’s back for the hard-fought battle earlier.

But many people, including our opponents, came up to us and congratulated us for a great game, despite our numbers being few. Some of the viewers from the grandstand even told us that they've become our “fans” while watching the game.

One guy, in particular, summarized everything neatly. "You guys have great hearts."

Until the next game.

One More Chance

It’s ironic that the first group-watching, popcorn-laden, wine-drinking movie that was previewed at my new pad was a local romantic film.

One, I rarely watch Tagalog movies. Generally, I find the scriptwriting and videography of the local films too common; I’d rather be engrossed playing a video game than watch a ho-hum movie.

Two, it was a romantic film. Cheesy films are just not my type. I’m more of the horror-movie type of fan.

The Tu/Th swimming club decided to have a movie session last night after our regular laps at the pool. After a sumptuous dinner of Cille’s chicken wings, Rico’s caldereta and my salted porkchops, everyone squeezed into my studio-type pad to watch Angelle’s movie selection for the night, One More Chance (starring John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo). 10 of us settled down, passed around wine (excellent dry wine!) brought by Maimai and sugar-coated donuts contributed by Julie.

It wasn’t meant to be a funny movie, but we found ourselves laughing half of the time because of somebody else’s occasional side-comment. Some of the characters and situations reminded us of relate-able events and personalities at our workplace.

Anyway, the movie wasn’t that bad. What it didn’t make up for the storyline, the side-stories among the movie-watchers made it enjoyable.

I hope they suggest seeing a horror flick next time. Or a sci-fi movie. =)

P.S.

1) Good luck to Angelle for her upcoming board exams. Yep, the reason for the movie night was because she’s gonna be away for a month to review for her board exams.
2) Good luck din to Boks for your annual physical exam. Hehehe.

ULTIMATE!!!

...my legs ache... *groan*

Yesterday was the 2nd day of the Malakas at Maganda ultimate frisbee tournament league. I was one of the rookie players in the team, so I wasn't expecting much field time for the games and had my DSLR cam at-hand for some sports/action photography. The team had to go against 3 other teams yesterday, and each game lasts for 70 minutes.

I ended up playing for about 60-65 minutes for each game mainly because the team was undermanned yesterday, and there were only just enough of us to play the required positions in the game.

That's more than 3 hours of running and sprinting all over the field. And sadly, no action shots.

But, I scored 6 goals and had a positive feeling that I contributed to the team's victory.

My 10 Reasons Why Ultimate Frisbee is a Great Sport

1. Lose the inches. In two weekends of playing, I've lost 1 inch on my waistline (from 31 down to 30) despite gaining 2 pounds on my weight.

2. Tone your legs. All that sprinting, jumping and running around to get possession of the disc will definitely work out your calves, quads and hamstring muscles.

3. Define your ab muscles. Granting that your body fat is not that much, you'll definitely start seeing definition on your ab section. Playing frisbee involves use of the core muscles maybe for all those breaks and sudden turns and mid-air twists, and certainly for those long throws.

4. Cardiovascular workout. Healthier heart and healthier lungs. Easily burn off 500 calories in one game! Second wind gets you going.

5. There's a science involved. Aerodynamics actually. If you can identify the factors of air resistance, disc rotation, tilt, release velocity and direction, you can be confident of the trajectory of the frisbee. Science helps in making you figure out how those some of those spectacular throws are possible.

6. Pain is my friend. Well, I enjoy the feeling of self-induced (muscle) pain. It gives me the feeling of an increased performance level. =) No pain, no gain. I believe that pain makes you a stronger person.

7. Girls. Self-explananatory. =)

8. For the lover of the elements. Play under the sun or the rain, with or without winds, on a dry or muddy field, the game's still on. And doing rolls or dives or slides on the grass is fun!

9. It's fast, and it's a team sport. Mostly physical, but some mental skills also required. Knowing how to utilize all of your team's strengths and cover the weaknesses pays off. It takes all of the team's effort to score a single goal -- handlers, defenders, receivers and runners.

10. It's a cool sport, but the community is cooler. Being a "new" sport, the frisbee community is pretty close-knit, friendly and the potential for networking is high. Moreover, most of the veteran players are more than willing to teach the rookies their tips and tricks in order to improve their skill levels.

Ultimate!!!

Congratulations

Yup, Lissa's got it right. I've been gearing myself up since last night to announce this:

To Lissa, Mommy G, Roms, Chie, Niks, Gert, Aldy, Poch, BM, Tony, Nikki, May, Mae, June, and Lei, and the rest of my blue-blooded friends and "mentors":

CONGRATULATIONS to you and your school for taking the UAAP Men's Basketball title this year. =D

Until next year. Sana may re-match. Hahahaha!

ANIMO.

The Good and The Bad

The BAD

If you think you can do a better job than me, I'll be more than happy to get my hands off of this project. I actually DARE you.

I'm already mentally exhausted over it, no thanks to the pressure from different parties. I choose to be credible than be "manipulative".

I'm really disappointed at the way we advocate Honesty and Integrity as core values but fail to uphold it when the pressure's applied.


The GOOD

I and my best friend went out for drinks on Saturday night with his 5-year-old son (my godson) in tow. We just came from a Superfriends-themed children's party earlier and decided to unwind a bit before heading to our respective homes.

Being the guys we are, the two of us soon found ourselves playing the "ratings" game for the girls that we see strolling by.

Me: "Hmm... she's a 7."
Him: "No way, man. At least an 8."
godson: "8!....9!....10!....11!"
Me: "Kid knows how to count. Great."
Him: "He's got gold stars for Math at his playschool. I'm not like that. Mana sa ninong!"
Me: "Dude, that's because I give him the incentive to do well at school, specially in Math. (to godson) Maq, what do you need to do to get a Gameboy?"
godson: "Learn to read and count! Ninong, sa school hindi pa kami nag-r-read... pa'no yun?"
Me: "You can ask your Papa."
Him: "Dude, 9 coming."
Me: "Yup, definitely a 9. Heard that? You can teach him to read."
Him: "My son's going to be a geek."
Me: "Hahahaha... I don't think so."
Godson: "Ninong, ninong, open your eyes! Open your eyes!"
Me: "Why? What do you want me to see?"
Godson: "(whispering) ...ten..."

Maq just spotted a really tall, good-looking lady. And definitely a ten.

Hahaha.

Ultimate

What: Ultimate Frisbee Tournament League (All Female/All Male Matches)
Venue: Ayala Alabang Village Country Club

It was generally a hot blistering day last Sunday, but it was a good day to play frisbee and take some action shots.

Cheers

One weekend, my peers got me drunk on Scotch and I woke up not being able to remember more than 70% of what happened the previous night. I woke up on my bed still wearing the same clothes I wore the previous night with the most terrible hangover I’ve experienced in a year, plus a bruise on my shoulder which we haven't figured out yet how I got it.

Another weekend, my best friend got me drunk with wine. I do remember having drinks in the pool at his floating bar with his mom, very late in the night. I woke up at their guest room with no hangover; rather, I felt light and happy.

On another weekend, my cousin got me drunk with beer. He broke up with his girlfriend of 8 years a month ago, resigned from his job, and flying out to Singapore next month. We drank at my place, celebrating. I woke up on our living room couch with no hangover and my cousin snoring, a trail of vomit going to our front door.

Lastly, on another weekend, I fixed myself a shot of whiskey and played the piano (I haven’t played the piano in a long time) and the violin. I had the house to myself. I couldn’t sleep then, but I didn’t want to go out either. I woke up the following day with melodies in my head.

Drinks anyone?

Throwing Spagetti on the Wall

If there’s one extraordinary cooking tip that I learned from my Malaysian colleagues MinYee and JayWyn, it’s cooking spagetti noodles.

I’ve been cooking decent dishes for about 10 years now, able to duplicate most of my mom’s dishes. I tried to learn how to cook by being so geeky about it --- making mental models of the heat input, convection, precise measurements, monitoring time and color/smell changes which marked chemical reactions in the pot. I attempted to cook with a scientific approach.

But science experiments are meant to be trial-and-error activities. Food being an expensive commodity nowadays, I realized that making mistakes when cooking can prove to be a very wasteful activity.

Most cooks have it to an art.

And then I figured out that the art of cooking is just a scientific activity wherein the scientist can exploit the tolerance bands of smell, flavor and palatability as a function of time and heat.

But some things, like spagetti noodles, do not have indicators for smell or flavor. Aside from checking the noodle consistency for al dente, I mostly end up with spagetti noodles not to my exact liking whenever I cook it. Al dente is pretty subjective – how do you exactly specify it to the scientific cook?

And then, a couple of smart kids came along and told me to just throw the spagetti noodles on the wall.

If it’s cooked, it’ll stick to the wall. If it’s undercooked, it’ll slide off.

I was skeptic about the theory, but when they demonstrated it to me I was just amazed.

Last night, I cooked a tomato-and-basil sauce and some spagetti noodles for dinner. And yup, I threw a couple of noodles on the wall.

They stuck to the wall looking like albino earthworms.

The noodles turned out to be great, exactly just how I like it.

Next time, I’ll try throwing chicken wings on the wall. Hahaha. Just kidding.

My Room as My Sanctuary

In the last couple of years, I’ve been living in a fairly big studio-type room allotted by the company I work for for bachelors like me. I find it perfect for my various requirements: the occasional privacy-slash-alone-time-moments, hosting small dinners or drinking sessions, letting a few friends sleepover for the weekend, my after-office-hours workplace, my private multimedia entertainment room and of course, my sleeping quarters.

In a couple of weeks time, I’ll be moving out of my current room and transfer to an adjoining room. The reason is primarily for aesthetics, but practicality is a near second. I wanted a room with more windows.

And moving into a new space generates some giddiness in me and some rampant spending.

I’ve bought a spanking-new, shiny, black LCD TV.
I’ve bought a dark-themed painting from a friend’s sister.
I’m buying romanian-type curtains in brown.
I’m scouting for a couple of tall wooden bookshelves.
A new bathroom mirror and a new shower curtain.
A wall-mirror.
A cheap low-but-long TV stand that’ll fit my new TV with enough room left-over for my game consoles and DVD player.

All these will cost me a little over a hundred grand.

I figured that if I’m staying in that room for another couple of years, I should make it comfortable and live-able by my standards. As soon as I’ve got everything set-up, I’d invite a few friends over as a sort of housewarming.

My room is my sanctuary.

Was, Is, and Will Always Be

That's my current working concept.

Of what?

I'm not telling. Hehehe.

Happy Birthday Bro!

Lampayatot.
Couch potato.
Die-hard Barangay Ginebra fan.
Janice's other half.
Sweet tooth.

The other day, one of my colleagues was showing the new girl in the group some of the photos and videos of the various fun activities that we held over the last few years -- parties+get-togethers, a Sesame-street style video (which won us 30 thousand pesos) and some dancing on the side. The girl says, "How do you guys manage to do these things so well and so fun-looking?"

Guy answers, "Well, mostly because of Glenn and Stip." High-five for you dude.

To the top guy on my favorite people list, happy birthday bro!

Saturday Night Mike

1.

It takes me some getting used to to be referred to as Mike or Mikey. Sure, I get called by that nickname when I'm with my family and relatives, but on a Saturday night out with friends? It takes some getting used to.

Haven't seen most of my high school friends in almost 10 years. Everybody called me Mike or Mikey then.

But on Saturday night, despite the rains and flashfloods in Makati, I found myself sitting and drinking among them at my batchmate Onin's bar and being referred to as Mike. We had a blitz party for Jayson who's on vacation from his Dubai-based work.

Hahaha... I was appointed to be bangka that night. Had to rack through my brains searching for worthwhile snippets to discuss and laugh about that night. Called the shots on which topics to talk about.


2.

Yeah, I like this shot! (photo taken during a karting party with friends/colleagues)




3.

If you spend 5 hours inside the car travelling to somewhere and spending only an hour at our coffee shop destination, does my car count as a date place? *snicker* =)

Showtime

1.

Congratulations to the Tabangao team for winning 3rd place in the country-wide dance contest among the various business units of our company. Held last Friday at One Esplanade Place, the annual dance competition's theme this year is "OPM Selection".

True to our site's 'baduy-on-the-outside-but-kwela-on-the-inside' demeanor, we settled for Andrew E. (well, we actually wanted Parokya ni Edgar but somebody picked that option first).

Some stills of the group's winning and fun performance. Congratulations guys and girls!
If you look really, really hard, you'll actually see me onstage. Hahaha.










2.

Kaye's off for a cross-post assignment to Singapore starting next week, so we gave her a send-off party the other night.

What's "special" about this send-off is that she requested for LIVE performances of our musical talents.

Good luck on your next assignment, Kaye!
And see you at Amanpulo in the future. Hahahaha.

Elements

1. WATER

So that's how scuba diving feels like. It feels like a pre-meditated suicide.

A couple of weekends back, one of my colleagues sort of kidnapped me to accompany him on his dive trip. He figured that I'll finally do Discover Scuba (which I did) while he goes for a couple of dives somewhere nearby.

Note to readers: I'm paranoid about open waters.
Another note to readers: I've drowned twice when I was younger, and had been resuscitated twice. (Yep, the whole routine of one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and-five-and-six-and-seven-and-BLOW --- CPR). I'm living my third life already.

I decided on that day to finally confront my paranoia of the deep blue sea.

By mid-morning, I've been geared up into a wet suit, don on a snorkel mask and a pair of fins.

I breezed through the basics -- deflating the BCD, inflating the BCD, worked on a few hand signals, did mask clearing, retrieved my regulator and scubadived in the pool. Breathe in, breathe out. I'm okay. The instructor was happy with me.

The hard part for me is doing it in open water. Hahaha!

Swallowing my fear, I took the plunge in the sea.
There's an initial rush of adrenaline.
And found myself going deeper and deeper.
And then some peace.
And found myself smiling.

So that is how diving feels like. It's the same feeling that I get when I let go of a burden. Things feel lighter, I get to enjoy the scenery and everything just passes you by.

I think scuba diving is going to be an interesting... uhm... pasttime. Not a potential hobby for me (yet), but definitely a pasttime.


2. FIRE

Lightning suppossedly doesn't strike the same spot twice. But it can strike a nearby area without any doubt. Strike two.

I've a pretty good idea where it's gonna strike next.


3. AIR

I bought the whole MAXIMUM RIDE series by James Patterson a couple of nights ago. I finished the first two books in less than 24 hours.

I breezed through it. It really has been an adventurous read so far.


4. EARTH

I'm hoping for good weather this weekend. I'm going mountain-climbing. Yahoooo!

Hell Week

Question: How does one conclude a hell week at work?

Answer: Get into a heated argument with the people you interface with.

I had to triple-hat the whole week because my colleague is on emergency leave. I discovered that the length of my fuse before my temper blows up gets divided accordingly.

Ergo, my temper's been short this week. By the end of this week, it was at its end.

BAM!

Argued with our group's Singapore-based planner (who I really think is a very incompetent person) ---- I think she was shocked since I sort of reprimanded her. Also argued with the Tech Support Manager on how a refinery's capability should be represented (he took a conservative stand while I took a lesser conservative one).

I'm finally glad the week's over.

Happy Birthday to You

----------
june 22, 2008
12:04pm

chweet chweet. chweet chweet. text message:

i'm okay to be friends if you're okay to be friends.

Holy camote que!!

if there ever was a moment to say "be still, my heart" this would be it.

-----------

- printed here without permission from the blog of Lissa, who's celebrating her birthday today.

To the sexiest and funniest writer who loves to scare little kids and chide me during La Salle-Ateneo games, a happy happy birthday to you!

My Birthday Story

I haven't found the time to blog in the last few weeks. I've been doing some thinking in the sidelines. Deep thinking.

Finally, I selected something to write about.

I've been missing on greeting some of my friends on their birthdays the last few weeks. Anyway, better late than never, I've greeted them post-event with my apologies (...my lame excuse was I totally forgot that it was their bithday).

Four months ago, it was my birthday. Come to think of it, I didn't blog about anything about my birthday then. It was too... extraordinary in a certain way. I think now's a good time to blog about it and keep it preserved as a good memory.

For my birthday four months ago, I had taken a leave (it was a weekday) from office. I was planning to take it easy: chat with my brother the night before to do some catching up, sleep for more than 6 hours on a weekday, have a special breakfast, then drive back to Manila in time for a family+friends-dinner-slash-birthday-treat at a newly-opened restaurant.

I didn't get 6 hours of sleep on my birthday. It was something like four.
I woke up to the sound of my mobile ringing at a pretty early time of the day.
I didn't hear any chirpy female voice at the other end of the line when I answered my phone. Instead, I woke up to the sound of a grown man crying.

How many people would actually hear a grown man cry on the other end of the phone? Probably one in a thousand. But how many people get that kind of wake-up call on their birthdays? Probably one in a million.

The person at the other end of the phone, one of the few guys I preferably hang out with, was asking for my help, desperate for it. He needed to find someone important to him. It was as if someone's life depended on it. He needed a means to get around, travel and search for someone.

It was a no-brainer for me. I offered him the use of my car. He needed it more than I do, I thought at that time. I decided that its okay to sacrifice some of my time to help out the dude, thinking that I'd make it in time for my birthday dinner at Manila anyway.

So, instead of having a special breakfast on my birthday I settled for a quick cup of coffee then bring my car over to him. I didn't make it for dinner at Manila as well, because I waited for him to get back hopefully with his problem resolved (and I was essentially carless).

He got back late that night, around 10 in the evening, and he was able to resolve his problem.

So where's the birthday celebration?

I still decided to drive back to Manila that night. Fortunately, my best friend who was supposed to join the planned birthday dinner party my parents planned for me was expecting that I'd call him sooner or later.

Two minutes before midnight, I was in a parking lot in Alabang with my best friend, a bottle of Shiraz each. I drank it for my good health, and for the relief that hours before I was able to help someone in need despite the sacrifice I made for my schedule and plans. At midnight, the two of us sang "...happy birthday to me...".

Not many people get that opportunity on their birthdays. I personally think it's one of the most unique birthday experiences I've ever gotten.

-------------------------------

Now, remember that I mentioned at the start of this post that I've been doing some deep thinking?

I was thinking that if it were somebody else who seeked for the same assistance on my birthday, would I have willingly helped him never mind the sacrifices I would need to make? Or if it was the same person but I knew him under different circumstances, would I do the same thing as what I've narrated above?

- end -

1. Discordia 2. Relief 3. Milestones

FIRST.
I would never have thought that whom I was certain to be a peacekeeper would put on a mask of discord.
The change in persona took me by surprise, and got me disappointed.
I would like to believe that it was just a mask.
I would like to think that he/she was just on drugs.
Or that the peacekeeper had to resort to war tactics. Some of history’s great leaders believed that peace can be attained by engaging in wars, never mind the collateral damage. Such, I think the peacekeeper thought so.
Otherwise, my belief system needs a revamp.
I’ll sit back, watch and see how the situation will evolve.

SECOND
The last time I had a cold (and not flu) was back in sixth grade.
It was a cold. Not a runny nose which usually goes with my semi-annual flu bouts or my occasional episodes of allergic rhinitis.
It was a cold with the works. Stuffy nose, difficulty breathing through my nostrils, heaps of Kleenex tissues needed. And the characteristic yellow mucus that comes with a bad cold.
I tried all sorts of home remedies. But I think the remedy set which finally cured me was a big steaming bowl of chicken tinola, supplemented by hot calamansi juice with honey.
So after 11 days of having a nasal voice and a blocked airway, I woke up one day with my breathing back to normal.
It’s a simple joy to be back to normal.

THIRD
Of course, reasons to celebrate. Milestones.
Let’s start with a simple thing.
I almost whooped with ecstasy at the swimming pool yesterday.
I managed to do a tumble turn 75% right. Two of my colleagues showed me how early this week, and were giving me pointers on how to do it properly.
Yesterday, I was at the swimming pool again. And I decided to test myself if I can do it.
I think I executed it right, because it felt right and natural. Freestyle swimming: stroke-stroke-breathe-tuck arms in-use core muscles to whip body forward-blow out through nose-twist underwater.
I missed hitting the end-wall of the pool though (was about a foot off). So I wasn’t able to kick against it. Hahaha...

And on to a more grand milestone.
Receiving a big brown envelope is cause for celebration in my workgroup.
I’ve been on my current assignment for only two months, and yesterday I was handed a big brown envelope.
Inside was a letter of congratulations, and stating a certain award.
Wahooo!
That big brown envelope makes my current job a bit more palatable.
And to think that I was doing things normally, my way, my style, the last two months. It seems that my workgroup recognizes such work ethics, and gives corresponding rewards for it.

Oreos

Some years ago, there was this TV commercial featuring a dad and his toddler son with a pile of Oreos and a glass of milk each in front of them. The father teaches the son the “right way” to eat an Oreo cookie: break, lick, then dunk. And then down it with a glass of milk. It was a nice picture of a father-son moment in a setting almost all of us have been in: being alone with your dad at the breakfast table and the rest of the house is still asleep.

Well, I didn’t have an Oreo cookie moment with my dad when I was growing up. Oreos were a luxury for our family when I was a toddler (I had to settle for those local Hi-ro cookies). And my dad doesn’t know the right way to eat an Oreo or a Hi-Ro cookie. It so happens that my instinctive way of eating a Hi-Ro cookie is the same way the Oreo commercial showed it; hence, in other words, I learned how to eat a sandwich cookie by myself.

And that is how pretty much my dad let me grow up. Learn most of the things by myself.

Like tie my shoelaces. (My teachers always wonder why my shoelaces keep coming off).

Or making my own projects from third grade. (I always envied my other classmates who had their collages made by their parents --- they looked really really good).

Or preparing my dad’s coffee. (It took me about a week to figure out how he liked his coffee).

In retrospect, I realize that what seemed to be my dad’s lack of handholding to me when I (and the rest of my siblings) was growing up is his way of teaching us to be independent, creative and competitive. I believe that all those times that when I was struggling to tie my own shoelaces or trying to make my first electrical circuit, my dad was stealthily watching me from a distance and silently cheering me to succeed in my small tasks.

And for that I am thankful. Much of what I have achieved now is mostly because my father taught me how to get or accomplish what I want with my own resources.

At lunch earlier, I had a surpise for my dad. A pack of Oreo cookies.

He grabbed a piece, popped it into his mouth and downed it with coffee. He still doesn't know how to eat an Oreo cookie.

Happy Father’s Day, Pops!

Supernatural

1.
Out of 30-or-so distant relatives whom I got to talk to at my grandfather's funeral/wake all had the same story to share to me:

My lolo has been making the rounds in their dreams. Every single one of them have been haunted by my lolo in their dreams while they were sleeping. Some of them weren't aware of my grandfather's passing away, while the rest simply INITIALLY chose not to attend the funeral or the wake.

So I guess this proves that seeing ghosts and supernatural stuff are common in my mother's side of the family (lolo was my mother's father).

My mom thinks that being the prudent and proud (but stingy) man my grandfather is, he made rounds in the dreamworld to ensure that his wake and funeral is well-attended, thereby generating enough abuloys (alms) to cover most of his own funeral expenses.

Even in death, he remained proud.

2.
Our Baclaran house is my lola's property, and never was my grandfather's. So all the while, I believed that the house test I and the rest of my family believed in will not change in terms of mechanics.

My lola's house test was simple: Bring your friend or guest to our old Baclaran house for a night's stay. If the guest finds himself scared shit or screaming in the middle of the night, he failed the test. If he gets a good night's sleep/rest, he passed the test.

The people who fail would normally describe a clammy feeling of someone grasping their ankles or legs in the middle of their sleep. The really unfortunate ones think that they saw a hand or two hovering above their feet.

My dead grandma grants a good night's sleep to those guests whom she thinks are good influences to the host. Conversely, she provides an "unforgettable" experience to those whom she think will be bad influences.

So far, there have been only four cases of screamers among the various guests that I and the rest of my siblings have brought over to our house for a sleepover.


3.
Now that my grandfather's dead, it seems that there's been a new set of nightmarish experiences at our Baclaran house.

Some of the old people who found themselves dozing off while trying to maintain a vigil had dreams of my lolo sitting on top of their chests, and trying to open their mouths with his bare hands.

I'm puzzled by what that dream meant. None in my immediate family have experienced it so far.

At any rate, I am making a mental note of that particular nightmare. It can be a potential 'test'.

"I Am Rain"

That's the working title of a potential koreanovela-style TV soap opera that I've conceived if I were a scriptwriter.

One does not need to look far to find inspiration for developing a storyline that is the current fad in Asian TV dramas. In fact, the reason why I was able to come up with this blog-post is because I took a macro-perspective of the relationship dynamics of a certain group where I belong to.

I built a character storyboard based on that.

And it turned out to be a really complex one which is good for the purposes of an imaginary TV-novela.



Circles are male characters.
Triangles are female characters.
Arrows represent potential "relationships". Or to state it in another context, these are lines of "interest".
Solid blue lines are lines of preferred acquaintance.
Broken lines are 'relationships subject to interpretation.'
Lightning symbols represent points of conflict.

No names have been provided, but in a Sodoku-like style, I'm putting in one identifier to help the reader figure out who's who in the diagram.

And your last clue: Nope, I am not Rain.

The things that I get to think of just to amuse myself...

Eulogio

I spent last night wearing myself out in order to get a decent night's sleep: an hour and a half at the gym, two hours of badminton after that, and 10 laps in the swimming pool to cap the night. Dinner was a light meal of vegetables and braised pork.

I got to sleep soundly last night. No fits of restlessness, no dreams or nightmares.

At 0510 early this morning, I woke up for no reason. I just found myself with my eyes open staring at the ceiling of my pad. That's weird, knowing that I usually wake up at three in the morning and then snooze until around six-thirty.

I reached across to my bedside table to get my mobile phone. Checked the time. Yup, it was 0510 in the morning.

I saw the LCD display on my phone switch from 0510 to 0511. I've been staring at it for a minute.

And then a text message comes in. "1 message received".

My mom. "Your lolo already passed away."

My "Lolo Daddy" (everybody, including his business associates, calls him "Dad" because he used to control a lot of the properties and businesses in our area -- the palengke, botica, horse-betting stations, the largest grocery in the neighborhood, a hardware store, a bakery and several buildings and houses for rent) is not my favorite grandparent. He's a known womanizer.

But he was a doting grandfather to me.

He got me my first bank account.
He'd give me fifty pesos for every medal I take home at the end of the school year. 20 years ago, fifty pesos was a lot of money for a 9-year old.
He shouldered almost all of my Boy Scout camping trips, including an international jamboree.
He taught me the basics of tennis at the CCP tennis grounds every Sunday.
He pinches my ear if he finds out I haven't gone to confession in a month.
He offered me to learn his business, which I politely declined.
He bought me video games which I didn't really like.
He'd make me peanut butter sandwiches whenever I was around, even if I stopped liking to eat peanut butter sandwiches right after college.

And then he had a stroke. And then three more over the years. At first, he needed only a cane. Then a wheelchair. The last stroke rendered him bedridden, requiring the care of a nurse 24-hours-a-day and a weekly visit from a local priest to give him Penance, Holy Communion and Unction.

The Angel of Death has come to our ancestral house to finally claim my lone surviving grandparent.

At the age of 92, Lolo Daddy "Eulogio" slept peacefully for the last time.

The Value of PI

It all started when I came across this graffiti vandaled in a toilet cubicle:

"Beauty times brains equals constant."

However, I mentally debated that the measures of both beauty and brains are highly subjective. Hence, I concluded further that the value of beauty times brains must be an imaginary number.

What a geeky humor, haha.

It got me thinking, in a humorous manner, what else can I think of as 'constant'.

I've hypothesized that I need to prove that the "The Law of Conservation of Mass" applies to my department: The total mass of schedulers and planners equals a constant. A corollary of this, therefore, is that if any in our team is gaining weight for some reason, the other members of the team will lose the corresponding amount of weight.

As a side-theorem, I also concluded that the Total workstress in my workgroup is a constant. If one or more persons are stressed due to their workload, the other members enjoy a less stressful environment.

Other working theories in the pipeline:

1) The stammering rate at which a certain manager blurts out "but-but-but-but-but" is a constant.
2) The number of brains working effectively in the process engineering group at any given time is a constant. (A more prudent statement will be: "The overall efficiency of the process engineering group at any given time is a constant.")
3) The total opportunity to receive formal training in our organization is a constant (and close to zero).

Of course, all of these are debatable. Like the value of Pi has been under debate for the past 900 years.

+ Mark Franco

"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters,
He restores my soul.
He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil.
For You are with me.
Your rod and your staff comfort me."

Salamat Mark sa lahat. May your soul, our fallen comrade, rest in peace in the company of our Lord and His angels. For our friend and teammate, a warrior and a gentleman.

We will truly miss you.

- Team Mission Specific

Change of Season

1.

Summer has been announced to be officially over by our national weather bureau PAGASA last May 12th.

It was too short.

And the bad thing about it is the early onset of my change-of-season flu. And apparently, my flu shots last year are no good against the flu bug that bit me a couple of nights ago.

From sweating it out in the sun to having fever-chills in my bedroom last night:
had to trade my sunscreen and board shorts for anti-pyretic meds and bed comforters,
mango-banana shakes got replaced by warm fruit juice,
grilled foodfare gets substituted with chicken broth.
outdoor sports make way for some book reading.

All I'm wishing for now is just one more weekend of sun and sports, and I'll gladly accept afterwards that summer is indeed over. It makes having this flu more "acceptable".

-----------------------

2.
People change just like the seasons.
I've seen a lot of changes in people over summer. Some for the good, some for the worse.

There's Always Something New to Do at BORA

I've been making annual trips to the country's sun-worshipping-place-to-be, also known as Boracay. My parents and some of my friends have been asking me if I don't get bored with visiting the place every year --- Bora doesn't change that much, they think, and thus going there at least once in your lifetime makes them qualified to say "been there, done that" whenever the topic of a Boracay vacation comes up.

Well, they're wrong.

I don't get bored at Bora. And the "been there, done that" routine does not apply to a Boracay vacationeer, specially if you're the creative and/or adventurous type.

Acting on a very compulsive manner, I decided to go to Boracay last week when Duane told me that he'll be there with 6 female colleagues from China, all single and available. Wait, wait, wait. I didn't plan my Boracay trip because of the "single and available" phrase. A Bora trip is definitely much more fun if you're going there with the prior knowledge that you'll be able to meet up with someone you know, and from there start getting to know who they know so that your social circle expands. A bigger social circle gives you more options on what to do at Boracay. Bai, on the other hand, decided to join this Bora trip because of the "single and available" phrase initially, hahaha. (Later on, Bai planned on taking kiteboarding lessons as his ultimate purpose for going on this trip).

Enough with the introductory storytelling.

For this Bora trip, I've planned on bringing my trusty EOS400D DSLR camera along for a pet project which I called the "Hundred Bora Girls Project". The mechanics are simple: take photos (either stolen or with permission granted) of at least 100 babes in the party island of Boracay.

So how did it turn out?

Well, I'll let some of the pictures do the talking.












We were fortunate to find out that on the dates that we were at Boracay, a summer event tagged as "X ON THE BEACH" was ongoing. Open competitions on extreme sports on the beach: wakeboarding, skimboarding, wall-climbing and ultimate frisbee. No registration fee! All we needed to do was just walk-in and register.

I registered for the speed-wall climbing competition while Bai registered for the wakeboarding competition. It's my first time to compete at speed-climbing (I've competed before on technical climbing, and they're totally different) and it was gonna be Bai's first time to compete in a wakeboarding event.

How it did turn out? Well, I didn't win the event (my time was 16.2 secs, while the 1st place finisher did it in 12 seconds flat!) and neither did Bai win in his event. BUT... I got an interview (and a good probability of being shown on a local TV show called "Sports Unlimited"). HAHAHAHAHA!

Ultimate frisbee anyone? It was my first time to watch an ultimate frisbee game done on the beach, and it turned out to be more exciting than the frisbee matches I see done at the San Lorenzo park or at the UP grounds.

Well, how about skimboarding? It really looked like an easy thing to do, but the ease with how the locals are able to do it is very deceiving. Skimboarding is H-A-R-D. First you need to lug a skimboard (and it's a bit heavy) on a running start. Next, you throw the board at the waterline such that it skims the water. Third, you chase after the board. Fourth, you jump on the board. Finally, you try to skim the water with the board. Hahaha... I injured my right big toe when I tried my skill at it, somewhere between steps 3 and 4. I had some minor successes on skimboarding, but there's very big room for improvement.

Of course, strolling the long stretch of Boracay's beaches will let you meet some interesting people. Old guys multi-tasking on the beach (go figure what I mean, haha), a multi-racial jamming session, very friendly locals (kids and manangs and everyone in-between their age brackets) and of course, the tourists!

Boracay's sunsets are great. There are so many ways to take a sunset shot of Boracay, and here's some of the good ones that we got.



Of course, we did the usual stuff: swim at the beach, get henna tattoos, meet girls, go drinking and get really drunk, shop, dine, talk with the locals... but if you're the fun, creative and adventurous type, there is always something new to do at Bora.

...like getting an outrageous hairstyle (which, by the way, rendered my boss speechless when I showed up at work with it).

Cluzzle (klah-zehl)

Last week, expatriate colleague JayW cooked dinner and invited a few friends over to dine with him in celebration of his XX'th birthday.

Dinner was... uhm... interesting...
...
..
.

Hahaha. Okay, okay. Dinner was excellent! Honest!

Anyway, the gang played a round of CLUZZLE as after-dinner entertainment. Newly-wed couple Glenn and Janice emerged as the winner at the end of the game.

Here's how the final clay sculptures turned out. Can you guess what each of the sculptures represent?

Yellow sculpture by GEL, Orange sculpture by JayW, Green sculpture by Kaye, Red sculpture by Stip, Blue sculpture by Glenn&Janice, Purple sculpture by Emer

Looking For

A lady friend of mine is looking for her potential life-time partner. She asked me if I know anyone who's available. Her "short list" of requirements:

1. Must be 30-35 years old (guys younger than 30 are not allowed; there's the possibility that they may call her "tita", hahaha!)

2. Pleasing personality.

3. Well-spoken, with good diction, grammar and writing skills (if you pronounce "parents" as "fe-rents", please don't read any further)

4. Must be single and available

5. No children/kids

6. Must not have been married/annulled/separated

7. Willing to commit

I think I should charge her for this advertisement? Naaah.. just kidding. Consider this as my means of helping her out in her search for Mr. Right.

Hahaha!

Quips from Jayjay and Annelle's Wedding

Coach Jayjay and Teacher Annelle tied the wedding knot yesterday, and there were so many little things that made it really memorable for the weekend-warriors group.

A bit of history first.

Jayjay was one of the first guys who welcomed me at the MALL, a place in Pasig where airsofters meet every weekend and shoot bb's, when I started showing up by myself --- that is, I didn't have a squad or a team affiliation. The airsoft community then was pretty tight, where you almost knew everybody either by face or by name. Soon, a number of "cool kids" which includes me and Jayjay who really got along together became what is known to be our 'weekend-warriors group' (and later on got tagged as 'mushy-warriors group'), and the group went out for chit-chat over coffee, badminton, wall-climbing, road-biking or the occasional Tagaytay overnight trip regularly.

A number of us refer to Jayjay as coach because his real-life profession is a soccer coach for a private school in Pasig.

Annelle came into the picture about two years after the mushy-warriors group was born. How Jayjay met Annelle, well... I don't really know the details. But Annelle has a strong AND pleasing personality, which sorts of complements Jayjay's easy AND pleasing character. (in other words, I think Jayjay will end up as "ander")

Annelle teaches elementary subjects at a private school also in the Pasig-Q.C. area.

Now that I've presented a bit of who Jayjay and Annelle are, I will now present to you the top 3 quips from Jayjay-and-Annelle's wedding:

3. Officiating priest, after the mass: "I have two announcements to make. First, the mass I have just officiated counts as an anticipated mass so you need not attend mass tomorrow (Sunday). Secondly, like in the movies, this is the part where I get to say 'You may now kiss the bride!'"

2. Stephen, hosting the reception: "You hear that? The sound of glass clinking? Let's make this different. If YOU hear the glass clinking, ALL couples -- not just the newly-wed couple -- will have to kiss each other. Is that okay? Yes? YES!..... It's so much fun to host wedding programs; I can practically get away with anything."

1. Principal sponsor, addressing Jayjay in a speech: "The secret to having a long peaceful and happy marriage can be expressed in two words. You know what that is, Jayjay? No? It's 'YES, DEAR.' "

Congratulations and best wishes, Coach Jayjay and Teacher Annelle!

---------------------------------

Pahabol na quips:

a. By Philip, aka Desert Rat: "Ano ba kayong warriors kayo? Nag-asawa lang yung isa, sunod-sunod naman kayong nag-si-si-asawa! Mag-airsoft naman kayo!"

b. By Mr. Leonor, Jayjay's dad: "An advice to you, my son: Women always have the last word in any argument. By default, anything you say after her 'last word' becomes the start of a new argument."

pictures to be posted soon. didn't have my camera with me, so I'll just snag from tinters and niks

Recent Developments

I've been having a blast the last few weeks, so blogging was one of the activities I've decided to defer. Some of my regular blog-viewers and fellow bloggers started asking if I'm still alive or am just in some remote location without a mobile phone signal.

To satisfy everyone's curiosity (which can kill you), I...

1) ... found out that I and some of my colleagues have been branded by our younger colleagues as "The Cool Kids". Really now? Whoever thought of that label for us must have been thinking that he/she/they are the equivalents of grade 3 students who either look up to or want to belong to the crowd of the grade 4s and 5s.

Personally, I'm not flattered by the label. I'm even concerned a little bit about it.

2) ... am one-month old on my new assignment. Is the assignment appropriate for my skills? Yes. Is the assignment challenging? Yes. Are you happy with your assignment? No.

3) ... was paid a surprise visit by my parents a couple of weeks ago (and stayed with me for one week!). Hahaha... anyway, they prepared a lot of dishes for me and my housemates.

4) ... have upgraded my Rockband Drum skills to EXPERT. Yeah! I even have a couple of songs where I'm in the top 10 of the high scorers in the whole Playstation Network.

5) ... went swimming, beach, swimming, sleep, swimming, sleep during weekends. Except for two weekends wherein I was on business travel.

6) ... kidnapped some unsuspecting colleagues for one-or-twos-and-more for two nights in a row and everyone had a "GOOD" time. p.s. happy birthday, jayw hahaha.

7) ... attended my college buddy's birthday party at an upswing club in Makati, where the crowd was really "friendly" and made me realize that I haven't been to THOSE kind of parties in the last 5 years or so.

When summer is over, I'll need to write about the following:
a) The Cool Kids Label
b) Stip's Theory of the Bachelor Group's Group Dynamics
c) Summer Rain

------------------------

postscripts:
Happy birthday to my mom (Apr 21) and to Ricky (Apr 23). Thanks to all those who greeted them as well.

SUMMER NA!!!

My "busiest" season of the year is officially here, at eto ang mga ebidensya so far.




from top left, across then down: (1) Jumping at Crisologo Street of Vigan (2)Jumping at the Bangui windmills of Laoag (3)Late-night drinking at Sagada's Rocky Valley Inn (4) Trek and swim at Sagada waterfalls (5) "cover-album" shot at Pagudpud marker (6) "smiling crane style" at Laiya beach in San Juan (7) Three monkeys jump shot at Laiya beach

2 weekends of summer have already past, but I've still 8 more summer weekends to spend.