The Things That I Learned from the New Year League

Last Sunday was the finals for the New Year League for ultimate frisbee. We lost a very critical game (against Team Jogadores). Sigh…

But the game last Sunday was the one where I really leveled up.

I have the throwing skills to be a handler. Well, that’s what the Class A boys (Blue and Sher) and girls (Nina) told me last Sunday. Ever since I started playing disc, my comfort zone was really in running, defense and catching. I’m only half-confident with my throwing skills. Truthfully, I was both shocked and scared at last Sunday’s game when the team captain announced that I’m going to be one of the handlers.

Very thankful ako to Sher for the tips on how to act and move as a handler. He literally crammed me into the role, giving me pep talks and coaching me at every opportunity that I was off-field. It’s really a great feeling for me when he told me in one of his pep talks that I have the talent for handling. My next step should be not to hesitate to throw. Nina said the same thing to me: ”Magaling ka magbato. Kayang-kaya mo yung pwesto (as handler).”

Talk about team pressure.

Babad din ako sa field. Out of the 13 points played, I was in there for ten points. From my last league participation, I would have expected that I’d be down on my backside suffering from leg cramps and sore muscles by the end of the day. Amazingly, my overall condition was still okay after the game.

Despite all our team’s efforts, we lost that critical game 7-6. I have this feeling at the back of my head that I could have prevented that loss --- there was this one goal scored by the opposing team that I could have prevented if I kept to the basic rule of never leaving your eyes off your opponent. I made the crucial mistake of stealing a glance at where the disc will be coming from, and the next thing I knew is that the man I’m defending has already bolted away from me towards the goalzone.

Next time around, I commit myself to playing better.
Perfect the basics.
Remove my hesitations.
Practice.
Practice.
Practice.

And as always, have fun.

It's a Girl!

I had anticipated the kid, but we didn't do the diligence of determining its sex via ultrasound beforehand. Everybody just assumed that it was going to be a boy.

And to our surprise and collective astonishment, at 0004H of 21st February, the baby girl was born.

And here starts one of my bigger challenges in life.

Chopsuey

Too many things to write about...

1. ROCKBAND

For the last 3 weeks, I've been playing an hour each night online on Rockband. I've met some really good guitar players and superb vocalists when I sub as a drummer for their respective groups. Haha.. I've received my share of compliments for my drumming skills, like "Nice work on the drums, man!" and such.

Anyway, playing as a 'sub drummer' in the online Rockband community has earned me quite a reputation already. When I opened my Playstation account last night, I had a half dozen invites from "strangers" (online players who I haven't played with) to sub as a drummer for their "jam" sessions.

Also, out of boredom, I've created character profiles for a few colleagues who play with me occasionally. Ahahahaha.


2. TERIYAKI BOY

It was really hot yesterday afternoon.

I had a very late lunch (3 pm!) at Teriyaki Boy in Glorietta yesterday, as I've been craving for Japanese food. I was expecting that I'll be the lone customer there at that time, but there were a couple of cute Japanese college girls there chatting away over their cold soba noodles. One of them had a Hello Kitty charm dangling from her mobile while the other girl had red irises (special contact lenses, I suppose).

I seated myself across them, gave my order to the waiter, and eavesdropped on their conversation while I had my sashimi appetizer.

Now don't get me wrong... I generally don't eavesdrop. If ever I do, I have a perfectly good reason for doing it. In this case, I wanted to test out whether my Japanese language skills are still good enough for a conversation.

Halfway through my unagi don, Hello Kitty girl said something like this: "hadagi uetto waga... atsui!!". I burst out laughing! Bwahahaha! And the girls glanced at me suspiciously, with RedEye girl saying "Domo...?"

I apologized, said "Hai!" and blurted out a "sumimasen!" while smiling at them. I took out my pen and scribbled some stuff on a napkin and handed it to them, babbling that I'm not really fluent in Japanese speech but I'm pretty good at kanji writing.

Here's my rough translation of what they were talking about:

Hello Kitty girl: It's so warm here... my panties are actually wet!
Me: *snickers*, then goes "Bwahahahaha!"
Red-eye girl (suspiciously looking at me): You understood that?
Me: Yes. But I'm really sorry about it. =)


3. I went to the F.O.B. concert...

... and all I got was a t-shirt. Just kidding. I had a great time!(picture to be posted)

The last time I watched a concert at the Aranate Coliseum was when The Corrs were in Manila. Last Friday, I had the chance to watch Fall Out Boy.

Scanning quickly through the crowd (not bad... about 90% full!), I realized that:
a) almost 2/3 of the audience were kids in the 12-16 year old age bracket
b) two-thirds of the two-thirds mentioned above were girls
c) of the 1/3 who were not kids, about half of them looked like parents or chaperones, and they seem to have no clue who Fall Out Boy are

Thus, that leaves only 1/6 of the original audience who are in my age group and know that they're at Araneta Coliseum to enjoy the F.O.B. concert.

Front act was by Hey Monday, and in case you don't know who they are, tune in to Animax channel on your cable TV. Think Jonas Brothers meet Paramore, and give the female vocalist a New Yorker punk twang. Goodness.. I don't know any of their songs!

Finally, at 930pm, FOB got onstage and performed 17 songs for the night plus another 2 songs for their encore. They basically played the songs that's in their "LIve in Phoenix" concert album. Plus of course, their two hits from their newest album Folie a Deux namely "I Don't Care" and "America's Suitehearts".

Their stage presence was awesome. Neat tricks by the guitarists and energetic headbanging and stick-twirling by the drummer. The stage effects were also fantastic, specially when they performed "I Don't Care" and had all the lights onstage turned off --- all their instruments glowed in the dark, flashing on-and-off synchronized to the music and to their stage choreography.

By the end of the night, my voice was hoarse from shouting out the lyrics to their songs and joining the audience in some cued singing.


4. Gyro Now Smiles

Ngumingiti na daw si Gyro, according to Janice. I visited them early evening yesterday.

Unfortunately, Janice is a bit jealous of her husband Glenn because their 2-month old kid Gyro only smiles to Glenn (so far). Hahahaha!

Belated happy anniversary to you two, by the way.

Logic Problem

Two friends were at a hospital, just outside the delivery room.
One of them is the father of the child to be born, but the other will be the father of the same child to be born.

How is that possible?

Reality Check

I was at our head office yesterday to deliver a presentation to our group’s regional envelope manager and his successor. It was also an opportunity for me to be introduced to them and showcase my technical and supply-chain skills –- I was under the impression that it was a pre-conceived tactic by our leadership team.

Anyway, I delivered the presentation smoothly and confidently (I only stammered once!). Our guests commended our group’s showcase of competency. Even our group’s VP gave us a pat on the back.

Later in the night, after a few games of badminton with some colleagues, I joined my co-worker and our VP for drinks at a bar just behind the office. As I took my seat, our boss ordered me a beer and shot me a question:

“What’s the next job you would like, Stip?”

With no second thoughts, I confidently answered, “In the long term, I want the Fuels Technical Manager position, sir.”

”You didn’t answer my question. What next assignment would you like to have?”

“I figured that I have 2 to 3 more years of tenure at my current position. By that time, if the Fuels Technical position is vacant, I would apply for it.”

Boss took a sip of his beer, nudging me to do the same. And I took a few gulps of San Mig Light.

”There’s no way you can get that position as your next assignment.

Over the next few minutes, our boss explained why I cannot get that next assignment on my next job transfer. I needed to further broaden my skillbase. I also didn’t realize that the FTM position was two rungs above my present job level, and hence I needed a “springboard position” in case I really want to pursue that assignment.

At the end of that one-beer discussion, I’ve gained a broader view of my career options.

I wonder if an assignment in our Lubricants business is as exciting and rewarding as my current stint in our Fuels business?

I need to give that some serious thought.

I’ll start asking around.

Leveling Up

I’ve been posting a lot about disc (or more commonly known as ‘frisbee’ for non-frisbee players) recently because I’m hooked into the sport. Here’s another disc post.

Last Saturday, I believe that I’ve played my best game in a disc tournament.

It’s our team’s first time to play in pool A for a tournament league, so clearly we’re the underdogs in the bracket. Moreover, I was one of the team’s newest players --- -- barely 6 months experience of playing ultimate frisbee, along with Bai.

The veterans say that playing ultimate frisbee is 50% skill and 50% confidence. I started out in this league with some skill and little confidence (specially after hearing about the story of the big-bald-guy-frisbee-player who taunted “I’m gonna break your head like a piñata” in one of the 2008 tournaments, what little confidence I had slid down a bit more). But despite the nervousness and having clammy hands, I took the plunge just like the time when I went bungee-jumping. Once you jump out, there’s no turning back. Well, that’s how my mindset was.

Finding myself in the familiar air and grounds of Alabang Country Club, I religiously participated in the warm-ups and drills. I know that I just need to push myself harder to be worthy of being in pool A (and hopefully get a decent number of minutes on the playing field so that my 700php tournament fee won’t be a regret spend). Trying to perfect my passes, my footwork, field vision, reflexes and endurance, I wanted to assure myself that I’m good enough to be in the pool A line-up.

And on my first game for the day, our team captain Blue fielded me in for our starting line. I couldn’t believe what I heard! For the last two weeks, I get fielded during the non-critical periods of the game (such as when it’s obvious that we won’t win the match) --- that was okay with me since I’m basically a greenhorn and I perfectly understand the need to let the more skilled players have the field in hopes of still salvaging the game. I was content with watching the game, taking in how the other disc players execute their plays so that I could learn more.

On the field, Blue struck another surprise at me. He announced that I’m to be his secondary handler. Whoa! For disc games, playing as a handler is one of my low points. It’s like being the point guard in basketball --- it’s the handler’s responsibility to bring the disc down to their goal zone, and rescue the disc from their teammates if they’re being trapped by defense. It requires very good passing skills and field vision. My passing skills are only mediocre --- my key skills in ultimate are catching, defense and running/endurance --- and that further rattled what little confidence I had.

For the next 10 minutes, despite that lump in my throat called ‘fear’, I played with focus and determination. I was amazed that I can keep up with my “match” (“match” is the player from the opposing team who’s defending against you or the one that you’re defending on). My defense was good too --- I’ve managed to bring the stall count up to 8. 75% of my passes were good. I was playing at par with pool A players!
And the culminating point is that I scored our team’s first goal for the game. Wahoo!

In a span of 10 minutes, my experience and confidence leveled up considerably.

Throughout the game, Blue would field me in every so often like a regular player. I didn’t get the chance to score another goal though, but I was tough on my defense and made a couple of assists. One particularly tall white guy on the opposing team even complimented me on my running --- he admired that I was able to keep up with him during the game, applying tough defense and preventing him from scoring goals despite our large height difference.

Although our team lost, last Saturday was the best game I’ve ever played in for frisbee.

P.S.
Thanks to my workmates Julie, Val and Jay for covering my duty last Saturday. The Krispy Kremes were very much worth it for my great game experience.

I Don't Care

I say I don'te care about what you think
As long as it is about me.
The best of us can find happiness in misery.

This song has been playing over and over in my head for the last month or so, ever since I downloaded it for my Rockband game in my PS3. I love the drum sequence (really simple, but very catchy). I even played this song on drums AND on vocals at the same time.

"I Don't Care" is from the Fallout Boy's newest album Folie a Deux. The Rockband game had a great influence on my music taste for the last 2 years. I wasn't sure before that Fallout Boy was a good band with good music, but playing their songs on the game made me realize that their music (and beat) is just right for me.

And by some wild coincidence, my best friend gave me 3 tickets to the Fallout Boy's concert on Feb 13th --- not just any ticket, but Lower Box tickets. Sweet! It's a big coincidence because he got the tickets from his employer, who in turn has those free tickets because they developed the Rockband game I'm playing, and it was Rockband that got me to listening seriously to Fallout Boy songs.

It's a pity that they weren't VIP or Patron tickets, but what the heck. I don't care. Beggars can't be choosers. *grin*

I just realized that the chorus of the song "I Don't Care" is how my demeanor has been for the last many months.
As it goes, the best of us can find happiness in misery.