Loving Bohol

Wish you were there. =)

A great way to spend the long weekend --
soaking in the sun,
walking along the beach,
enjoying the views,
savoring the local cuisine,
drinking to your heart's content
and laughing heartily among strangers and friends.

HAIL HAIL HAIL!

I'm proud to be from this school.

At a Crossroad

This morning, one of my office colleagues -- Bai -- forwarded to me a broadcast for a career opportunity with another group in our organization. I suddenly found myself at a crossroad, standing there and gawking at three possibilities.

If I take the first route, I decide to stick with my current job --- a lot of number crunching and technical report writing. There's the occasional preparation of high-level presentation materials. All the activities in this route shall eventually lead to a 300-million-dollar project for my company. What's bad about this route is that it's already boring to me. Imagine yourself driving along a very beautiful farmland. At first, one feels energized with the landscape. But if the scenery stays the same for the next 300 miles or so, one gets bored of it.

The second route is an unchartered road. Nobody knows what you'll find there. If there are monsters or bogpits that can trap you, you can die on this road. There are rumors though that somewhere along it is the proverbial pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. If ever that I'll be trodding on this road, I need all the good luck charms and guardian angels I can muster. I have two further options on WHEN to take this road: either (1) I wait until someone calls me forth, gives me a map and a packhorse with all sorts of supplies to journey down the road, or (2) I lose all sense of practicality, gather my guts and take the first step blindly.

The third route has a clear sign, saying "This Way to the Kingdom of S and D, and we'd like to have you there!". It's a well-used road with several journeymen plying it, ask directions from and have one-or-two grafs with. The problem with this road is that it's downhill all-the-way, a relatively easy journey. Settling at the Kingdom of S and D will not be a problem for me or my short-term career wants. But what if in the future I need (or wish?) to leave the Kingdom of S and D to pursue other wants? Nobody knows for sure if that the King of S and D fancies you, he'll let you take your leave. Then it's going to be an uphill climb for me again in order to return to the crossroads.

I really need to be careful in deciding which road to take. I've already made the mistake of taking the BLUE PILL before. (The BLUE PILL will be my next post).

GREEN-WHITE-FIGHT!

"2 is greater than 3" -- Franz Pumaren, head coach for DLSU Green Archers, after winning over Ateneo in yesterday's game.

If there's one thing that can quickly kindle my La Sallian pride, it's an Ateneo-La Salle UAAP game. Even if I have to be content with watching it from my televesion set (it's really a great challenge just to get hold of those tickets), I get this feeling of ecstasy every time an Archer does a nice jump shot or makes a good steal. Hell, you'd see me shouting at the TV set cheering my alma mater on.

Yup, I'm not cheering solely for the basketball team. I'm cheering for my alma mater.

And when the team wins, it's the whole University that wins -- the students, faculty, alumni and even the support staff (janitorial, security, concessionaires, etc.).

I also believe that as far as most La Sallians are concerned, last night was THE championship game. Although DLSU still needs to face undefeated University of the East this week, it doesn't matter much for the community. If DLSU wins against UE, it's just icing on the cake. If we lose, I don't think it'll sting us much.

photo courtesy of ARCHERPRIDE.COM

Now what did Coach Franz really mean when he remarked that "2 is greater than 3"?

A member of my alumni group couldn't have answered it better:

[1] Winning 2 games that really matters is greater than 3 games
[2] DLSU Men's Basketball team's current 2nd place standing in UAAP 70 is greater than Ateneo's 3rd place
[3] DLSU's No. 2 Philippine University ranking in the educational survey is greater than Ateneo's number 3.
[4] All of the above. =)

Bill Sison writes that this rivalry "is a passion that will never die out".

"When you leave an Atenean and a La Sallian in a room together, one will always think that he is number one, and the other is number two. They simply refuse to lose to each other. It's as simple as that."

Hail!

It's FRIDAY!!!

Although I have a substantial number of tasks that I CAN do at work today, I don't feel like doing them. Those things are due next week but I'm confident that I can breeze through them on Monday.

My mind seems to wander today. Thoughts of the beach, the sun, video games, sweating it out in some outdoor activity, food-tripping, playing with kids, flowers and hanging out with family and friends have been invading my mind since I woke up today.

It's a Friday-high for me, and I'm feeling todash. Despite La Salle losing to Ateneo AGAIN yesterday.

Now for some Friday announcements:

1) Happy, happy Friday-birthday to Ube!
2) Happy-happy-happy birthday to Nikki!
3) Congratulations to Eloi and John for their baby. I'm visiting tomorrow.
4) Hurrah... my PS3 games from Hongkong are now at Baclaran -- Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Sweet.
5) On Sunday, I will most probably drop by at The Yard to take photos. Sorry teammates, but my gun's not working --- I checked the wiring and everything, but it just won't fire.
6) Two weeks from now, I will be at Bohol.
7) Three weeks from now, I will be at Bacolod.

Hahahaha! Whooop!

okay, back to work na. =)

Shake Your Bonbon

This is definitely something that I'll talk about to my future kids and grandkiddies.




Photos taken from the SCiP on Dancing event last Friday, courtesy of Tintoot. =)

Coming Soon: Stip's Comeback Game

Haven't shouted "Lock-and-load!" in a long, long time. I miss playing with these babies.


Photo courtesy of Jigsaw from last Saturday's "comeback game" of Team RBG and Team Zero at THE YARD gamesite.

Light and Dark

I had an awesome opportunity to practice my camera skills at last night's DIVERSIFY fashion show at Makati Sports Club.

When Is a Door Not a Door?

When it's ajar.

Brown Men Can Jump

Pictures from the semifinals game of our company's inter-group basketball league. I got a good opportunity to test out my action photography skills.












Yellow team won by the way.

Weekend Warrior: Sightseeing at Liliw

After the climb to Nagcarlan, Geland took charge of our itinerary for the following day. From Calauan, we took a jeepney to Liliw.

We spent the night at a local resort, Batis ng Liliw. The room was a bit pricey but we didn't have any other option that night. I was also fatigued from the climb earlier that day, so I didn't argue much on where we stay as long as there's a decent bed.

Liliw is, according to local references, the tsinelas capital of the country.

Liliw's church is an awesome landmark. Because the town is a bit small and tight, the church isn't visible from afar. What makes it a great sight is that the church looks clean (fresh?) inside and out. The brick facade is a great contrast to the sky. It's a great place to take photos!

After hearing the 8 am mass (awesome choir and great church service!), we walked along the town's main street to do some window shopping. The main street is lined up with stores selling slippers of all sizes, shapes and colors. A lot of local tourists were at the town, buying slippers here and there. Santol and lansones fruits were also sold along the street (cheap!), and we bought a few kilos of each.

One of the town's secrets is ARABELLA'S, a nice little Italian restaurant. They serve excellent pasta and pizza. Geland and I got lasagna, fettucine, a kesong puti pizza, and chocolate milkshakes! Wahoo, food trip! And what's great about it is that the price is very affordable. Just 295 pesos for all of that!

After lunch, we packed our stuff and took a jeepney to Nagcarlan's underground cemetery. It was our rotten luck that the cemetery is closed on Sundays and Mondays, so we had to be content with taking photos from the outside.

After the photo ops, we took a couple of bus rides to get back to Batangas.

Have I mentioned that the commute is also an adventure for me? Hehehe. Haven't done that much commuting in a long, long time.

The weekend has been a great break from the stresses of work. Breathe nature, see local life. =)

Weekend Warrior: Climbing Mt. Nagcarlan

I received an invitation a couple of weeks ago for a daytrip climb at Mt. Nagcarlan in Laguna from some of my mountaineer friends and I readily accepted it. The climb was last Saturday (Aug 25th). Geland, one of my colleagues, joined me and since we were already in the vicinity, he suggested that we do some sightseeing at the nearby towns of Nagcarlan and Liliw after the mountain trek.

The two of us left Batangas at four-thirty in the morning of Saturday and took a bus to Calamba. A couple of jeepney rides and 2-1/2 hours later, we were at the town of Calauan to meet up with the rest of the climbers.

Mt. Nagcarlan is a little under 700 meters in elevation and is a level 1 climb. However, the trails were muddy and slippery because of the rainy season. That and the lack of a breeze made the ascent quite difficult for our group. Also, I've gained about 6 pounds since my last climb activity -- I could feel my 'extra weight' making its toll on my physical condition.

We started from the jump-off point at around 730 in the morning. The first half hour was a relatively easy hike, afterwhich the slope gradually increased. An hour later, we encountered our first major problem: someone in the group was forced to abandon the climb because he was feeling dizzy. After some discussion, the group decided to leave him at a waystation and come back for him later in the afternoon when we descend.

The next two hours of hiking was pretty hard and challenging. Firstly, the slope was becoming more steep and the trail was becoming more slippery. Secondly, the pace that we were trying to maintain is a challenging one. We had to take 4 breaks during the ascent to allow some members of the group to regain their breaths.

As for myself, I had one predicament during the climb: I didn't expect that the sun would be out that day. I thought that it would be cloudy at best, rainy at worst, so I only brought 3 liters of fluids for my personal consumption. By the time we reached the summit, I've nearly emptied my Camelbak. Good thing that other members of the group had water to spare.

We reached the summit at 1130 am. We got a great view of the 7 lakes that Laguna is very famous for. A wooden cross marks the summit and we decided to have lunch there.



Going down, all of us had to brace our footing to prevent slipping and sliding down the trail. I slipped four times (haha!) and landed squarely on my butt once. Ouch. We passed by the waystation where we left one of our group behind, and he was okay.

I enjoyed the climb. Even with the aching legs, sunburnt shoulders and scratches on my arms. =)

[pictures to follow]