Closing Time

It's 2010. Happy New Year everyone!

I've been neglectful of blogging recently. Two simple reasons: (1) I couldn't find the time to write down my thoughts, and (2) I got tired of writing.

Maybe I'm experiencing the equivalent of a quarter-life-crisis for blogging?

Anyway, I spent the whole Christmas holidays mostly alone (because I was on duty at my workplace) and therefore had the solitude to think things over. Plenty of things, in fact.

And among them was blogging.

I've decided to part with my Mind Wrecks. It's been a great 5 years of blogging. I'm a dominantly kinesthetic person, and blogging has been enjoyable for me as I write (or type) down my thoughts into digital words. Skimming through my past posts I've seen how some parts of my life has changed while some has stayed the same over the years.

Anyway, this post wouldn't be complete without giving tribute to key persons who've made 2009 a roller-coaster ride for me:

1. Marlon, Kat and Ren: Hands down, the Apo climb is my most significant outdoor event this year. I still couldn't believe we conquered the country's tallest mountain without any guides or porters. And that we were lugging 20+ kilogram fullpacks for 4 days! Nothing beats a mountaineering high.

2. Paolo: Pinsan, (well, technically second cousin) idol kita on surviving life -- a broken heart, deaths in the family and trying to earn to survive. Glad to see you all well and happy with your career gamble at Singapore. I haven't seen you that happy in years! I'm happy for you and Michelle, despite the long-distance relationship. Next time we meet, ako ang taya sa inuman! And I'm expecting na ako ang mag-h-host ng wedding reception program nyo in the future. Cheers!

3. Ube: Thanks for making my mom happy. And I apologize for the hot-seat-treatment that my favorite ninong (Uncle Tommy) has subjected you to. I hope that doesn't scare you in joining our family's future events, you're practically a part of it. *kindat*

4. Quito: Dude, for a best friend, you've really tested our friendship this year! Hahaha! This year, nakaka-stress sa akin by being your best friend. I feel like an accomplice to a crime whenever we buddy-ied up. Hahaha.

5. Fishyfishies and mushywarrior groups: Alam nyo na yun kung bakit, enough said. For the good old times!

6. Kayumanggi + friends of KAYU: I never would have thought na mag-s-seryoso ako sa paglalaro ng ultimate frisbee. I'm two shades darker, and I don't think mababawi ko na yung previous skin tone ko. Playing this sport has been challenging and fun, but playing it with you guys and all those after-parties have made it more fun. AND, binyagan ba naman ako as bosing-papi-chief-ninong!! Ayan tuloy, pati yung mga ibang teams ang tawag na sa kin ay bosing-papi. Hahahaha! Shot!

7. DOTA-mates: Hahaha... you guys managed to re-kindle my previous love (and addiction) for LAN-gaming.

8. The Cool Kids: Bai, Kaye and Jaywyn. Kayong 3, you brought out the worst in me. Hahahaha! But it's been real fun to hang out with you guys... magkakasingtanda lang kasi tayo bwahahaha!

9. The new Pamplona family: Well well well, you guys are the first family that I have affinities to everyone --- Dad / Mom / Son. I find our dynamics both comforting and amusing. I'm counting on you to give me advice when the time comes that... well, you know what comes next for me --- yung pinaka-inaabangan ng buong bayan! Hahaha! And I can't wait to hand Gyro his first PSP (or whatever portable gaming device is around by the time he's 5).

and lastly,

10. Mandrake Guy: We were a classic example of how an immovable object meets an unstoppable force. Ended up in a stalemate. In a stalemate, there are only two options: start the game over, or just let both kings concede. I'd rather have a re-match instead of conceding, so as not to let the previous game go to waste.


Happy New Year to all! Thanks for the great 5 years so far in the history of Mind Wrecks.

And now, it's closing time.

- Stip

Bossing Papi

I was christened with a new title by the guys in our frisbee team last Saturday.

Bossing-Papi.

I got to Grilla's at Greenbelt-1 late for the usual after-game drinks. Pagpasok ko pa lang ng pinto, scanning the crowd to find where my team were seated, JP blurted out from their table: "O... ayan na si bossing-papi Stip!"

"Yeah!"
"Bosing-papi.. dito ka na umupo."

Laughters all around. Hahaha!

I didn't bother asking anymore how they came up with the title. It's pretty obvious given my recent 'generosity-its-on-me-ako-ang-bahala-i'm-working-on-it' to the team, such as:

(1) Party-size tuna sisig last Wednesday at 121 Bar.
(2) Scrounged 2 cases of Gatorade for Saturday's Ultimate Frisbee Beginner's Day. [Thanks to Marc and Lyndon of Men's H&F for the sponsorship! Sa January uli!]
(3) Hosting the accommodations for our team's Subic Beach Ultimate tournament for two nights on December
(4) Working on accommodations-sponsorship for our tournament entry at Boracay on March 2010.

I'm just doing my job as the Logistics Head for the team.

And of course, my drinking habits/preferences is well-known to them. I shun beer, I prefer hard drinks.

My behavior as bosing-papi adheres to the Bro Code. Look it up. Hahaha!

I'm privileged to be dubbed as "Bosing-Papi."

Sa Tagal Ko Ng Hindi Nag-b-blog...

...ay pinansin na ng mga tao kung bakit hindi na ko nag-b-blog.

Well, plenty of reasons not to blog recently.

1. Plenty of work/tasks. Audits, reviews, evening telecons, meetings. Troubleshooting of various LP models. Economics analysis.

2. Plenty of parties. Weddings, stag parties, birthday parties, victory parties, date-parties and your usual gimik nights.

3. Plenty to read. In the last month alone, I've bought fourteen books! Mostly children's literature but I was able to get a couple of horror books from a secondhand bookstore. And, I'm already done with reading them.

4. Plenty of games. Playstation has been keeping me busy recently -- I just finished Batman: Arkham Asylum (very cool game), currently playing Ninja Gaiden 2 (I'm looking for a really good co-op player), still have to play Beatles: Rockband, and I have yet to pick-up my Drake: Among Thieves. Yup... Christmas is early for video gamers. =D

5. Plenty of Ultimate Frisbee. Our team finished as champions in the recently concluded Monsoon League. We bested 7 other teams. Been playing this sport for only a year, and I've really enjoyed the experience so far. Practice/training sessions every Wednesday nights and Saturday afternoons.

6. Plenty to drum around. I try to practice on my drums for at least 4 hours per week. Currently beating to the music of Green Day.

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I’m thinking of bright sunshine, ice-cold drinks, salty air and a white sand beach. And some nice beach music. And the occasional hot pretty girl in an awesome swimsuit taking a tan under the sun as I go beachcombing.

And the bar parties. Don’t forget the bar parties, where 4 out of 5 times I do something entertainingly stupid that everybody except me remembers that ‘entertainingly stupid’ thing that I apparently did.

OR

I’m thinking of the humid rainforest, muddy trails, rough tree bark and my fullpack. Afterwhich, night descends to bring its cold darkness countered by a warm campfire. Hot soup and gin pomelo. Laughter all around the campfire.

And being at the peak, admiring the three-hundred-sixty-degree-view. With the wind blowing against us. Being amazed that everything beneath and around you was the work of a Supreme Being.

Kelan kaya ako mag-b-beach or aakyat ng bundok uli?

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I can swim again!

Seven weeks ago, I injured my right ankle during frisbee practice. An X-ray scan and an MRI scan diagnosed that my RLA ligament had a tear, and that it should take 2-4 weeks for it to fully recover. For the next four weeks I was hobbling around, not doing anything stressful for my ankle (my cardio was restricted to biking only). The orthopediologist fitted me with an ankle brace to partially immobilize my ankle. He also gave me instructions to undergo physical therapy for 3 hours per week.

Since I've mentioned to the doc that I go wall-climbing, mountaineering, swimming, running and ultimate frisbee as my sports activities, he required me to take the 'hop test' to ensure that my ankle's fully recovered before I take on my sports again. I failed it twice (on weeks 4 and 5).

On week 5, the metal braces were removed from my ankle brace. But I still had to wear the ankle laces. The doc allowed me to try swimming. I had problems with doing flutter kicks (painful on my ankle) so after a single lap attempt on the pool I gave up.

On week 6, I passed the 'hop test'. But I did complain that there was still some significant pain and a slight swellig in my ankle.

Well, because it's been 6 weeks already, the doc asked me if I wanted to have another MRI scan to see how my torn ligament was doing. So I had another MRI scan.

The tear is gone, but the ligament was bulky. And it seems that some fibers got caught in my ankle bone.

Apparently, I had a fracture seven weeks ago!

Oh well... the pain is now permanent. I can live with it.
The alternative is that they can shatter my ankle again and set it properly.

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Major party this coming Saturday! "Cos tonight is gonna be a good night..."

Pilosopong Waitress

Last night, I decided to have dinner at a local bistro. So I ordered for some pasta, bread and caldereta, which is a spicy beef stew.

The pasta was okay, the bread was good, but the caldereta lacked some sort of creaminess. So I called the waitress over:

"Miss, may cheese ba 'tong caldereta 'nyo?"

And you know what she answered?

"Ay ser, beef po iyan."

Tinginingning nito... pinolosopo ako. Hahaha... I burst out laughing.

How's My Body?

On Sunday noon, I woke up with a really sore body. I played in a badminton tournament the previous day despite my still-injured ankle, and I had to be extra creative in terms of court movement in order to play a decent game (hopping around on my good foot to minimize the stress on the injured ankle...). I and my partner managed to emerge as runner-up in our pool.

Anyway, I took inventory of the various aches and pains. It doesn't look good.



That afternoon, an orthopedic-friend had a look at my ankle and reprimanded me for subjecting my foot to such torture. Hehehe. I'm a really stubborn person when it comes to sports.

I'll rest the foot this week. Hopefully, I'll be able to run and sprint by this weekend in time for the next ultimate frisbee tournament. Hahaha!

Ain't I a really stubborn guy?

More Injuries

My right foot is currently confined by an ankle brace (with metal rods and all). And I've got a long bruise on my left shin.

Syet. Ang tanda ko na. I'm getting injured from my various sports more often. The body cannot cope with spirit. Hahahaha.

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Maybe it was just the excitement on the prospect of our team finally being able to be pool champions for the last tournament league this year. My game last weekend was great. I had fantastic catches, no... make that really awesome catches despite the hard playing conditions brought about by the pouring rain and water-drenched field.

But my ecstasy lasted only for about half-an-hour because after that, I found myself lying down on the ground/mud soaked by about two inches of rainwater.

It was a good play. A quick short pass from the endline, then I made a running cut for a midfield pass. I must be going too fast because I overshot the pass by about a head. My reflexes were faster though --- seeing that the pass will zip by behind my head, I planted my left foot on the muddy ground and stepped backward using my right foot. I twisted my body to face the pass, arms outstretched over my head. I caught the pass perfectly.

All that took maybe less than two seconds.

Then I found myself trying to regain balance. My center of gravity was then way behind my feet. Gravity took over, tipping my whole body with my right foot as the tipping point.

And that's when I heard a loud snap comning from my right foot. A few tenths of a second later, I was lying on my back on the field 2 inches deep in rainwater. I can feel the water puddle tickling my ears but I can't feel anything on my right foot.

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The guys had to carry me off the field. A nurse attended to me. Two hours later I was finally able to stand by myself.

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By midnight, my right ankle has already swollen to the size of a lemon.

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One last thing: while running after an opposing player, I was so close behind him and we were running too fast that his cleats grazed my left shin. Left a long shallow gash on my leg.

Ouch.

"Old?"

After a whole afternoon of frisbee training and team dinner last Saturday at Fort Bonifacio, a couple of my much younger teammates (age difference = 10 years) asked me if I wanted to join them later in the night at Metrowalk for some drinks.

“Sure, no problem. I don’t have anything planned for tonight anyway. Text-text na lang,” was my reply.

After the team adjourned at 9 pm, I hanged out at a friend’s pad in Serendra which was nearby. No sense in going home if I’m going out again after an hour or two (that’s one of my gimmick philosophies, which is why my car trunk has an emergency bag of gimmick essentials --- shoes, clothes, etc). My friend has been raring to show me his Rockband set-up at his condo unit and have me join on a live jam with his condo-mates. After a quick shower to remove all the mud and grit from the afternoon’s games, we started rocking away…

… Three-bottles-of-wine-shared-by-four-people later, an SMS came in on my mobile phone.

“Ey Stip! Nandito na kami sa Metrowalk. Wru?”. Damn… it was already 1253 AM. And they just started?! … mental thought --- these guys will finish around 3 or 4 AM, and then there’s the after-drinks-hot-sabaw-meal which means I’ll be home by 5 AM… I hate to admit it, but I’m too old already for those kinds of parties!

Replied: “Here at Fort at a friend’s place. Nearly drunk. Hehe. You guys go enjoy Metrowalk without me.”

Drat… I’ve never felt my age until that time.

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One of the differences between being ‘young’ and ‘old’ is that ‘old’ people have more responsibilities to look after and commitments to honor. On that particular gimik night, I was designated driver for my aunts the following day for a visit to my grandparent’s graves at Loyola. So naturally, I can’t party into the wee hours of the morning.

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Once your teammates-slash-friends denote you as “Tito” or “Papa” instead of the usual “kuya” tag, then the age gap is really significant.

Kung Bakit Ako Nag-e-enjoy sa Paglalaro ng Ultimate Frisbee

Last Saturday, it was the finals for the third ultimate frisbee league in the country this year (the annual Malakas at Maganda Tournament). It was a blistering hot sunny day at the Alabang Country Club polo field for the finals.

Our team played three matches that day and won only one, giving us just enough points to be ranked 7th overall for this league. Suffering from a very lean roster with only one substitute player that day, the scores we posted were 4-10 (against Team Circus, who eventually became the pool champions), 6-11 (against Super Bueno) and 10-6 (against Kanto Terrors).

Despite the losses and tall odds, all our opponents complimented us for being very spirited during the finals day and giving them really challenging games. Most of the points were hard-fought, a direct result of all the trainings and conditioning drills that our team has done in the previous weeks.

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By October, I will be playing ultimate frisbee for already a year. It’s an awesome sport-slash-workout, and I do recommend it to all my friends out there.

Playing ultimate frisbee has improved me in a lot of things: I’ve got a much better running endurance now (sprinting for an hour is now so easy that the norm is now I should be able to sprint for two hours before having cramps) and developed a good sense of eye-hand-body coordination (try catching a bullet pass one-handed while suddenly jumping in a direction that you were NOT running to). Although I’ve been eating voraciously crazy these past months, the calorie burn from playing this game is such that my current maintaining weight is at 129 lbs. Before, my maintaining weight was at 135 lbs. And yup, people have noticed that I’ve been becoming noticeably darker and slightly leaner. (I would like to be a little heavier though, but I’m having problems putting on weight… hypermetabolism probably).

And so far, I have the lowest body fat analysis in our workplace: 13.9%. Health and fitness magazines are quoting that a male’s body fat should be somewhere between 10-15% if he wants those ab muscles to show… hahaha.

One other thing: it’s a team sport, so you need to know what role you play for the team. For a change, I was more than glad to be the one receiving instructions/orders/strategies now. And I’ve been enjoying it.

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The finals games last weekend was a record-of-sorts for my stint so far in playing ultimate frisbee. I sustained a long shallow cut on my palm on one of my dives –- I was a bit surprised when I saw blood on the disc that I was handling at that point. I also got a cut inside my mouth when an opponent’s elbow unintentionally connected with my right cheek while going after a disc (thank goodness my tooth filling didn’t come off!!). I had two fantastic dives to save/regain possession of the disc, and one of them was a one-handed save. I suffered from leg cramps twice. Scored three goals, a couple of assists and finally executed a huck (a really long throw) confidently that eventually became a goal. These things are pretty easy to do for those veteran players. In my case however, incidents like these point out that my game has been steadily improving.

I also bruised my left foot --- when I jumped for possession of a disc, an opponent jumped alongside me. His cleats landed on my foot --- major ouch --- but the adrenaline kept me going.

But that’s nothing compared to Serge’s hipbone connecting to Jay’s ribs at a speed of around 40 kph in mid-air. I was probably 50 feet away from them when that happened, and I swear I heard a “crack” sound. Jay was breathless for about a couple of minutes, just lying on the grass and staring straight up. Ohboy… I was scared at that time; I thought that we would have to make a sudden trip to the nearest E.R. Fortunately, Jay’s made of tougher stuff than that so he just sat out the rest of the game.

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After an awesome championship party at Giligan’s Greenbelt (left by 3 am, with the party still in full swing), I woke up with my my kid brother and a doctor-friend staring at my face. I thought I was hallucinating or it was just a really terrible hangover…

Doc-friend: “Do you know that your face’s left side is all red and its upper area is covered with rashes?”

Me: “Huh?”

Doc-friend: “Take a look at the mirror. Looks like heat rashes.”

Yep, my face’s left side was slightly reddish. As for the rashes…

Me: “What rashes are you talking about?”

Doc-friend: “Ang dami kaya!“

Me: (staring hard at the mirror) “I don’t see it.”

Kid brother approaches me. Points at various spots on my face.

Me: “Ohhh… so that’s what it’s called. I thought those are just signs of ageing!”

And we burst out laughing and talked about it over breakfast.

KAYU MADNESS Party: Heroes and Villains

What: MADNESS Party -- Heroes and Villains. Kayumanggi Ultimate Frisbee team
When: July 17-18th 2009
Where: At some hotel suite in Ortigas...

Sponsored by the team's March-to-July-birthday celebrants -- myself, Nina, Serge, Choy, Boom, Bai, Cadoosh, Jonas, Nelle, JP and Josh.

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Now this was a fun party --- the team traded their cleats, jerseys and discs for hero/villain costumes, kunais, headbands and make-up. Darna won the best costume.

The party went on until the wee hours of the following morning.

Some photos:

+ Tyler David Tan

In the very early hours of 17th July 2009, Tyler David Tan who at fourteen days old joined the ranks of our Lord's angels.

Tyler,

As your godfather, I have vowed to watch over you.

Now, it seems, that you will watch over us.

- Ninong Stiff

P.S. Please be a good little boy up there.

Sharing Hardships

Late last Friday night, I found myself paying for a home delivery of a box of pizza and a carton take-out of pasta at the house of T and A. J and F were seated at the dining table, T was uncorking a couple of bottles of wine, A was upstairs attending to their kids D and Y.

A and T have been married for almost two years. I, J and F are at their residence to talk about Y’s baptism the following day and his eventual heart operation.

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I got a call from T on Wednesday afternoon, asking me if I would agree to be godfather to his newborn son Y.

“Of course, man!”, I replied with enthusiasm.

“Pero Stiff, the baptism is this coming Saturday,” T mentioned.

“Ha? Pero Y’s not even two weeks old. Why’s the baptism so sudden?”

And that’s when his voice broke. My long-time college friend T explained it to me over the phone.

My eventual godson Y needs heart surgery urgently, scheduled for the following week. Without the operation, the doctors aren’t sure if the infant would survive for more than two months. With a leap of faith, T and his wife A gave the go-ahead of the operation despite their foreseen problems of financing the whole procedure. Having the baptism before the operation is their insurance. In case the operation fails, they’ll be sure that Y will be one of the angels who’ll watch over us.

Meekly, I said, “Sure, I’m honored to be his godfather. I’ll drop by on Friday night.”

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Over wine, pizza and pasta, I got to learn more about my godson’s condition.

He’s got multiple congenital heart disease.

The least worrying is a hole found at the infant’s heart. The success of corrective operation for this is greater than 90%.

The more worrying concern is a lump of mass that’s blocking the passage between two of his heart chambers. At Y’s age, the success rate is about 80%.

The most worrying complication is that Y was also found to have transposed major ventricles. The success rate for corrective operation on this is also about 80%.
However, doing all three procedures on Y, who is just 12 days old today, is a first-time operation even for the best pediatric cardiologist surgeon in the country. He’s placed his confidence numbers at 50/50 for the operation’s success.

*Sigh.

Preliminary cost estimate for the procedure: 1.4 Mln pesos.

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By coincidence, my godson Y is in need of seven blood donations or two reliable blood transfusions for the course of his operation.

It turned out that I’m a perfect match for him. B+ blood type. Of good health.

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I pray to God that He watch over my godson, and to give his parents the strength needed to conquer this challenge.

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One of my weaknesses as a person is that I readily give aid in whatever form I can to the less fortunate or to those who find themselves facing a great challenge. Some of my peers say that I’m too soft-hearted, too compassionate at times that I make myself prone to being abused by others.

I firmly believe that there’s no such thing as being too soft-hearted.

People should learn to share hardships. Not all people are privileged to experience the extreme hardships that some are subject to. It’s an excellent way to forge the soul to become a better person. I believe that if God doesn’t throw a major obstacle in your path, it’s because He wants you to help those who are having difficulty overcoming their own obstacles.

Things I've Been Meaning to Blog About...

... but time has suddenly become a scarce resource for me since June 1st, so I haven't blogged about them. I'm actually writing this post down during my mandatory 5-minute break for every hour of data crunching I'm doing.

1. My 2009 Summer Rundown
2. It's-Been-Raining-Again, and You-Know-What-That-Means
3. Ultimate Frisbee Summer League (hooray, our team finished third!)
4. My Brother's Hard Lesson on Failure
5. 5 Books I'd Recommend for the Casual Reader, and Why
6. My Newest Toy -- an awesome electronic drum kit!
7. On Family Ties, and How I Resolved My Suppossed Accidental Fatherhood
8. The Weddings

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Advertisement: I've got 10 free tickets to a private screening of Transformers 2 slated on June 21 at the Director's Club in Mall of Asia. Five of them are already spoken for, so there's five more currently with no takers. Any takers?

Here's the catch: It's a purple theme party (I really look stupid in a purple shirt... drat), and you'll need to mingle with 120 other strangers during cocktails and listen to a half-hour presentation of a new product concept to be launched by a certain apparel line.

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Okay. Got to go back to my crazy numerical world. I'll be needing a long, long break when this week ends.