Need a Laugh?

The following in their virgin form (not corrected for grammar or spell-checked) are scribbled on the whiteboard at Julie and Maimai's office:

Yellow rule: Do not do unto others what you can't do.
Red rule: Do unto others, before they do it unto you.
Blue rule: You do not need to do unto others what they can do to themselves.

If things get tight, kelangan mo nang mag-diet.
..... If things get tight, sit next to a fatter ass and feel sexy.

If others can do it, don't help.

Ang ilog na tahimik ay malalim, ang ilog na maingay may naglalaba.

Oilyness is next to ugliness.

Kung maigsi ang kumot, punda yun.

What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger. RAAR!

Pag nahuli, wag aamin. Pag huling-huli na, mandamay.

J1: Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.
...... J2: BADING! Anong dancing?? Di ka marunong sumayaw!!
..........J3: Bakit ako ba ang tinutukoy ko? Baka ikaw ang bading? Iyakin pa!!!

Ahihihihi... I think there's a case of craziness inflicting my workplace. =)

Saturday Socials

The nature of my current work has deprived me substantially of socializing with my peers outside of the workplace. The last time I played airsoft was sometime in March, I think, at the Steel Mill. The last time I climbed at Power-up Pasig was October last year! My present life priorities are skewed and needs normalization. It's work first, followed by family, church, personal health, and lastly friends and leisure.

Despite my very tight schedule, I decided to make a day-trip to Manila (yiiii...me talking about 'day trips' to Manila is so low for me).

A. Climb at Power-up

Blossom and Kat gave me a default invitation to join them in their wall-climbing training for the month of September. I joined them yesterday and found myself a bit overwhelmed by Power-up Pasig. It's been almost a year since my last visit there. Kat tagged along her pamangkins and guy named Sam.

Dong was there too. Ha, he still remembers me from the days when I join up with Chie and Mad for the regular Tuesday climbs a year ago.

Anyway, I climbed walls 3 and 4 flawlessly, had a bit of difficulty at wall 5 (my pinky finger is still giving me grip problems), and traversed the whole length of the wall including the bouldering section. And I thought I wouldn't finish it, because my arms were already pumped towards the end of the afternoon.

Kat's endurance has very much improved, and her techniques have upped a level. Blos has also shown improvement but needs to focus more on twisting and weight shifting (or lose some weight hahaha -- just kidding, Blos).

B. Starbucks at Power Plant Mall

Blossom hitched a ride with me going to Power Plant Mall (well, I had to get a haircut at Bruno's Barbers anyway). She invited me to have coffee with her and I agreed.

We talked about furnishing her pad, Marijo's sluggish lovelife, siblings Chard and Mond, and her and Kat's plans to study street dancing versus Marijo's preference for ballroom dancing.

We parted after our coffee socials. On my way to Bruno's, I met Tito Gabs (Papa Hondo) of RBG at the escalator. We exchanged warm handshakes when we were both level at our opposite escalators. RBG was having a team dinner at Dencio's.

C. TMS Dinner at Saisaki

The most 'cozy' team dinner I've attended, it was a night of revelations. Hahaha.

It was just Nikko, Dee, Kara and Mikko at Saisaki G3 when I arrived. And I was 40 minutes late even!

I haven't seen Kara since our team's Christmas party at their residence. She's still the same bad-ass girl I know, sporting her trademark Gothic fashion. She's the only girl I know personally who's comfortable with the Gothic look, and has the attitude to look good in it (probably I've been watching too much anime lately hahaha).

Nikko and Dee are looking more and more as a couple. Blooming people. Niks needs to go on a diet really soon; their wedding date is near already and the pictures won't look that great if his tummy shows. =D

Mikko is still the funny man. As usual, he's got plenty of stories to tell. He's so good at telling stories that sometimes I find myself at a doubt -- whether or not to believe his narrative -- when he's telling something serious.

And the revelations? I'll have to be cryptic about it. Hehehe.

1) "It's because our schedules won't match."
2) "The 'It's not you, it's me' speech is actually good, but because of the movies it now seems lame."
3) "Number two."
4) "Custody-battle for a 10-month old..."
5) "May sinapak akong lalake..."



Tin and Buddy joined us late in the night.
Anyway, hanging out with TMS was a welcome thing for me. Sa uulitin.

Fishyfishy Chronicles 24531: The Davao Incidents

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

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

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

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

But there's nothing exciting in that, right?

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

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

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



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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

Climbing with the Charmed Ones

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

Here's my assessment of their climbing skills:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting My Blood Boiling

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

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

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

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

That got me thinking and my blood boiling.

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

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

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

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

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

And using his niece as an excuse is very lame.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And they repeated everything the following day.

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

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

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

"Right this way, sir."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Can I talk to the manager?"

Manager whatsisname raised his hand in acknowledgment.

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

"I understand, sir."

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

Saying that, I walked out. Smiling.

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

ANNOUNCEMENT

I am pleased to announce that Glenn Pamplona

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

is now 30 years old.

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

Happy birthday bro!

Huli Ka!

Godddammett!

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

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

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

My Smugmug: Australian Vacation

Out of necessity, I availed of a smugmug account.

http://stipmeister.smugmug.com



Happy browsing! =D

A Word of Thanks

I, my mom and my dad would like to thank everyone below for making our 2-week stay in Australia a very memorable one:

1. Tita Tess Andres, Tito Art, Tammy, Tricia, Nick, Michael and Annalys: for the homecooked meals, accommodations, Blue Mountain tour, and shopping tours
2. Tita Pat, Tito Robert, Marie, Iasmin, Adrian and Jeremy: for the splendid dinners and chitchat
3. Tita Menchie: for the Bowral tour, cheese and wine
4. Tita Lilian and Tito Arnie: for the kangaroo steak
5. Mike, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Mahak and Naomi: for Bridgeclimb
6. Kyle, Georg, Arthur, LJ, Merlin: for the uluru outback camping
7. the great staff at the Cityrail stations and University of Sydney
8. Paul: for touring me in Melbourne
9. Elisa and Erik: for the fun night at King's Cross *sneer*

From the bottom of our hearts, maraming salamat po!

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This post was drafted and published at Kingsford Terminal, Sydney.

Being Young at Heart

I had dinner last night with Iasmin (a 32 year old Pinay) and Adrian (her Australian husband) at their suburb home in Sydney. Dinner was a gastronomic platter of spring rolls, barbecued pork loins, water chestnut salad and wine.

After dinner, their 5 year old kid Jeremy (such a cute and playful kid) tugged at me to go play with him. Adrian "agreed", so Jeremy and myself scooted off to the living room to play with his rubber bug collection.

After an hour or so of playing and making squishy sounds with bug dialogues, with Adrian and Iasmin talking to me half the time regarding our common interests, Jeremy asked me in a matter-of-fact tone: "Are you a kid or a guy? You play like a kid and talk like a guy." Adrian and I laughed after hearing Jeremy's question.

So, I shrugged my shoulders and told him, "Sometimes I'm a kid and sometimes I'm a guy."

It's then that I realized that I'm really young at heart and will still be 50 years from now. =D

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I met Adrian and Iasmin while having coffee at "The Rocks" in Sydney City. It turned out that Iasmin was also from Baclaran (my "hometown") and that they lived in the same Sydney suburb as to where my parents are staying.

A Message for the Loony Bin

To the funniest, wackiest, smartest, most profound and most sensible lady I've met offline and online across four continents:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, L I S S A !. Cheers to you and the loony bin! :D

Cold Wild Ozzy

I've immersed myself for three very cold days (temperature range: 2-12 deg C) in the uluru, Central Australia's outback wilderness. It was bushland as far as the eyes could see except for one major landmark in the area: Ayer's Rock. :D

There were 9 of us in our group: 6 Sydney University students (Kurt, Kyle, George, LJ, Rigg, Key), 1 tourist (me), 1 guide (Arthur) and 1 dog (Merlin --- that Arthur guy has some sense of humor), and all of us were blokes. No girls, drat.

Anyway, the objective of the trip is to experience "soul cleansing", uluru being sacred ground for aborigines and what-have-you mysticism with it. The way I look at it though is trying to survive uluru at its harshest condition.

It was a great experience for me. My only regret though is that all we were allowed to bring were clothes, toiletries and a thermos. No iPods, no junk food, no cameras, no cellphones. But after enjoying my experience there, I then understood why Arthur wouldn't want those things on the trip. Read below.

Here's the run-through of the last 3 days:

1. Walk 14 miles from the airstrip to our campsite (in 6 hours) with about 30 pounds of food and gear on my back.
2. Cold weather at night: 2 degrees! And what's the easily available fuel in the bushland? Dung. Dingo and kangaroo dung. Because it's winter, they're freeze-dried (hahaha) so they don't smell that bad when we were collecting them. But when we started burning them as fuel... *whoo boy*.
3. I was the only one who didn't have mitts for my hands. So, I tore a pair of my socks and cut-out fingerholes in them.
4. In the absence of an iPod, group singing is the next best option. And the group's favorite artists: Britney Spears and 3 Doors Down. Weird combination.
5. Learned how to make a stone knife. :D
6. Ooo-ba: some sort of spiny bush whose leaves can be used for smoking using a pipe.
7. Ma'mata: another spiny bush whose branches, when boiled in water and drank as tea, has the same effect as sake.
8. Built some stone markers along the way. Route marking in the outback is very different from what I know for forest trekking.
9. Learned animal trailing: snakes, dingos (dogs), kangaroos and foxes.
10. Pratical exam: trap either a snake or a fox. And our group (me, LJ, Rigg) trapped a snake! Wahooo!
11. Gutting, Cooking and Eating Snake 101: Snake lechon.
12. Coal picking. That's much better than dung fuel.
13. Tribal marking.
14. Rain + cold weather = 9 shivering blokes.
15. Woke up on the third day (after the rain) with a whole herd (?) of kangaroos surrounding us! There's easily 30 of them. That was cute! And scary... hahaha.

The adventure was really challenging on my body. I was dead-tired at the end of the third day. But I'm glad I took that trip --- it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. :D

Thanks to the Sydney guys for the swell company! And for the record, I'm already 27; I'm not a student on vacation as you guys first thought. Hahaha. :D