just like in college

My Lakbayan grade is C!

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Created by Eugene Villar.

pull

In line with Soc's updated blog, I'd like to update this here blog of mine with a new entry. I just came back from a long weekend of wakeboarding in CWC!

I enjoyed the trip thoroughly, the place was wonderful! Really world class facilities, food was good, and the prices were just right. I highly commend Governor Lray Villafuerte on his initiative on this endeavor.

I had initially set some personal goals regarding the trip. I knew that we had to kneeboard for the first few runs to get a feel of how the cable systems work, but I was confident I would be able to do a whole lap on a kneeboard. (Luckily I was not humiliated in this regard) Then it was on to the wakeboard.

We only tried the simple boards they had for rent (not LiquidForce boards), which was pretty much a simple wakeboard with slip on straps (not actual bindings, which are like boots). Naturally the first few runs I fell flat on my face... or on my side or on my back, I was all over the place. After a few spills (right in front of professional wakeboarders I might add), I was able to get my balance and stand up for a brief moment. I then progressed to reaching the first set of obstacles , which I duely avoided by the way.

I initially figured it was a fluke and kept my head down on trying to get the wakeboarding thing down. I got another good ride and reached halfway to the second set of obstacles, and then the cable operator told us it was our last ride (on the 1 hour session). I got myself composed and took off. At least I did not waste the last ride wiping out, I thought... then I got halfway to the second obstables figuring I was going to wipe out big time. I was a bit suprised I went further, way further.

The corner was coming up, I thought "Shit, I'm going down for sure". I kept to the right, and got past the corner! Nice! That was quite easy, I thought. Then bam! Down I went halway to the second corner. I had a big smile on my face.

Last ride, best ride.

My second day was similar in some ways. A few wipe outs and a few good rides, I think I managed to get past the second corner once. I was satisfied, despite not reaching my goal of riding one of the obstacle hehehe. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to do a whole lap on a wakeboard so I resorted to riding an obstacle (twisted logic eh?). Alas I didn't have the balls to do it. I don't blame myself either, it was scary as hell... and dangerous too. I'm just glad to have gotten a few good rides.

ending a day of wakeboarding fun

surferdude.blogspot.com

I have found my calling... surfing, it seems, is in my blood. After only 3 surfing trips, and around 12 hours of surfing under my belt, I am hooked.

My first surfing trip was in La Union, our introduction to the wonders of surfing. I found it fairly easy to catch a wave, with the help of Manong surfer who pushed us so we can ride the fairly easy waves (1-footers). Although I knew I had a long way to go in terms of skills, I felt I had the basics covered which, as far as I was concerned, was standing up and keep standing up until the wave died out. The following day, this time with no help from Manong surfer, we failed to catch some waves as there weren't as many good ones as the previous day. I, however, was not deterred.... me and my friends vowed to come back.

Brgy. Pundakit in Zambales was entirely a different story. We enrolled in a surf camp offered by Stonemoney Surf and 'trained' by surf-master Joe Villatora (a real surf pro from Hawaii). The waves here where much much bigger... 5 footers I believe, since a typhoon has passed by recently. We never caught any waves, but this was the real eye opener for me into the surfing lifestyle. As Joe said, 90% of surfing is paddling and I was okay with that. I loved the notion of paddling into the line up and waiting for the right wave to come. And the feeling of the wave just when it catches you.... heaven.

Finally, before the surfing season ended, Tots invited us back to Zambales for a final surf trip this time in San Narciso. Everyone was excited and really stoked to catch some waves, but disappointment greated us as we approached the beach... no waves. So we ended up playing frisbee and hanging out for the rest of the day. The following day, I woke up to my friends saying "Let's head off to the beach, there are waves! Time to surf!". And so we did... after some time of trying to catch one, I finally did it. I caught my own wave, and from then on I pretty much caught wave after wave... such is the life of a surfer.

goodbye wardude....

.... hello surferdude

no more

I just checked friendster.com... my primary photo is no longer a featured photo.

Oh well, I can't expect it to be featured forever. But it was nice while it lasted :)

wow philippines

dive batangas

surf la union

the curse of the new shoes

I bought new futbol shoes last weekend and I was really looking forward to using them today but alas, the futbol gods said “No! You will not get to wear these babies today”.

I guess there really is a curse of new futbol shoes. Ruth and Topeng had similar experiences with the futbol gods and their new shiny shoes. I just hope I'm not like Topeng who was not able to use it until after a year! hehehe...

Oh futbol gods, please do not forsake me!

redirect

I'm not really in the mood to think of a nice way of putting this... to just visit Socs' blog entry. Let me know if you are (or know anybody who might be) interested.

By the way, I've had some bloggable stuff that's happened to me recently but I'm just too lazy to blog about it. So I leave you to your web surfing...

beach

identified

Socs was bugging me to post some Pinatubo pics in my flicker page, however before I was able to upload a single pic I decided to organize the existing pics I had. It had numerous photos of our Cyprus trip, and given that we went to a lot of places I wanted to make sure that the tags of each picture was accurate.

Now it has been more than a year since then and I forgot the exact names of the places we've been so I started doing some research. I googled for a map of Cyprus and some pictures to help my try to match the places with the names. Limassol, Larnaca, Nicosia, Troodos where identified and with the information I had at my disposal, I realized that the big ass rock in Kakopetria Socs and I mentioned in our previous posts (here and here) was an actual tourist attraction! It's apparently called Petra tou Androgynou.

Although we only stopped at Kakopetria for lunch, its nice to find out that we where able to visit a tourist destination even after all this time.

welcome to the rock

the lost world

I'm taking the opposite approach to Socs on this entry. Just one pic and a whole bunch of words for me...

Around two weeks after the La Mesa Dam Wathershed trip and almost a month after my second JEST experience, I was off to another adventure. It was to experience Mt. Pinatubo after its latest eruption way back in 1991.

Socs, myself, and 4 other officemates set off from the bus terminal to Brgy. Patling in Capas, Tarlac early Saturday morning and met with our rented 4x4 jeep that would take us to our jump-off point for the trek to the crater. After a quick stop at the office in Sta. Juliana for registration and to pick up our guide, we forged ahead and found ourselves in the middle of nowhere.

An adventure in itself, the ride through Crow Valley was wonderful. The 4x4 jeep carving its own path across the lahar field/airforce bombing range. It was a mix of rocks, ash, cliffs, streams and Mother Nature reclaiming the desolate landscape. Then it was time for the walk.

We walked two hours through the ash and rock and the occassional stream, surrounded by cliffs of lahar and rock. It was picturesque to say the least. It was a long walk, and we were all tired from the trek and heat (we're not hardcore climbers nor extremely fit people, just your ordinary office folk). Finally we were there.

We set up camp, took some pictures and rested our weary feet. Then the rain came. Luckily we didn't have to stay the entire afternoon huddled in our tents, so we had a bit more time for photo-ops before taking care of our dinner... 4 cans of trioxane-cooked sisig (finally put that trioxane to good use).

After a relatively sleepless night (it rained pretty hard and Socs and I had to abandon our tent), we woke up to the warmth of the sun and the cool morning breeze. There were signs of possible rain coming down later in the morning but we enjoyed what was to be our last moments atop Pinatubo. A quick breakfast of trioxane-cooked hotdogs (I just love that stuff) and we were off.

The trek back was different. Although you remember the area and the significant 'landmarks' the trail itself has been changed by the rain from the previous night. We where also pressed for time since a dark cloud was looming behind us, threatening to raise the water we frequently cross.

Luckily the rain didn't fall during the trek and we made it safely to the 4x4 pick-up point, albeit an hour late. Crossing Crow Valley we came across a groups of foreigners, also riding their own 4x4 jeeps off on their own adventure.

Back in 'civilization', we had a rejuvinating volcanic ash treatment (I fell asleep as soon as I laid down) and bath (more than 24 hours had passed since our last bath). By the time we were finished, it was way past lunch time so we headed to a local canteen and had our fill.

It was time to head home and after some time waiting for a bus, we finally left the Mt. Pinatubo adventure behind. Maybe we'll go back there sometime... or maybe we'll just set off for another type of journey, who knows...

paradise in the city

Verchie invited me and Socs to the La Mesa Dam Watershed and I must say that it was quite an eye opener. Such a beautiful place in the middle of the city, well it didn't feel like it was in the middle of the metro.

I'm a bit pressed for time to post a decent entry here so I'll leave you guys with a picture. I'll definitely be going back there for more :)

jungle fighter

*photo courtesy of Manuel Pangaruy Jr.

exciting times

And the wait continues for me...

new horizons

Early this morning I received a forwarded email from a colleague of mine indicating her mandatory 30 day notice for her resignation. I knew about it for some time, and I must say that I'm glad for her with this new opportunity (and a bit jealous partly because of the nature of the work).

I wondered if I would have the guts to do it when the time came for me. Although I have expressed my current discontent about work recently and that it has given me (and Socs) a fair amount of stress, it would be hard for me to leave. I've made a lot of good friends here, and I do enjoy working with most of them. The people here are fun and I can relate to a lot of them not just about work but also about life, dreams and ambitions. We have dreamt about being assigned onsite together as a group and wonder how fun it would be, work and all.

But we all have to move on to greater heights at some point in time. It was her time now. As for me, I shouldn't be having reservations about things like this... not now. Not before tomorrow...

the KL trip that was not

The last weekend of January was supposed to have been spent in KL with Socs' friends, and meeting up with Sherry and Dave who where in their honeymoon. Long story (see Socs' entry) short... it wasn't to be. No KL trip for me and my girl...

But somehow I wasn't too affected, although Socs definitely was. Yes it was a shame that we weren't able to go and how fun it may have been (I hoped it would've been fun), but it was ok.

It was an experience being rejected boarding (well, just Socs but its the same thing) and trying to get to the plane. It was exciting trying to find an alternative vacation in the Department of Tourism kiosk at the airport. It was an adventure to go to Clark and back in 8 hours.

In the end, no vacation for us. But at least I was able to play airsoft again (but didn't enjoy it much... more on it on another entry... maybe) and go shopping for shoes :)

On a side note, having programmed my mind of not being able to work out during the "KL trip" I passed up the opportunity to go to the gym for the duration I was supposed to be in KL. Unfortunately I haven't been to the gym since then! But I did attend a boxing class at the office hehehe

And the point is? Nothing... just like what happened to the KL trip hehehe

strike 2

Had another one (actually not just one) of those 'responsibility ownership' issues I mentioned previously.

Demmit... own up to your responsibilities!

Do the actual work you're paid for!

And do what is expected of you for once!

not-so-happy entry (a realization)

One day while waiting in line at the local McDonald's I came upon a realization that I was not happy. Well, there have been things that have been bugging me for some time now and I was aware that something was amiss in my life... I just did not understand the root cause of it. Now I do.

I made a small hint of dissatisfaction with work in a previous entry but now I am putting it in writing for all to read: I am not happy with my current job.

It is a lot of things; the co-workers, the management, the missed opportunities, the benefits, the career progression, even the crappy building. I have made some of these 'concerns' known to some of my co-workers and friends (God knows how Socs knows all about this), but basically I came to realize that I cannot do what it is I am doing right now for long. And sad to say I do not see myself improving in SPL (or Oracle if you want to play semantics).

I'm not saying SPL is a bad place to work, not at all. I've made some good friends here, and I've enjoyed most of my stay here. It's just not the same anymore. Remember my previous blog entry about SPL and Special Forces? Well, it's kinda not true anymore. We've expanded significantly from our numbers (doubling in a year I believe) and it's like we've become a group of conventional forces instead. The feeling of being 'elite' and being the best is gone. Quality of work is declining, personal ownership/responsibility of work is almost non-existent, and the concept of teamwork is trivial. It dawned to me that I became part of that corporate drone image wherein I just work for work's sake.

Some may argue that I have been part of the corporate world for 3 years and I should have realized that long ago, but that wasn't the case. I enjoyed working before, and it did not feel like work... it was more of like a challenge or a quest (cliche as it may be). The drudergy coupled with the crappy benefits (and dare I say management) is pushing me to be a cynical bastard.

Steps are in order to rectify this shit...

not-so-happy blog

I remember writing about my blog being a happy blog way back when. And it may have been true. But lately, I don't feel that its appropriate anymore. I don't want to say that I'm not happy... I have a lot of things that I should be happy about. Let's just say that I'm not satisfied...

I will try to explain it all on a future entry.

real deal...

... real steel

Mine in approximately 30 working days (I hope...)