After about 3 months of people not knowing exactly what Michael Owens' footballing future would be, he signs up for a 4-year contract with Newcastle. A very interesting, albeit controversial move, which has put both Owen and Newcastle on the headline of the footballing world over the last couple of days.
I feel a bit bad for him though. He left Liverpool in the hopes that he would win more silverware. And really, anyone in his shoes would've done the same thing, given an opportunity to move to Real Madrid. The problem was, his style of play didn't seem to fit with the rest of Real, despite scoring quite a few goals during his short stint there. And then Real bought 2 Brazilian strikers, dropping Owen to 5th choice. In a World Cup year (during which time he will need to play a lot to remain sharp and fit). Which left him with no option actually but move to a club that would let him play. And well no other club seemed interested which is terribly sad. It would've been nice if he ended up in Liverpool again, especially since 'Pool doesn't seem to have a great striker right now. But Newcastle put in such a high bid and Rafael Benitez didn't really seem interested enough in Owen. So net, Mickey ends up in the team that is currently 2nd from bottom of the league.
I just hope now that Owen gets to start all the time and score lots of goals. The golden boot award would be nice for him to get this year. And who knows? If England do win the World Cup, then I guess all his critics and naysayers will eat crow.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Rafting in Cagayan de Oro
(You can read about my previous post for the background on this trip. Thing is, all the pics were taken using Ben’s camera, and I haven’t been able to get a copy yet, so the pics will have to follow.)
We left Manila really early on Saturday morning, July 30. Our flight was at 510am which would bring us to CDO by around 630. The flight was pretty much on time and we got to McDonald’s Divisoria at around 7am. We were supposed to meet up with the rafting group at around 830am so we had a bit of time to kill. After breakfast, Ben, who was out clubbing the entire night before and hadn’t gotten any sleep, decided to have a quick nap. The rafting folks were about 30 minutes late but that was okay since it meant Ben got to sleep a bit longer.
At 9am, we boarded a jeep that would take us to our adventure trip (I just realized we never got to take Ben's picture in the jeep). Inside were a family of Koreans with their Filipino yayas (apparently, the dad was a golf teacher in an exclusive golf club somewhere in the Phils) and a group of Pinoys from Manila. After a short drive, we picked up an international group consisting of two American guys (one of whom originally came from Trinidad), a Japanese girl, and a Cebuana. Turns out the Cebuana, Christine, is a very close friend of Irene and she said I looked familiar – we must’ve run into each other in one of my office parties where she had tagged along with Irene. Small world!
Our first stop was actually the canopy walk, which may be CDO’s second claim to fame (after the river rafting, of course). This part of the adventure (P300) involved walking on a set of rope-and-wooden-plank bridges that are set really high up on the treetops (there’s a safety line that is attached to each person to prevent any accidents). Once you get to the end of the set of bridges, you return to the starting point via a zipline. Pretty cool! Anyway, as you walk along the first bridge (there are three of them, one after another), it still feels pretty normal. Then somewhere along the second bridge, there’s a sheer drop (with a neat little waterfall close to the bottom) and all of a sudden you can hear people gasp as they see just how high up they are. I think I stopped looking down after a few seconds of trying to control my fear of heights. =) Finally, we got to the zip-line: it was about ten seconds of great fun! I would’ve loved to do it again since it wasn’t as long I wish it were (medyo bitin). But there was the main event beckoning, and I didn’t want to shell out another P300.
So we then headed to the river. After each of us put on our lifejackets and grabbed an oar, we got a short overview of what the trip would entail – the river was about 12km long, had 14 rapids I think, and it would take us about 3 hours to get to the end (including a break for lunch somewhere along the river). We then got grouped into different rafts – Ben and I ended up in the raft with the Pinoys from Manila. The people in our raft didn’t seem like they were the athletic type so I was a bit worried that our raft guide would bring us to the calmer parts of the rapids, which would have made the experience slightly disappointing. My concerns were short-lived, though. It seems our guide wanted us to get as much kick out of this experience as possible! In one instance he instructed all of us to paddle in such a way that made the raft spin clockwise while we were going through one set of rapids! And on three or four occasions, he told everyone on the raft to stand while paddling through rapids, including one of the strongest ones! Unbelievable! Would've been more interesting if someone fell off the raft, but no one did. =)
Somewhere close to the end of the trip we got off our our rafts and walked over some huge rocks to a small set of rapids. Not everyone got off the boats this time, it was only me, Ben, and the international group (and I think a couple of other people). It turns out there was another activity to do - we would all locks elbows and walk side by side across the rapids from one riverbank to the other! It wasn't very wide (maybe about 15-20 feet only) but the rapids were really strong and it made for a very interesting activity! In fact, people were worried that they might lose their sandals or flip-flops. And once we managed to get to the other side, we got into the river and let the current take us back to where the rafts were. Ah, so much fun in one day! =)
The adventure was over at around 3pm and we headed back to the city. After getting a room in Casa Crystalla (right smack in the Divisoria are) to clean up a bit and put our stuff down, we had a very late lunch in Max’s (we weren’t able to instruct the guides to prepare food for us in advance so we subsisted on Magic Flakes and ube bread while on the river). We had lumpiang ubod and crispy pata so Ben could try out some local food, and we also had sizzling barbecue chicken (first time I tried it in Max's and it was very good!). He also found out that in the Philippines, iced tea (which he doesn’t like) is lemon iced tea (which he likes).
Later that night, we walked around the city. It was good timing as well because there was some music festival going on in CDO in all Saturday nights from April to August, so the atmosphere in the streets was incredibly festive and alive. Aside from the live music, there was also a “mini-showdown” of break-dancing that was very entertaining and amusing to watch. Restaurant owners also set up food stalls, tables and chairs on the streets so that people could dine al fresco (hehe this is the first time I ever used al fresco in a sentence). I also ended up eating balut to show Ben what it was. He had some of the yolk part of it and agreed that if you could get past the chick bit, then it was actually quite good.
We had a choice of getting up early on Sunday morning and going to a beach about an hour from the city, but we decided against it as we wanted to sleep in and get a bit more rest after not having any sleep on Friday night. Turns out it was the right idea because it was absolutely pelting when we got up on Sunday.
All in all, it was a fantastic experience that I wouldn't mind doing again and bringing more friends to. The rafting itself costs about P1200 per person so it’s not too bad (+ the zipline makes it P1500). The only downside is that you have to fly to CDO from Manila, and the airfare is what eats up most of your budget. If anyone what the cheapest flights are that you can get to CDO, please let me know by leaving a comment. =)
Long day
This morning, I got up at 6am, which is terribly terribly early for me (those of you who know me well can attest to that). However, my nephew Ciera was at home and my bro couldn't bring him to school because he is on night shift which finishes at around lunch. My mom couldn't get a driver either so I figured I might as well bring him to Community of Learners.
As is always the case when I leave the house during rush hour, the traffic was quite bad. And since I had to take a detour to bring Ciera to the San Juan area, it took a while for me to get to Makati and I arrived in the office shortly before 9am. And from that time until late afternoon, I worked on finishing the job aids we need to complete by today at work. That's a huge chunk of work out of the way, and now I can focus on everything else.
I also finally went back into the gym after not going there for the last 2 1/2 weeks or so. As such, my workout was fairly light, and even then I struggled quite a bit, much to the amusement of Marlon, my trainer. I did manage to get the bicep and back workouts done fairly well, but everything involving triceps was a bit of a disaster, and my ab workout was nowhere near where it was right before my gym break. Hay naku, this is proof that I shouldn't take such a long break from going to the gym! My 30 minute run after the workout redeemed me a bit though (and I guess after I run a full marathon, 30 minutes on a treadmill should be a cakewalk). My heart rate was quite high the moment I took to the treadmill, though, because I was so tired from the workout. But I managed to go from 8.5kph to 12kph (with a 13 kphs[rint finish). I burned nearly 400 calories with that run, and so at least I ended my trip to the gym on a high note.
I had dinner (Chasyu Don, Miso Soup, and Tofu Steak with house tea) in Teriyaki Boy after my workout before heading back to the office to do the finishing touches on my last job aid. I also read up a bit on a few documents I received over the last couple of days.
Too bad that it's past midnight now because that means I won't be able to watch tonight's episode of One Tree Hill season 1 on Starworld. But after seeing the season-ender of season 2 in ETC last Sunday (with all its loose ends!), I guess I don't really need to see these early, character-establishing episodes anymore. Oh wait, that means I don't get to see Peyton (Hilarie Burton)! Okay well too bad I am going to miss it then. (Btw, if the WB don't give us a 3rd season of OTH, I will... I will... okay I will send them a nasty note and probably not do anything else. =))
As is always the case when I leave the house during rush hour, the traffic was quite bad. And since I had to take a detour to bring Ciera to the San Juan area, it took a while for me to get to Makati and I arrived in the office shortly before 9am. And from that time until late afternoon, I worked on finishing the job aids we need to complete by today at work. That's a huge chunk of work out of the way, and now I can focus on everything else.
I also finally went back into the gym after not going there for the last 2 1/2 weeks or so. As such, my workout was fairly light, and even then I struggled quite a bit, much to the amusement of Marlon, my trainer. I did manage to get the bicep and back workouts done fairly well, but everything involving triceps was a bit of a disaster, and my ab workout was nowhere near where it was right before my gym break. Hay naku, this is proof that I shouldn't take such a long break from going to the gym! My 30 minute run after the workout redeemed me a bit though (and I guess after I run a full marathon, 30 minutes on a treadmill should be a cakewalk). My heart rate was quite high the moment I took to the treadmill, though, because I was so tired from the workout. But I managed to go from 8.5kph to 12kph (with a 13 kphs[rint finish). I burned nearly 400 calories with that run, and so at least I ended my trip to the gym on a high note.
I had dinner (Chasyu Don, Miso Soup, and Tofu Steak with house tea) in Teriyaki Boy after my workout before heading back to the office to do the finishing touches on my last job aid. I also read up a bit on a few documents I received over the last couple of days.
Too bad that it's past midnight now because that means I won't be able to watch tonight's episode of One Tree Hill season 1 on Starworld. But after seeing the season-ender of season 2 in ETC last Sunday (with all its loose ends!), I guess I don't really need to see these early, character-establishing episodes anymore. Oh wait, that means I don't get to see Peyton (Hilarie Burton)! Okay well too bad I am going to miss it then. (Btw, if the WB don't give us a 3rd season of OTH, I will... I will... okay I will send them a nasty note and probably not do anything else. =))
Monday, August 22, 2005
High School Reunion
One more friend of mine who was celebrating her birthday in August (Aug 18, to be exact) is Joyce. Last Thursday, she had a party at her house in Project 4. Naturally, Anna, Iona, Mitch and Ferg were there as well. We were all late actually but it was still fun. I haven’t seen all of them together in maybe a couple of months (or at the very least, it felt like a couple of months) so it was great seeing them again.
Then we got into talking about this new Irish Pub, O’Mally’s (sp?), in Greenbelt 1. This is where Price of Wales used to be. We were supposed to hang out there with Gary and Winnie last two Saturdays ago, but as it turned out, only Mitch and Ferg could meet up with them (the rest of us had prior commitments). So the four of them opted for a different venue, and as such, they didn’t get to check out the Irish Pub just yet.
So during Joyce’s party, we thought of going there on Saturday night. However, because Ferg was playing in a badminton tournament that night and the Liverpool game wasn’t going to be shown on TV anyway, Mitch said that we could just all hang out in their place.
We got there shortly before 9pm and feasted on food from North Park and had some Dreyer’s ice cream for dessert. Then we just hung out and conversed ‘til past midnight. It was great fun as it always is when hanging out with them, and it’s great that after not seeing them for a while, I get to see them twice in a span of a few days.
Friday, August 19, 2005
Birthdays in August
Last Friday, we had a dinner birthday celebration dinner for Joh. I came in late since I had an ATM problem, and when I got to Gourmand in the Fort, the rest of the folks were already there - Joh, Raffa, Paulo, Peegee, Tim, Hannah, Che, Pia and John Q. The food there was quite expensive but it was incredibly good. Nice quaint place as well and fairly easy to get to if you have a car so I guess you can say it's a good date place.
After dinner, everyone but John Q and Peegee headed over to Coldrock, this fairly new ice cream place somewhere between Jack, Jill, and Gonuts Donuts. The setup is similar to Dairy Queen except that instead of having a machine mix the ice cream and 'mixins', the people there did it by hand. (And I must say, those people must have Popeye forearms because you could tell how hard it was by watching what they were doing!). I tried a made-up combination of mint chocolate and Aussie's best cookies n cream, with rocky road marshmallows mixed in. Not bad. But at P174, it's not something I want to have too often. We then capped the night off at UCC (I ended up having two coffees, but the second one was decaf so it's not too bad hehehe).
On Saturday I had to get up relatively early for the Bukas Sarili meeting in Makati at 1030am. We had great attendance once again, 11 people came - Vangie, Tess, Cushee, Audris, Kendrick, Avi, Susie, Sarah, Bunky, and MJ (plus me of course). The meeting went fairly well, and the latest news showed that we have now raised about P165K from the Pledge Run!
I had to hurry after the meeting though since I had a lunch party in my grandparents house in Novaliches. Pretty long way from Makati actually. But it was the join birthday celebration of my mom, grandfather, my bro my cousin, my nephew , and our household help Mama Guading who has been with the family since forever. Obviously that is such a huge party that there is no way I am missing that. Unfortunately, my bro was on night shift the previous night and had to fetch my nephews in Malabon so they arrived after almost everyone had left, at around 430pm.
I left about an hour later so I could go to Paulo's place in Greenhills which was where we were celebrating part 2 of Joh's birthday. This one was a surprise, and the fact that we had dinner the night before really threw her off. I came in late with birthday candles and pansit from Razon's so I missed the surprise part. Anyway, here's a question: What do you get when you have a dozen IT folks in a party? Answer: a geeky party! When I got there, I saw two laptops, a couple of webcams, a projector, and Giselle's webcam shot being projected on the wall. Later on, Suzanne and Nenen would connect with us as well - one laptop and one webcam per connection. Amazing! There was even audio with both Giselle (in Japan) and Nenen and Suzanne (in Philadelphia). Ian and Cathy called as well (or texted, I'm not totally sure) since they weren't able to secure a webcam. We then browsed through pictures of Paulo and Giselle in Japan, as well as a few other photos of trips people have taken (like to Boracay, Clearwater, etc) before calling it a day.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Presenting: The Philippines!
A couple of weeks ago, a English friend of mine, Ben, came to the Philippines for a 2 ½ week holiday. Ben has been in South-east Asia for the last six months or so, doing charity work in Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, and Indonesia (most of his work has revolved around helping out with tsunami relief), and will be doing much of the same over most of the next four months. As such, he decided to take a short vacation from all that hard work and spend a couple of laidback weeks in the Philippines.
He didn't really know anyone else from here (he knew Omar, but well Omar is in London) so I came up with a list of suggestions of what he could do while he was here. Once I came up with that list, I suggested an itinerary for him which he thought was really cool.
Now during the course of this planning, the fact that there was still a lot of places in the country that I haven't been to and wanted to see was reinforced. So I figured it would be good for me to take some days off of work and accompany Ben. After all, once I realized a few years ago that I had seen a lot of places in other countries but not enough of my own, I decided to visit at least one new place in the Philippines every year. Plus Ben gets a free tour guide and translator.
So this is how the final itinerary looked like:
First stop - Boracay. He spent his first night (Monday) in Manila before heading to Boracay and spending 3 nights there. I would have gone with him if it were not for the fact that this was the same time as the SNS offsite in Shenzhen. I also had too much work to do during that week that I couldn’t take a couple of days off. Didn't matter. Boracay is very tourist-friendly so Ben didn't have problems going around, and I've been there a few times before so not a huge deal that I missed it.
Second stop - Cagayan De Oro. We met up on Friday night before splitting up again - I had dinner with Joh, Raffa, Chris, Shar, Meann, Hannah, and Paulo while he hung out with some new found friends at the Fort. As such, we had very little sleep since our flight to Cagayan De Oro was at 510am on Saturday. Spent the day white water rafting then headed back to Manila on Sunday.
Third stop - Coron, Palawan. I couldn't take Monday off since I still had to finish a ton of stuff, and I ended up working til about 430am on Tuesday but I did manage to sort everything out before leaving. We got there on Tuesday right before lunch and returned to Manila on Friday. I was supposed to have a meeting on Friday afternoon which was thankfully postponed because my flight was delayed by 2 1/2 hours and I would have missed it if it pushed through.
Final stop - Metro Manila. I took Ben to Malate on Friday night. On Saturday he watched a couple of UAAP games (UP lost to FEU, unfortunately). On Sunday he joined the other Bukas Sarili people for the celebration breakfast right after the marathon. On Monday, he played basketball with Chris and his friends (Basketball is Ben's sport and wanted to play it here, so when I found out Chris was playing on Monday, I managed to get Ben to join them). And on Tuesday, his last night here, he watched my band perform.
(Btw, the night that we hung out in Malate, the song 'Call on me' by Eric Prydz played in the bar we were in. He mentioned to me how it was a popular song in England and how the video was so hot. So I searched for it in the internet and manged to find it. And I have to say that it is the hottest video of all time!!! Haha, at least for me. Anyway (well, I guess only if you are a guy) I suggest you try to find it in the net. Note that there is no nudity so don't think I'm some perv hehehe. So now, whenever I feel a bit stressed at work, I just watch that video and I feel re-energized. =))
The details of my rafting and Coron trips will be in latter posts (can't fit them in here anymore). But after Ben left Manila last Wednesday, I felt pretty cool at how I was able to organize a full itinerary for him that represented the Philippines pretty well - great islands and cities to visit, cool places to hang out in, Pinoy food (adobo and adobo flakes, sisig, and even balut!), watching and playing our 'national' sport, and listening to amazing live music (of course it's amazing, it was my band playing! =)). He thanked me for sorting out his trip here and suggested that if things don't pan out for me in IT, I could work as a travel agent. =)
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Time to get those anti-depressants out
On paper, this should've been a good week. The marathon is over, so that's one big project off my to-do list. Most of the stuff I need to get done at work have already been done, or are moving along well enough so no worries on that front either. And it surely makes sense that after I go rafting in Cagayan De Oro, snorkeling in Coron, and after a kick-ass gig, I should be on Cloud 9 right now. Or thereabouts.
But the truth of the matter is I'm not. In fact, it's quite the opposite really. I don't even recall the last time I have felt this depressed and down-trodden.
I felt so bad at the end of the day today that I was just supposed to have a quick dinner. But when I was done, I just realized I could not go back to my desk. I just couldn't. Ah, maybe I could watch "The Wedding Crashers." After all, as they say, laughter is the best medicine. Well, it was funny all right and a great movie. But the moment I stepped out of the theater, the weather seemed to match my disposition as the rain was pouring. And I had no umbrella.
I think that's where the problem lies. I don't feel like I have an umbrella while the rain is pouring. It's like no one's got my back. And everyone around me wants a piece of me. Or no, not even just a piece, more like a chunk. Right now, though, it doesn't feel like there is enough of me to go around. I've been holding the fort wearily for far too long, and the reinforcements don't seem to be anywhere in sight. Can anyone say 'exhaustion'?
Of course I do know that holding the fort is not bad. Makes you feel like people can count on you, that you are the go-to guy who makes things happen. That you can be trusted. That's always a good thing.
But the moment people take your willingness to help out as an indicator that you exist for the sole purpose of helping them whenever they need you, then it becomes tough. No, it becomes abusive. And shitty. And sad. This week has felt shitty because it seems as though everything I do isn't working. When you try to be diplomatic, you get maligned and manhandled. When you raise your voice, you become rude and unprofessional. When you tell someone you'll get them something done, they hound you until they get it from you. When you tell people you'll help out, they all of a sudden look at you to lead. Then when you ask someone to do something for you, they don't do it. Or don't do it well so you end up stepping in anyway to fix things. What a f*cking nightmare.
And I think what simply compounds things is that it's not just one bad thing happening, but so many bad things happening all at the same time. When that happens, you just feel like you can't breathe.
Guess I'm just gonna try and hold my breath a little longer. See how things turn up...
(I'll post the fun stories about my recent trips when I am in a better mood)
But the truth of the matter is I'm not. In fact, it's quite the opposite really. I don't even recall the last time I have felt this depressed and down-trodden.
I felt so bad at the end of the day today that I was just supposed to have a quick dinner. But when I was done, I just realized I could not go back to my desk. I just couldn't. Ah, maybe I could watch "The Wedding Crashers." After all, as they say, laughter is the best medicine. Well, it was funny all right and a great movie. But the moment I stepped out of the theater, the weather seemed to match my disposition as the rain was pouring. And I had no umbrella.
I think that's where the problem lies. I don't feel like I have an umbrella while the rain is pouring. It's like no one's got my back. And everyone around me wants a piece of me. Or no, not even just a piece, more like a chunk. Right now, though, it doesn't feel like there is enough of me to go around. I've been holding the fort wearily for far too long, and the reinforcements don't seem to be anywhere in sight. Can anyone say 'exhaustion'?
Of course I do know that holding the fort is not bad. Makes you feel like people can count on you, that you are the go-to guy who makes things happen. That you can be trusted. That's always a good thing.
But the moment people take your willingness to help out as an indicator that you exist for the sole purpose of helping them whenever they need you, then it becomes tough. No, it becomes abusive. And shitty. And sad. This week has felt shitty because it seems as though everything I do isn't working. When you try to be diplomatic, you get maligned and manhandled. When you raise your voice, you become rude and unprofessional. When you tell someone you'll get them something done, they hound you until they get it from you. When you tell people you'll help out, they all of a sudden look at you to lead. Then when you ask someone to do something for you, they don't do it. Or don't do it well so you end up stepping in anyway to fix things. What a f*cking nightmare.
And I think what simply compounds things is that it's not just one bad thing happening, but so many bad things happening all at the same time. When that happens, you just feel like you can't breathe.
Guess I'm just gonna try and hold my breath a little longer. See how things turn up...
(I'll post the fun stories about my recent trips when I am in a better mood)
Monday, August 08, 2005
Marathon-for-a-Cause for the third year in a row
Yesterday, I just ran my third Bukas Sarili Marathon-for-a-Cause. 42 gruelling kilometers over nearly 5 hours. I managed to raise P73,000 raised, and almost P160,000 when you combine it with what the other pledge runners were able to raise. Quite unbelievable really. Especially when you think that running a marathon was never really one of my life goals or in my list of things to do before I die.
I ran for a very short period of time when I was in college, largely due to the influence of the people I hung out with at the time who were all into distance running. After that, I probably didn't run long distance again until 2003. This was when I just got back from my 3-month assignment in Belgium, during which time the chocolates and beer I consumed helped me gain some unneeded weight. So when Gosh asked me in Jan 2003 if I was interested to join this 8-km race in April, I agreed to join and decided to start running again.
And from March to May 2003, I ran about 6-10km three times a week. But even then, running a marathon was still not something I planned to do. I recall leading a Time Management training session at work in early June and telling my class that running 25km was one of my long term goals. Yup, only 25km coz at the time I didn't feel a need to run any longer than that. But then, I had one very brief yet life-changing conversation with Mike before a Bukas Sarili meeting in mid-June. He asked me if I wanted to run a marathon for Bukas Sarili. I said that I didn't think I had time to train for it since it was 2 months away. He said there was no need for me to finish, I just had to try and run as far as I could. So I agreed. A few months after that, I completed my first ever marathon for charity.
In the process, I not only got fitter but I also managed to raise more than P50,000 through donations by friends and colleagues. I figured that this was something I could do every year. It was like hitting two birds with one stone - raise money for charity and stay healthy. So I did it again last year. With 6 weeks of training (kids, don't try this at home! I never intend to train for just 5 weeks for a marathon ever again), I managed to cover the same distance in less time than I did the first time. I also managed to raise P71,000.
Which brings me to my third marathon this year. What is great about this year is that it marks quite a few records. I improved on my personal best as I shaved 2 minutes off my previous record (4:52 now from 4:54 last year), and as such marks the 2nd year in a row that I bested my previous result. I also ran the longest distance without stopping to walk due to tirednes (I managed to cover 30km before my I walked; prior to this year the longest I had run without stopping was 25-26km). I also managed to raise more money (individually) than I ever have for charity, with donations from dozens of people amounting to almost P73,000! That is still not counting the pledges I will be getting from about five people who said they would donate but sometime later this year. To say that I am inspired right now by the generosity of so many of my friends is definitely an understatement. I mean, P73,000. All I can say is, wow.
Add to that the support I got while running. Ray and Quintin met up with me on their bikes at around the 20km mark (just past Jollibee). Quintin then went in search of Kendrick while Ray kept me company the rest of the way. At around 7:50, I was on my way back at around the Jollibee area when cheers welcomed me as I saw Sarah, Bunky, Joy S, Vangie, Ada, and Jaygat. Then most of them got in Bunky's car and drove to the finish line where they, along with Tess, Susie, Vince and his girlfriend greeted me with more cheers and applause. Then they joined me from breakfast at Manila Hotel where Ben, who didn't get up to his alarm clock, met up with us all. Quintin and Kendrick then joined us a several minutes later.
I recall telling Ray at some point that I couldn't believe I was running my third marathon for Bukas Sarili. In fact, I have never been as mentally prepared for a marathon as I was this year, maybe in part due to the fact that I had already done this twice before. But in terms of the distance I covered during training, I actually felt less prepared. I managed to run 20km only once, 15km once, 12.2km once, 10km a handful of times and 5km the rest of the time. In some ways that isn't as good as where I was last year (physically). Last year, despite training for only 6 weeks, I managed to run >10k three to four times and >20k twice, covering a distance of almost 28km in my longest training run. My legs and feet hurt like hell now, and that must be proof of how poorly conditioned I was this year for a 42-km run.
But then I just think about the money I helped raised that will be used to help dozens of sick patients who are having trouble paying for tests or medicine in PGH. I also look at the number of people who have been so generous with their money and with their words of encouragement (tears have welled up in my eyes a few times from the beginning of this project until now). I think of everyone who worked hard and stayed true to make sure this project was successful. I think of all that, and all of a sudden I don't feel the pain. Of course, the massage helps too. =)
Seriously though, right now, what I do feel is motivation to do this again next year. And every year after that. For as long as I can.
I ran for a very short period of time when I was in college, largely due to the influence of the people I hung out with at the time who were all into distance running. After that, I probably didn't run long distance again until 2003. This was when I just got back from my 3-month assignment in Belgium, during which time the chocolates and beer I consumed helped me gain some unneeded weight. So when Gosh asked me in Jan 2003 if I was interested to join this 8-km race in April, I agreed to join and decided to start running again.
And from March to May 2003, I ran about 6-10km three times a week. But even then, running a marathon was still not something I planned to do. I recall leading a Time Management training session at work in early June and telling my class that running 25km was one of my long term goals. Yup, only 25km coz at the time I didn't feel a need to run any longer than that. But then, I had one very brief yet life-changing conversation with Mike before a Bukas Sarili meeting in mid-June. He asked me if I wanted to run a marathon for Bukas Sarili. I said that I didn't think I had time to train for it since it was 2 months away. He said there was no need for me to finish, I just had to try and run as far as I could. So I agreed. A few months after that, I completed my first ever marathon for charity.
In the process, I not only got fitter but I also managed to raise more than P50,000 through donations by friends and colleagues. I figured that this was something I could do every year. It was like hitting two birds with one stone - raise money for charity and stay healthy. So I did it again last year. With 6 weeks of training (kids, don't try this at home! I never intend to train for just 5 weeks for a marathon ever again), I managed to cover the same distance in less time than I did the first time. I also managed to raise P71,000.
Which brings me to my third marathon this year. What is great about this year is that it marks quite a few records. I improved on my personal best as I shaved 2 minutes off my previous record (4:52 now from 4:54 last year), and as such marks the 2nd year in a row that I bested my previous result. I also ran the longest distance without stopping to walk due to tirednes (I managed to cover 30km before my I walked; prior to this year the longest I had run without stopping was 25-26km). I also managed to raise more money (individually) than I ever have for charity, with donations from dozens of people amounting to almost P73,000! That is still not counting the pledges I will be getting from about five people who said they would donate but sometime later this year. To say that I am inspired right now by the generosity of so many of my friends is definitely an understatement. I mean, P73,000. All I can say is, wow.
Add to that the support I got while running. Ray and Quintin met up with me on their bikes at around the 20km mark (just past Jollibee). Quintin then went in search of Kendrick while Ray kept me company the rest of the way. At around 7:50, I was on my way back at around the Jollibee area when cheers welcomed me as I saw Sarah, Bunky, Joy S, Vangie, Ada, and Jaygat. Then most of them got in Bunky's car and drove to the finish line where they, along with Tess, Susie, Vince and his girlfriend greeted me with more cheers and applause. Then they joined me from breakfast at Manila Hotel where Ben, who didn't get up to his alarm clock, met up with us all. Quintin and Kendrick then joined us a several minutes later.
I recall telling Ray at some point that I couldn't believe I was running my third marathon for Bukas Sarili. In fact, I have never been as mentally prepared for a marathon as I was this year, maybe in part due to the fact that I had already done this twice before. But in terms of the distance I covered during training, I actually felt less prepared. I managed to run 20km only once, 15km once, 12.2km once, 10km a handful of times and 5km the rest of the time. In some ways that isn't as good as where I was last year (physically). Last year, despite training for only 6 weeks, I managed to run >10k three to four times and >20k twice, covering a distance of almost 28km in my longest training run. My legs and feet hurt like hell now, and that must be proof of how poorly conditioned I was this year for a 42-km run.
But then I just think about the money I helped raised that will be used to help dozens of sick patients who are having trouble paying for tests or medicine in PGH. I also look at the number of people who have been so generous with their money and with their words of encouragement (tears have welled up in my eyes a few times from the beginning of this project until now). I think of everyone who worked hard and stayed true to make sure this project was successful. I think of all that, and all of a sudden I don't feel the pain. Of course, the massage helps too. =)
Seriously though, right now, what I do feel is motivation to do this again next year. And every year after that. For as long as I can.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Team building in China
(This has probably been the busiest I have been in about a year's time so my messages are coming in a lot more slowly and my posts tend to be about stuff that happened more than a week before I actually posted about it. Anyway, I hope my few readers bear with me. I should be calmer in the week of August 15, during which time I will be blogging about a lot of stuff: rafting in Cagayan de Oro, trip to Coron, my marathon for a cause, plus more. So please stay tuned! In the meantime...)
The entire Asia SNS team went to Shenzhen in China last July 24 for our annual team building event. The event itself was about 1 1/2 days long - Monday whole day + night, and Tuesday morning.
It actually started off a bit badly. On Sunday, we flew to Hong Kong via the Cathay flight that left Manila at 1230. It was actually delayed by about 45 minutes so we ended up in the HK airport at around 315. Our bus was supposed to leave HK airport at 345 and arrive in Shenzhen at 530. However, the bus ended up parking in the wrong place and it took us ages to find it, so we ended up leaving the HK airport at 430. Then when we were in Shenzhen, the bus driver couldn't find the Waterfront hotel which is where we were supposed to stay. So we ended up arriving in the hotel at 8pm. Wow! Considering that I had to leave my house at 9am to get to the airport 2 hours before my flight, you could say that I had lost my entire day to travelling!
Anyway, we had a pretty big dinner that night. Karen, Denden and I sat in the same table, and we ended eating most of the food in our table (well, Guoliang too =)), which was funny because most of the other Pinoys didn't fancy the food too much.
Monday had a lot of information sharing during the day. In the evening, we had the SNS awards. The Pinoy SNS community won a lot of awards, including my team and Grant (we tied for the Magic Innovation award) and Mhar, who won the organizational excellence award.
We also had the country presentations. There were four groups: China, Singapore, Philippines, and Japan. China performed some Chinese traditions, like taichi and dancing with fans, and Chinese rap and stuff. Singapore did a skit that revolved around Singlish (or Singaporean English). Japan performed this Japanese samba number. They ended up winning due to audience participation coz almost everyone danced along with them. However, the Pinoys put in a great performance (we later lamented that we shouldn't have joined the Japanese group when they invited us to dance with them because the audience impact cost us the top prize hehehe).
Our presentation started off with a spoof of what was going on in Philippine politics: Mando as Erap and Jobim as Ping were trying to take the presidency from Beni as GMA (they were terribly funny!). Then Paolo announced that Pinoys all over the country had united in cultural performances to celebrate unity (which was kinda the theme that night). Then it started off with an incredibly professional-looking Ifugao dance number (to the tune of 'Magkaugnay') from Karen and Erwin, who were in full authentic costume (they also won best costume that night). Then Denden, Mhar, Eric, and Ivan did a Muslim dance number. Tina, Lourdes, and Ava then performed Pandango sa Ilaw. The boys - Grant, Reden, Pabs and I - followed with a semi-funny Hagibis dance number in our barongs. We ended the night with a grand song performance, led by Denz, of "Isang Mundo, Isang Awit" which is the 80s song by Leah Navarro that says 'I love you' in multiple languages, including Japanese and Chinese (much to the delight of our audience). A pretty good performance, if I do say so myself. =)
My other personal highlight for that offsite was the fact that I joined this eating contest with Mando as my teammate, and while he had to eat polvoron, I had to consume a Japanese cracker that was dripping with intensely spicy wasabi. My tolerance for hot & spicy food has never really been good, so you can just guess what happened when I had to eat that. =)
The entire Asia SNS team went to Shenzhen in China last July 24 for our annual team building event. The event itself was about 1 1/2 days long - Monday whole day + night, and Tuesday morning.
It actually started off a bit badly. On Sunday, we flew to Hong Kong via the Cathay flight that left Manila at 1230. It was actually delayed by about 45 minutes so we ended up in the HK airport at around 315. Our bus was supposed to leave HK airport at 345 and arrive in Shenzhen at 530. However, the bus ended up parking in the wrong place and it took us ages to find it, so we ended up leaving the HK airport at 430. Then when we were in Shenzhen, the bus driver couldn't find the Waterfront hotel which is where we were supposed to stay. So we ended up arriving in the hotel at 8pm. Wow! Considering that I had to leave my house at 9am to get to the airport 2 hours before my flight, you could say that I had lost my entire day to travelling!
Anyway, we had a pretty big dinner that night. Karen, Denden and I sat in the same table, and we ended eating most of the food in our table (well, Guoliang too =)), which was funny because most of the other Pinoys didn't fancy the food too much.
Monday had a lot of information sharing during the day. In the evening, we had the SNS awards. The Pinoy SNS community won a lot of awards, including my team and Grant (we tied for the Magic Innovation award) and Mhar, who won the organizational excellence award.
We also had the country presentations. There were four groups: China, Singapore, Philippines, and Japan. China performed some Chinese traditions, like taichi and dancing with fans, and Chinese rap and stuff. Singapore did a skit that revolved around Singlish (or Singaporean English). Japan performed this Japanese samba number. They ended up winning due to audience participation coz almost everyone danced along with them. However, the Pinoys put in a great performance (we later lamented that we shouldn't have joined the Japanese group when they invited us to dance with them because the audience impact cost us the top prize hehehe).
Our presentation started off with a spoof of what was going on in Philippine politics: Mando as Erap and Jobim as Ping were trying to take the presidency from Beni as GMA (they were terribly funny!). Then Paolo announced that Pinoys all over the country had united in cultural performances to celebrate unity (which was kinda the theme that night). Then it started off with an incredibly professional-looking Ifugao dance number (to the tune of 'Magkaugnay') from Karen and Erwin, who were in full authentic costume (they also won best costume that night). Then Denden, Mhar, Eric, and Ivan did a Muslim dance number. Tina, Lourdes, and Ava then performed Pandango sa Ilaw. The boys - Grant, Reden, Pabs and I - followed with a semi-funny Hagibis dance number in our barongs. We ended the night with a grand song performance, led by Denz, of "Isang Mundo, Isang Awit" which is the 80s song by Leah Navarro that says 'I love you' in multiple languages, including Japanese and Chinese (much to the delight of our audience). A pretty good performance, if I do say so myself. =)
My other personal highlight for that offsite was the fact that I joined this eating contest with Mando as my teammate, and while he had to eat polvoron, I had to consume a Japanese cracker that was dripping with intensely spicy wasabi. My tolerance for hot & spicy food has never really been good, so you can just guess what happened when I had to eat that. =)
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
My latest achievement
I worked out in the gym again yesterday. One of the exercises I did was, well actually I just realized I don't what it is called. Essentially I get on this apparatus and I bend my upper body so that it is makes a right angle with my legs then I use my lower back to pull my upper body right back up. The purpose of this is so that I strengthen my lower back. Anyway, to stretch your lower back after this workout, you have to just bend at the waist and reach down without bending your knees. I had my eyes closed while stretching when all of a sudden I just realized that I had touched my shoes!
Now, I actually do not recall the last time I was able to do this. I think it was in high school at least, and quite possibly in college, but I haven't been able to reach down that low in the last 7-8 years.
So when I felt the tops of my shoes, I was quite surprised. So much so, in fact, that I thought that maybe I bent my knees. So I tried it again, and not only did I confirm that I wasn't bending my knees, this time I was also able to reach my toes. Wow! I was feeling mightly flexible, or well at least more flexible than I have been in recent memory. =) So since I was feeling lucky, I decided to press my luck and see if I could reach the floor. Well, well, well, I could! I was so impressed that I started telling everyone. In fact, I am so impressed that I am even blogging about it now hahaha!
Anyway, I guess it is not really such a big deal. But I guess the fact is that I wasn't expecting it. I have lost weight, reduced my body fat, strengthened my muscles, and improved my endurance. I simply forgot that improving your flexibility is also one of the benefits of exercising well and regularly. Cool. =)
Now, I actually do not recall the last time I was able to do this. I think it was in high school at least, and quite possibly in college, but I haven't been able to reach down that low in the last 7-8 years.
So when I felt the tops of my shoes, I was quite surprised. So much so, in fact, that I thought that maybe I bent my knees. So I tried it again, and not only did I confirm that I wasn't bending my knees, this time I was also able to reach my toes. Wow! I was feeling mightly flexible, or well at least more flexible than I have been in recent memory. =) So since I was feeling lucky, I decided to press my luck and see if I could reach the floor. Well, well, well, I could! I was so impressed that I started telling everyone. In fact, I am so impressed that I am even blogging about it now hahaha!
Anyway, I guess it is not really such a big deal. But I guess the fact is that I wasn't expecting it. I have lost weight, reduced my body fat, strengthened my muscles, and improved my endurance. I simply forgot that improving your flexibility is also one of the benefits of exercising well and regularly. Cool. =)
Monday, July 11, 2005
Richie's despedida
A friend of mine from the office, Richie, got into UC Berkeley and so we had an overnight despedida for him in Clark two weekends ago. We had very little sleep when we were there, which is always expected, but it was definitely a whole lot of fun!
We first met up in Jack's Loft in Eastwood, where some folks had a bit of a late lunch. Yeah, I know, it is not very normal to have an out of town trip where we leave in the afternoon, but Meann and I are not an early morning people, so I recommended to her that we just leave after lunch (she was organizing it so at the end of the day, she could call the time). I got there at around 215pm and Richie, Meann, Karen, Daniel, Marc, and Tanya were there. Tanya was actually not going to join us in Clark but since she wanted to see Richie off, she joined us for lunch. Jayan was going to meet up with us in the Petron station along NLEX while Daniel would pick Andie up on the way.
We arrived in our Holiday Inn 2-bedroom Suite at around 5-530pm and as it was a bit too early for dinner, we decided to do one round of Taboo. First team to score 30 points would win. Our team consisted of Karen, Meann, Daniel and myself. The other team had Richie, Andie, Jayan, and Marc. This first round of Taboo was a blowout. Our team won fairly easily.
By the time we finished, it was time for dinner. We first headed out to Pure Gold to get some groceries like beer, water, and junk food. The problem was, there was no lime or lemon or calamansi or salt in Pure Gold and we needed those for, what else? Tequila! (Actually I have sworn of Tequila already but the rest still needed it). So we figured we'd just get some from the hotel during dinner. We headed to the main restaurant at Holiday Inn and had dinner there, and then Meann asked the waiter if she could have some salt and a knife brought to our room. The waiter said sure, and did we want any calamansi as well. Hahaha he saw right through us! Naturally since he offered and we needed it, we accepted his offer and by the time dinner was over we were back in our room.
Richie then got presented with his despedida gift - a scrap book with pictures and messages from everyone. Afterwhich we played Taboo again. This time, the team who scored 50 points first would win, and the previous teams were jumbled up - I was now in a team with Jayan, Andie, and Daniel. This round, my team still won but with a smaller margin. Funny thing, in our first round, Jayan, Daniel and I all got zero words and Andie got six. We thought for sure we would lose but we managed to put in a good comeback. Afterwards we decided to play our last round of Taboo. I was now in a team with Karen, Marc, and Andie. At this point, it was only Richie and Marc who had not won so it came down to a battle between the two of them to find out who the jinx was =). Initially their team had a good lead, then towards the end our team had a good lead. But finally we both ended up in a tie at 49-all!!! So whichever team scored more points in the next round would win. Daniel was saying we needed to let their team win because it was Richie's despedida and we can't have the guest of honor be the jinx. But well anyone who's ever met a proctoid will know that we are all competitive people so we refused to give in hahaha. In the end we won by 1 point!!! Richie became the jinx and that was the last Taboo game we played.
It was now time to start the Videoke challenge! Jayan plugged in the Magic Sing, which Richie specifically requested that we bring, while we played Pusoy Dos and Uno. Richie initially got the highest score of 91 with his rendition of Desperado, which apparently is his flagship song in Videoke bars. Not that the scoring really accounts for anything, but Richie's high score stood for a long while until I got a 95 (can't remember with what song). Karen got a couple of 94's as well. This was around the time that we started taking all these wacky pictures. It was also the time that Daniel kept wanting me to sing Coldplay songs, before deciding he would sing them himself. At some point we had a random song selected and Karma Chameleon came up. I decided to sing it and lo and behold, I got a 99! Jayan had actually folded earlier in the night but then he woke up while we were all tired of singing and started singing the same songs he had sung earlier in the night!!! And Daniel had started to sing Clocks a few times. Around 5am we decided to call it a night/day/whatever.
Almost everyone got up around 11am on Sunday and so we all just packed up. Only two cans of beer were left although there was still a bottle of something that remained untouched. We had breakfast, er lunch, in this Chinese restaurant on the way out of the Clark area (also next to a Pure Gold) before we all split up.
We first met up in Jack's Loft in Eastwood, where some folks had a bit of a late lunch. Yeah, I know, it is not very normal to have an out of town trip where we leave in the afternoon, but Meann and I are not an early morning people, so I recommended to her that we just leave after lunch (she was organizing it so at the end of the day, she could call the time). I got there at around 215pm and Richie, Meann, Karen, Daniel, Marc, and Tanya were there. Tanya was actually not going to join us in Clark but since she wanted to see Richie off, she joined us for lunch. Jayan was going to meet up with us in the Petron station along NLEX while Daniel would pick Andie up on the way.
We arrived in our Holiday Inn 2-bedroom Suite at around 5-530pm and as it was a bit too early for dinner, we decided to do one round of Taboo. First team to score 30 points would win. Our team consisted of Karen, Meann, Daniel and myself. The other team had Richie, Andie, Jayan, and Marc. This first round of Taboo was a blowout. Our team won fairly easily.
By the time we finished, it was time for dinner. We first headed out to Pure Gold to get some groceries like beer, water, and junk food. The problem was, there was no lime or lemon or calamansi or salt in Pure Gold and we needed those for, what else? Tequila! (Actually I have sworn of Tequila already but the rest still needed it). So we figured we'd just get some from the hotel during dinner. We headed to the main restaurant at Holiday Inn and had dinner there, and then Meann asked the waiter if she could have some salt and a knife brought to our room. The waiter said sure, and did we want any calamansi as well. Hahaha he saw right through us! Naturally since he offered and we needed it, we accepted his offer and by the time dinner was over we were back in our room.
Richie then got presented with his despedida gift - a scrap book with pictures and messages from everyone. Afterwhich we played Taboo again. This time, the team who scored 50 points first would win, and the previous teams were jumbled up - I was now in a team with Jayan, Andie, and Daniel. This round, my team still won but with a smaller margin. Funny thing, in our first round, Jayan, Daniel and I all got zero words and Andie got six. We thought for sure we would lose but we managed to put in a good comeback. Afterwards we decided to play our last round of Taboo. I was now in a team with Karen, Marc, and Andie. At this point, it was only Richie and Marc who had not won so it came down to a battle between the two of them to find out who the jinx was =). Initially their team had a good lead, then towards the end our team had a good lead. But finally we both ended up in a tie at 49-all!!! So whichever team scored more points in the next round would win. Daniel was saying we needed to let their team win because it was Richie's despedida and we can't have the guest of honor be the jinx. But well anyone who's ever met a proctoid will know that we are all competitive people so we refused to give in hahaha. In the end we won by 1 point!!! Richie became the jinx and that was the last Taboo game we played.
It was now time to start the Videoke challenge! Jayan plugged in the Magic Sing, which Richie specifically requested that we bring, while we played Pusoy Dos and Uno. Richie initially got the highest score of 91 with his rendition of Desperado, which apparently is his flagship song in Videoke bars. Not that the scoring really accounts for anything, but Richie's high score stood for a long while until I got a 95 (can't remember with what song). Karen got a couple of 94's as well. This was around the time that we started taking all these wacky pictures. It was also the time that Daniel kept wanting me to sing Coldplay songs, before deciding he would sing them himself. At some point we had a random song selected and Karma Chameleon came up. I decided to sing it and lo and behold, I got a 99! Jayan had actually folded earlier in the night but then he woke up while we were all tired of singing and started singing the same songs he had sung earlier in the night!!! And Daniel had started to sing Clocks a few times. Around 5am we decided to call it a night/day/whatever.
Almost everyone got up around 11am on Sunday and so we all just packed up. Only two cans of beer were left although there was still a bottle of something that remained untouched. We had breakfast, er lunch, in this Chinese restaurant on the way out of the Clark area (also next to a Pure Gold) before we all split up.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Flipside
Okay, not really a good idea to end the work week on a low note. So let me note three great things that happened this week.
#1
Although it was the incredibly sad death of Amor that brought Amy and Duncan to Manila along with Lucas, it is absolutely great that I get to see them again and spend time with them. And after all the problems that Amy had with respect to coming home without having her US work visa yet (it has already been approved but hasn't been stamped on her passport yet), she was able to get an early appointment next week, so it looks like all three of them will able to go the US all at the same time.
#2
I am watching Fantastic Four with Pia, Joh, Raffa, Che, Meann, Tim, Peegee, and Paulo tonight at Greenbelt 3 right after I finish posting this message in my blog. =) I heard the movie is fun, so I am looking forward to watching it. Also heard Jessica Alba has a scene in only her underwear which guys should look out for. Can't wait. =)
#3
I had a mini-reunion with old CDB teammates. Funny thing, it was such a stressful week that I wanted to have lunch with someone who I don't get to see fairly often. So I asked Tina if she wanted to have lunch and she said sure. On our way out of the office, we ran into Gosh who was going to have lunch by himself (turns out all three of us have the uncommon habit of eating lunch alone) so he joined us and we ate a healthy lunch in Soup Kitchen. Tina said it's too bad the other CDB folks weren't with us so I suggested to her that she organize a lunch with them next Friday. Hopefully that pans out.
So there you go, the week ain't all that bad after all. =)
#1
Although it was the incredibly sad death of Amor that brought Amy and Duncan to Manila along with Lucas, it is absolutely great that I get to see them again and spend time with them. And after all the problems that Amy had with respect to coming home without having her US work visa yet (it has already been approved but hasn't been stamped on her passport yet), she was able to get an early appointment next week, so it looks like all three of them will able to go the US all at the same time.
#2
I am watching Fantastic Four with Pia, Joh, Raffa, Che, Meann, Tim, Peegee, and Paulo tonight at Greenbelt 3 right after I finish posting this message in my blog. =) I heard the movie is fun, so I am looking forward to watching it. Also heard Jessica Alba has a scene in only her underwear which guys should look out for. Can't wait. =)
#3
I had a mini-reunion with old CDB teammates. Funny thing, it was such a stressful week that I wanted to have lunch with someone who I don't get to see fairly often. So I asked Tina if she wanted to have lunch and she said sure. On our way out of the office, we ran into Gosh who was going to have lunch by himself (turns out all three of us have the uncommon habit of eating lunch alone) so he joined us and we ate a healthy lunch in Soup Kitchen. Tina said it's too bad the other CDB folks weren't with us so I suggested to her that she organize a lunch with them next Friday. Hopefully that pans out.
So there you go, the week ain't all that bad after all. =)
Checking in
Well it's been quite some time since I posted my last message but the last week has really been one of the most stressful weeks I've had in a while. For a whole variety of reasons.
Last week, Amy, Duncan and Lucas came home from Cincinnati because Amy's sister, Amor, was taken to the ICU. Unfortunately, when they got here, Amor had already passed away. The necrological services were held on Sunday night from around 830-1030pm and the cremation was on Monday early morning. Due to work I was no longer able to go to the cremation, but I was able to go to the wake on Saturday night as well as the necrological service on Sunday.
I also got sick last Tuesday. And it was such a bad time to get sick. I had two meetings at work, a band meeting and a jam at night, and I had a couple of deadlines on Wednesday. Since I got sick, I was unable to attend those meetings and my band meeting/practice. And when I got to the office on Wednesday, I felt like I was on turbo mode since I had those deadlines to meet.
Then this is also the first week in the last month that I had to cancel going to the gym. My personal trainer was only free on Friday at 5pm but since my Friday afternoon was free, I agreed to have a training session with him then. Unfortunately, I was informed only on Friday morning that I had a very important meeting I had to attend from 430-530pm. So I had to cancel my gym session. In the last month, this will be the first time that I will not be able to exercise for more than 2 days in a row. And that really pains me, especially since the rainy season has arrived which has massively screwed up me tennis lessons.
The Bukas Sarili Christmas card project is also not going very well. We only have two approved designs so far - the plan was that we would have ten designs by end-May. I am not completely sure what to do now. This will surely be hot topic in tomorrow's monthly meeting.
And finally, this whole GMA wiretapping issue. Before Gloria admitted that it was her voice on the recording, the buzz was that there would be no demand for Gloria to step down from the business sector. However, because GMA did acknowledge that she was indeed caught on tape, the business sector have now started protesting on the streets of Ayala, demanding that GMA step down. If she doesn't step down, I don't know what could happen. And if she does, I don't know what would happen. Such a fine mess we are in.
Times like these, I just have to think: this, too, shall pass.
Last week, Amy, Duncan and Lucas came home from Cincinnati because Amy's sister, Amor, was taken to the ICU. Unfortunately, when they got here, Amor had already passed away. The necrological services were held on Sunday night from around 830-1030pm and the cremation was on Monday early morning. Due to work I was no longer able to go to the cremation, but I was able to go to the wake on Saturday night as well as the necrological service on Sunday.
I also got sick last Tuesday. And it was such a bad time to get sick. I had two meetings at work, a band meeting and a jam at night, and I had a couple of deadlines on Wednesday. Since I got sick, I was unable to attend those meetings and my band meeting/practice. And when I got to the office on Wednesday, I felt like I was on turbo mode since I had those deadlines to meet.
Then this is also the first week in the last month that I had to cancel going to the gym. My personal trainer was only free on Friday at 5pm but since my Friday afternoon was free, I agreed to have a training session with him then. Unfortunately, I was informed only on Friday morning that I had a very important meeting I had to attend from 430-530pm. So I had to cancel my gym session. In the last month, this will be the first time that I will not be able to exercise for more than 2 days in a row. And that really pains me, especially since the rainy season has arrived which has massively screwed up me tennis lessons.
The Bukas Sarili Christmas card project is also not going very well. We only have two approved designs so far - the plan was that we would have ten designs by end-May. I am not completely sure what to do now. This will surely be hot topic in tomorrow's monthly meeting.
And finally, this whole GMA wiretapping issue. Before Gloria admitted that it was her voice on the recording, the buzz was that there would be no demand for Gloria to step down from the business sector. However, because GMA did acknowledge that she was indeed caught on tape, the business sector have now started protesting on the streets of Ayala, demanding that GMA step down. If she doesn't step down, I don't know what could happen. And if she does, I don't know what would happen. Such a fine mess we are in.
Times like these, I just have to think: this, too, shall pass.
Friday, July 01, 2005
The ultimate 21-day challenger
The results of the 21-day challenge program were announced in a simple ceremony over lunch today. And guess what? I swept all the awards that I could get yahoo!!! Interestingly enough, when this whole thing started, I didn't really want to even try and win it since I wanted to eat junk food and break my calorie limit fairly often. But then two things happened: (1) I started losing a lot of weight and body fat percentage, and (2) I placed first in both weeks 1 and 2. I then started thinking, what the heck, I might as well try and win the whole thing.
So now I have twenty more sessions in Gold's gym for free, as well as gift cheques totaling P1,000 in Toby's (which I will use to buy gloves to use in the gym). So what awards did I win that got me these cool prizes?
1. Most total points earned, individual male
I actually didn't score the most number of points. I think a couple of girls in another team managed to get more points in total than I did. But since there was a male and a female category, I lucked out. Guess all the sacrifice paid off somehow.
2. Most weight lost, individual
This one I absolutely dominated. In three weeks, I went from 165lbs to 153lbs. That's 12 lbs lost! I think after my 12 lbs, the next most weight lost is about 7.5lbs. Chalk it up to a lot of exercise (about an hour per day on average for 3 weeks) and the near-elimination of desserts from my diet.
3. Most total points earned, team
This one was tight, but the huge lead we built in week 1, plus the fact that we had three people on weight maintenance who maintained their weight (and gave us full bonus points) put us slightly ahead at the end of the day.
4. Most weight lost, team
This one was a tie, where the average weight lost was about 4.25lbs per person. Thankfully, the total weight I lost was enough to pull our average up.
So what did I do after this? I ate a lot of food hahaha. But don't think those 21 days were for nothing coz I spent 2 1/2 hours in the gym working out my legs, triceps, and abs, as well as doing cardiovascular exercises.
My short-term goal now is to have a chest that bulges out and a tummy that doesn't. Still a long ways to go but at least I am on the right direction.
So now I have twenty more sessions in Gold's gym for free, as well as gift cheques totaling P1,000 in Toby's (which I will use to buy gloves to use in the gym). So what awards did I win that got me these cool prizes?
1. Most total points earned, individual male
I actually didn't score the most number of points. I think a couple of girls in another team managed to get more points in total than I did. But since there was a male and a female category, I lucked out. Guess all the sacrifice paid off somehow.
2. Most weight lost, individual
This one I absolutely dominated. In three weeks, I went from 165lbs to 153lbs. That's 12 lbs lost! I think after my 12 lbs, the next most weight lost is about 7.5lbs. Chalk it up to a lot of exercise (about an hour per day on average for 3 weeks) and the near-elimination of desserts from my diet.
3. Most total points earned, team
This one was tight, but the huge lead we built in week 1, plus the fact that we had three people on weight maintenance who maintained their weight (and gave us full bonus points) put us slightly ahead at the end of the day.
4. Most weight lost, team
This one was a tie, where the average weight lost was about 4.25lbs per person. Thankfully, the total weight I lost was enough to pull our average up.
So what did I do after this? I ate a lot of food hahaha. But don't think those 21 days were for nothing coz I spent 2 1/2 hours in the gym working out my legs, triceps, and abs, as well as doing cardiovascular exercises.
My short-term goal now is to have a chest that bulges out and a tummy that doesn't. Still a long ways to go but at least I am on the right direction.
Talking about movies
I got tagged by Tanya to do this, because she thought that I would have a lot of fun answering this. Haha well she is right! So here goes:
Total number of films I own on DVD/video:
Being the OC I am, I actually put together an excel spreadsheet of all the DVDs, VCDs, and CDs that I have. Why, you ask? Well, once I wanted to listen to a couple of music CDs to rehearse a song that I needed to sing in a wedding, and lo and behold it was not in my room. I figured I needed some place to keep track of everything I had (plus the fact that Duncan had once mentioned to me that he had an inventory of all his CDs). Anyway, at the time I put the list together I had 42 DVDs and 17 VCds (well, I have a box set of all the Voltes V episodes, but I considered that to be only one video in my list). However, as you might have read in previous posts, I have bought quite a few more videos recently. So I guess I must be up to about 50 or so DVDs and 60 or so DVDs.
The last film I bought:
Wimbledon. Chick flick, I know, but the fact that it's a tennis movie made me appreciate it enough to want to own it. I recall watching it and being almost as tense as if I was watching a match involving Steffi or any other player I am rooting for at the time.
The last film I watched:
In the cinema, it was Mr. & Mrs. Smith. On video, hmm, I think Wimbledon as well. Hehe, well I can't help it. The actual Wimbledon tennis tournament is ongoing so I tennis is kinda 'in' right now.
Films that I watch a lot or mean a lot to me:
Ack, where do I start? The entire Star Wars series - I must've watched episodes 4-6 (esp 6) dozens upon dozens of times already. Episodes 1 and 2 I have watched much less but mainly because they came in several years after I had watched the first trilogy a lot already. Here are a few others (maybe in the future I will dedicate an entire post to this answer hehehe):
Total number of films I own on DVD/video:
Being the OC I am, I actually put together an excel spreadsheet of all the DVDs, VCDs, and CDs that I have. Why, you ask? Well, once I wanted to listen to a couple of music CDs to rehearse a song that I needed to sing in a wedding, and lo and behold it was not in my room. I figured I needed some place to keep track of everything I had (plus the fact that Duncan had once mentioned to me that he had an inventory of all his CDs). Anyway, at the time I put the list together I had 42 DVDs and 17 VCds (well, I have a box set of all the Voltes V episodes, but I considered that to be only one video in my list). However, as you might have read in previous posts, I have bought quite a few more videos recently. So I guess I must be up to about 50 or so DVDs and 60 or so DVDs.
The last film I bought:
Wimbledon. Chick flick, I know, but the fact that it's a tennis movie made me appreciate it enough to want to own it. I recall watching it and being almost as tense as if I was watching a match involving Steffi or any other player I am rooting for at the time.
The last film I watched:
In the cinema, it was Mr. & Mrs. Smith. On video, hmm, I think Wimbledon as well. Hehe, well I can't help it. The actual Wimbledon tennis tournament is ongoing so I tennis is kinda 'in' right now.
Films that I watch a lot or mean a lot to me:
Ack, where do I start? The entire Star Wars series - I must've watched episodes 4-6 (esp 6) dozens upon dozens of times already. Episodes 1 and 2 I have watched much less but mainly because they came in several years after I had watched the first trilogy a lot already. Here are a few others (maybe in the future I will dedicate an entire post to this answer hehehe):
- The Incredibles - I've talked about this one before
- Sixth Sense - for the final scene but moreso for the scene before it where the mother realizes that her mother has been proud of her all those years
- A Few Good Men - riveting story
- The Joy Luck Club - loved the book (our whole Pisay batch did), and when I realized they were turning this into a movie, I was very skeptical. But they pulled it off, and they did it brilliantly.
- Mighty Ducks (the first one) - best underdog sports movie of all time (well, okay, for me =))
To which five people am I passing the baton and why:
Er, I don't know five people who have a blog who hasn't sent this to me or hasn't received it already from someone. So I will just put this up in my Friendster bulletin board and have anyone have a go at it. =)
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Miscellany
I think the popularity of DVD and VCD piracy has really driven video prices down. Imagine, when DVDs came out in the Philippines, they cost about P1,000 and VCDs cost about as much as a music CD (P450-ish). Now, although there are still some DVDs that cost that much, a lot of them now cost from P395-595. On the other hand, a lot of VCDs now cost P150-275. What's more is that there are always video sales wherein these prices drop even further. Last week, for instance, there was another sale in Tower Records. I took a look at the items on sale and I found two very old Jackie Chan movies - 'Drunken Master' and 'Snake in the Eagle's shadow.' When I was a kid, I used to watch a lot of Kung Fu movies on betamax with my brothers and cousins, and these movies were two of our favorites. So when I saw them on sale, I decided to purchase them, and I watched them both over the weekend. Pretty cool! Brought back a truckload of childhood memories hehehe.
*****
My nephews started school in Community of Learners this week. Actually their first day was supposed to be last Wednesday but both of them got really sick so they had to miss the first few days of school. My grandparents were also able to find a driver so that someone can take the kids to and from school (which is actually quite a distance from home). My older nephew CJ is having 'i-don't-like-school' problems, which might be coming from what we think is some trauma developed in his previous pre-school. My mom actually went to Community of Learners yesterday morning since CJ was having problems, and she says that the way they handle special children and their teaching methods are very good indeed. According to my mom, CJ is starting to warm to the idea of school again (he said 'I like school') so maybe it will just take a little more time before he gets in a groove. On the other hand, Ciera, my younger nephew, seems to be enjoying himself there quite a bit. Hopefully, Community of Learners can help them a huge lot in their development.
*****
My band, StillOz is going to having another gig tomorrow, this time in Racks in El Pueblo. It'll be our first time to play there, and is always the case when we play in a new venue, I will surely get stage fright again. I just hope we can do well in this gig as it could become another semi-regular venue for us to play in.
*****
Bo Bice's single, 'Inside your heaven' (which is the idol song) was released last Tuesday in the US (June 21). The single is now ranked #2 in both the Barnes and Noble bestseller list and Amazon.com (behind Coldplay's new hit album, X&Y - I like their new song btw). Carrie's single, which was released a week earlier, is doing fairly well too, although not as well as Bo's. It really seems to me that AI wanted two idols, as you can see by the fact that both the winner and the runner-up released the Idol song 'Inside your heaven', which has never happened before.
*****
My nephews started school in Community of Learners this week. Actually their first day was supposed to be last Wednesday but both of them got really sick so they had to miss the first few days of school. My grandparents were also able to find a driver so that someone can take the kids to and from school (which is actually quite a distance from home). My older nephew CJ is having 'i-don't-like-school' problems, which might be coming from what we think is some trauma developed in his previous pre-school. My mom actually went to Community of Learners yesterday morning since CJ was having problems, and she says that the way they handle special children and their teaching methods are very good indeed. According to my mom, CJ is starting to warm to the idea of school again (he said 'I like school') so maybe it will just take a little more time before he gets in a groove. On the other hand, Ciera, my younger nephew, seems to be enjoying himself there quite a bit. Hopefully, Community of Learners can help them a huge lot in their development.
*****
My band, StillOz is going to having another gig tomorrow, this time in Racks in El Pueblo. It'll be our first time to play there, and is always the case when we play in a new venue, I will surely get stage fright again. I just hope we can do well in this gig as it could become another semi-regular venue for us to play in.
*****
Bo Bice's single, 'Inside your heaven' (which is the idol song) was released last Tuesday in the US (June 21). The single is now ranked #2 in both the Barnes and Noble bestseller list and Amazon.com (behind Coldplay's new hit album, X&Y - I like their new song btw). Carrie's single, which was released a week earlier, is doing fairly well too, although not as well as Bo's. It really seems to me that AI wanted two idols, as you can see by the fact that both the winner and the runner-up released the Idol song 'Inside your heaven', which has never happened before.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
1st week results...
The last week has been a true test of will power on my part as I began my attempt to do well in the 21-day challenge. I managed to exercise for more than 30 minutes in five out of the first seven days of the challenge. What's even more impressive is that I have managed to say no to the following food and beverage items on several occasions: chocolate buffet, coke, coke light, chocolate mousse, wine, ice cream, Mary Grace brownies, dark chocolate, coffee bean sans rival, mange crepe, banana crepe, and beer. Also note that I had to say no to these food items during (1) my gimmick with my HP friends, (2) Gary's wedding, (3) the dinner at Mitch's place, and (4) my team dinner last night. Not exactly easy to explain to people why I can't even have one glass of wine or one spoonful of mousse (I have to keep saying that after 21 days it'll be okay and I just need to earn the points for three weeks). Me saying no to food? That's a first.
But it seems to have paid off. When I weighed myself two Mondays ago, I was 167 lbs. On Wednesday last week, I was 165lbs. And yesterday, I was about 160-161lbs. That's about 5lbs in a week, and 7lbs in 9 days. What's even better is that my body fat percentage has gone down from 31.5% to 30%. This means that of the ~5lbs I have lost, almost 4lbs are fat. I have lost 4lbs of fat! Wahoo! (Must be the near elimination of dessert in my diet).
Hopefully by the end of the month, I will be close to 150lbs and have a body fat percentage of about 28% (maybe get a six-pack along the way hehehe). Not a bad thing to pull off before I turn 30. =)
But it seems to have paid off. When I weighed myself two Mondays ago, I was 167 lbs. On Wednesday last week, I was 165lbs. And yesterday, I was about 160-161lbs. That's about 5lbs in a week, and 7lbs in 9 days. What's even better is that my body fat percentage has gone down from 31.5% to 30%. This means that of the ~5lbs I have lost, almost 4lbs are fat. I have lost 4lbs of fat! Wahoo! (Must be the near elimination of dessert in my diet).
Hopefully by the end of the month, I will be close to 150lbs and have a body fat percentage of about 28% (maybe get a six-pack along the way hehehe). Not a bad thing to pull off before I turn 30. =)
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Performance night
Last night was a pretty showbiz night for me, what with the partial repeat of our Walang Kupas play and the StillOz gig in Ponti.
The Walang Kupas play we did last May was such a hit that there has been such a demand for a repeat performance. The thing, though, is that it is more than an hour long and not really a lot of people have patience to sit through an entire musical unless it was something like Les Mis or Miss Saigon. So for the company event we had yesterday, we just performed a total of 5 scenes: the opening scene, leading into the laundry scene, then the miracle scene, then the sari-sari store scene, then the finale. Now in the original performance, we had 10 dancers with us, as well as stage actor Noel Rayos performing the role of 'Kulayaw' the narrator. In this 15-minute excerpt of the play, we naturally did not have the budget for Noel and the dancers (which is okay because we had a smaller stage). So the entire cast ended up as the dancers (that is, whenever they weren't supposed to have any other part), and the role of Kulayaw was given to me. I ended up making a lip-sync mistake in the opening song, and I almost forgot one of my lines in the miracle scene, but I think all in all I was okay. And as a group, we put in a great performance (I'll try to post some pictures here soon) that got us a standing ovation. Cool. =)
I wish I could say the same for the StillOz performance in Ponti later that night, or well at least the 1st set. Our 1st set last night was one of our worst performances ever, definitely the worst in recent history. Our sound check was actually good, but then for some reason we were not in sync with each other. I think we picked up finally with 'Grey Street' (although I have to say I was unable to complete the 17 second sustain in that song, which is quite unfortunate because I nailed it during practice. Oh well, I still managed to sustain the note for about 13 seconds which is definitely nothing to sneeze at). However, the best performance of the set and probably of the night was 'Far Behind' by Candlebox, which we performed right after 'Grey Street'. I used to shy away from that song because it is really difficult to sing, but after realizing that a lot of the songs we do right now are just as difficult, we decided to finally put it in our repertoire. And boy did the audience love that performance. Our 2nd set was definitely much better (we managed to play 3 requested songs from the audience, including what I think is one of our best covers of 'Scientist' by Coldplay), but we definitely need to shape up for our next gig on June 24.
Funny thing, one of our visitors from Germany who is in Manila this week to meet up with my team asked me if maybe I was in the wrong business. Hehe, unfortunately I am a bit too old to try and enter showbiz right now. Maybe if our local singing festivals increase the age limit to 30 I have a chance. Oh if only we still had 'Bagong Kampeon,' then I could join the 'Pwede pa kami' portion hahaha!
The Walang Kupas play we did last May was such a hit that there has been such a demand for a repeat performance. The thing, though, is that it is more than an hour long and not really a lot of people have patience to sit through an entire musical unless it was something like Les Mis or Miss Saigon. So for the company event we had yesterday, we just performed a total of 5 scenes: the opening scene, leading into the laundry scene, then the miracle scene, then the sari-sari store scene, then the finale. Now in the original performance, we had 10 dancers with us, as well as stage actor Noel Rayos performing the role of 'Kulayaw' the narrator. In this 15-minute excerpt of the play, we naturally did not have the budget for Noel and the dancers (which is okay because we had a smaller stage). So the entire cast ended up as the dancers (that is, whenever they weren't supposed to have any other part), and the role of Kulayaw was given to me. I ended up making a lip-sync mistake in the opening song, and I almost forgot one of my lines in the miracle scene, but I think all in all I was okay. And as a group, we put in a great performance (I'll try to post some pictures here soon) that got us a standing ovation. Cool. =)
I wish I could say the same for the StillOz performance in Ponti later that night, or well at least the 1st set. Our 1st set last night was one of our worst performances ever, definitely the worst in recent history. Our sound check was actually good, but then for some reason we were not in sync with each other. I think we picked up finally with 'Grey Street' (although I have to say I was unable to complete the 17 second sustain in that song, which is quite unfortunate because I nailed it during practice. Oh well, I still managed to sustain the note for about 13 seconds which is definitely nothing to sneeze at). However, the best performance of the set and probably of the night was 'Far Behind' by Candlebox, which we performed right after 'Grey Street'. I used to shy away from that song because it is really difficult to sing, but after realizing that a lot of the songs we do right now are just as difficult, we decided to finally put it in our repertoire. And boy did the audience love that performance. Our 2nd set was definitely much better (we managed to play 3 requested songs from the audience, including what I think is one of our best covers of 'Scientist' by Coldplay), but we definitely need to shape up for our next gig on June 24.
Funny thing, one of our visitors from Germany who is in Manila this week to meet up with my team asked me if maybe I was in the wrong business. Hehe, unfortunately I am a bit too old to try and enter showbiz right now. Maybe if our local singing festivals increase the age limit to 30 I have a chance. Oh if only we still had 'Bagong Kampeon,' then I could join the 'Pwede pa kami' portion hahaha!
Monday, June 13, 2005
Hanging out with friends
With all the stuff that had been keeping me busy over the last month or so, I haven't really been able to spend a lot of time with some of my other friends who I don't get to see on a regular basis (i.e. people from work, StillOz or Bukas Sarili folks). So it was great to get a chance to actually hang out with a lot of them over the last 4 days.
Last Thursday was Paulo's birthday, but since he had a big presentation for his MBA class on Friday, we decided to celebrate his birthday with him after his presentation. We ended up at the Pen lobby - Paulo, Raffa, Joh, Tim, Che, Meann, Pia, Hannah and John Q. It was a lot of fun seeing them again as I think it had been about more than a month since I saw them all last.
On Saturday, Gary and Winnie got married and Mitch, Anna, Iona, and I were all invited. What was cool was that Mike L, Monique, and Rona G were all there, and it had been ages since I saw them last. Also there were (the other) Rona and ID and Jude and Pia, and I haven't seem them in an even longer time.
On Sunday, I met up with Mitch, Anna, and Iona again at Mitch's place, but this time with Joyce for dinner and videoke. Rommel came by some time later as did Myra and her boyfriend Jun. Dinner was great and it was lots of fun. We ended up leaving at around 2am. Not exactly sure whether our singing (or my loud voice) kept Mitch's neighbors up. Oh well. =)
Then today, I had rehearsal for the Walang Kupas partial repeat so I spent the afternoon with Donna, Stelz, Denz, Queena, Ghe, Mark, Ivy, Neyna, and Janet, as well as the staff and crew. A lot of fun as it always is when hanging out with these people.
Finally, I am going out for coffee and a movie tonight with Diane and maybe Dale. I haven't seen Diane since she left for Cincinnati (gosh, when was that exactly?) which was probably the same time I saw Dale last. We plan to see Mr. & Mrs. Smith and I can't wait to hear the super super hot Angelina Jolie say "Who's your daddy now?" Ahh, if only I were Brad...
Last Thursday was Paulo's birthday, but since he had a big presentation for his MBA class on Friday, we decided to celebrate his birthday with him after his presentation. We ended up at the Pen lobby - Paulo, Raffa, Joh, Tim, Che, Meann, Pia, Hannah and John Q. It was a lot of fun seeing them again as I think it had been about more than a month since I saw them all last.
On Saturday, Gary and Winnie got married and Mitch, Anna, Iona, and I were all invited. What was cool was that Mike L, Monique, and Rona G were all there, and it had been ages since I saw them last. Also there were (the other) Rona and ID and Jude and Pia, and I haven't seem them in an even longer time.
On Sunday, I met up with Mitch, Anna, and Iona again at Mitch's place, but this time with Joyce for dinner and videoke. Rommel came by some time later as did Myra and her boyfriend Jun. Dinner was great and it was lots of fun. We ended up leaving at around 2am. Not exactly sure whether our singing (or my loud voice) kept Mitch's neighbors up. Oh well. =)
Then today, I had rehearsal for the Walang Kupas partial repeat so I spent the afternoon with Donna, Stelz, Denz, Queena, Ghe, Mark, Ivy, Neyna, and Janet, as well as the staff and crew. A lot of fun as it always is when hanging out with these people.
Finally, I am going out for coffee and a movie tonight with Diane and maybe Dale. I haven't seen Diane since she left for Cincinnati (gosh, when was that exactly?) which was probably the same time I saw Dale last. We plan to see Mr. & Mrs. Smith and I can't wait to hear the super super hot Angelina Jolie say "Who's your daddy now?" Ahh, if only I were Brad...
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
The 21-day challenge begins
Today is the first day of our 21-day challenge. What exactly is it, you may ask? Well basically it's a program we have in the office where participants try to gain healthy habits and lose unhealthy ones, and as part of this you get free use of Gold's gym (well, free for the participants, but the company pays for it of course).
At the start of the challenge, you have to declare what you need to accomplish at the end of the 21 days. This means you either maintain your current weight, gain weight, or in my case lose weight. The company doctor checks your height, weight and body fat percentage before the start of the event and confirms whether your target goal is appropriate for you.
So what does that mean for me? Well, for starters, I need to consume only about 2000-2200 calories a day. That means smaller portions! To add insult to injury, all junk food (which includes sweets like cakes, brownies, pastries, and cookies.) So today, for breakfast I had cereal with low fat milk, for lunch I had a diet coke, a can of tuna, a cup of rice and a guava, and for snack I had another small box of cereal with low fat milk. Haven't had dinner yet (and boy am I HUNGRY!), but I think I can eat up to about 700 calories without going over.
I don't really think this is sustainable over the long run. However, one great thing about this free use of the gym is that we also get 10 free sessions with a personal trainer (which would otherwise cost a LOT of money) so I am now targetting to lose an inch or two around my waist and buff up my upper body and arms a bit. That way I can pull off the tight fitting shirts that I 'have' to wear during our gigs a little more. =)
At the start of the challenge, you have to declare what you need to accomplish at the end of the 21 days. This means you either maintain your current weight, gain weight, or in my case lose weight. The company doctor checks your height, weight and body fat percentage before the start of the event and confirms whether your target goal is appropriate for you.
So what does that mean for me? Well, for starters, I need to consume only about 2000-2200 calories a day. That means smaller portions! To add insult to injury, all junk food (which includes sweets like cakes, brownies, pastries, and cookies.) So today, for breakfast I had cereal with low fat milk, for lunch I had a diet coke, a can of tuna, a cup of rice and a guava, and for snack I had another small box of cereal with low fat milk. Haven't had dinner yet (and boy am I HUNGRY!), but I think I can eat up to about 700 calories without going over.
I don't really think this is sustainable over the long run. However, one great thing about this free use of the gym is that we also get 10 free sessions with a personal trainer (which would otherwise cost a LOT of money) so I am now targetting to lose an inch or two around my waist and buff up my upper body and arms a bit. That way I can pull off the tight fitting shirts that I 'have' to wear during our gigs a little more. =)
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