Wedding Anniversary

This week is our week…as husband and wife, that is. Initially planned to be celebrated as a road trip going farther north of the country but due to unforeseen factors from work and the weather, I welcomed the cancellation with less resistance. So goodbye SCTEX drive-by. Goodbye Cagayan.  Goodbye Ilocos. Goodbye Pagudpud. Welcome Dasmarinas – just where we actually live.

The series of events at work added with the fact that majority of us are trying to make every bit of last celebration worthwhile made me finally give in to my wife’s request to allow her to have their area’s summer outing fall on the exact date of our wedding anniversary. And so instead of driving hundreds of kilometers north I find myself driving just around ten kilometers south from our home to the resort of their choice.

By 8 AM, June 26, we were both already at Qubo Qabana resort which is a just few minutes’ drive.  We actually scouted this place just a couple of days prior and it was a bit of surprise finding it better than expected. The area has good facilities. There’s a pool for both kids and adult. There’s an activity area readily available for large group of people and event. More importantly their rate is affordable. So it’s no wonder that it immediately got everyone’s approval just by looking at the pictures I took. Besides, it is just halfway along the way to work and settled strategically near Magdaragat (sea foods restaurants) and Quinta Court motel.  It’s so easy to spot that one won’t need Google Earth to find it.

Most of the group arrived later but by then those who came earlier were already very busy preparing the food which seems to be overwhelming the grilling area and the people in it. Being a bad cook, I was helping out in keeping the charcoal aglow and it kept me occupied for hours. There were enormous squids, tahong (sea shells), fishes, chickens and hot dogs queuing to be cooked that even Bobby Flay could have been busy with it.

Thankfully by noon most of her team had arrived already and all foods have been prepared. Other than the grilled meats, there were also a variety of menu contributed by the rest of the group which made lunch time a feast. On the table are chicken curry, shanghai rolls, salads and one of my favorites – bicol express. Too bad the alcoholic drinks came later in the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the heavy meal, everyone picked their own activity. Some played cards. Some played bingo. Others opted to check the pool out – I was one of them.

The pool’s design is good but at first glance the flooring appears to be a disappointment because it was made only of white concrete. Surprisingly, upon closer inspection it is not mossy, it is not slippery, and it is clean. An improvement on safety may be needed though by posting a depth guide as it has deep part at the center that could have caught novice swimmers unguarded.

Before 6 PM came, some of the attendees had already left and those who remained - – both sober and drunk - were already starting to pack up.  From the looks of it, everyone seems to have enjoyed the picnic. And obviously at the end of the day my wife and I were neither in a resort in Ilocos nor in a nice beach somewhere in Pagudgud; nevertheless, we both enjoyed our 9^th anniversary by celebrating it somewhere near together  with friends and colleagues – next year, I’m sure it will just be us or probably with another set of colleagues.

 

 

 

 

Too Much Hollywood

“Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction…” – Bad Religion

 

Who can accept that one way or another, Hollywood has made an impact in their lives? I for one am raising both hands. Don’t get me wrong, but needless to say, I have neither been near Hollywood nor ever have seen in person even one Oscar’s nominee or awardee.  I’m not even an actor material (reminds me to check heritage.com).  As much as I’d like to, I was never that close.

Just like everyone else I get my daily dose of it out of the boob tube if not from the giant silver screen. And as far as I can recall I’ve been watching a bit of it almost every day even since I was kid. Heck, that may even be the reason why I started telling fabricated stories when I was yet in grade school. Just like any kid does. Remarkably better than an embedded chip, Hollywood movies or TV shows really know how to find their place in our mind, stay there for good and eventually affecting our daily lives – whether we like it or not.

Moreover, with the steady influx of technological advancement  that is getting affordable or at least accessible to the masses (at a rate that’s quicker than most people can get their salary increases) blurs the line between real and reel life every time. From cable TV, the internet, mobile TV, virtual reality and my favorite – High Definition audio (e.g., Surround sound system, SDDS, THX) and/or video (HDTV, Blue Rays, etc.),  one’s senses and imagination gets treated better than it was before. Each sensory experience is getting more surreal and it felt usually so satisfying that often times creating a make believe environment just like in the movies is as easy as closing one’s eyes.

Not trying to sound psychotic or one who has taken a good dose of hallucinogens and brandishing the peace sign, I love to entertain myself by superimposing some sort of “Hollywood-ish” flavor into my reality – as often as I please.

Like a couple of weeks ago until today, the weather has been harsh in our part of the globe. Mornings would usually come with bright orange dawn and would continue to become a very sunny, warm and humid noontime. In a matter of minutes though, as if on cue, AND as if a scene coming right out of Tom Cruise’s War of the Worlds, the sky would be overcast and the dreaded lightning flashes streaks across the black backdrop. What follows next is a thunder roaring like something out of an Armageddon setting. During these times, I can beat Dash’s speed 10 times. Trust me.

To keep reality in check, I always appreciate the presence of shows such as my favorite Mythbusters and when I get the chance or when my remote fingers stray away, I like watching Nat Geo’s “What Happens If?” and Mad Labs. These are shows which remind me that Hollywood will never be equals to reality (at least for now). It reminds me that cars falling off the cliff won’t normally explode, a piercing bullet in a gas tank doesn’t mean an instant kaboom, sticking a knife on a ship’s sail won’t cushion or slow down your fall and many more fallacies being obviously exposed that every time I get to watch a movie makes me a bad viewer – just waiting for mistakes to happen. It takes one good movie to make me switch from a pesky critic to an all-adoring fan.

But my love-hate relationship with the weather always fascinates me that I can easily relate either a blue sky day or a cumulus laden heaven from a scene out of the movie world. For example, waking up this afternoon I saw that my wife eagerly waited to show me an animation of the typhoon Fengshen (local name, Frank). Although this typhoon is nowhere near a super storm, the rotating mass at the center which covers a great part of Luzon switched my neurons into role-playing time. I immediately heard a clapper sounding inside my head and saw a camera crane panning from behind me to my left showing just the glowing monitor which became a perfect backlight to emphasize my profile. If I could have lifted the mouse anywhere near my mouth, I could have uttered the words, “…Andrea Gail…there’s a storm coming your way…”

As much as I find reality annoying and most of the days it is just tempting to surrender myself to our coach, grab one tube of Pringles, a bottle of ice cold beer and complemented by a good DVD movie and an ever sympathetic wife just by my side, having a grasp of the concrete life along with its demanding goals remains a test of our true character. A character that plays its part unconditionally even without the luxury that its reel counterpart enjoys but with the assurance that every well-played part in the real world will have its real rewards and hopefully will have its own happy finale. But then again, I’d appreciate it a lot if our lives can readily have an alternate ending. Ti abi.

***

It appears like the cancellation of our Ilocos trip which was supposed to happen next week is a blessing in disguise. From wunderground.com, it shows that typhoon Frank seems to be planning to go along with our road trip. Hahaha. The price we have to pay for celebrating our wedding anniversary every June.

 

 

*Weather Images from Wunderground.com

Ride Of My Life

Prelude:

 

I’m trying to do a blog this week with the pressure coming from my publisher/editor-in-chief…errr, my wife but with me having a flu (which I haven’t had for almost a year) my lazy bones took over. My mind stopped functioning, grammars in my composition worsen and my gray matter preferred holding the TV’s remote instead. I tried to fight back by starting to read a book - Digital Fortress - but every time I sniff I get distracted and left me no choice but to put it down often. I had to cancel badminton and gym sessions as well and confined my activity within our sofa, bed, sofa, bed - all of which puts me in front of the TV most of the time if not in front of the PC.

 

Luckily, TV shows lately are quite new (at least to me) and I enjoyed most of it. Last night Amazing Video’s episode: Stunts Gone Bad had my sadistic side pumped up as I was laughing my heart out while skateboarders and BMX’ers crash and burn. And just before I went into deep sleep, I heard David Letterman mentioning that Kevin Robinson achieved a 27 feet ramp flight. I know he must have been clueless who first set the 25 feet mark. Only an avid BMX’er knew about that - and I was one of them. Shhhh.

 

So today I tried to go back to a book review on Mat Hoffman’s book which I’m very sure I posted; however, I almost freaked out when I can’t find it in my multipy site, blogspot and even here in wordpress. I don’t know, but I got quite confused and began to suspect if the TRANSLTR really existed. Hahahaha. I got it all mixed up now. TRANSLTR is a fictional (is it really?) powerful machine capable of intercepting emails (or blogs?) and other electronic signals that may have the sinister intention towards Uncle Joe’s government. Thankfully that’s fiction and that’s from Digital Fortress by the way.

 

Intercepted by TRANSLTR or just stuck in my files, here’s the book review.

 

 ***

 

“Once a _____, always a _____”. Almost anyone can fill in these blanks. Well in my case, it’s “Once a rider, always a rider”.

 

Back in the old school days as they call it, everyone in our group knows at least one bit of Mat Hoffman. We were a bunch of BMX flatlanders back then and despite Mat being famous in the vert sessions, no one really cared. Anybody who is “rad“, we idolize.

 

My wife got this book for me from a book sale section at SM while I was busy filling my need for caffeine in the donut shop. Little did I know that the espresso load will somewhat become a warm up in preparation for what I’d be reading for the next hours until a few days more. The book sent adrenalin rush all over my body. It was as if I’m just in front of Mat Hoffman’s life as it unfolds. If I could haven gotten myself on a BMX at that moment, I could have delivered a couple of my favorite old school routines just like I did way back in high school. Perfect trick execution or not, it wouldn’t have mattered to me.

 

It is that good. The energy it brings is infectious. Reading Mat Hoffman Ride of My Life (with Mark Lewman) from start to finish sent me cringing, smiling, sighing or just plainly amazed…no, actually very amazed. Of course, nostalgic BMX daydreams came in every now and then in between pages. It just can’t be avoided by ex-BMXers like me.

 

Needless to say, my BMX experience wasn’t even near Mat’s. In his ramp scale, mine will just be a mere curve past flat bottom. Yes, it was just that. Even then, those riding years gave me great memories, not to mention bruises and the shame that usually comes with it. “No pain, No gain” as we always used to say. And yet again, it just doesn’t come any near Mat’s.

 

The 311-page, hardbound book comes with a great compilation of great photos (just in case one would wonder what in the world a can-can is) which covered almost every aspect of Mat’s life. It was here that I learned he was just a five year old kid when he started riding - horses just yet. And in no time his need for speed and especially flight started in quick succession. Mat was destined to be known as the Condor.

 

With influence from his older brother he soon got introduced to motorbikes, ramps and their roof. Yes, you read it right, roof.  Riders, or riders in the making, have different perspectives of the common everyday things: A roof is to “air time” - I remembered I jumped a couple of times from our roof top and landing on piles of leaves. If only I had a bike at that time. Hmmm; an innocent hand rail is to grinds; plywood is to ramps; a dry swimming pool is to jam sessions and the list can go on. And Mat’s list is one that most of us just can’t predict or let alone imagine.

 

Mat’s skills eventually got him into a manufacturer-sponsored team and went into either doing demo (read: show-off sessions) or competition, starting as an amateur. I was surprised to learn that during this time Dennis McCoy (another BMX icon) was already doing pro.

 

Of course his honeymoon with the bicycle scene didn’t come without any hitch. And this is when the BMX recession happened. It was during this time that Mat proved his love and passion for the sport. Instead of just quitting like everyone did, he founded his own Hoffman Bikes so he could manufacture bikes at his own specification (and his own backyard). He was just 17 years old then.  Eventually this backyard industry grew and become one of the biggest in the BMX business.

 

As his riding skills and confidence progresses he started inventing (no, this doesn’t involve lab work) sick and original tricks. And one of which was the famous 900 - think of it as two and a half bike turns while on vertical flight. (Just one turn or a 360 by the way, would take a lot of skills already). Another thing that no one can take away from Mat is his famous, over spec ramp and the amazing height that it got him into. That ramp was 21 feet high and he was able to achieve another 25 feet of vertical flight from it, which made more believers and lesser skeptics – mostly, I guess were just green with envy. Until now, no one has come close to that feat. No one even dared.

 

By the way, an advice to non-riders: avoid randomly picking and reading the pages as one might end up thinking that he’s reading a medical book (or a maniac’s death wish). The long list of Mat’s injury, mostly from doing his bike stunts, is enough for this book to be mistakenly placed by anyone alongside the surgeon or nurses’ reviewers section of the bookstore. And lastly, while reading this book having an air sickness bag right behind you may be a good idea as well.

 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is (or was) into bikes (esp. BMX. as one will surely love to read about most of BMX history’s evolution of tricks, bikes, apparel and riders’ skills) or just loves to watch the Extreme Games , Bike Stunts contest or the TV show, Jackass .

 

Until now I can still smell the scent of our favorite bike shop. Ahhh, I just love the smell of tires and scuffed shoes. Thankfully I got this wonderful book for me to remember those good old carefree riding days.

 

 

Postscript:

Now I remember, I sent this review as an entry in Philstar’s My Favorite Book, but it looks like they wanted it to remain just my favorite. Grrr. I’m thinking though that not much people can relate to this book anyway. Besides BMX riders prefer the streets and I bet seldom they’ll pick and read the Philippine Star. And that makes me a “Has Been”. Ti abi.

 

book cover credit: http://www.bikemag.com/news/hoffman_book/

 

 

 

Something Looks Familiar

This afternoon I was once again in the waves of ennui and surfing the internet trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my Sunday while feeling guilty of having to skip mass again and while also waiting for my wife to come home.

Emails checked. Multiply.com updates checked. Friendster.com scanned – not much friends in friendster (isn’t that an irony?). Favorites list scanned back and forth. Lurked forums done. Emails rechecked again for the nth time in just a couple of hours. Thankfully I’m free from mouse to keyboard ratio recording or I could be sending red signals to the ergonomics guru of our company.

Not really knowing how to bail out of my PC’s chair which is getting claustrophobic and butt-hot while I move the mouse aimlessly, I suddenly realized I was looking at Formula1.com’s interview with the recent winner of the Canadian grand prix, Robert Kubica. Having watched this last race’s replay (I was at work when it was shown live), I must admit that it was one of the most exciting I’ve seen so far this year. It was one for the books of fame and for the books of unfortunate events, which by the way F1 races will always be – even the famous Michael Schumacher has its own share of fame and shame.  This is the race wherein Lewis Hamilton rear-ended Kimi while on their way out of the pit lane - which brings the conspiracy theorists like me raise an eyebrow out of suspicion.  Hmmm.

Robert Kubica of course wasn’t one hypocrite not to accept the fact that he felt more hope when these two leading drivers crashed. It was not only his day to win but it was his day to lead the drivers’ championship with 42 points. After all, his consistency during the past races eventually paid off and June 08, 2008 became the day for him to be in the middle of the two drivers in the podium for the first time. It was the day BMW claimed the most coveted win of every races. It’s the day their sponsors have been waiting for…and wait, something looks familiar in the picture. Ahhhh…our company’s logo.

I’ve got used to seeing Mclarens and Ferraris (Renault, of course included) exchanging top positions for years that it took me until now to realize that right beside BMW’s logo is Intel’s. It may have something to do with the fact that Intel’s Philippine site is closing this year that I forgot to cheer my heart out when the whole BMW team was cheering and savoring the huge champagne during the awarding ceremony.

BMW and Intel’s win may have been late to be fully relished especially for us working for the latter, but as they always say, “A win is a win”. Now I don’t know if I’d be celebrating next time if BMW takes the 1-2 position once again. Hopefully yes.

Go BMW. Go Intel. Greetings coming from a Ferrari fan.

***

Frankly speaking, i never thought the BMW guys behind have any chances of winning a 1-2. Now, I stand corrected. Taken on April 2007 in Suria KLCC.

F*** You

Be calm.No need to censor. But I’m trying not to say this dreaded F word – FATS; because right now I’m facing a tough problem. Tougher than the impending unemployment and tougher than facing an unending oil price hike. It has something to do with my weight. And the horrifying number is Seventy pounds. That’s how heavy I am right now. And that’s seven pounds more than my required weight.

In gym lingo I’ve reached the hated plateau. It’s no matter how much I do the tread mills, do weight training and perform hopeless crunch and abs work out, my body just got bored with these routines. And like an employer running out of manpower, my body has posted a vacancy sign outside its doorstep. It’s accepting fats and calories like Vietnam is accepting all the multinational companies.

I know I can’t do anything about Vietnam but I’m sure I can do something about this weight. A battle must take place though to achieve once again my ideal weight as I don’t find it amusing anymore seeing our bathroom scale displaying a value higher than the last time I stepped on it. So instead of crying over spilled beer…I mean milk, I’d like to write about this new weight goal so I can get back to it soon and feel good about losing – weight, that is.

For me to be back on track, a re-assessment has to be done like anything that has gone awry or in this case what I’d call SNAFU – Situation Normal All Fat’s Up. Got to go back to monitoring what I eat and when I eat. I have to say goodbye to Jollibee breakfast, goodbye to Burger King Whopper, goodbye to heavy dinner, goodbye to beer…ooopps, let me recall the latter.

As part of my reflection, I’m wondering what I have done recently that made me accumulate such weight. So let me focus at least on this past week’s activity.

Monday. As scheduled, I played badminton with a couple of colleagues. Although known as the fastest game and tagged by some as a good cardiovascular workout, I find this game as a false sense of exercise to complement a diet.  Why? Normally, the heart-pounding and blood-pumping game for the whole day will bring us to a fast food restaurant to recover what we skipped during lunch. This last game, we found ourselves eating spaghetti and having a couple of beer in The Old Spaghetti House.

Fats – 1. Diet – 0.

Sunday. I was in Batangas with wifey to attend a birthday and a farewell party. The Red Ribbon chocolate cake and the predictable spaghetti were there and were looking mouth-watering as ever. I must have blacked out in front of the table but I found my stomach bulging and my lips colored brown and red.

Fats – 2. Diet – 0.

Saturday.  Finally, I attended my first TUP-V summer outing after several postponed dates with my batch mates. So right after a hard day’s work (at least I believe so), I find myself worthy of rewarding myself with good food and good company.  Without wasting time, I excitedly drove my way from Cavite to Sta. Rosa Laguna; and a hundred wrong turns  and a couple of hours later (thanks to the perfect map), I eventually located Dictado Resort where most of the attendees also got lost which is probably the reason why the program started late. Despite the exhausting drive it was fulfilling to meet long lost friends, schoolmates and other new alumni. It was also nice seeing some of the faces behind the aliases in the Tup-Vian’s yahoogroups. It was a “tagalog-free” night and it was like being home in Bacolod with everyone around speaking Ilonggo.  The feeling of nostalgia is of course never complete without guess what? Beer. Lots of it. Ti abi.

Fats – 3. Diet 0.

Friday. Coming from work, I picked my wife at home and went back to SM to watch the most anticipated movie of this year – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I don’t know if the peanuts we brought inside was responsible for my calorie pile up that night OR was it the film being the MOST boring (sorry, I can’t help but emphasize) Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg film I’ve ever seen – it was so boring, my metabolism almost stopped working.  If I haven’t seen any of their previous works, I could have included them in my “never-to-watch-films” list. Watching Indiana Jones is like watching a chopsuey of films such as X-files, Tomb Raider, Alien vs. Predator, Armageddon all rolled into one. And that’s not a compliment either.  Anyway, peanuts or this B-movie film, Fats – 4. Diet – 0.

Thursday. Failing to bring home something to eat after my shift ended, I asked my wife for a dinner at the nearby David’s Tea House. Meal was picked to have the least calorie content that we can think of. I ended consuming the dumplings that my wife did not eat. By the way, did I mention I had beer that night? Well, I did.

Fats – 5. Diet – 0.

As much as I’d like to add more days in this list, it’s becoming more obvious that my Diet is losing the battle. I can imagine a fictional referee raising the Fats’ hands after winning the unanimous decision for the 5-rounder battle. But the fight is not yet over, my Diet is calling for a rematch and I’m making sure we will win next time.

Beer and Gym