It's Holy Week!

Weird, I lost a post all of a sudden. I mean it was there yesterday and when I typed in something new for an entry it just disappeared. Sheesh! I think that is the most obnoxious thing I have ever done this week.

Well I think that was for my holy week entry. I think I can just re-discuss that =)

Aside from getting a break up just this last week (T_T) Haha but that's a different story! It's actually the start of the most NOT SO BUSY set of days in the Philippines. Holy week... it starts from people going out of town. Going to their hometowns. Them spending quiet prayerful times with their families. Visiting graves of their loved ones and saying a prayer or two for them. I think there are some things that they should stay away from. They need to know the true meaning of celebrating holy week. Some people need to understand why this is celebrated by us Roman Catholics in the Philippines.

1. Holy week is not VACATION week. It's not boracay or palawan week either... this is the time where we remember that Jesus died and some of us remember bikinis and merry making in the beach. Stop doing that okay?! How would you feel if people celebrated your funeral with a party as if they were glad you died?!

2. Don't act. Don't act as if you were all that holy. Don't go to churches and pray while shedding a tear for a few minutes. The acting won't work. Don't see celebrities?! They probably in Boracay too and you were designated as the budget conscious ones. No you are not cheap!

3. For the real people who go to church and spend time with their families, remember why we are spending a few days of grieving. Remember why we are doing these for a few days. Remember he died for our sins. Remember for each bludgeoned person who died on the cross, it was meant to wash away your own sins. Be grateful someone did it for you and be happy that it wasn't you on that cross okay?!

Thank God for all the nice things that are happening in your life. You owe it to him! Reflect on that!

The Great Build!

I am a good son. I have my folks asking me for things and I really want to give them all. Part of that is contributing to a house that we have in the south of Manila. It is a 4 hour drive that we take almost every week. The land was previously owned by my cousin but they planned to make a quaint village out of it. I saw them dredge the land and put in roads too. Most of it was heavily forested areas and the houses were all ours to think about since they gave us freedom to choose its design. There was a catch though because it was doubly hard to have a house built in the middle of nowhere. There was no electricity and they all had manual labor as staple ways to build a house. That didn't come as cheap as we expected even if it was supposed to be in a provincial rate. I just wish we had a chance to use a diamond saw blade so it would be faster cutting stuff but as I said they didn't have any electricity yet. I tried to get permits and all that brouhaha of permits from the local government. I was able to secure one and it was all nice! I had to pull some strings and had to tap local electricity sources and a gas powered generator to stand by. After a couple of months and a few hundred thousand pesos after; it was nice to know they had finished my folk's vacation home. Now they have a place to stay when they need rest and recreation in that part of the world. These are all for my parents who have gladly put up with me since day 1. I love them both!

Ampatuan Cleared of Rebellion?! WT*?!

I want to break free from the cycle I am stuck on right now. I am not doing my best going to the gym lately. I think I have been a little too tired from work and just decide to go back home and sleep instead of at least running a bit to reduce stress. I don't know why. I guess it's because of the schedule. I think I'm not used to becoming a day walker LOL.

We have some things in the office I need to take care of and some which I need to help my peers so we could do a project efficiently. I was not much of a team player before but I think I am doing a pretty darn good job lately. Just look at me now, I am in the office 2 hours early LOL... well I can't sleep at home so I decided to just go to the office instead so I can do something fruitful.

Today, I have heard the AMPATUAN's won their case of rebellion against the Philippines. I hate it... it looks like we are all losing faith in the justice system huh!? Supreme Court clears though that they won't get away killing 57 journalists still.... but you know, I still feel they did something wrong... please forgive me to wish someone to die after that. =(

Sports Lateral Drift Championship EASTWOOD

I am really impressed on how Eastwood City has hosted the one and only pro-am drifting competition in the Philippines. There were only several entries because this is still such a young sport. The auto tradeshow banner stands were quite prominently placed throughout the venue and people from all over the country went in to watch their favorite local speedsters. I only watched these things on TV and Movies. My photography friend brought me to the stands one afternoon and since then I was so hooked!

I like the thought of seeing cars swerve literally by a hair strand missing posts, walls, tires, posters and on some instances people. You just watch at awe on how they were able to manage driving those small spaces in between turns. I was ecstatic because if you think about the panning shots you get while these monster vehicles drive by it was doubly hard doing it at night. They did not have ample amount of lighting but if you get that perfect shot it is just well worth it! I managed to even take the billboard home with me right after my favorite part of the race which is the tandem run. The two cars were side by side trying to outrun and out turn the other one. Imagine those same cars burning rubber with someone pressuring them from behind. It was just awesome to see this monstrosity in action! I knew it was the best thing to see that day when I saw it on the posters!

Good News and Bad News

Just heard news. Good news. I like it when things like these happen. It makes me want to sing a note or two even if I'm not good in singing ha-ha. I have been lucky last year and I am kind of lucky again this year... I hope it never ends.

I won't tell you details about it yet because it will be huge. I hope I become popular after this LOL.

After a long day at work, I had to go in at 12 am today so I am still not in shape. I will try to probably workout tomorrow. But if we are going to be here around afternoon (since midshift starts around that time) then we have to go in to work a little late than usual. My sleeping habits are getting worse and I need to rest so I can work efficiently.

My prayers go out to the family of Angelo Montano, son of actor Cesar Montano. I met him a couple of months ago in their Belissimo restaurant and got the chance to talk to him quite a bit. he was a little quiet and reserved but he helped around a lot. I hope his family is okay. I don't want to hear stories like that but boy it looks so abrupt. I hope Cesar, Shine, Angela and the kids won't be sad too much. They had a happy time with him and I know they will cherish his memories. Such a good kid to pass away too early. My condolences.

I Love Camping!

Camping and mountain climbing has been a hobby for me since high school (which would translate into junior high in the US) and it has been a very good recreational activity for me and my friends. I never hesitate to go out and hike a bit because of the things you can get from the camaraderie and lessons when you go through this arduous task. Imagine going through the trail for hours before you get to a certain camp site and take your well deserved rest. I don't know if this is what you call torture in some cases but it seems effective. Getting some parts of it to be a chance to help each other builds strategy and rapport. I don't know if that is rocket science but if you ask where we are now, I think we have used that kind of service to better prepare ourselves in the corporate world. I know it looks odd but I felt it had a good overall effect to what we are doing in planning and execution. This is definitely a good exercise! I would have opted to have travel trailers so we would all have the most comfortable place to sleep and eat but at that time we settled for the harsh weather, a couple of tents and a fire pit to cook our barbecue. It was still nice and scrumptious!

The view from the mountain top was extremely beautiful! Just take a look at this photo that I took using a non commissioned GSM phone. It made all of us feel that the 6 hour ordeal to the summit well worth it. I screamed my lungs out when we got here and I was proud to have even achieved the feat. I was not that healthy looking when we did this so imagine the weight I was carrying around while doing this. The reason for mentioning this trip is because we plan to go back to this place on April. I would never be surprised if it is going to take a couple of hours less since we already have done it. I love camping and being with the best team of people to work with. It makes life easier bar none!