Updates from the past months (Fast Forward style)

Wow! this blog has been dead for too long :) Time to catch up with a fast forward!

Dec 2007

Lets start with Sir Albert's wedding. Me and Sir Albert have been friends since i came to Ateneo for College. He was my teacher for a year and we had the same organization in ADMU. Now he's married to Ate Za! :) Really happy for both of them and wish them all the Blessings for the family they're building.



January 2008

Went to Vietnam for a business trip. Went to HCMC (Saigon). They have really good cuisine and very affordable at that. Extended my stay there and my Boss was very nice to cover half my hotel expenses. Talk about being cheap! My boss was my official photographer, subsidized my stay, even brought me along when he and his wife was going around the city! Thanks Boss Ronnie!



This one is taken from the top of our hotel. Vietnam at night! :)



February 2008

The office gang went to La Union for some surfing. My first time and won't be my last for sure :) Really had a great time!





My high school friends and I went to Tagaytay for a day trip, of course I was the driver. We went to Calaruega, Sonias, and People's Park. Ended with a coffee at Bag of Beans :) I'm just happy that I'm spending great time again with my high school friends. Real friends are the ones that stick with you forever :)







The office gang went also to Anawangin. Anawangin is in Zambales, its a virgin beach with pine trees all along the beach. Really really great beach to go to. The Anawangin experience is also memorable because this is nearest I got to dying. My 2 of my officemates and I almost drowned in this serene beach. On in all, it was still fun.



March 2008

Just this March, our Team in P&G IDS went for an Offsite in Cavite. We went to Mount Sea resort. The resort has good facilities, but the beach is bad (what do you expect for a beach in Cavite)?

Christmas Wishlist :)

Hey friends! :) To spare you the agony of the mental exercise on what to give me this Christmas, allow me to list some suggestions :P

For those on budget:

- adopt me as an extended family member for new year's celebration :) First time in my life that I won't be spending new year's eve with my family. I'll be here in Manila then. So who wants a temporary brother or son ;)?

- play badmin with me and pay for the court rent :)

- burn me a copy of my new songs :) ask me for the list :)

- find me a pirated CD of the full season 1 of Commander in Chief and or season 3 of Avatar.

- cook me your own version of pesto pasta! :) dapat masarap

- a bar of dark chocolate!


For those with some money to spare:

- Gift check for a good massage :) Or you can do the massage yourself... hm... on second thought that last offer is not for all :p

- swim trunks! (not the colorful ones, and not the bikini/skimpy ones).

- goggles! my goggles is more than 5 yrs old, needs a replacement :)



Impossible wishes:

- Sanuk sandals :( too expensive

- Shirt from Celio or Springfield :( too expensive

- condo unit :( too expensive


Baka may part 2 pa tong post na to :)

Kudos to Himig

Our HR has this motto for the employees of our business unit:
We work hard, but we play harder.

And true enough, we do. One of the programs supported by the company is the establishment of Wellness Circles. These are groups formed by employees with the same interests.

My close friends in the office decided to form an amateur choral group aptly named Himig :) Our biggest event so far was to sing the National Anthem and Doxology for the Annual Pension Plan celebration of P&G. It is actually the largest company event each year, attended by employees from 6750, Cabuyao Plant and Petron offices.

Some pictures:

Our Album Cover Picture (if ever we will have one)


Angelic Voices1


Angelic Voices2

Robert Jordan is Dead! Poor me

Yeah... this is a little outdated news. My all-time favorite author died last Sept 16. Actually he's not my favorite author, he just happen to be the author of my favorite 11-book series Wheel of Time. Bad thing is, he died before completing the series! If i can only raise him from the dead, long enough to finish the series, then that would be perfect!

To Robert Jordan... thanks for making me read all your 11 thick books and die before finishing it... really nice of you.

Pinatubo Trek Last August 26-27

I'm not a hardcore mountaineer, but I'm definitely the adventurous type. So when my officemates brought up Pinatubo trekking as one of our options for our August get-away, I was very excited. Too excited in fact that I volunteered to arrange the whole trip :)

Two noteworthy info here:

1.) The last time i brought friends for some beginner's mountaineering, we all got lost ^_^ That was partly my fault and partly theirs. My fault because I slightly forgot the trail goig down ;) Their fault because they did not bring flashlight at all even when I made it clear that it is important. :)But that was a fun climb not just for me but for the whole group. The ~30 min period we felt lost was the cherry on the ice cream.

*Had some "moments" with Arlene as well during this climb :) Mountain climbing seems to be a good idea to win a girl's heart ;) di ba ga? hehehe

2.) My officemates are not the mountaineering type as well. They are your typical city dwellers and to be away from civilization is something "different" from our normal gimiks :)

Anyway, details on what happened:

Sunday (Aug 26)

- the gang was complete by around 8 am. I drove. With me were Carlos, Mela, JB, Biane and Yan Mei.

- by 11 we met up with our contact in Capas, Tarlac. Wendell is our contact for the 4x4 that will take us to the start of the trail.
**Check out Wendell's site: www.mtpinatubowyne4x4.com I would recommend you get his services if you're planning to go there. Cheaper than the 2 others i asked and he's very accomodating.

- The 4x4 ride took around 30 min. We took the trapal top of the 4x4 down to have 360 view of the lahar area.


- We had a guide to lead us (mandatory). The trek up took us 3 hours. But we had a few stops along the way for picture taking and at one point we took a dip in the river. There was also some 15 min when we were already close to the crater that I, Carlos, JB and Biane got separated from the Guide and the rest :)


- We settled in the campsite sometime past 3pm. The view was just breathtaking and we were the only group there so it was like our own secret place.


- The water in the crater-lake was warm. If you get out from the water you'll freeze to death because of the occasional cool breeze. We swam some 1/3 of the whole lake which was really fun.

- Had some bonfire in the evening. Ate our fill from the stash of bread, canned goods and fruits :)Before we slept, of course, the usual, we had our camping stories, ranging from your horror stories, secret-sharing, jokes...

- It was raining the next day. While it was still pouring, we started our trek down at around 9am. The river had a stronger current than the previous day. Along the way, there was even a minor landslide that happened some 20 meters away from us :)

- Got to the town past 12. There is this spa resort in the town and we had a good massage before we left :)

See my multiply site for the pictures :) belemmans.multiply.com

I definitely recommend this trip to the adventurous out there :)

Hands On Manila: Galing Mo Kid and missing SOA

Don't get me wrong, I like my corporate job (so far at least). I'm enjoying the life of being an employee of a multinational.

But I miss SOA-stuff as well. I miss the ideologies, feeling the passion, working with same-minded individuals. I miss the cause, different but the same.

About 3 weeks ago i accidentally met Gilay (org dev pillar when i was SOA EB). She's now in Singapore, teaching :)Last week, our SOA egroup was revived. Wilson sent out to the group an email reminiscing my 'bitchy-toned' email to all the officers before. Made me laugh when i read my previous email again. Hopefully our reunion will push through and soon.

Last week, Gabay invited me to speak on Cell group. And it made me feel good to touch lives again (or so i think i did) by sharing my experience under 7 minute time pressure. I was one of the first cell leaders of Gabay and it just made my day knowing that the tradition is continued.

Also last week, my P&G office mate invited me to the launch of Hands On project Galing Mo Kid. Volunteers are asked to commit at least 5 straight Saturdays to mentor promising public school students. The thrust is to hone these children to be heroes thru entrepreneurship and environmentalism. Galing! :) anyone interested to join me let me know (leave me a cbox message). Para naman may kasama ako ;p

Blah Blah Blah

and when words fail you
when you have tried before and yet they dont seem to listen

when you know how to end but dont know how to begin
and emotions pooled like water in a dam

and where sorry doesn't cut it
when nothing said counts anymore

when all you can do is listen
and still you would want to speak

and when they come out, but they fail you... blah blah blah

The Sweetest Thing

A blind old man in his late 70's accompanied by his life partner who's about his age. The woman was holding up an umbrella on one hand and on the other, the hand of her husband. They were begging for some change on Ayala avenue corner Makati Ave under the scroching mid-day sun.

After giving them some coins, the woman said "God Bless po".

I've seen the Philippines

Got this map from Grace's Blog :) I personally think I'm a B, but it says B-. Still too many places to visit specially the western parts and Palawan.

Target by end of next year i'll conquer Bicol+Samar+Leyte areas!

My Lakbayan grade is B-!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.