Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Badminton Training - Fourth Session

We had our fourth Badminton session today. We learned that Badminton is a very tiring sport. hehehe We all thought that our trainer would arrive early since he texted us that he would come around 7 am 'coz he has another training session at around 9 am. So we all arrived at West Drive Badminton Courts at around 7 am. But lo and behold! Jonathan's 7 am time is already our 8 am! hehehehehehe Strength, Form and Leaner(which is me) were joking around that he should attend the ALC seminar we attended so that he could come on time for once.

For being late as he always is, Jonathan made us jog forward, backward and sideways around the court. hehehe Kidding!!! Jonathan didn't punish us, although that jog is really torture. hehehe This is just another part of our training to familiarize ourselves with the proper footwork for playing badminton. hihihihihi

Oh! By the way, "Strength" is Mommy Weng, "Form" is Doths, "Elbow" is Joey "The Hubby" and "Leaner" is the cutie me! hehehe This is what Jonathan called us today because these are the things that we are either lacking of or hindering us from playing Badminton in the "Proper Form". Mommy Weng is called "Strength" because she just needs power when hitting the shuttlecock (hihihi =D). Joey "The Hubby" is called "Elbow" because when he smashes the shuttlecock (hihihi again =D) his elbow always shows instead of using the whole arm when hitting. Doths is called "Form" because when we started training a few weeks ago, Doths was the "A" student, but now, after a few sessions, she keeps on forgetting the "proper form". The "A" student became "pasaway". hihihihi Finally, I am "Leaner" because I am now THIN!!!!! =D =D =D hehehehe Just kidding!!! I'm called "Leaner" because whenever I hit the shuttlecock (hihihihi =D) I always lean. I lean forward, lean backward, lean sideways! I just can't keep the proper body posture when hitting the shuttlecock. That's why after playing badminton I tend to have back pains because of all the leaning that I've been doing. hehehe

So now, after knowing our weaknesses, we'll start working on these funny nicknames of ours to improve our Badminton skills to play faster, smarter and sassier.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Another sleepy day

It's another sleepy day for me. I couldn't sleep last night and I don't know why. I think it was already past 2 am when I last looked at the clock in my room and I woke up at around 7 am. Only 5 hours of sleep.. no wonder I feel tired today. I have to get at least 8 hours of sleep for me to have a good day or else I get cranky. It's a good thing it's badminton day today. That was the only motivation I could muster to get out of bed. That I have to wake up early and go to work early so I can leave early to play badminton.

Ho hum... It's 3 pm in the afternoon...my eyes are getting heavy, I'm just kicking my legs under my table just to keep me awake. Help...

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Badminton Addict

We had our third badminton session just this morning with Jonathan, our badminton trainer. It was only the three of us friends (me, Doths and Mommy Weng) sweating in the courts. No Joey "The Hubby" this time coz he has a tournament in the afternoon. In today's session, Jonathan taught us how to make a killer dropshot. It was cool knowing where to make the killer dropshot in badminton. We can't wait to apply it when we play on Thursday with some friends of ours. hehehehe So far, we've learned how to warm up properly, how to have a magnificent smashing form and the control of our forehand and backhand hits. Hope we learn more on our next sessions.

Monday, April 18, 2005

A Saturday filled with everything you can think of

We had our company outing last Saturday, April 16, 2005. It was all fun and laughter for everybody in the group. This is also the first company outing that we didn't spend at least 2 hours all cramped in a bus going to our beach destination. It only took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to arrive at Montemar, Bataan. An hour ferry ride, which I may say is a pretty cool ferry among all the ferry boats that I've ridden, and a 45 minute bus ride to Montemar. When we arrived at Montemar, at the lobby's office and/or area we we're wondering why we didn't have a banner at the front. A lot of companies were having their company outing there also and their banner was right at the front. While making complains to ourselves about where our banner was we head out to our "exclusive" place in Montemar then lo and behold when we got our "exclusive" place a banner was there and it was good! It was good because our place was fronting the swimming pool. Cool! Although the water was not that clear (i.e. you couldn't see the bottom of the floor) it was still ok, a pool is still a pool right?! As we had our morning snacks, some of the people in the group went swimming already. It was sooooo hot that the water from the beach was a refreshing feeling. After swimming for a few hours, lunch was ready and we had a hearty lunch especially the inihaw na tilapia. After lunch, the group went swimming again, played tug of war, the obstacle course and had a few drinks. After that, it was time to pack our things go home and kiss Montemar, Bataan beach goodbye which is a recommended beach to go to because it's very near, clean and accessible. Although something "unfortunate" happened which had the worst result, (that I do not want to delve into as it's in the past already) it was a still a great day. I'm sure everyone enjoyed it! Another successful Enterworks Summer Outing!

Since the "unfortunate" thing happened, when we were in the bus heading to the ferry, I was now wondering how I would I get home because nobody was going to pick me up in CCP because of the thingy that happened. To get home, I was thinking of riding the orange jeepneys in CCP that head to Vito Cruz and then take the LRT to EDSA/Taft and ride a jeepney from there to Bicutan OR just take a taxi from there and spend my precious gazillions from the fare that taxi driver was going to give me. After too much thinking, I fell asleep in the bus and even in the ferry ride without deciding how I would go home.

After we docked in CCP, and having a slight headache from the ferry ride I again thought about how I was going to go home. As we were heading out the ferry boat, these 2 ladies near me (one at my left side and the other slightly infront of me kept on pushing themselves to me to get ahead of the crowd and get out of the ferry. But there were too many people wanting to get out also and these two really kept on pushing me, what I did was I slightly shoved the one infront of so she could get ahead and I would be in the middle of them. Bad idea! As the lady that was at the left side of me now at my back still kept on pushing just to get ahead. I was really starting to get pissed as a lot of people want to get out also. When this lady and I were finally at the door she really wanted to get ahead of me at nananadya na talga. So, as the bitch in me came out I took my bag aside and told her "Sige mauna ka na!" and as we were walking toward the plank and onto CCP I was at her back and kept on telling her "Tulak ng tulak di naman kelangan manulak! Wala namang hinahabol!" after passing her I gave her the most mad/stern/crazy look I've ever had and walked away still with the look on her. The only thing missing on the look that I gave her was the act of running my index finger from the left side of my neck to the right side. hehehehe I was that mad at that time. Anyhoo that was the end of it and I still have a problem of how to go home. So I took a deep breath and forgot about that lady.

I met up with my friends and started talking on how to get home. At first, Doths and I were going to ride the orange jeepneys in CCP and in Vito Cruz, I would take the LRT and she would ride a jeepney or taxi going to Pedro Gil. But then Doths decided that she would just take the taxi and I would just be dropped off in Vito Cruz. Another good thing that happened is that Ken and Joe also decided to come with us on the taxi ride. Ken and I would be dropped off in Vito Cruz to take the LRT and Joe would be dropped off in Pedro Gil to take the bus to Alabang. After that's settled, we were off to finding a taxi that would be gracious enough to drop off some people first before heading onto the final destination. The taxis inside the CCP ferry terminal are robbers!! It was on a contract basis and they didn't want to use the meter. Also, they want destinations that are far so they can charge extra! The nerve of these people! So knowing that bargaining with these kind of people are hopeless, we decided to walk a little to just get taxis that are passing by the main street. I was still hesitating of having to commute or just get a taxi to get home because it's been a long time since I commuted. It's been five years since I've ridden a jeepney. hehehehe Although I know the place purely well because it's near my alma mater and during my freshmen days it was my daily commute, I was still hesitant because I know a lot has changed on this route especially the LRT because I've heard that the inspection of bags is really strict and I brought a pretty big bag.

It was taking a long time for us to get a taxi so we were deciding to ride the orange jeepneys na lang to get to Vito Cruz when finally got one just in a nick of time. When we got to Vito Cruz, Ken and I got off the taxi and said our goodbyes to Doths and Joe. Good thing Ken was with me walking to the LRT or else I would've taken a taxi from here. hehehehe As we were walking to the Vito Cruz LRT station, I was telling Ken a lot of things have really changed since I was here a few years ago. I also asked Ken that if we were going to have a hard time during the inspection of bags in the LRT because it's strict na nga daw. He said he doesn't think so and that's good enough for me. As we were climbing the high stairs of the Vitor Cruz LRT Station I asked Ken if he know how much the fare from Vito Cruz to EDSA/Taft and we both had a good snicker on this because we both didn't know how much the fare is. Oh well that's life. Then, Ken asked me out of nowhere a question that I wasn't ready to answer truthfully. Ken asked me "Bakit ang tamlay-tamlay mo?" There seemed to be a long pause before he got a reaction from me, I just smiled after hearing that question took a deep breath and told him "Pagod lang ako." Good thing he stopped asking more questions on that or I wouldn't have known what else to say. Hay...

When we got to the top, we paid for our fare which is P12.00 mind you, far from the P1.00 and from another fare that I cannot remember anymore. Riding the LRT brought back a lot of college memories for me. It was all fun college memories that I still miss up to now. Anyway, I looked around the LRT to see what's changed and I noticed a board that lists all the LRT stations and it also shows what to see or visit in that station. I reviewed the stations and looked for Vito Cruz, to my surprise and entertainment I saw "De Las Salle"! I had a good laugh after seeing that. I showed it to Ken too and he TOO had a good laugh after seeing that I'm sure! (Ken's from Ateneo) hehehehe I told Ken "Buti di sila dinemanda ng La Salle." Defamation of the De La Salle name. hehehe Hmmmmm... makausap nga si Jane (bigating attorney sa Enterworks office!) on this... hehehe Ken and I said our goodbyes in EDSA/Taft station as he was heading to the MRT station and I was off to finding a jeepney in the busy, scary and wild place called Pasay Rotonda.

Walking in Pasay Rotonda brought back memories of my commuting days, the time that I had to walk from here to our home because of bad weather and traffic that no jeepneys nor buses to my home can be found, the time that my necklace got snatched (TWICE!) and times that I had to run after a jeepney while it's slowly moving and people pushing and shoving just to ride it. Hehehe Those were the days! I walked for a while because the pedestrian crossing was moved farther and you have to run fast to avoid the crazy drivers of all kinds of vehicles. Finally, I found the right jeep that would take me home "EXPRESS-BICUTAN-SUCAT". I sat at the back of the driver, that's where I always sit when I was still commuting. There were only a few people riding the jeepney and when we got to the Magallanes area, there was this one lady that paid the driver and she said that she was going to "Tenement". Much to my surpise, I suddenly thought "OMG! Did I ride the right jeep ba!" However, the driver returned her fare and told her she's on the wrong jeep that this was the "Express" jeep and she need to ride the "FTI Tenement" jeep. I got a laugh at the reaction of the lady, she acted surprised and claimed that she was in the wrong jeep and got out. I got a laugh on this because I remembered the movie "The Crying Ladies", because in this movie, the main character would do just what the lady from the jeepney that I was riding do just to get a free fare to the destination that she really wants to go. hehehe I guess I will never know if that lady was trying to get a free ride or really rode the wrong jeepney. Mga pinoy talga...

I got off the jeepney and walked from SM Bicutan to my home. I enjoyed that walk. I enjoyed the wind blowing in my face, the horns of the vehicles passing by and the people walking with me. While walking I realized that I was still glad that things turned out the way it did, that I commutted and also even more glad that I got a text message from a friend because it turned my day from a feeling of highest of high in the morning to a lowest of low in the afternoon then finally to a medium-high in the evening. At least it went up or else I would've been stuck in the lowest of low feeling, which I may say is quite good and I'm really glad that I made the decision to move from lowest of low to a medium high! Thank God for that! I would like to quote the next sentence from a newpaper that I read because it hit the sweet spot of my heart. What happened to me last Saturday was a bittersweet reminder that sometimes, it is up to us to find our respective "Neverlands" to turn loneliness and despair into hope, acceptance and forgiveness.

Now, I'm looking forward to our badminton training tomorrow. I'm sure it's going to be another fun session! It's our 3rd session and I'm learning a lot so far. Jonathan is a cool instructor and the group loves the sessions. We're all looking forward to defeating Dennis Laceda in a game of badminton because of what he said to us last time. hehehe I owe a story on this so this is it for now I'll tell more stories about badminton. Ciao!

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

For the first time

This is the first time I'm going to have a journal. My friend Doths insisted on letting me create one, so here it is. I dunno what to write anymore... wait... I know! I'll talk about my first ever badminton training tomorrow! I'll be having my first ever badminton training tomorrow morning at 7 am with Mommy Weng, Joey ("the hubby") and Doths. I wish matuloy sya at magising kami lahat ng maaga tomorrow. That's it for now. I'll make kwento tomorrow on what happened on our training.