Precursor =)

Pacquiao!

Congrats kay Manny! lufet mo chong... I really thought that Morales was
a smarter and classier fighter, but in the end, he didn't have the legs
or the gut to handle Manny's relentless assault.



Some observations:



1. False yung last note ng kumanta ng Lupang Hinirang

2. Its Ironic to see 2 of Spain's former colonies scrabbling on the ring...

3. Chavit and Mike Arroyo... malaki siguro mga pinusta nitong mga to... lakas pumapel eh

4. I miss Ronnie Nathanielsz doing the commentary during fights... hehehehe

5. Mas lalo si Recah Trinidad... "Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas"

Deal with it!

Everyday, we have to live with the decisions we make...

what if they were hurried decisions?

or incomplete?

made without full knowledge of the variables?

etc. etc. etc.



Bakit ang babae pag kinareer at hindi nagclick, ang career ang naghihirap?



At pag kinareer ang career, fulfilled ka nga, lovelife naman ang naghihirap?



Samantalang kung kalahating pangagareer lang parehong walang napupuntahan?

Peyton's Pain

I feel sad for Indy Colts QB Peyton Manning... the poor guy... his team
lost in the playoffs for the 3rd successive time. Hands down, this guy
is the best qb in all football, he calls the plays himself, almost
acting like a coach on the field. This season his team finished with a
record of 14-2, roaring out of the gate with 13 straight wins. They had
everyone talking about an undefeated season, then eventually everything
fizzled out on them.



This guy was a helluva qb in his college days too, almost being born
with a football in his hand, Peyton was mentored and trained by the
best coach there is... his dad, Archie Manning, who quarterbacked the
New Orleans Saints to several good seasons in the 60s and 70s.



This guy could have been genetically engineered and nurtured to be a
top-flight hall-of-fame qb, but the problem is, he couldn't singularly
carry his team to the Superbowl. I feel for him because I can only
imagine the sort of pressure he has on his shoulders. I totally can
relate.

Birthday Reflections

1. Masarap mag birthday when it comes on a friday or a monday... kasi extended ang kainan ng 3 days.



2. I hit the driving range last saturday to practice my rusty golf
swing... last time I did 18 holes was 6 years ago... glad to know I can
still hit the ball with decent distance, except that my long irons,
woods and drivers are all off... whoever said golf isn't a sport should
try 5 buckets on a range, lets see if his arms don't fall off with all
the muscle stress!



3. I read somewhere that men's brains and powers of reasoning/logic
don't completely develop until they reach the age of 25... 2 years to
go! haha...



4. I spent last night watching Back to the Future 1 on HBO... which...
has got to be one of the more important movies in my lifetime... While
all my kapitbahays were racing their matchbox cars, I was cutting off
the wheels of my colgate freebie cars and reattaching them facing
down... ala Doc Brown's Delorian... 



5. I'm glad to be 23, and over with the teenage years... come to think
of it, my childhood, from  the time I was born till I was around
10 or 11 was great... Didn't have many friends, didn't have a family
computer, didn't have a lot of toys... what I had a lot of was clay and
really old legos (hand-me-downs from cousins) and a ton of freebies
(the colgate box cars, happy meals, giveaways, etc.) I ended up
building an airport with clay airplanes, and all the leftover legos I
had... it was fun... all that travelling during summer break fired up
my imagination... I was fascinated with airplanes, airports and how
they work... I still am! Little did I know then that I'd end up
designing buildings!



But from 13 to 17 I was so unsure of myself and where I belonged,
studying in a school full of upper-class kids, in the middle of a
high-end subdivision, and going home to a place an hour and a half away
in a suburb in the middle of nowhere rattled my bearings... I didn't
have many friends in my neighborhood, and the ones that I had in school
lived too far away to build better friendships... My parents would also
fear for my safety and not allow me to go out... plus they aren't
exactly the hatid-sundo kind of parents because they were also very
busy making a living for us, I'd feel really bad because things would
have been different had we lived closer to where all the action is...
call it suburban middle-class angst!



6. Although the basic impulse would be to blame others, I realize now
that if all those frustrations, humiliations and failures from my
teenage years did not happen, I wouldn't be who I am now. I learned to
be closer to my family, to draw strength from them and from myself, to
be independent, to learn and improve both myself and others and to
grow. High School was great in the sense that I learned a lot from it,
but the bigger lesson is that there's an even bigger world out there,
with bigger challenges, bigger problems, and more kinds of people...



7. Surprisingly, ngayon ko lang din nafeel yung birthday feeling in
almost 5 years... I realize that college for me was such a time warp,
the holidays, birthdays are all eaten up by work and design
competitions, usually kakasubmit lang ng mga boards or drawings pag
birthday ko, and kadalasan I'm too wasted with work to even reflect...
so this post is one of those little luxuries.



Pahabol na thoughts:



- kailangan ko na iparenew yung license ko

- people can be so unreliable (I'm understating things here), so trust, verify, doubt, and anchor on God.

- birthday din ng pinsan ko, Hey Jason! happy birthday cuz!

New Year Goals/Targets:

1. Win the NUS GSA!



2. Lose 20 more lbs. hit my target of 200lbs. have to get to my
fighting weight... (haha mala boxingero ba? hindi... I just want to be
healthy... im sick of being overweight... im carrying on my healthy
momentum from the last quarter of last year... although I can't help
but wonder what I'd look if I hit the target weight... my mom keeps
telling me na baka daw habulin ako ng mga babae... na may dalang itak!
hahaha.... yeah right...)



3. Improve my work performance and project turnover speed. (hehehe in other words... dont blog at work)



4. Save more money... and/or Earn more of it!



5. Prep myself for living alone abroad... will be leaving for Dubai
early this year, and God willing, Singapore in the last quarter... will
have to learn how to launder (not the money) and cook (not the books)



6. Learn the guitar... sawa na ako mag air-guitar pare! clarinets don't exactly go well with rock music...



7. Volunteer time to GK or the Music Min... wala na akong kawala sa GK, there's a new site next to our village eh.



8. Build up my network of personal/business contacts... hindi lang sa friendster ah



9. Play more Basketball/Golf/Competitive Sports... running on the treadmill is starting to get really boring...



10. Regain my lost computer skills eg. learn and practice Viz, HTML, Flash, etc.

The yearender special

And so 2005 is now officially history... let me recap the year that was:



January - Turned 22, didn't enjoy the celebration because I was right
smack in the middle of thesis revisions. I was turning in 2-3 hours of
sleep a night, and pounding away on my PC. My body was subjected to
intense abuse: whole pots full of coffee, MSG loaded instant noodles,
pansit and chips... did I mention that I sat in front of the PC for 18
- 20 hours a day?



Feb 2005 - While everyone was in red and engaging in the heavily
commercialized valentines celebrations, I was still stuck working on
the thesis... relocated to my dad's office where I bunkered on the top
floor for almost the whole month like an architectural hermit/monk. All
the hard work paid off, got one of the highest ratings during the
defence!



March 2005 - Run up to graduation, in what was supposed to be a free
month, I ended up missing a lot of my block's celebrations when I had
to help out my dad in rolling out the bid plans for the Cash and Carry
renovation... take note... Unpaid yan ah! Filial love and duty lang!



April 2005 - Graduated! tapos narin ang part 1 ng architorture! I
learned a lot in college, both outside and inside the classroom/studio.
Parang quadruple degree nga eh... B.S. Architecture, with a Major in
Automobile Operation and Maintenance (aka Driving, ipagmaneho ka
banaman ng mula Sucat hanggang UST araw-araw tignan natin kung hindi mo
pa makabisado lahat ng shortcut, at inarte ng kotse mo), Minor in 
Asian Medieval and Modern Warfare Strategy (aka Battle Realms and
C&C Generals), Minor in Collegiate Drama and Contemporary Comedy
(aka known as the ups and downs of college lovelife and the priceless
laughtrips of my barkada). Feels good to be able to do well in
something that you love, but as my good friend Mac tells me, Graduation
and winning are like intense one-night-stands with a hot woman... you
wake up in the morning, and you're still a loser!



May - August 2005 - Broke up with my ex, went back to work with my dad,
sidelined a few  projects, frequented the gym in a series of
weight gains/losses, went to HK for a short vacation, got my patience
tested during the long application process with ALI. Got reintroduced
to God initially through the cell group meetings with VCF, and
eventually with the Singles for Christ community... reconnected with a
few old friends... gained new ones... applied for and lost in several
scholarships abroad... what else? Got a new laptop! Started work with
ALI



September - October 2005 - Still adjusting with my new job despite
being regularized, feels great to be working outside my dad's office
after what would be 10 years of working for him (yes I've been CAD
jockeying for him since I was in seventh grade, on call 24-7,
everything from working drawings, schematics... etc... was even worse
during holidays because he'd get his inspirational streaks during those
breaks and pass the work to me on the spot...although I'm proud of my
training under him, because I've seen all the sh*t in the profession,
its great to be able to apply what I've learned under him and hit the
ground running in an entirely different and much bigger organization!)
Finished CLP and volunteered for GK, very fulfilling to be part of
something good.



November 2005 - Visited Australia during the holiday, reconnected with
cousins and family, did some design R&D...  Oh... almost
forgot... lost 15 lbs in a 3 month span starting September...



December 2005 - Was my first time to enjoy Christmas and the New Year
Holidays in 5 years... was right smack in the epicenter of the
Christmas rush... saw how the company celebrates Christmas... kinda
weird because my parents and youngest sister were all in Sanfo in the
run-up to Dec 25. Good thing mom and Louisa flew back earlier in time
for Christmas eve. New Year's was different... a stray bullet fell
smack inside the masters bedroom of our house, barely missing my sister
by a foot, landing in the spot where I would have slept if I accepted
my mom's offer to sleep in the masters bedroom with all of them because
my dad was still in Sanfo. Proud because despite the intense gluttony
customary to holidays... I was able to gain just a few pounds and still
stick within my 225 lb.target range...