ACT’s first team building
November 23, 2009We had to postpone our teambuilding twice. I thought we will never have one but on a gloomy Saturday morning, the team and I left for Duka Bay. We still reported for work at 12 midnight but I just left early at 5AM so I could prepare the food. I met the team in Agora at around 10:30AM. We rode a Starex Van going to Duka Bay.
Alabama Crimson Tide on our way to Duka Bay
The trip going to Medina was fast. We were dismayed though when we found out that there dorm rooms have been occupied by people from BIR. We decided to go through with Plan B, meaning, we will be pitching a tent. A couple of minutes later, the guard informed us that tents are no longer allowed. We argued since their website clearly states that we will just need to pay a fee for the tent. The guard informed me that I have to talk to their Front Desk personnel which I did. I was being nice to the Front Desk in charge at first but her response to my request infuriated me so much that I berated her before I could think twice. well who wouldn’t be mad at what she said? She informed me that they were not aware that their website has not been updated and after saying that, she also told me that probably the reason why the tent pitching fee was not deleted because editing a website is very difficult! I felt bad coz it seems she doesn’t think twice of telling a lieto a customer. And she gave this lie to a person who works in a call center and who’s very familiar with this kind of stuffs.
We had to burn off the heavy lunch that we just had.
The first time I went to Duka, I was so impressed with it and that was the reason why I was all for it when Alabama Crimson Tide decided where to have our team building. I was that impressed with their rich marine life. However, this second trip was not at par with the first time.
For a beach resort to be charging a ridiculous entrance fee that’s non-consummable, the place itself has seen better days and sad to say, their Customer Service leaves a lot to be desired. The only person I ahd a kind word to say was the Guard who graciously let us stay way beyond 6PM and he even took the time to explain why tent pitching is no longer permitted.
Duka Bay has a different set of entrance fees and cottage rentals after 6PM so we decided to transfer to the nearby beach named Capistrano Beach Resort. The place is not in the league of Duka but it was way, way cheaper then what Duka Bay is charging. We decided to rent their Non-Aircon Room for P300. It was kind of primitive but we were too tired and broke to look for better accommodations. The boys decided to pitch the tent. Everyone agreed that we will sleep for a couple of hours just to recharge ourselves. When we woke up at 2AM, we continued our team bonding with Red Horse and went boating and fish feeding in the morning.
After our rest, we resumed our beer drinking and bonding
On our way to the fish feeding
We bought fresh fish that the girls grilled and we asked one of the caretakers to cook tortang talong for us. We also bought ripe mangoes and banana which served as our dessert. Everybody was full since we had a full lunch consisting of chili crabs, shrimps, lechon manok and tanghon and dinner of sinugbang baboy and grilled hotdogs the day before.
In Talisayan for their famous Shotokil
The driver of the Starex Van picked us up at 10:30 and even though we were still quite full from the heavy breakfast that we just had, we decided to drop by at Talisayan to partake of their famous Shotokil. My agents can’t help but to comment how they enjoyed everything. I swear, everyone gained at least a kilo with this outing but we all had fun!
Hmmm….I can’t wait for our next team building.
no updates
November 16, 2009I need inspiration. Can’t think of one single topic to write about….I’m nada…..
JCI Bai Lawanen
November 10, 2009One of my best friends, Zen, has forever been inviting me to join her org, “JCI-Bai Lawanen”. I was able to join two of their meetings last year but due to time constraints I was not able to join the induction. Since she’s the incoming president for that said org, she has been relentless in inviting me to become an active member of their group.
So on one Friday night, at her invite, I joined their Masquerade Party held at Loreto’s. The invitation said to wear your best black. Good! For the longest time, I have been dying to wear some of the dresses I’ve had stored in my closet. Some of those clothes I haven’t worn yet and I was just waiting for the opportunity to wear them. I was actually debating what to wear since I was torn between two dresses. With the help of the people at home, I finally settled on an LBD with lavender lace.
The General membership Assembly/Halloween party has already started when I arrived since I came from another party. It was nice to seen Zen and Merbee and spent time with them albeit for a short while. Like most of the new recruits, we were interested in joining JCI-Bai Lawanen due to their outreach projects like medical missions and such. It reminded me during my college days when I was so active with all the extra-curricular activities in school.
Halfway throught the assembly, Congressman Rufus Rodriguez was gracious enough to honorus with his presence and he has assured everyone that he is interested in supporting whatever endeavors that the org will undertake. He also promised that a check from his office will be given to the org for future projects. That put everyone in a good mood and to top it all, he was game enough to sing a few songs for us. Sad to say he was not able to stay for long since he is due to attend a wedding reception.
I also could not stay long since I still have to prepare for work.
Me and Zen
a pose with Cong. Rufus
Soon
November 6, 2009 
Call me ten kinds of a fool but I was just about ready to forgive and forget evrything. Good thing, I always follow my intuition and decided to wait it out. For about a month now, we sort of had a truce and life was actually so much better to live with when we’re like this. I just noticed though that for someone who’s no longer in a relationship with me, we were spending an awful lot of time together. In fact, he spent more time with the kids now than he did before we broke up soit means he’s more in my house than his.
Soon I got confused with the arrangement and I know if I won’t put a halt to our weird situation right now, I’d be bracing for more heartbreaks. I was already on my road to recovery and by doing so, has set back my mental and emotional well being back to square one.
Becky was right when she said not to dwell on the good times since this would make moving on so much more difficult. And for a couple of weeks I was right on track. I was able to move on and I was actually looking forward to being single again after being taken off the shelf for one decade. But then he had to change the tune and I’m back to being the emotional wreck that I was in September.
I just can’t take it anymore! I’m just so fed up with everything! How can a man profess to love his family yet do all the painful things to them? Does he really think that I’m the only hurt by this? Is he that blind that he couldn’t see that even Dylan and Dion are getting affected by all of this?
I’m not wishing I could turn back time. I’m only wishing that one day soon I would be able to face him without any trace of bitterness nor a semblance of the betrayal I felt for the things he has done and has yet to acknowledge. He’s a pathological liar and I really believe that he can no longer separate reality from farce. Sad but true…..but with him, he would only think about himself. His insecurity is so deeply rooted that short of a miracle will he change.
If ever he is reading this, I just want him to know that it’s true that we have really grown apart coz the more we got older, the more immature and infantile his behavior has become. I guess that’s what you get by cavorting with people young enough to be your niece.
To you, please be man enough to take responsibilities of your actions and never blame your shortcomings on someone else. Don’t do things out of anger coz I meant every word I said. Do you really think I would allow you to treat me like a doormat for the rest of my life? Dream on! You know I hold the trump card. Do not jeopardize it by justifying your pride.
sem break
November 3, 2009I just found out I lost my camera. It has always been inside my drawer and
it was always under lock and key. I haven’t used it for a couple of months
already but I was supposed to use it last October 30 when the kids went to
the office for the Trick or Treat. When I opened my cabinet, it wasn’t there
but I was in a hurry to look for it and totally forgot about it.
Last night, I remembered to look for it. My room was in total chaos but the
camera was nowhere to be found. I could not even remember when I last used
it. That means I have to add digital camera on my list of things to buy this
year. I have a feeling I know who the culprit is and that would be my
previous yaya. Since I could not locate her anymore, I’d rather not dwell on
my loss since this is another disappointment I had in a series of
disappointments I had for the year. Just one more month then I’ll bid adieu
to 2009 and embrace 2010 with a big smile.
Well on to a new topic…this year marked the first time that my kids were
able to visit most of our dead relatives. Earlier on the day, we went to El
Salvador to visit Tatay, my mother’s father. Dion never met him since he
died way before she was born but Tatay was able to watch over Dylan a couple
of times when he was still a year old.
Then we went to Divine Shepherd to visit Lolo Pao, my kids’ paternal
grandfather, again. We gave a relative sigh of relief coz traffic was light
compared to the madhouse the day before where most of the people we knew
were stuck in traffic for 2 hours and they were already in Bulua! We also
lit candles for the others, who were buried in Divine Shepherd before going
to Green Hills, our final stop before going home.
On November 1, we went to Divine Shepherd to visit Lolo Pao. The kids were
very happy since they were able to bond with their cousins. Divine Shepherd
was really crowded and noisy and dirty but we were thankful that since we
arrived before most of the people, we were able to park the car near Lolo
Pao’s resting place. Because of the traffic, most of the people arrived 2
hours after we did and by the time dinner came, everybody was quite hungry.
We had a blast sharing the potluck each brought with them. My kids ate only
Chicken Joy though and it has always been one of the banes of my existence
that Dylan and Dion are quite choosy with their food. I just watched in
amazement while their cousins were enjoying the biko, maja, humba and the
other food prepared. When the kids were asked to try the biko and maja, all
they said was “yuck”.
One thing I noticed though was the lack of trashcans in Divine Shepherd. The
garbage was everywhere and the place literally stank. Had there been
trashcans in every corner, I don’t think that the place would be that messy.
It also appalls to watch people throwing their garbage anywhere.
Now it’s back to school for the kids and I sincerely hoped that they enjoyed
their semestral break.
