Gallery: Loop Holes

After so much thinking and so much consideration of Jill's advice, I got myself a Nikon D40x. I finally got a DSLR after salivating for it for a couple of months. I was pretty anxious to put my DSLR to test and I don't think it failed me.

The team building over at Enchanted Kingdom gave me a couple of opportunities to put my new toy to the test. I'm a newbie and images like these just make me want to shoot some more.

Uh Yeah, team building..

Last Saturday, my team's 9-month long team building preparation has finally materialized. One wouldn't consider this as a team building anymore, but a team event. We didn't get to hire an event's planner since we didn't really have a budget for that. Though that the case maybe, everyone was very much excited. Who wouldn't be so excited about something that has been planned up to it's single detail?

Destination: Enchanted Kingdom. PFFFT!

I was very excited for my day in EK.

A 9-month long preparation and with almost 3-4 months worth of team building budget is all but a day in Enchanted Kingdom. That's like a thousand and one ways to enjoy in the park, if you haven't been there since it's opening way back a couple dozen of years ago.

Everything looked pretty much the same after a decade or so. The grand carrousel greets visitors upon their entry. The benches are still located where they are 2 or three years ago since my last visit. The big big big Ferris Wheel still stands tall despite the numerous typhoons that has come our way. Nothing really changed. Nothing really new.

I thought the idea of being in the park for a team building is all what I'll have for the day. That thought was already enough for me to worry all day. I didn't really need any consolation for my day's fate. But it seemed the weather felt my disappointment and decided to sympathize with me.

That's it. It was a perfect team building. :X

The overcast sky grew darker by the minute.

Despite what was about the come our way,
they planned how they'd conquer EK.

My teamlead is a big fan of bump cars. She has this thing for getting in front of the wheel to drive and bump people. That being said, that was our first stop. Still, the bump cars failed to raise my excitement level. Add to that the rain that started pouring while we were having our ride. I can just imagine how icky we'd all feel after the rain.

So as not to waste our time in the park, we thought of trying out the covered attractions. Next stop, Rialto. Compared to the other attractions, Rialto offered something new. A new movie to rock your seats with. My teammates got a little adventurous by not wearing seatbelts during the film showing. My teammate was telling us about someone who fell from his seat in Rialto because he didn't have his seatbelt on. We thought that we try out what this guy did and try to figure out if either of us would fall off from his seat. Well, no one fell. Boooo. Just like before, the theatre's rocking chair just made me dizzy.

We all thought that the time we have spent queuing up and in the rides will make the rain stop. To our dismay, it just kept on raining. Getting from one attraction to another required us to walk under the rain. Good thing though, I was the only one who has a camera and I got the privilege of using the sole umbrella the team has. :D

Since everyone started getting wet, they decided to get well all the way by trying out one of the "wet" attractions -- Log Jam. I wasn't in the mood to get wet. Again, thanks to my camera, I got an excuse not to get wet!

I decided to watch the rain moisten the grounds
of the park.

I thought a doze of my favorite snack will cheer
me up. But it didn't.

Everyone pretty much got wet. Since it was still raining and most of the rides stopped operation, we didn't have any choice to stay put and wait for our other teammates before trying out the other rides in the park. When they all came, it was Ferris Wheel time.

Wala pa ring excitement.

My excitement was overflowing.

I thought I just drop by some experts.
Maybe they can give me some tips.

It wasn't until a couple of my teammates invited me to join them in trying out the Go Kart track and the ATV course. At first, I thought it was just going to be the three of us. The next thing I knew, everyone was on their feet to try out what the three of us had in mind.

Good thing though, the park has an ongoing promo that covers the two attractions. Normally, each attraction would cost around 200 per ride. For the price of Php 300, one can have a ride on both attractions.

We geared up as we discussed the rules of our race.

Even my manager was excited to try out the ride.

I sped off the moment I sat in the kart.

The attraction-combo pretty much made my day. Well ok, the Go-Kart pretty much made my day. Nothing else really mattered to me but the Go-Karts. My thirst for speed was all that needed pacifying for me to have fun..

We pretty got off the attraction-combo by night fall. And everybody was pretty much famished from all the chasing we had over at the Go-Kart track and the bumpy ATV trail. People were planning of heading to Tagaytay for dinner. One said that it would be nice to eat in a restaurant over looking Taal Volcano. In my head, I was thinking.. Um.. Gabi na, wala namang makikita sa Taal. Unless they have installed lighting fixtures to light up Taal. LOL. We ended up eating at the restaurant / cafeteria inside EK.

Almost everyone got pretty much the same food:
Chicken + Java Rice + 1 Side Dish

Dinner at the cafeteria pretty much capped our night. A quick look at the fireworks and we decided to call it a night.

The team. Well, those who were left.

Ending Up In Paper

Philippine Daily Inquirer, SUPER.
11 August 2007, Section D1

Just when my Mt. Pinatubo madness starts subsiding, someone decided to make it a point that none of us, neither the masses would forget our experience..

Yeap, I didn't expect Pam would chronicle our trip, our fun-tabulous experience in paper. Well, good thing that the picture they used was um.. flattering. Come to think of it, decide to climb a mountain and the next weekend, you'd find your face in the paper's lifestyle section! How bad can that ever be?! Oh, just make sure you have Pam with you. LOL.

I used to buy the paper to just read what's in it, but I have never been this excited to read what Pam has got to say regarding our experience. Well, needless to say, it is yet again one well written work from Pam! :D

Conquering Pinatubo -- Part II

The trek up the crater of the volcano was all but a portion of the fun that I have anticipated. The spectacular view of the crater bunched up with (as Pam wrote it) a comedy cast of trekkers were all but enough to tell oneself that the trek/trip was worth one's while.

Everyone's impulse was to rest when we arrived. But not after a couple of minutes or so, most of us were back on their feet roaming around with their cameras. Everyone just want to get every single opportunity to take a good picture of the volcano's magnificent crater before nightfall. Because by nightfall, everyone know's what's going to happen -- socials.

Mt. Pinatubo's Crater

Mark, Ti Moune & Pumba

The crater before nightfall, taken at ISO 400.

Aside from the socials, I have been looking forward with how and what our dinner would look and taste like. In our pre-climb meeting, our dinner menu was Chicken Teriyaki, Pork Liempo, served with corn and carrot nibblets. No one really brought stuff for this but our guides. San ka pa, guides na cook pa namin! I was pretty adamant that it would taste nothing far from anything that I usually have in the city. Obviously, I am no outdoor person. But to my surprise, minus the um.. presentation, it was one heck of a meal!

Dinner is served:
pork liempo (top left),
chicken teriyaki (top right),
corn & carrot nibblets (bottom left)

As soon as everyone got their fill, we cleaned up and let our guides eat their dinner before we all gather around for the second time for socials. Honestly, I don't get it why they call it socials. LOL. The truth is, inuman lang naman ang ginawa namin. But yeah, I'm pretty sure there are other stuff that happen during socials in other groups other than diving and swimming in booze. For one, I have a colleague who holds their socials with um.. group presentations. Kung doon sila masaya, edi sige lang. Basta alam ko, kahit inuman lang ang ginawa namin, masaya ako kami. :D

In the tent, Chrie and me waiting for the
socials to begin.

Michelle (left) seems anxious for the socials to begin.

Ruby and I both had a couple shots of gin.

More shots were passed around.
Look at Fifi's (left) facial expression --
"I am so happy to be here!!"

Ms. Suplada and Felice

Double exposure c/o Rollie.

Alkie's unite and tipsy -- Rollie and me.

Lasing na po kami.

In as much as I would like to put into writing everything that has happened after the last picture above was taken, wala akong magagawa. Everything that happened after that picture were all but a blur and um.. things I'd like to forget. Ruby, Chrie, Fi, ok, all the other trekkers were witness to that. :)

In the morning, when everyone was sober, Mark, Rollie, Zoe, Chill, Ruby, Chill and I decided to pay the cater lake a visit. Well, it wasn't all a visit for both Mark and Rollie. The two dove into the water to a have a good dip in the lake.

The inviting morning extended the lake's
invitation to take a dip.

That's um.. Me, Zoe, Chill, Rollie and Mark.

Boats were free to use. But we didn't get to use 'em.
They were all being held up together by a chain.

Chrie celebrating her first pee in the wild.

Soon, we found ourselves on the way back to camp to eat breakfast, pack-up and head down the mountain. Compared to our 4hour trek up, we were quite surprised that we were able to trek down in 2 hours. I think the rain pretty much helped us along the way. Half way through our trek down, drizzles turned into rain. I was listening to my iPod when it started raining. I was forced to secure my iPod in a Ziploc so as to prevent the rain from ruining it. It pretty much continued raining until we were just a couple of minutes away from our pick-up point. Sooner than we I expected, we were on our 4x4's again heading back to town.

All 11 of us who conquered Mt. Pinatubo (minus the guides)
were 20mins away from our pickup point.
Photo c/o Jill Lejano

My shoes swell open on the trek up.
I had to wear sandals on the way down.

I was tired, but I kept on shooting pictures of
those I don't get to see and experience everyday.

Manong driver seemed in a hurry to get us to town.

A late lunch of hot Pork Sinigang at 3pm pretty much made my day. It eased out all the pain I had on my feet. Add to that a clean shower which we had deprived ourselves from the previous day. It was 5pm and I remember it was getting dark when we were all ready to leave.

After a 45minute jeepney ride heading downtown, we found ourselves back to where we started our trip: McDonald's Tarlac. It was just a couple of hours after we had lunch and we were all lining up again at the counter to buy dinner. Not that we didn't like the pork sinigang, it's just that we all just needed some reserves that would be good to last for the rest of the trip home.

Comedy Cast of Mt. Pinatubo @ McDonald's Tarlac for dinner
Photo c/o Jill Lejano

I'm pretty much a newbie with these things -- trekking, camping and all -- but I don't think I have seen the last of me packing my stuff for the outdoors. It's only now that I start to realize that fun doesn't end where civilization does. It would be nice to know how far this "fun" will take me from here.

Last bus ride home beside Ruby

Thank you Jill!

Para Sa Iyo Ito

It was February 3, 2007. Sunday. We only have seen each other for three times for less than 24 hours. I remember vividly how the television’s glare lit up your dark room. We were on your bed. I was laying on my back staring at the ceiling, thinking. You were laying on your side with your head supported by your left hand while you were looking at me. I was laying there scouring my rusty memory trying to figure out the correct answer to your question..

          “Kapag nasagot mo tanong ko, ibig sabihin,
                             ikaw na talaga. Sige nga, kelan birthday ko?” 
                    “August 21?”

           “Hinde. Sige, isa pang try.”
                    “Umm.. August 10?”

           “Ano ba, August 7.”

Je jamias obtenu la droite de réponse.
Je pensai que je me se sourvins la date dorénavant.

Je ne rappelle pas des dates.
Je ne rappelle pas des conversations.
Je rapelle seulement des moments; en chaque détail de lui.

You’ve come a long way. No matter how clueless I am of it right now, I am pretty sure a lot of blessings has come your way –- I wish that you are continuously showered with them, non-stop. It would have been fun to celebrate your birthday with you, but for sure the people who love and care for you won’t fail making it a blast.

Vous passerez seulement votre vignts-sept ans une fois..
Appréciez et fairrez le chaque moment de dépassement compte..

je manque tout au sujet de vous. I wish I could be there with you.. 
     ..but I know I have to let you go.

joyeux 27ème anniversaire, RED!

Conquering Pinatubo

It took all just an invitation from a sheltered girl to get myself out of the comforts of civilization and head out to try the outdoors. Honestly, I never thought that this plan would materialize. I never thought I would ever do camping. I never thought I would say YES to this invitation with all but a pat on the back. But I did.

Kaladkarin nga naman.

For starters, the beautiful Jill Lejano chose the best trail for us -- Mt. Pinatubo. It all began on a Saturday morning at the 5 Star bus station in Cubao. All 15 campers (wow, camper na tawag ko sa sarili ko), were patiently waiting for the next bus ride headed for Tarlac.

We disembarked in Tarlac and had our breakfast over at McDonald's. Jill and the others were teasing Ruby to buy us breakfast. They argued that since she was the last person to arrive at the meeting place, buying us breakfast is her punishment. Nothing really happened in that conversation. We all ended up buying food for ourselves. Anywho, not long after we had our fill, we all jumped into a van to take us to this town where we our next ride awaits. Before we totally heading out far from civilization, most of us took the opportunity to complete our gear for the trek -- water.

"Bakit corporate look ka pa rin?" -- Pam

Camping newbies (except for Pam).

Pam all set with her FishEye 2 cam.

Fifi looking all groovy and ready for the ride.

Soon to be bride, Michelle, pouts for the cam.

Jill gives her version of a pout.

All set and ready for ride, the three 4x4's sped off away from the borders of civilization. 15 campers. Three 4x4's. A long bumpy ride. One fantastic experience.

Leader One's 4x4 lead the pack to the middle of nowhere.

A stream slowed them down giving us time to catch up.

Chrie gives manong driver a thumbs up for a job well done.

It felt like I was in a movie car chase watching
Leader One's 4x4 trailing behind us.

Streams kept slowing down everyone.

But not us. We kept on going and going..

..until we're in the company of all but sand and dust.

.. of lahar mountains.

..of cattle transplanted away from their barns.

..and of lahar graffiti.

We rendezvoused erm.. in the middle of nowhere to catch our bearings. A stopover would mean one thing. Pictures!!

Leader One's 4x4 came right next after us.

..Together with all our camping guides.

Chubby. Cuddly. Round. But still beautiful Jill.

The other 4x4 pulled in a couple of minutes after.

A couple of chitchat brought us all back to our 4x4's for the final 15-20minutes of ups and downs on the unforgiving terrain. But who cares? It wasn't going to end there. It was just the beginning. We disembarked at our drop off point at the foot of a small hill with a flight of stairs on it's side leading to God knows where. We all took our lunch on site and made the preparations for the trek.

Ruby and I getting ready for the trek.

Up the stairs we went.

It was a hike on the side a small hill.

After the climb, we found ourselves heading
down, preparing to brace the waters of the stream
that cuts through the terrain.

Taking a break from the trek with first time
campers Fifi and Chrie.

The terrain was good enough to accommodate us.
That's lahar in the background.

Pam and Jill trailing behind the pack.

Sometimes the terrain was good to us.

Sometimes it's a little cruel.

Leveled ground led us to the mountains' slopes.

The slopes became steeper and steeper.
It felt like it wasn't going to end.

Jill estimated that the trek should be around 2 hours. But it took us 4 hours before we reached our destination. My feet were sore and all wrinkled because of wet shoes and socks. Ruby dropped her stuff and slumped herself on the floor to rest. Pam came in with a grumpy look and immediately laid down to rest her aching back.

Most of us can barely lift their feet. Some were tired. Some were perky. Some were famished from the trek. But no one really cares. It was all worth it. The source of destruction is now a place of beauty. Enough said. 

Crater of Mt. Pinatubo.