Home Sick Home...

It's my fourth day in sick bay... Had to miss work last Friday since I wasn't feeling well... Fever... Colds... and Cough... had my leave last Friday... I usually take vacation leaves but rarely go on sick leaves...

Even Friday rest was not enough for me to recover as I had to struggle with a terrible case of colds over the weekend (this time in my weekend in Baguio) ... a really terrible one at that... Spent most of my time sleeping (as if I would be doing something else every time I go home)... Actually, I did go out from time to time, only to come back and sleep again... hehe... I hate having colds... It really takes much of my strength...

Now back to the office this time with my regular coughing spell... This is something I am more used to... but still I'd prefer being healthy rather than this sick state... I should be good as new in a day or two... Home Sick Home no more... as there's still much to do for the AGM and as the usual way things have evolved... there are some minor nuances brewing again... Sick and on a deadline... that sucks!!! =<

Improbable Victory

My Baguio Beanstalkers is this year's SGV Hoops Champs... Great series with perennial winner Gani's Manila Senator... Down the wire and nail biting series with Hoops Wiz Mark's NY Yankees and the championship that came down to Game 7 with Taytay Maple Leafs...

Improbable win and a king size upset since I'm just the 5th seed and 9th in Scoring... Well, there's all the timing that made all the difference... Peaking at the right time...

The heartbeat stopping wins over NY and Taytay on Marion's heroics are classic... Kudos to my Hoops team... Ming, Marion, Vince, R Jefferson, T Murphy, K Love, T. Young, T Thomas, Alston, Sessions, Pachulia and Chalmers!!!

B2

B2 = Bohol... Hello Tarsier!!! Hello Chocolate Hills!!! Had this trip planned towards the end of the year so were able to enjoy low ticket rates... It was our first family trip outside the usual destinations in Luzon...

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Took the mid day flight to Bohol on the 8th of April... Had our stay at Belleview Rock... First day was more on enjoying the facilities of the place (dip in the pool... food...) and we had a nice view of the moonlight as well as the stars scattered in the sky... Our hotel was not pricey but the nice part about it is we had the whole resort most of the time to ourself...

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Day 2 had our routine bohol tour... Blood Compact Monument... Baclayon Church... Tarsier Sanctuary... Loboc River Cruise... Chocolate Hills... Hanging Bridge... Tarsiers are so cute... Loboc River served nice foods with a scenic back ground... and of course, the chocolate hills are one of a kind... A lot tiring day but worth seeing all those attractions...

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We had our chance at dolphin watching and snorkling on Day 3... Fun watching all those dolphins in the wild... It's a different experience from those all those dolphin shows... and snorkling provided an excellent view of the various marine life in the area... After a great time appreciating nature, we had our way back to the resort and also our way back to Manila...

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And thus ends B2...

B1

What's with the letter B... somehow, it remains a common letter for places I'm set to visit for the summer... so what's B1??? B1 is Bicol... It's a nice experience having to take a tour in Ph and what has B1 have offered the past two days...

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Day 1... had me flying in Legaspi and the proceeding to Nabua, which was way closer to Cam Sur... and next stop was CWC... there were competitions in the complex and wake boarding has already been ticked of in my to do list after trying it in Singapore... so had fun in the newly built Aqua Park in the nearby Lago Del Rey... the floating slides and attractions were real fun and going from one area to another is tiring as well... Had a nice lakeside massage to soothe my efforts... A Tour in Naga before heading back to Legaspi...

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Day 2... early start for Day 2 with a walk up to Lingnon Hills which was really a chore but a real nice exercise... The reward aside from shedding a few calories is a majestic look of Mayon Volcano and on the other side a top view of Albay... It's really amazing seeing Mayon Volcano with its perfect cone, maintained by nature despite all those eruptions... Next stop was the Cagsawa Ruins which housed the remains of an old church along side another angle of Mayon... Had fun here since there were so many trick shots... A tour around Legaspi town proper and a brief rest before heading back to Manila in the afternoon... This time via the long way... an airconditioned comfort tech bus (lazy boy on wheels)...

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Well, a short two days though I still have a few places I'd want to visit there... Donsol... Caramoan... Catanduanes... Well, there should be a next time... Now to finalize my things for B2... Flight for B2 tom... =>

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Excess Inkblogs: Another B - Basketball, I'm still in awe at how my Baguio Beanstalkers pulled back to back upset series wins over figher ranked teams of Hoops Guru Gani (Manila Senators) and the always deadly team of Mark (NY Yankees) at our hoops league... Now, I'm in the finals, hoping for the best vs Taytay Maple Leafs...

Irrelevant

I'm now officially beginning the next few days that kicks off my vacation season... and it's quite a long list...

... two days in Bicol at the onset of Holy Week (planned at the last minute but definitely going)...
... three days in Bohol for the Holy Week (planned this since December with family... Tarsier here we come)...
... less than two weeks at work (It's gonna be a crunch preparing for the board meeting and probably a trip home to Baguio in between)...
... six days in Singapore towards end of the month (ok this is more of work since it's AGM but I can't wait to see my Singapore friends)...
... four days in Bora at Labor Day weekend (really want to tick this location off my list)...

A friend of mine mentioned that it's a bit overkill to be in all those locations... but realized I need to do more exploring within the Philippines... as it really sucks being in all those countries where some people know more about the Philippines than you... Love your own I guess...

Of course, the bigger part of the story is that I feel a bit lost now that I've burned myself up with always trying to save the day... too much work and stress the past years so I just need to take a break and really think on where to go from this point on... After being in the center of everything... I guess, I want to be irrelevant for sometime... At times, trying too hard is not always the approach to a problem...

I always wonder how I end up with leadership roles when most of the time, I'd like to just be a piece of the puzzle and not the one solving it... then again, after everything has run its full course, it goes back to finding ways to fix things up... I've been practically on call 24/7 for the past year or even more... even when I was out of the country...So a little irrelevance from this point on wouldn't do me harm...

Anyway, I'm not done yet tinkering with my vacation itinerary... Thinking of going to Shanghai to resolve some issues with a side trip in HK... and still weighing if I should attend my cousin's wedding in Fiji in May... Ok, one other thought, how much savings would be left after all this trips??? That's I question that I'd rather think about at another time... =>

Excess Inkblogs: I guess I have to defer my period of irrelevance a day later as I've been asked to attend a meeting tomorrow... Grr.... At least, I won't really force myself to be up and just try to attend some portion of the meeting.... After all, I'm never a "Model Employee" material... Reliable... Yes... Ideal... Not a chance... =>