Bye Bye BlogSpot!

I'm retiring this page and transferring my site somewhere else. This is officially my last post. Thanks! =) minditch.wordpress.com =p

Object Oriented Design

After a long drought, I finally found some time to train! Yahoo! Well actually it was my manager, Chris, who enrolled me in it. She sort of forced me to take a break and train. Hehe. My work capacity is usually full this fiscal year so I am unable to look for good training and find free time in our team calendar to be away in the office. Even for this one. I didn't know I was enrolled until I got the enrollment confirmation. Hahaha. What makes this training great is that this particular training is something that I've wanted to take. It's a good training for Application Designers (sorry for the IT jargon) but I need to be away for 1 whole week for this. Hehe. That didn't really sit well with my supervisors' plan so I really needed to ask for this training ahead of time (a month ahead). And I did. Added to this, only senior developers were allowed to take the training since it is assumed that only their roles are the ones designing software applications. Since I was already doing this as part of my job, I asked my senior team lead if I can still take it because it will really help me and benefit the project in the long run. And so they made a request to take me as an exception to the rule. Eventually, the professional development unit approved. And so I was ready. The first time I was approved to take the training, it unfortunately got cancelled due to low enrollees (see, teams don't want their people being away that long. hehe). What?!?!?! After all that!? Talk about luck.

And just when I have accepted that I might never get to take this training, the enrollment confirmation comes. Alright! Added to this, the June 12 Holiday will fall in between this training so I have a longer break (training is from June 7-14). The training was awesome! It was a nice break from my team life. I gained a lot of insights, learning and skills. But most importantly, I gained a lot of weight! Hahaha! There was mirienda in the morning, heavy lunch and another mirienda before we leave... all for free! Plus I was able to go home at 5:30PM with the sun still up! I get home early, rest, take a bath and attend my SFC activities at night fresh and rested. All without hurrying and without the stress of traffic. This is too much. It's like a dream. Hehe.

Then just like all dreams and all good things, it had to end. But it was ok. It was good while it lasted. I came back to work rejuvenated, more alert and smarter. Oh, and what's the name of the training, just look at the title of this post. ;p

Highlights

Sometimes we underestimate the impacts that moments have in our lives. Moments are those little things/events that happen to us or we encounter that when given insufficient attention simply passes away. We must learn to recognize the power that moments have in us. Just one moment can totally alter our life's perspective, make us laugh boisterously, cry quietly or reaffirm truths we've forgotten. When we learn to recognize a moment, it sort of becomes the highlight of an event. We just have to be open and observant. Here are some things that happened to me lately and their highlights. In short, this is 'Update Attempt' # 2 with some fancy introduction. Hahaha!

CLP Baptism
>> I was the praying partner of my fellow head who happens to be a facilitator for this CLP - Allan. After the baptism/pray over of this particular participant, I was suppose to accompany him to go back to his seat. When our eyes met, I saw tears dripping from his face. It didn't look like he was sad or remorseful. He actually looked happy. At that moment, I was reaffirmed that what we are doing in this thing called CLP actually makes a difference in other people lives and transformations. Forget the fact that Ryan, Chin and their service team are making a lot of sacrifices, going the extra mile and doing all these for free. As long as participants experience the happiness in Him that most of us feel in this community, then it's all worth it.

CFC Pentecost Rally
>> The African priest! Who could forget him?! He is like a ball of lighting. When he stepped on the stage and started speaking, you wouldn't know what hit you. I know I've been tagged as part of 'energy' (the younger ones in the community as supposed to 'wisdom' who are the elders) but this one is the epitome of energy! I couldn't keep up with him! Asking us to stand then sit again then stand again. His talk was anything but boring. After his talk, I really felt empowered, assured and of course energized!

Crocodile Grill Dinner
>> The dinner itself was the highlight. It was supposed to be a dinner for all my chapter mates working in the Makati area. I even invited our chapter mates in other places if they wanted to join us. The result - only five of us attended. Hehe. Even so, I really enjoyed all their company and we had great fun - this time without talking about any service-related activities. Just us being single, young professionals. Oh, and the seating arrangement was a highlight as well. Hopefully a vision of things to come. Hehe

CLP Graduation
>> The participants' presentation is a great moment for me. First they had this mini satire followed by this spoof of the song 'Narda' and finally their favorite SFC song as a batch - I Give My All. Wow! A batch with noticeably close relationship with each other singing 'I Give My All' on their dedication night… Very inspiring. I actually took a video of their singing but since I am all-writing in this blog, you'll just have to ask me personally for that. Hehe.

Village Fiesta/ Neigbor's Baptism
>> The realization that we really live in a small world. During the fiesta of our Village, our neighbor asked my sister to be the Godmother of their son. It happened that the brother of our new member, Vicky was also asked to be the Godfather. So Vicky and I were like extras in the Baptism rights. Hehe. When I saw the face of Vicky's brother, it all fell into place! I frequently tell Vicky that she looks familiar but I just can't figure out where I've seen her. When I saw her brother Voltaire, that's when I knew! We were former bus mates back in the days when I was a High School student in La Salle and she in OB Montessori. We started conversing about all the common acquaintances, experiences etc. All this time she perfectly attended all the 13 weeks our CLP and I never realized that she was that little girl that used to be my bus mate. We like in small world with intertwined relationships.

Angeli's Debut
>> We were invited to attend the debut of Hazel and May's younger sister. When I entered the venue, it felt like I entered into an all-girls school. There were so many 18-year young ladies! I felt good and bad. Good because I am one of the few eligible guys around (you could just imagine the hidden stares that I get. hehe). But bad because I felt old. Some of these girls haven’t reached 18 yet so I could be sued if I do anything mischievous. Hehe

McDonalds at 1 am
>> After Angeli's birthday, I didn't want to go home yet so I asked some guys/girls to go grab some coffee. We could find an open store on a Sunday night so we ended up at McDonalds. The highlight for me here was my blooper about the pregnant lady. It was really funny to me and I was extremely embarrassed. Oh well, me and my loud, big mouth. Hehe

Freedom Build at Simona
>> The heads of my chapter went to our new GK site, Simona, for the very first time to profile the households there and to get a feel of the place. The highlight for me was the last interview. I actually met the oldest living settler in the area (at least that what the neighbors are saying). He was a 70-plus-year-old blind man who was very accommodating and polite. I wanted to interview him further but we were out of time so we just stuck to getting the information we need for the profiling. He is like a walking history book of the place and I am sure to go back to interview him. It's that news bureau blood pumping again.

Swimming at Pat's pool
>> One of my frustrations in the CLP that I headed was that I didn't get a chance to get to know the participants personally during the CLP. I was always the one talking in front but it was the facilitators that got to talk to them personally since I was occupied in handling the overall flow of the CLP and I didn't want to concentrate on a group to seem that I play favorites. Of course, I more than made up for that because I have good relationship with them now. With this last CLP, I was given a chance to get to know the members a little bit better because there was no team lead pressure anymore. One of these times is the swimming at Pat's residence. The highlight - well, just the bonding itself. It's like meeting new friends. Great group. I enjoyed their company. Plus I enjoyed the pool. Hehe

My Tobit's Weekend

Last May 27-28, I, along with almost all the heads of my chapter, attended the Tobit's weekend in Tagaytay. It's like a retreat/conference for the Couple's for Christ community and was opened for attendance of SFC leaders. Initially I thought that it was just going to be an 'OK' event for me. I didn't expect anything great to happen since it's a CFC activity and most of the CFC activities I attended in the past don’t really relate much to my life (because it talks of family life, marital problems, nurturing children etc). But to my surprise, I was deeply affected by the Tobit's weekend. I really can't explain the exact talk or sharing or prayer that did it for me. Perhaps it was just the total experience, including the many things I participated in:

First there was the PowerSlam. Initially I was not really supposed to join the group. The directive was to have 3 participants per chapter. Since there was initially four household heads in our delegation (I, Ryan, Klea and Chin), I chose to give the three heads a chance to experience this different kind of service. But since Chin became unable to attend due to work-related constraints, I had no choice but to join PowerSlam. After seeing how very little participation we got from the sector (there was a time when only 9 practiced when we were aiming for 25 people), I became more willing to participate. I wanted to help Jane because I knew that she is also struggling to make the presentation work. During the presentation day, I was less nervous than most of the group. Call it the 'veteran' effect but I was actually quite calm. I knew that we would have mistakes and the presentation wouldn't be perfect because we didn't really have time to practice in the actual venue but I thought we would be OK. To be honest, I felt like an old soul. I remembered how it was when I was just new in the community and participated in my first Bounce competition. Back then I was freakingly nervous. Years after, I am still here. From that first group, it was Jane and I that were still left there. But even with that feeling, I still gave my best. I knew I was not doing this for anybody but the Lord. If it was just me, I would just be comfortable watching these dance presentations. But I know that I have this little blessing of coordinating my mind and body with a particular song, so I responded to His call.

And then there was the sharing. When my father asked me if I wanted to share in the talk 'Tobit's son', I said OK thinking that I will be just like the usual sharing that I give when my father delivers his Christian Family talk. Little did I realize the impact of what I was going to do. From the briefing I got from Tito Edwin, I realized that I would have to open more to give the talk more meaning and to be able to fully maximize its intended effect. The first time I entered the venue I thought, 'mukhang napasubo ata ako." Hehe. There were so many people! And a lot of the CFC I’ve seen there knows me and my father. I became more nervous knowing that I would be talking about a man whom most of the listeners know about. When I was able to sneak in some quiet time for myself, I prayed to God to empower me and to use me as the vessel of his message. I was sure I couldn't do it alone but I was surer that I am not doing it alone. He is there. Anyway, the sharing itself was weird. It was my first time to talk in a large audience with all the works of a big gathering. It felt like giving a monologue to me - I couldn't see a face because of the bright spot light and in effect I couldn't see the reaction of the people. I couldn't even hear a thing because my voice was the only thing reverberating in the all the corners of the auditorium. I was a bit distracted by those things but then I just kept on talking - saying things about my life that I have not really shared with anybody. Now, I am sharing with the whole sector! I didn't know if I made any sense. I tried to follow the outline I prepared the night before but in the end, I just followed my heart. I just hope that I gave justice to how I knew my father and how instrumental he is in changing my life and my perspectives in it.

Lastly, there was my Chapter and my Cherifer. Hehe. I think it's the first time since we fondly called ourselves Cheriboys that we were together on a major community activity. This time we were not on a gimmick, nor some club nor drinking for that matter. At that time, we were just brothers in the community all trying to contribute to the success of the event - JM, Ryan and I in PowerSlam while JB in the production crew and that theatrical presentation. It was good to see all of us serving in whatever way we can. Plus, these guys are super supportive. I didn't really expect JM and JB to pass by the area where my chapter was seated just to wish me luck on my sharing. Then there was JM's story on his conversation with PA's mom. Very inspiring. As with my chapter, I feel really blessed to a part of it. All of us heads have a very close relationship. And that relationship was further strengthened in this Tobit's weekend. Thanks to Anto, Ate Dedeth, Jonas, Ate Lannie, Line, Klea, Ryan and also to the heads who were not there namely Kuya Robert, MacMac, Beth, Allan and Chin. All of you guys played a huge part in my growth in the community and in service.

We went home on a Sunday not really feeling tired but actually more able and empowered to go about our CLP Baptism that night.

Tagged

My old friend and now fellow diver, Kate, posted this open tag on her page. I thought the topic was interesting so I chose to respond. Here's the topic:

Name ten (10) of life's simple pleasures that you like the most

Here's my list:

1. Laughing - If you know me, then you know that I laugh hard. It makes you look younger; just look at me ;p
2. Sleeping or resting in my bed - This is a luxury for me. But I love sleeping when I get a chance
3. Listening to Hip-hop or RnB while bouncing my head and body - Yep, I'm that kinda guy; not really your Rock Star; maybe Porn Star. Hahaha!
4. Having great conversation with friends - I go on gimmicks not because of the gimmick place but because of the people I'm with. As long as I can have good conversation, I'm OK anywhere.
5. Dinners or lunches with family on a weekend - what can I say, I enjoy talking to my family. We're like a barkada
6. Eating Jolibee's chocomallow pie, or KFC's chocolate mousse or McDonald’s hot fudge sundae - sweet tooth!
7. Getting a good sweat on a challenging badminton game - Badminton is good for the mind and body. Believe me.
8. Attending SFC activities namely conferences, praise fests, household meetings and GK builds - Need I expound? Hehe
9. Meeting new friends and discovering new places - It's harder to find genuine friends as we get older, that's why meeting new ones is such a delight. It's also fun to see new places; i guess it's that traveler in me kicking in.
10. Alone moments with her - Yep. I like it when it's just me and her.....

Since this is my first tag, I am sharing it with everyone. So I am tagging you! Yes, you! The one reading this post! All the people reading this are tagged! TAG!

Update Attempt

WAAAHHHHH!!!!! I am SO behind on my blog updates that it's all piling up on me! I can't take this anymore! You know that feeling when you know that you have to do something but do not have the capacity to do it. Then you hate yourself for not being able to do what you have to do because you know that if you had the time, the results would be so great! Since I am still busy this week and there’s the Tobit weekend, I’m sure I will still be unable to blog in peace. So, I give up! Blogging is supposed to fun! It's not supposed to be stressful! I am supposed to be the God of my blog site. Not it's slave! Instead of putting separate entries from events that I deem blogworthy, I am just summarizing them. Bwahaha! I know it doesn't have the same effect but at least I had those events stamped in my blog history. Here's what's written in my One Note. I'm just going to doodle on it and hopefully make sense:

To-Post:

• My First Chapter Outing - posted
• Cheriboys Session - posted
• Mother's Day - posted
• Fellowship on Ryan's birthday - posted
• Toxic - This is the week of 05/15/06 to 05/19/06 when I was so harassed and stressed with my job. My capacity is so stretched that I really feel toxic the whole week.
• PowerSlam practice - I was supposed to explain how I went back to sharing whatever minute talents I have in dancing for HIM. Hehe
• Carl's resignation - This one I really hate not writing about. My mentor in Accenture just resigned and I was quite reflective on his last day in the office. Before he left, I had a few private conversations with this guy and his words really brought a lot of realizations and memories for me... I really would like to expound on this one... but.... argh!
• MMLA - My first ever attendance of the Metro Manila Leaders' Assembly. I would have posted the side stories of the travel going to the venue, the MMLA itself, the MetroWalk after etc etc. Oh well.
• Da Vinci Code - I watched it after our music min practice. My thoughts and reactions basically.
• Bingo – it’s a term we use in our Chapter that means that we have an activity for all the days of the week. That is my state this week and I was supposed to write why.
• Mother's Birthday - Today is my Mama's birthday! My parents are on leave so I'm sure they're making the most of their time. Happy Birthday Ma!

Ryan's Birthday

Go shorty! It's your birthday. We gon' party like it's yo birthday.....

Finally! Ryan no longer has the right to call me 'kuya!' because we now have the same age! Yahoo!

All the guys from our chapter decided to have a household/fellowship on the actual day of this SFC bro's birth (05/15/06). Since it is his birthday and he is the host of the household, we asked Ryan to lead all the guys into the activity. So there we were fervently praying when we noticed people coming in... It was the girls! What?!?! All the female heads in our chapter decided to pay him a surprise visit. Haha! They got him there. Wow! I just realized that the entire upper households (plus a few members) are present! This hasn't happened to a household for quite a while now since we had the segregation of unit and chapter households. The girls didn't join the prayer though since we were already in the middle of if.

After the prayer, we ate the food prepared by Ryan's mom, Tita Olie. It was gone in 60 seconds! Hahaha! Conversations, laughters, jokes and all the many things that I love about our chapter transpired during that night. The girls went home earlier while we guys started our honoring. Prior to the honoring, I realized that in the years I have known Ryan, he has honored me twice but I have NEVER honored him. So I sought to make up for that by basically saying all the good things in my mind and in my heart about this cool fellow.

To Ryan, Happy Birthday! I've said what I wanted to in that household so I'm just going to say, "Take it easy, BRO!"

Mother's Day

Being extra-busy is no excuse to celebrate Mother's day. I guess for my family, this is the perfect time. Usually on this day, my mom would treat us out. But now that both my sister and I are working, it was just natural for us to treat her on her day. I was craving for some Buffalo Wings so we headed to Don Hen and ordered the family size among others. That time, there were seven of us celebrating (with my cousin, my aunt, and her friend) so the bill was a bit heavy. Oh well, it's all for you mom! After dinner, we went to see the last full showing of ‘MI: III’. That was the second time I saw the movie but it's all good. I watched it for family. The first one for something else.

To my mama, a big happy mother's day to you! Lav Yah!

No Sleep

With very little sleep from the event in my last post, I woke up at aroud 5pm for the Cheriboys' version of celebrating Ryan's birthday. Actually, that event was supposedly for dual purposes - Ryan's birthday celebration and 'welcome gimmick' for GJ as a temporary honorary cheriboy (haha! temporary because he is going back to LA quite soon). But since GJ cancelled, it was all for Ryan that night. We went to Promenade and had some light drinks then proceeded to Embassy in The Fort. The guys thought that the fee was not worth it so we decided to go back to our good old Basement. You see, this is when you know that you are in the company of men and not boys - they have other things allotted for their hard-earned money that they're just not simply willing to change that just because the place is deemed cool. If I was in the company of the latter, we would have gone there whatever the cost. OK, reading this makes me think if I am just optimistic or simply making an excuse. Hahaha! We went home earlier this time (5am) and then tried to get more sleep. I am one sleepy creature. ZzZzZzZz...

Chapter Outing

No storm could stop our chapter from having fun! No! Not us! Haha! Caloy is nothing compared to our desire to bond and be together. Hehe. Last Friday up to Saturday, I joined our chapter outing - my first time ever! The birthday celebrators prepared the food so no worries for us. We went to this place in Antipolo (sorry I forgot the name) and dipped ourselves in the pool until sunrise. I think that was the first time that I was still swimming up to 3am. Obviously, I've been to overnight swimming events before but not to the point that we didn't sleep and we were just in the pool from night till morning.

There was also this videoke machine. Time to sing again! Haha! In between swims, we would go up and sing a song or two then go back to swimming again. Of course, there was the unlimited picture taking. We are experts at this! Hahaha!

Oh, and there's the game that we 'energies' love to play - anything Q&A basically. Games that would allow us to get to know each other better. I'd say that this fellowship is one those times when I really got to know my chapter mates on a more personal level. We are more comfortable with each other so we are able to open ourselves more and in the process are able to help each other out in each other's concerns. Oh! And I got to know the new members' first impression of me! =p

I got home at around 2pm and caught up with my sleep. That was great guys! See yah all next time!