Elated

No Swim: Rainclouds and a slight drizzle this morning. I also have some congestion and an itchy sore throat. Must be the allergies again. I'm taking Virlix and Carbocisteine.

Somber news: Che's section placed 3rd out of 5 in the Speech Choir. It wasn't so much that they didn't get 1st that saddens her but that only the 1st and 2nd will advance to the finals. She's dissapointed coz she and her classmates put so much practice into it.

Update on leaking pipe. I finally slept soundly last night. We asked Mang Bert to assess the leaking pipe. He removed the pipe to expose the female connection in the wall. He said what's needed is a stopper male connection to plug it in. To temporarily close the hole in the wall he plugged in a rubber footing which fit nicely. Why didn't I think of that? All I was thinking was to dismantle the main gate valve. This way, there will absolutely be no water pressure to hit the newly mixed putty. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have used too much water when mixing the two compounds. The watered down putty mix was weak and the slight water pressure was enough to collapse the seal.

With what Mang Bert showed me, however, no dismantling was necessary. In fact, I could just put now WaterStop in the removed pipe, let it dry, teflon it and put it back in. Yup, some elbow grease and nothing to buy! I was so happy that I gave Mang Bert Php50 for practically nothing except for him showing me how the connections looked like and what I needed to do. Actually, he didn't want to accept the money and he gave me a spare Teflon tape roll in return. Okay, now I'm in charge.

Good news: We finally got the Superkalan spare parts namely the intensifier and the chimney last night. That's the old and the new intensifers on the left. We've approached the Natomo stall twice already in the past weeks and finally the parts were made available after I texted for them. The intensifier is Php250 and the chimney is Php150. Anyway, we're happy. Even with care, our old, rusted intensifier is slowly chipping away into a thin crown. I guesstimate it to have 6 months to 1 year more to live. It's just made of heavy G.I. sheet. The new version however is much thicker, heavier and is molded iron. It looks it'll last long with careful handling, ie, no dropping.Dinner was late last night coz of the leaking pipe and all, but I was so elated that I still practiced the piece at 10pm. I'm convinced that PLAYING SLOWLY is the only way to go to memorize a long and complex piano piece.

Amber Gogs

SEasy: Forgot to take Pritor today so only a light sessions tho the sun was bright. I'm officially using the amber gog and ditching the old blue ones. The old blue one just has too much scratches on it. Swimming is such a joy when you can see clearly below and above the water.

Great news. A couple ones actually. Che got into top 10 in her class. Top 9 to be precise. Go Che! Another one: Irene got the results of her mammography. Results were unremarkable. Thank God. I was so elated that I had them bring their "report cards" to show in Pampanga and Makati.

Bad news. The pipe that goes into the water closet has corroded and just broke off last Sat. night. I don't know but I was just a little panicky that night. I'm not usually this way. But I'm thankful for DH for having the presence of mind and calmness to stick in a tree branch which temporarily stopped the strong leak. I was sore at Renz for asking too many questions at that point. I've tried to stuff it with Water Stop putty but it's just temporary. Better get a plumber for it.

Light news. We went to visit the Bacolor church coz there were displayed images of the Virgin Mary. Renz got a little scared coz some of the statues looked very sad, with the tears and all. While Renz and Irene were walking past the Nazareno, the following ensued:
    Renz: Bakit nakahiga si Jesus?
    Irene: Kasi pinatay siya.
    Renz: Sinong pumatay?
    Irene: Mga sundalo na Hudyo
    Renz: Sino yon?
    Irene: (getting lost for words, but finally thinking of the Moriones festival with the mask-wearing soldiers) Sila yung mga naka-maskara.
    Renz: Maskara? (it sounds like mas-KE-rah)
    Irene: Oo, sila yung naka-maskara.
    Renz: Parang si Batman?
The pic at the right shows the facade of the sunken Bacolor Church. The first floor used to be the second floor of the church. Although we are now standing infront of the entrance of the present church, that same spot used to be the BALCONY of the original church! The lahar flows of Pinatubo had buried the first level and is now underground. Mom and Auntie Conching (the last surviving siblings of 9) were happy that we took them around Bacolor on that day.

Here's a shot at the new terrace of the new house. It's so nice and so spacious.

Somehow, I got tired yesterday. I sawed and chopped wood, I sorted whatever junk was there in the cd shelves. Threw some old, uninteresting, pirated vcd's. I also made some new videoke vcds using the dirt-cheap blank cd's I bought from CD-R-King. Php 12 for Imation cd's! Too bad I didn't get to play with Renz with his new remote-controlled car given by Jess.

Dreams and Memories

SEasy: Slight drizzle but the water was not as cold as I thought. It rained yesterday and the air was cool this morning so I'm curious. Raymond did say he added water. Could that be it? Anyway, the swim went fine. The new girl's name is Arni. Hmmmm. Let's see how she'll do. There's been a couple of fireouts in just 6 months.

I lost the plastic stopper for the towel tube rope. Good that I didn't get rid of the old tube so now I can use the spare. Last night I was trying to learn to sing the song "Dreams and Memories" (Toselli's Serenade) by Perry Como. The more I hear it, the more I believe I've heard this many times before when I was very very young. Anyway, I found another version by a Mary Scneider on the net. Her voice is(was?) really nice but I was completely surprised that her version has a yodelling part. I don't know if it was a fad at the time.Renz got a smack on the butt last night for continually interrupting while somebody (Dada) was practicing. I played the piece slowly last night. It makes a big difference on the learning and it still sounds nice even with the slow tempo. There's no hurry and missed/skipped notes and I'm focusing more what keys to press with what fingers. I think I could practice it even more slowly.

Weights? Diet Change?

No Swim: Dark clouds in the morning today. I'm still sore that the Toastmsters session was cancelled. But, I'll just make the most of what I have and maybe practice toastmastering at home. Maybe I could think about topics for my third speech. Hopefully, the topic won't be as heavy as the second. I've learned that topics with so many facts (like a scientific research) tend to be harder to deliver. So I'll try to dig up from life's experiences instead.

With swimming as my only exercise the past year, some bones and muscles do not get the appropriate "loading" to become strong. I experienced this last week when Sandra and Renz were playing outside. I showed Sandra and Renz how I skipped rope (boxer style with good rhythm). I proceeded to get the jumping rope from Sandra and did a few jumps. It was okay. I wasn't tired at all. But I felt my weight on the feet pounding on the concrete. The following day, my ankles were a little sore. No major strain or sprain - just some discomfort when I rotate or bend the ankles. I guess the buoyancy of all my swimming hasn't help in sustaining strength in bones and muscles that can withstand impact in jumping, running, etc.

I'm now thinking (again!) of reviving my weights routine. Maybe warmup with some shoulder presses and curls and then put in some light squats and bench presses. I'm thinking of doing weights Saturday morning. Coupled with this is my old Atkins type diet that was pretty successful in the past. Very little or no carbs. Buy some mackerel, tuna and flavor with pickle relish. Blech. We'll see.Still not practicing enough my Christmas piano piece. I always get interrupted by Renz wanting to play the piano. And I really mean "play" the piano. When he does this, I tell him that he can play on it alone provided that when I practice, he doesn't interrupt me anymore. Ah well, maybe he'll get interested someday. Renz and Sandra also get to tinker with it.

Fired Out

DEasy: This was a fast one. Prince was there. I learned yesterday that Michelle got fired. Apparently she was in cahoots with one of the workers to "chicken" the lodge. This was of course unauthorized. I don't think she's been there for over a month.

The Toastmasters session has been cancelled again for the nth time! My second speech is slowly losing its novelty - especially on me! I've practiced this speech for 18 times already. I'm ready to puke the words "hirsuta" and "schumanni". What's with people cancelling left and right?

On a happy note, last night I tried out the cd-writer combo with the bundled Nero Express. This is to compile my favorite videokaraoke songs into a single vcd. It worked well. All choice 24 songs fit into a single vcd. Now, I could sing all night without having to press the "next" key several times to skip songs. It's a dvd writer as well, so maybe I could try that too.

Cold Mornings and Christmas Past

DEasy: I haven't done a double easy for a while and it feels good to have the shoulders stretched again. Sun was up today although the water was cool. It hasn't been raining the past few days so the cool November mornings was the culprit. It's been nippy the past 3 early mornings, so yup, Christmas is really around the corner. I didn't go swimming yesterday coz there was some heavy traffic at Market Road. There's apparently a rerouting of jeepneys (who were choking the road) and I could only surmise that it's roping in of jeepneys to crackdown on colorums. I just turned back and headed for the office. Great that there was no such thing today. Today I found a 1 peso coin at the pool floor to add to my "sunken treasure" kitty.

Last night Doris hitched on the way home and we got to talk about how Christmas nowadays is so different from the Christmas past as we knew it. We both agreed that the Christmas spirit seems to wane as years go by; less decorations, less festivities, less spending. And altho we both agreed that the economy is partly to blame, she adds that it's also that only the Catholics really keep up the very long Christmas season. She contends that there are more born-again Christians now than before - to which I agree. These born-agains she says do not take the same Christmas views as Catholics and that includes beliefs in big preparations and celebrations for Christmas. Hmmmm.I only managed to put in a few practice on the Christmas piano piece here and there. My second Toastmasters speech is due for delivery tomorrow. But my speech is ready. I just need to practice it 10 more times. I read this article that a great drill for improving the voice for speeches is singing. So now, I try to collect some video karaoke songs that I like and put them all on several vcd's. That way, I won't need to continually press the "select next" button.

Test Video

This is a test video. Here's Renz sliding. This was taken a few years back at Jollibee.

Bandaged Fingers

No swim today: I have these small blisters in one finger of each hand that were itchy and I ended up scratching and opening them and now they're covered with bandaids. So I'll let them dry up and heal for the moment.

From what I've heard so far, I didn't miss a whole lot from last night's festivities. And I was glad that I agreed to shoot my prior greetings video coz the audience found it to be "energetic". Well, at least that's what I heard from Tony, one of the emcees. I only regretted that I didn't make my greetings longer and I should've put in gestures (spoken in true Toastmasters fashion). I'm glad there were no untoward incidents despite the drinking and the the awardees enjoyed the event.I could only put in a couple of practices here and there. But I do think my lefthand is STARTING to have tactile memory. I'm still looking at the keyboard for the lefthand though. I'm now playing the 4 segments but haltingly.

Service Awards

SEasy: Sun almost disappeared this morning! Filter's on and the greenish color's clearing up. I noticed today that if I turned my head towards the sky to breath, it was straining the neck whereas if I just turned to the side, it was smoother and easier. Corz, it's no guarantee that I get big gulp of air, but still. I may have noticed that before and even wrote about it.

Tonight's the Service Awards night. After a couple of awards nights for me, this event's getting much too predictable. When asked if I'll be there, I say yes, they'll see me there. What I mean tho' is they'll just see me on video (had a video shoot for my batch's greetings). When some folks learn I'm not going and ask, I just say I don't really have anything to do there. Which is true. The recent crop of service awardees don't have any active participation in the event. The event's too much overrated. Ladies are excited that they can slap on tons of makeup, fix their hair bigtime and wear gowns (if they can fit in them!). And it becomes a fashion show of sorts. Seems like awardees are just expected to eat, sit, watch the paid celebrities and take pics. I'm not big on local showbiz so it's not too interesting for me.

If there's one thing that attracts me to this event is the dancing. But dancing starts at 12 midnight or beyond - when EVERYTHING's done. And what do I do before that? Yawn? Besides, looking at the awardees' names, I can't spot anybody who I can do partner dancing with (swing, boogie, reggae, etc.) They look like mostly disco people. Oh, I LOVE disco music. It is the disco "do-whatever" dance that I don't particularly care about. For disco music, I'd rather do the 4-beat or 3-beat(Hustle) swing or even Reggae (if it has a strong beat).

Here's what typically happens:
  1. After the community (last) song, emcees announce the end of awarding and start of dancing. This is around 12 midnight.
  2. It's late and klutzes readily leave ballroom, tired, sleepy, onto the waiting service buses.
  3. Really good music start to play. Nobody dances.
  4. After 15 mins. A couple of lights are turned off. Maybe 2 couples are on the floor.
  5. After 15 more mins. A couple more lights turned off and maybe 4 couples more on the floor.
  6. After 15 more mins. all lights are off 'cept for some strobe lights and all those remaining awardees disco on the dancefloor. Corz by this time, the others have gone bored and left.
Anyway, that's how I foresee it happening again and it just isn't worth the hassle of missing a good night's sleep (among many other hassles) for a few mins. of dancing.
I wasn't practicing the Christmas piece lately coz of my second Toastmasters speech. Too bad, the Toastmasters session didn't push yesterday due to the "preparations" for the Service Awards. Anyway, that'll give me more time to polish the speech. On the piece, I still have problems memorizing the left hand. I still need the music sheet. Just can't put it all together yet.

Imbalance

2 free 2 backstream with fins, SEasy without fins: One benefit I found today with finning is that it strengthens the legs. My fins are long but not too wide. They do create resistance and trains me to use the hip muscles more. The trouble is when I get too fast, I'm a little scared slamming my head onto the wall esp. with today's greenish water. Another I notice is the "imbalance" one gets after removing the fins. I noticed the first time I wore the fins too. It's just that when you're used to no fins, the body maintains a balance. When fins are worn, that balance is no longer there and you need to adjust.

I remember once in Paranaque at the old office when we had visitors for the kickoff of an event, TCS, I think. We had doves to release to launch the event. Well, someone had this idea of tying different colored yarns (or ribbons?) to the doves' feet. It sounded like a bright idea. The doves were all white and what else to add color to their flight to the sky than with brightly colored ribbons trailing them! Well, that was the idea. Sadly, when the doves were released, they could not manage to fly beyond 10 feet. They simply returned to the ground. The ribbons were only a couple of feet long. Light as they were, the ribbons became an added weight/ crutch to the doves and totally disturbed their sense of balance in flight. So, the ribbons were removed and the doves were released. Well, there wasn't much of a colorful kickoff.

Morning Rains

NONE: Yesterday, I was early and took Karen and Sandra to school coz of their club sponsoring the mass. It was also Che's 13th birthday but was rather sad coz she lost her cellphone. It was only 6 months old. Despite the cake and noodles (all good and yummy), we couldn't light the candle and sing. She was NOT in the mood for it.

I wonder if the Toastmasters will push tomorrow. The Service Awardees will be halfday tomorrow and that might be an excuse to postpone it. I'm an awardee but I'm not attending. I just don't find anything special about it. Sit, eat, watch and take pictures - that's about it. Dancing? I don't think there are any decent dancers anymore who can do ballroom or swing. It would've been better if the awardees themselves have some kind of special participation or numbers to present.

Today, it was raining.
The third short segment wasn't so hard. But it IS getting harder putting together the music coz it's now longer. I'm now finding it harder to memorize as a whole - especially the left hand/ bass part coz the patterns are so different among segments. The right hand patterns are more consistent (so far!). Why is it that my right hand could memorize the motions while my left could not? Somehow, I need to continually look at the keys to see where my left hand is AND the music sheet to see what the left hand needs to do. Maybe in time, the left hand can memorize all that too.

Kickboard Ouch

4 KB (kickboard), 5 Frees, all with fins: KB sets were done twice (100m) each. At the last set, it was a pain on the neck. KB and fins just don't match. The fins support the legs up on the water while using the KB makes you raise the head too much. It's a pain. This is the first AND LAST time I'll be using the KB with fins. At least I relearned how to use the hips more for kicking. I avoided bending the knees coz kicking with the fins on was heavy on the knees producing pain. I used the hips and this stretches the ankles.

Attended (partially) the abundance talk today. Ugh, it was mostly theatrics. He didn't come across as a serious speaker. Plenty of inflections/ falsettos that was offensive to my ears. And the "I'll-memorize-all-your-nicknames" stunt - what was THAT about? To impress the audience? What for? He should have been a preacher. After 30 mins., I couldn't bear the torture anymore and left.

Fins Again

5 Paddles 6 Free with Fins: What's with this place? I leave the house all bright and shiny and when I get inside the pool's fence, rainclouds appear. It's great that I packed my old fins yesterday. I still have some congestion due to allergies and I thought of easing up a beat and breaking the monotony.

Well, breaking the monotony is spot on, but easing up a bit is an overstatement. The fins somehow really stretched (overextended) my ankles. Maybe it's something I've needed. No pain though. The turns were all super slo-mo coz of the fins' "braking". The frees were rather fast and I felt that my stroking was aided by the legs. The water being unclear, I had to watch out for the wall at the end lest I bang my head onto it coz I was fast. Thank God for the petroleum jelly applied on ankles and toes; putting on the fins was a breeze. There were no rashes on the toes either.

Since it started to drizzle and get dark, I regretted not using my new clear black gogs. All I saw at the pool floor was a fuzzy black line. Che resumed school today. I attended the 8th Habit by Stephen Covey. The speaker was mature, portly but was okay. I thought I could do that too - lecturing. And I've spotted improvements: bigger gestures, more movement around room, engaging the audience, more enthusiasm, etc.
I'm into my second segment (lower octave) in the Christmas piece. It's easier than I thought. But my challenge is how to memorize it. I'm still having a hard time sightreading completely. Corz the big jumps on the keys isn't helping any.

Bout with Allergies

SEasy: Without eback. The sun was so bright I couldn't do the eback. Not even after putting on the black gogs. These gogs are new and so clear! I guess this is how a semi-blind person feels after he gets his eyesight back. Wow. All of a sudden the sky and the trees look so nice and clear while swimming!

My suspicion was right. I was having allergies and not the usual common cold. I got the sniffles after going to Makati to fetch the kids from their mini-vacation last Sunday. I'm still taking Carbocisteine and Virlix.

Noontime swimming is losing its appeal on me. I went for a noon swim after paying the water bills for units A and B. Maybe its still my allergies or the water's not too clear, or both. Che has been absent for a couple of days now coz of tonsilitis and a sprouting molar. I've been confirmed for my second speech project next week (hope it pushes) in the Toastmasters. I'm excited for my 2nd Toastmasters speech entitled "The Devil's Gardens". I'll try to finalize it today. Congrats to Karen for finishing storytelling the book entitled "The Family Under The Bridge" for all its 9 chapters.
I've pretty much have the 1st segment of my Christmas piece down pat. The second part on the lower octave will be a challenge.

Exhausting Polo

SEasy: But instead of the usual paddle, I did a polo-style swim. It was lung-bursting. Water was churning wildly, getting into my nose, my ears and eyes. You really need to arch your back and kick to keep your legs up. It also stretches the shoulders so I'd imagine this is roughly how a first-time butterflier would feel. Maybe the fatigue from yesterday's driving (Nov.1) has set in. I couldn't manage a 100m free.