Flip Turn Re-Attempts

As I got in the pool house today, a staff worker casually remarked: "Nahuli yata kayo ngayon ah." I wasn't so sure what he meant but I just smiled at him to acknowledge his comment.

Maybe they were just accustomed to seeing me there during lunchtime (noon). That was true many weeks ago but then the sun was too glaring and the sessions quickly sucked my sunscreen lotions.

Since the pool was empty when I came in today, I revisited my flip turn. I still can't get over the pain in the sinus feeling. I still feel disoriented as I do the turn, not sure if I'll be facing the right direction when I go upright.

Ah, but as they say, practice makes perfect. And I'm determined to learn the move especially now that I'm doing 100's more frequently. To put some variety, I do flip turns (no walls) going to one end of the pool and then a regular free coming back.

There were 5 college studes today at the pool for a make-up PE class. One girl, her name's Lota, was simply terrified of the water everytime she attempts the backstroke.

She'd always standup up immediately as her ears submerged. Wow, that's a long way to go. But I helped her float, gently supporting her back with my palms. The studes even thanked me as I got out of the pool.

TMC Update
Last night I club-hopped to the Kimberly Club to deliver my 4th Advanced Speech in the Storytelling Manual - The Touching Story. This is another speech where I used props - this time a 100-peso paper bill.

I thought I really got the audience's attention in my intro and was very well received. It was lively but then my real story had to be "touching".

There was no feedback though on the story's analogy with my intro. Hmmmm. I thought the speech was good though and was excited to deliver it. Here's the link to the speech. Today, I finally forwarded the link to all my speeches online to our Club President.

For the evaluation segment, Ma'm Lolet evaluated me while I evaluated Jess's speech on the Martial Arts. Jess' speech was quite entertaining although I was scared he'd hurt himself with his high kicks - quite a flexible guy.

The club's membership seem to dwindle a bit. There were only 5 of us there last night. We had to scrounge a bit to find a vacant room as the company's busy with SAP implementation.

See all my Toastmasters Speeches online here!



100-Meter Freestyle may be Regular Now

For a couple of sessions now (Friday was last), I've been doing 3 or 4 100's and although it's still difficult to do , I know I'm getting better at it.

It is also becoming boring at times. Boring in the sense that I become impatient to finish the 100. Nearing the 50 mark, I sometimes just close my eyes for a couple of strokes just to deaden/mask out the effort. Although it works for a few seconds, it also somehow emphasizes the bore.

I'm still thinking of ways to make the workout itself stimulating and enjoyable DURING the workout. There are ways to put variety but that is in between workouts - like the flys, the sidestrokes, etc.

75 Meter Freestyle in Swimming

Went to swim during lunch and there were 3 studes there probly just waiting for class. In the afternoon, I think I did some 75's and I think even slipped a 100 free in there.

I think though that I really should minimize the rests per 25 since aerobic capacity is improving. I'm thinking of cutting the trip to the pool to just in the afternoon.

There was a guy from the morning who was learning backstroke. I gave him some tips and he must've used them really well coz I saw him moving farther.

I just felt sad for one girl who kept insisting that she can't swim although she needs to show some skill to pass. She doesn't even try. The time that they were waiting for the P.E. teacher, they don't even practice.

They just chat and use their cellphones probably hoping the teacher doesn't show up. How do you expect to learn with that attitude?



Close Call for a Break-In

Yesterday we went home to Pampanga. Today, being a holiday (Ninoy Day moved), we figured we'd go overnight for a brief RnR. Many reasons convinced us to do so.

For one, our work at the Unit B apartment is done. I've endorsed the keys to Weng last Saturday. In exchange, I got the signed contracts with the checks and cash.

Second, the Munsci girls just finished their 1st periodical exams and so nothing hectic on their sked. Third, the floods in Pampanga have subsided.

We left the house around 9am and dropped Tita Gay in Makati. We reached Pampanga at 12noon in time for lunch. All's well when at 9:30pm when the lights were out, Che got a call.

In the next morning, DH said that Tita Gay called Che to say that our front gate was opened. The padlock was still there but the gate was pushed forcibly inwards disengaging the bolt.

Without eating we all rushed for the long drive back. I was practically worried all the time. When we got home, we were relieved that nothing was taken.

Our front neighbor, Mang Abe (through Chris) was kind enough to notify the guards after noticing that the gate was open at around 6pm yesterday. There were a few folks milling at our front since the security people were there. What they did was to secure the gate again. Here are a few observations:




  1. Our dog, Snoopy aka Snooky (bless her doggie heart) was still inside despite the gate being open.
  2. The gate CAN be opened by pushing inwards even when padlocked.
  3. There was no attempt to forcibly open the doors. There were no signs of damage to the door or the locks.

We're so lucky for Mang Abe who was kind enough to instruct the roving guards to patrol our front street. His store also stayed opened a little later.

All these to ensure that whoever attempted to get in didn't return that night as the house was still empty. DH had the foresight to take the new bike inside the house. Me, I kinda regretted not bringing my laptop instead so I could've done my speech. Still, thank God, everything's all good.

In the afternoon, I bought a 2 foot 5/16" chain at Handyman. This is thicker than the 1/4" that I thought was good enough. The chain will be wrapped around the side posts so that they're always joined.

The good thing here is there's no need for an additional padlock. The chain will be secured by the same old padlock. It being too long, I discarded 7 of the 19 links thus leaving a chain which is 12 links long. Here's how the padlocked gate now looks like.


Both end links of the chain are inserted in the shackle of the existing padlock as it is locked. The kids already have their spare key to the old padlock so it made no sense to put the chain somewhere else and add a new padlock. It's a bit of a hassle, but we feel safer now.



New Tires, Malling at Festival

We got a new set of 3 tires from Minerva Servitek Binan. So the car has 3 Kumho (Php2200,Korea) and the single Dunlop(Php3500,Japan). We didn't change the spare, Federal-Maha(Taiwan). Due to the very long vacation brought about by the suspension of classes, we went malling. It's been quite a while that they've been cooped up at home. Here's Renz insisting on using chopsticks at Mongolian Stop.


I used the old Sony camera for this which we had repaired in the morning. What's wrong with it is the LCD sometimes just shows up as a blank white screen. I almost paid the Php780 Service Fee (labor) when I remembered that I bought something which had a 3-year warranty. Lo and behold, when I looked at the invoice and the warranty certificate stapled to the invoice, the camera was it! After I showed it to the counter girl at Sony Alabang, she just adviced me to have it photocopied. Yup, I managed to dodge the Php780 service charge just like that! So, it pays to keep your invoices and warranty certificates in a safe place (the old camera box for me.)

The Moral of the Story Speech

No swim still for today. It's been raining and the weather's not really cleared up yet. So instead I've been rushing writing and rehearsing speeches instead.

Last night I delivered my 3rd advanced speech in the Storytelling Manual - The Moral of the Story. We were a cozy group of 6 toastmasters. This time, I made sure that I moved a lot when speaking. The story was animated and I wanted to exploit it with gestures and body movement. And exploit it, I did! In fact the evaluator, Lolet, thought that I moved my shoulders a bit everytime I shifted weight and stepped to the side. The story is funny and maybe I did funny movements without realizing it.

The Italian accent I did for Padre Burgos was right on the dot! I immensely enjoyed my performance of the Italian priests's character. The audience also enjoyed my version of Juan the Sabungero while stroking the fighting rooster.

After my speech, they were still interested and asked if Father Greg was an American. To that, I said, "you choose, American or Filipino? It was a made-up story." "What!?!?" they chorused. Doc Larry said it was so believable! I guess, I told the story so realistically well.

I was so happy last night coz I finally received the CC pin that I've wanted since last year. I became a Competent Communicator in July of last year and only received a certificate and the 2 free manuals. I didn't get a pin. Maybe my old club didn't have funds for pins. Maybe nobody had time to get them. I don't know. But when I learned from Lolet (our president) that she's got a spare, boy, was I excited! I kept reminding her to bring it and last night she did. I had our pics taken just for me to savor (finally, after more than a year) the moment.


Here's the small group that was there: (clockwise) Henry, Doc Larry, Lolet, James and Viviene.


Finally, a chance to wear the pin (collar) at the office and proudly show it around.

Tire Split Open and Sculling

I went home at noon yesterday and then my rear tire burst. No, it didn't run out of air, but the steel belting just jutted out and hit the siding like mad. This was near the Alaska factory in the South expressway. I moved really slow like I was being towed. Fortunately I was able to have it replaced at the Servitek after withdrawing cash from a BPI atm at Munti. The new tire, Dunlop Japan, set me back by Php3,590. The reason I went home early was to rest coz I had a cold. Or so I thought. It turned out it was again those troublesome allergies. How did I know. Well, I got instant relief (last night up to today) right after taking Virlix. I must've gotten these allergies it after cleaning Unit B at the apartment. I got a lot of dust after cleaning the CR window.

Just did some frees and backs today in the morning. I attempted a flip turn but the water just went up the nose and boy, was it painful. My sinus hasn't really cleared up from the previous nights' sniffles. In the afternoon I did some seated sculling which is nice to do as a break from the usual. Maybe I'll try the other sculls next time.


Thank God our parking lot expansion at the office has been completed. With the rains, it was tough getting parked coz of the mud. And that made me not to go for a second swim coz, it's so hard to find good parking slots.

Cold Today, 2nd Speech in Storytelling

The water today was cold, although not freezing cold. It's been dark and raining for the past few days (thanx to Typhoons Chedeng and Dodong). I heard that Angat Dam's no longer at the critical level. Imagine the water level rising by 8 meters in just 48 hours or 2 days! And the rate was around 45 centimeter rise per hour! It may take a while, maybe next week, before the pool's temp becomes normal again. Three weren't a lot of studes when I got there and they've all finished with the class.

I'm already keeping the rests between 25y short. I'm also doing back-to-back laps for the 2 sets. Then the 3rd set is done separately. I don't know but maybe it's the fly that keeps my shoulders a little sore. It's not the injury (yet!) kind of a sore and I'm not taking any medz. Just some soreness during the day.

I delivered another Toastmasters speech tonight entitled "Traces of Talent". This is the 2nd speech project, Let's Get Personal, in the Storytelling manual. As some of the members were out of the country, there were only four of us there: Lolet, Vivienne and Alfred. It was fun and intimate speaking to a small group. They liked my speech and I was flattered when Alfred said he attended just to watch me. He was bound for Jamaica the following day. All three took turns evaluating my speech and they had good words. Mam Lolet added that a prop like Che-che's picture would've added some a great visual effect - and I agree. Thanx all!

We had time to chat on lots of things and I learned that Doc Noy was competing in this year's quartethlon. The theme for the Singing category is English Love Songs. He's competing for IAME. I also learned that he's not going back to the states for a while and he's connected with Medicard as a Wellness lecturer.

See all my Toastmasters Speeches online here!

Ready for the 50Y

The water was slightly cool today coz of the rains. Typhoon Chedeng was already moving out. There was a weak drizzle. There were no studes there today either. Must be exams week (again?).

I managed 3 sets today. Sometimes though, I have the tendency to do an extra lap for a stroke when it becomes 10-bits. It gives me more time to analyze the stroke longer. It may also mean that the stamina is improving. In the next sessions, I'll be gunning for no rests after 25yards. So it'll be a straight 50y for each stroke. That will certainly be new to me especially for the fly and the backstroke. After that, I'm eyeing on relearning the flip turn.

Packed Pool

Sure enough, the pool was crawling with studes this morning. There were more guys and that made for a noisy group. One guy was too loud and too vulgar that I suppose he's the class monkey. It seemed like there were 2 groups but they all knew each other. There were too much games and a girl kept hollering/ cheering crazily. Later, some of the quieter girls asked for some tips, and again, for beginners I could give tips on glide and the catch.

There was too much horseplaying in the pool that I only managed 2 sets. My fly breathing is getting a little better. For one, I'm not straining my neck too much. I know the chin is low on the water. Unfortunately, it's not high enough that I could look down on the water. This is true with breaststroke. I still have the tendency to look straight ahead. I don't know about the straight arm pull, but the hourglass pattern seems easier for me albeit slower.

If in the morning the rowdy group were the guys, the girls were the louder in the afternoon session. There was too much shouting and hollering at each other and at the coach that I thought I'd break my eardum. When I was almost done, the coach did say 'hi' and asked if I was done. Looks like a friendly chap.

I had my bp taken and it's the lowest ever (sure about that Nurse Agnes?) and I've lost 3.5 lbs.!

Halo's Gone

Ok, the "halo" feeling's gone. This is probly the last Wednesday that I'm going to the pool. I'm planning on doing it T-Th next time and hopefully maximize the entrance fee. Besides, shoulders are getting sore from the daily relatively focused sessions. I've retried the breathing per stroke in breast. The old breath every other stroke was easy but it messes the original kick and pull patterns. So, I'll be doing more of that. I'll be reviewing videos of Ed Moses which look good.

I brought my radio today and it's good - session wasn't as boring. After 3 sets of 50Y broken IM, I went to BMP to buy superglue to fix the plastic case of my gogs. Since these gogs have a wider profile, I think it'll be better to use its original case rather than a soft case. I was really sweating when I came to the office today. Good thing I thought of bringing a large hankie to cover my head as I went in from a long walk from the parking lot. I used the hankie to put on my back.