Interpreting Poetry and Yay for Extra Joss!

Today, I was still having this mysterious headache that I seemed to have brought all the way from Nasugbu. I have several theories on what caused this and here are a few:

1. I was just super tired with all the swimming I did. I guess I lost some of the conditioning I gained after I stopped swimming for a while.
2. My neck muscles got the brunt of my heads-up breaststroke when I swam to the “payong-payong” rock formation and the soreness is creeping to my head.
3. I missed my hypertension medication Pritor last Saturday.
4. I ate something REALLY bad.
5. My sinus got congested from the swimming.

I suppose it’s one of the above, a combination of the above, or all of the above. Whatever it was, heck, it only took a satchet of Extra Joss (original flavor) to make it disappear! And not only that, the sore right shoulder I had seemed to go away with it too! Hmmm.

TM District Convention is fast approaching on May 1 at Tagaytay. But I won’t be going due to a prior commitment. Speaking of Toastmasters, my speech last Thursday (Apr17) on Interpreting Poetry in the Interpretive Reading manual went smoothly. It wasn’t as good as I expected though. Reading the speech material just makes me less animated, I suppose.

To see all my Toastmasters Speeches online click on here!

A Private Resthouse at Nasugbu, Batangas

With little planning, the officemates (basically, just some) went to a private resthouse by the beach at Nasugbu, Batangas. I cannot remember the last time I was at Nasugbu, but I’m sure it’s one of those company outings (AMD?, Moto?) in the distant past. Those company outings were in big public beaches that were reserved for a day.

This is the first time for me to go to a private beach resthouse. It’s so private that it is inaccessible by land. I heard you gotta walk pretty far to get there and the better alternative is to go to a parking area, leave the vehicle there and take a banca ride to the beach resthouse. The distance is short, but the banca has to go far to avoid the shallow parts of the shore.

Here’s a shot of the cottage where we ate, from the resthouse. The owners said that next door is Heart Evangelista's parents resthouse. Ummm, okay.


The food was mucho mucho (overflowing!). There was morning snack (in the van), breakfast, snack (before lunch), lunch, snack and then dinner. Since we started a little late plus the afternoon rain that practically drenched the outing, the eating sched got messed up and we ended up finishing dinner at past 8pm. I was too nauseous to even eat.

It’s a good thing though that I did plenty of swimming in the morning. Butterfly in the sea was very fast. I did two that seemed to take notice from everybody there – coz I heard some remarks about “dragonfly stroke”, not me of course. Getting air to breath for fly was so much easier in saltwater! Later, FO and I talked about swimming lessons. And I gave my usual spiel (or rant?) about Pinoys when they say “going swimming”. When asked if they can swim, they’d usually say “no”. The conversation usually goes this way:

Them: Nag-swimming kami. Ang sarap!
Me: Oh? Marunong ba kayong lumangoy?
Them: Hindi.
Me: Ah, hindi kayo nag-swimming. Naligo kayo.
Them: Ha? Ah… eh… oo nga ano.

Freestyle was even faster! The corals and rocks just whizzed by! It felt so much different than when swimming in the pool. Another difference is, without the lane lines to guide me, I noticed I always swam to the RIGHT – always. And so for navigation, fly and breaststroke is easier.

After the heavy rain in the afternoon, we headed out to the rock the locals call “payong-payong” (umbrella). It doesn’t look like an umbrella, but hey I’m no local here so I’ll leave it at that. We saw kids who were walking to it. And why not, the water was only around mid-thigh to waist high! The trouble was the rock and corals were so uneven that it was uncomfortable and painful underfoot.

What’d I do? I swam to it with heads-up breaststroke so as not to lose sight of the rock. The key is to keep a shallow profile. You only have 2-3 feet of water to swim in and it’s tiring. At some points a rock and some sea weeds grazed my thighs. Well, it’s better that than have bruises or cuts under the foot. Not only that, it was faster. I overtook JP who was walking and had beach shoes even. FO had some cuts and swelling under his feet coz of the rocks and corals. On my way back, I did elemback and scratched my back on a rock. Ouch!

Here’s the rock (“Payong-payong”) late in the afternoon at 5pm. The kids in the foreground are looking at some saltwater aquarium fishes they caught and put in a basin. If on one side, the water is about waist high, on the other side, it's very deep.


See the tiny spots in the backround that look like poles? They’re people walking to the rock and the water is now just knee high. Here's a magnified view of the picture above. It's already low tide and some of the rocks are jutting out even.


After the afternoon swim and shower, I rested a bit and asked for hot water and coffee from the owner to ease my nausea. I suppose all that heads-up breastroke did me in. Fortunately, Tina (JP’s sister) even had Vicks and Biogesic and so I massaged my head and muscles. I felt much better afterwards.

At dusk, everybody was taking their requisite sunset photos. So I took one of a banca coming in after a tiring day’s catch. While everybody else was near the water, I took this one while just sitting on a chair high up on the beach front.


That’s the white banca we took from the parking site to the resthouse. Now it looks blue coz of the sunset. On the way back, this banca got on our nerves since it wouldn’t start! It took at least 20 attempts to make the motor run.


With so much delay, we left the place past 8:00pm when we should've left at 6:00pm. I got home at past 11pm.

Consultation with a Rheumatologist

I was at the rheumatologist today after being referred by the company doctor. This is for the right hip discomfort that I've been feeling for several months now. I was number 5 in the queue but it seemed like eternity. I estimated each patient was in the doctor's room for 15 to 20 minutes!

And I discovered why. The doctor has tons of questions to ask. Is the pain in the whole leg? Is there needle-like sensation? Do you smoke? How much? How long? Do you drink? Dad and mom's history? Siblings history? Have you pee'ed in your pants?(!) Walk on tip-toes. Walk on heels. Raise shirt to feel back. Lay on bed. Bend leg. Pull foot back towards butt. Push foot outwards. Sit. Hammer on knee, on ankle. How thick is your wallet? Etc. etc. etc. She said she was just being thorough. Ummm, okay. I like thorough, Doc.

Anyway, the diagnosis was muscle spasm. Seems like the sawing activities I did triggered the spasm. My scoliosis just aggravates it much more and that's why I still have it. So the doctor prescribed a muscle relaxant Norgesic and plenty of warm compresses. That's 4 times a day: morning, lunch, late afternoon, and before sleeping.

I'm thankful. Well, it could've been worse. At least the warm compresses really help. The doctor assured the pain will eventually go away.

Manila Zoo

It was 2001 since we last visited the zoo. Renz wasn't around yet at that time. And so DH had this idea of going there again for Renz's turn. I'm glad we went there early. There was ample space and I even managed to park under the tree shade.

Well, the usual regulars were there: elephant, zebras, tiger, etc. It's a lot nicer now at the Kinder Zoo coz they've got more animals to touch and even hold. Plus, the Kinder Zoo didn't have the annoying ambulent vendors selling ice cream and toys. At the main zoo these vendors seemed to outnumber the animals! Paging Mayor Alfredo Lim!

In general though, we had a fun time. Renz and Dada could've ridden an ostrich hadn't they both chickened out. I kinda' look like Kuya Kim in some pics!










We left before lunch and the parking area was full by that time. Thank goodness for the parking attendants who directed the vehicles going in and out.

We had lunch at Jollibee (where else?) at Harrison Plaza. I don't think I've been to that place since college days and it has changed. We bought some books at Booksale and some videos.



Other pics:

Reading a Story, Toastmasters Speech in Interpretive Reading

It's already April and I can't believe this is my first Toastmasters speech for the year. But what a speech I gave last night! I almost didn’t make it to the Toastmasters meeting coz of the props and the speech material itself. I was scrounging for a suitable speech at the last hour. I had wanted a speech material that had our trip to Jakarta, Indonesia as my introduction. After many choices, I found one and developed my props. My vocal variety and animated gestures and movements were received well by the audience. We had energetic guests from Fluormasters TM club gracing the evening.


To see a copy of the speech as well as the props used, click here. For my other comments on the speech as well as a list of all my Toastmasters speeches, find them here.

More Pics from the Jakarta Trip

Aguila Resort - Back to Anilao, Batangas

The last time I was at Anilao was 3 years ago with my officemates and it was around during this time of the year. This was at the Vistamar Beach Resort. It was very very memorable because for the first time, I learned how to confidently tread water. It wasn't the eggbeater kick. It was a frog kick - but still treading just the same.

I suppose learning to tread water is a huge milestone for a REAL swimmer's life. Practically, beginning swimmers learn to swim first before learning to tread water. In other words, swimmers in general learn to move in the water first before learning to stay still in the water. My analogy of it is like a baby learning to walk first before learning how to stand.

Anyway, assembly time was at 5:30am at DH's office. Pugs, one of the designated conveyors (aka "drayber") overslept and came roughly an hour later. Here's a pic of the impatient bunch whose excitement was slowly turning into anger by the minute. Corz, they had to show smiling faces for this photo-op though.


There was road construction over at Lipa and so taking the route of Star Tollway was not recommended. We went through the Lemery route. Along the way, we passed by Fantasy World and so had to stop for a photo-shoot ala Majika.


Here's the place. First order of the day was to setup the grill for ihaw-ihaw. We had lots or pork barbecues and hotdogs. Here's me setting up the charcoals. Corz I've got DH "assisting" me.


This is the ihaw-ihaw area. The only dried leaves we could get were dried coconut leaves. It was a challenge.


Chow time. We had pork barbecue, hotdogs, rellenong bangus (yummy!), CPA (chicken-pork adobo), mangoes, salted eggs with tomatoe and bagoong. Wow, buuurrrp!


Pugs and company were able to get a boat ride for Php1,500 haggled down from Php1,800. There were 15 of us and so we took 2 boats. Initially, I was hesitant to join coz I've taken a boat ride before at a previous outing to Anilao. And I thought it was the same. Was I wrong! And fortunately I decided to go ahead with the boat ride group. It's an experience I'll never forget.


Here's our banca going to the Fish area. It was a little past noontime and the sun was beating on us hard. Apparently there are well known spots (to the bankeros, that is) where the beautiful fishes stay to feed.


Here's shot of other boat where Pugs and the other girls rode in.


DH and I. My face looks whitish, almost like espasol, because of the sunscreen lotion I put on. It was really hot.


When we got to the Fish area, the excitement seem to have stopped. Everyone in our boat was quiet. I had to say "let's go" coz nobody seemed to want to be first in going down the boat. And then DH volunteered to go first. Ahhh, such courage I thought. Or was it just pure excitement that made her volunteer? I actually imagined that the other girls didn't have this "going into the water" item as part of the agenda!


Here's DH hanging by the outrigger. Can you see how clear the water is? I'd guess we're in 10 feet deep water. The goggles really do help a lot.



Here's me without a vest, just treading water while DH struggles with her vest. I suppose I've got too much body fat to keep me afloat, eh? I realized I didn't need to do freestyle coz I was so buoyant, head-up breast and sculling was so easy.


Here's me doing the eggbeater kick furiously to keep me afloat as I raise both forearms out of the water.


We didn't have any bread in our banca since Pugs got all the bread in theirs. And so I swam towards THEIR banca doing the sidestroke. It was easy and felt really good coz of the seawater's buoyancy. Initially I got a single slice from Emma J. Later on, I came back to get 5 slices more from Lyn's sister.


Here's a happy group all excited after seeing and feeding the fishes. The fishes really do bite on the bread while you hold it. We saw blue-green and yellow with black stripes fishes. It was a wonderful experience.


This is our return trip. Everyone was so happy and after that long treading and swimming, I didn't mind the heat anymore. Besides, it was already 3pm. Somebody commented that they felt heavy getting on board the boat after the snorkelling. Although they thought that it was the water clinging to their clothes, my conclusion is that we've been in the water too long that we felt very light in it. So when we got out, we suddenly felt heavy.


DH is playing with the water by sticking her hand and fighting the drag. See how fast we were going by the splash on the outriggers? The bankero was bragging they had a 16-hp motor. Ummm, okay. DH's outfit looks really cool, don't you think so?


When we got back, DH and I took time swimming near the shore and she felt the sensation of floating that's almost treading. I told her to imprint that sensation, that feeling of being afloat so she could replicate that in the pool. That'll be the first step to learning to tread water.

I still managed to eat after our swim and after a few more minutes, we showered, packed up and had a short pictorial on the way out. That's after I shooed away a bunch of foreigners (Vietnamese?) who were whiling their time hogging this picture spot. Nice.


Here's a map to Aguila Beach Resort in Anilao, Mabini, Batangas.


You can get more info on the place by visiting their website at: http://www.aguilabeachresort.com.

Medz Resort

Like I promised the kids, we'll be enjoying swimming this summer and today we went to Medz Resort or is that Med's? We've already gone to Blumen Resort several weeks ago. Right across Blumen is the Medz Resort which they said is better though more expensive - Php100 compared to Blumen's Php80. But if you ask me, both have their strong points. Blumen is really for the serious swimmer who'd want to swim laps in their nice lap pool. Medz is for the "let's play horsey-horsey" non-swimmers which of course outnumber real swimmers. It's got slides and falls and fancy stuff. The area also seems bigger.

Anyway, just after we parked, another Toyota Revo parked beside us. Surprise! It was Lydia and her daughter Malou who's my niece. I didn't expect them to be there coz they lived in Caloocan (actually bordering Balintawak Quezon City where my aunts lived). After paying the fee, I was surprised to see the resort teeming with people. The place was packed! This was only around 10am. We got ourselves a table and were lucky that there weren't any lasenggeros (alcohol drinkers) were we stayed. We were luckier coz the rentable videoke machine was far from us. These really are the bane of resorts - alcohol and videoke. What didn't escape us though are the smokers. Yah, "sana maaga kayong mamamatay". I only relished the idea that we won't be staying very long at the tables other than to eat.

So without wasting more time, we looked for our spots at the resort. Here are the girls by the falls.


Another thing that irks resort owners and lifeguards are what I call the "jumpers". These are the guys who do endless silly and stupid jumps or dives into the pool. They get whistled at, but that's about it. Yeah, you probly think it's cool right?


The bad thing about them is that they could potentially hurt themselves and worse, hurt innocent bystanders (byswimmers?). I don't really mind and actually hope that they do hurt themselves. Under the influence of alcohol though, they don't care much what they do or where they land on. I shudder the thought that someone swimming underwater would break his back coz a jumper didn't see and hit him.


Not all spots at the resort was crowded by the way. Here's a nice spot that people avoid. Can you guess why? Well, look at the sign by the poolside. It says 6 feet. That's enough depth for horsey-horsey "swimmers" to avoid it. And that's good news for me. So I stayed on this spot most of the time.


Lunch time. It was breezy where we stayed. There was even a Bahay Kubo in the background. The table was near the ihawan area. There weren't enough faucets though for the volume of people that came.


What did we have? Well, we had hotdogs, longanisa, adobong kangkong, salted eggs and tomatoes - simple fare but very good.


Towards the afternoon, the poolwater got dirtier. The water became murky gray even at the kids pool where plenty of non-swimmers congregated. And why not? Just look at the typical attire below. Maong shorts? Blouse? Were you planning to go to the mall? Or the beach perhaps? Or did you sleep in these? Lady, you're able to buy tons of cigarettes to support your vice, I'm sure you could at least buy a decent swimsuit. And the hair, ugh, you have it floating everywhere.


No wonder DH didn't stay much in the water. She watched Renz and posed below.


Here's a shot at the middle pools.


That's my niece Malou, her husband Mon and her mom Lydia. They stayed at Junjun's house in Cavite. Junjun's in London (previously Japan).


Yup, way way too many people that day. That's Dada in the blue swimsuit. The blue Speedo Enduro swimsuit looks good on her and this is the first time for her to use it.


Here's Renz enjoying the mini-slide so many times!


Around 3pm we grew tired of the crowd, the murky water, the smoking and decided to pack up.