“A scavenger hunt is a game in which individuals or teams seek to gather a number of specific items — usually without purchasing them — or perform tasks or take photographs as specified by a list. The goal is usually to be the first to complete the list, although players can also be challenged to complete the tasks on the list in the most creative manner.”

That was one of the activities we had yesterday for our Unit’s team-building. We have several new members and to create a spirit of belongingness and oneness, our Unit head decided to treat us at Canyon Cove Hotel in Nasugbu Batangas.

This was the content of the sheet distributed to us by the organizer prior to our departure with corresponding comment/stories how we got the item or how we perform the tasks:

Scavenger Hunt

Collect, perform, answer as many items as you can.

Start of Hunt: Upon Departure (6am, November 21, 2009)

End of Hunt: Before Dinner is served

There will be four teams with four members each. The team to arrive at the resort one hour after the 3^rd team will be deducted with 5 points.

1.    Bank ATM transaction receipt
One of my team mates got one from a trash bin, hehehe.  Neither one of us wants to let know our bank account balances.

2.    Astroboy Action figure
We got ours from a Jollibee outlet in Batangas. I asked my sister where we can buy AstroBoy Figure and she told me, Jollibee has an ongoing promo on the action figure.

3.    Group picture at a popular Tagaytay landmark
We stopped at Taal Vista Hotel and I asked myself why did we have to do that in order to have this task done? We paid 100 pesos (approximately $2!)  for a parking lot just to have our picture with the famous Taal Volcano. Anyway, I can’t complain, one of my team mates sure does have money, hehehe. Though, we lost some time here, one object was secured in this place to compensate.

4.    A Christmas décor
My moneyed teammate (the only male in our group), wonder of wonder, have a very talented hands, wahahaha. I was amazed when he proudly showed us a shining object in his pocket and that was inside the vicinity of Taal Vista Hotel. Huh!

5.    Sugarcane
There are hectares and hectares of Sugarcane along the way. Municipality of Nasugbu is afterall the home of the plantation of Central Azucarera Don Pedro, the Philippines’ largest producer of sugar and other sugarcane products.

At first, we are looking for stalls that will sell us even just a short stalk of the plant. After we can’t see one, we stopped when we saw one group already hoarding a sevaral stalks of giveaways. One team mate, the nearest to the door of the vehicle, descend to ask also for one, but she was denied by the other team. The farmer who gave them already was inside his house.

Seeing this, my one innocent team mate decided to rather get from a growing sugarcane by going to the nearby field along the way and started pulling from the roots, hahaha. I regretted not taking a picture, he does not know the plant is coarse and its leaves and steam are coated with very fine bristles that can get your hands prickly.

hmmm… luckily, we saw a farmer along the way, and asked if we can buy even just a short stalk. We added that we are on a race and he thankfully hurried to get his bolo. He cut one of the stalk, cleaned it and handed it to one of our charming group mates. We got the cane free. Thank you manong whoever you are. You helped us.

6.    Create a team sand structure
We created a small pyramid along the beach for this part.

7.    Group picture with your Sand structure
One of the organizers kindly took the our group picture with our beautiful mini pyramid.

8.    Underwater Group picture
Underwater camera took a picture of four pairs of calves underwater, hehehe.

9.    A pastry/pie bought in Bag of Beans
We nearly missed the place if not for our helpful and ever vigilant driver. The place is a seemingly small stall/restaurant concealed along the way. It is not very noticeable; we nearly failed to have the pastry and Kapeng Barako (item #33).

10.    Name all states in the US
Money brings a lot of convenience that we should love it, hehehe. Our sole male teammate has his iPhone and we used to get the list and to the max. It’s a boring way to get the list says our competitors. Well they can say what they want. They got theirs via sms and via telephone dictation. Yeah, there are so many ways to solve a problem.

11.    Name of your team mates’ current and former boyfriends/girlfriends
Hmmm… this is rather privy. I am NBSB (No Boyfriend Since Birth) to cut the story short, hehehe. Got that!

12.    Reason/reasons for break-ups with former boyfriend/girlfriends
Same answer as #11. Two of my teammates gave their lists to make our answers acceptable some submission time.

13.    Insect(s)
Poor and unknowing mosquito which appeared inside the car after our stop over at Petron; it was murdered by a clap by our driver who swerved and jolted us all when he did it. Tsk, tsk, tsk… we nearly came close to the fate of the mosquito.

14.    Number of rooms in Canyon Cove Hotel
Answer: 72

15.    Tanning lotion
Answer: We didn’t bother with this. We don’t have it among our personal things and it’s too expensive to purchase a bottle you will not use in the future.

16.    Any BDO corporate give-away
It’s a Saturday and we were not able to see one BDO branch along the way. Our eye sights maybe are too poor. Other groups are able to see and secure the item.

17.    Provincial Bus Ticket
It sure does help to keep tickets for mementoes especially the memorable ones. One team mate keep her ticket when she did the Ilocos Church Pilgrimage earlier this year.

18.    Unit’s Table of Organization (Full Names, Position Title, Rank)
I did this one in a tabular manner; it’s a table of organization not an organizational chart. One judge says its wrong and was looking for a drawing with the usual boxes. I defended what I did and that kept her mum. It’s a Table not a Chart they asked for.

19.    Evian or Perrier Bottle
We got this after several stops. Not in any starbucks that we stop to visit, not in Robinsons, not in Petron, 7/11. We got the Evian bottle with content from Bag of Beans. We’re the first group to have one and all the remaining bottles; my teammate concealed. However, other teams still saw it and they accused us of trying to hide the item. Well, we do sometimes get naughty…

20.    BDO pamphlet/application Form
Again, we don’t have this. Sigh! Poor vision is the culprit, hehehe…

21.    Pearl necklace
Saw pearl baubles in one of the tiangges in Tagaytay and bought a cheap one.

22.    Lyrics of the competition piece on our Christmas party presentation
One musically gifted teammate scribbles the lyrics of “kumukutikutitap”.

23.    Total Toll fee going to Batangas
Answer: 78 pesos

24.    Movie Ticket
Answer: Our ever cooperative driver, who also has these very talented hands (shhh… he was able to secure a Christmas décor also at Taal Vista hotel), again provided us with this item. We are kidding him about the ticket, hehehe. It must be a ticket kept because of its sentimental value but he parted with it to help us in the hunt.

25.    Any foreign currency coin
One teammate has several in her wallet. No difficulty here.

26.    Picture of Manny Pacquiao
He’s in the papers and billboards but we have saved a picture downloaded from the Net to the iphone of our rich teammate, hehehe. Again, boring says our competitors.

27.    Precious Heart’s pocketbook
This is the last item we were able to secure; and its reluctantly given but at no cost from one tiangge vendor in Tagaytay. When we cannot buy one from our stops, we decided to ask tiangge vendors with the thought that these books are popular among them. We are right! We said we are willing to buy one because we are in “amazing race” and it is being required. After hearing that, they said, we can have it for free. Filipinos are really a bunch of helpful people; at a cause, they will readily give a helping hand. Thank you unknown owner! Sorry that in our rush, we were not able to ask for your name.

28.    BDO Dollar buying rate yesterday (November 20, 2009)
This is easy. We surfed it using rich teammate iPhone and confirmed by friends in the bank via sms (as if we don’t trust the Net).

29.    Group picture at a church in Nasugbu
We got one passers-by to have our pictures taken.

30.    Golf Ball
We tried to buy from a stall which sells the item but was informed by the owner that they run out of stock two days ago. I would have like to ask the kids in the surrounding area if they have even just an old and used one. The stall is near a gold course and am sure golf balls can come hay way.

31.    Restaurant menu/brochure/pamphlet
This is very easy. No need to elaborate.

32.    Newspaper yesterday (November 20, 2009)
Bought one at our first Petron Treats stop. They are not selling old dailies says one attendant but when we said we are in a race and we need it, again they are very helpful; they even asked what else do we need. Great and kind people we have still here in the Philippines!

33.    Kapeng Barako
We bought at Bags of Beans.

34.    Tagaytay souvenir
We bought at Bags of Beans.

35.    The Boutique Bed and Breakfast room names
The names are fanciful and “emotional”, hehehe… and again we got it in a boring way says tauntingly by the other teams.

Here are the names:

“I lust,”
“I dare,”
“I dream,”
“I surrender,”
“I love,”
“I escape,” and
“I desire.”

The sixth in the order should be the last for isn’t it escape most people do when they fall out of love. Hmmm… what’s the difference between desire and lust again? Must be that lust is a deeper emotion; it’s one of the deadly sins afterall. Ok, here’s from wiki: “Lust or lechery, is usually thought of as excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature.”

Good to be home in the province.
Good to be back here.
Good to have a little bit of time to scribble some words.

November is here.
No October entry here.
Storm Pepeng is already nowhere.
And yet no entry to share.

It takes a certain state of mind or feeling to write. Expressing things via pen or keyboard takes energy and enthusiasm; to phrase what you have in mind, to use apt words and to capture what it is that you want to articulate or convey. The lightness of being or the hardness of feeling one is experiencing also prompts certain people to scribble deep and touching notes, to compose powerful poems and soulful literary pieces. I am not writer so I don’t really know the real psychology of writing. This is again an infantile attempt on getting real at writing which I realize I am no good and no hope at.

I am alone and happy to be with my own company. I have a time for myself and that would mean if I am not preoccupied with other stuff, I steal some time to sit and type in some notes. I am again neglecting my blog and who cares, no one reads it anyway. It’s just another side of my world that only a select people know and set of random surfers who happens to pass by.
September is about to end.  I had my birthday a month ago; had a five-day vacation from work to celebrate it.
Last Saturday (September 27, 2009), tropical storm locally known as Ondoy brought a record 341mm of rainfall in 6 hours over Metro Manila. According to PAGASA, it broke the 1967 334mm rainfall that lasted 24 hours that year.
My place in Makati for the first time was flooded up to thigh high. Fortunately, the flood fully subsided the following Sunday morning. Others were not as lucky, like Marikina, Rizal, some parts of Bulacan, Pasig and other low areas in Manila. It was an experience seeing the plight of the people in the most affected areas. Watching  TV pictures of people’s helplessness as they stayed on the roof waiting for rescue was emotionally moving. In these instances, you could only pray because no matter how much you wanted to help, you can’t do anything because you have to stay put also for your own safety.
The sun already peeked yesterday, and today but with scattered rains still. As what I was saying to one of my friends yesterday, Filipinos are survivors. After this experience, there are lot of reasons to smile and laugh again. Life continues. It is good that Filipino’s are a bunch of accepting and resilient people. They accept any situation no matter how hard or harsh it is. It is the reason why again they can accept corrupt government officials with no complaints. On second thought, I don’t know if Filipinos are truly accepting. It can be that they have become indifferent and oblivious. Que sera sera. No matter what, they will survive it all. They seem to say, WHATEVER TOMORROW’S ANOTHER DAY!

These 45 lessons which I received via a forwarded email from a friend is shared below.

They were written by Regina Brett of  The Plain Dealer.  She wrote this accordingly to celebrate growing old. Eventually, this piece become the most-requested column she has ever written. Original source can be seen in this link.

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind & soothes the soul

17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative – dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Listen, yield and share hugs and knowledge with abandon

45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

how relaxing, refreshing and energizing it is to see the openness,

the cleanness of the air and the blueness of the sky,

the clear unpolluted water,

the greenness of the surrounding,

the sight of a contented carabao grazing, curious and innocent  while being photographed,

the calming image of a running water on a creek…

the details of an orchid-like tamarind flower that is often left unnoticed and unappreciated…

what a beautiful world out there. i wish it would remain that way. simple things and simple life!

no big buildings to cover the view of sunrise at the break of dawn and the sunset before it gets dark. no smog to cover the twinkling stars at night. no floating garbage and dead fish on rivers and creeks.

can we really progress without harming our environment? can’t we really live simply if we don’t have ’simple’ minds?

Its late in the evening and i am sleepy but I just felt i need to write this entry.

I thought this will never happen to me and that i will only get to see this in movies and hear about it being experienced by others.

How could i have assumed that? I work with numbers and yet i thought i am invincible when it comes to experiencing this.
Anyone who works in or frequents high-rise buildings has a likely chance to get stuck in an elevator somehow. The probability is greater than zero.

This was what happened…

After having my lunch at Lutong Macau in Jupiter, Makati with my boss and a few of my colleagues, I was allowed to go ahead of them because i was called for an emergency meeting. My team is currently doing UAT for a front-end system module and we are encountering some errors that needs immediate resolution. The meeting was in Ortigas at 2pm. My team was a bit late but the people we were
supposed to meet were much later. Anyway, after the meeting so we decided to leave the building at once and go back to Makati. While we were going down, one of my team members remembered something we should have asked. We decided to go back. When the
elevator reached ground floor we didn’t go out. The lift went down to the basement and some messengers entered. We didn’t know we have taken a service elevator. Several people entered again when it reached the ground, one with two boxes of Krispy Creme most likely for delivery and two more messengers with a push card full of bond papers.

Okidoks. The lift went up and as it reached the 5th floor, the number didn’t change anymore and one could feel that it is not rising anymore. The man near the door pressed the alarm but it didn’t sound at first. Its good there is a signal inside so i was able to call our contact in the building to tell that we are stuck and that they call for the building maintenance office so we can be freed.

Anyway, we were finally out after more than 20 minutes. Its good that no one is claustrophobic and that everyone stayed calm. While inside we manage to make jokes about the situation and talk about movies (e.g. Final Destination, hehehe) that have shown similar situations.

It was a relief being out in the open. Deep inside us, there is a silence brought about by the experience. That’s just for a while. After that, what transpired was just an incident. Something we would talk about in our workplace. Something we wish wouldn’t happen again. But from now on, the likelihood of experiencing it again is not to be thought of as null.

I got this from a colleague today and thought its nice to share it here…

1. THE GIFT OF LISTENING . . .
But you must REALLY listen. No interrupting, no daydreaming, no planning your response. Just listening.

2. THE GIFT OF AFFECTION . . .
Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and handholds. Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for family and friends.

3. THE GIFT OF LAUGHTER . . .
Clip cartoons. Share articles and funny stories. Your gift will say, “I love to laugh with you.”

4. THE GIFT OF A WRITTEN NOTE . . .
It can be a simple “Thanks for the help” note or a full sonnet. A brief, handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime, and may even change a life.

5. THE GIFT OF A COMPLIMENT . . .
A simple and sincere, “You look great in red,” “You did a super job” or “That was a wonderful meal” can make someone’s day.

6. THE GIFT OF A FAVOR . . .
Every day, go out of your way to do something kind.

7. THE GIFT OF SOLITUDE . . .
There are times when we want nothing better than to be left alone. Be sensitive to those times and give the gift of solitude to others.

8. THE GIFT OF A CHEERFUL DISPOSITION . . .
The easiest way to feel good is to extend a kind word to someone, really it’s not that hard to say, Hello or Thank You. Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.

admittedly, we’re not cat lovers in the family; we don’t actually love them as they should but we don’t hate them either. its coexistence afterall. its just respect to another life-breathing entity. i will not call it affinity; more like felinity. i thought at first that this word is non-existent in the dictionary; but i was wrong. its there! and i am using the word in a way to replace affinity, hehehe. the correct meaning is here.

this is then a tribute to the felines that freely roam our backyard in the province. we actually don’t own one, but one day one came and then another and then we noticed there’s a clowder of them already. we just can’t drive them away and so mom would give them food and they all stayed.

so here goes, one “catty” scene:

Would you dare disturb a cat who is probably in a magical feline world divinely resting like this one? and look at the position. it deceived me at first. I thought it was dead and so i went to take a look. then i saw it was breathing. that made me go back to our house and get my camera.

oooopsss, sorry! the shutter sound woke the cat and she sleepily flipped to see who is the culprit.

she looked at me accusingly. hmmm… am guilty.

and so she bolted and with grace and felinity left me to continue her interrupted sleep.

with persistence, i followed with my camera. she felt it and she looked back seeming to say, “Hey, don’t follow!”

Okidoks. So much of this already. Let’s give her rest. She must need it.

I dragged myself to work today. I actually started to draft an sms telling my boss I will be out. But knowing I have a lot of things on my list and Friday (June 12) is a non-working holiday in my country, I have to really forced myself to report. I head on to iron my clothes (i do this everyday, mind you), went to take a bath, change and prepare myself to work. I was early to log-in at 8:06am for my 8:30am office call time.

I did accomplish a lot. Three emails to India answering technical specifications and queries, instructions to my small team, programs running, emails to colleagues in the business, calls, etc.  All in all,  I can say I had a productive day. I earned what the company pays me for the day plus more.

I went home excited to hear Robert Shiller of Yale University lecture on Financial Markets. His course is ECON 252. I am not enrolled in his class but last night, I downloaded the first series of his 26 lectures on the course. I slept late and that’s probably the reason why, I was about to declare I have a Monday sickness to my boss.

Anyway, call it late, but I just learned that lectures from Ivy League universities have become available in Youtube. Know why I learned about it? Its from our April 27, 2009 TIME magazine subscription which i don’t get to read regularly because i had it delivered at home in the province, hehehe. I went home last weekend and catch with my reading. See how old fashion I am. There’s an online version yet, i don’t read them. Tsk, tsk, tsk,… as if I have time.  Hmmm… anyway, on page 27 of that Magazine, Legendary lecturer Marian Diamond was featured. In the text, it says “In March, YouTube launched an educational hub called YouTube Edu, dedicated exclusively to videos from the…”.  All I can say is WOW! I need to see this.

And so last night, i get busy. Right this very moment I am downloading several lectures from this site. The moment I reach my place from the office, i switch on my machine, plugged in my portable 320GB Buffalo and then hear the opening class of Prof. Bob Shiller’s ECON 252. If that is not awesome then tell me what is!!!

I am in the Philippines sitting in front of my PC and having a taste of an Ivy League education. Thanks to YouTube Edu.

Am looking forward again to learning great things. Life is just great!

So what am i about at 12:34am sunday morning? can’t sleep yet though my eyes and body would want to have a well-deserved rest. am inside one convent room intended to be occupied by someone who feels like she has a vocation in a nunnery.   actually i have been in and out of this convent for several years now. of course, not for reasons everybody was thinking, hehehe. I believe I would get smirks and even sneers, if i say i am becoming a Nun. I am too incorrigible, too spirited and much untamed for this vocation, methink. Okidoks! Now you can tell me to get lost!

see this picture? shhh… i am in this room writing this blog while my subconscious is trying to solve the research ‘mystery’  i am presented with. see? the reason i am here  is to do some number-crunching for a study. and before you accused me of anything untoward, i am working gratis et amore. hmmm… does that smell like free coffee, hehehe. NOPE! Go search for the meaning. Don’t be shy!

I came ready you know. I brought my old reliable machine with my pirated copies of unmentionables. Look, am no saint but the Sisters here call me an angel. And I can’t convince them to believe otherwise. Or probably this is why am i called here time and again, they may have a secret mission to convert me. Whew!I think sometimes, I should be running like a demon in the opposite direction. Because much as i don’t want to disappoint them, i think am not carved to live a pious life. Sorry Sisters and forgive me Lord, for the Nuns are innocently sleeping and I am here writing a blog and not concentrating on the data analysis i was supposed to be doing.

Tsk…tsk…tsk… i better return to work. I now have the answers.

Peace be with me. Amen.

Gotta go.