Manny Pacquiao: The First Time I Ever Watched a Boxing Match

Pacquiao vs. Marquez

Last Sunday, I watched boxing for the first time. I turned berzerk in every punch Manny received. I thought he lost and I swore never to watch boxing again. After him being announced as winner, I realized, boxing is fun after all. I just gotta learn the rules..

You Be The Judge : Why Manny Won

-Philipp Inno

In a 10-point system, the boxer  who wins a round is given 10 points, and the other boxer gets nine points. (10 -9)
If there was a  knockdown in the round (10-8)
2 knock downs (10-7)
If a  judge can’t decide who won the round, it is  scored 10-10.
Now if you are the challenger, you must be  the aggressor (Pacquiao vs Cotto) in very close  rounds the  Champion gets the 10. For example if  Pacquiao would just stay still and Marquez does not­ attack, Pacquiao gets the 10 and Marquez 9. In this  case Manny (champion) was always aggressive while  Marquez (challenger) waits for an attack and  counters.
Marquez’s body language fooled a lot of  people. Making people feel that he was the winner or  at least it was a draw. It may look like he was  landing more punches but the tricky part here is he  was on the defensive, luring Pacquiao into his tactical traps (remember the challenger must be the one  who is aggressive to be awarded 10 ). So even if Marquez did connect more punches, he gets only 9 for ­ being defensive and Manny gets the 10 for being the attacker.
Pacquiao got more “10″s than Marquez. Manny wins.
Why Manny won? “Manny knows…”

― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

Dolphin Watching in Bohol

Sept 3, 2011

I lost count how many of us went to see the dolphins, but we all got a wake-up call at 430 am. There were about 100+ of us checked in at the same hotel, so Im still wondering what time the front desk started calling each of the rooms…
So, at 430, I was up praying to get a good view of the dolphins.

Morning glory!

We we’re up for a great treat that day. The 1st one was the very delicious breakfast. My favorite was the squid danggit! As we waited for the others and as we enjoyed our meal, the sun started to rise and we had such a perfect view of the beautiful dawn. Very picturesque! This was the 2nd treat!

So we set sail at 530 and enjoyed the hour-long ride to the much awaited treat of the day. While on the boat, I got to spend quality time with some of the singles I never really had the chance to meet at the center. It was nice to discover that most of us have the same love for traveling and immediately, we talked about possible places where we can all travel together.

Breath taking view of the Panglao

Bohol is known for its spectacular diving spots.

Starfish!

When we were nearing the dolphin area, we noticed that there were several boats waiting for the dolphins too, This got us a bit nervous fearing that we might scare them away and they will never come out and (meet us?) haha

Eventually, the dolphins started to come out one by one and that’s how i started to lose my voice. Every time we see a dolphin show off, we couldn’t help but scream! Ive never been so star struck in my life!! I wanted to take good shots of them, but I failed, so i decided to take a video instead. Even that one was difficult because I got so excited i ended up zooming in almost 1/4 of the video! But im thankful that I got a good 1 minuter of the dolphins wherein a pod of them were showing off. I was kind of hoping one of them would give me a backflip like how they showed-off to Merlee the day before, but they didn’t. I guess the dolphins want me back for another show…

Enjoy the video!

Bohol Bee Farm

Sept 2, 2011

After our session on Character and  Career, we were given a 5 min break to get our wallets and meet at the shore line for a “surprise”. Of course all of us were excited and to belong to a competitive group of team mates, we were ready for whatever activity just to bring home the gold!! So we met at the shoreline and later discovered that were going for a walk on a trek-worthy terrain under the 12 o’clock heat! Our competitive spirits refrained some of us from complaining (at least half way through!)

The view from the shoreline.

View from the cliff

And so the death march began! We walked on a steep cliff which gave us a good and breathtaking view of the beautiful ocean! We found interesting things people commonly see in a countryside, like a dam! Ive been horned and chased by one when I was 5, so Im not every fond of it. So taking a photo with her and her babies was an accomplishment!

Let the trek begin!

A photo with a dam and her babies

Almost there!

Following the trail with a group people made the walk so much easier, and a lot of more fun. It must have been a good 400-500 meters walk (along with 10 gallons of sweat!) when we saw our promised land! The land of milky ice cream and honey bees! The Bee Farm!!

The Bee Farm ExperienceBohol Bee Farm is one of the best experiences Ive had in Bohol. First, the place is very Filipino!! I love it! Second, the food is great, most of which are organically grown in their own farm! Third, It’s amazing how they educate their guests on Bees and Organic farming and the livelihood of the locals. We had a bee farm when I was little and my dad loves farming/ gardening/ worms etc, so it sparked up a little bit of interest on my part. I remember my dad coming home with bee stings from time to time when they were starting out, so holding up a bee colony was another fear that I conquered in this trip!

Bohol Bee Farm Buffet

Flower salad served with honey mustard dressing. Soo good!

Dried Casava Chips paired with fresh green tomato and basil -- all organically grown

Bees

Bees are interesting creatures. They are probably the most cultured species in the animal planet. They live to serve the queen bee which is the biggest and fattest and only lady bee in the colony. So, if they dont bring home any honey, they dont get to go back to the colony. No Honey, No Entry policy. Oh, another interesting fact about the Queen Bee. She doesnt do anything at all! She just lives the life of a queen that even feeding herself is a task given to the other bees through mouth to mouth feeding. How lazy! hahah
Anyway, So in turn, they work hard to get honey to bring home to the queen, and that’s how they thrive to produce the honey that we enjoy today. The Bee Farm on the other hand, makes sure that they have enough flowers around for the bees to enjoy.

The bee colony and the paparazzi

Kaye the Brave!

Bee Farm Products

There are a lot of products that you can enjoy in the Bee Farm. Its a shame that I didnt get any with the fear of getting over-luggaged in the airport. So, I promised myself to go back to Bohol and hoard whatever I can like the pesto spread and the squash bread.

Livelihood projects of the locals

The best pesto spread I've ever tasted!

Other local products

Coriander and Chives. Homegrown spices among the many.

Oh, I forgot to mention that lunch was overlooking the magnificent view of the ocean! What made this trip wonderful was the privilege of experiencing this with a hundred others I have come to know.

Spectacular view from the balcony

Dining area

Oh Bo-hol!

Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of Bohol Island and 75 minor surrounding islands.

The Bohol Experience

Sept 1, 2011
Air Philippines Flight 2P 0955 got delayed for 2 hours, mainly because of the rainy day. But that didnt really ruin our day despite having to wake up at 530am to leave home at 6am. Our flight was supposedly at 9:40 but we boarded the plane at 11:30am. We found Jemsel in the airport who happens to be in the same flight as ours. Finally, after about 2 hours of waiting, and 1 gate transfer, we were finally boarding. The flight wasnt bad, though it was a bit turbulent at first.

Found our friend on the same flight.

As you land the Tagbilaran Airpot, the view from the top will give you a beautiful bird’s eye view of the chocolate hills. It was so breath-taking, i forgot to take a photo of it! Well, apart from the fact that I was seated by the wing area, which wouldnt really give justice to the real thing. Despite that, I still found myself excited to discover Bohol more.

Finally arrived Tagbilaran airport. So excited to see Bohol and all the other 100 + people in this trip!

It was a quiet 30 min trip from Tagbilaran city to Panglao Island, mainly because the people in our van were hungry. You will see the scenery transition from the small city to the greeneries of the countryside, to the magnificent view of the ocean… It was just the place to be! What I like the most about Bohol is that it is very true to its form. It’s not trying to be westernized like a lot of other places in the Philippines. Its very rustic yet very easy to love..

Bohol Countryside

Anyway, after 30 mins on the road, we finally reached Flushing Meadows, our home for the next 4 days. They gave us welcome drinks which I immediately gulped down! Interesting name you might say? Yes, the owner is a huge tennis fan that he decided to name his resort after the famous tennis court in NY. The names of the rooms are after the big names in tennis. We got the Mcenroe room which gives you a view of the ocean (if you jump high enough!) We checked out the Agassi rooms and found out that theirs is to die for! What a lovely site to wake up to!

View from our balcony

Our first day was comprised of excited smiles, fun stories and memorable fellowship with the people we were with.  We were excited to see what’s up ahead for us in the next 4 days

Elevate!

So, I went on a 4 days, 3 nights trip with my sister together with 100 + others.  Such a big number, you might say? Well, true. It was a trip for single men and women who went there to learn about growth in character, career and relationships. To be honest, there are so many things to write about in this 4 days. I hope to write about it in part pieces.

Allow me to start by talking about what this trip is about.

Session on relationships.

Singles Retreat:  A time in a single person’s life to basically take some time off his or her daily activities (most of which are focused on career) to evaluate how he or she is living out his/her life.  Retreats are very common in the Philippines.  We grow up going to retreats. I personally think that this has a lot to do about us being a happy nation.

Retreats have different themes. But the main goal of it is to go home having a better perspective about yourself, about others, and about life.  This retreat that I went to was more focused on the life a single person. I really appreciate it that there are organizations though not connected to school institutions who would  still take time to organize an event like this.

This retreat talked about 3 main things:

1- Reputation vs. Character
-what I learned is that sometimes, we are too focused on what other people say about us. We get trapped in an image that we project only to find out that we are living double lives. We are not really true to others, nor to ourselves.  We create a reputation but our characters do not say what we profess. Our reputation should only be a by-product of our character.  One way be set free from this trap is to find a trusted friend who will tell us the truth in love.  Us, on the other hand, should be open and should evaluate ourselves in certain areas in our lives.  As the famous saying goes: The truth will set you free.  I agree, as we listen and accept the truth, we are set free! There is authenticity in our change of character and in time, people will see it. Then we built a reputation based on the character that is rooted in truth.

2- Career
The speakers talked about being the best person you can be in your organization.  Its tough for some or maybe even for most, maybe because they belong to an industry wherein they are really not created for, or it could be that they are not fully equipped to be in a task assigned to them, or sometimes, its really just a character problem that shows poor outputs in the work place that they do. Whatever the reason is, the work of our hands should come from the mindset of being a blessing to others. We are given jobs to help others, and the compensation comes after.  We are placed where we are for a purpose. If we learn to embrace that whatever our jobs are, wherever we may be working at, there is a big purpose why we are there.

3- Relationships
We may not notice it, but a single person has 2 major stations in life. Both entails wisdom in the decision making in these stations. Station 1- career.  Station 2- marriage. Choosing the person to marry is a very crucial decision.  Don’t get me wrong, this is not something we should be scared of. Its an important decision because we are choosing someone we want to make important life decisions with in the future, important because we are choosing someone whom we can go in this life adventure with, build a family with and all the beautiful things life has to offer.  The world is better when seen by two

Team work! Showing an imagery of being happy despite being stressed!

Lunch with new found friends

One thing I learned being a single lady is that singleness is a gift as long as you have it.  You can do the things you want to do because you have your own time, financial resources and for most, the energy to do the things you want to do.

So, as we wait for our time to come (we- meaning all single people out there) Let’s live our lives to the full!

1- Go on purposeful trips like do volunteer work both local or in a foreign country.

2- Discover the world! Grow in your life skills.  What do you love doing? Embrace it!

3- Take advantage of the time you can spend with important people like family, friends and even new acquaintances.  Chances are, when you start to build your own family, you will not be able to have the luxury of time to do this.

4- Build relationships with other singles both men and women! Learn from other people, support them in what they do. Encourage one another.

5- Build relationships with couples! Learn from married people, like how they raise their children, how they handle conflicts, how they manage time, money etc.

Brooke Fraser Benefit Concert Cancelled

August 16 2011. BJ and I were supposed to watch a Benefit Concert for Real Life Foundation. We were blessed to have a boss who has  the heart to be part of this organization.  Real Life Foundation is an organization that provides scholarships to underprivileged Filipino students. They also provide feeding  programs to street children.

August 14 2011. It was announced to us that the concert was cancelled. Along with all other shows in Asia. Brooke Fraser, the recording artist that was suppose to come suddenly suffered from a back  injury causing her to lose her voice and have difficulty moving. We are still hoping that the concert will push through when she is well enough to come back. For the meantime, Im posting one of her songs that I really like. This is from her previous album, Albertein.

Mae Sot, Thailand 2011

Mae Sot, Thailand

Mae Sot is a town in western Thailand that shares a border with Myanmar to the west.

My friends and I went on a 2 week trip to Thailand to be part of a volunteer organization that catered to Burmese refugees in the small town of Mae Sot.  It was a very eye opening experience for all of us.  Living with them in the shelter for 6 days made us see the realities the children of Burma experience on a daily basis.  Human trafficking, domestic violence, poverty, hunger..are just examples to name a few.

I read something in a book that inspired me to go on this trip. It said “Silver and gold I have none, but what I have I give to you.”  My friends and I are really just ordinary people but we were glad  that with the little that we have, when given whole heartedly it goes a long way.  The trip taught me that each of us are created for a purpose.  2 teachers, 1 chef, 1 accountant.  All these allowed us to become a team that complemented each others’ strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately, be an effective source of refreshing to others, which is really the ultimate goal of the trip.  We taught the children, we danced with them, we played with them, we cooked for them, we cleaned their shelter. What humbled me the most was that the children, though with the little that we gave, received it with so much love and rejoicing.

What originally was just a vacation with no itinerary, turned out to be one of the most orchestrated, purposeful and relationship forging trips of my life.  The things that we did, the people that we met and the people i shared this entire experience with were hand picked by God all along. I may not be able to list down all the things that I learned from this trip, but it definitely brought me home changed.

Shingo, Fernan and Chato. Wonderful people with beautiful hearts.

Chato, Fernan and Shingo– They are all such a blessing. I rejoice for being able to share lives with them.  It was a trip that was filled with so many “first time” experiences! I would not have gulped down that cricket had my company been someone else!

Sister Pappet and Sister Roselyn. Women who are laying down their lives to make a difference in the people in Mae Sot.

Sister Pappet and Sister Roselyn.  They inspire me so much. They have such a big heart for children that are hurting and are a huge blessing to them. Who would have thought that 2 women could actually put together a shelter, a school and a feeding program all at the same time.

Me in one of the sessions in the school.

Thanakha time with the children in the shelter. Thanakha is a unique make-up distinctive to people of Myanmar.

Looking back, each memory is priceless. From the smiles and the hugs of the children, the hospitality of the locals, the heart and compassion of the missionaries..

Wonderful people I have grown to love. Im very thankful to have spent this wonderful experience with them.

Indeed, this has been a trip that opened our eyes, moved our hearts and changed our lives.

The Birthday Blog

I just turned 29 years old yesterday. As much as many people would feel sad, panicky, or would want to stop the clock and keep those wrinkles from forming, I decided to embrace my year and move forward with a thankful heart. How can I not be thankful for the wonderful things in my life?

Count your blessings, as the saying goes. So, here is a list of things that I am thankful for on my birthday.

1. Enzo. He knocked on my door a little after 12mn on my birthday. Greeted me Happy Birthday, and sang to me the birthday song.  His thoughtfulness melted my heart. Sometimes, Kids are more thoughtful than adults! haha  :)

2. My family. Mom, Dad, Joy and Beejay. They are God’s gifts to me. Beautiful-hearted people who always support, always love, always care. Always there. I love you all from the bottom of my heart!

3. Wonderful friends. Greetings, birthday cards and gifts from all over the world! Despite the tight schedule, the time difference, the language barrier, the thought of being remembered will always leave a lasting mark in my heart.  Relationships matter, indeed! Thank you! You know who you are!!

4. One’s Word family. You are one of the things that’s ever happened to me.  It’s such an honor to be sharing lives with you all. Thank you for the tweets, facebook messages, direct messages, personal greetings in classes. You have such beautiful hearts!

5. The beautiful day. I cannot remember a time wherein it didnt rain on my birthday (except when I was in Australia). My bday was always gloomy, cloudy and lazy. But yesterday, I was given the sunshine!  It may have rained in the evening but during the day, I was given the beautiful gift of blue skies, bright sun and comfortable weather.

I know that it will not only be special on my birthday. Everyday will be a special day. Though there will be days when it will be full of challenges, I will always try to remember that it has always been created to be special.

My Grandfather’s Recipe for Romance

My grandfather's hand-written recipe about romance. How cute.

I didn’t know we had a love guru in the house. He even left something in writing. So, who says chivalry is dead? haha~

I miss my lolo (grandfather).

Transcription:

…

World’s Best Salad

Ingredients:

2 fruits of love

1 can of romance

2 cups of faith

1 pinch of jeallusy (jealousy)

2 cups of understanding

a bunch of hope

1 cup of confidence

drops of humor

Procedure:

Open a can of romance and slice the contents.

Cut the fruit of love into halves and mix it with romance.

Then soak the ingredients into a cup of confidence to prevent dissolution.

Pour faith and understanding into the ingredients and mix it in a bowl of mutual ship. Garnish with spices of Jealousy and Humor. Arrange neatly in a bowl of security with a bedding of hope. Chill and preeze (freeze) in a happy and contented life.

(with signature)

LOL.
—–

My grandfather didn’t really leave us with much. But he left us wonderful memories of joy with him. So, this piece of paper is priceless. I just might even have it framed. 

Rest in peace, grandpa. Know that you are loved.