Yesterday was probably the luckiest day I had ever since I came to Manila.
We had a BOM (Boys Of Marketing) team-building activity for the whole day. It was simply great. Sir Bong made it a point that we were all stuffed like pigs. First thing we did in the morning was go to Palms Country Club to play basketball and go swimming (right now, my body is still feeling sore from all that exercise. I've not played basketball since last year's intrams, by the way. And lo and behold! My right shoulder didn't bother me anymore like it did the last time I shot hoops).
Then we had lunch in my boss' residence (Goodness, he's so loaded!). It was a feast: a plateful of tawilis ( or something like that - small, fried fish you could just pop right into your mouth), the yummiest lumpia veggies I ever had, all the rice I could get inside my gullet, grilled pusit and liempo. But that wasn't the finale yet. My boss bought this cake, Death By Chocolate (wonder if they have those in Davao City. Hmmm.) and it was the best cake I ever had: dark chocolate cake sprinkled generously with chocolate shavings, layered with chocolate fillings, decorated with chocolate balls and and bordered by slabs of solid chocolate on the side. Right now, I'm still drooling over yesterday.
We met my boss' wife and kids and went home. Traffic was bad ( lesson learned: never take the east service road from Sucat to FTI during peak hours. No, let's just make that never.) and we spent almost an hour in transit because of it. As for me, I had another concern to worry about. There was a billiards tournament my company sponsored last night and I had to be there to set up the company tarpaulin. Only problem is I also had to have four players to represent the company ( It was the Fourth LGC Doblete Challenge. On last year's doblete challenge: http://www.dos1.com.ph/?q=node/27) and it seemed the persons we invited could not come.
Last part: I went to the venue alone because when I went home, I could not find anyone who could play for the company ( Not even my colleagues in Marketing were there to participate. Gian was off to some party and Eji wanted to go home because he wanted to rest. Great. And we just came back from a "team-building" activity and nobody was there to give me support, to be with me, in an event. Come to think of it, I was tired too, you know! ) So I went off to Hobbies of Asia, really down because of my ineptitude (I had four complimentary tickets but no players; I wasn't inclined to join the tournament since I did not know how to play. Who was I kidding?). I set up the tarp and lingered in the venue.
But guess what? They made me participate in the tournament! I protested because I really did not know how to play billiards (Ok. That was not exactly true; I do play billiards - in the computer. That's what comprises my entire experience in this sport). But still they paired me up with Michael Cruz of Agility, who was, well, competitive (But that guy was something. He really could play. People probably had fun looking at us because every time I took my shots, he was on the opposite side of the table coaching me on what angle to take.)
And so we played. And I was surprised. We made it through the eliminations, then we made it through the quarter finals, then the semi-finals! We became the champions of the Executive Division! How in the world did that happen?! And to think that there were more experienced, more trained (praktisado) players in our midst.
Of course, we battled it out on a best-of-three with the champions of the Employees Division (we lost: we lost the first game because we did not call the shot on the 8 ball, we won the second but we lost the third. Life's tough). But still, who would have thought that I, a first-timer in a Billiards tournament, would be part of a championship tandem? Who would have thought?!
I also won the grand raffle prize: a mini-billiards table worth 7,000 pesos. But I gave it to Nino Gil, a fellow companion in the tournament, a fellow Davao city folk from Toril and an Air21 employee, because it was simply a hassle on my part (Let me rationalize why I'm giving away a raffle prize worth that much. First: that prize does not belong to me. It belongs to the company because of the policy that I have to turn over to HR any raffle prize won in a company-sponsored event. That's depressing and I have to go through the trouble of bringing it home then to the office? No way! Second: Gil mentioned of cousins back in Davao City who would love to have this table as a Christmas gift. If I turn it over to the company, it would become a raffle prize to be won by employees who could easily afford to buy their own billiard sets. So why not give this prize to those who, like me, could barely afford to buy this luxury?).
So the day ended with me going home in a cab with a taxi driver from Cagayan de Oro, a stuffed stomach and a trophy with a big "Champion" written on it. God is good.
"You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. " - 2 Corinthians 9:11
We had a BOM (Boys Of Marketing) team-building activity for the whole day. It was simply great. Sir Bong made it a point that we were all stuffed like pigs. First thing we did in the morning was go to Palms Country Club to play basketball and go swimming (right now, my body is still feeling sore from all that exercise. I've not played basketball since last year's intrams, by the way. And lo and behold! My right shoulder didn't bother me anymore like it did the last time I shot hoops).
Then we had lunch in my boss' residence (Goodness, he's so loaded!). It was a feast: a plateful of tawilis ( or something like that - small, fried fish you could just pop right into your mouth), the yummiest lumpia veggies I ever had, all the rice I could get inside my gullet, grilled pusit and liempo. But that wasn't the finale yet. My boss bought this cake, Death By Chocolate (wonder if they have those in Davao City. Hmmm.) and it was the best cake I ever had: dark chocolate cake sprinkled generously with chocolate shavings, layered with chocolate fillings, decorated with chocolate balls and and bordered by slabs of solid chocolate on the side. Right now, I'm still drooling over yesterday.
We met my boss' wife and kids and went home. Traffic was bad ( lesson learned: never take the east service road from Sucat to FTI during peak hours. No, let's just make that never.) and we spent almost an hour in transit because of it. As for me, I had another concern to worry about. There was a billiards tournament my company sponsored last night and I had to be there to set up the company tarpaulin. Only problem is I also had to have four players to represent the company ( It was the Fourth LGC Doblete Challenge. On last year's doblete challenge: http://www.dos1.com.ph/?q=node/27) and it seemed the persons we invited could not come.
Last part: I went to the venue alone because when I went home, I could not find anyone who could play for the company ( Not even my colleagues in Marketing were there to participate. Gian was off to some party and Eji wanted to go home because he wanted to rest. Great. And we just came back from a "team-building" activity and nobody was there to give me support, to be with me, in an event. Come to think of it, I was tired too, you know! ) So I went off to Hobbies of Asia, really down because of my ineptitude (I had four complimentary tickets but no players; I wasn't inclined to join the tournament since I did not know how to play. Who was I kidding?). I set up the tarp and lingered in the venue.
But guess what? They made me participate in the tournament! I protested because I really did not know how to play billiards (Ok. That was not exactly true; I do play billiards - in the computer. That's what comprises my entire experience in this sport). But still they paired me up with Michael Cruz of Agility, who was, well, competitive (But that guy was something. He really could play. People probably had fun looking at us because every time I took my shots, he was on the opposite side of the table coaching me on what angle to take.)
And so we played. And I was surprised. We made it through the eliminations, then we made it through the quarter finals, then the semi-finals! We became the champions of the Executive Division! How in the world did that happen?! And to think that there were more experienced, more trained (praktisado) players in our midst.
Of course, we battled it out on a best-of-three with the champions of the Employees Division (we lost: we lost the first game because we did not call the shot on the 8 ball, we won the second but we lost the third. Life's tough). But still, who would have thought that I, a first-timer in a Billiards tournament, would be part of a championship tandem? Who would have thought?!
I also won the grand raffle prize: a mini-billiards table worth 7,000 pesos. But I gave it to Nino Gil, a fellow companion in the tournament, a fellow Davao city folk from Toril and an Air21 employee, because it was simply a hassle on my part (Let me rationalize why I'm giving away a raffle prize worth that much. First: that prize does not belong to me. It belongs to the company because of the policy that I have to turn over to HR any raffle prize won in a company-sponsored event. That's depressing and I have to go through the trouble of bringing it home then to the office? No way! Second: Gil mentioned of cousins back in Davao City who would love to have this table as a Christmas gift. If I turn it over to the company, it would become a raffle prize to be won by employees who could easily afford to buy their own billiard sets. So why not give this prize to those who, like me, could barely afford to buy this luxury?).
So the day ended with me going home in a cab with a taxi driver from Cagayan de Oro, a stuffed stomach and a trophy with a big "Champion" written on it. God is good.
"You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. " - 2 Corinthians 9:11
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