Coffee Break !!!

That Part 2 of the Haiyang Beach Games might take a while…I'm outta' harddisk space and I'm enjoying a new found peace in my new wi-fi coffee area !!! Over the last weekend, I finally finished my first coffee table !!! Ooohhh yeah !!! Got the time to mix-up some oatmeal choco-rasin cookies, bake it, eat it, and finally sh…t it all out the same day !  Shhweeettt !  Looking forward to the next hard battles and then to wipe off blood, sweat and tears finally to sit down and enjoy some peace, reset and fight again !  I love this life, A Muerte !!!

Seasons

The past week has been a quick recovery period.  A time to reflect on what's has gone by and what the future may hold.  For me, like my chalkbag, it's a time to wash up old rags and make them smell like new.  A short hiatus from climbing is indeed an eternity of too much thinking and a lot of open ended personal debates that sometimes are best consumed in moderation.  Well, all is not lost.  I've gained new body pains care of my new found friends.  

I've once again taken the spin doctors for a ride.  Moving near the mountains indeed provides lots of new outlets to burn all excess off.  I'm not talking about fats or calories.  It's always about the mind and keeping it from wandering off too far.  Of course there is also the benefit of getting in the burn.  I've scoped out the new areas I could take runs and rides on.  "Timberland", just by the sound of it rings a very nice tone.  I've visited this area many times before and moving to within a minute's spin is indeed a sweet reward!  The highly inclined, steep section they dubbed "the wall" has always been a main route for me.  A few years back, I joined the Timberland's  "King of the Mountain".  The route is notoriously steep.  I managed to squeak into a 2nd place podium finish for my first uphill competition.  Sweeeeetttt !!!  Well, that was all in the past, around 5 years in the past !  Now in the present though, after riding up that thing again… things felt a little bit different.  I think I slid under too much from the biking but I'm not all too stumped.  After all I'm not aiming for another uphill event.  I'm just in it for the burn.

So, not everyday can be a ride or a run…I've taken out these babies…courtesy of the old "INCA" holds company.  Suspension training !!! I've set-up some hangs and I've tested how they can be used to the max.  Waking up to sores everywhere, I'd say I think I'm getting it handed to me big time.  While I should be doing several sets at a time, I think I did less than what should be done but my body is complaining a bit.  At least I found what's effective.  Not bad for a holiday.  I'll be chalking up these lovely things in days to come.

All is not training mode ! There is time for just sitting back watching the moon, the falling leaves, the vivid colors at sunset…over a beer or two…it's all good.  The seasons change, the leaves on the Mahogany trees are falling.  The lenten season came and went.  I found new friends and am excited to share them but sadly, all is not as happy as I wish it would all end.  I lost a friend.  We lost a friend.  As I got the news a day after Easter…I almost wept.  I have a beer, my 2nd one.  He would have loved sharing his "Grande".  This one's for you Beau !  A toast to the end of seasons and the beginning of new ones…

-fin-

Just to stop you from crying…

Is this cheezy or what !!!

A highly tensioned-off climber at that !  

I'm apologetic when I say I downed a few of these myself…

but not because of the packaging !

CATALYST

Here's a look at the newest trend setting, hip, iphone 4, 4s cover for all you apple munchkins !  This brand new line comes from Catalyst. The idea being take your network wherever you go.  Congratulations June and Josh  !  Now . . . all I have to do is get myself that 4s !  Boom !

WHO IS CATALYST? 

Catalyst is the co-creation by friends Josh Wright and June Lai.  Josh is a product designer with extensive experience in lifestyle and action sports products. June complements Josh as an accomplished adventurer with a background in international finance and business who has led cross-border deals in industries from biotech to the world’s largest financial institutions. Together Josh and June have rock climbed, boarded, flown, surfed, hiked, jumped, swam, and chilled out in some rugged and exciting destinations around this gorgeous world.

Catalyst is a reflection of who we are and what we do in life.

The EscapeCapsule is Catalyst’s first product. It is a waterproof case for the iPhone 4 and 4S designed to protect your phone from water, rain, snow, sand, mud, scratches and anything else you can throw at it.  It is fully covered and sealed so that you can take your iPhone with you everywhere. The EscapeCapsule is about staying connected and sharing your life no matter what your environment is. 

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven !

Not really what you think it's all about.  It's a book I came across  the same night "Chapter 37" started to unfold.  Prior to that night's musings, I dropped by the bookstore to look for a good read.  I wandered past the "New Arrivals" section but decided to walk back and pick up this cool looking book with the most provocative cover and title !  It could have been the naked hottie covering herself up with her backpack or the title . . . but it was really the witty writing inside that really got me hooked.  The cover by the way was indeed awesome ! I got a paperback copy of that one and it most certainly cost a small fortune.  Today I was lucky to pass by an old bookstore and there it was again. This time though it's hardcover.  I've this insane preference over hardbound books over paper backs !  The sweetest thing though, it was selling for 1/10th of the original price ! So… history… I got the book and walked out smiling!

I've been traveling in an out of China through Hong Kong for the last decade.  There isn't a year that passes that I don't find myself walking through Mong Kok or checking in those backpacker's inns.  During my earlier travels, planes through Hong Kong land at the old airport located almost within arms reach from the tall buildings or at least that's what it looked like from the window seat.  I've also visited some of China during a time when their tourism was just taking off.  I've made good friends within that big country.  Memories flood through in the mere mention of China.

The story told by Susan Jane Gilman takes place in old China.  Traveling takes two girls fresh from college as far as Yangshuo and Guilin !  Been there and so it was fortunate that when I browsed the book I came across those two names most synonymous to today's climbing.  I simply just have to read on.  I had to get the book ! It's got references to the Bataan Death March and loads of vivid descriptions of some of the places I've already been to.  No mention of Getu Valley but I feel it could be a destination that still has a place in unmarked territories which may indeed be a setting for good stories !

  

Now I'm looking for more travel books like these.  It's a difficult selection and maybe rare.

In the meantime check out the The Stangie Travelogue for more to-date travels through China and then some !  One night of TsingTao = new friends, one night of more than 5 TsingTaos = lots of new friends!

Pagayon Bros. at work !

Presenting a video by the Pagayon Bros. featuring Joey Cuerdo of Power-UP Climbing Gym.  Working towards more climbing , more climbing gyms and continued presence in global climbing.  Climbing, climbing, climbing … write it down !  More to come this year !  I am so psyched !  More Miyagi Style dojo training wax-on, wax-off !  The death board is up and ready inside that hot box ! 

Hope to be working with you bros. soon for some wicked climbing clips.  "Diamond Head", we're going after you soon!  

Milestone 1.0

Another milestone … While it may not actually sound too impressive, I still think it's a huge step, 4 flights of steps actually.  I just came from a meeting with none other than Commissioner Akiko Thomson-Guevara.  She's the Philippine Sports Commission's (PSC) cluster head in which Sport Climbing falls  under.  Sounds huge already? For a sports fan like me it is definitely bigger than what I'm used to.  Meeting and spending 30 minutes in conversation with a pinoy sports icon and discuss the near future of sport climbing in the Philippines . . . what can beat that ?  Refresher . . . She held the women’s 200-meter backstroke that clocked at 2:16.76 during the SeaGames in 1995. Only last year did it got broken, the new  record at 2:15.73.  

I was almost late for the appointment.  I was catching my breath when I got to the 4th floor.  The long corridor's polished granite and the hushed library feel as I walked to the commissioner's office reminded me to compose myself.  It's almost like composure before sending a route or a problem but not all chalked up all over.  I greeted Atty. Jay Alano and the secretary a good morning.  The rosy cheeks and sweat beads rolling down my neck  perhaps gave it away when they asked if I needed time to relax.  HA !  So, "Yes, please. I'll just  catch my breath for a minute", was my response. I sat down to lower the heartbeat.  I waited for the secretary's nod before proceeding into the office. 

Akiko stood tall at the handshake.  Her smile, reassuring as the sunrise.  She offered coffee, tea, … the apparent parched throat said "water please."  We met before but only in brief passing, during the Philippine National Games in Bacolod, May 2011.  Close to a year already.  It's a pleasure to get reacquainted again.  Only a day before did I get the call for the meeting.  It's almost too sudden that I found myself in her office.  Starstruck much !!!???  You bet !   

Her office sat on the fourth floor of the newly refurbished PSC office at the old Rizal Memorial Coliseum.  The glaring midday sun highlighted the main track oval. The view was framed over by drapes and the full glass windows behind her desk.  She didn't stay behind the desk, she greeted me by the doorway.  The gesture to me was a very welcoming one.  It felt as though there is already kinship even before we met.  Maybe it's the kind of ties athletes share.  It felt like the kinship climbers share all over the world.  I felt at home.    

Not good enough . . .

Yep... I guess I got too carried away with being too super positive on the capabilities of the old wide angle extender.  1st a wide open lens blurrs the majority of the image...so you're forced to stop down, use a smaller f-stop.  This becomes very difficult in very low light conditions and taking action shots.  There is a huge compromise on ISO and apperture . . . I hate compromises !  2nd under bright light the lens is subject to huge amounts of glare.  It does become challenging to balance.  On the lighter side, it does present some character that can't be expected from top notch lenses.  It will for sure be a demanding piece of equipment.  I'm not about to throw it away just yet. I still think it can be made use of aside from paper weight.  On hind sight... it's either it's not really good or I'm just sour graping because I still suck on making it work. More practice !  Practice ! PRACTICE ! Better work on it before the Ambongdolan trip !  Here's a few snaps for practice...

S u p e r W I D E !

Late night clean-ups do have rewards!  Found an old super wide macro extender lying around.  X.42 mounts on 58mm, just right for the new 28mm. , result . . . a super wide angle complete with spherical deformation on the edges for the right amount of effect !  I've been contemplating on getting the Canon EF-S 10-22mm.  Looks like that might not be necessary for a while.  I'll be taking this baby for a spin and hopefully get it really fired up on the Ambongdolan Boulders in a few days, 3 days and counting !  

Without a Sound

Without a Sound

This silent, quiet, Saturday makes me reflect on, what I think, largely the first half of my lifetime.  Things have definitely run the rough road.  I’m now slightly deranged but still functioning well enough to get by this wild world. 

The only distinct sound I hear comes from this wind chime I bought over from my climbing trip to Japan, October of 2002.  It was the year I landed  the highest podium finish in the Philippine National Climbing Championships.  It was a sweet year for my climbing.  That memory though is a distant past.  It almost feels like unimportant but somehow, thinking deeply, it was something that has helped me move on as a climber.  This year, 2011, again brings with it a new challenge.  Slightly 9 years after stepping onto the podium, I am now given the opportunity to take my climbing towards as slightly different direction. My awareness is once again awakened to a new start.  Climbing for me is a very personal quest. For me at least, I’ve always been fascinated by how much satisfaction I get everytime I’m outdoors, climbing with nature, and pushing myself to my limit, trying to take myself to a place where the force of nature and my own heartbeat are the only ones existing.  Now, however, I am given a new view on climbing.  Teaching climbing or at least sharing climbing passion with others has been a residual effect of spending time with others in and outside the gym. The repercussions of actions and mental imposition bore no weight and responsibility.  Last May 2011, this non-responsible approach became different.  I’m now coach of the 1^stPhilippine Climbing Team for the Sea Games.  Now, words I say and formulas I have in mind no longer are personal.  Sharing thoughts on performance now have to be weighed several times over before getting my suddenly pragmatic personal approval before sharing them to the team. 

On one hand, the responsibility is a bit of a load on the back, on the other, it somehow balances my approach to my own personal climbing.  I’m challenged by the fact that I’m training the younger and the stronger.  It places me in the midst of a lot of energy.  I’m also pushed to my limit trying to keep up and also trying to pace the team.  I am teaching and at the same time learning as we go on. 

I’m not entirely sure of the path this leads to.  This road has opened up for me many times before but to fully tread on it has always been jittery.  The pattern repeats itself.  I’m the eldest of 4 siblings, in high school I led the Marist Photography Club, in college I led the MIT-Mountaineering Club, I even started a short stint as Sensei for the Ateneo Aikido Club.  Now once again, I’m faced with a decision. How far am I going to take this? It sure does open a lot of doors and the possibilities seem endless.  I don’t know the answer.  One thing is for certain though.  Climbing has forged me into mostly what I am today.  A huge percentage of my life has been devoted to climbing more than any other activity I’ve delved into. I can’t even wait for the day when I can say I’ve been climbing for more than half my lifetime.  So maybe the decision will come easy, or maybe even harder.  But the fact is, I love climbing and sharing it with others gives me great pleasure.  The coaching responsibility is really heartfelt. To make individual members of the team fully realize their potential and to see them breaking out of their old limits is already a reward in itself. The finality of such a decision may take me away from competitive climbing.  But maybe it is rightfully so.  It will be a step indeed.  How to stride will be the next challenge.  Who knows what happens next?

As it should be

As it should be

Formless.  There is simply nothing profound of what can be said here.  There are days when there is a continuous flow of ideas that rush up the neurons enveloping my brain.  It’s those days that I wish I had pen and paper or have myself sitting infront a blank word document. Today is not one of those days. I’m still waiting for a good thought…

I’m waiting for Faith’s food to cool before I can serve my finicky four legged friend her meal. She’s always picky about her food. Though sometimes it makes her cute, it’s not always the circumstance.  She barks at me when she doesn’t like what she sees, or smells, or tastes. She would cower down and plant her nose in between her forelegs as I try to spoon her some food to help her get started.  She does get all the attention she wants when she wants it. Even this writing isn’t intended for her but she manages to creep in here…

The year is close to an end and a bright new one will begin in just a few days.  Posting this time frame allows me to focus on finishing some writing before the year ends.  The year has once again been kind and has allowed me to see lots of amazing things. 

Climbing, travelling, shooting photos for sponsors, attending a photo shoot for sponsors, travelling some more, climbing some more… right, feeding faith, taking her for shots… hmm… alright, I’m out… suddenly I just feel like a blank wall. 

What else could there be to write about?  It feels though much of my time revolves around climbing.  It seems like the perfect thing for me.  Though sometimes, it gets me into trouble. I’m just glad there is always a way around it and I’m blessed with some amount of good fortune.  If ever there was something like a character life card, or something close to a basketball stat card for me, mine would have “luck = 8/10”.  What I feel though is, which also is a bit bothering, am I doing what I’m really supposed to be doing?   Weird thought, but every once in a while I’m faced with the question.  Right… so you get born, go to school, play, grow old a bit, attend school some more, play some more, grow old a bit some more, get married, have kids and then you pass down the same question, you continue your path, ask the question to yourself again…  In between all these there should be a greater purpose.  Or is there?  I’ve been to the family reunion a few days ago.  I saw all the grandpas and grandmas and wondered what’s on their minds?  Have they answered that same question?  There’s good food on the tables, kids running around and the number of cousins, nephews and nieces continue multiplying by the dozen.  Our linage came from a family of farmers and it seems like a big leap to find ourselves, after three decades, celebrating our reunion on the roof deck of one of my cousin’s own building.  An impressive leap, considering the roof deck is on the 5^th/ 6^th floor! That is a pretty big leap from the ground.  So maybe they’ve seen this progression and already have answered in a big part the question they needed to answer. So what else is there to answer?  Like always, as I’ve learned from economy class in high school, man is by nature insatiable.  It indeed doesn’t stop there. 

The family is evolving into different directions and I’m still unsure if what I have will be something which qualifies as evolution.  But… what feels good should be good.  It’s a radical way of thinking and some may even say it’s quite brave and, to an extent, foolish. This is the way I grew up and changing this point of view isn’t easy. So…therefore, if climbing feels good, it must be good.  All those who have opened up their minds through rapid brain activity could fully understand this.  The many ways to express this cannot simply fit on a single piece of A4.  We should just leave it at that…  just like Nike’s motto, “Just do it,”  it can be explained in numerous ways but in the end, when your neurons are all numb, you come back to the same line…”Just do it.”

Anyways, while going around tables and greeting everyone happy holidays, one of my cousins asked when I would be moving into the new house. He asked whether I’d be putting up a climbing wall up there.  So I answered, why not?  Interesting thought… Shortly after, a nephew of mine told me he’d trim down and then expressed intent in joining me for some climbing.  I quickly recall one of my high school teachers during a reunion saying “keep doing what you do, it’s an inspiration to us all.” These thoughts just keep popping up.  If these are clues, they have been laid down fairly obvious not to be picked up on.     

   

I think I’ve dug too deep a hole already that it will be difficult to crawl out off.  It might be easier now to just keep digging until I can burrow out the other side of the sphere.  So…  climbing it is.  You need not doubt it.  Best be prepared now for the full length of the digging.  If others will follow they should be bringing their own headlamps.  The tunnel is long and dark.  But, as they say… it will be an adventure!  

Chapter 37 - "Ondoy"

Chapter 37 - "Ondoy"

The wet morning felt cold and the chill it sent crawled up my skin. A slight breeze raised the hair up my nape as I stood at the open doorway. I welcomed the sensation as I sipped the freshly cupped brew I nursed between my sleepy palms.  The warmth I held felt a good contrast to the cold dank morning that blurred before me. Only the night before, I was amongst friends enjoying a similar dark liquid whilst storming over a strategy that best suited goals of initiating a new website for Climb Philippines.   Crissie, Ina, Miel, Cali, Alex, Rina and I glowed in orange firelight coming from the lamp that hung over the comfortable corner of the café we huddled in.  The length of the evening extended as we often times shot in and out of topic.  One moment we’re all immersed in one of Cali’s intense explications of web design, which at times found me just playing good listener then to shift abruptly to Alex’s recent epic into the workings of applying for a Helvetian Visa.  Judging by the number of times Greecepops into the discussion; it really became apparent how the consul of the same country’s embassy played Zeus and Alex a mere mortal having the fits over an inconsiderate god. Between considerable intense listening always came bursts of laughter. We always found something funny amidst whatever topic, mostly compliments of sponge diving in Greece. Then there was also the little boy on the outside window darting stares with Rina.  I’m not sure though who stared first but I’m not one to blame a small boy. It was a pleasant and flippant scene though and I too tried coaxing the child into a forced smile. It was a distraction from the sometimes semi-serious flow of discussions but after effortly glimmering the boy to pursing his lips to what I thought was semblance of an up-curving line, I quit and resolved to the obvious that I lacked of Rina’s charms. It seemed either the boy was intently flirting with her or I had as much charisma as a cinder block’s.  I would prefer the former though, after all the boy did what was demanded of him by instinct.

The polished white ceramic slowly burned into my palms.  The instant the heat seared past my awareness, I am once again awakened to a darker foreboding.  The rain continued throughout the previous night.  What helped me slumber also woke me as the spatter of rainfall deafened as they hit the steel sheets of the roof harder in the waking hours.  The big hollow cavity that separated our ceiling from the high pitch of the roof only seemed to drum the rain louder left and right of my brain.  Heavy clouds and not a single silver, an orange, a purple or a blue line hinted the skies as I took my first cup of coffee with me as I sat down for a while in front of the computer.  It has been a bit of a relapse for me to check out what’s up on the world wide web in the mornings to see if anything was amiss. Nothing new, nothing a bit interesting, I logged off and started mulling over what can be done for the day.  It was a Saturday.

Friends texted up for another reunion shortly after I started finishing my second cup of the bittersweet brew. Not a month has passed since we celebrated amongst our Marist brethren a huge drowning in beer and spirits inside the confines of the new gymnasium inside my old Alma Mater. Some failed to make it last time and so they arranged for a part two. A smaller one in scale was the plan but equally tempting all the same. The afternoon also presented an option for me to listen to an appealing lecture on the usage of words and how to weave them into a design that’s both artistic and compelling.  I’ve been inquisitive lately on how much there is to learn of this language and how to entwine rivers of thought into a series of visible and clairvoyant curving lines on paper. And finally Miel’s cousin, Rina, was bound for Londononce again.  There was an open invitation for a send-off bash on her behalf at Miel’s house that night.  Though it sounded more like a family gathering than a party out with friends, I still weighed the thought over.  It might not be for a long time before our paths cross again or none at all.  The latter was a sad thought but such a harsh reality I’ve learned to accept in my travels. 

The hours spent along fast and the rains continued with a heavy spatter on the roof.  Echoing throughout the household, the sound of infinite number of beads hitting steel sheets drowned all sound.  It became more foreboding that the dark weather could go on the entire day.  Water started pooling within the  high walls that enclosed the garden.  There was nothing much to do but wait. The void created by a blank stare outward while leaning onto the doorway with crossed arms to fuel some warmth, helped swell a gut feel that the rain will persist and stay as strong for a few more hours. The few minutes in the insecure position instigated an uprising within my restlessness.  I took off into the rain and started feeling energized as I started soaking in the freezing formula.   It could be compared to downing an energy drink but far better.  None of those bottled energy liquids could ever deliver that same natural rejuvenation.  I always feel the same way somehow when I’m out communing with nature. Either it be climbing on a cliff, struggling with a boulder, swimming in a river … just being outside with the pure elements fuels me I think.  I stretched out my arms and tried to catch as much rain as I could.  My skin felt sensitive to each drop and I felt I could count each raindrop as it touched my bare arms.  I resolved not to though as my mind was preoccupied with images of my youth running and playing around in the rain.  I became mindless of how much my fingers went cold and white as blood drained from them. My blood rushed towards my core to stave off the cold.  Not long then, the smell of citrus rushed into much of my head.  It woke me to another faint realization.  The closer I got to the tree, the more my senses woke.  I picked some of the small fruits that looked like green little globes that hung on the small twiggy branches.  Every time a globe came off to my pull, a piece of a mind puzzle, a memory perhaps or a recollection of something seemed to fall into place. More of the fruit found their way onto my shirt which I folded to a front pouch.  Then just like a fastball coming straight at me, the puzzle became whole.  I began to realize why I get entranced by the citrus smell some women  fashion on their skin.  It hints of fresh citrus flower or crushed lime leaves, a simple whiff of which transports me into a trance that dances me off into childhood.  Whoever thought of that formula was indeed a wise man or woman. It inspires me to wonder however if that person exacted the potion to serve as a dream enhancer to settle anyone back into his youth or to magnify a person’s urge to run wildly into the woods with a better half that wore the perfume. I lingered on the scent with a scant recalling of faces as rain forced my eyes to relapse into small slits.  With the makeshift pouch filled with the calamansi fruit, I took off to leave the tree.  It was a hard enough act that took a bit force of will as I had wanted to prolong my intoxication.  I reasoned that the tree will still be where it would be for longer and it helped ease myself to the breaking loose of the spell.  As the day grew colder I forced myself into coming out of the rain and into the warm rooms of the house. If it weren’t for the sight of my gingerly nurtured callouses on my finger tips turning pruney, white and soft I wouldn’t really dry myself and would have stayed under the open skies for much longer.  My minds eye immediately recalled a certain episode.  “It’s not my turn to wash the dishes, I did that yesterday!”, always thinking of how much to save on callouses, I spoke to  Anthony, not in an unkind way, during one of our climbing trips.  We always took turns putting one over the other as much as we could.  More of the same memory rushed in and forced me into the house.  I’m a climber.  We take care of our hands, skin, and fingers and revere them more than any fair skinned lady would hers. It sounded strange.  I smile at the thought,  believing in the absurdity.

Unrelenting darkness, rain, anxiousness and nothing much to do bored through much of the day, setting a theme that seemed to wallpaper the vista.  The rain hit harder, the wind grew stronger and the water in the garden pooled even higher.  In a few more hours I decided to peer out the tall gates that guarded our home.  Whatever divined me to do so I can not know.  It was perhaps the instinctive smell of something terribly wrong or the curiosity driven by restlessness. The intricate patterns of twisted steel bars lacing  the gate gave no more contrast to the surrounding darkness.  The latch holding the steel door in place sent a wave of cold warning as I held it to open.  Voices from the opposite side were muffled by the rain.  Sounds from the street outside were slightly unfamiliar, foreboding to be accurate.   A rushing river of red and brown greeted my eyes as a wider focus spanned in the open gateway.  I ran my eyes down the length of the main street.  The river was seven meters across and about almost half a foot deep in the nearby shallows.  Turning my head right horrified me as I saw people wading in waist deep water.  None like that ever happened right there where I stood.  I rushed towards the rear gate that cornered the other side of the house.   Brown red water flowed from underneath the gate as I held the latch.  As soon as the scene unfolded across my eyes, shock gripped air out of my lungs. The flooded street on that side of the house creeped faster up the ramp.  The rear gate was higher than the street by at least three feet.  All that height filled with flood water.  A couple was wading waist deep in front of me as I stood there beset by the sight.