How I lost the pounds!

Summer of 2006, first time in years that I stayed at home, not worrying of being late or absent for
basketball practice, all summer what I did was hang out with friends, drink beer, ate a lot and slept
through the day. Then there was a time where I had to attend a party in Cainta or Pasig, what happened
when I put on my pair of jeans, I could not get the zipper all the way up, come June, up to graduation I
weight over 200 lbs, can you imagine me having that weight? First few months was ok, people were
saying that the weight looks good on me, maybe it does but keeping the weight has its problems, for
one thing my knees could not carry my weight, as I climb up the stairs I can feel pain plus the fact that
going to point B from point A is a troublesome. Summer of 2007, I decided it is time to lose the weight.
I enrolled at a boxing gym a few blocks away from home. The gym was owned by former World Boxing
Champion Erbito Salavaria, both his sons trained me, Emil and Jun and in two months, from 220 lbs my
weight was down from 160. I also had strict diet; I was going to eat less. I actually did not follow and
program for my diet, whatever that was served, I would eat less. June and Emil, both are trainers at the
gym taught me one valuable lesson, “wag mo isipin na papayat ka, isipin mo matuto ka” I had to agree, as
days pass, I have shed the pounds and I have trimmed down. People asked me what I did; people would
ask me what diet I followed. Naturally I would answer that I did boxing, diet and lifted weights. Most of
them would say that they still have a chance and I have given them the motivation to do the same thing.
But there is a problem with they have said, it is nice to hear that after seeing my picture and looking at
me now gives other people motivation, but of course, motivation is not enough. My secret on how I lost
the weight is not because of boxing and diet entirely. I had the dedication, self-control and I really had
my goal set.

Change, Success, Role

The month of May is not as good as I expected. Changes has been made, the environment has
somewhat alter my perception. Within the company, there is a motto, “We embrace change”, for me,
that is a very good way to motivate a person, but back track a bit, you will see that there are changes
that you cannot control and do nothing but accept it, sometimes I wonder if the change is for the better
of one person or for a group, does politics control the way decisions are made? Do they really make
their decisions based on who they want or based on who they need? They send out details of what they
need. If you work for a company for so long, you expected to have moved up the ladder and when you
have moved up others will pull you down. I guess that’s human nature already, people succeed because
who they are and what they have accomplished, now I guess for you succeed you must have the right
connections, but of course this is not accurate there are also people who succeeded because they
worked hard for who and what they are now, my brother for example. He studied well, graduated in a
highly praised University and now, he is a manager. My salary for 3-4 months is equivalent to his one
month salary, not including the benefits that he gets.

What is the real formula to success? Does it apply to all of us? If you’re going to check a successful
person’s background, it differs from each other. Most people will say that hard work pays off; you’ll just
have to wait, but how long a person must wait? There people who worked hard and when they have
reached the level of success, it is either too late or they are just a piece of the puzzle; if your just a piece,
how big is your section?
Each and everyone have his/her own role, the questions are; how do we accept our role? How will
you play your role? Does your role fit you? These are just some questions that I think a person should
ask him/herself, so that at the end of the day, we can all go home, have a good night sleep and expect
better things to come in the future.

We are Close"rs"

March 3, 2010, the first time I met this group of men, now known as the “BakalBoys” , while some of us called “TCs” which really means Team Captain in the company, for the sake of smiles and laughter, we changed it to “Tiga Close” ; that basically means that they are the people who’s shifts ends at 00:00 EST.

There is another term for the acronym TC, “Telus Critter”, who is this person who will call our “telus critter”? He is Renee Aristorenas. Famous for saying, and I quote “no, no, not ganon”, and “you have successfully reached the wrong department”. We also jokingly say that Renee could publish a book with all of his quotable quotes. Might I include his nicknames, “Mang Renee” and “Tatang”, this was given to him because being the eldest of us all here in Lily. He is also known as “The Man with the 1,000 Faces of Sorrow”. Who would also forget the pictures that Rico edited with help of Adobe photoshop.  One of my favorite edited pictures of him is face image in the can of Alaska Milk, which Rico changed it to Alaskado, another favorite of mine is his image in a “Mang Tomas”bottle, the Wi Tribe ad this time edited as an Igorot. Renee is such a sport, you rarely see him get angry, you may see him in a frown face but a after a few minutes his ok. That’s Renee for you, the Best Comedy Actor in a Dramatic Role.

The next “TC” is Rico William Badeo, the “Photoshop Artist”, the person behind those edited pictures. When this long haired handles the guitar, expect laughter for a long duration. This person can definitely make a bang with his punch lines. He is actually my own personal SPOC, every time I have trouble with my desktop; he’ll remotely fix my issue, which by the way will be very easy for him. 

The last remaining “TC” is Kenneth Tejada, or simply Ken. There is nothing really much to say about to say, for one thing is most of the quiet, reading whatever on his monitor. A real bookwork, I remember one book his reading which he got before Christmas, he was able to finish it in two days, and the book was over 500 pages. That is where he got the nickname “Ken Basa” copied from the ATBP puppet, “Kapitan Basa”.

 Come May 23, the four “TC’s” will be a back to three as my shift will be changed to 9pm. The last three remaining closers will definitely be staying at same schedule and of course will continue the kick ass environment and work load.