Last Tuesday afternoon we received a bad news from Manila that our officemate and good friend Arnel, after 4 years of battling with cancer, passed away that morning.

Arnel was one batch ahead of me but since we came from one management when we first started in AMEX, we became friends. He was so jolly and funny type of person. He loved to crack jokes and “manlait” at times. He was one of the most “jologs” peeps in AMEX. He knew almost all shows in television and familiar with almost all tagalog movies. A lot of people in our project know him because he’s very bubbly.

Few years back, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, coincidentally, same year with our dear friend Mia. They both suffered the same illness. He underwent several radiations and chemotherapy and was able to recover and went back to the office. But after a few months, sadly, the cancer strikes him again. I know he fought hard to survive but the fate dictates.

I cried and mourned because I missed them so much. But somehow, I am happy for both of them because I know that wherever they are right now, GOD is with them.

Guys, you will always be here in our hearts. We’re gonna miss you!

Date Scribed: October 26, 2006

For the past few days, I was busy with a lot of personal things which caused me to miss my gym regime. I can’t squeeze myself to find time to exercise. For the past 10 days I was actively busy with stationary activities and found myself eating awfully, except for the Taman Negara trip which was strenuous one of course.

I am not complaining because for the past days that I was on a vacation, I had so much fun bonding with my friends. It’s just that I felt that I have already gained more pounds today.

Anyway, I just need to go back to my gym regime and continue what I have started before. I still have 2 months to reach my goal. =)

Date Scribed: October 26, 2006

After a long 2-months of planning, Anai’s rigorous research of the place, and arguably delay of Rye’s vacation due to his inconsiderate manager, our trip to Taman Negara has finally come to an end.

Anai, Rye, Vera, and I had our adventurous Taman Negara trip from October 21-23, 2006. Taman Negara was the official protected rainforest in Peninsular Malaysia. Situated somewhere in Pahang, embodies a tropical haven of verdant undulating ladscapes crossed by river with rapids and waterfalls.

Our activities include the following:

- river rapids going to Orang Asli village

- visited the Orang Asli Aboriginal Settlement where we watched their fascinating blow-pipe and fire making skills which are essential to their livelihood.

- jungle night walk where we saw snakes, scorpions, tarantula, wild deer, etc.

- Jungle Trekking and Canopy Walkway which was the longest canopy walkway in the world spanning 450m and suspended 40m above the ground.

- Cave exploration where we had a close encountered with heaps of heaps of bats and challenged ourselves on how to get out from the cave.

No exact words could describe the ecstasy and joy that this trip has brought to me. Really, I enjoyed the moments with my friends and I loved it so much! =)

Date Scribed: October 26, 2006

“Acrid haze thickened over Malaysia as smoke from a large number of forest fires in nearby Indonesia shrouded the peninsula's heavily populated west coast, officials said on Wednesday. An officer at the meteorological services department said that winds from a dry annual southwest monsoon were blowing the haze across to Malaysia. The fires causing the haze were located in forests on Indonesia's Sumatra Island, which is separated from Malaysia only by a narrow waterway. Burning in Indonesia and some parts of Malaysia to clear land for crops causes an annual haze affecting the region. The fires are set mainly by plantation owners.”

It’s been 26 years when I came out from my mom’s womb. A once cute and adorable baby turns into a handsome and loving man (bwahahaha I don’t need your REACTION on this OK).

I celebrated my birthday with my housemates and few invited friends. I initially intended not to celebrate it at all because I just didn’t feel it this time. But my housemates volunteered to cook for me so we went to the nearest wet market to buy ingredients needed. We prepared pansit, grilled tilapia, sisig, shrimps, and crispy pata.

Jennette brought her magic sing so we had videoke right after dinner while some played cards. Of course with beers and left over as pulutan hehe.

The party ended around 2am but the guys continued drinking ‘til 4am.

It was very tiring yet memorable day for me because I celebrated my birthday with a new crowd. =)

Birthday Wishes:
- more blessings to come (I hope I hope)
- stability in life (in all aspects)
- good health for myself, family, and friends (health is wealth)
- LOVE LIFE! (*wink *wink)
- and WORLD PEACE

Goals:
- to be physically fit and work on my flabby stomach (I am currently working on)
- to be able to save enough money to buy a house and lot for my family (I am already saving up for this)
- to be able to save enough money for my personal travel (maybe to follow)
- to retire my parents from working (my ultimate goal but as of now we have to help each other)
- to put up a small business (not my priority yet but soon)
- to look more attractive (bwahahaha do I need to say more?)

Special thanks to my housemates Ato and Tony for making this celebration possible. =)

Date Scribed: October 16, 2006

As much as I would like to update my blog regularly, I can’t still find time from my busy schedule because I have a lot of tasks in my plate nowadays. And during non-office hours, I am as always pre-occupied with my other personal regimes.

It’s just that we have lost our connection from our host server now so I was able to set time to blog hehe. What a perfect time hehe.

Anyway, last Friday after office, we went to Jalan Segambut where Giordano had their factory sale. It was my first time so I was kinda excited. I recalled when I was in Phoenix I also loved to go to factory outlets and mega sales obviously because of the BIG discounts.

The outlet closes at 7pm so exactly 5pm we hurriedly wrapped-up everything in the office and went straight-away there. Fatefully, the cab driver didn’t know the place so we got lost! A 20 minutes away ride turned out to be an hour or so. *sigh*.

Since we don’t have much time to choose, I just grabbed everything I saw nice haha. The price ranges from 10RM to 29RM. It was damn CHEAP! So I bought a lot of t-shirts. polo shirts and pants. I was delighted not just because I bought new clothes for me more of I was able to save much.

The next day, I accompanied my housemates in the outlet and also bought shirts for my brother. All in all I only spent 500RM for 25 shirts (t-shirts and polo shirts) and 5 pants. Imagine, just 7,000 PHP for everything. Whew!

Date Scribed: October 16, 2006