"Without You.. It Will Never Be The Same Again..."

Lola Oning and Me, UERM Garden of Gethsemane, Antipolo Final Resting Place Lolo Monching and the Gang

Monica "Lola Oning" Candelaria Mortell 1929 - 2008 "Greatest Grandma In The World" Why does she have to go.. I believe thats the common question some of us kept asking.. well to be logical.. there will always be a time for every single one of us to go.. then it will just be the question of when? For others... it seems to be easy to accept.. since it is a fact that in the natural way of life.. it should be something that everyone should get used to.. But if it is time for someone you really love to leave.. damn.. its so freakin' hard to accept.. its been 40days since she left.. and I still miss her.. I still kept wishing that everytime that I would visit their home in Antipolo.. that she would be there to greet us.. she would be there to cook the most tasteful dishes to our fullest delights.. but no.. its not gonna happen anymore.. we have to accept the fact that she wouldn't be around anymore. She just turned 79 last May 4, for some.. they would say.. well.. she's old enough and had been through a lot in her life.. and would just say.. it's just her time now.. well for us.. whom she left.. for us who loved her so much.. she would never be old enough.. it's just too soon for us.. there are so much more things to be shared among us.. and there's so much more time to be spent together.. I don't really know when it would ever be enough.. Most of us have moved on.. being cool and normal whenever when we're together.. whenever we visit her tomb in the Garden of Gethsemane.. but in our own silent ways.. we all know.. we really miss her so much and we know that it will never be the same again.. That's why its so perfect what words my Mom chose to be engraved in her headstone.. "Without you.. It will never be the same again.." this words would never be less perfect than it is... She will always have a special part in our hearts.. now that she's gone.. that special part will always be empty.. always longing for it to be filled.. but will never be.. nothing can replace Lola in our hearts.. She's the most loving and most caring Lola, Mother or Wife you would ever have. In my case.. she's the Best Grandma I'll ever have.. Thank You Lola for everything you have taught us.. for everything you shared with us.. for all the time you had cared and love.. nothing will ever be the same without you.. you will always be missed.. and will always loved.

Reggie The Marathon Runner! :D

me and delcee [my officemate]

Mizuno Infinity Run 2008
[The 10 Kilometer Marathon run!]

Can you even imagine me being a part of this event? Well.. you're not crazy if you think I am.. I finished 312th!!! haha (Out of 330 or something).. hehe.. I can't believe I signed up for this event at first.. it's like.. "Are you even capable of finishing a 1 km race?!" hahaha! well.. it turned out.. I AM!!!

How does this even entered my mind?!

It started out when my friend Seldon asked me if I was interested to join a marathon event.. June 29, the day before our final weigh-in on our "Watson Wyatt Biggest Loser Contest".. As a last desperate move to lose some weight.. I thought.. what the hell!? That's just 10km.. it's nothing.. considering that I am one of the better runners in our basketball team when I was in highschool.. but then I realized.. omg! That was some 40lbs and 10 years ago! so believe me.. I hesitated bigtime whether to join or not.

Registration

Seldon did the registration for me.. for the effort he made of going to Fort Bonifacio just to had me registered kinda forced me to say yes.. haha. so 10k it is! when are we supposed to the act? haha.. June 29th around 5:30am. Believe me.. just waking up at 5am is one helluva job for me. I'm not the morning person I used to be.. it's hard to wake up all the fat sleeping [SEBO to make it short..] covering up my whole body. haha.

10km Day!!!

Judgement day comes.. we were on time [Thank God!] for the checkin... the first set of runners were the 15km runners.. they started around 545am.. then we came next [10km runners].. we started at 6am.. then were off.. at first.. the pace were kinda slow.. so I was still able to be part of the whole pack...

After a kilometer or so my legs started to give hints of giving up.. it's like im going to have cramps.. well I dunno how it should feel, believe it or not I haven't had cramps before.. so as the run progresses and as the other runners continue to jog their way to the 10km run.. I started slowing down.. haha.

Then my legs started to give up.. I had no other choice but to slow my pace and walk. Half of the of the time during the run I was alternately walking and running.. I can't keep up with the others.. Delcee started to leave us behind as she was able to keep up with lead group.. and then Seldon and Charisse started to distance themselves from me.. as I was really walking at some point.

I started to think of ways on how to get back from where we were before.. I saw jeepneys.. but darn.. I had no money with me... then i saw a cab.. hey!! I can take a cab.. then pay the driver as I get back to my car.. this should work! haha.. but hell.. a little more effort.. i need to exert a little more effort.. I can't just give up! I'm an Athlete.. I always tell myself.. haha [ talk about fighting spirit ].. so I kept my walking then running then walk again pace as we reached the 5km mark.

In the 5km mark there was a drinking station.. it's not water this time.. unlike the first two drinking stations we passed by.. It was an energy drink.. Thank God!!! haha.. I drank 2 cups... hoping that it would help me battle the muscle tightness I'm feeling in my legs.. luckily.. it worked!!! From there on I was able to speed up a little.. and I was able to catch atleast the other runners, including Seldon and Charisse.. Little by little I sped up my pace.. until we reached the 7.5km mark.. I'm almost there I said to myself.. It's time to give it all I've got.

Honestly, I was a little frustrated with myself... I can't believe I was having problems running.. I mean.. I don't really feel tired at all.. but my legs wont let me run as I wish I could have.. I know I can do better than my subpar performance during the first 7.5km.. I was really starting to run again.. after 10minutes I can see the last corner towards the finish line.. "Into the home stretch!!!" hahaha.. and then.. Finish! Aaaaahhhhh!! what a relief!! I did finished!!! checked my watch.. as I used its stopwatch feature to time myself.. 1 hour and 22 minutes! wow.. not bad.. as we were targeting 1 hour and 40 minutes. I felt really great and accomplished.. It really felt good to know that I was able to finish the 10km run.. I will do this again next time I thought..

Overall? I finished 312 of 333 finishers for the 10km run. Not bad eh?! Well for a first timer it's not! :D

I joined the "La Salle Cares" event this july 13... I registered for the 16km [10 miles] event.. This time.. It would really be a challenge. So let's see if I would be good enough for the extra miles. D:

Reggie the Photographer!!!

I recently bought a DSLR Camera.. the Canon EOS 450d. Its an entry-level DSLR camera I bought hoping that it would make me look good when it took my pictures.. the problem is.. that's my camera.. and it only means that i would be the one to take the pictures... haha.. in short.. wala ako sa picture! Kidding aside.. I got interested in photography after seeing some quality pictures taken from a dSLR camera.. first from the mlph Track Day then next here in my office by some of my officemates who also owns dSLR cameras.. although, what I bought was not as expensive as what they have.

<-- Trish :D

Actually my main reason for buying it was because I was looking for a hobby that I can share with Trish [My Girlfriend].. we've been together now for 7 years and I noticed that we haven't had a hobby [besides eating! :D] that we share together.. Well yes, we're both into eating.. and eating.. and eating.. [if you guys knew us long enough you would definitely agree based on how much weight we gained together. hahaha]... Anyway.. I noticed few years back.. Trish loved taking pictures of the food we eat.. actually more on macro shots of it.. Everytime we go to a restaurant and order one of their best dishes she would take a picture of it first before eating.. Se we thought buying a good camera would really be a good idea.

Anyway.. since I have a dSLR camera.. as most of all of you know.. have great potentials.. I'm hoping right now that would enough practice and some experimentations as well.. I might be able to maximize my camera's potentials.. and Hope that it would also bring out my potential as a n00b photographer as well. :D

Here are the recent photos i took with my new camera.














I am still practicing with my photography skills as of the moment.. so please bear with what I have to share for now. :D

Reggie The Writer!!!

Unexepressed Ideas

Its been a long time dream of mine to publish my own book.. the thing is.. I don't even have anything to write and the saddest part about it is.. I don't think I have the skill to write anything at all. I really suck in english [everything about it.], so I'll be practicing a lot by blogging anything that comes into my mind.

Let's just say that this blog will be my journal.. or maybe a diary.. or a repository....wherein I would be dumping all my unexpressed ideas.. ideas that doesn't necessarily need to make sense.. ideas that has been lingering in my mind.. its really nice because it would be very beneficial for me.. first.. I'll be able to free my mind of all those nonsense stuff thats been bugging me.. and secondly.. I would be able to freely practice my writing skills and english as well.. the Bad News is.. I'll be asking my friends to view my blogs.. for them to comment.. hahaha.. jeez.. what the hell am I supposed to do with all my blogs if no ones going to read it right?!

Isn't it amazing.. I mean, this blog would really be a beginning of everything for me?! hahaha.. dream on kid! well atleast I can be in touch with the poetic side of myself through this blog... I've always been wondering why God gave me nothing artistic to brag about... I mean.. I really love to sing.. but I wasn't given a tolerable singing voice [hehe]... and I even tried dancing.. I was even part of our school dance group way back in elementary... unfortunately, I didn't even learn how to dance.... drawing!? graphic arts?! well.. I can't say I haven't tried... I started creating random or abstract graphic arts and posted it in my deviantart site.. but still nothing happened. so now.. its come to this... maybe the whole artistic side of mine is into writing.. hahaha. so let's see.. and I'll let you be the judge of it.

I will be posting everything! starting from just a random blah blah to short stories to opinions.. and whatever I have on my mind whenever I have free time. Maybe I will start writing blah blahs for now.. then let's see.. I might even let you peak with the draft of my novel.. hahah!

Weight Problems!?

[re-post: originally posted in myyahoo360 December 4, 2005]

<<--- GOD DAMN!!! Is this really me!?!?

"When I was in high school or even during my early La Salle days.. about 4 years ago, I weighed 130 lbs.. Never really had any health problems. I eat a lot then but never got Fat (Actually i was hoping to get a lil chubby).. Just a month ago when i stepped in our weighing scale i was alarmed when i saw that i was just a few pounds less to 170lbs( I actually reached 170lbs a few days later.. ) Hehehe....
Its actually a big problem for me now(well maybe not that big considering trish gained some weight too!! hahahaha!), how to lose some weight and get my old MACHO Physique back! hahaha. well maybe not that macho, but still, I would really appreciate it if i dont have a buldging tummy to worry about. hehe. About the tummy, I think it would be really hard for me to lose it since my job requires me to sit 8-9 hours a day (unless i have a laptop so i could do it lying or something... hehe) , and being a systems analyst requires you to think and think and think which makes me very very hungry all the time. hehe. So the trend here in office is.. Work.. Snack.. Work.. Lunch... Sleep a little.... Work... Merienda NANAMAN?!.. then work... ahhh.. at last uwian na... But Wait.. trish and I spend our Quality Time after work Eating Again.. wahaha.. well when im with her.. God.. the appetite of that girl.. Nakakahawa!!! so.. in the end kakain nanaman kami.. hehe.. Imagine that 5 days a week.. Sino ba naman ang hindi tataba.. hehe.
You know what!? the ugliest part of gaining weight? Umiitim yung batok ko!!! waAAAAAaah!!!!
Well don't think that im not doing anything to lose weight.. i still am playing basketball from time to time and I really am trying to eat less and to eat the right food. Atleast, sa awa ng diyos, keeping up this pace.. i think i can reach 150lbs. hehehe... So lets hope that the next time you see me.. mapapa WOW ka na lang.. and you'll whisper to yourself.. "Shit.. ang macho talaga nya!!" Nyahahahaha!!!!
Moral of the Story?! Dont Lose Hope sa lahat ng kaibigan kong over weight!!! KAYA NATIN TO!!!
PS. I Dont have time to workout in Fitness GYMs. (Maybe its a lil out of my Budget too.. hehe)"

[update: april 10, 2008]

Guess what.. its been two years now since I posted this blog.. I've tried losing weight.. I even enrolled in "Fitness First", the thing is.. it doesn't really work for me.. as I always thought, the whole Gym Thingie was a big joke as I hardly had time to go to the gym. Its like paying 2k pesos per session as I paid for the gym membership monthly and just visiting the gym once a month. So its a little frustrating.. but you cannot say that I haven't tried. haha.. now I am a consistent 170 pounder... hahaha.. I little bit 20 lbs over my ideal weight and I really really miss my adam's apple, I haven't seen him in ages! haha. Now me and my colleagues in Watson Wyatt Came up with a program that would help us lose some weight.. the ESOL BIGGEST LOSER.. well.. I'll be posting about it soon on my next blog.

[update: May 15, 2009]

Yeah I know! I gained more pounds! 175 lbs right now.. huhuhu.