G-mik natin ‘to!

That’s the title of the first Youth ministry gathering this year, held yesterday afternoon. We’re so glad to see quite a number of young people joined us in this event. By the way, even the not-so-young-ones also joined us here. Hehehe… But needless to say, events like this are definitely always fun and worthwhile.

Since some of the participants are new comers and were still shy to mingle, we started off with something to break the ice – “Human Bingo”. Now, they have no choice but to talk and ask each other if they fit certain descriptions in order to fill all the boxes w/ names. Of course, that’s the only way to win this game.

Ooopss...bawal cheating. hehe...:P
I didn’t join this activity, being the official photographer once again. But I was surprised when some of them came to me asking for my signature to fill those boxes with descriptions such as, “Rejoice straight ang hair”, “beautiful eyes”, “Ms. friendship”, “crush ng bayan” and “most behave”. Hmmm… are you sure you I am these? Or maybe there’s just not enough people in the room, so they have no choice. Hehe…

Kuya Jeff, James and Abi emerged as winners in this game.

Then it was time to introduce each one, so the mic was passed around. After getting to know everybody, Pastor Archie gave a brief opening remarks welcoming all of us. He also told us to just have fun and enjoy each others’ company in the Lord’s presence. It’s really nice to have a cool pastor like him.

Getting to know you :)

Listening attentively
And just to make sure everyone is kept awake, we all grooved into some good music as our band played “Awitin mo at isasayaw ko” and “Sumayaw, Sumunod”, sung by Ate Lucille. We just couldn’t help but swing into the music!

Swing it! :D
An outdoor game then followed. They were divided into 4 teams, each of them having a leader. The object of the game is for all the members (blindfolded) to go to the other side and back. They should do so without bumping or stepping at the obstacles and by just following the commands of their team leader.


James: kanan, kanan! Mababangga mo si kuya! Malaki yan! (hehe...)
This activity is similar to us, God’s children as we take on life’s journey. It’s really just a matter of listening to God’s voice and doing as He says that we are able to avoid those hindrances and obstacles along our way.

Tito Sandy proved to be a great commander and guide since his team won. Yey!

It was quite an energy-consuming game so we decided to rest for some time before proceeding with the program. So picture-taking, it is.

Say cheese! (Ito lang ang picture na kasama ako. hehe...)

my student, Jaz. Camera-shy ang batang ito ha? :P
Another group activity followed. This time, their objective is to be as creative as possible in wrapping a book using the limited materials provided. Sounds easy huh? But the catch is, each of them must only use one hand in the process.

It was quite a tough game as well, but group 1 proved to be the most creative in this activity utilizing all the materials given to them. We’ve seen here how their unity, team work and cooperation became keys to their success.


As for the final activity, each of us in the music ministry shared about how God called us to serve Him using the talents bestowed on us. It’s also our way of encouraging these young people to offer their talents to the Lord as early as now.

As a way of sharing our gift of music, we rendered some songs for all of them. Kuya Jeff gave his rendition of “Wherever You Will Go” (The Calling). Angie dedicated “You’ve Got A Friend” to all of us. Bob gave his version of “The Reason”. Carlyn sang one of my favorites, Dimsum’s “Thank You For Your Love”. I sang “When You Say Nothing At All”. I was kinda nervous since it’ll be my first time to sing a non-church song with a live band. Hehe… But just to see them enjoy the song melts all my nervousness away.

It was a great feeling to see these young people respond with enthusiasm and express their desire to either sing for the Lord, or learn to play musical instruments for Him. Though some of them are still quite shy and hesitant, we know that this event is going to be the start of their way towards doing greater things for God’s glory.

Yes, the two-month preparation was all worth it. Hopefully, we’ve really become an encouragement to them. We’re just excited to see them fulfill God’s purposes for their lives really, really soon. It’s a great privilege to be a part of it. (“,)

Bowling Elimination Game Pics

Here are some pictures from our last night's bowling game at Superbowl Coronado Lanes. Thanks to my team mate, Ferdie for these. (",)

the Yellow team!
the Blue team (Tabel's team)
Tina aiming for a strike
Tabel's follow-through (ganyan ba turo ni Mommy Butch?)
my badminton partner Andrew, with Vannie
that's me! (nagpapanggap na marunong. hehe...)

gotcha! texting while playing huh?! :P
my Yellow team mates, Mike & Pat monitoring the scores
Aspi, pang ID picture ba 'to? (hehehe...)
Enjoying the food!
Yellow team's winning pose :D

OCS Sports Fest

We officially started our company sports fest last week, Wednesday. We're divided into 4 teams (by color). I was assigned to be the team leader of the Yellow team, together with Tina.

The first badminton event was held at Badminton Xtreme also Wednesday, last week. 3 badminton pairs from our team were scheduled to play. Only 1 of them won the match. :( But my team mates promised to do better next time.

Last night was the second badminton event match. Again, 3 pairs were scheduled to play from our team. That included me and my partner, Andrew. I had to take an early dinner before proceeding to the court. We (Ritche, Tabel and Anne) went to Mc Donalds for our afternoon break. They were all surprised when I ordered a Mc Donald's Mega meal. hehehe... Yeah, carbo-loading it was. :D

I wasn't really aiming to win in this tournament because I saw there were a lot of really good players here. So I decided to just enjoy the games. But thank God, we managed to win! (Perhaps, the mega meal helped..hehe) Another pair, our team mates, Dave and Zane also won. yey! So that was 2 wins for our team, out of the 3 matches. great!

I still joined the practice game after our official game. Left the badminton court at around 9:30 pm already. I thought I'd fall asleep once I got in the shuttle going home. But it seems I was still hyper. hehehe...Reached the house at 11 pm. Still can't sleep so I flipped on the channels and chanced upon American Idol. nice! I liked the performance of the two youngest girls and the last one who performed.

It's the start of the bowling tournament at Coronado Lanes tonight. Elimination games for each teams. I'm sure I will just have to enjoy my game and leave the winning strikes to the guys. I know I don't have a hand in this game. hehe...So in the coming matches, I will just be there for moral support. (",)

Ritche's Birthday Treat @ Tiendesitas

Thanks Ritche for the sumptuous lunch! May you have many more treats...ooopps i mean, birthdays to come! :) hehehe...

Integration & Support team (minus the photographer, Ferdie)

The birthday boy :) (feeling endorser ah..hehe...)

Kakulay ni Ritche yung Bonnies (hehe...)

Sarap ng barbeque at sisig. yummy!

with my kuyas (hehe...)

"bungisngis" (as usual, stolen shot na naman ni Ritche)

Happy Valentine's Day!

(courtesy of Dayspring e-cards)

Color-Your-Own Piggy Bank

I saw this color-your-own cute piggy bank from my team mate Cheli. She said she bought it from Watsons for 90 bucks. Buy one, take one.

Wow! I find it really cute and I'm sure I'll enjoy painting it. So I rushed to the nearby Watsons right after office to buy a pair. Unfortunately, it was already closed. :( The next day, Tabel and I passed by Watsons during our break time. And yes, I already got them, yey!!!

Here are my finished products:

This is the first one I painted using just the basic colors. I gave it as a birthday gift for Mommy Butch. She added it to her collection of cuttie pigs. :)

I also gave this second piggy bank as a gift. This time for my team mate, Ritche. I painted some car logos on it because he's so fond of cars. I told him to put only huge dollar bills on it so that he could easily save up for his dream car. hehehe...

This one is a Valentine-inspired piggy bank. I tried to mix some paints to come up with pink, orange and violet. It's quite hard to paint the small hearts, but they looked nice anyway.

The last one is the rainbow piggy bank. I just have to think of a way to use up all the remaining paints that's why it came out that way. hehehe...

I get to keep the last two piggy banks for myself. One I placed in my office desk and the other I left at home. Cheli just showed me the Owl coin bank she painted. It's cute too! I'd like to have one of those but she said she got it from Watsons Ortigas. Oh my... that's quite far from here. Hmmm...Maybe I should ask my sister to pass by there tonight. (",)

Completely

Sometimes, simple things could just brighten up your day. It's like when you hear the voice of someone who could make you smile. Okay before you think of anything else, I'm referring to this CD that I bought yesterday. It's Christian Bautista's latest album, "Completely". I'd like to commend the nice packaging and the great pictures inside, by the way. =)

I could say that this one is completely different from his first self-titled album. Almost all songs are in english, except for the last track, "Nais Ko" (Greenwich song). As expected, he serenades us once again with his sweet ballads in, "Everything You Do" (I hear this in the radio often), "I Can Love You Easy" and "My Heart has a Mind of its Own".

I'm quite surprised to hear this balladeer singing some upbeat pop songs this time. But they actually fit his voice. A really cool change! Needless to say, I love these new songs: "Now That You Are Here" (one of my favorites already), "She Could Be" and "After You".

As for my top picks from the album, here they are, along with my favorites lines in each song as well.

Everything You Do (written by Andrew Fromm, the man behind Christian’s monster hit ballad, “The Way You Look at Me")

"...baby when you sleep I watch you breathing...baby when I dream, I dream with you...Cause everywhere you are is where I wanna be...It's true, everything you do makes me know how much I love you..."

She Could Be (one of his nice upbeat pop songs)

"She could be all I'm ever gonna need...She's like a beauty queen in just her t-shirt and her jeans..She could be that one in a hundred million...a secret the world has been keeping...the music that keeps on repeating inside your mind...like an angel on your shoulder that makes your colors bolder than you dare..."

Since I Found You (a sweet mellow ballad)

"Since I found you, my life begins anew...You've showed the love I never knew...Your presence has sparked my whole life through...All my dreams came true...since I found you..."

Completely (one of his beautiful love songs in this album)

"For every minute of this life that I am breathing...until there's nothing in this world I can believe in...As long as there's a single part of you that needs me...I know I am gonna love you...completely"

For Everything I am (another personal favorite)

"Won't you look into my eyes and see beyond the things I'm not, there's love inside of me...Just love me for all the things I am, love me...the lighter side, the darkest side...try to love me for everything I am..."

Now That You Are Here (Written by Christian himself. I love the entire lyrics, but I'll just choose some of the best ones to write here. I'm just wondering when could I say those words. hmmm...hehehe...)

"I found you at last...You are worth the wait...Now I know that love is never late...Most times I ask where have you been all this time...I've been waiting so long for you...I thought I'd never find you...But now I'm sure this love will be real"


So there you go...I'm sure this album will become a hit again even in the international market. Completely awesome, Mr. Bautista! =)

If you want to hear some of these songs, I have them HERE. Enjoy! (",)

Singing in your native tongue

I've been listening to this CD which I got from my sis for almost the entire day. Most of the time, my playlist would include foreign Contemporary Christian or Praise & Worship music. It's not everyday that I could hear Filipino music of this theme. I don't know, but it just feels good to listen and sing songs to the Lord in your native language.

The CD is entitled "Harana sa Hari". It is the latest album from "Musikatha" which is inspired by the Filipino tradition of expressing love and adoration, that is through serenades.

Of course I already have my favorites. First in my list is the song "Sa 'Yo". I just love the lyrics and it also sounds so sweet. Second to that would be, "Iibigin Kitang Tunay". Next is, "Tanging Ikaw". As for the upbeat songs I go for, "Higit pa sa Buhay" which was performed by Brennan Espartinez of Pinoy Pop Superstar.

Let me share the lyrics of my favorite song in the album.

"SA’YO"

O Diyos

Sa 'Yong lahat ng pagsamba't luwalhati

Maging ang pinaka-mainam kong awit

Ay aawitin

Sa’Yo

O Diyos

Ang aking isipan ay pagharian Mo

At sa ’king puso ay hindi na maglaho

Tanging pag-ibig

Sa ‘Yo

Ano pa ba ang maihahandog ko

Liban sa buhay kong nanggaling sa 'Yo

Kung ano man sa sandaling ito'y tangan

At mga bagay na tinuring kong yaman

Ito'y hindi pa rin sapat

Sa alay na nararapat

Sa’Yo

If you like to listen to these songs, please feel free to download them HERE. I'm sure God would also love to hear you serenade Him. (",)

Team Bonding Moments

At last, I've finally uploaded some pictures from our Team's Badminton game last January 19 and our Team Lunch at Red Box last January 20.

It feels good to play again after 4 months. A great time playing with my team mates especially the new ones. We missed Ferdie though, because he had to attend to some emergency at home.

kailangan ba naka-smile habang nagse-serve? =D
Me (backview, in white shirt) & Cheli versus Anne & Carrisa
Go partner! =D
Hindi obvious na pagod at pawis. hehehe...

Thanks to Arlene for treating us to lunch at Red Box! It's our first time to go to a videoke bar together. We all loved the food and of course we had so much fun singing and teasing each other. (hehehe...)

In the middle of my lunch they made me sing "Weak". I did, but without singing the high parts hehe...And then they requested for "Reflections". Oh my! I'm beginning to think they all hate me because they're torturing me with these choice of songs. At last, Axel requested for a nicer song this time, MYMP's "Constantly".

It was sooo much fun hearing my team mates sing for the first time. Except for Axel who I know is a true-blooded singer. He gave nice renditions of some love songs. I like his version of "Knocks me off my feet" and "I will be here".

Anne performed some 90's favorites. She sang her favorite "Til they take my heart away". Cheli chose songs of her favorite group, The Corrs. Ritche also serenaded us with some love songs, I just forgot the titles (ooppps..sorry)

Ferdie was with us this time, and was shy to sing at first. But we're able to force him to sing "Can't take my eyes off of you" w/ matching choreography (haha!). Then we found out that he's a fan of Backstreet Boys and so he sang "I want it that way". Again, with matching choreography (hehehe...).

Arlene sang her heart out with "How did you know" and "Again". Carrisa who we thought of as a quiet lady didn't hesitate to sing Edwin McCain's "I'll be". But what really shocked us was when she sang "My Humps". Oh my...We can't believe it's her!

For our finale, they chose to sing "I will survive". Then again, the guys did their funny dance steps while we were passing the mic around. The girls were just laughing the whole time. It was totally hilarious! (",)