being anti anti-social
and we interrupt your regular programming for this bit of news:
over the weekend, i decided to be a little less antisocial by joining our office outing. the news that it was going to be at the anilao outrigger resort didn’t really excite me, but i thought it might be a chance for me to meet more of my officemates. my circle is nearly limited to the pretty girls around my work area, the utilities, the guards, and the receptionists. so i cooked up a plan: i brought along the works plus my sigg bottle filled with a liter of absolut vanilia. the moment we arrived in anilao, i heard my officemates gushing “wow, ang ganda.” these guys don’t go out much, i figured. the view was, well, okay, but nothing to make me execute cartwheels and backflips. it certainly wasn’t enough for me to take long moments just staring out into the sea.
i was roomed in with chris and brent. there were two beds and a comforter in our room, and chris and i immediately got the beds. brent was, well, very visibly annoyed that he had to settle for the comforter. i offered him the bed, but he declined. just before lunch, i ran down to the water and sat on one of the kayaks. went several times around the resort’s seafront (no beachfront here), while my officemates watched. i did this without a life vest too! what was i thinking?! there was also a videoke around, so even though it was supposed to be free and open later in the evening, i was able to sneak in a few songs. what’s wrong with me?
after lunch we were scheduled to have the games. RLL appointed me right then and there to be the outing’s official photographer. i didn’t mind, of course, since my nikon D70s can certainly run circles around the digital P&S’s most of the other guys took with them. so off i went taking burst after burst of picture. my officemates are such whores! i participated in at least one game, where you wet your shirt and squeeze its contents into a 1.5 liter bottle of coke. i also played the last game, where i had to sing a folk song, and changed all the vowels to “e”. in between that, i went swimming at the pool, exposing my ears to danger by diving to the bottom, did more kayaking, and snorkeling. at one point, i invited some of my girls to do some kayaking. just as marian (also a UP law grad) was fixing herself onto the boat, a “tsunami” hit us. we were right along the edge of the water, beside the concrete edge of the resort where i had placed my hand to balance the kayak. when the first wave hit, the kayak lifted, and my hand went under it. i didn’t let go just yet. when the second wave came, we capsized. a third and fourth wave arrived, which threw the kayak onto the concrete pavement, while we remained under water, unable to stand. i was laughing my ass off as this happened. i also accidentally caught chris, brent, and jigs as their kayak capsized. it seemed like a funny ordeal, but they were apparently terrorized by it. oh well. things happen.
for the evening, we endured another meal. the food in the resort is pretty bland. you can imagine a picture with really dull colors. which was good, i suppose, since i felt i didn’t eat too much. come dinner time, i was first to croon and belt songs on the videoke. who else? i started with “sumayaw, sumunod” on the pretext that a fast song would get things started. but these other guys are often really shy without the help of alcohol. but once the beer kicked in, i was having a hard time getting the mic from most of them! these videoke whores start out as hypocrites, really. then, it was time to bring out the big guns. i introduced the people there to my stash of absolut vanilia. since it was in an unfamiliar bottle, some guys asked if i had mixed it myself. it’s really good vodka, and i paired it with slices of lemon dipped in cinnamon. it smells good, like cake, and i’m pretty sure it was loved. the DSC girls liked it, and all but one or two guys turned it down. i felt like a candidate offering shots to strangers and introducing myself, although i don’t think i’d remember 3/4 of their names. whore!
as the evening unfolded, more songs were sung, and i was able to sample the other drinks available. damn that el hombre tequila and emperador brandy. loved arctic vodka though. more singing, magic card tricks, tong-its, pusoy dos, and whatever else we could think of. one of the DSC girls, mistaking my sigg bottle for a cheap sports bottle you get from SM, actually asked if she could "arbor it." i don't know how i turned her request down, but i hope it wasn't in a painful way. by 1.30am, i knew i was very positively drunk, and possibly drugged. so i retired... my camera. and i returned for more. i must’ve taken another shot of emperador, because in no time at all did i decide it was time for me to pass out. of course i didn’t remember this part. i just woke up, very suddenly, as if hearing someone saying “attorney, attorney”, on my hammock, just as the sun was shining. the first thing i thought was, what am i doing here? next, where’s my camera? i passed by the toilet, relieved myself, and dragged my feet to my room. chris was sleeping peacefully there. brent was nowhere. my camera was safely stowed inside my lowepro. yes, it’s safe. and i plopped down to catch more z’s.
i woke up a bit later for breakfast. turns out that people surmised i was locked out of my room, that’s why i decided to sleep out. they have no idea about my tolerance for alcohol, which is pretty high, actually, but my resolve to refuse when i’ve reached my threshold, is low. so i passed out on my hammock. big deal. at first, i thought, well, that goes to show how deep the friendships i’ve made in the office: no one bothered to bring me to my room, or even to cover me up with a blanket. although, as i learned, the DSC guys did try to wake me up, but i wouldn’t budge. and so they just thought i couldn’t enter my room. so the story is still circulating in the office. i wonder if i should write an email to send to all just to clear the rumor. hmmm... and i wonder if anyone in the office knows about this blog. i'd like to make comments about people... but then again i'm not really mean. most of the time. and i've never really cared about what people might say. so to continue.
for that morning, while half of us went off to sombrero island, i decided to stay behind and sleep. they were egging me to go, and when they’d returned, again, they gushed about it being a really “beautiful” place. i will not argue against that. sombrero island is nice, but not nearly as nice as where i’ve been to. and when you’ve had generous helpings of lindt and godiva, you’d think twice about going back down to goya. so since my hangover was making the world around me swirl, i decided to stay put and wait for lunch.
after lunch, we had to return to our buses, perched high above. the resort is at the bottom of a steep ravine. so the steps back up the highway was a chore, at least for my officemates. i had to hold back laughing, looking at all of them dragging their feet up to where the buses were parked. i do this for fun! and so that was my office outing. the guys at the 12th floor are asking who the hell i am. posted some pictures onto a shared folder, and they’re very well-liked. funny when you get comments like “ang linaw”. when you have cameras that don’t focus well, you tend to think blurry images are normal. well, they’re not.
so i skipped a climb for this. not bad. at least i still got my fix.
over the weekend, i decided to be a little less antisocial by joining our office outing. the news that it was going to be at the anilao outrigger resort didn’t really excite me, but i thought it might be a chance for me to meet more of my officemates. my circle is nearly limited to the pretty girls around my work area, the utilities, the guards, and the receptionists. so i cooked up a plan: i brought along the works plus my sigg bottle filled with a liter of absolut vanilia. the moment we arrived in anilao, i heard my officemates gushing “wow, ang ganda.” these guys don’t go out much, i figured. the view was, well, okay, but nothing to make me execute cartwheels and backflips. it certainly wasn’t enough for me to take long moments just staring out into the sea.
i was roomed in with chris and brent. there were two beds and a comforter in our room, and chris and i immediately got the beds. brent was, well, very visibly annoyed that he had to settle for the comforter. i offered him the bed, but he declined. just before lunch, i ran down to the water and sat on one of the kayaks. went several times around the resort’s seafront (no beachfront here), while my officemates watched. i did this without a life vest too! what was i thinking?! there was also a videoke around, so even though it was supposed to be free and open later in the evening, i was able to sneak in a few songs. what’s wrong with me?
after lunch we were scheduled to have the games. RLL appointed me right then and there to be the outing’s official photographer. i didn’t mind, of course, since my nikon D70s can certainly run circles around the digital P&S’s most of the other guys took with them. so off i went taking burst after burst of picture. my officemates are such whores! i participated in at least one game, where you wet your shirt and squeeze its contents into a 1.5 liter bottle of coke. i also played the last game, where i had to sing a folk song, and changed all the vowels to “e”. in between that, i went swimming at the pool, exposing my ears to danger by diving to the bottom, did more kayaking, and snorkeling. at one point, i invited some of my girls to do some kayaking. just as marian (also a UP law grad) was fixing herself onto the boat, a “tsunami” hit us. we were right along the edge of the water, beside the concrete edge of the resort where i had placed my hand to balance the kayak. when the first wave hit, the kayak lifted, and my hand went under it. i didn’t let go just yet. when the second wave came, we capsized. a third and fourth wave arrived, which threw the kayak onto the concrete pavement, while we remained under water, unable to stand. i was laughing my ass off as this happened. i also accidentally caught chris, brent, and jigs as their kayak capsized. it seemed like a funny ordeal, but they were apparently terrorized by it. oh well. things happen.
for the evening, we endured another meal. the food in the resort is pretty bland. you can imagine a picture with really dull colors. which was good, i suppose, since i felt i didn’t eat too much. come dinner time, i was first to croon and belt songs on the videoke. who else? i started with “sumayaw, sumunod” on the pretext that a fast song would get things started. but these other guys are often really shy without the help of alcohol. but once the beer kicked in, i was having a hard time getting the mic from most of them! these videoke whores start out as hypocrites, really. then, it was time to bring out the big guns. i introduced the people there to my stash of absolut vanilia. since it was in an unfamiliar bottle, some guys asked if i had mixed it myself. it’s really good vodka, and i paired it with slices of lemon dipped in cinnamon. it smells good, like cake, and i’m pretty sure it was loved. the DSC girls liked it, and all but one or two guys turned it down. i felt like a candidate offering shots to strangers and introducing myself, although i don’t think i’d remember 3/4 of their names. whore!
as the evening unfolded, more songs were sung, and i was able to sample the other drinks available. damn that el hombre tequila and emperador brandy. loved arctic vodka though. more singing, magic card tricks, tong-its, pusoy dos, and whatever else we could think of. one of the DSC girls, mistaking my sigg bottle for a cheap sports bottle you get from SM, actually asked if she could "arbor it." i don't know how i turned her request down, but i hope it wasn't in a painful way. by 1.30am, i knew i was very positively drunk, and possibly drugged. so i retired... my camera. and i returned for more. i must’ve taken another shot of emperador, because in no time at all did i decide it was time for me to pass out. of course i didn’t remember this part. i just woke up, very suddenly, as if hearing someone saying “attorney, attorney”, on my hammock, just as the sun was shining. the first thing i thought was, what am i doing here? next, where’s my camera? i passed by the toilet, relieved myself, and dragged my feet to my room. chris was sleeping peacefully there. brent was nowhere. my camera was safely stowed inside my lowepro. yes, it’s safe. and i plopped down to catch more z’s.
i woke up a bit later for breakfast. turns out that people surmised i was locked out of my room, that’s why i decided to sleep out. they have no idea about my tolerance for alcohol, which is pretty high, actually, but my resolve to refuse when i’ve reached my threshold, is low. so i passed out on my hammock. big deal. at first, i thought, well, that goes to show how deep the friendships i’ve made in the office: no one bothered to bring me to my room, or even to cover me up with a blanket. although, as i learned, the DSC guys did try to wake me up, but i wouldn’t budge. and so they just thought i couldn’t enter my room. so the story is still circulating in the office. i wonder if i should write an email to send to all just to clear the rumor. hmmm... and i wonder if anyone in the office knows about this blog. i'd like to make comments about people... but then again i'm not really mean. most of the time. and i've never really cared about what people might say. so to continue.
for that morning, while half of us went off to sombrero island, i decided to stay behind and sleep. they were egging me to go, and when they’d returned, again, they gushed about it being a really “beautiful” place. i will not argue against that. sombrero island is nice, but not nearly as nice as where i’ve been to. and when you’ve had generous helpings of lindt and godiva, you’d think twice about going back down to goya. so since my hangover was making the world around me swirl, i decided to stay put and wait for lunch.
after lunch, we had to return to our buses, perched high above. the resort is at the bottom of a steep ravine. so the steps back up the highway was a chore, at least for my officemates. i had to hold back laughing, looking at all of them dragging their feet up to where the buses were parked. i do this for fun! and so that was my office outing. the guys at the 12th floor are asking who the hell i am. posted some pictures onto a shared folder, and they’re very well-liked. funny when you get comments like “ang linaw”. when you have cameras that don’t focus well, you tend to think blurry images are normal. well, they’re not.
so i skipped a climb for this. not bad. at least i still got my fix.