Artichoke Adobo
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Have Mat, Will Tap!
 Slapping on a Figure-4 | Sticks and stones won't break my bones but an armlock can dislocate my shoulder. Good thing I didn't get injured this weekend even after slacking off and not training in Mixed Martial Arts for a month or so. I had to semi-force myself to get back on the mat, really, cause it was simply so tempting to just vegetate on the couch and watch DVDs. Still, through John Alindogan's gift of kakulitan, Ramil's ever-readiness to grapple, and Tony Boy's kind heart (for always letting us borrow the wicked mats), we managed to set-up over at my garage on a late Sunday night. |
It was a good opportunity to get some grappling shots too. Only problem was my garage was in it's constant state of disarray and, if you look closely enough, you may find Waldo somewhere hidden between the straw brooms and dustpans (For my "challenged" readers... don't bother looking, that was just me being hyperbolic)
Mike Banayad has given up on me, I think. He doesn't text me anymore to invite me to the special weekend grappling sessions over at the City Gym. I think my status in the AFC (Alliance Fight Club) right now is persona-non-grata and deservedly so, but really it's not about me slacking off on the team, more of it's me finding myself very busy with almost every other part of my life. Work, for one, is eating up a lot of my time. Plus, as those of you who follow my blogging know, I've been sick for quite a while. Hay. I hope I can get back on my training track soon...
Sunday Training
| The Sunday training went on pretty well considering it was raining like crazy. We got in a couple of hours of grappling on good mats. I'm kinda disappointed cause I finished all my matches with armlocks and wasn't able to finish with chokes or leg locks. The failed-arm bar to Omoplata was nice, though, and I managed to lock a good Kimura and an Americana. I went for one Reverse Triangle Choke but I got tired and put John back in my guard. Both Ramil and John are getting better every week, demonstrating their knowledge of bottom sweeps and ground control. Ramil dominated John in terms of positioning, forcing Dogan (John) into turtle positions and bottom north souths. He was quick in getting his opponent's back and transitioning between subs. He even got a Reverse Triangle Choke on. Dogan, on the other hand, wrestled pretty well. So well in fact that I had to stop one of their matches on account of a powerful slam that had Ramil clutching his butt cheek and wincing for a good 10 minutes. Dogan also showed how he could relax in choke holds as he stopped himself from tapping out to all our chokes. |  Ramil with his favorite Guillotine Choke  Starting with a kneel clinch |
I also let them put on grappling gloves and try some NHB (No Holds Barred) with me so that they'd start learning about Ground and Pound. We had a single pair of gloves available and so I let them punch me while I simply defended. Dogan got some good shots in but it was obvious that they have a long way to go in terms of real MMA. Next time I'd probably ask them to bring gloves and let them experience how it is TO BE PUNCHED on the face while on the ground. Hehehe.
|
|
|
|
 TJ entering | URCC VI On a related topic, Dogan and I got to watch URCC VI (Universal Reality Combat Championships) over at Casino Filipino. They didn't let cameras in so I wasn't able to get some shots. All in all it was an enjoyable night but the match results weren't too ideal from my point of view. Some of the fighters I was routing for lost their matches. |
Carlos Tiongson (AFC) lost to Charlie Angel (Way of the Warrior) via a soccer kick to the head while on the ground. While Tiongson is a very good grappler and submissions specialist, Charlie was able to sprawl well and contain his shooting. Charlie then punished him with strong Muay Thai leg and body kicks. There was this one time when Tiongson slapped on a perfect Rear-naked Choke but Charlie wouldn't tap out (I lost my voice shouting "Tap Out na!") and eventually powered out into Tiongson's guard. Oh well, it would have been great to be there and witness an AFC win.
| TJ Tiu (Freestyle Wrestling), whom I've rolled with a couple of times, successfully defended his Heavyweight Championship against Phil "The Beast" Bryner (Tough Republic) via referee stoppage. After a controversial first three minutes where the referee restarted the match while Phil was pounding a headlocked TJ (apparently Phil used an illegal small-joint manipulation move on TJ), the match devolved into a battle of clinches and short punches from the clinch. TJ, though, eventually got Phil on his back and finished with a full-mount ground and pound. |  Monsters duking it out |
 Erwin GnPing from Richard's Guard | Newly minted Machado Blue-belt, Erwin Tagle, leader of Submission Sports, the other half of the Pinoy Top Team (along with AFC), got a draw against the current Flyweight champ, Richard "The Dancing Devil" Lasprilla (DEFTAC Jiu-jitsu). Now this was a very Royce Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba kinda match with Richard finding himself dominated and on his back most of the match due to Erwin's non-conventional but highly effective fighting style. |
High point for me was when Erwin threw a Piston Punch at a downed Lasprilla in the corner. As mentioned, the match ended with no definite winner (URCC rules never goes to judging) and so was declared a draw. Richard retained the title but Erwin Tagle took the fight... and everyone who walked out that arena knew who really won.
Things I'll be doing in the Future
Man, I really got into this article. Watch out for more about Philippine MMA on this spot. I'll post new training pictures and hopefully I can get back to training with AFC again. For now I'll do my best to go back to daily heavy bag training and cardio. Plus I need to lose weight... don't wanna fight heavy weights in competition. I'm at 210 lbs. (actually down from a regular 240) right now... I want to get down to 179 lbs if that is possible. Lastly, I might be posting on the URCC Message Boards soon.
Bakbakan na!
Note: I'm using URCC VI pictures from James Deakin's website. Thanks, James... hope okay lang. If you are a fight fan, you should check out his site.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Growing up Julia
 | Julia's mother sent over pictures of my cute little girl last week (at least I got them last week) which was awfully nice of her (Thanks Ruth... and Thanks Karen for being the messenger.. hehe). Seeing my Juliana after so long, even just in the pictures, was a profound experience. She's starting to grow into a little girl now, no longer the baby she was a couple of months ago. She's nine months now and it looks like she's laughing, crying, and throwing fits just like any other little girl. Of course there is a part of me that is terribly depressed because of the fact that I'm missing out on some of the most wonderful things that my daughter is going through, but overall I'm deeply thankful. She's growing up so fast. I'm gushing... I know I am... I'm being the estranged dad I am. Let me be for now! Let me just bask in the miracle that Julia is. Even from afar. |
This gives me a lot of hope. All this time I've been patiently praying that I'll see her soon. That I'll get to hold her soon. I hope it's this weekend. And I hope she still recognizes me. I hope she finds it in her heart to realize that, no matter what happens, I will continue to love her. I hope she tickles easily. I hope she's still as soft as I remember her. I hope her poop still smells like baby poop. I hope she likes chocolates (can she have chocolates at her age?). I hope I see her soon. I hope I see her soon.
 New Born |  Sun-bath |  Bunny Wabbit |  With Daddy |  Cabbage Patch Kid |
 Dance tayo? |  Ayaw ko na po! |  Gigil |  Julia at 8 mos. |  What a nose |
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Adventures in Digital
I've always loved looking at good photographs. Not the ones that tourists take of themselves with "Welcome to So-and-so" signs right behind them but the ones that professional photographers take of interesting subjects. I especially love Day-in-the-Life photographs, pictures of kids and old people mostly.
My dad recently bought me a Canon A400 (the cheapest Canon digicam in the market today) which "boasts" of 3.2 Mega Pixels, 2.2X Optical Zoom, 7+X Digital Zoom, and ease of use. I spent the first day shooting auto-focus pix and then moved on from there. Now it's all about control for me. Manual or nothing at all... and I've been fooling around with the shutter speed, ISO, macro and limitless modes, flash techniques and everything else. It's so cool taking all the pictures you want with very little in terms of commitment. No perishables to speak of! I love technology.
Things are really pushing me towards this photography shit. A couple of days ago, I watched "Shutter" a Thai Horror flick. It was an okay movie, actually, but more than that I enjoyed the photography aspect of it especially the part where this professor was lecturing about how photography was not about capturing reality but about enhancing it by limiting the view of the lens. He proceeds by showing the students a mundane picture of a bridge and then that same bridge at sunset as photographed by a pro. I wanna learn that.
Karlo recommends that I buy the "Lonely Planet" photography book which goes for a little more than a thousand pesos over at Powerbooks. Im probably should, cause right now my camera education all comes from the Wikipedia guide to digital photography. I'm such a hack.
Anyway, I took a trip to Silang, Calaruega, and Taal last week. The trip gave me an opportunity to take some good pictures. Hay. I really hope I get better at it. And I better get a tripod. That's the only way I can eventually justify getting a DSLR. Enjoy and tell me what you think. 
Partheo-Caysasay
Sky Reach
Exercise in Angle Flash
Dreaming
Ligawin
Longanisa Tree
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Going back to Radio
We've recently gone back to being radio gaga, me and my friend from NY, Rickey. See we used to have an internet radio show circa 1997 called "Live from the Bahamas" broadcasted from inside the UP Campus (that's the State University in the Philippines). Long story short, we're trying to revive that show... to revisit our past... to feel young again, and it has brought out some interesting conversations already.
Hopefully, this grows into something bigger than we expect. Listen in... you might learn something... or not!
We're podcasting from http://www.live.usa.ph
Friday, June 17, 2005
Place Yer Bets!
| Leave it to the Japanese! They seem to keep finding ways to entertain me to no end. I mean just look at the kinds of games that have come up out of Japan these past few years and you’ll know what I’m talking about. I’ve seen Train Engineer video games, Dance video games, Sex video games, Rolling-ball video games… name it and they’ve probably done it already Then there is “BANZAI”. I’m still trying to decide whether this is a comedy show, a game show, or something a lot weirder spawned from the loins of Japanese high-jinx and British dry humor. It’s an EXPERIENCE, definitely.. |  |
The basic premise is you go through a series of mini games and the program pauses for enough time for you and your friends to place your bets. The thing is, you end up betting on ridiculous things such as “How long can Mr. Handshake Man hold his victim’s handshake?” or “Which prostitute will not be chosen by the Minor British Celebrities for their naughty party.” All delivered in a campy Japanese gaming theme.
Place your bets! Which of these studmuffins has the longest tongue?
Click on image to see answer
I’m trying to organize an online or SMS Banzai betting for my choirmates. That is if I can convince enough of them to sit through the 30-minute show.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Of Kidney Stones and Idle Time
For those of you who don’t know and who probably don’t give a rat’s ass anyway, I was in bed for the better part of last week and a few days before that. I thought I was suffering from a killer-flu of “The Stand” proportions. Later on I found out the 40-degree C fever was from a bleeding left kidney. Add to that some other minor ailments in the form of a bleeding itch and diarrhea and you can imagine what sort of party I’ve been having with my germs the entire week.
I’ve come to the conclusion that getting sick for real is simply not fun. While you do get to stay home and away from the office for a little bit, the disadvantages of getting sick in bed simply outweigh the pros. Here are some reasons why:
1. Thinking that you’re probably gonna die alone.
There is nothing better at making you feel that you’re all alone in the world than being sick and home alone. Killer combo if you ask me. I ended up feeling so sorry for myself. You know that there’s something wrong with the world when it’s a struggle to even just get up and fix yourself a glass of juice. I was giving myself a sponge bath most of the time (although Mox was sweet enough to do that for me whenever she was around), almost falling over everytime I had to answer the phone, crawling my way to the bathroom to take a piss.2. Everyone you can hang with is probably in the office.
You know those zombie movies where the hero wakes up and finds that everyone in the world is dead/gone. He starts thinking “Hey this is not such a bad deal, I get to go into any store I want and take whatever I want. The world is gonna be my playground.”. That, of course, lasts for like 5 minutes and then the hero desperately runs through the streets looking for even just one survivor. Staying home on a weekday feels like that. I mean there are just so many “Friends” re-runs that you can watch before you start craving for human contact. Sad thing is, everyone is at work and you end up picking up the phone and not knowing who to dial.
Mr. Lonely found out it's not much fun looking at Playboys when all the models are dead.
3. There’s very little you can do when you’re burning up
Neither porn nor cartoons held any interest for me. I couldn’t even prop myself up to read through a chapter of “A Storm of Swords”. So what good is staying home if you can’t even entertain yourself?
4. Eat cardboard! Drink water!
Everything starts to taste like cardboard and water especially after you’ve been on medication for a good period of time. I lost about 8 pounds in the week that I was sick mostly due to the fact that I had very little in the way of appetite the entire time. This probably helped in the healing process. I virtually had to avoid all the types of food I love (beef, shellfish, tuna, legumes, soya, etc.).
5. Your office finds a way to make you work anyway
At this day and age, staying home simply means you get to work from your house. My boss expected me to hook my notebook up and constantly check my email. He could even monitor wherever I was due to the damn cell phone. I spent most of my waking hours either working or worrying about work anyway-- ven had a teleconference with a client while I was on my way to a check-up.
That old Vitamin C commercial had it right. Sa panahon ngayon, bawal magkasakit. Life’s shitty enough when you’re up and about, it’s 10 times shittier when all you can do is scratch your nether regions and mope.
