2011 = WIN

It's already 2012 - probably the most anticipated year in recent memory. It's the year we party like it's the end of the world. It's the year of the dragon!!! I'm really excited for what 2012 has in-store for me. I just can't wait!

I remember blogging last year that 2010 was just the beginning and that 2011 will be epic. And boy did the past year exceed all my expectations. The past year has been a BIG WIN.

2011 now sits atop my list and if the trend continues, 2012 will be way better!

So for this year, I'd like to call this year's list as victories because 2011 made me feel so blessed that it felt like winning a major pitch, hitting a buzzer beater, or even winning the lottery.

Ladies and Gentlemen, my personal list of "WINS" for year 2011.

Adidas King of the Road 2011

waiting for gun start

I've always been into sports but I honestly do not have an active lifestyle. Only recently did I start playing basketball more often because I'm part of the company's basketball team. 3-4 times a month of ball and that's it.

When I got the chance to register for this Adidas event, I was kind of hesitant. I never was a runner. I had asthma. My friend Han and I even went "training" 2 weeks before but ended up walking instead of running around the UP oval. Plus, it was my first time to actually participate in a running marathon.

Well, it wasn't that bad at all. I didn't stop running until the 2km mark. I just continued on my own pace right after. Finished right at the 45 minute mark.Yeah, 5k isn't really that long but hey, I felt great after the run! :)

yes, we had to use the timer haha

Awesome sunday morning! :)

it's been a while..

i would like to apologize to my dear readers for not blogging for the past 10-12 days. hehe. as if i have a lot of readers.

if you know me well, the past week has been a heck of a ride.

it was a very successful 55th Anniversary week for the UP School of Statistics.

the UP School of Statistics Student Council, which i am part of, hosted a bunch of worthwhile activities to commemorate the school's 55th year. just to keep you updated with what i have been doing, i'll tell you what has been keeping me off my blog.

September 15 - SPSS Seminar / Hardcore Prodwork

Started the day going to school at 8am wearing polo with long sleeves and ended the day wearing a not-so-tidy shirt and shorts, going home at 10pm.

The SPSS Seminar was a success! it was jampacked with many students from other colleges. usually, it was for incentives in Stat 101 classes but some were there so that they could learn more about SPSS and maybe even use the program for their theses. some even tried to talk us out into letting them in but the computers were just limited. sorry guys, maybe next time. thank you to SPSS Philippines, especially to Mr. Ryan Aga, a UPStat and Statsoc Alumnus, for handling the 2-session seminar.

Right after the seminar, we were off to finishing our exhibit! the exhibit really turned out well, wowing many of the stat majors the next day. :) and you know what's nice about it? the council only spent minimal cash for that because almost all of the materials were recycled. kudos to Aby Leceta, our Councilor for Publicity, for having such idea and vision.

September 16 - Exhibit Opening / Thanksgiving Mass

the exhibit was only completed moments before the opening at 11:30am. felt bad i couldn't help out because i had class from 7am to 1130am. nevertheless, not only did the exhibit wowed the stat majors, but also the food! Favorito's, Ajisakki, Nadasha and Babba Shawarma were all in the house!!! yeah. haha.

although only four council members were available for the mass, we gave thanks to the Lord by offering gifts during the mass. my friends were there :) i felt bad though that only a few members of the council got to attend it.

Time in: 7am
Time out: 8pm

September 17 - the GRANDEST PAKAIN

was a bit frustrated because of the delay. went to school really early so i could help out in the preparations before i left for my stat 131 class at 1030am. but by 1030am, the only things that were ready were the chocolate fountain, armchairs and the sponsors' tarps. went to my 131 class really anxious about the pakain that was going to start in a few minutes then. good thing was we were dismissed earlier than usual. class ended at 1140am. right when someone texted me that everything we needed for the pakain was already there. when we got back by 1145am, i was just in time for the start of the pakain!!!

may i just say that our pakain was more than the usual. we had different types of pastas, 3-home cooked main courses (c/o donna!!), other "bought" main courses, a 22-kilo lechon and a chocolate fountain! the line was never-ending! and a PLUS: free fruit shakes for the faculty and the council! yeah! need i say more? "saan ka pa?"

Time in: 7am
Time out: 830pm

September 18 - the Annual Skewed Pair

yeah, i may be a bit homophobic but our council hosted a traditional cross-dressing pageant last Thursday night. it was held at the Balay Kalinaw. i would just like to say thanks to the contestants for being such good sports. i know you guys sacrificed a lot of time and pride for such contest. to the winners, the seniors, kudos to you guys! super galing. internalized talaga ang character!

Time in: 7am
Time out: 930pm

September 19 - Tribute

before i went to school, i went to makati with my dad to claim the Pocari Sweat products. whew. rode Forch going there and my dad brought me to the MRT station right after. thanks dad! although i was super late for my Stat 131 class, thank you pa rin!

tribute was simple. the cards were not yet accomplished so the council gave away brownies na lang instead. lester and i knocked on each of the profs' doors and offered yummy treats care of Puffs and Stuffs :) the profs really appreciated the gesture. at nag-inggitan pa yung iba. the only sad thing was not everyone got one because some profs were already out.

i stoodby at stat from around 3pm until 8pm. waited for some shirts, gave away brownies and just simply went around stat thinking if things for the next day were all ready.

Time in: 7am
Time out: 9pm

September 20 - the Sportsfest

woke up reaaallly early for this one. left home around 30 minutes before call time and made it to Diliman Prep just in time for venue set-up.

really long long day. some highlights: reg and donna (both who lived right across commonwealth), were both late! , program started an hour late, juniors win against the GFSA basketball team, cheerleading competition (go juniors!), men's basketball finals against the sophomores and the awarding ceremonies that started quite late.

what a way to end a fully-loaded week! thanks to everyone who came there! to the profs who gave away incentives and to the alumni who came over and spent time with the undergrads. (special thanks to sir jeff, sir wendz, sir ed, ma'am ohly and ma'am cherry). wuhoO! stat majors rule!!!

Time in: 6:58am
Time out: 9:05pm

went home and took some well deserved rest. congrats to us council. we did great.

after one whole week of chaos, i realized/thought of so many things:

-that the alumni is always a big and important part of the School of Statistics
-that stat profs are more than your usual profs
-that i've never been absent for class in college (except for two instances: UAAP 2006 Finals and the day i had my license renewed), but i've always been late.
-that i've been sleeping in all of my classes for that past 2 weeks
-that trying to study for stat 135 while watching the UAAP finals on tv wasn't really a good idea. although my team won :)
-that more sponsors doesn't necessarily mean more cash
-that i love my council so much.
-that i love my batchmates too. so proud of them.

***

wahoo. there you go. my anniv week entry.

alternative

well i should be in tagaytay right now with my college barkada.

but guess what? it didn't push through due to a lot of reasons. and as it turned out, it was "meant to be" with things popping out in everyone's schedules, though it all started with me. haha.

anyhow, last friday, my friends and i went JOGGING around the UP Academic Oval. wow. not your ordinary gimmick. haha. ika nga nila, it was "good wholesome fun".




i have really been wanting to join mic and han in one of their jogging sessions, but i never really had the time.

last friday, i was thinking twice if i was to run. i wasn't really in the mood to run but when i knew that everyone was running, i counted myself in. :)

and hey, for good wholesome fun, and a little bit of exercise why not nga naman.

3 times we went around the academic oval. whew. well, as a person with weak lungs and without regular exercise, i didn't get to jog all the way. most of the time i walked. but still, 6.6 kilometers of walk/jog. achievement! hahaha. a bit pathetic though.



there were times when we just walked in one file. haha. parang rally. hehe. talk talk. run run. walk walk. play play. hahahaha. just really good clean fun. :) this became our alternative to tagaytay. wow. hehe. :)

i'm so thankful to have great college friends. you guys are a bunch of weirdos. hahaha. i'll be looking forward for more jogging fridays.

congratulations, you are the nth team to arrive

the FIRST ever Stat Amazing Race has just been concluded a few hours ago. even though i wasn't one of those running around the different places around UP, i definitely enjoyed being one of the organizers and spectators. also, i always dreamed of saying the famed line "you are the nth team to arrive" gano'n pala yun. hehehe.

i really loved the fact that 11 teams joined! all of those teams composed of stat majors of different batches! whew. 11 teams... that meant 44 stat majors running around UP.

all of the teams were reaaaally competitive. one of the teams were even named 100% competitive! with their own uniforms too!

mic, gee, canter and nino
(Team 100% competitive - 3rd place)

migs, casey, earvin and bert
(Team Mai-TEAM - 2nd place)

maybe it was because of the Havaianas slippers to be given away to the champions. hehe. but this race wasn't all about physicality and wit. it was also about luck, timing, will, and making the right decisions. perhaps that's why the underdogs won the race.

congratulations to team SUPERS for winning the stat amazing race :)

kee, lea, kier and john
(Team Supers - Stat Amazing Race Champions)

in behalf of the UPSSSC, we would like to thank all 11 teams that joined the race! we hope to see you all in the next stat amazing race! and hopefully, we could join the race too! haha. next year, next year! hahaha.

STAT AMAZING RACE 2008 participants

to my friends who joined the race, thank you for all the support for council activities and the competitiveness that somehow helped the success of this event!

to the freshies, ang babangis ninyo! all 11 of you! hehe. salamat at ang aaktibo ninyong lahat!

to the upper class people, sana na-test ng race na ito hindi lang ang competitiveness ninyo, kundi pati na rin ang pagiging UP student! (sings, UP naming mahal!) hahaha.

to Carlo and the SAC correlate, excellent work! great concept and daming volunteers! smooth yung flow ng race. galing galing. :) next up, sportsfest :)

to the UPSSSC 0809, great job! may the success of this event inspire us in doing more for the STAT community!

STAT AMAZING RACE 2008

How to join:

1. Make a team of four Stat Majors composed of 1 freshman, 1 sophomore, 1 junior and 1 senior.

2. Register your team of four (4) within August 5 to 8, 2008 at the School of Statistics Lobby. A fee of P20.00 per team shall be collected.

3. Each team shall be required to have one (1) camera phone for the race. If your team will not be able to bring one, please inform the UPSSSC on or before August 8. The UPSSSC shall provide you with one.

4. UPSSSC members and SAC Amazing Race Committee members are not allowed to join the race.

5. If a registered team wants to replace a team member, they shall inform the UPSSSC immediately.

6. In case a team is not complete on the day of the event, teams may pull-out of the race with all their money back, or fill in empty spot(s) in their team (provided that their team shall still be composed of four members of different batches) BEFORE the start of the race, and with the consent of the UPSSSC.

Rules:

1. All teams shall be given clues/information regarding their next destinations. Different tasks will be given for every station. It shall be each team’s strategy in finding their way to every station.

2. Team members should be together at all times, unless they are asked otherwise.

3. Members of each team shall wear shirts of the same color.

4. Teams shall bring the items asked, allowed or provided by the UPSSSC. All other items should be handed to the UPSSSC for safekeeping.

5. Participants may not bring their money. The UPSSSC will be providing the amount of money each team may use in the course of the race. Should it be not enough, teams shall use their resourcefulness in generating money, provided that they do not use the name of the school or the UPSSSC.

6. No other cellphones, except for one (1) camera phone, may be brought during the race.

7. Cheating or violation of any of the rules will merit a disqualification.

8. The UPSSSC reserves the right to disqualify any team under special conditions.

After going through all the stations, the team that arrives first at the finish line shall be proclaimed the STAT AMAZING RACE CHAMPION. Each member of the winning team will receive a gift certificate from HAVAIANAS.