I'm Flying!

Yes, I am flying - well, sort of.


I have recently been introduced to the wonders of Second Life, a 3D world where you can - well, have a second life. My character name is Azeroth Aichi, and I have normally been spotted flying around in this new world. It is interesting how our school is using Second Life to reach out to other cultures.


In this new world, you can fly even without wings - but I thought that didn't quite make sense, so I got myself new wings. :) I have lost all my hair in this world - basically because I couldn't figure out how to make a shaved head instead of a bald one. :)


I will be trying to link up with some of my contacts in Korea to setup more virtual exchanges between our students and Korean students.


This is truly an idea that soars! :)

It's About Motivation!

I walk about an hour each day, and trying to improve my general fitness level. I would want to return to the Philippines for my vacation - a new man - a lesser man. Well, hopefully less by about 10-20 more pounds. I am about 160 lbs now, but if I could get to about 140 - 150 lbs, this would be great.


So here I was, trying to get into better shape, when I had a monster craving for TOCINO. Right now, this dish is almost virtually impossible to find here, but I had been told that there were Filipino stores that carried most Filipino foods.


And so, I put on my rubber shoes, my watch, and my jacket and left my apartment at about 7:45 PM. I found a hospital, the Department of Labor, and lots of car shops, but no TOCINO. I had gone to and fro that main road about two times, and my feet were getting tired. Time check 9:00 PM.


I decided to try another street and followed the road from the hospital. I reached a roundabout and proceeded from there. I reached a dead end. I went back to the roundabout and went down another street. I found a couple of grocery stores, but no TOCINO. I found a couple of fellow Filipinos and they advised me that there was a Filipino store at the end of the road. My heart raced - I had hit the mother lode!


I didn't even care how much the TOCINO was. I grabbed several bags of original tocino, fatless tocino, and four cans of luncheon meat. I was ecstatic - breakfast would be great! Time check 9:30 PM.


I went back home - exhausted but in high spirits. I arrived at my apartment about 10:00 PM. I realized I had been walking around the city for around two hours - longer than my daily one hour walk workout. But I would just not take NO at that point, and I realized that I could achieve almost anything when I focus and put my mind into it. Just look at how happy I am here! :)

Finding My Place Under the Sun

It has been about three weeks since my arrival and I feel I am slowly getting into the groove of things. The school campus is just beautiful. Take a look at some of the school facilities.


















Fountain at the center of the school



















Library


















My Desk


The school has provided me with a spacious apartment, and a laptop. I have supportive officemates and a "go get them" software budget. Life is sweet here, and I am very grateful for all I have received.

What I do miss though are my weekend trips with my family and merienda time with good friends from CLCIR. I have talked with some of the other Filipinos who also work here, and they confirm that being homesick is one of the more difficult challenges to overcome in the first few months. Well, kailangan talaga ng konting tiis for the meantime.

When Dreams Take Shape

My newest investment is in Fountain Breeze, a medium rise condominium project in Sucat, Paranaque.

My brothers and I revisited the model unit at the site. The model unit always leaves me with happy feelings.



Fountain Breeze Model Unit: Pretty as Can Be

We then inspected the site to view their progress since our last visit. I was excited to see that the buildings were being painted and balconies had started to appear. As I anticipate some travel early next year, I am just hoping that the units can be turned over before my trip.




Fountain Breeze Construction: My Dreams in the Making


My investments in Fountain Breeze should bring my passive income to about 60% of my salary. I need to prudently manage my cash flow in the next few months to be able to keep up with my monthly amortizations, but I feel very happy - my financial goals are slowly taking shape! :)

A Classmate and Cashflow

I had not seen Chyd for ages (a good 10 years or so). She was my Business Management blockmate and was also a scholar at the University. So when one of my officemates informed me that she was in town, I could not let the opportunity pass.

She still looked as I remember her - beautiful in her own simply stunning way (although she says she had put on some weight). She was grappling with some business concepts, so I shared some of the things I had been doing with real estate investing and business consulting.

We played Cashflow 101 at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and then a Robert Kiyosaki video kept her company for about 30 minutes. While her more immediate concern is to setup her business system, I could not help but pray for her to discover real wealth - the happiness that comes with meaningful relationships and a life well lived.

Carry mo yan! :)

P.S. I hope the man with the plan is not a Shitzu that looks like a Chihuahua. Joke!

DAKU, TAAS, GAHI !!!

Many things are sweeter the second time around. Perhaps I felt more comfortable on this return trip to Mindanao as I had three other companions. Perhaps I felt more secure knowing some of the people there. Perhaps I had resigned myself to thinking that this was God's mission for me. Then again, perhaps I had just grown to love this second home.

The people here were as generous as ever. Our training team had dinner with Ms. Loi at Bigby's Cafe. Nice cozy place, with an interesting menu. Ostrich steak at Top of the Citi had left a good impression on me so I decided to take OSTRICH SKEWERS.

















OSTRICH SKEWERS. Yum yum!

WORKSHOP - DAY 1 (Thursday)
The first workshop discussed learning objectives. Mr. Valentin Berdera, our current Faculty Association President, facilitated the workshop. Val's connection with the audience was deep: he attended school in Mindanao several decades back. His use of the local dialect had a positive effect on the teachers: they remained in good spirits despite the rigor of the workshop.

DINNER - DAY 1 (Thursday)
We had dinner at Tita Fannies. We got really addicted to the special chicken there. Wala na lang bilangan ng kanin. Hahaha...

WORKSHOP - DAY 2 (Friday)
The second workship discussed backward design and rubrics. Angelo Anthony Agujo (that's me!) facilitated the workshop. Creating rubrics involves defining criteria and performance levels. To make the topic a bit more interesting, I gave the teachers instructions to define their criteria in looking for their life partner. These were the top answers by number of responses:

God-Fearing 7
Good Provider 7
Responsible 6
Family-Oriented 6

The teachers dedicated themselves to this task with much enthusiasm. One group stated that their criteria for finding their life partner were: DAKU, TAAS, GAHI. Daku means large, Taas means long, Gahi means hard. I almost passed out from laughing.

They would therefore look for someone who was DAKU - someone with a large heart; someone who was TAAS - someone with long patience; and someone who was GAHI - someone with firm resolve.

I then discussed about two types of rubrics: holistic and analytic. We made these two types of rubrics together, before I gave instructions that each of the seven subject areas would present.

We encountered some difficulty with the outputs by some of the groups, but succeeded in giving all of these groups feedback regarding their work.

DINNER - DAY 2 (Friday)
We had dinner at Timuga. As usual, we tended to forget our diets. We feasted on lechon, chicken, squid, and panga. Marissa, Val, and Dary had durian for dessert. I was completely LAMI (full/busog).

TOUR - DAY 3 (Saturday)
This was a very exciting day as we visited the Agus Powerplant, an underground tunnel, and Tinago Falls. We had lunch in Timuga again. This time we had lechon, papaitan, and kilawin. Tsk Tsk... Bye bye diet!

































JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH: In an Underground Tunnel of Agus Powerplant
















WORTH THE WAIT AND WALK: Beautiful Tinago Falls Takes Your Breath Away (In more ways than one!)

After lunch, we were brought to Cheddings and Jolo to buy our pasalubong. We bought about a ton of the famous Cheddings peanuts, Pastel, cashew nuts, candies, malongs, and ethnic bags. :) We had a special dinner made by Sir Bert, a SHRIM trained cook. Grabe talaga, these people know how to make you feel VERY SPECIAL.

RETURN TO MANILA (Sunday)
P.S. My colleagues had to send back their Pinakurat Vinegar. Note to self: Make sure to have styro packaging for this stuff. :)

P.P.S. They were recruiting one of our team members to become a Lasalle Brother. Hindi po ako yun. :)

My Second Condo

This is as close to Kiyosaki's "GREAT DEAL" as you will ever get. At less than PhP800,000 for a 30 sqm condo within the city, this is already a STEAL, BUT couple that with PAG-IBIG's 7% home loans, I have my amortizations down to about PhP5,000 a month!

My first condo I bought as an investment. This one is good enough to call home.