missions accomplished, sort of

5-boro bike tour, over verrazano

it has been a rather productive past days. finished a bike tour. discovered a new hobby. widened the network and sphere of influence. and made my contribution to world peace. well, sort of.

bike tour
it was a great bike tour last sunday. 30,000 cyclists of all colors, shapes, sizes, and ages participated. it covered 42 miles (60+ km) of new york. went through manhattan, bronx, queens, brooklyn and staten island. with all the traffic, pee breaks, and rest stops included, i finished the whole ride in 4.5 hours. i dont think ive ever done anything as tiring but exhilirating as that tour (well except maybe sitting through the edgar ulmer docu which i saw in the tribeca filmfest. and that's minus the exhilirating part.) i felt pretty good about my time actually. the tiredness kicked in only around maybe the last half hour. much later than i had expected. it was a bit brutal though coz the last leg was over the verrazano bridge which was rather steep and long. but it was pretty good nonetheless coz the views of the city were great from there. AND i was able to overcome the urge of walking the bike like a bunch of those losers (but boy was the burn terrible). it felt great crossing the finish line. in my head, the crowds were cheering and i was right smack middle of an impossible is nothing adidas poster.. after the ride, waiting in line for the ferry to ship us all back to manhattan took almost as long as the bike tour though. but overall, it was a great decision to join. another one off my lifetime-to-do-list. looking forward to joining again next year (and also participating in this upcoming marathon in central park in june, if my running legs would let me, that is).

joining the bike tour was just half of the mission though. the other and more important half is raising funds for this foundation which helps public high school students back home in manila. so far so good. night before the marathon, some 5 of us met up over nice tapas and snacks and kicked off the fundraising. pretty decent amount raised so far and the amount is climbing. slowly but surely that is.

new hobby
my new guitar was finally delivered on monday. a martin dx1. the make and sound is really great. managed to get some free lessons from old roommate nik. and im now strumming (or is that struggling) my way through john mayer's "love song for no one". might take a while before i give justice to a nice piece of instrument though. but we'll get there. hopefully soon enough, before the urge to create my own music fades. i do hope however that the digital slr camera doesnt end up feeling neglected now that the new toy has arrived.

the network
attended a talk given by fr nebres on monday at the philippine consulate here in new york. he spoke of gawad kalinga, this worthwhile organization that (in very general terms) hopes to lift the philippines from poverty. it was an inspiring presentation about the poverty situation in the philippines and the efforts of the foundation.

it felt really awkward and embarrassing though towards the end when he showed this slide which proudly showcased all the recent developments in the university (what the f*, first you get me all motivated as you tell me that this whole town in gabaldon got terribly flooded in one of the typhoons, then, you show me these new modern university buildings and this new university japanese garden that only gets a little muddy in the rain?! what the!? talk about a negative experience of contrast.)

but anyway, totally not the point. was good to meet the people there. it was good to see what the older filipinos in the area are up to. too bad i was only one of the few "younger" ones who were there. but i'd managed to get myself involved in a few other organizations. which is always good coz i realize that things get done easier when things are organized (not that the apartment and my desk here in the office are). hopefully, with the new business cards and acquaintances, i get my hands dirty with other worthwhile projects soon. oh, and i did attend that art director's club function too which could also make my hands even dirtier.

peace one day
the project of getting the philippines further involved with the september 21st celebration of global day of peace and ceasefire is progressing. managed to give fr nebres a copy of the film i saw which sparked this whole movement and encouraged him to share it with the university and maybe even the jesuits back home (got the copy of his presentation about GK too so that's good). managed to contact a few people in the film industry for a possible film festival screening of the documentary. few friends have also contacted other organizations about it too. still need to get a copy to the presidential adviser on peace process though (which i really should arrange for soon). things are moving. some day soon, peace one day, the film and the reality is coming to a corner of the world near your. that's the plan, at least.

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overall, things are moving pretty well this side of the world. biggest upcoming mission though is cleaning up the mess that is my apartment. sister from manila coming next week and i dont even have a floor to show. uhoh.