Just Wondered.

I just came back from a two-day-long road trip to search for the best retreat destination. We scourged the entire Tagaytay area to look for suitable retreat venues. We were looking for venues that could accommodate 60 people for two nights and two days with food. Part of our criteria is that the venue should allow team building activities (noise + large space), and a suitable conference hall wherein we could conduct our sessions.

Someone once commented why not make our retreat a camping style retreat with tents and the great outdoors as a venue. I have no problems about that, although some of my fellow youth may not agree. Some are not so comfortable with the lack of a suitable comfort room or the idea of sleeping under a tent with unfavorable weather conditions (you can't predict the rain!). It is also unfair for the facilitators if they would have to worry about cooking and food preparations. So to accommodate everyone, we had to find a good venue already with dormitory beds, enough comfort rooms to last several lifetimes and a food package that would cover all the meals during the stay. I had other personal criteria aside from those mentioned.

Hence we had to search for a venue. We made a quick (which is an overstatement) of our previous venue: Caleruega. Two years ago, we went there and had the best retreat so far. It became the benchmark (whatever that means) of any future retreat. Everyone was so hyped it, all facebook videos of the event became viral throughout the youth of our church. However, when we checked out the place, the venue has already been booked by a different organization. We were supposed to scout the surrounding venues but due to the heavy traffic that sunday (part of the four day long weekend) we had no choice but to take the fastest route home. Some of us had work early the next day  (no holiday=me) and some of us had a flight to catch.

Due to the dire circumstance of not having a venue for the retreat a month before the supposed date, we had to reschedule another day for occular inspection. I had to sacrifice one day (no holiday=me) from work to be able to scout for other venues with others who were on holiday hence, available. We were able to scout 6 other venues. It was an amazing road trip. We practically drove around Tagaytay City and stopped at every place that had a "retreat" on its name. We were amazed by the view of some. Others we didn't enjoy so much due to certain reasons.

On our trip, we all noticed one thing in common with all the retreat venues: all were run by priests or nuns of the Catholic Church.

Now, I have nothing against that denomination. Most of my friends are Catholics. I was actually amazed at the number of their retreat centers that really offered a great view or a great ambiance suitable for meditation and prayer. It goes to show that they value constant meditation and communication with God. Some of the venues we checked also had Bibles at each corner or at each sitting area. While resting you could meditate upon God's word. Talk about convenience!

What really bothered me was the fact that we're not the only ones who conduct retreats on a regular basis. I'm talking about other SDA youth ministries from other churches or areas who also annually conduct retreats or hikes or camp meetings in various locations. They may have different program sets or themes, but one thing is certain, SDAs love retreats, hikings, campings and the like. We're people who love the outdoors and nature. 

Because of this, I can't help but wonder how come we never had any SDA owned venue for a retreat? A campsite or a retreat center that would help any youth ministry with their venue problems. It doesn't have to be grand. A wide plot of grassland or forest could be enough. It has to be something that doesn't double as a school, and has the sole purpose of being a venue for retreats. It doesn't even have to be an exclusive venue, if we could accommodate other denominations, it would be better. Aside from being an income generating institution, it would also be another means of reaching out to other denominations so that you won't have to answer "What is an SDA?" every now and then. It could also have a free public access library which could be available to all who would rent as an additional amenity. That way, other denominations would also have access to our books which has the potential of drawing them closer to God. 

If we could only find the idea to invest in a retreat venue on top or at the side of a mountain, we wouldn't have any problems. 

Looking Back

I can't imagine that I've been posting write ups, since 2005. Looking back at where I've started, I can't imagine how I was still able to post on 3 blog sites (actually 4 but the 4th one is hidden) up to this time. I tried to look back at my first (and still somewhat updated) blog, BLOG-TA. I got a lot of laughs looking at the comments on most articles (someone seemed to have the most comment on many articles) However, I still couldn't bring myself back to those perky articles I wrote. Probably one of these days, I could set myself to full writing mood to write those twisted stories mostly about the events of the day. Right now, I've settled on recording each day by making one haiku a day (also inspired by that frequent commenter on my blog) on MMASR and the (almost) weekly inspirational updates. I also post here occasionally mostly to rant about how the day has gone for me.

I hope I could still maintain these blogs until such a time the webmasters decide to close down.

New Addition to the Crew.

Got this just this week... It's got most of the features I wanted the wifi capability, the music, the decent camera, except for being QWERTY, it's fairly decent. The best part of it though is that I got it for free... :))

Waking the Dead

For several nights, I have been sleeping late to download data recovery softwares that would try to recover important data from my external hard disk. I don't know why, but it cannot be detected by my computer, thus I could not retrieve some of my files. I'm a noob so I don't know how to use the software properly.

I never dropped it. Although I cannot really tell because the day before it went dead, I was out of the house and I left it on my bed. I don't know what happened during that time. 

There are processes to retrieve the data, that I know, but it would cost me money and time. Both of which I don't have. I tried several trial programs. I figured if one of these at least was able to detect my drive and assign a drive letter to it, I would at least purchase the program and try to revive my almost dead hdd. 

None seem to work.

What else could I do? 

Not only do I have to retrieve those files, I also need to buy another hdd. 

Oh bother!

Moldy

Every person needs to pause once in a while from all the regular work he or she has been doing. With the week long Halloween break for me, I found it rather depressing.

Every working person would get a hard time cleaning up the house or the room especially if you work 6 days a week and on your days off, you catch up on sleep. That has already been a routine for me. Whatever short one or two hour breaks I get, I spend buffering all the other outside noises to enjoy a little personal space. Thus, you could easily picture out my room, our house to be in complete disarray. (Ok, disarray IS an understatement.) 

So today, a Thursday and the official start of my week-long Halloween break (I did mention week-long right?), I took the task of cleaning up my room (partially cleaning, that is). I have been pushing this task a long time only to regret it later.

Of all parts of the room I was meticulous about, I highly try to keep my books as clean and safe as possible. So, I couldn't forget the horror when I tried to take all the books out of my closet shelf (You couldn't imagine where else I have been putting all my books). Half of the books were wet and moldy. Ants apparently loved the place and the shelf was smelling of fresh mold.

In a sudden rush of mad panic, I immediately took out ALL the books from the shelves and started examining each one. A lot were still soaking wet, several started to have white squishy molds, but over all, the books were still salvageable if I can keep them dry.

That put all the cleaning effort to a halt and the salvaging of books to a start. I began perusing the web for potential book cleaning efforts only to find some really helpful but difficult to do ways to salvage moldy books or paper.

Here are some ways from museum SOS:

1. Find what is causing the mold growth. In my case it's a broken downspout. The water found its way behind my bookshelf. It caused the wood to warp and the books got wet as well
2. Modify the environment so that is no longer conducive to mold growth. The repair of the downspout would have to wait though. In the mean time, I tried keeping the closet open to let the air circulate. I also tried to blast the area with cold air.
3. Implement safety precautions for all the people working on moldy items. The page suggested things that are alien for me. I didn't follow it so I'll suffer the repercussions later. Great job, Worthy!!
4. Isolate the affected items. I immediately separated the bad books from the good ones.
5. Begin to dry the materials. The step suggested putting the books in an airconditioned space. Since I can't go to the nearest convenience store or fast food, to aircondition the books, I placed them outside in the sun where there's enough air circulation. (screw the sun though, it's a cloudy day today). Oh! and the guide also suggested putting the books out of humid places, but this is the Philippines for crying out loud. Humidity is best here.
6. If drying is not possible, freeze them. I had the idea of stuffing all the books inside our refrigerator but I knew someone would kill me when I do that.
7. Clean the affected items. Do not try to clean the active mold (soft and fuzzy) yourself. This got me really surprised. I just tried to remove all the molds by hand before reading this article. So good bye cruel world.
8. Dry and thoroughly clean the room where the mold outbreak occurred. Have I mentioned that cleaning the room went into a halt? Well, it's still on halt.
9. Return the materials to the affected area. I said everything went on HALT! Seriously though, I still couldn't return the books back since the closet and the downspout still is broken.
10. Continue to monitor conditions to prevent mold growth. Whatever.

Hope this really help. Just follow the instructions to avoid being like me.

Water: The Two Whites

October 10, 2010. The famed 10.10.10.

I awoke to the sound of my alarm. It was still dark outside but most of us were already up. I got up with quite a struggle. My body still bore the muscle pains of hiking the other day. It was hard to move my knees and my ankles. They were still tender. However, had I not dipped my body in the Hot springs, I might not be able to move at all. It was still a struggle moving from the bed to the bathroom and back. I had lean onto something, but it would be too embarrassing. Read more.

Earth: The Mountain Trial

Most planned trips have this rule: Expect the unexpected no matter how precise the trip was planned. A slight delay with the flight could mean the cancellation or postponement of an important business meeting. Several minutes delay could destroy the day altogether.

Our itinerary for the Sabbath of our trip was a short hike up Mt. Hibok-Hibok, one of the mountains in the island of Camiguin. Next was a trip to either the sunken cemetery or the famed White Island. We would cap the day by another dip in the hot springs of Ardent Springs.

We never got the chance to go the last two in our itinerary.

Though, dismayed and exhausted, the experience we had with Mt. Hibok-hibok could never be exchanged for anything else. Read more

Air: The Wind Rush

October 8, 2010. Dawn came. I was awake the moment my alarm went off at 4:30 in the morning. People were still singing so I figured my companions might still be struggling from lack of sleep. I plugged my ears again and set my clock at 5:00 AM. By the time the alarm started, I was drowned by the sudden silence.  The singing stopped and the drunken revelers had packed and gone. It was still dark outside though so I went back to snooze.

I was suddenly awakened by someone grabbing my foot. Read more.

First Flight: Prelude to Adventure

Flight to Cagayan De Oro on this plane

I have been cooped up in the city all my life. So if there are times when an escape from the city life is possible, I instantly grab the opportunity without question. I welcome that change of environment with open arms. Yet for all those times I have travelled, I take shame to admit that I haven’t tried riding in an airplane before.

That is, until today... Read More

Finding Joy part 3

The Real Secret of Happiness.

All our lives we thought that life should be fun. Although it is true that we serve a God who wants us to be happy, fun was never written on the Bible in the context of something that God wants us to have in life. In fact, Pastor David Assherick says that the word fun never occurred in the Bible, but the word joy occurs more than 200 times. This tells a lot about the difference between fun and joy. Read more.

Finding Joy part 2

On reasons to be joyful in Christ.

True happiness could not be found in money, possessions or power. Yet in order to find real joy in one’s life, we need to know why do we need joy. Why do we have to be really happy?

Every Monday evening, our group dug deep into the study of finding Christ. A certain book called “The Steps to Christ” by E.G. White has become our guide throughout our quest with discussion material provided by... Read more.

Finding Joy part 1

Misconceptions on things that make us happy and things that bring joy.

What makes you happy? Is it wealth? Is it power? Is it possessions? In this God forgotten world, we have gone through depths to find one thing few people could ever find. Some think it’s money, or power or possessions. But more often than not, we could not find joy.

I am not referring to any individual. Read more.

Lessons from the Dead

A sad moment comes to any family when death knocks at their doors. For our family, it happened a day after my birthday. Our uncle who was battling against a lung disease succumbed to the disease on a Sabbath morning. It came as swift as it went. We buried him three days later.

All throughout those nights, I was there often taking part in the service for the comfort of the living. I haven’t been to many funerals so there are things that I don’t know. Of those that I have attended only two had great significance to me the others, I merely came as an observer. However, in those two times, I have learned a lot of lessons. This last one probably opened up my eyes the most... [READ MORE]

Once In A Blue Moon

Tell ya if the moon is blue. So when did it become blue? And why did they call it blue? Why are there so many questions? Should I answer them? Nah.

One day, after ESTRAGEL 4 practice, I came home dead tired. No the practice wasn't that tiring, rather it was fun (great set of exercises from direk arjay). I found my mother as she descended the stairs. She was dressed to go somewhere with my sister.

I saw them out. When I went back home, I went straight to find my slippers. To my disappointment, i found my slippers broken. It was as if someone with feet larger than mine tried to see if it fits. It was a real bad day. Those slippers (they were imitatio havaianas) were just 5 months old!

So instead of sleeping, I immediately went to the market to look for slippers. There were the usual ones: the hundreds of imitation havaianas, the regular slippers, and the not-so-expensive but durable islander sandals. But among those lines of slippers, one shop really caught my eye!

Man!! They still sell Rambo slippers!! It's been years since I last saw one of those! Cool.

I tried to ask how much. It was just enough. But when I looked at the slippers carefully - ugGH!! They were just imitations! RAMBBO!?