a gift named prayer

in times of vulnerability, seek Him.

may you always find abundance and protection in His grace.

may you find the audience of His earth angels
in times when you need attention.

may your troubles tremble in His presence
when you are in no shape to fight back.

may He do your battles for you when you call
and even when you don't.

when you are down and reduced to crying,
may He pick you up and give you a comforting pat.

in times when you're feeling you're about to hit rock bottom,
may sad memories loosen their clout and give you up
so the happy ones He already laid on your path will redeem you.
there is no hitting rock bottom for people who fully understand what happiness is.

in times of shaking, may you be unshakable.
keep the faith. He has your riches.

may you always honor that He planted the best in you.
mediocrity is not His mark, excellence is.

may you find yourself always in the crowd of champions.
may you be inspired unceasingly.

in everything you do, may excellence be your standard
not for anything else but for His glory.

may you make His will your will --
it's never meant to be the other way around
or any other way, for that matter.

may the biggest and grandest room in your heart be for Him,
put Him first and He will honor you.

when He honors,
there are no hell days nor boring days.
there is prosperity and a life lived effortlessly.

may He always honor you.

may His favors always overtake you
so you will never ever find yourself in want.

may you always be tuned,
let Him work on every aspect of your life.

allow Him His ways in you and He will fill your cup.

may you grow in strength each day
and may you live immensely blessed 'til the end of your days.

DISC Me: High D and High C Personality

"When you stop growing, you start aging."

In my quest to better understand myself and to keep growing as a person, I dig opportunities that allow me to assess my personality better. One of these opportunities is the DISC.

DISC is a four quadrant behavioral model based on the work of William Moulton Marston. It explores people's behavioral style based on personality and situations. DISC stands for

D (Dominance)
I (Influence)
S (Steadiness)
C (Conscientiousness)

When I first took the test for DISC mapping last year as part of our company's strategic planning workshop, I ended up being categorized under "I". Our Chief Technology Officer, who happens to be a "High C" person and who also happens to be one of those people that I report to, questioned this result and told me that I was definitely not an "I". I agreed with him. Even I was wondering why I got "I"!

I'm a High D and High C kind of person. This is confirmed by the test results of the DISC mapping exercise we had today.

Just so you know, these are what define the D. I. S. C. personalities:

Dominance: relating to control, power, and assertiveness. direct and decisive. independent. results driven. strong-willed people who enjoy challenges. problem solver. demanding. forceful. egocentric. driving. determined. ambitious. aggressive. pioneering. high ego strength. risk taker. self starter. bottom-line organizer. challenges the status quo. innovative. weaknesses: tendency to overstep authority, argumentative attitude, dislikes routine, attempts too much at once. fears being taken advantage of. motivated by: new challenges, power and authority to take risks and make decisions, freedom from routine and mundane tasks, and changing environments in which to work and play. ideal environment: innovative focus on future, non-routine challenging tasks and activities, projects that produce tangible results, freedom from controls and supervision.

Influence: relating to social situations and communication. outgoing and optimistic. enthusiastic. trusting. persuasive. talkative. impulsive. emotional. convincing. magnetic. political. warm. demonstrative. great encourager. motivator. negotiates conflicts. peacemaker. weaknesses: concerned with popularity than tangible results, inattentive to detail, tendency to overuse gestures and facial expressions, and tendency to listen only when it is convenient. fears rejection. motivated by flattery, praise, popularity, and acceptance. ideal environment: practical procedures, few conflicts and arguments, forum to express ideas, group activities in professional and social environments.

Steadiness: elating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness. favors stability and status quo. team player. supportive. cooperative. helpful. calm. relaxed. patient. possessive. predictable. deliberate. stable. consistent. tends to be unemotional and poker-faced good listener. avoids change and conflict. reliable. dependable. empathetic. weaknesses: resists change, takes a long time to adjust to change, sensitive to criticism, tendency to have difficulty in establishing priorities. fears losing security. motivated by recognition for loyalty and dependability, safety and security. ideal environment: practical procedures and systems, stability and predictability, tasks that can be completed at one time, few conflicts and arguments, and a team atmosphere.

Conscientiousness: relating to structure and organization. cautious. focused on details and quality. careful. exacting. neat. systematic. diplomatic. accurate. analytical. fact-finder. precise. high standards. anchor of reality. even-tempered. thorough. defines situations. weaknesses: needs clear-cut boundaries for actions/relationships, bound by procedures and methods, gets bogged down in details, prefers not to verbalize feelings. fears criticism. motivated by standards of high quality, limited social interaction, detailed tasks, logical organization of information. ideal environment: tasks and projects that can be followed through to completion, specialized or technical tasks, practical work procedures and routines, few conflicts and arguments, instructions and reassurance that they are doing what is expected of them.

sources:
http://www.discinsights.com/cyber/scripts/disc.asp#d
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment
http://www.professionalchange.com/
http://www.managesmarter.com/msg/content_display/training/e3i3a02b4b8960ca28a24de947528fff9b4

love letter

because i have yet to acquire the patience to clean up somebody else's mess and i am very territorial..

i left that on my desk. i hope that come tomorrow morning my desk is just the way i left it.


p.s. i want patience, now na! hahahaha.

deflated pride, yey!

last saturday, 2nd of may 2009, i blew my pride into a balloon and i managed to make my balloon so big -- i was afraid it would end up exploding in my face but it didn't and i was kinda disappointed. a huge part of me was actually relieved because it meant that i could take home the balloon with me. yey!

in a way i was proud of my "pride". i was able to effectively blow air into my balloon (which is why it grew so big, big, big) which means (1) i have healthy enough lungs, (2) i am good at blowing, and (3) i am good in keeping the air inside it.

one thing i realized during the duration of the exercise though was this: i would have saved myself the effort of puffing and puffing and from feeling the pain caused by the resisting balloon material on my fingers if i'd just simply given up on my pride and let the air out -- let things be, so to speak.

anyway, i brought home the balloon. i placed my "pride" on a strategic spot relative to where i sleep, so i could have a glimpse of it just before i close my eyes at night and see it as soon as i wake up in the mornings.

yesterday, 3rd of may 2009, i didn't notice a change in the size of the balloon. today, 4th of may, i woke up early and saw that the balloon has finally slightly deflated. tonight, just as i'm about to sleep, i'm glad to know that the balloon has already shrunk to the size of my palm. i'd like to think the same thing has happened to my pride since saturday.

deflate pride, deflate. i don't want you to be blocking any access to my blessings.

p.s. i'm thinking of inflating that balloon again -- just so i could have a concrete reminder that i should always root for curbing the manifestations of my "high" pride.

destination: mt. pinatubo

19th of april 2009 | sunday
mount pinatubo
tarlac | zambales philippines


through water, through land...and dust!

breathtaking sight of the crater lake

antics
early morning meet-up in mcdo quezon ave. early morning arrival in capas, tarlac. 1.25-hour 4x4 ride. 45-min trek which we accomplished in about 30 minutes. awesome sight of the crater lake.

complete set of photos here: http://kulitjr3.multiply.com/photos/album/471/destination_mt._pinatubo

destination: sagada and the few hundred glimpses of it

april 9 to 11, 2009
another wow trip | this time, up north!

places hit: sabangan, bontoc, banga-an rice terraces, bomod-ok falls, lemon pie house, kiltepan viewpoint, sugong, lumiang to sumaguing cave connection, lake danum, yoghurt house, calvary hills, echo valley

super memorable adventures: 24-km hike to and fro bomod-ok falls (through banga-an rice terraces). topload riding (wet and rained on, as if the cold,cold temperature in sagada wasn't enough). 6.5 hours of death-defying spelunking. experiencing both sunrise and sunset of the same day. bonfire at the lake.

HAPPINESS!

p.s. panis ang spelunking sa sagada kung sa sumaguing cave ka lang... go for the lumiang to sumaguing cave connection adventure and prove your worth. it's not for the faint-hearted. as a fellow adventurer in sagada puts it: sumaguing is for photo op. lumiang is for real spelunking ;-) i agree!

imagine scaling slimy huge, huge rocks without head gear, harness, carabines, and grips. safety officers would definitely give an "unsafe" callout. haha!

simply put, the difference between falling (and meeting a likely accident) and staying safe during the cave connection adventure is defined by this combo: trusting makeshift footholds will hold, reflexes, guide's know-how, following instructions, God's grace

---

photo sets related to this trip are posted here (click on the links):

• we're going to sagada
• stopover: sabangan, mountain province
• stopover: bontoc, mountain province
• long weekend in sagada: the first few moments
• sagada first day high
• trekking to sagada's bomod-ok falls
• sagada night: lemon pie house
• kiltepan sunrise silhouettes
• kiltepan sunrise
• conquer sagada: the group photos
• mountain province sunset
• long weekend in sagada: bonfire night
• lake danum
• sagada morning: yoghurt house
• sagada street market
• sagada barkada
• long weekend in sagada: the last day
• some of our sumaguing-lumiang cave connection adventure photos

i checked the map which i bought prior leaving sagada and i realized that there are still a lot of places there which i have yet to experience. hehe, i have reasons to go back!

how i ended up in coron, palawan

"if you want it, decide on it"


coron, palawan was not in my list of dream destinations. i added it to the list during the last quarter of 2008 -- even bumped it up all the way to the priority part of the list -- after my friend, sealdi, posted photos of her coron trip in her multiply album. i saw through the pictures that she enjoyed the experience. because of those pictures, i got to think this way: "coron is something that i have to see for myself even if it means i have to 'go solo on a group tour' like sealdi did".

it was a few days after my birthday when travel factor posted their 2009 first quarter schedule. i checked the lineup of tours, saw three coron trips for march, and decided there and then that, as a birthday gift to myself, i will sign up for one of those march 2009 coron trips.


so it happened that during the last days of 2009, i forged my decision for my first ever palawan trip. i purchased my manila-busuanga-manila roundtrip ticket online and immediately forwarded my registration form to travel factor. where i was concerned, it was "all systems go" for my coron adventure. take note, this was as early as december 2008.

"best laid plans..."

when i made my decision, i was blind to my first quarter work schedule. i was aware though that, at some point, there'd be things coming up that could possibly endanger my "best laid plans" for march. one of the first things i did when i got back to work after my 2-week december leave was to tell my immediate superior and our HR that i'll be taking another leave in march. i was so looking forward to the trip!


then, jeopardy came. one of our company's project partners pushed for an activity schedule that fell within the very dates that i've already blocked off for coron! when i saw the communication, i was no different from chicken little who felt that the sky was falling down on him. inwardly, i panicked. being one of the activity's focal persons, i had more than enough reason to be troubled. my mind was ringing with this: "if the higher ups would agree to the proposal, then for sure i'd never be allowed to go!"

"...the universe conspires"

as they say, "every cloud has a silver lining." i saw my silver lining days after when, through a conference call, our chief technology officer told our project partners that we could not push through according to their proposed schedule just yet. there were technical stuff both sides had to iron out first; bear in mind that the decision to postpone the activity was not because of me. but, haha, it was what i wanted! i could not contain my feeling of relief, i let out a gleeful smile while the concall was ongoing. i was no different from a child who has just been given lotsa candies!


jeopardy number two came, too. on march 9, 2009, just about three hours after i deposited my tour fee for coron, i received a forwarded text message from my younger sister. it said: "Te gic: la n jud si lolo at 3:20." i'm normally able to process a lot of information in one go but that line -- though limited in letters and words but full of clarity as a message -- really clouded my thoughts.

i knew in my heart that i had to fly back to mindanao for my lolo's wake and funeral but if i had to do it that very week, i would have ended up with a nervous breakdown. i had work piled up to my neck and i couldn't just go off because i was set to put in ten days' worth of effort that week in lieu of the days that i'll be absent due to the coron trip.

i was saved from the dilemma of having to take an emergency leave by family demographics. three of my lolo's children -- two aunties and one uncle -- had to fly in from US and canada to attend the funeral; for this reason, the interment couldn't be scheduled until after the 17th of march, the day of my aunties' and uncle's return to the country. the 17th of march also happened to be the last day of my "march 14 to march 17" coron trip with travel factor.

someone up there really didn't want me to miss anything!!! someone crafted things for me so i can have my cake and eat it, too! to do my part, i purchased another roundtrip ticket (manila-cagayan de oro-manila) and filed another leave, an extension -- from march 17 to march 21 for lolo's wake and funeral. so it happened that it was again all clear for my coron adventure!

if the universe conspires for you, you don't just sit back... you also have to do your part.


the night before my flight to busuanga, i didn't sleep. i spent most of the night completing reports which i knew some people at work might look for during the week that i'd be away. after sending the reports out, i packed my stuff for coron, took a bath, fixed myself, checked where my money and tickets were, and called out to my housemate that i was going. i left batangas at around 6am in a bus bound for manila. i had a 9am flight to catch at the ninoy aquino international airport terminal 3.

at this point, i'll have to direct you to my multiply albums. the photos i posted there can do all the talking for me... at least until i find the time to write about the awesome experience.

i forgot to say that this trip was actually my first travel adventure with my new travel buddy, steward, the nikon d60 dslr.

go here:
from busuanga airport to kayangan lake
banana island, palawan
bulog island, palawan
coron sunrise and waves
finding africa in palawan
north cay, coral garden, and wreck site
sunrise at mt. tapiyas and the flight from busuanga to manila
coron, palawan tour groupies
coron, palawan memories... reloaded!

i'm sharing the photos with the hope that you would be inspired to travel, too. biyahe na!