Tanáw: November 2012

Saturday, November 17, 2012

At The 17th Alaska Football Cup

The 17th Alaska Cup was held last November 10 and 11 at the Alabang Country Club football grounds. It is by far the biggest "7 A Side Football" tournament in the Philippines with 290 teams, 4000 players, 26 football fields and 100 referees.

When I took the picture below of the teams lined up to play for Sunday, I noticed that the tournament has drawn teams coming as far as Baguio in the North and Davao, Victorias, Masbate and Bukidnon down South. I know the southern folks are very good football players, so my son's team for Boys 8 (04/05) are in for some hard action on the field.

For Day 1, I watched the games for the Boys 6 while my son plays around with his classmate at the tent we set up near the official's tent where hubby had to work as one of the desk officials for the tournament.

My son and his classmate playing at the tent.

One of the games of Boys 6 that I watched.
My camera is not equipped for action shots, so no awesome action photos here. Heheh

We also visited the Alaska tent where one can avail of their face painting services and photobooth; win prizes from their games, and to get a taste of their ice cold sweet milk and choco milk which Ethan really likes.

The ALASKA tent

Enjoying Alaska milk while waiting for the paint to dry.
We were one of the 1st to avail of the face painting.

Ethan doing 15 crunches, one of the tasks to win a prize.

Ethan biking 15 times, again one of the tasks to win a prize.
He was able to win a prize.

We tried out the photobooth.

Day 2 - HECTIC!!! I was all stressed out and could not take pictures because I had to usher my son and carry all the stuff he needs for his game, akala mo naman MVP...heheh! Anyway, his team failed to make it to the finals after their loss against Raya FC, Del Monte FC and Los Baños FS.

The valuable lesson learned today by my son is how to handle defeat. It is great that after each match, the players were made to shake hands with each other as an act of sportsmanship. I am glad that my son takes part in this and makes it a point to shake their opponent's hand after a game, win or lose. We were both tired after their game and opted to try some of ACC's Hawaiian pizza.

Ethan gobbling his Hawaiian pizza slice.
Had a monster appetite after the game.

List of Winners we got for (Nov 11) Sunday's game:

Men's Open Champion - AFS

Ladies Open Champion - Archer's UTD FC

Girl's 14 Champion - Ateneo de Davao

Boys 10 Champion - Ateneo de Manila

Boys 8 Champion - Don Bosco Technical Institute - Victorias

Overall, we had FUN! It was so tiring but FUN!

We were even able to see a rainbow during the tournament's closing ceremonies.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Family Mart coming to the Philippines

Photo borrowed from ani.me

Early this year I read an article posted by Manila Bulletin on the entry of the second largest convenience store chain in the world here in the Philippines. Yup, Family Mart or FaMiMa is entering to compete with the Paternos' 7-eleven and Gokongwei's Ministop. I learned from TV5's Interaksyon just today that Family Mart is teaming up with Ayala and the Rustan's groups in bringing in this 3rd player for convenience stores.

Does this mean it'll be easier to find Kewpie mayo or the elusive Green Tea Kitkat? I hope they'll have Famichiki, a signature snack of Family Mart and Hatsune Miku themed products too.

Ethan's Special Football Trainor

My son is lucky to have a special football trainor and coach, his Papa! Hubby used to coach football at AFS, ISM and La Salle. Since he turned farmer after getting license in Agriculture, he has become my son's private trainor outside the training he gets from the Alabang Football School. During this long weeked, Ethan had the chance to learn some special skills and hubby had the chance to exercise. I had not been able to join them for several sessions because them being out of the house gives me the chance to get more chores done. Anyway, this Sunday after mass I was able to join them for a short while as they made use of the time left before it gets dark at the Philamlife park.

More people are showing up at the park to play football.

My boys had to locate themselves at the back of the volleyball court since
most of the spots were already occupied.

Ethan practicing penalty shoot-out

Training did not take long this time because my son accidentally stepped on dog poop that was not suppose to be there. Heheh! Kawawa naman, the dog poop totally ruined his day.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Some Quiet Time at Manila Memorial Park

It was a Sunday. The family decided to go to Manila Memorial Park early this year to avoid the traffic and the awful crowd. We wanted some quiet time with our loved ones that had gone ahead of us in the afterlife. Upon arriving Manila Memorial it seems that a lot of families had the same thinking and were also visiting their dead. It was not crowded though, there was still some peace and quiet.

As we sat there, we did some clearing with the cleaning lady first. I took pictures of the surroundings after the candles and flowers were placed. Taking pictures was my way of distracting myself from getting emotional. Even after so many years I still struggle to hold back tears at the sight of my parent's final resting place. Another way for my to draw away from getting all teary-eyed is to talk about fond memories I have of them.

That time I relayed memories I had of Dad, that one time I experienced the ultimate test of patience waiting for him to pick us up at the Magallanes theater after watching Voltes V. He was terribly late because he had to do emergency C-section to one of his pregnant 4-legged patients. Did I ever tell you my Dad was an awesome veterinarian? We owned a pet clinic in Pasay City in the 70's. My early childhood memories were mostly of that clinic since the 2nd floor was where we lived. Oh well, I miss Dad. I also miss his awesomeness and his extensive stories. Galing kaya niya magkwento.

As for mom, well, she was awesome as well, but in a different light. My mom was a pharmacist, had very good taste in clothes (which I did not inherit unfortunately), and she was wonderful in the kitchen. My mom had quite a temper which we all are scared of, but we loved her dearly. If we needed something, the easy route is always through mom, Dad was so hard to convince. My best memory of mom was her love for roses, she took care of a lot of them. I also remember her for her really good chicken curry and Banana Nut Cake.

Going to the cemetery is not all about bringing flowers, lighting candles and saying prayers for the dead. Its about remembering them at their best (kadalasan yung masasaya), remembering them and passing on stories of them to our kids and grand kids. Doing this makes them live on in our hearts. My Dad and Mom did the same thing when they relayed to us stories of their parents who had already passed on when we were kids. This time its our turn to relay the stories. After the stories, there's always the silence...and then, saying good-bye.

(Sigh) For my friends and relatives who "Liked" my posting of my parent's tombstones in Facebook, my thanks to you as well for giving me a piece of your mind. It is endearing that my parents had one way or another touched your lives too. May you continue to keep them in your memories and in your prayers. Once again...thank you.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Halloween at SM Center Las Piñas 2012

Happy Halloween everyone! As usual, my son decided to join the Halloween activity at SM Center Las Piñas. Obvious ba na tambayan namin ang SM Center? October 31 was a blast, terribly exhausting but fun just the same.

We arrived at SM Center around 2:30pm and realized that we were already late for trick or treating around the mall. Not to worry cause I already bought Ethan Halloween goodies a couple of days earlier, so he was not really empty handed even though we failed to go around the mall for treats.

I was not surprised at all with the large turnout of kids in costumes joining the Halloween costume contest as this was a well publicized event that seems to grow every year. There were 3 categories to compete in: cutest, wackiest and the spookiest costume. A lot of participants in this year's event really took effort in assembling the costumes of the kids. Compared to last year though, those that entered the spooky category was a notch less terrifying. And, those that entered the wacky category are impressively wackier this year. There were a lot of entries for the cute category which made me realize that Ethan needs to level up and leave this category if he intends to join again next year. If you read my post a few days back, "My Little Viking," you would know that my son wants to be a Viking for Halloween. Yeah he is cute alright, but his competition is mostly babies still in their diapers who can naturally be cute even without the costume. Then again, I reminded myself that its not about the competition but the experience and the fun that matters. Besides, who knows what the judges' concept of cuteness is diba?! Anyway, my son did not win any prizes. A Lolita maid, a red hot baby devil and Ghost Princess Perona got away with the prizes for the cute category. Oh well, competition was tough!!! All the entries were really great! Di bale, we had fun naman.

Anyway, here's sharing with you pictures we got from the event.

Batman and Captain America!!!

Orange haired witch and a red hot little devil.
The little devil won 2nd place in the cute category.

One of my favorites, Ghost Princess Perona.
Ang cute niya ano?!

Wake up mommy and baby scarecrow, there's a ghost and a devil behind you!

This baby won 3rd place in the Spookiest Category.
Tiyanak siya diba?!

Mr. Pizza man and Preggy bride who grabbed 3rd and 2nd place in the Wacky category.

The girl who lost her head won 1st place in the Wacky Category.

Walking dead in the audience. Yikes!!!

Even Mommies got to dress up for Halloween!

Aswang and Machete?

Manananggal in the City

My inaanak Andrei as Boy Bubog, walking dead with glass splinters.
Galing ng concept! Love the creativity.

Lady vampire and sleepy scarecrow

The Roman soldier and his mummified victim

Inspired by "The Grudge" and "The Ring"

Zombies are not so scary when they smile!

Zombies in gowns

A pterodactyl and a devil

My Viking and classmate Krizzia

I was expecting my son to present himself on stage like a Barbarian, instead he walked like a king about to give a speech to his people. Did he become shy all of a sudden? Yup! The reason? Secret...

Summary of winners
I am writing their characters, not their names kasi di ko naman alam names nila.

Cutest category
1st place - Ghost Princess Perona
2nd place - Red Hot Little Devil
3rd place - Anime maid