School updates, teaching duties, Basketball, NBA Conference Finals, and waking up early

It’s almost Friday and I can’t wait for weekend. I started work here in Notre Dame of Cotabato since Wednesday last week and it’s a series of workshops, seminars, meetings, and lots of lesson planning for the next school year. Classes will be starting at June 13 along with the public schools nationwide.

Anyway, going back to my anticipation of the weekend, I am looking forward to the sports event of all the Notre Dame schools here in Cotabato City this coming Saturday. I am to choose whether to play basketball or chess. I don’t know which one to choose. If I’m going to choose chess, it’s because I’m good at it. If basketball, it’s because I enjoy playing and not because I am good at it. In fact, I suck at playing hoops. I am taller than the average Filipino so it’s normal for me to be assigned inside the paint. As much as I love putbacks, I still do find pleasure in shooting threes. I just love the swish and the sound of the net when I shoot from the perimeter (except when it’s airball). Maybe it’s because of the NBA Conference Finals that’s happening. I am rooting for Cleveland Cavaliers!

I’m still adjusting to the school and so far, I am still learning about the bankruptcy by listening to small bits of info about what happened to the decisions made in the previous (mis)administration. I am still finding it hard to adjust to waking up early. And that means the alarm sounds at 5am! That’s all for the meantime and please catch up with me in my Twitter account. Might be offline depending on the schedule I might have since everything’s tentative so far.

Post-review of the much awaited opening of the Marist School Employees’ Athletic League 2015

Yesterday was the opening of the first MSEAL (Marist School Employees’ Athletic League) with our team, MAPAC, combined with some staffs to complete the blue team. Some highlight? I represented our team as our torch bearer. After that, some extra formalities with hilarious yells that we did spontaneously.

Bad news: Last night, my shooting streak was over. Last year, I didn’t miss an attempt in the perimeter. Last game, I shot two attempts and it just clanked the iron. We went into overtime, was just trailing by two in the last two minutes but we never scored during that period due to exhaustion. Final score: 79-89.

Good news: First time that I stole a ball in a fast break attempt while the opponent is on transition. And since we didn’t have any center, I have to grab the rebounds from our more than six feet tall opponents whenever I subbed in. I think I had five or six rebounds.

The best part of the game: On the last 2.9 seconds of the regulation, we had the last possession. Only down by two points, we can win or tie the game. the opponents are holding our players during the inbound since they have three more fouls to give. They can actually foul us until the game ends. So they gave two fouls and left us with 0.5 seconds. That means a catch and shoot situation. But some screen play and presence of mind did trick our opponents. It was so fast that our tallest player was suddenly open near the basket and the inbounder just took the opportunity. That was not in the play! Presence of mind did the trick! He caught and shot the ball. Overtime!

We don’t have enough gas in the extra period. A bittersweet loss. No regrets. We did our best. Maybe some hydration drinks will help us in our next game.

Losing a Found Treasure (Final Part)

I thought losing a found treasure is hard. But for me, I lost it effortlessly.

I retired playing competitive chess when I graduated in high school. In truth, it was not a conscious decision. Funny things happened when I was a freshman in college. Before I entered college, I was trying out in different chess varsity teams. My coach offered me a not really known college telling me that I’m guaranteed to receive full scholarship there. I turned it down because I don’t like the school. I heard they specialize in nursing but I am never interested in that field. So that’s why I was the one looking for a school to give me an athletic scholarship. Colleges also accommodate mental athletes like me, right? Continue reading →