Farewell A-Rod

Andy Roddick after winning US Open 2003

Andy Roddick is my favorite tennis player before Djokovic came.  I grew up idolizing him and Serena Williams.  It's sad to see him leave the world of tennis.  I know I'm not really looking forward on seeing him play on TV but it sucks that I won't be able to see him play live. I'm watching Shanghai on October and I don't think I'll be able to see him there because he'll be retiring by the end of his US Open campaign.  

I started playing tennis in 2001 but I started watching tennis in 2003.  The first ever tennis match that I saw on TV was the US Open semi finals of Andy Roddick and David Nalbandian wherein Andy Roddick fought back from almost being deafeated.  After seeing how awesome he was, I decided to wake up at 3am just to watch his finals against Juan Carlos Ferrero which he won 6-3 7-6 6-3.  Andy Roddick ended up being the World Number 1 beating Federer in the ranking for 2003 TEE HEE.

Every year I'm always hoping that Roddick will add more grandslam trophies to his collection.  What I didn't know is that his maiden grandslam title is his last grandslam title.  Anyway he's lucky to achieve 2 of the most important milestone in his tennis career, winning a grandslam and reaching #1.

After losing the ranking to Federer, he's the world number 2 until Nadal came in 2005. Andy Roddick started to fade away.  It's in 2007 that I found a new tennis player to idolize when Andy Roddick is somewhere out there but still awesome.  I still use him in Top Spin 2, Virtua Tennis 3, Smash Court Tennis 2, and all other tennis computer games.  I used to hit with a Babolat Pure Drive Roddick.

Now Roddick's gone, Novak Djokovic is still my favorite tennis player. Serena Williams' my favorite female tennis player and I'm still awesome (Labo sabaw)

Traveling with friends and family

Traveling is one of my favorite thing to do.  Ever since I was a kid, my parents always tag me along whenever they travel.  I never really experienced traveling with friends until earlier this year.  The first time i traveled without my mom or my dad was when I went to Singapore. After that, I was able to go to Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia with friends.

Ocean Park with my ACM 111 majormates.

I can say that there's a big difference when you travel with friends and with family.  When you're with your family, you don't have to worry about the expenses because your parents will surely cover it for you.  On the other hand, traveling with friends will test your budgeting skills.  In terms of enjoyment, I can't really tell because the enjoyment you experience with your family is different with the enjoyment you experience with your friends.  Spending time with your family strengthen your family bond. While spending time with your friends will make you explore new things and you're free to do anything you can't do with your family.  I refuse to give an example of things you cannot do with your family. I know you know what I mean.  Anyway, I love traveling whether I'm with my friends or with my family.

This is my and my buddies during our Thailand trip.

If you need some tips or advice on traveling maybe I could help.

1st week of 2012

2012 is the best year of my life so far and I wanna share my experiences during this year to everyone :).  January 1, 2012 is not a usual new year celebration that I'm having every year.  I'm really scared that day because come 6am in the morning I'll be on my way to Singapore for my 6 months internship.  It was hard to leave my home.  I dunno if i can survive 6 months without my family and my beloved kasambahay.  I have no idea how to wash and iron my clothes. It was really scary.

Fitness Centre in front of my block in Sembawang

Our supposed 6am flight became 9am because of zero visibility c/o the Filipino people.  It was foggy.  My cousin and my landlady in Singapore were already worried.  Luckily, I was able to find my way to my new home in Singapore.  I'm living in the northern part of Singapore.  Sembawang to be specific.  I stayed there because the accommodation is really cheap for a whole bedroom without any bed spacers. Just me.  FYI a whole room will cost you 800-1500sgd a month. I got mine way lower than the average price plus it's walking distance to the MRT station. After settling down, I went to Orchard to buy a Sim Card and roam around. The next day I just brought Sharmain to Sentosa.

The view of my office from Marymount MRT

The 3rd of January is my first day of work in the office shown above.  It was kinda tough for me because I'm not really used to listening to different English accent.  My 1st day was blur.  I cannot understand anyone.  We had an orientation from the HR but I cannot understand her :(. Poor me.  Our 1st day was full of orientation because our bosses are on leave.  During my 1st week, I have 5 co-interns.  2 of them are from Vietnam but both of them are studying in NUS.,1 is from Austria, 1 from Singapore, and 1 from the Philippines.

4th of January Sharmain and I met our awesome boss.  At first, we thought she's not okay but we were wrong! She's awesome. A blogpost is not enough to describe her awesomeness.  

5th of January is a typical office day it's just that we had to stay beyond 8pm to pack something for an event.

My Singapore Experience 2012

My 1st day in Singapore. 01-01-2012

Living outside my home country for 6 months changed me a lot.   The way I think and how I look at the world.  My country is an awesome one. We have a lot of nice natural resources. However, I really don't understand why people can't follow simple rules but I still believe these people are awesomeand they can change for the better. My 6 months stay in Singapore changed me positively.  In Manila, I just cross everywhere I want. I just eat and drink inside the train or bus.  In Singapore, I'm different. I follow every rules. I don't throw my trash everywhere. I'm a better person.

My awesome colleague.

For those who do not know, I was an intern in Robert Bosch Singapore for 6 months.  At first, It was really hard working in an unfamiliar environment.  What makes it harder is that I don't understand Singlish accent! However, the feeling is mutual! They don't understand my accent as well.  As time passed by, I got used to their accent and I slowly shifted to Singlish/British/Filipino accent haha.

Poppy(Left) and Sharmain (Right) in Merlion Park.

To be honest, I don't think I'll survive Singapore without these 2 person.  Sharmain is my classmate in DLSU who joined me in my internship.  She's my translator during the first few weeks when I cannot understand anyone.  She's one of the person I talk to in the office whenever I want to speak in Filipino. I learned a lot from her and I think she learned a lot from me as well.  She's also my travel buddy.  We traveled together to Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.  Poppy on the other hand is our Indonesian friend who grew up in the United States. What made us click is that Poppy understands us with our Filipino Accent! ahahah. Poppy is actually my best bud in Singapore. We usually go out to eat or watch movies together with other interns from Bosch. I usually invite her to roam around Singapore whenever Sharmain is out there busy doing something.  I'm looking forward in seeing her again soon :) Hopefully this Feb 2013 :). Before I forget, I still need to add Samantha in this blog. She's the one in purple top in the photo above our photo in Merlion.  She's our fellow intern in the marketing department.  She's my friend/enemy in the office.  She's a kind person even though I'm mean to her sometimes but she's also mean to me so the feeling is mutual. She's my table tennis buddy.

That's all for now. I shall add more when I got the chance.