The Final Lap of Phil. Racing Legend, Pocholo Ramirez

I.
Growing up car-less was probably the most frustrating thing a car nut can go through. I went through simply because of one TV show... Motoring Today. My parents could not understand why i followed the show, knowing we did not even have a car. Funny right?

II.
The show also introduced me to someone i later found out was a Philippine Racing Legend: Pocholo Ramirez. All i really wanted was to shake the hand of the man who really got me into understanding cars (aside from shagee and jez lol). Initially i thought meeting him would be easy. I mean my friends get to see him in track days at subic plus we get to hang out every once in a while with one of his grandsons. Sadly the only chance i got to meet him was at his wake. And yet i did not need to meet him for my life to be touched by the legend of Pocholo Ramirez.

III. And so, to Sir Pocholo Ramirez: we thank you for bringing Philippine Motorsports to where it is now. And know that Pinoy racers, drivers and motorheads will always remember you as the Father of Philippine Motorsports. Show those angels what real racing is all about. *Rev Salute*

For a video of Sir Poch's final lap in Subic click here or here for the youtube vid by the original poster.

PS: Kookie rubbing the urn while driving nearly brought me to tears. A fitting final lap for a Racing icon.

The Dive of My Life

I'm really really tired. Work is eating me up and i'm starting to think i'm not up to the challenge of my new post. I'm doing everything i can yet i feel like i'm not doing enough. I spend my day chasing after tasks i need to finish and i can never seem to catch up. I have even caught myself joking about resigning and buying a boat in anilao and just be a "bangkero". haha.

Everyday feels like a really deep dive. When i dive, there's always a bit of apprehension before back rolling into the ocean. My dive buddies know i hate back rolls (yeah i do, but im starting to enjoy it). But once i get into the water a sudden calm will always envelope me and all the thoughts get flushed out of my head. The only thing that matters is me, my buddies, my breathing and the ocean. I spend almost an hour each dive just looking at the beauty of the underwater world and following brett and dale around, they always know where to go and what to do next.

In contrast, life is starting to feel like a really deep dive. I feel like diver hovering at 60 ft not knowing wether to descend to the unseen bottom or ascend to the unseen surface. Somehow sticking it out and raching the bottom feels like a good idea simply because i want to see how this dive turns out. Every now and then i get the feeling that i should ascend to the surface, eat pancit canton while planning the next dive.

Too bad i have to do this dive on my own. No Dale or Brett to guide me and make sure i'm going to be alright.

Intramuscular Pain!!!!

I.
Well as you may have seen in Che's almost popular blog post, i was bitten by our beloved beagle. Im sure the dog had complete shots and there wasnt anything to worry about. But che insisted we go to the hospital, so we did.

II.
First thing i noticed was that the witch assigned to me did not know shit. She said i needed 1 anti tetanus shot, 2 anti rabies shots and 4 immuno ek-ek shot. Seeing that the proce of the immunoglobulin (or something like that) was more likely to kill me than any infection i can get from our dog, i asked what its for. All the witch said was "pangontra". I asked her kung pangontra saan, she said sa rabies daw. Eh may anti rabies ka na, may pangontra ka pa sa rabies? hmmm... And she raised her voice at me and Che. The guts! so to you witch doctor... Fuck You! hehehe

III.
And since the immunoglobulin chuchuvels will cost me an arm and a leg (total amount of shots they say i need is 28k, and my health card would only cover 15k) i opted to get the anti tetanus and anti rabies which is roughly 3k, and will be covered by fucking medicard. And then i remembered... i hate needles. Hard to believe huh? Seeing that i have about a total of 12 hours of ink in my body, i should be very comfortable with needles. But im not. So i took the shots hesitantly. And now im suffering from intramuscular pain. A couple of the shots were intramuscular vaccines and my right arm now feels like it was beaten to a pulp. Even the sheer weight of my had dangling from my arm causes pain. I was trying to put on a shirt so i can go buy dinner and i nearly cried from the pain. LOL seriously, the dull throbbing coming from my arm is killing me. Not the rabies fortunately. And so to Medicard... with whom i am entitled to 110,000 pesos in health care but would not cover all the shots i needed... Fuck You! Yes i'm pissed. So Fuck You! hihihi

IV.
But i still love the dog. Pero hindi muna kami bati hanggat masakit pa arm ko. LOL

Motor Swap

***A quick note: this post was inspired by Tweety's post Life After Death.

I.
Just like most car enthusiasts, i love my car. I go places with her. I spend hard earned money on her. I even spend money i haven't earned yet on her. And just like all relationships, we had our ups and downs. Some of them are my fault, some hers but for half a decade we managed to survive.

II.
After years of being together i guess she just decided to die on me. I received an email confirming it, my beloved engine has died on me. Maybe it was because of the way i drive or i didn't maintain the her as much as i should. Or maybe it was just time for us to move on our separate ways. Or maybe she has her eyes set on another car where she wants to reside in. It doesn't really matter anymore since she has decided to go. The email confirmed it. (This was how she looked like, ain't she a beauty of an engine? the 1st 16 valve engine the country has seen, i think **not actual pic**)


III.
I was devastated. I didn't know what to do. What was i supposed to do with an engine that didn't want to be in my car? What do you do with a dead car? You commute. I spent countless hours commuting to and from work. Countless hours thinking about ways to revive the old trusty car. Countless hours convincing myself that it's over. That i have to move on. And for awhile this was how my engine bay looked like. Empty.






IV.
But i knew i had to get up and do something. I scrounged up and saved all the money i could and went about reviving the old car. It took awhile. Hours spent ssearching and researching. If i was to replace my beloved engine, it had to be with something better. Something faster. Something i'm sure i will love much more than the old engine. After some months i got an email saying "bro, there's a 2nd Gen Silvertop Engine at autotech's warehouse, just waiting for an owner. Why not give them a call?". I called up autotech and confirmed that they have a 2nd Gen ST in stock. I went there with money in hand and asked to see the engine. And 'lo and behold, she was a beauty.


V. I let autotech do their thing. And after a few days, i received the much awaited text. "Bro your car's done. You can pick her up anytime - shagee". I was reluctant to go to autotech as i didn't know what to expect. Shagee met up with me at the warehouse and handed me the keys. He explained that there may be a problem with the radiator and the aircon and the exhaust pipes hasn't been connected yet. I hesitantly placed the key in the ignition, saw all the lights in may dashboard turn on, noticed the new "check engine light" turn on too and did the inevitable. She fired up like a dream. I know the exhaust pipes weren't connected yet so she will sound like a bat out of hell but i was wrong. Nothing compares to the sound of high revving engine pipes or no pipes. And that was the start of me and my car's love affair with the 4AGE Silvertop. We still have our issues but we get by.

***For che, who has been my high revving, high performance engine, pushing me to success and happiness.

Christmas Gifts

I.
Well not really Christmas gifts since i started buying them in early November. I have the habit of giving myself gifts whenever i can. hehehe

II.
Wrath of the Lich King: I actually borrowed money from Che to get this but since i have no plans of paying her back (ahem nine west, haha) i'm considering this a gift from her. *not the actual pic*

III.
DVD Drive: I was having problems installing the above game because of my messed up DVD Drive so i got my trusted PC a new DVD Drive.
IV.
Cordless Phone: Something i've been wanting to get for years now. Quite pointless since i rarely use the phone but then again, i still got myself one.




















V.
Skullcandy: I've been dying to get new headphones but i still had the Pioneer headphones Che got for me. But a rat ate the cable and so, i got permission to get myself a new one.I got myself the Skullcandy Hesh and i also got Skullcandy Smokin' Buds for Che. All i can is.... Skullcandy is love.
VI.
And finally, the one i'm most excited about! Mares X-Vision Liquidskin. For better looking underwater pics! hehe and it's in hard to find Mid size.***Post processing done on adobe lightroom.

Anilao December

I.
As you may have already know, we had the BUSRROC checkout a couple of weekends ago. It wasn't what i was expecting. I didn't expect to have much fun since we'll be having training dives, but then again being with my dive group, everything will always be fun.


II.
The day formally started with a couple breakdowns. Yes breakdowns. The van we rented had a flat tire in SLEX and a broken suspension part somewhere in Bauan Batangas. We we're sort of pissed that we were behind schedule and might not be able to do the dives we have been wanting to squeeze into the training.




III.
Nevertheless we managed to get to Dive7000 about an hour late. Briefing started immediately after we arrived. Room keys we're given out. Dale discussed the itineraries which had to be altered since we were behind schedule.

A. Familiarization Dive (For the night dive)
B. Navigation Dive.
C. Night Dive.
Next Day
A. Fun Dive! Twin Rocks
B. And yet another Fun DIVE! Arthur's Rock.
C. Search Dive ( Part of the Training)

I must admit that we were more than ecstatic to know that Dale managed to squeeze in a couple of fun dives for everyone. And knowing we'll be going to twin rocks for the school of jacks known to be inhabiting the site recently.

IV. The familiarization dive was done in front of Dive 7000. It was done to familiarize us with the site we'll be diving later in the evening. Everything went well except for GJ's 400 peso flash light that got flooded (hehe). And we met our first puffer fish. hehehe








V.
For the navigation dive, the group was divided into two. 1st group has Davo, GJ and Noel while the 2nd group included Me, Gene and Che. To my understanding the 1st group's navigation went without a hitch. I screwed up my navigation and a little lack of communication with my team mates led to overshooting the objective. Fortunately we had a lot of air left and Dale was willing to give us another try which we finally passed.

VI.
The night dive was the highlight of the day. We had terrible visibility at 10-20 ft. Noel and GJ got separated and Gene and Davo was stuck in the middle of planktons praying the rumored Anilao Whaleshark wouldn't appear and scare the living daylights out of them. Words can't describe being underwater at night so here's a link to the pics.







VII.
It was a great weekend so far but nothing could have prepared us for what was to come next. Diving in Twin Rocks to see the school of jacks. Fish feeding was fun although i prefer hovering behind the group and just watch the fish. Gene had a scare when a huge batfish attacked the bread in his hand. But still, nothing compares to seeing the school of jacks. It was like staring at a shiny satin curtain made of... well... fish. haha. More pics here.

During the surface interval, Dale wanted to talk to us about some plan changes. I don't like plan changes. But then again after hearing Dale's new plan, we were more than excited to cooperate. Dale decided to have the search and recovery dive at Arthur's Rock. So it wouldn't be just a fun dive. This is to give way to a trip to the cathedral. We'll be swimming from Dive7000 to the Cathedral!

VII.
Search and recovery went well. Other than the fact fact that we didn't follow our own search plan. We managed to recover 4 of the items but i lost one of them (LOL again sorry noel) and me, che and davo getting lost and ended up surfacing quite a distance from our boat. Good thing Dad (Our favorite divemaster) was there to watch over us. It was an epic failure but like i always say, not all search and recovery operations are successful. haha!






VIII.
And so it was time to navigate to The Cathedral. We were told that davo would be given the compass and would be tasked to navigate for the group. It was also our first dive without the training shirts (the white tshirts we always wear) as we were no longer in training. It was an optional dive and no one was required to come. But knowing our group, regardless of how tired we were, everyone went. Compressed air addicts. Che and i also had our first underwater kiss (cheesy but it was my idea haha).

IX.
Overall the weekend was great fun. Dale even promised to take us on a night dive to the Cathedral next time we dive. The weekend answered some of the questions that's been bothering me. Why do i dive? Why risk everything for a mere hobby? And the answer is... because i can. Diving isn't for everyone. You need to really love it to be able to really do and enjoy it. I love the water. I love the ocean. I love the creatures i see when i dive. I love the people i dive with, my group, our instructors, the diveshop the people. I love the idea that no matter how stressed and tired i am, i can always go below the surface and escape from it all even for just a few minutes or an entire weekend, because i am afterall... a diver.

Much thanks to my dive buddies Che, Gene, Davo, GJ and Noel. Our instructors and friends the Garcias. Thank you giving us more than the required training and encouraging us to be better divers. I just love these guys because you don't just dive with instructors, DMs and Rescue Divers when you dive with them, You dive with friends... family even. So again thank you Brett and Dale (instructors), Dad (Brett, Dale and Tweety's Dad who became our Dad as well and is also an accomplished Divemaster) and Tweety (The Garcia's bunso and our beloved Rescue Diver).

Shit Happens

I.
To people who know, i was applying for a supervisory position at work for some time now. I did well in the exam. Apparently i also did well in the interview. Unfortunately everyone else did better. Other applicants had weeks to prepare. I had an hour and a half. So i have an excuse to fail LOL. And fail i did. BUT i had a talk with my Operations Manager earlier and i was offered a project based supervisory position. It's not as good as the post i was applying for but im sure the learning experience will be worth all my time. Thanks to Boss Mic for the trust. I owe you one.

II.
A couple of nights ago, i heard from a friend that an ex of mine died in a fire. She was the secret ex. The one "She" never found out about. It was almost a 3 year relationship. We had good memories but relationship priorities tore us apart. She was the ex i never really expected to hear about again. But then again i had to find out she's dead. She died with her Mom, Dad and her 4 year old daughter Sophie. I've always wanted to meet Sophie. And i never will.

It's strange when people die on you. You suddenly start to remember little details about them. I remember how she likes wearing boots. And how she carefully wears them after getting dressed. How she says "ponget" instead of "pangit" in her strange st. paul/dlsu accent. How she said she never liked sci-fi, that's why she never liked Lord of the Rings (i had a good laugh at her statement). And just how a sweet young woman she is - was.My prayers go out to Marnelli and her family. I still can't get my head around her death.

III.
I guess this is also the time to thank God for all the blessings. I slowly getting where i want to be. Thank you Lord for always being nice to me. And for taking people away but bringing in new ones.