Four Mountains In A Day (Climbing Mt Marami, Mt Buntis, Mt Nagpatong and Pico De Loro In One Day)

“Ruth di ba sabi ko sayo walang baguhan? Baka di niya kayanin!” 

Once upon a summer, I was invited to a mountain climbing. As an adventure junkie, I went for a go in a heartbeat. It was my first official climb. Not to mention my first four mountains in a day climb. That was one of the most exhausting experiences in my entire life. But one of the most valuable experiences that made me better understand life itself.

At 2 am, we were on our way to the first peak to conquer, Mt. Marami. Meeting my fellow climbers looking so professional about this thing had me worried if my 2 bars of Snickers and a liter of water would get me through the day. I was even ready to bail out when one of the organizers said to the person who invited me, “Ruth,di ba sabi ko sayo walang baguhan”.

I felt backing out. Why go through this when I could sleep and read the whole day? But that person told them I can do it and winked at me. My mind argued. How dare is she to believe I can do it? We are talking about four mountains here! But on one note, what would I lose if I do this except for few calories. I decided to stay. They already had my registration anyway so Mr. Giving Up you are not an option. That person believed that I can do it. And when I signed up to this I also thought I could do so.

The first 30 minutes of the trek was fine but as hours passed it was killing me. My sweat trickled from anywhere and I panted like a dog. Hopelessness seeped in upon hearing them we were not even half of the trek. I was hungry and thirsty and starting to think if my colleagues were on drugs. Like how could they walk normally and steadily while my heart was ready to explode? Ah, pain… Endless pain…

Then I found myself standing before a crystal clear calm stream.  I was staring at myself and asked, why do I keep on whining? Pain is part of the journey. Can I just enjoy this? I looked around realized how the morning sun could be so beautiful when clouds and fogs try to hide it. There were wild flowers silently screaming to be noticed. Climbers who were willing to share their stories. It made the climb easier. Sometimes in life, we are just too itchy to get something done that we failed to notice and be enthralled by the simple things that come along the way.

When you are about to conquer the peak, the ascent could be very rocky it will hurt your hands. The path is getting narrower you have to look closely. You have to grip well in order not to fall. You have to be mindful every step of the way until you get there. Thirst, starvation, wounds, scars, they are just few of the pains to deal with but they won’t matter when you finally stand at the peak, feeling on top of the world as you savor the earth’s splendor. No pain, no gain, they say. Same goes with life and successes. You have to work for it. And you just don’t give up.

Upon descent, the summer sun was hostile hot it felt like my head was to be ripped off. I barely had any water left and I was tired my surrounding started to blur. I walked and stumbled, walked and stumbled for eternity. My exhaustion tricked me to give up and just when I was about to, I caught a glimpse of our jump-off site. Funny it is with life. You won’t really know if you are approaching the finish line when you focus on pain too much. But if you keep going, you will be surprised it will be over. And it pays when you just don’t give up.

And there one mountain down, three more to go and it was already 12 midnoon. Next stop, Mt. Buntis. Everyone was eager to take over the next peak except me. Dehydration had me down. I wanted to push through. Prove these people this rookie can do it but my feet were not just up for the challenge. Swallowing my pride, I told them, I’d wait at the van. People call it quitting. I call it being smart. I could feel my system dying. If I don’t listen to it, I could be courting more serious trouble.

Accepting failure in life is never easy. Most especially if you are trying to please spectators. But in the end, I should know that we are talking about my journey here and not theirs. Yes, I made a pass in climbing this peak. I’ve learned that giving up is not a bad thing at all. Giving up when you know you cannot do it at the moment because of circumstances you are not in control of is fairly okay.

It was already dark when we reached the third mountain. This time, I felt better and was back on the challenge. Mt Nagpatong was an easy climb. This taught me that after every fall, you just keep going and you’ll be stunned how things unfold.

By 8 pm, we arrived at the last peak, Pico de Loro. My mind, body and soul was morose I could not take anymore mountain. I decided not to climb it. Almost all of us did except the four hardcore mountaineers. I was not ashamed of it anymore. And adage could say he sky is the limit but reality is, at some point, you need to acknowledge constraints that are way beyond your control and seek the best option. You can always get back into it the next time. You just don’t simply give up when you intend to try it again next time when you are capable and ready to do so.

Life is full of rocky mountains to climb. It sure is to be thrown with tons of pains, struggles and bottleneck the most tempting to do is give up—our dreams, our goals, our passion. Just keep going. But if it is way too much and you could not take it anymore, give yourself a break. Learn to rest. Learn to breathe. It is part of not giving up.

Basic Speech No. 10

Pioneer Trailblazers Toastmasters Club

Priceless Tips On How To Survive Metro Manila Traffic

Commuters, D-R-I-V-E!

Hunger Games. That book series turned to movie where two representatives from different districts have to participate in an annual death match in the name of food.

The battlecry? Survival of the fittest, elimination of the unfit.

Our day to day life is indeed a survival of the fittest and elimination of the unfit. You need not read or watch Hunger Games to see that. Just try commuting in the Philippines. And it’s more fun in Metro Manila.

For those who have cars, all you have worry are the following: money for gas and toll fees, coding days, plus double, extra, super patience for the metro’s traffic.

For us commuters, what we have to worry are just two deadly things: 1) running out of bus to ride, and 2) running out of oxygen chasing buses along with other feisty and desperate-to-get home passengers.

As an experienced EDSA commuter where falling in line is a deviant practice, I urged everyone to D-R-I-V-E!

D is for Diet. Imagine a pack of tigers, only they are humans, pushing everyone around in order to get in the bus’ minimal door. No offense meant but being thinner (and flatter) is helpful in slipping inside a bus swarmed by hungry passengers. But like toothbrush that needs toothpaste for better result, diet must be coupled with exercising. I learned it the hard way. Being petite makes it easier to just slip but also it is easier for you to get off balance when the big bad guys are your competitors. Okay, time to hit the gym and put some muscle here (my triceps I mean).

R is for Run. Cheetahs are the fastest land animals on record, so the report shows. I beg to differ, ladies and gentlemen. It’s humans! Go to Ayala bus station during rush hour and you’ll see what I am talking about. Hundreds of them running like hell to approaching buses just to get in.

I did not entertain this novelty of commuting so I missed a lot of dinner at home and soon grew tired of this so I learned to play the game. I am an experienced runner now and still on training every day!

I is Ignore Good Manners. My mom brought us up with utmost respect especially to elders. So when an oldie gets on I gave way. You’re welcome. And that’s one of the reasons I get to my destinations late. I know better now. I must be objective. Who cares about the PWDs, the pregnant women, the mothers with their infants? Put your game face on! But just like drinking reminders, do it moderately.

V is Vigilance. Once I too preoccupied getting to office on time so I made my way through the crowd as quick as possible. When I finally boarded, I fished for my smartphone only to realize it was gone. Should I scream? No, I would be nuts to do that! Should I call the police? Oh God! Where are the police? Lesson? Use handphones.

Vigilance is also necessary for all sex maniacs out there who pretend to brush off your chest or butt when the bus is jam-packed or in sudden break. This is also as equally important for those conductors who do not dispense tickets and play deaf when asked for change.

Extend Patience. No matter what you do, shit happens. I wonder how many commuters out there had their relationship shattered after being late on a date or on a birthday. I wonder how many business deals were postponed and how many love letters they got from the HR giving suspension for the well-performed lates. In all these, patience my dear, patience.

I cannot pinpoint what really is the root of this problem. Is it so many people that our vehicles cannot accommodate? Or just so many undisciplined people that makes commuting an agony? On the one hand, could it be that we have so many vehicles our roads can longer accommodate or simply a lack of effective system. Might as well call MMDA…

Meanwhile, if you want to be on top of surviving, go DRIVE.


Basic Speech No. 6 (Pioneer Trailblazers Toastmasters Club)

Why You Buy More Than You Think In Malls

Where is your favourite mall? Imagine yourself inside it. You decided to buy a pair of running shoes. Just a pair running shoes. But with its big ON SALE sign across halls, wide array of clothes, beauty products, etc, etc.. You ended up with a number of shopping bags. Inside-- traveling pillow, bag, new headset, powerbank, new t-shirt and lastly, your running shoes. Then it hit you. Your credit card is badly hurt or worst,  you won’t be eating right for the next 2 weeks to cope up with your diminishing budget.

Good evening fellow toastmasters! Life is tricky. There are times that despite our strong will to just stick to what we need, we ended up wanting and getting things that are not supposed to be part of our list. But what is it with malls that make us disobedient shoppers?

Come let us go shopping as we uncover the science of malls!

Let us start at the very entrance. Here, there is nothing much to look at. It’s called the decompression zone. Purposely designed for you to acclimatize. Designed to allow us contemplate about proper spending mode.

And then once you are into the mode…

What scientist called scripted disorientation technique kicks in…

 Have you noticed that there are no clocks in malls? Inside we enjoy so much of the goods and bargains and the next time we know it, it’s closing time. Usually we can tell what time of day it is but inside you can’t. Unless you check your watch once in a while which is rarely. This is so because aside from having no clock inside, you can rarely have a view of the outside. Plus the lighting and color schemes. It’s  always day inside and the more we think it is still early to go home yet, the more we are vulnerable to throwing unnecessary stuff to our shopping cart. A very genius way of skewing our perception about time.

Malls. They are designed to make you spend money and sometimes you do not realize it making you vulnerable to impulse buying. Something called the invariant right is one of the culprits. You see, we grow up to walk and drive keeping right. Unconsciously, we also do so in our shopping and the retailers knowing this keep their bargains and most of their goods at the right.  So maybe next time you like to keep left? :)

And same thing is applied in supermarkets! You see, they could have put the condiments, the meat and the dairy in the same aisle for us to save time. Are they just so OC about arrangements? You buy meat and because you need ingredients in cooking it, you have to go to the condiments section. And on your journey there, a lot of discounted products caught your eye and before you get to the section you intend to, you have a bottle of shampoo in your cart.

Christmas is fast approaching. And in this season of giving, a well thought gift is well appreciated by receivers. Be it a signature bag or a simple pen, malls offer us the convenient venue to shop. But remember, malls can make or break us. It may have almost everything we need but if we won’t be cautious, we might be spending for something we don’t truly need.

Life is tricky. But as tricky as it seems, there are always ways out. One is, knowing the shop for wise SHOPPING.

Happy Holidays!

Basic Speech No. 8 (Pioneer Trailblazers Toastmasters Club)

Why do we love SELFIE!

#ATM, # Abs! Abs! Just woke up! No filter!

#ATM. My friend Payee busy with her selfie as I savour
the moment reading at the peak of Pico De Loro. 

Imagine these selfies flooding your FB, twitter and instagram accounts every couple of hour? Like me, you might be a bit annoyed. Good Lord! What is happening with the world? But what is it with selfie that more and more people get hooked to it?

Good evening ladies and gentlemen! I am Aiza, and tonight, we will talk about that thing called Selfie! And when I say ‘selfie’  that does not mean giving you thousands of reasons to condemn selfie-holics but digging into the science on why do we do it.

The first selfie was taken with a mirror. So we tried to get the feel.

Selfie. The term made it to the Oxford new lexicon late of 2013.  It means  a photograph taken of oneself typically taken with a smart phone or a webcam and shares it via social media. Many thought this is a millennial thing but back in 1839, a renowned American photographer, Robert Cornelius had already taken the first selfie. And it was not until early 2000s when the term was officially mentioned during an Australian Internet Forum.

Photo from justcreative.com

As we speak, there are more or less 300 million photos tagged as selfie in Instagram alone. Add FB and other social media and you will a more overwhelming figure. But really, what is it with selfie that even after 176 years since it was first recorded, it’s still on its pinnacle to fame? Well, different social media platforms + affordable smartphones + free internet connection =  SELFIE! Upload! Like! Like! Like!

Do people take selfie merely for self-expression or vanity?

In her article Psychology of Selfies, Dr. Courtney Seiter explains that people like to take selfie as  a self-portrait and as self-expression. We want our selfies to define us. 

Another thing is that we want to feel important. A selfie with Pope for example makes you feel involved. "Hey look at me I was there when Pope was here! I participated! 

My sister Ellen and I having a blast taking selfie on a cold
morning in Baguio City.

Moreover, selfies won’t gain its fame without our support. Maybe after posting 10 selfies and you don’t get some likes and the call of courtesy comments like, “pretty!, gorgeous! Nicceee!”, you would quit. But no! As much as we fancy taking photos of faces,we also fancy  viewing photos with faces. That is because humans notice faces first. On Instagram for example, pictures with human faces  are 38% more like to receive likes and comments against those with none. 

As I peeked to comments of the selfie articles I’ve read, considered worst selfies are those taken without apparent purpose or those taking selfie for the sake of it. Interesting selfiesare those with something interesting to see.Writing this speech made me remember a friend telling me that people like to have selfies to be famous. I beg to differ because currently, we have the Kardashians, Rihanna, Paris Hilton, P Diddy acing it for the most selfies among celebrities with more or less 300 selfies on average.

Psychology says selfie is neither vanity nor a mental illness.  Selfie is one way of crafting our own identity. On the other side of the pan, selfie may pose danger as well. The number of accidents happened while having selfie is accumulating and there are also researches saying it could both boost and lower self-esteem.

We are the master of our own ships. WE have a lot of options on how to use selfie to our own advantage.  So if it makes you feel connected sharing #ATM, if it inspires you to do more to maintain those abs, if it makes you special waking up just the way you are, then take more selfies!

Life is too short to stop yourself from doing what makes you happy. But life is also too short to be a victim of the emerging technology as well. 

(Basic Speech No. 7, Pioneer Trailblazers Toastmasters Club, Makati City)