Update

As all of you probably know, I am leaving in 2 months. I decided I wanted to check out what orgs to join in my new school. There are a myraid of organizations that caught my eye. One org that I didn’t notice but was suggested to me was their bowling team. This was one org that I knew I planned to join. However, as it is obviously an athletics team, they must have some sort of try-outs. I mean, they can’t possibly accept everyone, right? If only I were so lucky.

Anyway, I asked my bowling coach what score I’d need in order to make it. He said a 235 average was proabaly what I needed. I average 170ish and 4 strikes per game. In order to get 235, I have to get 6 strikes in a row, have good spares and no open frame. For those you who don’t get it, it’s like 10 levels above me. So I asked my coach what I need to do in the next 2 months. He told me I need to play 10 games everyday, 7 days a week till I leave with a target of 800-900 games before I go. During that time, I need to fix my shot, maybe get a new ball and maybe MAYBE I’ll make it. The question is, am I willing to devote money and time for a maybe? YES. Is how I’m going to spend my last 2 months? YES. I’m going to spend it for a maybe. Why? Cause I feel maybe I’ll regret it if I don’t. I’ve spent time pondering on what might have been had I stayed in bowling. It’s not something I feel strong about, but it still sucks. I guess this is one way to mitigate those feelings. Anyway, maybe I’ll succeed, maybe I’ll fail, but I’m going to try. This is a sport that I ran away from a few years ago. I guess it’s my way of making up for lost time. I don’t know if it’ll make me happy or if I’ll succeed. I sure hope I do.

I finally took a step backwards or forwards, I don’t know towards where, and got back into bowling. It felt good. Entering the bowling alley at Elanes, and smelling the oil, the pins, it just felt right. I felt home, in fact. Why did I have to come back to bowling?

Not everyone knows this, but I used to be into bowling. I started way back in my 2nd year of high school. How did I get into it? Well, my father’s friend offered to coach me for free, gave me a free ball, free bag, free shoes. All I needed to do was to pay for the lane fee. Apparently, he told my father that if I had half my father’s talent, I’d go far.

I decided to try it, and it was fun. Sure, it’s repetitive, but it’s great for teaching things about yourself. You see, in bowling, if you throw a ball and you get a strike, you’re supposed to repeat that swing and positioning. It’s a game about focus. No one can stop you from getting a perfect game except yourself. Plus, the sound of a strike, is like a piece of your favorite song. The part of the song that you really love, and got you hooked. For me, it’s that Sondheim piece in “Sweeney Barber: Demon of Fleet Street”, where Judge Turpin and Sweeney Todd go “Pretty women are a wonder.” It’s music. If you haven’t seen Sweeney Todd then think of the Pussycat Doll’s version of Jai Ho, and the part where A.R. Rahman goes “Jai Hoooooooooooo”

The first time I broke 100 felt nice. The first time I broke 200 felt sweeter. I was in the zone and hit 6 strikes in a row when I’d never even hit 4 or 5 in a row. Yup, bowling felt awesome. I would go bowling at least 3 times a week, even on school nights. I loved it. So why did I stop?

Well, H2 was the time when I joined a lot of clubs. Coincidentally, I started shooting photos for Stallion publication. I tried out for Volleyball Varsity and was in the pool. I joined the debate team and was competing. Then, I also joined the Dragon Dance team. I was also, doing Apostolates for YCLC. Now these clubs ended at 6, and my bowling started at 7 and ended at 9-10. At the same time, I was helping organize an advocacy concert. I would end up going to school lacking energy. Eventually, I quit Volleyball due to a misunderstanding, and my mother was cracking down on my bowling. Still, I kept clinging.

In my 3rd year of High School, schoolwork piled up. Now, please don’t get the wrong idea and think I study a lot, because I don’t. However, the work required…work. The research paper was not something you could cram easily, nor was the IP. If you don’t know what those are, just imagine buttloads of research and typing. By the way, if you haven’t notice, I make a lot of grammatical errors. Did I mention those were my finals? Yeah, I was swamped.

Eventually, I had to prioritize. I’m not grade concious, but I don’t like failing. Which ones would harm me if I got a bad grade? The answer was all except bowling and Dragon Dance. The thing is, I wasn’t even competing in bowling and it wasn’t a school activity.

Over the next few years, I would try to get, but I would feel ashamed because I would keep leaving to prioritize debate, because I was captain. However, I ran off to China during the most important tournament, so yeah, I suck at prioritization. I’ll live with it because I’m happy with my choice. Except, the part where I ditched bowling. However, how could I return, when I’d just leave within a week? Then I realized I was leaving the country, I was ashamed to come back, knowing I would not be able to pursue it long time.

So, what changed?

Well, I went in today for my Celadon interview (Chinese org of Ateneo). Actually, I missed my original interview because I was quarantined, or had a schedule conflict. I can’t remember. Anyway, when I entered the room, to my surprise, my interviewers were two people that I used to bowl with. One of them was the son of my coach. Afterwards, I realized I missed bowling. I didn’t break down or whatever, but I gathered my gut and texted my coach asking if I could come back. Being the great guy he is, he said yes. That’s the story of why I’m back into it. Sure, I’m leaving, but, the sound and the feel of a strike still feels so good.

There are some people who influence your life with a single meeting. Sometimes they do it intentionally, sometimes they don’t. Regardless, they leave you with a life changing, perspective altering lesson. This story is about one of those people that I’ve met.

I recall it was a night in Boracay with my friends. Half of our group wanted to go meet up with some girls they knew, and the other half was just complacent to let it happen. Thus, we moved from Station 2 to Station 1 and met up with the said girls. Afterwards, boredom ensued.

I think I just wasn’t in the mood that night for dialogue under a starry sky. Either way, I wasn’t enjoying what was happening. I sure know Michael wasn’t. Michael suggested to a few of us that we go bar-hopping. Since I doubted the atmosphere around us was going to change, unless Godzilla come out of the ocean, I decided to go with Michael.

I don’t remember how many bars we went through until we reached a small bar that wasn’t quite as flashing as the rest. It was a bar advertising their upcoming foosball championships. The name of the bar was “Hey Jude”. Awesome name. This bar was just leaking awesomeness.

We sat down and ordered drinks. While we were waiting, this really buff Caucasian with tattoos sat next to JP. When I mean buff, I mean his arms were as big as our heads, literally. The buff guy tapped JP and tried to make small talk. JP claims that “OH FUCK, REALLY BUFF DUDE. SHIT, HE’S TALKING TO ME” went through his head as he was talking to the man. I believe him.

He introduced himself as Robbie Couture, the owner of an IT business called IT Boss based in Manila. It used to be based in Canada, but then he realized he’d spend less in Manila, so he outsourced everything. Score one for the ruthless businessman. That was already one awesome point for this guy. He also told us not to confuse him for American. That’s another well deserved awesome point. Oh, plus he had a tattoo, which for me isn’t awesome, but he is, so it is.

By the way, did any of you UFC/MMA fans recognize the last name. I thought it was a mere coincidence, but it was not. This man was NOT THE BROTHER, but the COUSIN of THE GREAT RANDY COUTURE. Not only was he the COUSIN, he SPARRED WITH THE MAN. By the way, for those of you who don’t know, Randy Couture is one of the greatest MMA fighters there is. This dude was the UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion AT THE SAME TIME. Obviously, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his accomplishments after his retirement. However, he wasn’t content, came out of retirement, and won the Heavyweight Title AGAIN at the age of 42. KICKASS. Randy Couture is like a blob of awesomeness. Having just sparred with him, spills some on you, like it did with Robbie Couture.

Obviously, we were all shocked by the fact that Robbie was the cousin of Randy. At this point, Michael exclaimed “I’m so glad we ditched those guys.” Disclaimer: If you are one of those guys we ditched, and are reading this. You deserved it. Now, back to the story. Robbie then told us “Hey, you can be like everyone, or you can be someone. Who’s having fun now?” Awesome advice from the awesome guy.

Afterwards, he gave us advice which will have to be censored on this blog. It wasn’t exactly PG-13. For those curious people out there, it involved his girlfriend. Oh wait, I didn’t mention his girlfriend was there? Well, she got overshadowed by his awesomeness. By the way, she was Caucasian, and that is all you people need to know.

Yup, that was the awesome Robbie Couture, who bought us shooters afterwards, offered Michael a job, and then walked out. Wait, his awesomeness doesn’t end there. We caught him pissing on a tree. Awesome guy.

That should have been the end of the story, but it wasn’t. We met him and his hung-over girlfriend the next day on another island, while we were island-hopping. Then the day after that, we spotted him, while we were eating dinner. However, the subsequent meetings were not as charged with awesome as the first one. Still, his advice that we shouldn’t be afraid to be different echoes within my head. That advice was probably given to me through celebrity interviews, and cartoons, but it wasn’t quite delivered the way Robbie Couture did. Partly cause he could beat the crap out of me. Regardless, that was an awesome encounter, which was followed by less awesome encounters.

I actually don’t really like writing blogs. It’s just something that has never appealed to me. One of the reasons was that I wondered about what I should write about and how much of my life should I reveal? Even now while writing this blog, I find myself censoring this entry as a force of habit. After all, how much of my life should I reveal to people? If they are really good friends of mine, wouldn’t they find out one way or another about the details that matter?

So what changed? Well, I’m leaving the country and given how expensive my tuition is, I’m actually going to be studying seriously. Due to that, contact with friends from different timezones is going to be hard. I look at this as something akin to leaving a yellow stamp on your desk. I figured I’ll give this a shot. I’m going to leave random thoughts and reflections here.