Close Call...er Text
Woke up so early today 'coz I was so excited about our trip to the beach. I did my daily morning rituals, packed my beach stuff and waited for the clock to strike 8:30. I killed time by just lying down on my bed and... I suddenly dozed off. It was a good thing Plum texted that she's already at Starmart, so the beep of my cellphone woke me up. I could have missed the outing there. Close one...

Off To The Beach
From the house, picked Plum up at Starmart then headed for Jollibee AS Fortuna where everyone was to meet. At Jollibee, I couldn't resist the tempting smell of the strawberry pancakes served at the table beside us, so I just had to buy one to keep me going through the excursion. We left the place at around 9:30. We rode a multicab to Lapu-lapu, then rode another multicab to take us to Mar y Cielo. On the way, we bought some ice and jugs of mineral water.

Trip Down Memory Lane
When we reached the beach, a sign read PORTOFINO BEACH... Portofino Beach??? What happened to Mar y Cielo? It's been 7 years since the last time I visited that beach. It used to be so nice.. with the sunken pool bar, the resto overlooking the sea and that nice lawn with a kiddie nipa hut we used to play around all afternoon. Now, some cottages don't even have roofs and walls, just a cement skeleton of it. In short, the place has long been abandoned.

Surviving The Great Outdoors
After settling down in a cottage by the shore, we began to cook our lunch... one big fish, squid and pork belly... hmmm... seems like some people are evading the practice of fasting and abstinence. We had fun with our little "sugba-sugba". Hope there were no city health officials there, or else we could have been sanctioned for substandard food handling... hehe... how does pork belly with a few sand particles taste? ...salty and crunchy!!! We had some discussions over lunch on how to run the student paper this school year. After sharing our views and expectations, we raced to the shore. Dive, dive, dive!!!

Amazing Race
Plum and I had to leave the beach for a 2:00 meeting with the CompE chairman. It was 1:30 when we left the beach... and it was a race against time. We walked from the cottage to the gate which was rather far... not to mention the blazing heat of the high noon sun. My shoes took a beating from the scorched earth. We then rode on a tricycle (not motor-powered) to the main road. Waited for around 10 minutes for a #23 multicab to take us from Mactan to Mandaue Hi-way. From Mandaue Hi-way, we waited for like 5 minutes before we could take a multicab to bring us to TC. Arrived: 2:40... out of the race.

It's really amazing to be trekking the outdoors this way. Being accustomed to the pleasures of driving or riding in a car, it was a great experience walking under the heat of the sun and taking tricycles and jeeps/multicabs for long trips.

In The Flesh
When we arrived, the chairman was still having a meeting with the incoming 5th year students... supposed to be the batch I should belong to...argh! Anyway, after the meeting, I finally met the chairman in the flesh. Correction again... its Dr. Maja...with a "J".

Fingers Crossed
After talking with the chairman, Mitch, Tot, Plum, Rey and I had a brainstorming session to discuss some changes we will implement in the council starting this year. We will be concentrating on fund raising, tight budgeting, proper fund allocation and fund management. With more money, comes more projects, lesser worries and our belts won't be that tight, leaving extra cash at the end of the year to give the succeeding batch of officers more foundation to build upon. Hope that our new treasury system will be received by the other council officers with much optimism. Let's keep our fingers crossed till April 25, when I'll propose the new scheme to them.