I woke up about 5:30 am this morning due to the loud banging on my door, it was the wake up call (the whole sleeping plans for the holy week is ruined). As a family holy week tradition, we always go to the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Bulacan for the usual Via Dolorosa. The place isn't that jam packed with people anymore, though the place is still busy with city dwellers doing their devotee duties for the week. Slept mostly during the drives. I miss my bed!

I arrived home around 12 noon and it was so damn hot as hell! I regretted turning down my friends invitation of going to a beach house in Batangas to spend the rest of the holy week. With a sun and temp like that I just wished I was lying half naked in the sand giving myself a sunburn rather than like being inside the convection roaster like my room.

Just bored myself and tried to get some decent sleep. Malls are closed like any other establishment around Metro Manila. I just wish I had work this day!

P.S. The plans of going to Pagudpod were cancelled. Plan B was sleeping through the rest of the Holy Week. Plan B was also forcedly cancelled.

I semi-retired playing badminton more than seven months ago. Brought about by choice and circumstances that made me to choose not push myself in playing competitive badminton.

Time – post grad classes eating up my Saturday schedule and Sunday being only my rest day. Friends – the Sunday morning badminton guys I usually go with already broke up, I resting on Sundays and most of them now making a living outside the country. Finance – active lifestyle is an expensive lifestyle, am making small steps in making a hiatus from this lifestyle.

But just recently, a friend of mine invited me to play for the Engineering and Architecture cluster for the 1st All-UP Alumni Badminton Cup. It was then that my passion for badminton was rekindled. Playing badminton and playing for my college just made me decide to go playing again instantly.

So I've got my Yonex racket re-stringed again, bought a few shuttlecocks for stock, and attended the group's last minute practice. But darn! It only made me so frustrated. I couldn't get my old play back. The footwork was gone. The smashing needs great tuning. The drops needs a little lowering. Sigh! It was very frustrating for someone who have played the sport since high school even before everyone was bitten by the hype. Oh well, I guess it's the price I have to pay for concentrating on my workouts and other priorities, plus my semi-retirement in playing. How frustrating? Let's just say… QLC just recurred.

Fortunately, we made it through the elimination rounds, we were one of the 4 teams out of the 8 teams to compete for the semi-finals and final rounds. Other teams are composed of alumni of other colleges not only from Diliman, but also from other UP chapters. No one in the team really expected it. We thought that we'll get the needed rest last Sunday, but we qualified. Thus, with a heavy heart, cramping legs and aching shoulders we managed to give the best we can with our remaining strength. We didn't make it to the third place though, but it was kinda achievement for us who were assembled last minute before the tournament.

Amongst those who competed are from the alumni of College of Science UP Diliman, College of Dentistry of UP Manila, College of Human Kinetics of UP Diliman and etc.But more than all of this is reliving the atmosphere of being in UP again. It wasn't held in UP though, but being with fellow alumni made the atmosphere the familiar UP that we are used to. We share two passion, passion for the Alma matter and passion for badminton.

Kudos to the organizers and participant of the 1st All-UP Alumni Badminton Cup!

TODO : Post team picture.

P.S. : The finals event will be televised (I forgot the name of the Asuncion's show about badminton). I'll be somewhere along with the crowd. Hehehe.