Incoho Summer Outing

 

Incoho Summer Outing

May 24 to 25, 2008

Clear Water Resort, Subic

The company’s summer outing was delayed this year. Normally we would hold it early April but with the recession in the US wrecking havoc on the exchange rate and by extension on our operation budget I had decided initially to cancel it this year. Yes, I am a party pooper. But that powers that be (i.e. Anthony Woods) felt that it would be a great morale booster for the company. (Bah humbug, Im’, foiled again!)

So mid-April we started looking for locations that would be sufficient to hold a bus-full of pent up stress looking for release and consumption of copious amounts of alcohol.

Let me first express my thanks to the people who made this outing a success.

            Tony, for picking up the tab.

Jamela, who worked tirelessly coordinating and finalizing arrangements for venue and transportation.

My main girl Sheryl for helping out in organizing the outing, making sure we had enough supplies. She’s the true captain of the ship, I just take the credit.

My second main girl Joel, for making the evening fun and memorable with games and activities.

Dino, OJ, and Alex for additional oversight.

Bernie, Christy, Anna et al for being there and helping out when the proverbial shit hit the fan. (you know what I mean.)

So, arrangements were made by end of April and all down payments were paid. Fast forward May 24, we were scheduled to leave the office at 9:00 as soon as the last shift ended. The bus came just a little behind schedule. No biggie really since we accounted for it. As soon as the bus came, we started loading the food, alcohol, speaker system and the kitchen sink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon as the clock hit 9, the last shift logged out of the mainframe and made their way down to the bus and we were off.  Bus ride was uneventful. Everyone was preoccupied with their MP3 players and with the movie that was playing on the bus’ DVD player. I recall catching a glimpse of three movies while I drifted between semi-consciousness and being awake. The Marine, with John Cena, Balboa, with Sly, and some parts of Blood Diamonds with Leo DiCaprio. I tried to doze off but with the tight leg room it just wasn’t happening. Mental note, get a bus with better leg room next time.  We made a quick stop in San Fernando for lunch and I had sizzling sisig which was disappointing cause it was way too generous on the onions. There goes my cholesterol.

We finally arrived at the resort after more than four hours on the road. The place is quaint to be mild about it. There were three cottages reserved for us. VERY basic accommodations really but we were only going to be here overnight and my crew is pretty much used to rouging it so I guess the place would do. We brought a ton of beer anyway so they’ll probably be too drunk or too exhausted to notice the crummy accommodations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The guys quickly settled into their cottages. I picked the third cottage, the “executive villa”, was how the caretaker described it. What a joke I thought. I had wanted to take pictures of the interior but I thought this termite infested dust bin wasn’t worth wasting data space on my digital camera. When I was pacing the room, I could actually feel one part of the floor on the verge of collapsing. I assured myself that  I was going to get piss drunk tonight to numb my senses. My only consolation was that the aircon was working.

While my guys were settling in, I decided to take a stroll and snap some pictures. The sun as about to set and I had hoped to capture some sunset shots.  I wasn’t disappointed. Although it had rained right after we arrived, the sky cleared up and a glorious sunset presented itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sunset was glorious. The horizon radiated with a gold tint as the sun was setting behind some clouds. The tone slowly transformed from a golden ember to a pink hue as the sun fell below the horizon. This is what photographers call the “magical hour”, thirty minutes before sunset and thirty minutes right after it falls below the horizon. Something to do with the light getting really diffused in the atmosphere makes it ideal for photographs. I’m really happy I captured the fantastic colors. It looked liked it was going to be a memorable trip I thought to myself.  I normally don’t join company outings. And my reason is actually quite self-less. I want my crew to have a good time cause they, well most of them, get their fair share of beating from me at work. And having the big bad boss around might make them feel awkward about letting their hair down. Dino, my operations manager, fills the role of fun cop in the company and usually takes on the role of chaperon as well when outing time comes. But he wasn’t going to be able to join this trip so it was my turn up at bat.

Here are some of the sunset shots I was able to capture.

 

 

Fast forward an hour later and it was dinner time. We made reservations good for fifty heads and the food served by the resort was gobbled up in no time.

After dinner, Joel and Jam got the games going. The agents were divided into two teams and competed in a series of contests ranging from a cheering competition to relay sack races and obstacle course. The noise was boisterous as everyone gave it their all.

The tug of war turned out to be an all out muscle contest. Each side wanted to beat the other so bas as can clearly be seen in their faces.

Rope burns abound after the tug of war. It was now time to hit the bottle for some, hit the beach for others, and hit the karaoke machine for a few, daring and at times clueless.

Volumes of beer, tequila and what other form of alcoholic libation was consumed as the night went on. Celine Dione and Whitney Houston et al wannabees took turns on the microphone and belted out to their heart’s content.

 

The power went out and the resort had to shift to their emergency generator. Thank goodness that was working otherwise the weekend would have been a total wash. The only problem is that the water ran out and whatever flowed from their main tanks was in trickles. The shower head in the main cottage by the way was busted. Oh yeah, no shower in the “executive villa.” So I had to drag my toiletries to the main cottage and take a shower there. I had to make use of a pitcher and pour the water over my head which isn’t a problem. The problem was that it took almost five minutes to get the pitcher full of water as the water. So after what seemed like an eternity, I finished freshening up.  This trip was going to be memorable alright. I can’t recall taking a shower that long.

Fast forward some more and it was now the stroke of midnight. There were still some who preferred to enjoy a midnight swim and even stayed in the water till the wee hours of the morning believe it or not. I actually retired at around 3AM and there were still some people in the water. It always worries me during summer outings that someone might get wasted and go out for a swim and, knock on wood, have an emergency. So I stayed up late just in case I needed to play Hasselhoff and drag someone’s ass out of the surf. But it looked like the sea was very tranquil and I was just too exhausted so I retired for the night. (Or morning to be accurate about it.)

So off I went to my “executive villa”, (the name still makes me break out a cynical smile) and in no time I was in slumberland.

The next morning started right. The sun was out early and I had a late breakfast. Some of the guys wanted to go around on an outrigger ride. I decided to stick around the resort. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was still nursing a headache from lack of sleep the previous night and with everyone gone and no one to hog the microphone on the karaoke, I thought I might belt out a couple of my “audition pieces”. I decided later on to take a stroll around the compound instead and see if there was anything else worth taking pictures of.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall the weekend outing was a success in the sense that the agents had fun despite the VERY basic conditions and botched up coordination between the resort owner and manager. I console myself with the fact that I walked away with a few good sunset shots. So it wasn’t a total loss.

Would I recommend staying at this resort? Not to anyone I’d want to keep as a friend.