The Road to 40 Day 59/365: Pickleball Monday

My sister-in-law Angge had a pickleball session set for this day, and we decided to join them for some physical activities for the kids.

Tia slept over, and she’ll be spending a bit of her vacation with us. Her mom said she would be stuck in her tablet at home since she’ll be working, which is basically what Vino will be doing as well while I cook or do something. At least they’re together while doing it and talking along the way.

They woke up relatively early compared to the time they slept. Maybe it’s the excitement of getting to spend the day together, or maybe they just woke up when Che got up from bed. Either way, we’ll have some activities later on, so it’s good that they’re up.

I cooked some mini sausages for their breakfast, while Che had a sandwich before she left.

I wrote the blog as they played Roblox and we prepared to leave. The session was for 1-3PM, so I thought we should leave by around 11:30 so that we can still have lunch. We ended up leaving at 12, and I thought we wouldn’t have much time.

Amazingly, there was no traffic from BGC heading to Marikina. It took 20 minutes for us to reach, so we still had time to eat lunch before the game.

Pickleball is something I never knew I’d ever be able to take up. Didn’t see it seriously, probably wouldn’t watch it on TV. But Vino liked it when we first tried it, and it’s easy enough to learn.

I feel like it’s a bigger version of ping pong. Table tennis without a table without a table should be tennis, but this doesn’t feel like tennis at all.

We left Vietnam in July 2024 and visited in December. In those months that we were away, maybe a hundred pickleball courts sprouted around the area. We had the opportunity to try it then with a friend, and we thought it could have been a weekend family activity if we stayed.

It’s a growing sport, and I guess it’s easier on the knees compared to badminton or tennis. I saw a lot of older people (i.e. my age or a bit more) playing it before our session – learning to play and competitively playing.

My brother-in-law Verge gave a quick tutorial for the first-timers Kathreen and Tia, as well as a kind of refresher for Vino and Momshie.

The kids just wanted to hit the balls. Vino usually gets frustrated if he loses so he doesn’t like to keep score and plays how he wants to play. We did get in a bit of a competitive match, as Caleb and I teamed up against Angge and Kath.

It was a pretty long game that we ended up winning.

After our session, we waited for Angge and Verge to finish with their friends. We spent time playing in an arcade.

As much as I like playing the claw machine, I realized it’s only enjoyable when the machine actually tries to pick up the things. We spent a good amount of tokens trying to get something, but we just got frustrated and moved on.

We got a few tickets for playing some of the games, but it was only good enough for a few pieces of candy.

We left when Angge arrived because I wanted to try to beat traffic. Traffic can be super bad as evidenced by Friday, and I wanted to be back by dinner so we can have it with Che.

She was having a super busy day, and I wanted to have a nice dinner with her to end it. She had a big interview coming up later in the night, so I wanted her to be in the best condition for that.

After dinner, we checked out the newly opened Laduree shop to check out the macarons. Vino is crazy about the raspberry macarons from Angelina, but we haven’t really found a shop that sold something that rivals that.

Since Laduree is a French patisserie, we thought it might have a similar taste. Che bought a box of 8 just to try, and we found that it was just as good and maybe even softer.

When we got back to the room, the kids and I stayed in the room while Che went for her digital interview.

It’s a pretty big deal, as it will be a new role for her if ever. I can’t help much apart from wishing her well and encouraging her, but it’s all her.

Che has always been an achiever. From our time in school to her life in corporate, she’s been among the best. It’s rare for her to be in an interview and not get a job that she went for.

It’s been such a norm that I don’t even know what to tell her sometimes. But I saw how devastated she was in her last interview but she didn’t get the role. So now it’s more of trying to put her spirits up, but not too much that she’ll be confident that it’s in the bag.

Right now, it’s out of her hands, but she did her best and done her part. We wait for news, and we’ll figure out if it’s good or bad when the outcome is revealed. 

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