It was a glorious two-night, three-day workbreak for me and my family last weekend. Tiring, but certainly worth every moment.
I took advantage of the holiday, All Saints’ Day, which fell on a Monday. I just hope my deceased parents do not decide to visit me at home as I failed to visit them in the cemetery. Me, my wife Marissa, our only apo Livi, my son JM with his longtime fiancee Joy, and daughter Eunice, drove around Batangas with a side trip to Tagaytay in Cavite thrown in.
Billeted at the Lima Park Hotel in Lipa City, we first went to the nearby The Outlet, which was full of people with the easing of travel restrictions. We started to drive around the following day, had breakfast at Kuwatog’s nearby, lunch at The Lakeshore Resort in Balete, just beside Taal Lake, then to a bee farm in Lipa, to visit a friend and his wife from my Victoria Court Days, Noel and Gigi Resurreccion, then back to the hotel.
It was a cold and rainy Tuesday morning when we checked out of the hotel, decided it was worth a drive to Tagaytay through the Talisay zigzag, for brunch, and feasted on hot bulalo and tawilis. Next destination was a visit to my wife’s brother, Choy in Lemery, but the best was yet to come.
On the way home, we dropped by Tierra Cuta in Alitagtag, a beautiful private resthouse overlooking Taal Lake with Mt. Maculot looming on the right. It was opened to the public and hard to get reservations, but as Gen. Douglas MacArthur said, I shall return.
And return we did after my son left his bag there with all his cards and cash. We were already in Lipa then, but had to turn around, very happy to be informed that a local help found it and turned it over to management. Indeed, there are still a lot of honest people in this world.
With that, we resumed our trip home but had an early dinner in a roadside resto in Cuenca that cost us the stupendous amount of P600 for all seven of us. We finally arrived home in Taguig close to 8 p.m., tired but happy.
But even as I was having a good time relaxing and enjoying the countryside, action was non-stop in the NBA, which I was monitoring and based on the standings as of Tuesday night, I can honestly say I love the Knicks and the Bulls, second to the Golden State Warriors and the Heat that is.
The Warriors were tied in first place with the Jazz with similar 5-1 slates, with Dallas and the not so super team of the LA Lakers rounding out the top 4 with 4-2 and 4-3 records, in the Western Conference. Actually, Memphis and Denver also toted 4-3 records in the same conference.
The surprise teams were Minnesota and Sacramento at 3-3, while a disappointment would be Portland, 3-4, and last year’s finalist Phoenix in 10th at 2-3.
Of course, it is too early to predict anything but then who says it is against the law to do so? I expect the Top 4 teams to be the same teams as now, with some changes in the next 4.
But while it is more predictable in the Western Conference, I cannot say the same for the Eastern side, topped by Chicago at 6-1, the Heat at 5-1, and New York, Washington, and Philadelphia, without Joe Embiid with similar 5-2 records.
They were followed by Toronto and Charlotte, 5-3, Brooklyn and Atlanta, 4-3, Cleveland, 4-4, and defending champion Milwaukee, 3-4, and Boston, 2-5, outside the Top 10. I expect the Bucks, though, to make it in the post season, all the way to the Top 4.
But it is the Knicks, one of the oldest teams in the league, dominant in the early 1970s with two championships behind Willis Reed and Walt Frazier, presently powered by Julius Randle, up-and-coming RJ Barrett, and two ageing but still very effective superstars in Derrick Rose and newcomer Kemba Walker, that I like.
The fans are back for them and basketball is alive and well in New York, same in Chicago, the team with six titles in the 1990s, behind Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Plus the addition of DeMar DeRozan and Lonzo Ball, teaming up beautifully with Zach Lavine, makes the Bulls a serious contender. Too bad New York and Chicago cannot meet in the finals, except in the conference championships.
But if there is a team that can stop either of these two, the blue-collar team of Miami would be it after Kyle Lowry joined hands with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo this season.
A long way to go, but things are shaping up in the NBA.