IF THERE IS ONE cliché chat I truly be­lieve, it's the line "Ev­erything happens for a reason." Time and again, so many fortunate and unfortunate incidents occur in our lives that are   baf­fling and unexpected, but Tessa that we just need to accept. When awful things happen, we grow more worthy and righteous, and when good comes, we need to stay humble. Even if we ques­tion why things happen, we can only learn from life's challenges and try to become a better person without losing focus on what re­ally matters. My luck with digital cameras has been terrible. Last week, my latest camera was stolen. That's my third stolen camera, believe it or not! Since I take my own pic­tures for this column, I carry my camera everywhere, right next to my cell phone. My evening bags need to be big enough to carry both gadgets, plus the rest of my paraphernalia—lipstick, hand gel, perfume, mirror and of course, my HSBC Red Card. Losing a camera is of the same frustration level as losing a phone. Unfortunately, I had not yet downloaded the photos from the farewell party of Tom Zita, the country head of the Kuok Group of Companies. The Shangri-La Ballroom was packed with well-wishers bidding him bon voyage on his retirement, as Tom now focuses on being a more active grandfather. Truly, family is his top priority and it's always admirable to see someone bow out at the top of his game. The day my camera was stolen, my adrenalin was pumping from very early that morning. My 20-year-old son, Bryan, and I were invited to the BMW Club 1 The Hunt—Media Edition by BMW marketing wiz Leana Fan-ales. We would be racing around in a BMW 1 Series, completing tasks for points. As a member of Club 1 (www.clubl-bmw.com.ph), I was already familiar with the car and figured we had an advantage against the other five teams. I figured we just needed to beat two other teams and we'd make third place already. My driving skills are not the best, but I'm a great "back seat" navigator. Bryan and 1 knew it was a fun competition but thought we might be the weakest team, so we were the most challenged and de­termined to succeed. From the beginning, we were truly at a disadvantage as points were deducted for tardiness. Ob­viously, I woke up late for the 9 a.m. stan. I told the organizers that they should at least credit my efforts for getting up that early! In my rush to get ready, I changed in the restroom and accidentally left my camera inside. When I re­alized my stupidity, I rushed back in but, of course, it was too late. My Canon Digital Ixus was gone! It is hard to be positive about believing in the goodness of Pinoys but. like 1 say, everything happens for a reason. Maybe something terrible was going to happen, but by my losing the cam­era, that took the bad karma al­ready I should have taken the ad­vice of World of Feng Shui owner Maritess Allen and protected myself from the bur­glary star with a blue rhino. I shall have to visit her new shop at the Mall of Asia soon. I also need to thank Toni Castro, who lent me his photos for this article.

After a moment of depression. I was race-ready thanks to the po­tent caffeine of UCC coffee. Our team color was green, my favor­able color, as it is the color for those born in the Year of the Rab­bit. So I was feeling lucky again until Brvan told me the car has manual, not automatic, transmis­sion. Although he knows how to drive both, my son is not that com­petent with a stick shift. At the stan of the race, we almost stalled.

As I focused on our race plan to chart the order by which we would accomplish our tasks, Bryan was still not getting the hang of driving and we actually stalled on a bridge on the way to one of the dealers of BMW. It was totally hilarious, but we were panicking while apologizing to the other motorists around us. We switched places and I drove the rest of the race.

We also "improved" our street knowledge by getting our family driver to lead the way in another car. Thus, we found Autohaus BMW right away and proceeded to Wassik BMW thereafter. We even got all the way to Pampanga to accomplish the task with the most points. Dream driving Driving the 1 Series at top speed on the N'LEX was a dream. To any law enforcement people reading this, let me just note that this top speed is an exhilarating 80 kph, well within the limit. I could feel my adrenalin pumping again. It also helped that the car is iPod-ready and Bryan put on his rave sounds (or whatever they call their music today) and I felt like a teenager again. After having toured most of BMWs six dealers, we headed to Mall of Asia to collect more points and a free pair of Nike shades at Nike Vision. Mall manager Steven Tan quickly ananged for a car valet and an escon to the store. On the way, I spotted a World of Feng Shui Shop and quickly de- toured to shop.

After garnering over 5,000 points, we were already late for the finish but Bryan calculated that if we completed two more tasks, we would still be up. So we rushed to CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN and Gold's Gym, where he had to complete a cir­cuit of exercises, and finally made the dash to the finish line.