Tuesday, December 20, 2011

First Core Journal Entry



I am a free and rational walking mannequin.

Usually, mannequins are built just for the sake of marketing and modeling products, specifically clothes. They may be owned by either the clothing line owner or the mannequin’s manufacturer. Being in the possession of someone else does not make you a hundred percent free being or rather, not free at all. As an assembled grown woman made of hard and durable plastic, one is incapable of moving, one is inanimate, one can only remain how she is made: standing up with one hand pointing to the sky, or sat down with the back arched low. In order to be rational, one needs to be able to think on her own but apparently, mannequins do not have anything beneath their synthetic skin. Brains and synapses are not present in the totality of a mannequin; therefore they are unable to produce outputs.  With these characteristics, mannequins are just plain sculptures; their only difference with the typical expensive and grand sculptures is that they are not treated as special as the others. Looking up into the thesaurus section, the word mannequin is one and the same with a ‘dressmaker’s dummy’ as compared to the word sculpture, it is the same with a monument. While I am a mannequin, many are sculptures who have great importance in the society.


Just like all the other products in the market, mannequins need a factory where they shall be created, molded and assembled. This place will be responsible for how the mannequin will turn out after all the processes. A sanitized, organized and supervised factory would most probably produce a high-end appearing life-sized doll; and on the contrary, a very cheap and brittle doll would be created if the factory is not very meticulous in making its products. As we all know, there are certain rules in every institution, they may not be that obvious in some institutions but a set of laws is essential in an institution. These policies will define a member’s being; without them, an institution may fall out and fail.
In the modern society, most items for consumption are technologically made. Factories are generally filled with several machines to aid the laborers in manufacturing different goods. It is partially true that computers and machines or technology in general exist to give support to human beings’ work because in one way or another, these pieces of equipment dehumanize their users.


If we are to look at mannequins and the process behind creating them in the eyes of a post-modernist, we can look upon the laborers as the authors and the mannequins are the narratives they create. Comparing mannequins to human beings; physically, the two are not far apart in fact, mannequins are patterned after the image of human beings. The two entities may also be similar in the factuality that they are both narratives of many different authors. The manufacturer can write the tale of the mannequin, and so can the stylist of a certain clothing line who will use the mannequin as a model; on the other hand, the self may write the narrative of a human being and so may her friends, family and even a stranger.


I am a free and rational walking mannequin. I love to dress up a lot that I usually end up looking over-dressed all the time. I am that seventeen year old girl who does not like to blend in together with the rest of the crowd. I rarely repeat outfits in a year, which helps me achieve my goal of not being among the crowd. My outfit, more often than not depends on my mood, or sometimes, I assign a specific theme each week to make my days seem more creative. I have never been interested in fashion as much as I do nowadays. I think the reason I am fond of clothes today is my friends; two of my best friends introduced me to a website called lookbook.nu a year ago. Lookbook is a website where people from all across the globe can join and post pictures that would showcase their outfit. This lone site in the internet inspired me to wear more appealing clothes in public. Later, I then told about this to my brother who in turn had the same effect that I had.  Internet and technology play a huge part in creating the “self”; just like what happened to the four of us, these can change a person in a short period of time. Apart from being amazed in the different combinations one could make out of clothes, I am also fond of playing the piano, singing, photographs and animals. These hobbies have developed through time and alongside the change that is happening in our society.



Just like what we have discussed in class, the society decides and determines what the self would be and vice versa. And although institutions create rules and barriers to guide the growth of a person, it would not hurt that much to drift away from the usual setting once in a while for this, in time, helps you learn many things about yourself and helps you create your own and unique image.

I am a free and rational walking mannequin. I am a dressmaker’s dummy. I am a singer. I am a UP student. I am seventeen. I am Yana and I am a narrative written by many.

Word count: 900

Saturday, November 19, 2011

1D Fascination

Let me deviate away from my typical how my life is going posts.

Lately, I have been playing One Direction tracks repetitively; or shall I say, watching their music videos one after another. I just could not resist their good looks!

Gotta Be You, their newest single, has been played twenty times already this day.


Watch it in 1080p so you can see their beautiful faces clearly. Haha!

Also, last night, my brother and I searched tumblr for any posts about the group. There have been several results, and I tell you, they prove that 1D boys are just so adorable! Here are some GIFs from different blogs in tumblr.




See what I am telling you about? These British-Irish boys can make several girls fall in love with them just by acting silly; what more if you hear them sing? 

One Direction finished third on the seventh series of The X Factor. Following the X Factor, the group signed a recording contract with Syco Music.

The group has 5 members...


Harry Styles


Liam Payne


Zayn Malik


Louis Tomlinson


Niall Horan


If I were to rank them from the hottest to the nottest (? - just so to rhyme) it would be: Zayn, Harry, Louis, Niall and Liam. I do not know why, but even though I find Zayn the hottest, I still like Harry the most. ;)

P.S. I actually cannot believe that I created this entry about them; but I figured I'd post it anyway.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Socio 10 [1st entry]

During the enlistment period, I realized that my Philosophy 1 class is in conflict with my Mathematics 100 schedule, which is 3-4pm. Since the Math class is apparently, more important, I had to scamper to the Philosophy department in the Faculty Center to cancel my enlisted class immediately. Right after, I sprinted to room 118 of the Math building to enlist my desired Math 100 class. Nervous, frightened, and excited at the same time, I waited for the result of the E-prerog; seeing my Math 17 instructor write on my Form 5a gave me a feeling of relief. Also, looking at my document, I realized that I now lack one GE-SSP; dying to get the enlistment process done, my friends and I ran to the FC to look for any available classes. Fortunate enough, Socio 10 [4-530pm] class has been opened, I took this opportunity to finally enlist an SSP and at the same time a Phil. Stud. class. 

Clueless of what the class will be about, I immediately left the MB and rode a TOKI Jeepney to be able to climb up the stairs to the third floor, and reach the 18th room of Palma Hall on time. When our mentor started talking, in my mind I kept on saying to myself - should I look for a different class? I found the people in the air-conditioned room very intimidating, that is why I had a difficult time thinking of what to answer to the quite simple question what is your nickname and what are you doing here. Luckily, I need not answer it with a fancy statement but rather an honest one and by the end of the period, I thought it is very interesting to be able to share ideas with people from different departments, and figured I'll stay in the class.

Never had I come across a democratic classroom; most classes I have been to, if not all, have had an authoritarian setting. Usually, students are not given a chance to state their proposals to reinforce the class policies, contents and the breakdown of grades. That may be the usual setting in classrooms but not in Sir Cardenas's classes. The class was divided into three groups and given fifteen minutes to deliberate on the changes we wanted to make. At 4:15pm of November 17, 2011, the students of Socio 10 THY started to throw their proposals to be written on the white board and be reviewed. It was a long process, all views on a certain suggestion were examined and evaluated. After about forty five minutes to an hour, the class together with Sir Cardenas agreed to take off the lower bound of the word count of journal entries; to adjust the breakdown of grades to the values that would most probably benefit most of the students; and decided to include arts and culture to the content of the course.

As a student, I am used to just accepting whatever there is to be done and be followed. To me, this process is very effective since it hears the sides of both parties, the teacher's and the students'.  The democratic setting of my sociology class appears to be fair to everyone. I am only hoping that this does not show any disrespect to our instructor for "sort of" questioning his syllabus. I only wish for all instructors to be like Sir Cardenas, understanding and fair. 

Looking forward to this class. I must conquer my fear of reciting in classes. Lastly, by the end of the semester, I must have been able to share with others, my insights and experiences and learn from their insights and experiences as well.

word count: 612

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Second First Day

November 8

9:00am - Tuition fee payment at Landbank

10:00am - SM Hypermarket + Tiendesitas with Grace
Was able to buy 2 tops for P200.

*have not had breakfast nor lunch yet

2:00pm - Transferred all my files from my old laptop


to my new one

Yes, I know, downgrade to the highest level. Even so, I am thankful for my new laptop; now I do not need to suffer from screen problems.

4:30pm - Pinoy Big Brother Unliday time! Also, late brunch.

6:00pm - Mom called, saying I should get my things ready right away because she needs to bring me to my dorm again and proceed to tita Dang, who is in a very bad condition.

7:00pm - Mom, Tita Bol, Grace and I rushed to tita Dang's house only to find out that she can no longer respond. She also has been hallucinating already and losing all of her senses one at a time. These are believed to be signs that a person is dying. 

11:00pm - I am back in my dorm, with swollen eyes and runny nose.

November 9

12:00am - Happy birthday to my beloved brother!! He can never be forever 21.

4:00am - Tita Dang passed away. :'(

------------------------------------------------------------

Excited, frightened, horrified...
These emotions are what I usually feel during the first days of classes. Every class provides a different mood and setting, but there will always be that one feeling which is similar to all of them, the feeling of being nervous. I have always had stage fright, even until now. Even though I was part of the high school choir, even though we have had several public speaking activities already, even though I am confident enough to speak to anyone, I still cannot control my fear of being put under the spotlight alone.

Yes, I was excited to be going back to school once again, to meet my friends, and to learn new concepts that would probably just be forgotten after a few months. So I went to school wearing my P100 worth t-shirt which has tiny black stars on the cream colored cloth and topped it over my 'supermarket' distressed grey jeans. Protecting my feet are my leopard print flats and to be able to bring everything I need for school, and for keeping myself groomed, I have my white leather backpack.

First class of the day was my PE, floorball or indoor hockey. When our coach started orienting us about the different house rules to follow, I suddenly remembered my previous PE instructor, coach Anto. I suddenly missed my futsal classmates, I missed our closeness, I missed our loud shrieking noises and of course, I definitely missed Andres Crisanto Gonzales. So not to be sad or give out a gloomy aura, I just looked at it as an inspiration to make this new PE class as much memorable as the first one I had.

Next up at ten in the morning was Communications 3 at the 5th floor of the CAL (College of Arts and Letters) building. Climbing up the stairs was already painful but the intimidating tone of my instructor was worse. Just seeing his lips move sets my teeth on edge. One thing I hate about the first day of classes is the Introduce Yourself portion. At the moment my teacher says "what are your expectations" or "what is the reason you enlisted this class" or "say something interesting about yourself" and the like, my throat dries up and my heart begins to beat faster. Fortunate enough, I was able to surpass this challenge and start to get the hang of it. I was able to recite a couple of times and by the end of the class, I realized I am already having fun.

Moving on, after having a one-and-a-half-hour break, my two consecutive mathematics classes await. My practical math (Math 2) goes first then with a thirty minute interval, calculus (Math 100) is up. Typical. Mathematics classes are not-so-boring classes but at the same time are not-so-interesting classes. Well, what else can I do? I require myself to take up these classes or else, I would not be able to shift to Business Administration (BS BA).

------------------------------------------------------------

I find the colors very pretty and chic.

I find it funny how I usually get excited every first day of classes. Back in high school, we had four first days and four year enders. Now, it is sad to know but let us face it, we now get to have more first days which means, more excitement but also, every time the semester is near its end, sadness greets students eagerly in every classroom. Although we get to have more acquaintances, we get less time to spend with our new friends because most of the time, we are  figuring out who to befriend and this leaves us even less time to hang around and have fun conversations with them. 


Just being silly in front of the camera.

The first day of the second semester of my first year in the university has finally gone to the past. This day shall forever be remembered.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

My Futsal Family


This photo may seem out of place here but I just feel like placing it anyway. This was shot after we took our Math 17 final exams. Honestly, I did not expect the test to be that easy; I was kind of expecting an exam which is a lot harder than what they gave us. On the bright side, I got a greater chance of passing the class many feared they would fail.


May I introduce to you my team, Black Pepper.(L-R) Morgan, our goalkeeper; Oh my god I forgot his name, let's just call him The Oblation Scholar; Renz, our star player; Louise, my sub; and Corina, our forward.


It's kind of  funny how I still had the time to smile and pose at the camera during this stressful game.


I love being silly with my coach, or shall I say my handsome coach. There is just something about him that makes him very attractive to everyone. Also, what is nice about him is that he can play around with his students.



  
  
These photos were taken I think before, during and after the championship games. Sadly, my team did not make it through semi-finals or I think even eliminations. Even if we did not get in, the other teams from our class did, our class can be called the Best Futsal Class of 1st Sem of AY 2011-2012. The champions of the two divisions (Saturday & Monday) are both from our class; they are White Sauce and Green Peas respectively. 


Our class may be the loudest, craziest and closest among the four futsal classes but we are not just that, for we definitely have the best players as well. It is amazing how we all fit in and play as a family unlike other PE classes.







(L-R) Nikki; Ryan; Renz; Mikee (on top); Maan; Me (on top); Hillary; Ana (on top); Stan; Kathryn; Margo; Jodel.

We just cannot get enough of ourselves. On my last day of classes, we all agreed to go out and have a bonding. This only proves that our friendship does not end with the semester.

My futsal family will always be the best group of my first semester in college.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

New camera!!! My mom got home from Malaysia and brought, as expected, a Canon 60D with the 18-135mm lens. It came with a gorgeous red camera bag, a tripod, a lens pen, several lens filters, a memory card and two adorable miniature Canon video camera flash drives.

Out of excitement, my brother and I tried to take high definition videos with the 60D that same day. Since it was already dark that late afternoon and we have not mastered the settings of it yet, we decided to just take it the next day.

Morning of the following day, the sun was up and the village was quiet and peaceful; a perfect time to shoot for videos. Cheerah! We were successful and here is our final video.

It's our first so...

Anyway, here it is!!!  (It is okay to laugh, cause I always do, whenever I see this video)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011


Early this afternoon, I dyed Grace's hair. Doing so requires us to rinse
her hair after some time, and soak it with the conditioner that comes
with the hair coloring pack. Afterwards, we had to rinse it once more, leaving
the bathroom floor wet and slippery. My feet usually slide off slowly but this
time, I was not able to hold myself up. So in conclusion, my feet slid and
my right shoulder blade was abrased by the sharp edge of the door handle.

It hurts a lot, even after a few hours.

I am currently trying to accomplish two essays for my English class tomorrow.
They need to be comprised of five pages and I am only through with one.

I hope I get them done by the end of the night. 

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Strike a pose


















[September 17, 2011] This day was awesome!



Let me state to you a few reasons why I should consider it as astonishing. For one, my best friends and I had some time  to spend together; two, we were at the Smart Araneta Coliseum watching the UAAP Cheerdance Competition; three, my home university’s cheering  team has triumphed and was able to keep the crown; lastly, my brother took amazing photos of Denise and I at the ‘garden’ of gateway.

I am very proud to be a student of UP. Not only do we have the most brilliant minds of the youth but also the finest athletes of our generation. I am incredibly glad to know that the exceptional Madonna-themed routine of the UP Pep Squad kept us as the defending champion.

As the moment we all have been waiting for arrived, Boom Gonzales started to quiet us down. Every person was caught at par with equal chances of winning, hoping to hear the name of their school. Just moments after the thrilling silence, FEU Cheering Squad came out of the dome’s sound system. The tamaraws placed third; what is interesting about this is that they were quite disappointed with their rank, shouting “NU, NU, NU” for the first runner-up award. Out of the blue, DLSU Animo Squad has gotten back on track! They won the second place in the competition. The announcement animated the audience and had us all chant the la salle cheers. Then all of a sudden, the whole twenty one thousand of us shouted “UP, UP, UP” and when Boom said the word: still...

Everybody knew...
It feels good to be part of something legendary.

Cheerah!



Sunday, September 18, 2011

/luh-keh-li/

And all this time I thought it was /like li/





















I am loving this week so far. 

Last weekend, my new cabinet was delivered. I spent almost whole
afternoon trying to get my clothes organized! I was kind of afraid to fix
my closet at first because my mom stayed in my room at the duration
I was cleaning up and I did not want her to see the new clothes I bought.

My aunt is feeling a lot better now that the water in her lungs and around her
heart have been removed. I hope she recovers from her illness faster so
we can spend time together and live the way we did before. 

Tuesday was awesome!
Before going to school, I got to watch the start of Miss Universe 2011
and learned that our candidate, Shamcey Supsup, made it into the final 16!
Arriving at the school, I was very eager to share what I know with
my block mates, only to find out that I am pretty much the only one
who cares. Although, a few minutes later, my brother started updating
me through text messages and my classmates finally found MU interesting.
It is funny how we all get nervous every time I receive a message.
Even our instructor went along and waited for updates.
At the end of the class, we finally heard about Shamcey's defeat, or rather
triumph landing fourth place among the 89 contestants.

Wednesday was weird and funny!
Math was overwhelming as usual. Art studies bored us to death, what is worse
is that we could not get any service from our classroom. Because of this, I did not
get my coach's message on time saying we are just asked to watch the cheering
practice and that he decided to declare a free cut. So instead, my classmate and I
attended the practice then ate at "Beach House". 


When I arrived at the dorm, the television was on. They were watching "Feng  Shui"
at the lobby and I decided to watch it with them. It is for me, the best horror
film Philippines has produced. That same night, HBO showed
"A Walk To Remember". I was able to watch it with my best dorm mates,
Macon and Nic Chiu. 


If only you are like Landon Carter...