Internazi

The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow. (Bill Gates, 2003)

If I had not taken socio 10 this semester, I would never have known that whatever I upload or post in the internet will be recorded and kept in a so-called database.

Frightened about the fact that all the information I share through the internet, I now limit and try to screen all the data I am about to post. This idea has taught me to carefully select the content I would contribute to the immense technological world that can be easily visited by different kinds of people from all over the world. Doing so gives me peace and somehow makes me feel safe to a certain extent.

Also, knowing that the global broad-based militant Islamist organization named Al-Qaeda sparked up through the use of the world-wide-web made my fear of the extreme effects the internet could have on the society a lot more serious. These terrorist movements benefit so much from the internet. The advantages of the internet have not gone unnoticed by the terrorist organization and no matter what their race or political orientation are, all of them seemed to find the Internet alluring.

Internet has become a very powerful tool in bringing together the different worlds of the different users of the said concept. The success of the actions Al-Qaeda has made or rather the innovation of the methods modern terrorism use with their attacks attest to everyone that the Internet, definitely, is capable of making what once was impossible to do, possible.

Relating this to my situation, the flaws of the most recent USC campaigning and elections were scrutinized and publicized by our sociology class through the internet. The action driven by pure volunteerism started when the classroom campaigns began to matter. Several problems were noticed like the bad compliance with some of the policies regarding campaigning, having black propagandas, excessive production of campaign materials, too much branding, irrelevant information on posters  and other problematic situations that are present throughout the campaign period of the USC elections. Our class posted our sentiments on the world-wide-web and aimed to collect as much signatures as possible for the newly elected psychopaths would only pay attention to our action if the petition gained the appropriate amount of signatures.

Surprised to see the results, within the span of about two to three days, the petition has gotten 700 and more signatures! That is only proving to us that the internet is really a breakthrough in our century.

Although there really are drawbacks associated with the Internet, it is still undeniable that it affects our society greatly. People nowadays would not be able to live in a world without internet. Just thinking about how much of a convenience it has been in our lives just makes the Internet a huge part of the society. Just like the basic concept in sociology wherein the society determines and affects the self just as much as the self affects the society, internet pretty much does the same. People created the internet and so in turn, the internet now can make a huge change to a person.

I can only hope that the benefits can overcome the downsides the Internet can bring.

Word count: 543

Pirates Can Live on Land Too

There are many different kinds of piracies. The following are the most famous methods to pirate data:

1. Simple piracy – it is when the packaging of the pirated copy is different from the original and is usually a compilation of many different pirated data.
2. Counterfeit – it is when the packaging of the pirated copy resembles the original and the pirates try their utmost effort to be as close to the original as possible. The companies’ trademarks are reproduced in order to mislead the consumer into believing that they are actually buying an original product.
3. Bootleg – it is an unauthorized recording of live streams or broadcast performances. This is most commonly used in pirating music.
4. Internet Piracy – this method has clearly gone viral everywhere in the virtual world. As long as you have internet access, you could be a consumer of the products made by this method of “pirating.” It is the act of compressing, posting and transmitting globally via the internet copyrighted material without the permission of the rights holders. It can be done through websites, email or through peer-to-peer file transfers. With the influx of netizens, this method would probably be the easiest way to grab a copy of the pirated material.
5. Camcording – it is quite similar with bootleg but this act is done with the use of a lightweight, handheld camera, especially the one that records data in digital form onto a storage device such as a videotape, DVD, or hard disk. So basically, one pirates a movie or a video by taking a video of the video being played, more like an inception of videos or rather a video within a video.
6. Signal or Cable Theft – it is the act of obtaining unauthorized access to cable television services. Here in the Philippines, it is more commonly known as the “jumper” wherein you connect another wire to the original cable wire to somewhat have an extension and let two televisions benefit from the single cable line.

But these merely represent the whole chain of startling methods to pirate data. There are a lot of ways other than the stated to “steal” whatever is not under your rights and use them for your own commercial gain.

That is exactly just how I would define piracy, an act of stealing and robbery or an unauthorized use of copyrighted material to benefit you and gain from it.

Here in the Philippines, piracy is very rampant and is somehow accepted by the public, mainly because it is more practical to buy the same content for a much cheaper price. There are even places known to everyone as the “domicile of pirated materials” such as the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan, Metrowalk in Ortigas and Divisoria in Manila. Although there are these well-known hide-outs where all the pirates gather to sell their pirated products, a person will still be able to find wandering vendors sneakily whispering to their ears the words “DVD sir, ma’am” constantly. Some narrow streets have been populated by illegal vendors as well and even some houses in Manila have pirated discs posted just outside their windows. Generally, piracy is out of control in the country and the citizens don’t pay too much attention on this illegal industry that seems to grow really fast.

With the given motion for a debate that is – Philippines celebrates software piracy as a force for development, I easily made up my mind and decided to write a journal entry about this topic.

Although there are a set of laws that are anti-piracy in the Philippines, it will still be hard to diminish the outbreak of pirated goods. Just as other crimes like sexual abuse and murders are hard to eradicate, it is hardly different when it comes to piracy.

Piracy is not something a lone person could commit. The target market is essential for it to continue and still prevail despite the actions done by the government to eliminate this rising problem. The family of pirates is not only made up of the people who intentionally do the act of pirating or stealing but also consists of those who patronize their work. Their consumers greatly affect their determination to use piracy as a means to earn a living and develop economically.

Personally, I don’t think Philippines celebrates software piracy as a force for development for that would mean that the government would permit the noncompliant citizens and their fascination with piracy. Looking at the situation in a realistic way, there will never be a humane way to completely do away with this illegal industry. Somehow it finds its way to persist in the market even though the government pays attention to the crisis.

Considering that my family and I are constant consumers of pirated goods such as music discs and digital video discs, I would rather keep the industry and benefit from it even though it is definitely not ethical for those companies we are stealing from. But eventually, if this grows more as a problem in our country that it causes the companies to close down, then maybe it will be better if piracy just goes to the past and be totally banned in the country; because what is there to pirate if there aren’t even original materials to steal?

All in all, I don’t really believe that our country celebrates software piracy as a force for development because we can barely see any development resulting from it. There are only mishaps and more criminals caught from piracy.

It is piracy, not overt online music stores, which is our main competitor. (Steve Jobs, 2010)

Word count: 931

What If...

What if the Philippines never really withdrew from the colonizing hands of the Americas? What if we became the 51^st state of the United States of America? How would our country look now and who would benefit from it?

First of all, if the Americans did not leave the country sixty six years ago, we would still have their military bases planted in the provinces in the North like Tarlac and Pampanga. Philippines will definitely be inhabited by many Americans and probably by other foreign nationals as well. The country would adopt most, if not all, of the policies and the set of laws imposed by the U.S. government on the states in mainland America. With all these at hand, eventually, the term “Filipino” will slowly perish and will become one with the languages that have already gone extinct; and the citizens of the Philippines, will be collectively called by something else.

Philippines will be the “swimming capital” of America with all the pristine beaches running from the northern tip of Luzon to the edge of Mindanao. With the possibility of making a great impact and a loud entrance in the world of tourism, U.S. government would probably develop the Philippines especially the astonishing sites like Amanpulo and Boracay. The Philippines will definitely be a very famous tourist spot to be visited by adventurous tourists who love the beach that are coming from different countries all over the world. Hopefully, preservation and conservation will come alongside the development and changes they would make in the country.

To be a world class tourist spot and since they will be having their military and naval bases here in the Philippines, they would see the need to invest a lot of money to improve the total façade of the country. Roads shall be smoothed out by asphalt; electrical lines shall be underground; wastes shall be properly controlled and minimized; a new airport shall replace the old one; and Philippines, in general, just needs to be improved. After all, the money spent on the enhancement of the total look of the country would be compensated by the profit Philippines would get from tourism.

Aside from being a world class tourist spot, investors would also gain interest in putting up a business in a country run by the United States of America. This, in turn, would provide job opportunities for the citizens of the Philippines and be an aid in developing the country economically. Poverty would diminish in time and concepts such as death rate, birth rate, migration rate, infant mortality, life expectancy, fertility rate, literacy rate and the gross domestic product would improve. If these concepts or factors improve a lot then that would signal the start of the development of the country as a whole and this would mean that Philippines is finally having a step forward towards being a developed country.

These are just some of the benefits Philippines would get from being the 51^st state of USA of the top of my head. Indeed, we will benefit greatly from it and there are many other advantages that can be named; in fact, there are numerous ways the Philippines could benefit from being the 51^st state of USA. But in conjunction with the pros are the cons and one of the bad outcomes Philippines could get from it is the threat of being always attacked by the anti-US terrorists. Since the Philippines is in close proximity and surrounded by the countries like China, Japan and North Korea which are known for being anti-Americanism, the country becomes a great target for these neighboring nations if in case something goes wrong and they would like to spark up a war. These anti-US terrorist movements would love to destroy the military and naval bases of the US in the Philippines just because it is a smaller target and is far from the mainland making it hard for the Americans to respond immediately.

Although we may suffer from threats such as these, it is still undeniable that the Philippines would greatly benefit from being the 51^st state of the United States of America.

But what if we already fought for our independence and gained it sixty six years ago and only thought of the benefits we would get from being the 51^st state of the USA now? How would other Filipinos view this? Would the Americans themselves permit us to be their 51^st state?

From an online discussion, I found out that many Americans would rather not have Philippines as one of their states for a number of reasons. They believe that the bad situation of poverty here in the Philippines would be a very big problem for them and would cost them so much considering the recession currently happening in their country. Also the distance between the mainland USA and the Philippines would be another problem in “Americanizing” the Philippines. They also think that the idea of making the Philippines the 51^st state of the USA is quite impossible since Filipinos are too proud and nationalistic. There was even this ridiculous and quite gibberish response which says that there will be complications involved in uniformly placing 51 stars on the flag.

Overall, if Philippines really wanted to be the 51^st state of the United States of America, then it will call for a petition. Signatures from the Americans would be needed and with the number of negative response on that online discussion alone, it could be concluded that it is highly impossible that the Philippines would be able to collect the needed amount of signatures on time. Besides, many Filipinos also refuse and rebuke this idea; they can see it as a demeaning action and just a product of the colonial mentality most Filipinos have.

With globalization just around the corner, it wouldn’t hurt Philippines to be joining America again. With the state of the world right now, it is very likely that there will be another world war in the coming years and it would be intelligent to join USA and have an alliance with them.

Personally, I would love Philippines to be the 51^st state of America. Not only does it permit me to travel freely and enter different countries without needing visas but it may also be a way to finally alleviate the worsening situation of poverty in the country. Also, faulty rules of our unworthy leaders would be terminated. Despite being the 51^st state, I would still love to preserve the essence of being a Filipino and keep the culture to even influence the other countries to adopt the Filipino culture.

So, what if Philippines became the 51^st state of the United States of America? I guess, it will probably be the same. Only, we are now called the citizens of a group of states under a common government more commonly known as the United States of America.

word count: 1,147

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

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.

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

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. :'(

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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).

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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.

Blast From The Past

WARNING! The following photos are hilarious. (well for me they are)

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.

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)

CLICK!

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. 

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!

/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...