My 19th

So yesterday, I celebrated my 19th birthday. So lemme just roll out how it went.

I woke up.

I heard mass.

I had breakfast with my dad (my sisters still had school).

I watched the new episode of Once Upon A Time.

I went to church for a meeting with my acolyte group.

I had dinner at Tender Bob's.

I watched Oz: The Great and Powerful with the fam.

The day was okay, I guess. I've had worse. I've had better. I just don't think I'll be able to remember this day in, let's say, 20 years.

I'd love it if I got a surprise party. I don't know, it's just something that I've always wanted. The mystery and the shock you'd get to find out you had one. It'd be priceless. 

Though I don't think I should expect anything like this in the years to come *sigh*

Keep Dreaming.

Measuring the Academic Year in teachers [Part 1]

Now that the year has ended, I decided to give my opinion on the different teachers I had this year, whether or not they were memorable.

Professor # 1

One of the first profs I met in UST. This teacher is like watching beige paint dry: boring as hell. I seriously swear it's like he/she doesn't even have a personality. Well, I'm sure he/she has one, it's just very boring. It's not that I'm hating on this teacher, whoever, I felt it very boring to focus in this class because his/her voice was very monotonous. I swear, once I tried to record the class so I could make notes afterwards. It would've worked, except I wanted to sleep while re-listening to the lecture. And I'm still pissed that this teacher gave my group a low score on one of the major requirements for that class. I swear, we deserved a better grade because our output was more creative than everything else that I saw. Also, this teacher said that they wouldn't be around in the next semester for consultation, yet I constantly saw them around.

Professors # 2 and # 3

I had these professors work hand in hand for this particular class. When the semester began, I didn't really care for these two. I found them to be very, yet again, boring. But as the semester continued, I can honestly say that I grew to love these two. There were some times were I felt bored during their class, and there were times were I felt they were being a little to harsh on us, but overall, they were nice people.

Professor # 4

I loved this next prof. First off, he/she was a great teacher. I really understood the class and was really motivated to do my homework and study. More importantly, this prof was funny as fuck. Whether it was making fun of other people, or just being sarcastic as fuck, I really appreciated his/her sense of humor.

Professor # 5

This prof was really annoying. I hated his/her hair, and the fact that it always looked wet. The way they spoke english was annoying as well because it felt very forced. But I will admit this, I found that the class he/she taught was very easy. I don't know if it's because the tests were easy, the topics were easy, or because I've been succeeding in this class since high school. But on a good note, I think that this prof seemed more like a class moderator than our actual mod. I think it's because we met this prof more often, she usually checked up on us, and reminded us on different requirements and announcements around the college and the university.

Professor # 6

This prof was really adorable. I think it's because of the age. He/she was really nice and friendly and approachable in and out of the classroom. However, the class was very boring. As in I would sometimes doze off and when I'd wake up, it'd still be his/her class. And I'm still bitter that the very long assignment he/she gave us was only considered 10 points, considering it covered  almost 10 chapters.

Professor # 7

Hands down, this one was my all time favorite prof for the first semester. This was one was the coolest I might ever have. Aaminin ko na ngayon na lalaki siya. He's literally like a brother to a lot of us, especially considering that he's a new teacher. Smart, cool, pogi,I'd love to have a prof like him every year (every sem nga kung kaya eh hahaha). He's down with talking about personal stuff (like his girlfriend) and even video games! And it's cool na medjo may pagkamanyak rin siya hahaha! But not like the pedo manyak, the funny manyak.

Professor # 8

Ugh. One word. Boring. I literally felt like his/her voice was some kind of rape drug, meant to put us to sleep. I'm not even gonna go into the details of how boring the class and prof were. Let's just say that the prof is a nice person in and out of class, although he/she never fails to comment on my weight :|

Professor # 9

Last one for this entry! I've had this prof for both semesters. Turns out this one was also prof to my dad when he was in bio years ago. During the first sem, I really could not stand this prof. I mean, up to now, but for some reason he/she's kinder than he/she was before. I swear, ever since we gave him/her pizza, he/she's always been in a good mood towards us.

Keep Dreaming.

Change your world, change your mind

"This is the beginning, the beginning! This is the beginning of the rest of your life!"

- RuPaul

This academic year was full of ups and downs. Good times and bad times. As a matter of fact, when it [the academic year] began, I was a bit doubtful about the decision I made; whether or not I made the right choice in transferring from the Ateneo to the University of Santo Tomas. As this school year is nearing it's end, I've made my verdict. Moving from Katipunan to Espana was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

I'll admit that I was hesitant that I wasn't so confident in myself and my decision to transfer last June. During the first few days of school, I'll admit I had a hard time making friends. In fact, during the first few days of school, I spent the breaks by myself. I usually just bought food from the carpark and sat down and ate, praying that the break would end soon so that classes would resume, which would mean that I'd get to go home soon. It reminded me of the scene from Mean Girls, where Lindsay Lohan sat in the bathroom during her lunch break because she had no one to eat lunch with on the first day of school.

I'm just thankful that there were people there who somewhat recognized me from our facebook group. I'm glad I was able to talk to them and prevented me from being a loner on the first day of classes. While this continued on for the next few days, I'm glad that I was finally able to make a group of friends that I hung out with.

Later on, as the months progressed, I slowly started coming out of my shell. No longer was I the quite boy from Ateneo who sat by himself on the first day of school. I slowly morphed into this loud, outgoing, confident young man who owned the world.

Also, I was able to establish my own set of friends. At first, it started out as a group of individuals who sat together and whined and bitched and moaned and talked smack about anything and everything under the sun. Though, as the days past, we slowly grew up. Soon, it just became a small set of friends that I felt safe and comfortable around.

Cabana Crowd [03.08.2013]

Also, I kind felt lonely in my group of friends, mainly because I was the only guy in there. Luckily, I was able to establish my own set of bros. My own set of manyaks that I can be myself 100% of the time. If it wasn't for them, I don't know where I'd be able to release all of the tension I have, especially since I'm used to an all boys environment. With them, I get to be loud, rambunctious, crazy and all that shit that I'm used to from hanging out with boys 24/7. And I can easily open up to them. I mean, yeah, I do the same with the Cabana girls, but there are just some things I can talk about with the boys that I couldn't with the girls.

The Chikinini Gang (w/o Dan)! (L-R: Me, Louis, Raf, and Rex) [02.28.13]

With Dan at his surprise 17th birthday dinner! [11.21.12]

The chikinini gang! [11.21.12]

This year also marked several firsts, but the one that stood out to me most was just recent. For those who follow my blog, in my last post I was pleading for you guys to vote for me and my party #TatakBio for this year's Executive Board of the Biology Society. Well, the results just came out yesterday. It turns out that I won :) and so did a lot of the members in my party. This was the first time that I decided to run at a higher level (I'm used to running in class, but never anything for my batch, let alone the ENTIRE biology community). I'm honored, but I know I have big shoes to fill, and an even bigger responsibility. Not only am I part of the executive board of the ENTIRE biology community, but I am the school's OFFICIAL representative to the BMAP or Biology Majors Alliance of the Philippines. God, that is some pressure. To represent your entire school to an alliance of the bio majors in the country, that's insane. But it is a duty that I am proud and honored to have.

Anyways, this school year has been amazing so far. I've met so many new people, made new friends, experienced new things and I've grown so much since March of 2012. I think if I were given the chance to go back in time, and talk to HS me, the biggest piece of advice I can give him is that there is Life beyond Ateneo. There are so many things I would've never experienced and so many people that I would've never been able to meet if I didn't leave. It's like being an artist or a performer. Playing it safe will not take you to that next level. It's all about taking a risk, taking a chance, making a change and breakaway.

Keep Dreaming.

TATAK BIO

So, I decided to run for the home org/student council type of thing for my course here in college, Biology. Apparently, their original candidate dropped out and my friend Tisha (who is also running) asked me if I wanted to run. As someone who was active in extra-curricular activities in high school, I immediately jumped on the chance to be active again. I can't even express how much I've missed extra-curricular activities this year. I also found this as an opportunity to widen my circle of friends and break out of my shyness shell as a freshman.

So for three days, we spent our breaks (and sometimes during our own classes) to campaign to the different bio blocks that are eligible to vote. I honestly felt good with my speech, but I was more confident about it after I added the 'tweeting' part. I'm honestly still scared about the elections on wednesday, even though I'm running unopposed. I think running unopposed is riskier than running against an opponent. Think of it this way. Let's say there are 1000 voters. If I ran against an opponent, an it ended up 200 for me, 199 for my opponent, and the rest abstained, I'd still be the winner. If I ran unopposed, I would need 501 votes for me to be considered the winner. No less.

So, if there's anyone from UST Bio here reading this, I hope you guys vote me and my party :)

TATAK-BIO: Tapat, Totoo, at Aktibong Kabataan ng Bio!

Service for All, kay CHINO ROBENIOL

BIO will go far, with ABBY ESCOBAR

JANE GALAMITON dahil sa serbisyong on na on, siguradong ikay' matuturn on

Kay JONA VASQUEZ, serbisyo'y at it's finest

Dahil kay TISHA, IN ka

Kay KRISTINE, walang pondong mabibiTIN. Level up!

You're gonna like, like a VIRGIL, running for the very first time

CASSANDRA DELA VEGA, ang inyong CASSama, CASSanga, at CASSandalan sa kwentahan

MELO MELO MELO MELO, ang inyong INTERNAL PRO

Hatid ni HO HO HO, information on the GO!

Always ready ang serbisyo, basta kay IVY BULESCO

Serbisyong walang palya, basta't kay ANGEL ESTELLA

DARLS ALOYA, ang DARLEN ng buhay niyo

Dito ka na sa BIBO, AKTIBO, TAPAT, At KARAPAT DAPAT

Keep Dreaming.

Subic Bay Venezia Hotel

Happy 2013 everybody!

So last week, my family and I decided to go to Subic for some R and R, and we decided to check in at the Venezia. So... I decided to make a short review about our stay at the hotel :)

Masks 1

Masks 2

Okay, so when I walked it, the first thing I noticed was the wall of masks. Well, it wasn't just a single wall. It was a whole baffle of masks, extending up to the near bedroom area. I personally loved the whole mask theme that the hotel had, because it reminded me of the old school carnivale that I used to hear about in Italy (Venezia, better known as Venice, is in Italy). 

On the first floor (I think there are only 3 floors), if you look forward, you'll see the front desk. To your right, you'd see a small waiting lounge, as well as a mini-bar. I don't know if they serve drinks, but I do know they serve dessert. Since it was Christmas time, they had a small faux fireplace near the lounge area where a lot of guests had their picture taken. 

Fireplace

Lounge

Beyond the lounge was their partner restaurant, The New Feng Huang Restaurant. As you can tell by the name, it's a chinese restaurant. We only at there for breakfast because we were out for most of the day. During our 3 day-2 night trip, I had their Bangus and Bacon with egg combos respectively. In my opinion, the Bangus was alright (I still prefer the Bangus dish we prepare at home). The Bacon and Eggs dish, however, was actually pretty good. I don't mind it if my bacon is soft or crispy (Bacon is Bacon). The bacon was the right mix of soft and crispy, and together with the eggs and sinangag, it made the perfect breakfast.

The New Feng Huang Restaurant

On the left side of the first floor was a mini store. I'm not sure exactly what they sold, all I know is they were selling a bunch of foreign alcohol. If you go forward, you'd encounter the first set of bedrooms, as well as a stairway leading to the upper floors. Our room was actually kinda nice. I loved the whole, old school, victorian feel that our room had. One concern though, for me, was the bathroom.

First of, there's no divider between them, except that the bathroom is a little more elevated. And it's not even a room. Like when you get to the platform, to your right is the toilet and to the left is the shower, with a vanity mirror/sink in the middle (thank God at least the toilet had a door). Next, the shower door would not lock. As in it wouldn't even close, there'd be a small space where the door would be open. The shower, I don't if this is true for all rooms, has a bipolarity problem. Once you find the perfect temperature, the shower would tip over. Like from your desired temperature, it would become scorching hot, then it would become freezing cold.

Another comment I had was the air conditioning. It's one of those hotels with centralized air conditioning, so there really wasn't anything we could do to control the temperature. We felt that their coldest temperature wasn't really that cold. I mean, sure if you put your hand infront of the aircon, you'd feel a little bit cold. However, in general, the temperature was pretty normal. Though I guess this could also be a positive thing since I usually get cold as well.

Overall, I enjoyed my stay. I think my favorite part of the hotel was the free wifi that it offered, since it allowed me to keep in touch with all my friends back in Manila. I'd say that Subic Bay Venezia Hotel was worth going to. I also enjoyed how friendly and hospitable the staff were to its guests. Each time we'd encounter one of the employees, they'd always to stop to acknowledge us, and even greet us good morning/evening when they saw us.

The revolving Christmas tree outside the main entrance

The casino outside the main entrance

The roof over the driveway infront of the main entrance

Rating: 4/5

Keep Dreaming.

Happy Holidays 2012

Throwback

Luke 2:8-14

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Keep Dreaming.

Paskuhan 2012

So last night, I experienced my first EVER Paskuhan! It was so fun, you can't even imagine. I'm glad that my best friend Louis was able to convince me to go! Lemme narrate how my day went :)

So yesterday, I had to take a taxi from QC going to UST because my dad was using the driver. I left the house at around 12 noon because I supposedly had a 2 o'clock Biology class. Turns out my professor decided to bail on us, as well as the rest of the block, so there was a little less than 10 of us waiting in one of the classrooms (because another block used our classroom for their christmas party). So while waiting, we decided to become artists and drew little, chibi-like drawings of everyone in our block on the board :)

At around 3, we left the main building and went to the car park to get something to eat. While they went to Ate Eva's, I asked Louis to come with me to the bathroom, afterwhich I bought samkak. We rejoined with my blockmates at Ate Eva's.

After eating our merienda, we went over to Plaza Mayor and decided to chill on one of the benches there. Soon after, I accompanied Louis back to his dorm where he left his backpack. We came back just in time to see the parade. This year's theme was Disney. I already got a hint about what the theme would be from the music that was playing all over campus. The floats were okay, I don't know, maybe because I'm just used to the Disney floats you see in Disneyland, but everyone who worked on them did a great job.

After the parade, the block and I went over to the field to secure a spot for the night's concert. Initially, we ended up sitting on the grass, using umbrellas to protect us from the heat of the sun. Luckily, Zhey and some of my other blockmates left to go buy some Manila paper that we used as a banig to sit on. As the sun set and the concert started, I found myself a little bit out of place, only because I am not familiar with OPM bands, and because some of the college bands were very painful to my ears.

The main event that I was waiting for were the Fireworks. When it finally came, Kuya Ron and I were separated from the block because I asked him to come with me to buy food with me. I had heard that the fireworks were going to go off at 10, but looks like they decided to set them off an hour earlier. It was okay because I still had a great view of the show. I can honestly say that I enjoyed the fireworks because it was my first time to attend Paskuhan.

I'm so glad I decided to go to Paskuhan and spend some time with my blockmates :)

Some tips I would give for future Paskuhans

• Bring something to sit on for the field (Banig, Manila Paper, newspapers etc)
• Bring food as well because if you sit in the field, you're gonna have a bad time walking all the way to the back just to buy food
• Meet up with friends/blockmates before Paskuhan starts. Cellphone signal is impossible inside UST during Paskuhan
• Take care of your belongings. With all the outsiders that come in, it's hard to find lost items.

Keep Dreaming.