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 about me
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 Friday, December 20, 2013 || 
Last December 18, 2013 was my last Lantern Parade as a student (hopefully). It's kinda sad that I'll be graduating and leaving UP soon. It never sank in to me so easily before but now it does. I guess I just have to make the most out of what's left.
I didn't join the actual parade although I stayed at the amphitheater with some of my friends. But before this, I first attended the Christmas Party of UP SHARP at the Vinzon's Rooftop. It was fun and the food was delicious haha! Yum and I even won the first game which was Basagan ng Itlog! Woooo experts lol. We got fans as prizes. Very useful and timely 'cause the weather was so humid. Anyway, the apps handled the party well in my opinion and it's good to know that they're bibo for undergoing the app process. After that, we had our exchange gift activity at the tambayan. I picked Sami and my gift to her was a make-up brush set worth *secret* since that was in her wishlist. I'm happy that she liked it because I'm not really good in buying gifts. As for me, I was picked by Marge. I already had an idea that she was my Santa Clause so to speak because Mila slipped out about it. She gave me a gray bonnet which I am using right now hehe. Funny story how she (or I for that matter) bought it. HAHA. I rather not tell the story. HAHAHA. If you wanna know, perhaps, just ask me in person.
This year's theme for Lantern Parade was "Pasko 2013: Maalab na Serbisyo Publiko ng Mapagkalingang Kampus” in line with relief efforts for victims of Typhoon Yolanda. It started around 3pm but Diane and I headed straight to the amphitheater where KP saved us seats. As we passed through the crowd on our way, we witnessed some of the lanterns from UPAA, OUR, CHK, etc.
Minions were all over the place!! From the balloons to the mascots to the headdresses HAHA! The UP OUR also participated in this year's Lantern Parade and I didn't expect that they'd be this witty and creative. Good job!
Although they didn't really have a lantern, the first one to show up was the UP ROTC Band which shared their talent in playing musical instruments. After that, the colleges, orgs, and UP units made their stop and took the time to present their lanterns to the people while the hosts explained their respective concepts. Some even performed with entertaining numbers. Moreover, Eng'g had an overwhelming number of delegates compared to others.
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UP ROTC Marching Band sharing its beautiful music to the madlang people.
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I bought a Mickey Mouse balloon before the main program started. Please don't judge me. I originally planned to buy a Minion balloon but changed my mind because a lot of people already bought the Minion balloons and I didn't want to be a part of the mainstream.
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| (From the left) Me, KP and Mila waiting for the lanterns. |
Here's a solo photo of me. Forgive me for doing so. This is my blog anyway! XD
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| Selfie! Or is it? |
At 9pm, we decided to go to Technohub for dinner without finishing the program. It was almost at the end anyway. Since there were no jeeps passing by the road, we walked from University Ave. to Technohub. We ate at *drum roll* KFC as usual. We parted ways around 10:30pm and I arrived home at midnight. I'm never a fan of going home late since it's always a hassle to commute during those times but the day was spent well and I couldn't have asked for more.
Sorry if I didn't have a lot of photos of the lanterns. I planned to just so I could post it here in my blog but my camera ran out of battery because it was used for the Chocolate Buffet photoshoot a few hours before. And speaking of Chocobuffet, here's a teaser you ought to see! If you haven't gone before, I'm telling you, you should or you'd miss half of your life! :)
Labels: CHE, christmas, lantern parade, last, minions, thoughts, UP Diliman
breathed easy at
 5:42 PM
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Last December 12, I attended a conference at Claro M. Recto Hall, Faculty Center as a part of the celebration of the Settimanna della lingua Italiana nel mondo. There were three speakers who are all Italian natives. The first one was Professoressa Adesini. Then, the next one was an Italian architect. The last speaker was my favorite among the three although I forgot his name.
Basically, all the topics were related to Italian culture and language. The first one was about E-Learning. I agree that online learning is pretty effective if used properly. It has its own advantages and disadvantages but as Professoressa Adesini had implied, the former outweighs the latter. In fact, she is currently enrolled for the online course she was talking about. I was actually interested to enroll for it. I really want to further improve my knowledge about the Italian Language as well as the culture. I do not want to end it at Ital 11 even though I’m practically graduating already. I might take extramural classes if I have time and money. Italian is and will be very substantial for me most especially I will be in the hospitality industry soon.
For the next speaker, I got bored since architecture was not exactly my field though I appreciated how he integrates biomimicry to his works. It is always good to know that architects nowadays integrate environment sustainability when designing structures most especially with climate change inevitably plaguing our planet. I personally want to visit their buildings that are already constructed here in the Philippines. I guess the Philippines needs to learn a little bit of Italian architecture, too. I remembered one of my major subjects (Feasibility Study). I could have used some of the things I learned from the architect-speaker.
The third one was my favorite. It was all about food. The speaker was very funny because he talked so fast. As in presto! I learned from him that parmesan is not really an Italian word. They termed it as Italian Sounding. The real term for that is parmigiano reggiano. The same thing with macaroni—the right term is maccheroni. As an HRIM student, it was very important to know that. I was able to relate when he discussed about the labeling of wines. He even mentioned the term DOCG or Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, the Italian version of Appellation d'Origine Controlee of France. I realized how Italians appreciate their food so much. It is really a part of their culture and it cannot be taken away from them. I hope to go to Italy someday and taste their cuisine firsthand.
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| 3rd speaker talking about Italian food. |
Overall, the conference was informative. It made me love Italian culture andlanguage even more. It was a nice move to hold such an event because I noticed that the promotion of the Italian here in the country is relatively weak and unnoticeable compared to French. Even in my course where it is required to pass the Language Proficiency Exam (LPE), I’m one of the few students who are taking Italian as their language elective but I do not feel out of place. I take it as an advantage because I’m different from them. In that case, you can all me a hipster. I do hope that there would come a time that it would be as in demand as the other prominent foreign languages here in the country. Ce la facciamo!
Labels: ambassador, claro m. recto, conference, italian, italy, la settimana della lingua italian nel mondo, thoughts
breathed easy at
12:20 PM
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Monday, December 16, 2013 ||
A stray cat at Iskomai, Area 2 where we ate last Friday. It was making landi to me. Joke. I read from somewhere that when a cat is purring, it's in a good mood. This cat certainly was!
Labels: cat, iskomai, random, stray cat, thoughts
breathed easy at
3:00 PM
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Sunday, December 15, 2013 ||
10 days before Christmas but it hasn't sunk in me yet. Christmas decorations are all over the place but they fail to make me feel that Christmas spirit. I do hope the breeze gets colder. I wouldn't want a very hot and humid Christmas. Winter's practically impossible here since the Philippines is a tropical country but it gets chilly during December. The problem is that it's not getting any colder. Global warming sucks! HAHA.
Oh well, advanced Merry Christmas!
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| Christmas-themed centerpiece and menu at the Tearoom. |
Labels: 10 days, christmas tree, merry christmas, tearoom, thoughts
breathed easy at
4:00 PM
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Yesterday, UP SHARP, spearheaded by the Internals Committee, had its 'TBA' for this semester at the Sunken Garden. The supposedly Team Building Activity was changed into The Bonding Activity instead as many have put it because the invited speakers/facilitators were unavailable. Nevertheless, it was a fun day for all of us. HR invited the apps to join us. TBA is usually exclusive for members but I don't see anything wrong inviting the apps. It's also one way to give them a good impression about the org.
We played different games conducted spontaneously by the Inte members. The first game was dodgeball. I used to play this when I was younger. Boasting aside, I was very good at evading the ball but I don't know what happened now haha! When it was our time to throw the ball, I was able to hit a lot from the other group mwahaha! Since we were able to hit all the opponents faster, we won!
Next game was 10-20. I didn't join this game because I wanted to play volleyball at the side. I also taught Marge and Diane how to serve the ball overhead. Marge learned fast but she still needs to put some force to the ball. But with practice, she'll get it eventually. As for Diane... hahahahaha! (my laugh says it all) Anyway, I kinda like the feeling of teaching volleyball. It's very different from playing. You gain this sense of fulfillment.
The last game was Agawan Base. Childhood was all coming back at me. I also used to play this game with my village tropa. During the game, I was caught as a 'prisoner' together with my buddy, John. But one of my groupmates saved me, leaving John at the opponents' base which was Cara. Yes, the bases were people instead of trees. The trees near us were infested with antik so it was decided to assign one group member as the base. After some tos and fros, the game was taking so long because both groups were unsuccessful to finish the it so it was decided that the winning group would be the one with the higher number of prisoners. Our group had 3 or 4 prisoners which made us win again, much to our delight.
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| Francis running away from JC (applicant). |
After the games, we went to the tambayan to eat. Good thing there were food and drink. We were all exhausted and hungry from all the running.
For me, it was a good idea to not postpone the TBA because we still got to bond with the members and apps. Good job, Inte! :) I became more motivated to become active again in this org I used to have up and down feelings to. #longstory Refuel the passion! :D
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| UP SHARP group photo with the apps. |
Disclaimer: All photos were taken by Vincci (hi buddy!) and Dindy (hi freshie buddy!).
Labels: 10-20, agawan base, apps, bonding, dodgeball, mems, org, sunken garden, TBA, the bonding activity, thoughts, UP, UP SHARP, volleyball
breathed easy at
11:39 AM
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Saturday, December 14, 2013 ||
Finally, I'm officially enrolled in UP College of Music's Extension Program. Ever since 1st year college, I've always been wanting to have my piano lessons there. My piano teacher from high school, Ms. Jo, told me to grab the opportunity most especially knowing UP CMu's reputation. She actually took her studies there. Not sure if undergraduate studies.
The reason as to why it took me years before I got to enroll here is because of financial reason and postponement. Last year, when I was able to manage my mom to let me enroll before, the extension program was postponed. Very untimely, yes? It was as if the gods didn't want me to pursue it. The other attempts also failed mainly because of financial reasons. FYI, the piano lessons cost around Php 8,000 which is for the 30-minute session/week for 14 weeks and Php 16,000 for the 1-hour session/wk for 14 weeks also. For this semester, my mom didn't actually allow me because she had no money for the fee. Same reason as always. I understand that, of course. It's never too easy to make money. But even if I'm aware of that, I still felt heavyhearted. I posted on Facebook and made a little bit of drama about it. Since I'm friends with my mom on fb, she read my status and then she made a way to get money--she borrowed from my ate. I knew all of these 3 days before the last day of registration after telling me. I was hesitant to accept it at first because I was sulking but eventually I did because I realized it was a blessing that should not be rejected. And so I enrolled at the last day of registration, hoping that there was still a slot for me. Fortunately, there was. The process was so fast and smooth and I couldn't believe that I was enrolled! I even made a friend with a student there. I forgot his name though. He was nice 'cause he oriented me a little about the college and the program.
My teacher is Ma'am Pia Balasico and based from our 1st meeting, she's really a kind and jolly person. I think she's the perfect person to be my teacher. For our 2nd meeting which was today, I was late for 20 mins. I blame the unexpected traffic haha. I sincerely apologized for my tardiness because it was embarrassing. She didn't get mad although she reprimanded me to not do it again for the other sessions. After my class was her only 1-hour break and she allowed me to practice up until she got back at 1pm if I wanted to. And I did. So technically, my supposedly 30-minute session turned out to be around 1 hour and 10 minutes. I hope she allows me for the next sessions to always extend my stay at her room even after my actual schedule. 'Cause 30 minutes is just too short for a session. It's my only class for Saturday haha! Anyway, I practiced the first few parts of Sonatina in G Major Opus 36 No. 2 by Muzio Clementi and Czerny Opus 599 No. 15. And I got the hang of it. *woot* Practice does make it perfect. When Ma'am Pia got back, she commended me for being diligent in practicing which motivated me more to do better.
I'm gonna practice a lot this Christmas break so that when Ma'am Pia and I meet again, she'd be impressed. I need to make her recommend me for the recital because I want to! It would be an achievement for me to do so.
Ce la faccio!
Labels: college of music, dream, extension program, music, piano, thoughts
breathed easy at
11:41 PM
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Monday, December 09, 2013 ||
Last week was the UP Diliman's Pailaw 2013. I attended for the first time in my college years. I was actually hesitant at first because my last class ended at 3pm and the program would start at 6pm. I had a load of things to carry because of preprac and my energy was drained already. But knowing that I haven't attended it even once, I compelled myself to witness the star behind Oble be lit. It was the very same star last year but I want to see it being lit firsthand.
A number of Christmas songs were performed by people from the College of Music. One of the songs was 'Pasko na Sinta Ko' by Francis Dandan. This is memorable because it's the piece we sang for last year's Karolfest. We didn't win in that competition but it was worth the experience. Unfortunately, we didn't join this year. :( *sigh* Oh well haha.
Aside from singing, UP Streetdance Club also performed an awesome number. I think they did their routine from a previous performance because some of the moves were very familiar. Nevertheless, it was awesome! I also saw Jaime, a coursemate of mine. He's one of the current presidents of the club.
I took a similar photo last year but I decided to take a shot of Oble again. I fancy taking night lights because the darkness that surrounds the subject makes you appreciate the light more. If you're wondering, I increased the shutter speed to avoid blurriness and to avoid the light from spilling out. I used this photo as my new FB cover photo and in an instant, 'likes' started to pour in.
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| Oble says Merry Christmas! |
Labels: merry christmas, oble, pailaw 2013, star, thoughts, UP Diliman, UP streetdance club
breathed easy at
8:17 PM
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Sunday, December 08, 2013 ||
Last November 30, CHElympics was held at the College of Engineering Covered Court. It was my 4th time to join the said college sportsfest. I first attended it when I was in 1st yr. It was held in DAR Gym back then. The 2nd one was at the QMC Courts and the 3rd was at Camp Karingal. Personally, the most organized CHelympics among the 4 was the one at the QMC Courts. The worst was at the Camp Karingal.
For the past years, I've always been joining for volleyball to represent HRIM. So basically, it is a battle between the courses in the college. Ever since 2nd year, we have been the champions. And I've received 2 MVP awards already. HAHA. And you see me here wearing the dry fit shirt I got during the fun run I attended. I intentionally didn't wear a blue shirt because this dry fit shirt is cooler to wear. Besides, it still has blue at the sides of it.
Basketball girls. I can't remember what place they got. But FT got the championship. The FT players were really aggressive, I might say. And they had the most number of supporters. I was surprised that their lineups were all filled up after a few days the signup sheet was posted. They're really competitive!
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Coursemates cheering.
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Basketball boys. Like the volleyball, HRIM had been champions ever since I was 2nd year. For this year's CHElympics, the team lost a lot of key players since they already graduated last school year. But nonetheless, they still managed to win the championship against CN.
Aside from basketball and volleyball, there were minor games also. One of them is Talong-Bottle Cap Relay which was supposedly Kalamansi-Talong Relay. Lol. Was there a scarcity of kalamansi, CHESC?
You see a photo of me receiving a ball... Pretty awkward form. Haha. During the first 2 games, the boys were not allowed to spike the ball from the front line. Backline attack was the only available option we had. It's not easy to do a backrow attack, okay? They took away the fun! We requested that they remove that rule in the championship game. Good thing they did. Or else, it would be the worst volleyball game ever.
Here are videos of our championship game against FT. As I've observed, I only had one legit spike in these sets of rallies. I am happy to see for the first time how I spike. In my 6 years of playing the sport, I never got to see how I pound the ball until this video came in. It looked like my right arm was ready to be detached from my torso. Special thanks to Diane for taking these videos using your cellphone. She also took all the photos using my camera. Diane, I know you fell in love with my camera but you can't have it. :p
In 0:12, I miraculously saved the ball from touching the ground. I should've been a libero haha! Joke.
Champion team! Eusteen, who is a freshie, is not in the photo because he needed to watch Teatro Poverino. Same reason why he wasn't able to play for the last game. Anyway, I learned that he's from an international school in Laos but I think he's a Filipino since he can speak Tagalog well. He's a potential setter, I might say. Aside from him, I also met Klaudine (4th from the left). She plays well, too! I invited both of them to join Diliman Games next year. It's very timely that they do so since I won't be seeing action in next year's DilGames. I'll be in my practicum during that time and I'm unsure if I can alot time for that. But if ever I do have the time, why not right? We placed in the top 4 this year and I would be glad to be one to defend our place.
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| HRIM Volleyball Team, champion. |
Feels good to be from HRIM! This last CHElympics has been a memorable one and it's a nice thing ending it with a bang. :) Good luck to the next batches! Defend the title!
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| 3-peat overall champion! |
Labels: 3-peat, champion, CHE, CHElympics, HRIM, thoughts, volleyball
breathed easy at
5:04 PM
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Saturday, December 07, 2013 ||
After the tambayan clean up, I went inside the CHE lobby and saw Mila and Diane volunteering in labeling the pasteurized rice made by FT Students led by their professor. They were for the Yolanda victims. Without hesitation, I helped, too. I mean, how hard could it be? Haha. At first, I was slow as the Internet Explorer but after a while, I got a hang of it. I finished 24 packs in 5 minutes. Yes, I really timed it haha! Achievement unlocked.
We learned from the FT Student who oriented us that the rice can last up to 6 months. But it was indicated in the label that it should be consumed within 1 month. They put it that way to make the victims eat the pasteurized right away. I got to taste a sample of the rice and it was good! I wished there was a viand at the side though. Kidding! But seriously, the rice was different from the usual rice we eat.
Each box contained 24 packs. They were segregated according to the manufacturing dates. I carried some of the boxes to the CHE steps and it kinda reminded me of MAFBEX days. *flexes* HAHAHA. Anyway, Good job, FT! Good job, CHE! :)
Labels: FT, pasteurized rice, rice, thoughts, volunteer, Yolanda victims
breathed easy at
11:19 PM
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We had our tambayan cleaned up last week. I didn't really plan to join but what the heck. I got nothing to do and we had no class in PE. I could've gone home but yeah, I'm such a good member mwahaha. *slaps myself* A few Alab UP members helped us most especially because they own 30% of the tambayan. It was nice meeting them although I didn't get to know their names haha but I do remember the guy who was afraid of spiders. The other girl whom I am familiar with because she's a CHESC officer, knows me because of volleyball. Wow. Volleyball is making me famous. HAHAHA.
After Conwi (orgmate) was trying to remove the bark of the tree beside the tambayan, we saw hundreds of ants panicking from their trails. And look what we saw! The queen ant! It was a first to see such so I had to take a photo and blog about it. Lol. It looked like a maggot. *goosebumps*
I wonder how the other ants feel without their queen... Such a big loss. In analogy, having no leader can lead to disorganization.
Labels: ants, clean up, dirty, queen ant, tambayan, thoughts
breathed easy at
10:56 PM
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