Bu-bye
2013 and hellooo 2014!!! Cheers to the great things to come! 2013 has been a
very good year to me despite some bumps along the way. Yesterday,
#2013Highlights was one of the trending topics on Twitter. My timeline was full
of this hashtag and I couldn't help but jump on the bandwagon. I tweeted and
shared my own highlights most of which I can consider part of my invisible
bucketlist. I never really jot down but I always keep in my mind the
'adventures' I want to embark on. Here are some of the highlights of my 2013:
FEBRUARY 15.
I play the piano and most of the pieces I know are of classical music. But I
play a few contemporary pieces as well. But my favorite one among all is Kikujiro
Summer by Joe Hisaishi, a pianist-composer from Japan. He also composed
musical pieces that were used as soundtracks in Spirited Away, My Neighbor
Totoro, and Howl Moving Castle. Last year's Chocobuffet theme was Japanese
Maid Cafe and that's why I took the opportunity to share this simple but beautiful
music to other people. Hours before the actual event, I decided to practice my
piece in order to get warmed up but at the middle of it, a cameraman suddenly
took a video of me. Of course I didn’t stop and needed to show off a bit. Thank
God I only had a few mistakes because a portion of my practice session was included
in a video uploaded on YouTube! In fact, the Chocobuffet was featured on TV as a
benefit from one of its media sponsors. It was so cool! It was an honor to make
that year’s Chocobuffet a little bit different from the previous ones and to be
able to share my talent.
JUNE
12. I said to myself before that I should join even just one competition wherein
I would represent my alma mater. And that’s why I joined the Table Set-Up
Competition of the 7th MAFBEX (Manila Food and Beverages Expo). Most
of the competitions in the expo were related to cooking (and yes, I do not know
how to cook boohoo) and what’s left available for me was the table set-up
competition. I mean how difficult it could be: you’re just gonna need to make a
concept and materialize it. Together with Ruth, Steph, Isa and KP, we all
realized it was not as easy as we thought it would be. Being in UP, we do have
the brains but we surely didn’t have the resources. We did different ways in
order to get money and the right equipment such as selling cookies, soliciting
from alumni, and getting sponsors. I won’t get into details because it’s a very
long story but bottomline is that there were a lot of times that everything was
almost against us. Any mishaps you can possibly think of has happened to us: delay
of equipment delivery, misunderstanding between us and the table maker (I don’t
know the term lol), the weather, lack of vehicle for loading the equipment,
everything! We attempted to give up many times. In addition to that, we thought
that teams from other schools that are financially better didn’t find it
difficult in getting their equipment which apparently added to our mental pressure. In the
first place, Ma’am Asiddao was somehow discouraging us to join maybe for those
reasons. It’s been 12 years I think since the last time UP joined a table
set-up competition. Before our team, a group from
a batch one year older than us registered for the table set-up competition of the National
Food Showdown 2012 but backed out at the last minute because a lot of equipment
got lost prior the event. But what’s good about our team is that we didn’t let
any excuse prevent us from not finishing what we started. After the
competition, we all had a sigh of relief because it was over. If you’re asking
if we wanted to win, yes we badly wanted to win. That’s why after knowing that
we didn’t get any award (we’re the only team which represented UP that didn’t
land any place lol) I knew that my teammates were sad deep inside. All the
efforts were put into waste as one part of my brain was trying to tell me. We
got disappointed but while we were doing egress, some ladies asked us if it was
our set-up that won. We answered no and they were surprised about it. They
praised our resourcefulness and the concept we put into it and even asserted
that we should have won. The five of us were elated to hear that because we
thought no one appreciated it. Our frown turned into smiles. This deserved to
be a highlight of 2013 because I learned a lot from these experiences. Landing
a place is not everything but knowing that we won the hearts of even just a few
is something we can be proud of. So to the next ones who will represent UP for
the table set-up competition, know that anything that can go wrong will go
wrong but finishing what you’ve started despite the odds is a very courageous
thing to do. Push lang nang push!
JUNE 21. It
was a privilege seeing Fil-Am Chef Comerford in person. It never crossed my
mind that such thing would happen. I mean she’s like THE Executive Chef of
President Obama. The reason why she was in our college is because she did a talk
to us HRIM students as a part of her visit in the University. She was invited
long ago for an award but her schedule was always full. She also came from the College
of Home Economics like me wherein she was an FT undergraduate for 2 years before
going to the U.S. UP still considers her as an alumna. If I heard it right,
staying at least 2 years in UP despite not formally graduating still makes you
an alumnus or alumna. With Chef Comerford’s achievements, who wouldn’t? I don’t
dream to be a chef but I want to be successful like her. Such inspiration.
JULY
26. Who would’ve thought I’d be the one representing my course in a college-based
pageant? To make things clear, someone 'volunteered' me to be the Mr. HRIM and it
wasn’t in any of my intentions to join. That someone being Karlone Kaye Catalan (yes you deserve to called by your full name lol). When
Dottie was persuading me, I declined at first because I wasn’t confident enough
and I was busy but after knowing that no one wanted to represent, I gave it a
go. I would just credit it to experience. Besides, I already participated in a pageant
before and it wouldn’t hurt to do so one more time. But because of feasib and
thesis, I forgot to give time in preparing for it so I asked for my feasib groupmates
to help me make one. A day before the actual pageant, I still didn’t have
costume. They sleptover our house while simultaneously doing the costume and our report for the
next day. In addition to that, I had to memorize When I Was
Your Man by Bruno Mars for the talent portion. I wasn’t able to have a good
rest. Nevertheless, I still managed to place 1st runner-up. I admit
that my talent portion was an epic fail. Fortunately, I answered well in the
Q&A portion where Ramon Bautista, one of the judges, asked me what would I
choose between honor and excellence. I said honor and elaborated that even
without excellence, a person can achieve a lot of things as long as he keeps
his honor. Something like that. I can’t remember the exact thing I said haha.
In the end, I unexpectedly became the 1st runner up. Can’t help but
think that I could win the pageant if I did well in the talent portion. I
really screwed that up haha. Anyway, 1st runner up is not an easy
feat!
In case you want to see photos of me during the pageant, click here and here. Photo by Dindy Feliciano and Seyra Rico, respectively.
SEPTEMBER. Ever
since 1st year, I’m already a CHE-Arki volleyball player. But it was
my first time to enter the semi-final rounds. For the past four years, a lot of colleges were really strong (i.e. Engg, NCPAG-CAL, CHK, and CS) and being able to enter the
top 4 was a great experience. I volunteered to be the officer-in-charge to fix
the lineups of both men’s and women’s teams and to conduct training sessions. I
spent a lot of money, time, and energy just so the training would push through
despite only few would come. I did these because it was practically my last
Diliman Games since I’ll be having my practicum next sem. I’m unsure if I can
still commit to play for the team. Nevertheless, I know they can do it! Go for
the championship!
JUNE-OCTOBER. This semester was the most dreadful of all. Having thesis and feasibility study in one sem can kill you. Each of the two have an infamous reputation how it can make a student drive him nuts. A very lethal combination. I had a choice not to take them together but I do not know what possessed me to do so. I guess I was trying to avoid the agony for one whole year. In addition to that, I also took my 3rd accounting subject, the first two being HRIM 101 and HRIM 115. I took a substitute subject which was Tour 136 instead of HRIM 141 since it wasn't offered for that sem. Despite that, it's still financial accounting, ghastly enough to drain out your brain juices.
After months of hell, the happiness I had was so genuine after seeing my grades. I became a College Scholar for the first time in that sem which was ironic. Now that I'm currently taking GE subjects, two (easy) major subjects, PI 100 and a language elective, I am pressured to have a higher grade because if I can do it in the hardest sem, what more should I in a relatively easier sem.
OCTOBER. So far this is the most organized blog I had. The previous blogs were not managed well and some posts were insignificant and crappy. I hope I'd be able to update this one very often. It's my way of storing important events in my life and also one way to practice my photography skills since I post some of my shots here.
NOVEMBER. My dream of being a pianist is slowly coming true. I need to take things step by step. No need to hurry. Being able to enrol at the College of Music Extension Program is a privilege. Apart from the fact that the enrolment fee is high, it took me years before I got to persuade my parents to let me have my piano lessons here. That's why I will seriously devote my time for this.
Here's hoping for a better 2014! Let's stay positive and just keep moving forward. There's no other way but to get better each day, each year.
2014, bring it on!!!
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| Fireworks display as seen outside our house. |
Labels: 2013, 2014, blog, CHE-arki, chef comerford, chocobuffet, diliman games, extension program, feasib, fireworks, happy new year, highlights, MAFBEX, mr. & ms. CHE, piano, thesis, thoughts, year of the horse
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Thursday, January 02, 2014 || 
1:35 AM