Monologue (Hermes)

     I'm going to be Hermes for our Monologue in CAE class. I had a hard time writing my script and I hope this is alright. This goes more or less one minute. I'm going to perform on Tuesday already and I'm kinda nervous. I have to practice more!

"This is unfair! I’m a god just like the rest of them but I always get the grunt work, the mindless labor, and I never say a word! I get up early then I spend the whole day rushing Zeus’ messages back and forth, up and down. It’s not enough that I’m busy all day delivering Zeus’ proclamations, the dead must have their share of me too. Oh, I remember that time when daddy Zeus sent me on a mission to save Persephone from the underworld! That was an extremely creepy journey. Then when I went all the way to get there, Hades wouldn’t give in! So I had to think fast and make a deal. And yeah, I guess Demeter was cool with it. If you were in my place, I’m sure you would find my job pretty hard. So that’s me, Hermes! The son of Zeus and Maia. The messenger of the gods and leads the souls of the dead into the afterlife. Now you’ve heard my story in Greek Mythology, let’s see what story I can bring to your time today as your modern-day mailman! Better check your mailboxes!"

Hip hop Tuesdays

     Every tuesday afternoon we have hip hop classes in school. It's really fun though there are only ten of us. Our dance moves are unique and the beat is fast so it's really a challenge for us. Dancing makes me alive and happy. It makes me forget all my problems and just go with the flow. That's what I really need right now since we're really busy in our 4th year life. I'll post pictures and videos of us next time if we have one :)

ACAT

     Assumption College Achievement Test, for short ACAT. We took this test last January 27 in school. This is for those who want to go to Assumption San Lorenzo. We started around 8 am and ended around 10:30 or 11 am. The test wasn't that easy but it's not very hard too even though I haven't reviewed at all. I was happy that I finished everything on time and I knew I did my best in answering the test. I hope that when the results are out I will be happy too. Even though my mom wouldn't allow me to study in Manila, I still want to pass the test because it's really different if you know you've passed. This saturday we're going to take the UPCAT and I'm really scared because I know it will be hard. Wish me luck!

My Dream School

Centro Escolar University is a private, nonsectarian higher education institution with an enrollment of over 20,000 students in its three campuses: Manila, Makati and Malolos. Established in 1907, Centro Escolar de Señoritas, from a small school in Azcaraga has grown to become one of the top universities in the country today. Besides being higly recognized its programs in the health sciences (dentistry, pharmacy, medical technology, optometry and nursing) it is also best known for its undergraduate and graduate programs in education, business management, hospitality management, computer science and information technology, nutrition and dietetics, biology, psychology, cosmetic science, social work and mass communication. The recognitions from several institutions attest to its quality programs: Full Autonomy Status from the Commission on Higher Education, Institutional Accredition certified by the Federation of Accrediting Associations of the Philippines, Philippine Quality Award by the Philippine Government, ISO-9001 System Certification and listed in the Companies Circle of the Institute of Corporate Directors for good corporate governance.

Photography Class

     This year we have Photography for our Computer Class. These pictures are some of the different kinds of Photography that we took.

Architecture

Grass Photography

Litter

Leadership Camp 2013 "Leadership Empowerment: Conquering Fears and Peers'

     This was our last Leadership Training and it was the best ever! It was our first time to sleep in school and we were very excited. We had fun with the different activities and we had time to interact with the lower years. I met new friends and learned many things. I especially learned how to take a bath really fast! Imagine! We only had 10 minutes to take a bath! I'm so proud of myself that I wasn't last. Manang Shaira Gonzaga was our speaker and she was really good. She inspired me to do be a good leader, to be a better person, and to never give up. We also had a boodle fight though it wasn't really a fight. The food was delicious especially the pineapple. It was sweet :)

So this was our food in the Boodle Fight. There's chicken, chopsuey, banana, watermelon and pineapple.

This was after watching the movie "The Five People You Meet in Heaven".

We also received our Certificate of Attendance, token and I.D. 

And here we are, the 4th year officers (though we're not complete here).

     So, this was our last Leadership Training. I will surely remember this and will live out my learnings here. This quote was what Manang Shaira shared to us and I believe in it, "the moment you adjust is a sign of intelligence".

Senate

1. Grace Poe

16,340,333 votes

2. Loren Legarda

19,942,824 votes

3. Chiz Escudero

14,137,127

4. Alan Peter Cayetano

14,129,783

5. Nancy Binay

13,310,851

6. Edgardo Angara

12,853,30

7. Benigno Bam Aquino

12,376,372

8. Koko Pimentel

11,846,088

9. Antonio Trillanes

11,389,173

10. Cynthia Villar

11,070,265

11. JV Ejercito Estrada

11,010,630

12. Gringo Honasan

10,620,981

Be Original

     The photo says it all. Let's admit it. We're afraid to make mistakes or do wrong, right? Maybe there's a little part inside you that says yes or no or is even in denial. Everybody makes mistakes, so it's normal. Don't be afraid to be different. Stand out. Be who you are. Explore yourself and discover what's been hidden inside you. Share it. Live it. Be original.

#Throwback

(From left to right: Shiela, Paola, Emelyn, Christia, Kristal, Denise, Katrina, and Me)

     

     Hashtag throwback. Guess how old are we here? We're ten! We're so innocent and young back when we were in grade 4. These are my group of friends but we're not complete in this photo. All of them transferred after we graduated in grade school. Only Shiela, Kristal, and I are left here in Assumption. Until now, the three of us are still best friends and with the 13 other members, we call our group PRX44 (Power Rangers X44). Anyway, that's another long story. I'll try to post some PRX44 stuff next time :)

Show Your Solution

     This is so true! Most of us can really relate to it. And I find this photo funny because aside from the fact that it's true, Jose's face is there =)) Anyway, have you ever had those terrifying moments when you saw these three words "SHOW YOUR SOLUTION"? I bet you said, "Oh noooo! I don't know what to answer!" and stuff like that. Well, I know that feeling. Feels like earth has been dumped to your head. And when it's time to check, turns out the solution was pretty easy -__- (not most of the time though). So, if you don't want this to happen again, you better study. HARD. :)

That's all for Yr.2- St. Elizabeth!

     I can't believe that my 2nd year life has now ended. And I'm going to be a junior next year! Time really flies so fast. My Yr.2- St. Elizabeth family really made an impact to my High school life. Many things changed this school year. And I mean BIG. This isn't the end of things. This, is just another start to a new chapter of our lives-- to the new problems and challenges that we're going to face, and to the mysteries that we're going to unlock in our life in the future. Goodbye St. Elizabeth! ♥

One Day... We'll Meet Again

     It's the climb... It's about time to begin a new life in a new place, new people, new environment. Not for me but for my best friend, Rachel. She already left for New Jersey earlier this day and that caused me and my friends so much pain. After four years of undeniable strong friendship that we had, she left us. I'm both happy and sad of her family's decision of migrating. Happy, because there, she'll begin a new chapter of her life with a happy family and sad, because without her, we are incomplete.
     We gave her a surprise farewell party after the Awarding for the Intramurals. Most of us cried and after that, we went malling and rode the rides at the carnival. Rachel got so dizzy and wanted to puke after just one ride and eventually, she went home. But we had fun though.
     Last Tuesday was our last moments with her and it was full of hearty laughter and sorrowful cries. It was just inevitable. I know this is a great challenge for us, for in this long-distance friendship we have right now, we can really measure or know how strong and how far our friendship will be until the end.
     (Rachel, if you're reading this right now, thank you very much and I wish you all the best! Goodluck! ☺)

Change

     New Year is near! People are rushing to buy 13 fruits, gifts, polka dot things, sticky food, etc. It's the time to change, not only on the outside but also in the inside. We should learn from the mistakes that we did this year and change our bad attitude/habit as we welcome the new year. The Year of the Water Dragon. So, you should already put in mind your New Year's Resolution so that you can have a Happy New Year! :)

CAF Play: Chinese Cinderella

     This is the Play that we were most nervous about. You know why? We've been changing and editing our script. We changed it for four times already. And we were so stressed because we have to change again the technical script plus, we have to memorize some new lines an scenes again. And we don't have enough time left.

     We don't have a choice but to do our best 'cause it's now or never. All of my lines changed but I'm glad because it was shorter. We told ourselves to do better in our CAF Play since we lost in our CAE Play. We didn't go back and forth from the Hall to the classroom like what we did in our CAE Play 'cause we learned our lesson already.

     My tears were starting to fall when were preparing at the backstage because I was really afraid of what might happen but I tried hard to stop it. The people weren't sleeping anymore! They were wide awake and they were laughing, clapping and, we reached our goal--- to let the audience cry in the end! We were rejoicing and crying after we performed because it seems that we have a chance to win in this Play even if we haven't practiced that much and after all the things that happened to us as a class, we didn't expect this to happen. 

     December 2 came and I had mixed emotions--- excited, nervous, curious, lazy. When the awarding started, my hands were so wet and even though it was cold, I was sweating. When the awards for the CAF Play came, my jaw was chattering like I was in the middle of an ice cold pool. I was really shocked when I heard my name as one of the "Bagong Tuklas na Aktres sa papel ng lalaki". I didn't know what to do and I was overwhelmed. When I got up the stage, I feel like my body was shaking and wobbly like the scarecrow in the Play "The Yellow Brick Road". When they were about to announce the winner already, we were all holding each other's hands and getting ready to jump and rejoice if ever we will hear that we really won.

     Voila! WE WON! St. Elizabeth really won! And we heard that right. Thank God! He answered all our prayers that we will win since we lost already. That really made my day. Congratulations to myself, to my classmates and to the whole High school Department ☺

CAE Play: Anna and the King

     We were ready to present already for the Pre-judging last November 26. Unfortunately it was moved to November 28. We were all disappointed because we have to wait and we want it to finish already but we can't change that.
     Before we got to present, we came back and forth from the hall to the classroom because we forgot some things, etc. And Marianne said that it was bad luck, so we stayed outside the hall. We haven't got the chance to watch the St. Catherine perform but for our Play's sake, we just kept watch of our props and entertained ourselves outside the Hall waiting for our turn.
     When we presented, we saw some people sleeping and not paying attention and I think that's so rude. And after we presented, they immediately announced the winners. I think that's so harsh. We haven't even gotten out of the backstage. St. Catherine won and it was okay to me but when we got to the classroom and I saw Isza going wild and crying, I was affected by that and I started crying too. I was not mad at St. Catherine because they won, it's because of how they announced the winners. I think they should've given time for us to finish backstage or at least to cool off or to calm ourselves after our performance. It doesn't matter now, because that happened already. Past is past. So be it.

Disaster All Around

     The TDR of the three sections of year 2 were a total disaster. It looks like we haven't prepared at all. My role is a father. And that's a first to me. I'm not good at acting and I didn't expect to get this role. but I had no choice but to accept this. At first, I was not nervous for our TDR but when the day of our TDR came near, I became afraid and nervous. And again, we waited for a looong time for the section before us to finish. 

     And so, our TDR began and ended with the critique telling us that our play wasn't good unlike in our CAE play. The critique also told us to cut some scenes in our script so that means we really have to edit it and cut/add some scenes. It's just like we're beginning from scratch. And all my lines changed. I was feeling so negative at first but after a while, I just thought that I did my best and I shouldn't feel bad, instead, to be positive and improve my acting. I just hope when the day of the Play comes, we will perform well and do our best and that we can make the viewers happy with our play. (Sorry, I don't have pictures to post here for CAE and CAF because the camera of one of our documentors got lost and in her camera was where most of the pictures were.)

Mistakes Unseen

     Last November 10, we had our TDR for our CAE Play. We prepared during the morning even though our TDR was still in the afternoon and our teachers didn't show up, so that was perfect. I was braiding my classmate's hair and after that I changed into my costume. It was a really hot day, plus, I was wearing black leotards. And we waited for a looong time for the other section to finish their TDR. At last, when they were finished, we started preparing everything in the stage.
     Our TDR started off nice and smooth but in the latter part, we panicked and eventually, we had many mistakes. We were pacing at the backstage and I think we were noisy but we keep reminding each other to keep quiet. We kept on being like that until the end of our TDR. And, law and behold! The critique told us our advantages and disadvantages but most of it were good things. He even told us that our technicals were good and that our play was the most clean of the three sections. We just laughed at it because he just didn't know what we were thinking and doing backstage. I just hope we will win!

The White-Sand Beach--- Boracay!

   
     Boracay is where everybody wants to go, even the foreigners and tourists. It is one of the best white-sand beaches of the Philippines. It is also where we went last summer for our vacation. It was very beautiful. It was paradise! I like the view especially when the sun sets. I feel so free just by looking at the cool and clear waters of the beach. We did Island hopping. I learned that we were so close to Romblon already. We also saw other resorts there, even the one of Manny Pacquiao(I'm not sure if he owns it or his friend). We also watched the fire dance and many more. The truth is, I'm really afraid to swim especially on beaches. Good that I know how to swim now but only on swimming pools. But when it comes to beaches, I am SO afraid. Unlike when I was still small, I'm just staying at the end of the waters at the shallowest part, now I can go deeper just up to my chest but still afraid.

   
     When we went snorkeling, I was the only one left in the boat but they forced me and I gave in. After all, it's not all the time you can go there. When I went down the boat, I was very afraid and paranoid of what may happen to me especially when I looked into the water, the corals were swaying and the fishes were swimming around. They all look so scary! They look like monsters ready to eat me. I just made sure my feet were floating above the waters and after so much whining, finally I got back up the boat and I was so relieved. We strolled along the shores every night from Station 1 to Station 3.

   
     It was also a coincidence beacuse the PBA stars and Piolo Pascual and his sister were there. We had our pictures taken with some of basketball players but Piolo had with him his guards surrounding him and we can't go near him. I think it's so selfish of him to be like that. Does he think we, Ilonggos are gonna eat him or gonna go crazy around him? Actually, my family and I don't like him. We always say that he's gay. haha! We don't care if he's there, so we just
continued on with what we're doing.
   

     We stayed there for three days only because it was the last week of May when we went there. And school is coming up. So we had to get going. I feel sad but at the same time, excited for the new school year. 

     ...And that's all for our vacation :)

Her Last Birthday with Us...

     After our Interaction with the SOS children, we celebrated Rachel's last birthday here in the Philippines with us because she'll be leaving next year already. We ate at Midtown Hotel. The food was very delicious and I was full. We had fun there, just talking about what's happening recently with our lives, etc... After that, we met with Isza, Marianne and the rest of their group to buy materials for our props for the play. We just walked going to Unitop to where Isza and the rest were. It was just near and it's easier and more fun to walk with your friends. We even stopped by at a store to buy Superman ballers. After so much confusion with Isza's instruction, we finally saw them.
     We started to go around Downtown to find and buy materials for our props. The heat was scorching hot but that didn't stop us because it was fun, we didn't mind the heat. We also bought bracelets for ourselves and some cute things. After our long journey around Downtown, we were so tired and then we parted ways. We had a long, fun, and tiring day but we learned so many things from the Interaction to Rachel's birthday up to our props searching. I hope we can do it again :)

 Superman Baller

Rachel, Lei, Shiela and Me

   

Interaction with SOS children

     Last October 22 we had our Interaction as a class with the SOS children in Zarraga. We had so much fun. The children there were so cute, friendly, lovable and adorable :) They weren't very shy at us. Some of us had a chance to get inside their houses and it was so clean and organized. We learned that they were abandoned/neglected/orphaned children and it was so sad but you can't see it in their eyes or on how they act because they are all bubbly and active and so full of energy.
     There's this very cute little guy, Peter a.k.a Kulot, he was so funny and all he does is to eat. He also wants to be carried. There's also this little girl, Angel, who's only four and she also wants to be carried around. They were very talented too.

 This is Kulot

 This is Angel with her partners, Nachelle and Marianne

Kids dancing during their Intermission number

 Paint Me A Picture

     During their intermission number, there's this kid that is doing beatbox and he's so good then, here comes another kid who grabbed the microphone and did beatbox too but there was no rythm at all and another child wants to do it also but he holds on to the mic too tight and he doesn't want other kids to borrow it. We just laughed and laughed. It was so fun. We had memorable moments with them that we will never forget. I hope we can go back there again...