highlights of the week

of the week that was, there were only 3 class days, which were tuesday to thursday. monday was a holiday because of the end of ramadan while friday was a no classes day for ateneans except for those who signed up for ACP or the Alternative Class Programs. and so it means that i didn't have a class last friday because i was such a "model" student... hehe! so instead, my kada and i, well tina, elga, dortz and i, went to Assumption Antipolo to visit our high school. they were having their school fair and we were there to visit as well as reminisce about the old times.. elga, dortz and i arrived first while tina just followed us there....

we saw lots of our old teachers and some memorable landmarks, but there were alot of changes too. for one, the mini-theater is not so mini anymore. unfortunately, the theater was closed and we were not able to take a peek but from the descriptions made by Ms. Olalde, it can now sit 300 people, with chairs like those in the cinemas or those like in the AA auditorium.. if i remember correctly, there used to have red cushioned long benches in the mini-theater. ngayon sobrang engrande na daw. and it now also has a second floor! i had to describe this in paragraph form coz i wasn't able to take a picture of it but for the rest of the changes, as well as old memorable ones, i'll let the pictures tell you all about it.

the new kiosk where the SCAA meets. its by the high school caf


the walkway that connects the HS bldg to the auditorium


the auditorium where we graduated (looks like a printer when seen as a whole)


our TABLE sa HS caf


the CR where my inanay and i usually go after lunch (it's an everyday ritual for us)


our senior class adviser

the best teacher ever!




this is the new prep house, far from the rickety old one we had during our time....



new additions to usual fair rides


a ride i had always feared.... until now! haha! ;p


something new which contains the best pastries i grew up with (bongga na ang CSS, dati kasi nagtatahi lang sila)


dortz (magna ng UP Psych), me, mrs.villacrucis (our guidance counselor), tina and elga

for more pixes, just click AA Pixes

oh and a really funny anecdote, the teachers were constantly pointing at my stomach, specifically the 1inch bare skin that keeps peeking out from my baby tee and low rise jeans, simply because i was in AA and that is not allowed. 1inch lang yung sumisilip ha... :p

oooh and one more thing it's been a while since someone called me teresa. hahaha! the teachers simply called me that. :p

tsk tsk tsk

haay... remember my article yesterday? apparently it ain't true at all... it seems that faye's mom invented the whole thing to get sympathy since her husband, faye's father, is leaving them behind... i have to thank janine for enlightening me... well here is janine's exact comment...

gawa-gawa ng mom ni faye ang story na yan kasi feeling nila walang nagmamahal sa kanila. iniwan sila ng tatay ni faye.

nasa inquirer ang story na yan nung saturday and sunday (nov. 13 and 14, 2004) (nasa "headliner" if that's what it's called...yung kung nasaan talaga ang news....ah basta nasa front page), nag-confess si faye na di totoo yun...

oh well.

such a pity people resort to this low thing just to get attention.... :(

not good... not good at all....

something to ponder on

Jasmine Trias visited the Philippines very recently. Everyone was agog waiting to welcome her. The excitement was remarkable as the media andmany of our "kababayans"flocked to the airport to see her. This scenario is typical of Filipinos. Sadly, it reflects our country's misplaced priorities.

Contest of the Mind.Another young girl came back to the country just a couple of weeks ago. Her name is Faye (not her real name for very sensitive reasons). Unknownto her countrymen, this eleven year old girl brought honor to the Philippines. She represented the country in the Intercontinental Science Quiz Net in Australia. Out of 57 countries represented, Faye garnered First Place for the Philippines. Germany came in second while the United States came in third.
In start contrast to the hooplah extended to Jasmine Trias, Faye's arrival did not make any noise. Not a peep. In an earlier competition, "Mathematics for the Young Asians" in Indonesia, Faye also came out in the Top Five. But just like the Australian event, this feat did not receive any recognition in our country at all. Our interests seem to be set on other "priorities." We are more interested in promoting celebrity guests instead of educational and intellectual pursuits.
Indirectly and quite obviously we are teaching our children that development of the external image takes priority over educational achievement. Faye's story is inspiring. She comes from a broken family. Her father falsely claimed that he was unmarried when he married her mom. When her mom found out, she decided to raise up her daughter alone. Despite the difficulty, Faye in no way used it as an excuse for complacency in her studies. In grade school, she was a consistent honor student. She took every academic requirement as a challenge. And she delivered. At one time, she submitted a project thesis in Australia that won "The Best Physics and Science Award". The award qualified the Philippines to be one of the top 10 countries that would compete in Australia, among the 57 countries that joined.

Considering her family's financial constraints, she and her mom asked help from our government for their trip to Australia to claim the "Best Physics" award and to join the Science competition. They saw this challenge as a rare opportunity offered to Faye and her country, considering that only two Asian countries qualified - Japan and the Philippines. Unfortunately, our government had other priorities.

Mother and daughter then tried to ask help from individual senators and congressmen. All turned them down except for one who was willing to help, on condition that Faye should give public credit to the senator for supporting her even int the earlier competitions she joined. Out of integrity, the mother could not accede to this arrangement. Thus no outside help was found.
Faced with this situation, Faye and her mom took out all their savings and went out of their way to secure by themselves the additional finances needed. The only driving force behind them was their desire to give honor to God and to the Philippines.

With the little resources they had, they went to Australia on September 17, 2004 for the competition. They claimed the trophy and cash award for the "Best Physics" thesis Faye submitted in Sidney and then flew to Brisbane fo the quiz competition.

No kababayan welcomed them in Australia except for a kind Filipina they met in the plane who assisted them. As they were checking in at a hotel, the "kind" Filipina who volunteered to help them disappeared taking with her Faye's and her mother's bags, passports, and plane tickets. At that point, they literally had nothing left except for the few pieces of clothes and their faith in God. They had to sell the extra clothes left to be able to buy food.

In need once again, they sought help from some of the Filipino officials in Australia but to no avail. Oddly, the Filipino officials there were too busy with other priorities, not minding to help a young girl and a mother who had no other desire but to bring honor to our country.

Given a budget for only a one night stay at the hotel, mother and daughter had to check out the following day. Leaving their luggage on deposit and without money for transportation fare, they decided to walk two kilometers to the competition venue on their native Filipino costumes.
If walking a two kilometer distance was bad enough, how much more would be walking the distance on their native costume along the highways ofAustralia! Upon arrival at the competition site, Faye and her mom were very surprised when they discovered that the delegates from each of the other countries were well supported by a band, a cheering squad, and a flag, while Faye only had her mother and the anxiety of lost passports and plane tickets.
Worse, representatives of each country were required to decorate their booths.
With only the three-piece costume they had on, Faye and her mom were even more surprised when the organizing committee awarded their booth as"The Most Creative" booth.
In the early part of the competition, Japan, Braziland Spain were eliminated. As the only Asian country left to compete against six Western nations, the Philippines was cheered on by Japan. Faye was encouraged by her Japanese cheering squad, but in her heart, how she wished that she had her own countrymen to cheer her on.

When Faye finally won first place and Philippines national anthem was being played, she prayed silently thanking God for making her a Filipina.

Despite all the painful experiences she had with her country, her priorities did not waver. A Japanes diplomat was the one who helped Faye and her mom to secure temporary pass so they could return to the Philippines. The money they won was just enough for their fare back home and their temporary passport. When Faye was relating this story before a crowd, she said, "Let us love our nation, for nobody else will."

Faye did not allow her painful experiences to tear down her loyalty to her country. She is not a celebrity but a servant out to serve her fellow Filipino.

A Small Way to Greatness.Our concept of leadership in this country is pitifully skewed. We mistakenly think that leadership is about "lording" it over other people. Christ corrected this distorted thinking when he said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you, instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all - Mark 10:42-44

Sadly, we are far from the precept of this truth. It is no surprise then that we have a dearth of real leaders in this country-leaders who would set the nation's interests above their own. In the same way, our concept of citizenship is damaged. Those seeking for social good for themselves are never willing to grant the same good to others. Hence it is common for us hear stories of Filipinos who take advantage of their fellow citizens.

We want to be served, but we are unwilling to serve.

We dream of becoming like Jasmine Trias. We want our children to be like her. We would rather spend on things that would make us look good instead of things that would make us grow in character. We prefer stardom glitter over service-oriented endeavors.

Quite the contrary, Faye spend sleepless nights studying to win the competition because she knows her priorities. Unlike Jasmine Trias, Faye did not receive a hero's welcome when she cam back, but, young as she is, she keeps calling on Filipinos to love the Philippines because every Filipino is a aluable gift of God.

Life, really is not a matter of intelligence but a matter of setting our priorities right. The question is, what's our focus on "grand" things that make us superficial or on simple things that lead us to greatness?

Faye's story reminds us all to look within ourselves. This eleven year old girl could have complained to the media, but she did not. She went out of her own small way to bring greatness to this land.

Right priorities grant us wisdom. When properly set, priorities point us out the right people we need to invest in, the right use of our energy, the right resources to draw from, and the right endeavors to support.

From the words of Faye's mother, " We all wanted to win, but success is not measured through by merely winning. It is measured through our hearts, if it is truly attuned with God all the time. It is all that really matters for we have only an Audience of One. Whatever we have achieved, big or small, remember one thing: it is for God and God alone. The King of the Kingdom of a higher world."

ho hum

i just wanna share this song that's been circling my mind the whole morning...

Artist: MYMP
Album: Song: A Little Bit

Lyrics :
I was kinda hesitant to tell you
Should I let you know
I was never really like this before
Need I say more
Or maybe I'm confused when you are near meI don't know what to do or I should be
There's only one thing in my mind
That's you and me

[Chorus:]
I'm a little bit of crazy
I'm a little bit of a fool
I'm a little bit of lonely
I'm a little bit of al
lOh, I need a cure
Just a little bit of you
And I will fall
I'm always on the run to see you
Would you allow me to
It wasn't my attention to hurt you
This feeling is true
Or maybe I'm confused when you are near me
I don't know what to do or I should be
There's only one thing in my mind
That's you and me

[Chorus:]
I'm a little bit of crazy
I'm a little bit of a fool
I'm a little bit of lonely
I'm a little bit of all
Oh, I need a cure
Just a little bit of you
And I will fall

closing thought: " if liking someone supposedly makes one feel good, why does it feel bad? "

SUPER FUN SATURDAY!!

i had such a blast yesterday thanks to all my friendly friends!
my day started with me acting as my mom's driver. i had to bring her to the lunch she had to attend. after which, i headed straight to eastwood where i treated my extremes kada. tina, elga, dortz and i met up. ria cannot come because she had NMAT review, jen was in panga and i really dunno about pia. so anywayz, i arrived at exactly 12 nn since my friends weren't there yet, i decided to enter the bookstore. bookstores always have that same effect on me: amazement. i wandered fron shelf to shelf thinking of what to buy until i chanced upon Alexander Dumas' The Man in the Iron Mask. I was hesitating on buying coz I saved money for a blouse I wanted to buy. But what the heck, books are books so I bought it.

I was there reading when Dortz entered the place. she and i talked a bit until we decided to walk around. while waiting for tina and ging, we decided to spend time in the arcades. haha! the child in me broke loose. i had so much fun! we got 47 of those stubs and had them redeemed for 5 pieces of hair clip as well as a ring i'd give to my niece. elga arrived just before we redeemed our ticket, precisely when dortz and i were entering the videoke room. hehe! we thought we still had 10php in the card, good for one song, but when i tapped it on the scanner, it read 0. Owelpz, we just redeemed the stubs and decided to eat lunch. we went to RECIPES and ordered. just as the waiter was walking away, in came tina. we chatted, laughed, joked and did just about any group of friends does. we had a yummy lunch and was feeling a bit sleepy when i suggested dessert. the four of us trooped to Jack's Loft and ordered 4 different desserts: i declair (an eclair filled with vanilla ice cream and covered with whipped cream), caramel decadent chocolate cake (not sure of the name but the name describes the dessert itself), oreo cheesecake (literally an oreo cheesecake), and tiramisu. more laughters and chikas. we promised each other to meet up soon, specifically on the AA fair. yey tina is going to pick me up! :) grabe years na ang binilang since i was last in AA. dami na daw changes and my gawd hindi ko pa nakukuha yearbook ko!

i arrived home around 430pm when i saw my mom washing her face. she decided to vhitch a ride with a friend na lang pauwi. heehee! so i got to rest for a few minutes before i took a shower for my evening lakad.

melbs picked me up at around 7pm to have dinner at RECIPES once more since i promised her the day before we'll eat there. hehe! 2 recipe meals in a day! ibang klase. we chatted and exchanged SUN numbers. (yes i have a sun cellular already. i know i know i rode the bandwagon of that 24/7 thingy! :p) we then walked around looking for something for her to wear for next saturday (yihee!). since i already used up most of my money, i was resigned to just window shop.. grrr! around 830pm vince was already texting us to go to his house so we asked who was already there and he said redge was. melbs and i decided to arrive much later since no one was there yet. we once again played at the arcades! haha! natapos kami around 930pm and decided to finally make an appearance kina vince.

when we got there, vince went out of his house and welcomed us. funny since the parking was too far, we asked him to park for us (valet parking baby!) hehe! we got inside and found redge, chino, katzi, mixie, cel, pao, tay tim, deng, gerry, emir, and glenn already there. japox and maya were on our heels and came in a few minutes after us. we spent some time chatting around sa garage when we decided to enter the house and sing! haha! dapat melbs, me, deng, gerry and emir lang kakanta pero everyone followed us inside din. una hiya hiya pa pero in the end, kakanta rin pala. while everyone was in the sala, melbs and i noticed that everyone's in pairs sa mga corners. in one corner si katzi and chino, sa other corner si gerry and deng, at first katabi namin si cel and mixie pero lumabas sila. sa floor si japox and maya, wala lang natatawa lang kami coz by that time emir, me and melbs ang nasa sofa. since kami ni melbs ang kunwaring pair, we asked emir sino pair niya and he told us si vince daw, since vince was again, as expected, hogging the mic! haha! ;p later that night, jake, mark and tim robles arrived. by 1130, melbs and i decided to leave already. if ever may dumating pa, we wouldn't know na.

i had so much fun yesterday as in! i wish life was like that na lang lagi, no problems.. but duh impossible yun! haay owelz, gotta hit some handouts and homeworks na (yeah right! i'll try though...)

first day chikas

well since it's the first day of school, i thought of sharing what happened...

1. a line i was dreading to hear was this, "this early, i'm telling you that you won't have a christmas break. your first project specs will be given before the break and the deadline is on first day of school nex year." ayos ho ho ho ho to me too.... moreover, he also said that by the 3rd week of november, wala ng tulugan... eeck! that's like 2 weeks from now...

2. groupwork.groupwork. and more groupworks. well it seems that my last sem (fingers crossed) are filled with groupworks of some sort.... hayayay! hopefully, i'll end up with great groupmates (well i already know my CS and POS group and we rock! hehehe!) i hope though that i'll have the same luck in my other classes.

3. mukhang ok na ko sa sked ko... at least i get to bond with my blockmates once more... tambay na ulit lahat sa bodega! yahoo!

4. my benchmates are already planning the post grad trip (before holy week) ... they tried boracay pero hard to book if madami masyado so what they did?! since most people are going south, we are going NORTH! Pagudpod, baby! Yahoo! With side trips to Vigan and the like... With my blockmates to ha... Naaliw lang ako kasi mag bora naman kami ng HS kada ko sa May so i get to go to the best of both worlds with the best company! Wahoo!

5. Pero before all that, I have to finish all the pamatay requirements and graduate! Konting tiis my fellow seniors! heheh! Kaya natin toh... :D

my bday videoke

first stop, i just want to say this... ayaw.ko.pa.pumasok.bukas!olats.

hehe sorry i'm still not in the mood to go to school, but who is right? anywayz, last oct.26 i invited my college friends over for a night of videoke and snacks. well who came? this will be in order of arrival na lang para madali... melbs, ian, pat, aice, hana, jen, chino, katzi, pao, tay, gordz, redge, vince, patch, bianca and ralph sobrang funny kaya coz kantahan and kainan lang... my friends told me they were stuffed full of the food.. i served them a bilao of palabok (serves 32 people), 3 cakes (blueberry cheesecake, chocolate mousse, brazo de mercedes) and rocky road ice cream.

i never thought they'd sing coz they were very shy at first. well except for vince! hahaha! aice and patch also sang, thanks guys for the support! cute nga ni patch coz that was the reason he came, talagang for the singing.

wala lang i had so much fun.. nung mas konti na ang tao, we all sang na i guess si vince, me, melbs, ian, patch, pao and redge na lang yun... kakatawa si vince kasi ayaw patalo... nang-aagaw pa ng mic! redge, well hindi na surprise yun, sang only twice pero scores naman niya ay 99 and 100! heheh! astig! i was not able to make ralph and bianca sing... sayang! funny pa coz patch, melbs, ian and me were playing around... kunwari daw we were on tv tapos bday celeb ko nga. i sat on a bar chair tapos kunwari i would sing then my special guests would come daw... tapos enter si patch to the tune of IT MIGHT BE YOU... ako naman had to act surprised... sobrang tawang tawa kami... for the next verse naman, patch would come in again pero this time singing in a different voice para kunwari ibang guest naman... laughtrip sobra! :D

i was touched to hear that people had fun sa house ko... the girls want nga a night of tambay lang dito sa house para makakanta sila dahil hiya sila in front of the boys... sige ba! astig yun!
nagsisisi ako dahil hindi man lang ako nagpicture that night! hahahahah! kahit isa wala... oops! biggest mistake... i guess i was too busy overseeing things.... but the best thing is i have a picture of happy people in my memory naman...

special mention kay tay, redge, melbs, patch and vince - nakapambahay tlga sila! sabi ko kasi wala ng porma porma eh! hehehe! :p