Surprise list

These few days gave me some interesting bits to share in my journal here. Here are some . . .:

Surprise 1: I decided to join CADS as part of the photography stuff. Well partly because Bet invited me to join her org, but hey, it's a good way to show off some skills with my current gear :)

Surprise 2: I bumped into Sasha quite a few times, and I was wrong; she still remained to be nice to me despite of the summer fiasco. Yes she's cute but too fierce for me (fierce because of her high standards ie. high grades which I obviously DON'T have)

Surprise 3: I would most probably have 4 orgs this year, if I make it back to the Guidon (as a photo staffer formally after two years in the making) and get in with CADS (gotta show them my works to impress them). Yet, they are streamlined in the sense that for all four of them, my job is basically shooting stuff.

Surprise 4: PowerMac did a major overhaul to my laptop: new casing, new keyboard, new logic board, and (still in the process of waiting as of this writing) a new optical drive. The Apple Care was well worth it even if it cost some additional amount of money.

Surprise 5: For the first time in a while, I am saving up NOT for camera gear, but for something else (iTouch 8gb here we go!!!)

Surprise 6: For the strangest reasons, I have the feel for reading and studying persistently, which was never present in practically majority of my school life

Surprise 7: Hi165 will be a challenge, given the amount of readings I need to go through (which I would say, is very normal for any History class)

Surprise 8: Looks like I'm getting the vibes back. Yet, would like to avoid staying in the Pub too frequently as I want to get my grades a lift up from last semester's fiasco

Surprise 9: Despite the challenges I face with my subjects for this semester, there is something with me that makes me want to participate in class discussions, and actually enjoy the subject, no matter how complex it may be.

Surprise 10: For some strange reason, I feel some aura behind me as a junior student.

Tons of readings are piling up, so are org interviews and requirements, and upcoming tests. Let's bring it on!

Tales of an Adventure: An ordinary Friday

June 19. Everything's ordinary and nothing really special, but for some reason I felt like writing.

Started the day with the usual morning group bonding time with my friends. Bet told me to join CADS for documentation, and I seem to be interested with the offer. Mark and AJ were having fun while I take some candid snaps of them, so is Bet and other random stuff. Bea C. wants to borrow one of my books, and I'm no more than willing to lend them to her (Apparently, my Political Theory classes tackled great books and interesting reads after all)

Went straight to Philo class. Being my first class every MWF, this class will surely make me awake with Doc Gus' witty remarks and his amazing way of connecting things to Philosophical thinking.

Chilled out for a bit in Matteo until Eco class, where my head started to be aching real hard (I wasn't really sleepy in Eco class a while ago, mind you, but my head's really disrupting my learning progression during class). It's so good to do some advance readings as our pacing for Eco is quite fast (and with that, I have other reading to worry about with other subjects, so the advance reading is much needed).

Took some photos of Entablado's exhibit performance along SEC walk, then went with my partner-in-crime Jem for some catching up. While walking and having our Philosophy-based conversation, I accidentally bumped into Mita, and I forgot to greet her. Then my heartbeat's beating fast after the incident. Then I decided to volunteer for some SoSS Sanggunian work by enlisting with promotions (so that I would do something different). Went to the library, then dozed off for a while to alleviate my aching head.

After dozing off, I went on playing with the Sims on my phone (it's addicting, I promise) then off to the Guidance Office to schedule my interview. Then off to some coffee at Figaro then I headed straight with Public Management class. For some reason, I was somewhat active in the discussion a while ago, which is a good thing (how I wish it applies to EVERY subject I have for this semester). Them here I am, back in Matteo, killing time before the noise barrage later.
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Some thoughts to ponder:
1) Volunteering for Sanggunian work is something new for me. Hope it works well.
2) Every time I see Mita, I am but amazed at how she has become much prettier and more girlfriend-material compared to the first time I saw her back at Freshman High school year.
3) I thank my dad for reserving tickets to Transformers 2. These are those rare instances that I am in the mood to be at the movie house. Popcorn, anyone?
4) Philosophy is slowly opening me to various realities. I'd say this subject is my personal favorite for this semester.
5) I went to the pubroom yesterday, but sadly, I don't feel the vibes of belonging there. Should i go back or just move on?
6) Can't wait for my laptop, which I will get back by next week.
7) After getting a 16-35L for my SLR, all of the sudden I lost interest in acquiring better gear. After all, this lens basically suits my needs and fields (and yes, I'm not into sports photography so I don't have any intention to get a 70-200L anytime now)
8) Just a little more cash, I can get an iTouch already! Konting tiis na lang.
9) I feel like i have so much time at hand being an ordinary student. Will I enjoy this state or I'll get bored and start living extraordinary once again?
10) First week was good for me, despite the absence of some of my teachers.

Life of an ordinary student (TTH Edition)

The rain has to be my number one enemy for this semester, as all of my first classes from Monday to Friday are all in Bellarmine.

Started off with being with my morning tablemates, with Dennis Tan sharing some stories about his first encounter with Fr. Dacanay (which I plan to take next semester), then had an early lunch at Caf up (which honored the BYOB discounts UNLIKE the JSEC). Went to the Alumni office to give the photos on CD, then chilled out at RSF while waiting for my first class, which is Hi165.

Sadly, Karina Garilao was not present, so we will still see each other next Tuesday. And yet, even if she's absent, she gave us our first assignment, which is a 2-page reflection paper due on Thursday. I was annoyed at first, but I decided to do it by having some little research at the library. Besides, the paper is not that hard (it's about when Independence day should be celebrated). Had a little chat with Joan Medalla (former co-staffer in News), and heard some interesting stories about THE Fr. David.

Went on with doing the paper, then off to Qualitative analysis class. Being almost fried by Lydia Yu-Jose, Ph.D, I promise and swear to myself that this time I will take things more seriously. Apparently, with this subject, I found out that some mathematics and statistics is involved with the course. And that we are going to start off with 85 pages or readings. Gotta start reading as soon as I get them tomorrow. At least now that I know her style, I will make sure that I will give my best shot at this (I got a D under her last semester, and I'm prepping myself for that A to redeem myself of shame and intimidation)

Ending the day, we went off to International Relations class at Schmitt hall. Political Science Chairman Alma Salvador, Ph.D was not there, so we watched this film called 13 days instead. That film has to be one of those extremely rare instance that I did not doze off the show. How I wish Alma was like that, given the fact of her reputation as a terror professor.

And some lessons to learn about today: Never sit near the air con in an air conditioned room. It's gonna freeze you to death. Seriously speaking.

Life of an ordinary student (MWF edition)

Starting off my junior year seemed to be of an ordinary experience.

Arriving at Ateneo at around 645am, I saw a lot of freshmen along Xavier hall, being lost on where their class is (it happened because of the delay of ORSEM; stupid swine flu). Went to Cafeteria up to join with my Morning group (Mark, Gico, AJ, Bea C., and Bet) and stayed there until 9am. Went to my first class (which is Philosophy101, in Bellarmine) quite early because of the worries about rains.

Having my first experience on being under a big class was that I was overwhelmed. Being with the other 101 students in a class is no joke. Anyway, as for my professor, Philosophy chair Augustin Rodriguez, Ph.D, I see him as the kind of teacher who you'd never expect to be teaching a complex subject such as Philosophy. In spite of the complexity of the subject matter (add to the fact that it's Filipino), and his credentials, he manages to give the class a laugh and gave me an impression of Philosophy being fun to learn. I'd say point blank that he has to be my favorite professor for this semester, and with him, I am expecting to love Philosophy more.

Then, I had my first stint on doing a model photoshoot with student celebrity Robi Domingo for GetBlued (C/O Kirk Damasco, a former Guidoneer). It was my first attempt to do such, and it was fun nonetheless.

Then off to Economics102 class. Victorina Zosa, Ph.D reminds me of my grandmother (but of course much younger) in terms of teaching style. Most people say she's boring, but I may beg to differ. She's not that boring as a teacher, but her standards are quite high, which means I have to work seriously with this class.

Then I went back for the GetBlued photoshoot, this time with this girl named Nixee Garcia. I'd say she's cute for me, and what makes me amazed at her is that she's one of those rare type of girl who knows how to speak tagalog decently even with her conyo-like stature and attitude (reminds me of my "sister" Trisha).

Then came Public Management class. Pilar Berse, M.A, has been my PoS100 teacher last year, so I more or less know her style of teaching, and I beleive that it would not be a problem for me for this class. Public Management has sparked interest on me as it is something that has a bit of management . . . in the government perspective. Interesting combination indeed.

Ending the day, I bonded with my friend Ry Zamora for some talks and tales about various adventures and misadventures. And that's how the day ended.

After all, I miss living the life of an ordinary student, and this is how it feels after all. Yet amidst the state of being ordinary, there's this part of me and this junior year that makes me extraordinary.

Pre-junior year thoughts

"How can something be legendary if it is ordinary by itself?"

This was a question that has come across my mind yesterday as Junior Year starts quite soon. I admit it that I am both excited and not excited on going back to school. So far, my reasons for being excited are:

1) Get to know my teachers - even if I wasn't able to manage even getting one of my first choice professors, I still got some supposedly good professors. Doc Gus is the next best thing to Padre Roque, Karina Garilao is an interesting professor, while Victorina Zosa may seem boring, but gives lots of bonuses. Got to see these impressions on them by myself for the first week.

2) See my friends again - Of course who doesn't? Even if I was well united with my High School Classmates through parties and debuts, I am still longing for my college friends. I may have communicated with them through YM and Facebook, or joined them withj certain events, but it's just that I want to see them again.

And as for my reasons NOT to be excited about school:

1) She's not there anymore - Jan has graduated already, and I feel that I would not be able to find someone like her or close to her. Strictly speaking, she was the closest kind of girl I like to have as a girlfriend. But still, I don't like to be in a relationship, even if my mom insists on me getting a girlfriend (of which I disagree of course). After all, I want to do a lot of stuff before being into a relationship.

2) Ordinary for once - for the first 2 years of my college life (or to be exact, 20 months), I was the person who wanted to have that extraordinary factor through seeing things in a different way. I was aiming for the high marks, which seemed impossible, that it almost got me during the last month of Second Year, Second semester. The effect? My writing glory days are over. Even if I improved with my photography skills, there's this feeling inside me that I feel frustrated on being (and living) as a ordinary student for once.

Having said my reasons about school, I am yet still wondering on how can I make my junior year legendary if I am just an ordinary kid.
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It sucks not to have my MacBook for now (and I'm using my Dad's old Thinkpad T21 with lots of cracks for typing this entry). Because of a busted CD burner and the normal case cracking, I had to bring it to PowerMac to have it repaired. Even if it's more than a year old already, I felt that spending an additional 10k+ for the AppleCare was well worth it. It gave me no worries about my laptop until I graduate from college!

And with that, I got a bit weired out when the people at PowerMac told me that they can "upgrade" my laptop by giving me one of the newer Aluminum MacBooks intstead. Well they DID replace my laptop and iPod before, but getting the aluminum version instead? Well this I have to see. At the very least, I expect them to replace the borken casing parts and the optical drive (which can be upgraded from CDRW/DVD to Superdrive because I heard Apple doesn't stock the former anymore)

All the best to the tech people there. Expecting the repair period for around a week, so that means I have to make the most out of a 8-year old laptop and a 10-year old desktop (which runs normal with few to no lags, and just sporting a Pentium 4 processor and 640mb worth of ram)
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And as for tech stuff, I am currently boosting my savings funds to around 15k (as of now, it's around the 9k mark) as I am debating on whether to wait out the iPhone to be dirt cheap (the 3G s 16gb costs around $200, roughly 10k, while the 3G 8gb costs around $99, approximately 5k), get a iTouch (the 8gb costs 11k and the 16gb costs 14k in the Ateneo Apple store), get new lens again (probably a 50mm 1.4 USM if I decide to sell my 50mm 1.8 Mark 1, or a general purpose zoom like the 28-105mm 3.5-4.5 USM), or just keep it for future purposes. Recession sure makes a drastic effect on the price of goods nowadays.

What's weird also? the iPhone's cheaper than the iTouch! Save for the plan required for the iPhone, looks like Apple is off to some new marketing strategies to keep up with the competition.
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I'll be attending the Sesquicentennial kick-off launch tomorrow with my Dad. I'll just take photos there and probably re-shoot Intramuros using my current favorite, my 16-35 2.8L.

*Me interviewing Ka Rene during the mass for the Calatagan farmers last December 2.

(Photo by Kevin Tatco)

One time, AnnaBee (my former News Editor and currently the Associate Editor) asked me about ka Rene Peñas. All of the sudden, it was like a flashback, remembering December 2, 2008, at the arrival of the Calatagan farmers. Kev told me to interview this person, and I never knew how influential he was, until recently, with the news of his brutal murder, probably caused by either that of rivalry or sheer politics.

And I remembered parts of the interview, such as:

"Ito ay makakatulong ito para sa mga magsasaka, dahil pagpapaangat ito ng moral ng mga magsasaka dahil mahaba ang panahon ng kanilang paglalakad, puyat na, pagod na, at malakas pa rin ang kanilang puso para lumaban, at napakalaking tulong ng Ateneo at katulad ng ginawa nilang tulong sa Sumilao, ay hindi nasayang kasi nagbunga yun tulong." (On Ateneo showing support for the farmers)

and

". . . maganda ang ginawa ng mga farmers na lumaban ulit at ito’y isang hudyat na pagkonsulida ng mga lupa na ibinigay ng mga gobyerno sa mga magsasaka, at ito’y pagpursigi ulit para ibalik sa dating may-ari." (On the farmer's actions for justice)

Such a simple person, yet influential in his own unique way. Ka Rene, I am so sad at your brutal death. I pray that justice will be served fairly, and that the poor will once be treated equally and that those in power step down.

NO TO CONASS. NO TO CHACHA. YES TO CARPER.

Tales of an adventure 2: Culinary Adventures

June 6. Still on a drizzling day with fast winds. Along the seemingly empty places along the San Miguel by the Bay strip near SM Mall of Asia was the place where we will have our "Culinary Adventures".

It was a special offer, that it was given to only the first 30 people (who are Sky Cable Subscribers), and among that 30 was me and my mom. Of course you should know by now that I love food, hence me being fat.

It started with a warm up game, of which my mom won. Then came our "breakfast", comprising of Go Nuts Donuts, a juice drink, some pasta and sauce from San Remo Pasta and Lee Kum Yew sauces, and cookies from Olsen. Then there was a short demonstration made by chef Niño, where a four course meal comprising of Sinigang, Chicken wings, Fish Kebabs, and Vegetable stirred fried rice was made, all in under 30 minutes.

Then our lunch came. Aside from the meal Chef Niño prepared, we had some pasta, a pizza, a garlic bread with olive oil dip, and a apple crumble pie from Banapple. Yummy meal, I commented.

Then the workshop proper came. Two Chefs from CCA (of which I can't remember their names), gave us a hand-on demonstration of cooking three dishes: A salad, spaghetti puttanesca, and mango crepes. To my amazement, the ingredients were simple, and even the way of presenting the meals were not as challenging as I have expected. Nonetheless, the meals were simply awesome; I think they could even beat those meals made at posh restaurants. These chefs obviously know what they are doing, they make cooking simple even to the novice cook like me.

After the hands-on demonstration, I gave myself a shot at making an attempt to make spaghetti puttanesca. Following what is in the recipe, with some variations, I managed to make the spaghetti, and unexpectedly, it tasted great! At least now I know what to cook just in case I am left alone at home (aside from those unhealthy fast food and junk food).

At a conclusion, it was a fun session of everything food-related. Now this is what I call food. Not Mcdonald's, Jolibee, or any fast food chain. Not Doritos, Cheetos, or some junkfood. But something made from the simplest ingredients.

It is really amazing on how the simple things are the best ones in the end.

Tales of an Adventure 1: Con-Ask forum and Noise Barrage

Two days before this event, the congress adapted HR1109, which initiates a Constitutional Assembly (leading to Cha-Cha afterwards). As a response, Ateneo created an event addressing questions regarding ConAss.

June 4. It was slightly drizzling, and there were quite a number of people crowding along the MVP Pavilion. Congressman Teofisto Guingona III, Former DPWH Secretary Dinky Soliman, and Ateneo Law School Dean Emeritus Joaquin Bernas, SJ, were the speakers of the forum. Each of them addressed the grey areas about the supposed "gang-rape" of our constitution.

Fr. Bernas, being one of the original authors of the 1987 constitution, explained that although a call for a Constitutional Assembly has been made, this is just the start of the journey for the congressmen to push for Charter Change, as there is a need to undergo several procedures before formally declaring Charter Change, which is a relief for me and those against the Constitutional Assembly.

Mrs. Soliman, on the other hand, explained four possible case scenarios regarding the push for Charter Change, and although each scenario is different (with the fourth scenario considered to be the most plausible scenario), all four of them call for an organized citizen action and awareness to stop such initiative from happening.

Lastly, Mr. Guingona shared a story on how politicians live a dirty life, evident with the presence of late sessions and pork barrels, giving us, the audience, an idea on how the sessions go by on a normal day and when the congressmen are interested to pursue such case (ConAss for example).

Then, our Sanggunian President Gio Tingson gave the stand of the students, stating that although the students are in favor of Charter Change, the initiative for Charter Change should not be done now, of which I wholeheartedly agree as our country is not yet ready of it essentially.

Shortly after, a noise barrage at Ateneo's gate 2.5 followed through, despite rains. Ateneans were there to show their protest for the approval of the ConAss, and so were the motorists. Yet it was not any safe noise barrage; policemen came by, with one armed with an armalite, questioning our actions. As a photojournalist (who is of the freelance type), I took quick snapshots of the scene, with some snaps taken with Tata Yap's telephoto. I felt scared while taking the shots, as I was unsure if the police will attack me of not. But fortunately, everything was well settled. The noise barrage continued until around 7pm, with Gio and Sanggunian Vice President Jauro Castro thanking the people who joined the noise barrage for their efforts.

This is just the start, after all. Us students can do more things than noise barrages. We are determined. We care for the country. We care for the future.

Living the dream (version 1)

Three days have passed, and up to now I still couldn't believe that I have it already.

Back in high school, I lost hopes of getting into photography since photography gear then was expensive (how expensive? The first SLR I wanted then was an Olympus E-Volt, which used to cost like 80k). Two years later, after wanting to have a Canon 400D, I got it, as a gift from my grandparents.

Next in line was the photo gear. I know it's not easy to save up for them, yet I slowly save up for them, buying lenses and accessories one by one. Eventually I was able to garner a telephoto zoom, and then a 50mm prime, then a 28mm prime.

Then came my desire for a updated lens line-up. Being a Canon user, when one sees a lens with the famous red stripe, you'll know that he / she's serious into photography. Upon trying out one of those lenses (namely CK's then 70-200 2.8L, when he was a Canon user), I was amazed at it, although not used to making the most out of it. I made another look at the beginner kit lens and explored its potentials.

Upon exploring it's potentials, I came to figure out that I want to get one of those red-striped L lenses. Sadly, these things are serious money, with one costing as much as a semester's worth of tuition. Yet this person persisted to hope and dream to have this, until one day, a day after his birthday in particular, when his grandfather gave the go signal into acquiring one. And I got a 16-35 2.8L as a present. Although used (with its numerous scratch marks, chips, and faded letters), I still didn't mind. I know my grandfather still made an effort for me to fulfill the dream.

Now I finally have my ideal set-up here. Four years in the waiting, and it was well worth it. Now it's time to make the most of what I have.

But that does not mean that I call writing the quits. I'll still write somehow, but I just want to explore this fulfilled dream I have attained.