Friday, June 27, 2008

freshies

Here are the photos that I took for the annual batch modeling for the freshperson's day and used lomo effect on both and I find them dramatic.(hehehe)

Block F

Block A

Sunday, June 22, 2008

crazy weekend

AY 08-09, for me, is a BLAST.

For us accountancy students, this is the last year of the retention policy and we just have to prove ourselves. Its either we make it or shift to another degree program or if desperate, transfer to another school and still take accountancy.

Based on what I am going through, i dread my schedule for Monday and Thursday because I have both Accounting and Law on that day. Though I have a 6-hour break between the two subjects, it still is not enough for me most especially I only fall on the average learner category. This year really is different compared to the last two years of my stay in the university. I'm surprised that I can stand doing nothing but to read for hours and take note, day and night. But they say, "it's normal". I do believe so but it will take time before my system adjusts to all the studying that needs to be done. Now i miss my freshman days!

Now here comes the rainy season. It started raining last Friday and we fancy it because we could bring our umbrellas(haha^^) and of course a break from the terrible heat! Our academic organization, JPIA, was supposed to have its general assembly for the academic year yesterday morning. We were all excited because its the dawn of the yearly house cup(adapted from Harry Potter's House Cup). We, together with my housemates, barely slept in preparation of our banners and stuff but all our efforts were wasted because of the weather which suddenly released its fury without prior notice. Yes, Frank.

Nonetheless, it opened the door to the craziest weekend. For just one day, it really made a difference. Its my first time to experience such weather here in Iloilo. Imagine a day without electricity and water, a big NO-NO isn't it? No electricity means no possibility of charging your cellphones which are the quickest and practical means of communication. Imagine going to the nearest mall for charging and before you could enter, you might as well swim to reach the entrance. Imagine hearing employees asking each other of the possibilities that the mall won't operate the following day because of the weather. Imagine stores inside malls which has no choice but to close one after the other, moment after moment. Imagine being stressed out just waiting for your ride outside with the wind madly howling. Imagine being wet and cold and then you arrive in a place of refuge just to figure out that your jacket has been slashed and your phone was intentionally taken. Imagine having no choice but to check-in to the nearest hotel but turns out each of them are fully-booked. Imagine feeling desperate to get a room to crash and the receptionist cannot reach the person who had earlier reservations for the room you're about to occupy. Imagine having a day's break and you wake up thinking that the storm already calmed but later finds out it hadn't. Mad isn't it?

After a movie at Robinson's place (yeah, i still managed to watch a movie), Mariz asked us to help out in distributing clothes for those in the evacuation centers. In SM City Iloilo, the PUJ's drop-off point was turned into a small evacuation center. Yes, people stayed there with their things, helplessly waiting for some help. It's good to know that there are a lot of concerned citizens who help out in times like these. They distribute basic necessities like cooked food and water. Its also my first time to help out in times like these and places like that but its really fulfilling. What pissed us off was people who still managed to be picky or choosy (whatever the word is) in situations like that of today.

"Pwede yung pink nalang?"
"Ay, puti? Madudumihan lang yan, wala ng iba?"
"Pwede yung loose lang na t-shirt?

I for one understand that people tend to become mad in such times, but can't they be just thankful enough for the people who help and just appreciate whatever they receive?? Tomorrow, we'll be helping out again.


Anyway, Made of Honor is a nice movie. Its the movie I watched earlier and one more thing, I really am addicted to avatar! I can't wait for the 16th episode of season 3! Argh!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

update 101.2

Update #9: movies on the go


These were the movies that I was able to watch during the summer break and I love them all: What Happens in Vegas, Pathology, 21, The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian and last but not the least Kung Fu Panda.

Update #10: Simple Lang Campaign

I didn't expect my day to be like this. Everything was instant. We attened a forum entitled "Schools for the Climate Forum" at the Instructional Media Center of St.Paul University Iloilo. Basically its great, information wise. I pledged to spread the word about the campaign so here it is. I'll be giving only a glimpse of what it is and you can wholly participate if you want through their website : www.greenpeace.org.ph

1. Switch Off
2. Unplug
3. Light Efficiently

*Go Renewable*

-that concludes my updates and tomorrow will be my first official class. I'm pretty nervous right now because I really don't know how I would handle stuff during my third year in the accountancy program. May God help me out.

"To make something special, you just have to believe its special. There's no secret ingredient."
- from the movie Kung Fu Panda

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

update 101

Now i have all the time to update my blog, so prepare for the longest blog entry in the history of Mode Shifter.

When was my last decent post? Oh yeah, May 19, 2008. That was 3 days before my scheduled flight back to Iloilo City.

Update #1: Back to Iloilo.

After almost two long months of non-existence in the city, at last I was back. We, the buddies, decided to do something special in celebration of Mikay's birthday though its a bit late and after periods of "flooding", asking if they'd go, it was settled. We were supposed to dine out the day I arrive but surprisingly only Dan and Cyndi were available after helping out during the early enrollment for the freshmen. I guess we just missed each other a lot so much that we ate at Sbarro till both our hearts and tummies were both satisfied. Afterwards, we just roamed around the mall until almost closing time. Back in my boarding house, i spent the rest of the night fixing my stuff and did some cleaning in my room. With my back on the most uncomfortable bed of mine(i still like it though), i felt homesick for the first time in my life as an independent. I missed my siblings and all the non-sense moments we have from time to time in our humble abode. :'c

Update #2: CMSC Team Building

This is the only reason why I came back to Iloilo as early as i could. It was planned even before the summer vacation started. It never came to my senses that there are still possibilities that my parents would not allow me to go. I thought I wouldn't until the venue for the camp changed from Guimaras to a beach resort in a nearby town, Guimbal. The camp lasted for 3 days and 2 nights. The whole period was dedicated for the council's planning for the centennial year's activities. At first, I joined them as they were doing their stuff but mind you, even if i was just sitting there, it's really tiring so I decided to help in the food committee and actually became part of it in the long run. I was only assigned for the games but turned out, Mafia was the only game we played. The memorable part for me was watching the sun rise. I woke up at around 5 am on the 2nd day and sat at the shore and just waited there until the golden rays spread out in the skies. It was beautiful. I mastered a new skill during the camp: to make fire.

Update #3: Nang Bam's Birthday

At first, the plans that they had for her birthday was that of tradition: Karaoke at MO2 Annex and eat good food. Sizzling Gambas was number 1 on our list. The sad part was, all of the rooms were reserved because it was a friday night. So plans were ruined right then and there. But, *kaching!* an i dea popped from nowhere. We deviated from the usual and decided to dine out and go watch a movie. We ate at Rai Rai Ken and for the first time, according to them, they thought we ordered more than just the enough amount but surprisingly finished it in a few moments time.. @_@ Another unfortunate event came our way. There were no interesting movies with last full shows! 21, Pathology and the rest of the good movie choices were out except for Caregiver. So there goes nothing, you don't want getting all that drama on a supposed to be happy day. We ended up walking around the mall until it was about to close and finally decided to delight ourselves at Bluejays Coffee Shop. All the stuff ordered were delish!=D But the day didn't end there. They decided to check-in in one of the hotels around the city. We ended up at The Riverside Inn and there we slept. ^^ We ate breakfast at KFC the following morning. I won't give further details. Hehe..

Update #4: Enrollment Week

I helped out the whole week and I am honestly looking forward to go to school every single day of the enrollment period maybe for reasons that I just wanted to see both old and new faces. I was quite confident that I won't have any problems with prerequisites for the subjects I'm going to take for the semester as I enroll but sad to say, i was not able to pass the removal exams for calculus but looking on the bright side, my professor won't give me a grade of five until the end of the removal period. She required to take all the long exams in her class for the AY 08-09 and sit in if i wanted to. So, i just waivered for the prerequisite. I hope everything will pull off this semester.


Update #5: Fashion Tips

I was asked for the first time ever to be speaker, together with my female counterpart, for the JPIA freshmen orientation and talk about fashion in the university and to give out some tips. Me?? Why Me?? Anyway, I think it worked out just fine. We had an impromptu modeling for the freshies. They were to dress up their chosen representatives to become THE typical UP student and must also considering the tips we gave them. Oh well, I remember the days back when we were the ones doing those stuff.

Update #6: Nagpana Outreach

I was quite hesitant to go at first but I did it again. We went to a remote area where our academic organization, JPIA Inc., had scholars from an aeta community for the outreach activity. I can say that it was one heck of an experience. I only had 2 hours of sleep, headed off to church and then to the meeting place. We occupied a jeepney but the seats were not enough so together with Nong Rey and Ken, sumabit lang kami throughout the journey to the place. I fell asleep for about three times and with the same number did my life got endangered because I almost fell off the jeep.

Simply going to the place was effortful and some of us really wished that they shouldn't have gone after all but arriving at the center was a different story. The place where we stayed was on top of a cliff and below you can see a gorgeous flowing body of water. After having our late lunch, everyone was eager to take a dip in the i-don't-know-if-you-can-call-it-river. The water was great, great enough to take away all the stress from our travel. Dawn came fast and one by one we headed to the headquarters(i dunno what they call it..-_-) and prepared for dinner while others where washing up.

In the midst of a exciting game of 1-2-3-pass, the care taker told us that the lights were just enough to last for 1 hour and though they have a generator, there was no fuel. Hu! We just used lights from our cellphones and a small emergency light as we ate dinner. Imagine your place being surrounded by the forest with things rather unknown within it and eyes all around just waiting for the rest of you to dose off and then attack you. Down below as the moon was shining at its fullness, mystique creatures start to show up. They're everywhere! HAHA! Playful imaginations but you can't help it though. After a game of spin the bottle(actually, i was half asleep all throughout the game), we set off to bed. I chose to sleep in one of the kawayan sofas.

Morning came, my whole body ached, I was about to brush my teeth when I saw in my bag that I brought candles with me. Darn! Thanks to me. We went back to the city past lunch time and another adventure faced us.@_@

Update #7: Rhapsody

The newest musical organization in UPV Iloilo City campus is yet to be recognized. It is dedicated to simply unite all musically inclined people and those who still want to be. Its never too late when it comes to music.

Officers
President : Paul Dureza
V.President : Kevin Lex Neo
Secretary : Jeniffer Go
Treasurer : Eba May Desabelle
Business Manager : Dan Carlo Hubag
P.R.O. : Dave Poblete (yours truly)

Update #8: CM Freshmen Orientation

A yearly activity held by the student council. I can say that this year's orientation was fun though minor setbacks were not avoided. I enjoyed being one of the facilitators especially during the games and their tour around the campus. I love bullying freshies! Joke..^^ The day ended with a spicy dinner at Jollibee together with Dan, Cyndi and Cocober. See them again tomorrow if ever.