huhu

friends, i haven't posted anything for like a week or so...

its because the WIFI in my boarding house is out...

buhuhuh...

qualified

Philippine Embassy Cites Rising Number of UPCAT Passers in Kingdom
Dinan Arana & Francis Salud, Arab News

DAMMAM/JEDDAH, 11 April 2006 — A total of 43 Filipino students in the Kingdom passed the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) for the coming school year, which will start in June.

In the UPCAT lists of passers obtained from the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh and Philippine Consulate in Jeddah, the total number of qualifiers showed an increase of 10 percent from 39 passers last year.

Records from the embassy also showed an increasing trend in the number of passers from the Kingdom over the last six years. From only 16 passers in 2001, the number rose to 25 in 2002, 34 in 2003, 37 in 2004, and 39 in 2005.

Of the 43 qualifiers this year, 18 are from Jeddah, 17 from Riyadh and eight from Alkhobar and Dammam combined.

(continued)

The other passers from Riyadh were:

• Palm Crest International School (PCIS): Jan Sergio Arato, Kevin Carlo Gamba, Kristine Marie Liberato, Ariel Joseph Zulueta, and Neil Angelo Sael;

• Second Philippine International School (SPIS): Arthur Galapon Jr., Ronald Ryan Marasigan, Mitchellina Rafael, and Nikki Pauline Toledo;

• International Philippine School in Riyadh (IPSR): Roman Franco Rafael and Jameela Velasco;

• Nour Al-Maareef International School (NIS): Kirstin Leigh Lopez and Jonathan Velasquez; and

• Millenium International School (MIS): Dave Gabriel Poblete.

-The much awaited news that broke out two years ago and I wasn't aware that we were featured in the Arab News. I had nothing left to do the other night after the usual checking routine so I tried to search for articles that had my name in Yahoo search and the news above was what I got. I remember our former school principal telling our class that it is not UPCAT passers but rather qualifiers. Honestly, I don't care. I got in!

College life was one of the turning points in my life that I really dreaded. I had no idea of what was waiting for me here in the Philippines since my parents brought us back in Riyadh after my second year in high school. Other than UP, the only university where i took entrance exams was in La Salle Dasma. Since i know that our finances are at stake if i go to La Salle, I chose UP even if its in Iloilo. I just told myself: "Ok lang, experience din naman yan. Totally independent ka pa." Though i have relatives in Iloilo, it still feels like total independence. They don't care that much. They just worry when I go home late, that's all.

Looking back to those times only made me realize that God has a plan for me and I'm really thankful that He brought me there. Every single day was a battle for me, its either be good or be bad. Within that short span of time, I know that I've grown and I got over some of my fears. Every experience that I had made me what I am today. I met people and they were the ones who helped me learn a lot, not just the positive side of life but the negative part of it as well. I learned principles which I know will definitely be applicable to the challenges ahead of me. I have changed but I believe that its for the good.

Time is fast. One day I will wake up a degree holder and a successful man not because of the books I've read and the exams that I passed but because of the experiences I had. From the daily conversations with my friends, group discussions, forums, and criticisms that was thrown at me by the people that surrounds me. Above all these, God.

The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to the society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals...'We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.,The Purpose of Education

fatties

After a tiring morning of being a responsible but not so responsible big brother to my siblings last Thursday, I finally got home and busied myself with the usual. People get surprised (sometimes) with what makes me busy every afternoon during the summer vacation and to tell you the truth I’m a bit ashamed of it myself. I watch most of the stuff after Wowowee in ABS-CBN. The episode from “Naruto, the greatest battles” gave me a flashback of my incredible past (joke).

I guess every fat-ass kid goes through a stage in their life where everybody seems to be draining all their self-esteem, leaving them wanting nothing but to go home wishing that they didn’t have all that fat in their bodies and comfort themselves with surprisingly but more food. It seems like nobody appreciates them for what they are and easily makes judgements, yung tipong tinutuldukan na nila yung pagkatao mo na hanggang diyan ka nalang talaga. It’s not our fault that we have lots of food in the fridge (I dunno if I got that right) and it’s not my fault I ended up this way, it’s the fridge’s! It’s tempting me from time to time (my comforting thoughts when I was a kid).

Chouji, a character from Naruto, experienced the same thing. Actually he’s the inspiration for this post. Like what I’ve said earlier, he never was appreciated by people except by his own family of course. Their family is considered to be full of “slow fatties”, that’s why they’re being degraded in one way or another. The only wish he has was to find a friend that would like him for what he is or what he is not and see that he’s kinder than anyone then he will treat him well and become friend who can trust each other. The same wish I have.

I have friends and I love making them and seeing them happy.

the evolution
(haha)

Anyway, I support David Cook for the next American Idol. I love his voice and his stage presence but still, i love Syesha when she last performed "Fever".

go David...=D

purpose vs. need

"In the chase between the cat and mouse, the cat always wins for the cat runs after its food but the mouse for its life. Sometimes, PURPOSE is more important than NEED."

I was just looking at random pictures in deviant art when i came across this image then I remembered the message that my friend sent me yesterday. Its the one i quoted above. At first, i wasn't able to grasp the meaning of the message until i read it again. It makes sense. What can i say? I just put everything this way. When you don't know your purpose you won't have a need. Am I looking at the deeper meaning of it? That i don't know. For me, life is not worth living if you don't know what your purpose is.

Filipinos and Souvenirs

Here's a news from the mail that my mom sent me. I just read it this morning.

2 Pinoys Fined for Taking Life Jackets for Souvenirs
By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:07:00 04/10/2008

HONG KONG-Think twice about taking 'souvenirs' from airplanes, especially on international flights. A judge here Wednesday fined two Filipinos HK$2,000 (P10,700) each for taking with them life jackets from their Cathay Pacific flight from Dubai .

Tsuen Wan Principal Magistrate Andrew Ma imposed the fines on Edwin S. Antolin, 52, and Crisanto R. Ramos, 29, after they pleaded guilty to the charge of theft. The life jackets cost only HK$400 each. 'Do you know each other?' asked the judge, who got curious why the two would take life jackets from their flight. He apparently did not know that many Filipinos had a proclivity of taking with them 'souvenirs' from hotels, airplanes and other places they visited.

Both Filipinos denied knowing each other. They were seated on different rows when they arrived here at around 2:20 p.m. on Tuesday for a connecting flight to Manila . Ramos occupied Seat No.. 35B while Antolin was in No. 47B, but they apparently had the same urge to take the life jackets under their seats.

Antolin put the jacket in his blue traveling bag, while Ramos hid his in a red shopping bag. They did not foresee that they would be arrested and charged in court for taking 'souvenirs.' When they got to the passenger terminal building of the Chek Lap Kok International Airport , their belongings had to go through an X-ray machine before they take their connecting flight.

Airport security officers later told investigators that they noticed 'suspicious objects' in the Filipinos' bags. The passengers were searched and the life jackets were found. Ramos supposedly even wrapped his jacket with a blanket.

The security officers reported the incident to the police and Cathay Pacific staff members, who confirmed that the life jackets were missing.

During police interrogation, the Filipinos denied any wrongdoing but they later pleaded guilty upon the advice of lawyers after they were brought to court.

-Its true for most Filipinos. The message of the original sender also caught my attention:

"KABAYAN. PLEASE. BUMABABA NA ANG DOLLAR. WAG NA NATIN SADYAING BUMABA DIN PATI ANG ATING DANGAL. ISAULI NYO PO ANG KUMOT, UNAN, KUTSARA, TINIDOR, KITCHEN KNIFE, PLATITO, CUP AT PERFUME OR LOTION SA CR.... DI PO KASAMA YAN SA BINAYAD SA PASAHE. PATI ANG EARPHONE... HINDI NYO PO MAGAGAMIT YAN KASI PANG-EROPLANO LANG YAN, MAY EROPLANO BA KAYO SA BAHAY NYO???"

late night nothings

Before i go to bed and totally dose off, I'll just put some of my thoughts here.

Definitely, it's not gonna be an interesting post to read actually. It's one of the many nonsense stuff that from time to time i get to notice.

As we go through life, yes there are many things that we encounter and some of them seem to be experiences that one never imagined he would go through. For a moment, you ask yourself, why? What's the reason behind? But most of the time you get the answers to your questions in times you least expected it to arrive. In ways which would make you regret how you've been answered and the aftershock that causes too much pain.

With this people tend to behave in a manner that unintentionally deviates from their true personality that's why others misinterpret them. But you know what, those people never intended to hurt anybody. They are only trying to find the one piece that would complete them. The happiness that would somehow make them forget the past and move on. They want to learn how to love themselves first, in that way they would also learn how to love the people that surrounds them.

In this life, i guess, you'll never gonna get the fullest of it unless you know your way around. I don't know if I'm making sense.

monstermash playground

As far as I know, artistic abilities surge through the veins of our clan. I think it’s also evident in my persona in one way or another. Maybe I have to explore more of my capabilities.

I have this cousin who really is good in his craft. Ever since he was a kid, people never doubted his skills and knew that one day he’d be successful in the field he had chosen. I won’t say more, I’ll just leave you with his profile.

Name:
John Carlo P. Erise
Occupation:
A.R.T.I.S.T.
Hobbies and Interests:
Toys, Games and Parties!
Favorite Books:
Neil Gaimans "Sandman" "Endless Nights", Origin, Wizard, other trade paper backs of grant morrison, ASTONISHING XMEN
Favorite Movies:
Marvel Movies, LOTR, Shrek...
Favorite Music:
Switchfoot, All American Rejects, Yellowcard, etc. (alternative, hiphop)
Favorite TV Shows:
Heroes, Naruto...

Recenlty, he is a freelancer and is bound for Singapore in the upcoming days. Some of his works are the storyboards for the following TV Commercials:

-Colgate Barkada Challenge

-PS Bank

-Lady's Choice

-Eskinol

-Huggies

-Tanduay 5 years (coming soon=D)

He already has a number of creations and here is a clip of my personal favorites:

You could check out his works on deviant art: www.mezaih.deviantart.com

By the way, check out their monstermash playground art exhibit. They were featured in Unang Hirit and UNTV.

Check them out: www.monstermashplayground.hitart.com
and watch them on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVN0YQK6LTA

ciao!

Back to a no parent and no sister environment. My mom together with my youngest sister are bound for Riyadh today. Somehow, home isn't so sweet without them. No one making orders and no one who laughs out loud. As my sister grows, she becomes much like my mom. The way she talks and her gestures, just like my mom. Oh well, I'm really going to miss her, them. It will take another year before we could see each other but thanks to technology, they seem close though they're miles away. Together with them is my dad's camera. So I'm back to a no camera state again and its friggin boring. Its the one that I'm holding in the photo above. This blog of mine will once again be a limited photo blog.

So what's next for me:

- study for my removal exam in calculus

- try to read valix

- update my blog once in a while

- try to develop my literary skills

- get myself ready for the coming semester

obsessions

"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets so love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, believe that everything happens for a reason, know a good thing when you see it and don't let it slip away. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it would be easy, they just said it would be worth it."

Last Sunday on our way for the first service in Victory Christian Fellowship - Alabang, I saw some stuff along the way which reminded me of my childhood cravings that until now still exists.

#1 - Cinnabon

"Cinnabon bakeries have built a reputation for serving fresh, aromatic cinnamon rolls made with premium Indonesian cinnamon and topped with a sweet, rich, cream cheese-based frosting. Each Cinnabon product is served hot out of the oven and baked fresh before our guest's eyes."

Its been years since my last bite of that delectable oven-fresh cinnamon rolls. Everytime we pass by a Cinnabon bakery when we go to malls back in K.S.A., the aroma coming from the place never fails to make drool and crave for it. The moment i saw it once again as we were passing through the SLEX, i can't help but ask my mom if we could make a short pit stop and buy even just a box but to my disappointment, we can't because a high school friend of my mom was already waiting for us at our place. Though i wasn't able to lay hands on a single classic cinnabon, my mom's friend brought a box of cinnamon rolls from French Baker. Its still has cinnamon so i was partly satisfied then.=D

#2 - Cars

If there 2 things that I'm obsessed with, it would be Cars and Perfumes. My aunt just came back from Canada and i was not expecting any "pasalubong" from her but there was something for me! The last time I used this was back in high school and the next was the classic Polo Blue. It was one of my favorites, CK Crave - for men who knows what he wants and how to get it. Going to cars, we were on our way to Alabang when I saw the billboard of the new Mazda 5 but i liked the RX 8 rather. Cadillac Escalade, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, BMW M6 Cabriolet are the few cars on car obsession list but the classy 2005 Honda CR-V still is my favorite.

#3 - Digimon

Back in Grade 6, my friday nights won't be complete if i won't be able to watch the first television series of the Japanese cartoon, Digital Monsters or Digimon. To tell you the truth, I was addicted ONLY to this cartoon series. I dunno why.

"Digimon" are "Digital Monsters". According to the stories, they are inhabitants of the "Digital World", a manifestation of Earth's communication network. The stories tell of a group of mostly pre-teens, the "Chosen Children" (Digidestined in the English version), who accompany special Digimon born to defend their world (and ours) from various evil forces. To help them surmount the most difficult obstacles found within both realms, the Digimon have the ability to evolve (Digivolve). In this process, the Digimon change appearance and become much stronger, often changing in personality as well. The group of children who come in contact with the Digital World changes from season to season.

Yamato Ishida is one of the chosen children and the bearer of the crest of friendship. His digimon is Gabumon which evolves to Garurumon and so forth. Obviously, he's my favorite character in the series. When they moved the second series to weekends, it was the time that digimon was erased temporarily in my thoughts because i was also busy with high school stuff. Thanks to Mikko, i was reminded of my naive side. He gave me a copy of the 5 movies so last night, my whole time was devoted to watching it all.=D

project 101

honmono no monogatari...
Oftentimes, i feel that i have everything, that I'm contented like being a jitterbug: lofty and exuberant. But you know what? It's that there are those people who take advantage of what i had become. It's that thing that would puncture me, holes and all. But you know what? I just smile, smirk and laugh it all away. Why? It's because life smiles along with you even when you're lonely.

For the last few weeks, my parents took advantage of how big their sons now are. Before, all the stuff that needs to be repaired inside the house would be the burden of my dad and uncle who lives with us together with his family. But now, evident that their three sons are all grown up, work seems easier with additional manpower. Although i was dreading the fact that we're the one whose going to do those stuff now and maybe the finished product won't turn out well, we gave it a try.

So there were three projects for and all of those involve painting stuff. The boy's bedroom, the living room and the garage together with the gate itself. They already gave us the privelege to choose what colors are going to be used and to tell you the truth, my younger brothers and i seem to have the same taste except for some parts.

The Boy's Bedroom - This is the only room in the house that was left untouched (except for the closet's former color). The walls and the ceiling were in their same colors since then: white. The moment my parent's asked us of what color is going to be used, the immediate response was blue but i pointed out that it is somehow attractive to mosquitos (got that from Nang Bam) so blue was turned down. After laying down possible colors, we decided to paint the walls orange and my brother and I had this brilliant idea of saving the closet doors for our artistic abilities. The things that took place in between was fun though we were not able to achieve what was planned. The walls were painted peach, yes its close to orange but its more of the feminine side I guess which IS not for us.The closet doors were painted red and the old white vinyl was changed to a wood-looking ones. We like it anyway especially our parents. They moved in right away after all things done and we transferred to their room.-_-

Being frustrated of having not achieved the color we wanted for the walls in our room, we suggested the same color for the living room and guess what? We failed again. The color that we got was sort of mangoish-melonish-sunflowerish one. Honestly speaking, I like it though together with the new sala set that my parents bought to match the walls. wOot!

So the last project was the garage. They hired carpenters to work on the roofing part and we were assigned to do the painting of its new ceiling and the gate. The final verdict: blue to match the gutter. We just finished painting the gate today and i consider it an achievement. I learned what materials to be used so added knowledge that i know will be used when I do stuff like this in my own house.^-^

At the same time, the end of the project serves as an indicator that the flight of my mom and my youngest sister back to Riyadh is near. My dad went back last April 27. Though we're already used to it, I still hate this feeling when we part. Once again, we go separate ways.

but, But, BUT... I asked my mom how to cook her so-called "Ginisang Alugbati". Alugbati is one of the few vegetables that people don't eat. Some use it as feeds for pigs but for me, its one of the dishes I personally like. The whole period of their stay here in the Philippines, we were living a healthy life. Oats and fruit servings would never be lost in the morning. Viands would most of the time consist of vegetables and fish. So back to learning how to cook the dish, it was easy. I just don't know about the preparation of the ingredients. I'll try to learn my mom's Adobo ilonggo style and her Sinigang. The one thing i failed to ask was how my dad cooks Adobo. There's this distinct taste in the way he cooks it and the smell alone on the process of cooking it simply makes me hungry. There's a sort of arabic hint in his Adobo. Oh well, there's always next year!

day out

FCBC San Lorenzo chapter celebrated its annual family outing at Bato Springs - San Pablo, Laguna. Last year was at Majayjay but this place was better but the water was still ice cold.

The Rugrats
(you'll never get tired of them)

Denzel Luke

Hannah

Iya

Kids Next Door
(they'll piss you off from time to time but they're still lovable)

Matthew Miguel and Angelo

Titus

Naomi Nissi

Stars for all time
(we always make sure we have FUN)

Through the years, we never fail to make the day a whole lot of adventure. Much fun thanks to the new members of the young people. We still have lots of years to look forward to. woOt!