Words of Encouragement

There aren't that many spoken in this house.
I'm just so disappointed in the lack of support and optimism and faith my parents have in me and my sister. It's not that they're not supportive at all, it's that a lot of the time, I don't think they're supportive enough. I know that we might not exactly deserve their encouragement as of late, what with us not being start students, at times not even average, but could you not be so pessimistic?

Seriously. I know you're being honest about our abilities based on our past performance, but could you just not? At least once in a while? Can't you abide by the rule 'if you've got nothing good to say, don't say anything at all' or react negatively? You taught us that, could you live by it?

I'm making my parents sound totally unsupportive. They're not. They're really just, as I said, honest about our abilities based on our past performance.
It's not like they go, 'you can't do it', it's more like they make a comment or a facial expression that we just KNOW is meant to discourage us from getting our hopes too high. Probably so they don't drop and crumble if we fail. Which is a good thing. I guess.

I just wish they were the parents who are just like, 'YOU CAN DO IT!' even if they have no idea what their kids are trying to achieve. Even if it's just once in a while. Or even just once.

I don't think they've ever lied to us even to just let us delusion ourselves into thinking that we could do absolutely anything we wanted.

Anyway, I'm rambling. And I just wanted to dedicate this to my sister. Who has a bright future ahead of her. Know that I believe in you. I do. A lot of other people do too. We're just not wired the way some people wish we were. And they are looking out for your future, in the way you know how, which is just not always in the way you'd like.

101Years, 4 Days and Counting

Last Friday, we celebrated the closing of DLSU's centennial celebration. There were performances in the new Henry Sy Sr. Building, a bazaar in the Yuchengco lobby and of course, the day ended with fireworks. It's time like these that you can really see the love La Sallians have for their school. As cheesy as it seems, I really do believe that school become homes. La Sallians have formed families with their schoolmates and professors. It's kind of amazing that La Salle schools have been able to provide such an environment for 101 years, and I bet, will continue to do so for many more years to come.


First steps into Henry Sy Sr. Building with Star.

Extremely long drumming and cheering sequence before the fireworks.

The fireworks. Finally. What everyone was waiting for. And it was definitely worth the wait. So for those of you who missed it, here it is.

Show of La Salle pride ended the night aside from the L-A-S-A-L-L-I-A-N! song which got stuck in everyone head.

Can't wait for the next celebration that'll be like this.
ANIMO!

It's Medley Time

I haven't posted in a looong while and I have so many videos lined up. They're kinda late in the events of my life but still kinda fun to watch. For me, at least.
So yeah, my sister wanted to do a medley of Eyes Open by Taylor Swift and The Broken Ones by Dia Frampton. So we messed around with it a bit and this was the result.
Her birthday's coming up in a bit so send your love! Comment on the video or on this blog post!
So... what else... hmmmm. I think that's pretty much it. I have to set up a schedule for my blogging since school just started up again. it's most likely going to be blog posts every Wednesday and Saturday/Sunday. So expect a new post in the next few days.
So, here's the video and I hope you guys like it!

Oh, my friend, Sean, wanted to hear me sing so that's partly why I decided to post this. If you wish you didn't have to hear my voice, blame him.

Insomnia, Illegal Car Rides and Monster Pet Shops

Fun car ride with Laura after welcoming the CCS and SOE froshies with some of my orgmates to DLSU during the first round of welcoming for the LPEP week. Don't feel like writing much today so I hope you have as much fun watching the video as I did recording it.

Watch the Videos Even If You've Got Something Better to Do

I promised I'd post videos from my Boracay trip within the week and here they are... FINALLY! Sorry they took so long, I kinda lost the memory card since I brought two on the trip. The one the videos were on were still at the bottom of the bag I brought on the trip.

This first one is basically me and Sarah talking on the boat about anything we can think of. Most of the people we were on the trip with are in this video. You probably shouldn't watch this if you get seasick easily or just dislike crappy video-taking.

Here's the view of the Boracay shoreline from our boatride. Didn't edit anything because one: I'm too lazy, and two: I don't have the programs to edit it properly so might as well not edit at all.

Finally, here's Yana talking about some pretty racy stuff!!! Kidding. She's just talking about hotdogs. The kid-appropriate kind for those of you who's got their minds in the gutter. Yana's one of the little kids we were with on our trip. I love kids, don't you? So yeah, mashed together two videos. Again, no real editing for the reasons stated above.

So yeah. Let me bid you adieu for the time being. I'll probably post another blog or video tomorrow just to make up for my absence.

Pew Pew take2

 I haven't posted in a while. Partly due to the heat, mostly due to laziness. So again, I'll be updating in a series this week, starting with the Boracay trip I went on with my friends last April 12, 2012.
My friends being Ateneans and an Iska were on break, meaning Jen and I, being La Sallians, had to cut a day or two of class. Supposedly the trip was to bond with one of our friends who's leaving for Singapore later this year, but at the last minute, her parents made her back out... no REAL surprise there.
So anyway, night before we left, we stayed at Phoebe's house. Just because it would be more convenient... and more fun.
Phoebe and Sarah tried teaching me how to play bridge. Which I can beat them at after a few tries. BOOM BABY! We barely slept and Pheebs didn't sleep at all. So yeah, rushrushrush to the airport... Not really, we were pretty chill coz we were super early.
I'll speed through the next part coz I can feel you getting bored.
So we check-in our "luggage", have breakfast at the airport. Chill a bit more, board the tiny plane and fall asleep before take-off. Land at Caticlan airport and wait for the carousel to spit out our bags.
Funny thing though, there was a box of Dove bar soap riding the carousel like nobody's business.
Moving on, we had a short ride to the boat, rode it across to Boracay island itself then shuttle ride to the hotel. Estacio Uno, same place we stayed last time.
We got there at around 9am so we had to chill a bit at the cabana.

Chillin at the cabana with Jen, Phoebe and Patrick. (c)Gai Pardilla

By 10am we were showed to our room, so we picked our beds and took naps til lunch.

Our room. (c) Jenina See

After our nap and lunch, we went out to ride the Zorb. It's this huge plastic bubble that they can either strap you into to or let you slosh around with a bucket or two worth of water, then they let you roll down a hill... try it if you haven't. It's fun.

ZORB! (c) Gai Pardilla

Wet and wild. (c) Phoebe Chua

Sarah strapped in for the dry Zorb ride! (c) Phoebe Chua

We bummed around the rest of the day, had dinner and bonded over drinks. First night was 3 pitchers of Toilet Duck. Which was fun. Bonded with Patrick and Mark. Soldiers fell one by one... survivors: I can't even remember but I think it was me, Gai and Phoebe? Jen broke out in a killer rash, so did Patrick.

Next day we bummed around again but it started to rain. Hard. Which would have been fine. Except we were going to go on a yacht ride with everyone. But we decided to persevere and it turned out fine. It stopped raining by the time we got on the boat and we were able to relax and enjoy the view. Which was awesome, just so you know. I'll post the video of the view sometime this week. Honest.

Row row row your boat! (c) Sarah Liao

Jen, Phoebe and Gai.

Everyone we were with on our trip.

Jen's attempt at being a "photographer". (c) Jenina See

Group pic of me and my girls! (c) Mark Ley

View of the shoreline in party mode.

So yeah, we had massages then went out to eat. Went back to the hotel after and started drinking. Again. Absolut and Jose Cuervo this time. Not really the Cuervo but the Absolut was gone.

Absolut with Sprite and cherries.

We drank til 4am, I think. Again one by one the soldiers fell except for 3 survivors: Gai, Mark and me. We were a bit hungry so we headed to Jonah's for some shake. Yum.

Survivors enjoying shakes from Jonah's.

Went back to the resort and chilled awhile. The two other people in the picture mixed Cuervo into my shake. Dastardly devils. Didn't really matter though, coz I'm strong. Kidding. Anyway. Yeah. We stayed up til around 5:30am. Then that was it, trip over. Back to Manila. Sad story. But super fun weekend.

I'm on Bloglovin'!

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Just a quick post to let you know I'm on Bloglovin'.
K. Gotta get back to studying for finals now.
Vlog and blogpost when it's all over.
Honest.

Backtracking at Bratpack: The JanSport Story

I remember my first JanSport backpack...

I got it sometime when I was in 7th grade, my dad had bought it for me. I loved it. It was this abstract designed thing with faces in different shades of blue. I used it everyday after that, my mom would get mad because it almost never got washed. Some pretty good memories with that bag. After a few years though, my mom gave it to one of my cousins. I was pretty bummed out when I found out so said she'd just get me a new one.

Later, me and my mom headed over to Robinsons Galleria. Just to chill a bit. To my delight, there was a store selling JanSport backpacks. The store was Bratpack.

I dragged my mom into the store and did the smug face, complete with the wiggling eyebrows. She just sighed and let me take my pick of which one I wanted.

There were so many choices, it's impossible to not find a JanSport backpack to fit your personality and style. I took forever to pick and I pulled so many bags of the rack, at some point I was afraid the guard would kick me out of the store! But the clerks were nice and assisted me the whole time, they even commented on which bag colors and designs were more popular and which styles would better suit my needs.

So many s-backpack-ular (corny! haha) backpacks to choose from!

Eventually, I settled on the JanSport with different colored patches on it. I use it quite a bit, at school to carry all my books and things, to pack my stuff for sleepovers and even for my overnight trips when I go hiking!

Even my friend brought a JanSport backpack!

I love the fact that all the JanSport bags have a LIFETIME guarantee and that they're all so affordable! Not to mention durable. My backpack has been on so many hiking trips with me, it's hard for me to believe that there isn't even a single tear or loose thread on it yet.
I've been to different branches of Bratpack, and although the one in Robinsons Galleria isn't the biggest, I've got to say that I can't seem to bring myself to buy anything from the other branches. It's probably because of some kind of gratitude I have to the Galleria branch staff for making my crucial hours of backpack choosing fun. And honestly, they haven't let me down yet.

Me, at the Bratpack Robinsons Galleria branch with the JanSport Centennial backpacks!

Recently, I went back to Bratpack Galleria to take pictures and again, I took forever taking the pictures, but as usual the staff was patient and helpful. They even let us move the lights so we could adjust the lighting. (Me and my sister still need to work on our lighting skills though. Obviously.) I wish all the employees of all stores were like this.

Anyway, as I was roaming around the store, checking out the new JanSport bags, I came across these goodies:

Different bags for all your different needs!

There were so many new additions to the JanSport family! I was itching to get my hands on all of them.

First, we've got the Inner Beast Duffle bag. Isn't it just a-roar-able? It's great for the gym or overnight trips with friends! I know that if I had this, I'd be a total gym rat just to show off this bag!

Then, we've got the mini Superbreak and the Wheeled Superbreak. I think these two go together for smart travelers. We've got the super chic rainbow reptile print on the stroller for those trips abroad and the mini backpack to store your passports, wallets and other necessities. Traveling is exciting, but how much better would the experience be with the perfect traveling partners? Your JanSport duo! It's huge and lightweight so you can pack more outfits for the trip or pasalubongs for your loved ones! In fact, I think you can do both. Booyah!

Finally, we've got a classic from the Superbreak line, my favorite. The all-purpose backpack and really, how could you go wrong with that? I love the Alien Green color, but no matter what color or design you get, it's just the right size for everyday use. In fact instead of getting paper or plastic bags for your purchases, you could put your items right into your backpack! More convenient for shoppers (not to mention eco-friendly), especially if you love eating on-the-go since you won't have to juggle your food and the shopping bags.

I feel like, no matter what JanSport bag you're sporting, you're a winner. Why? JanSport isn't just about the bag, it's about the memories you make with it.

Sunrise Buckets!

God knows I love hanging out with friends, whether it be my HS friends, blockmates, orgmates or whatever. So last last Friday, March 30, me and a few of my JEMA buddies decided to go out for dinner and chill. Maybe even watch The Hunger Games if there was some time. But there wasn't so we chilled at the resto for a few hours and moved on to Happy Lemon at around 11:30pm. The wings at Sunrise Buckets in Madison Square were awesome. As in YUMMEH IN MAH TUMMEH. Kinda pricey though, worth it if you just chow down there once in a while.

Had a lot of fun taking pictures on Ken's phone, again, and comparing the number of chicken bones on our plate.

In case you were curious, Jen won by a landslide.

Eventually, I got bored at the restaurant and I came up with the idea that we should have a lookalike picture thing. And I had brought my beanie and glasses so...

TA-DAAAH! Aren't we such cutie pies?
Right side, top to bottom: Loel, Jen, Star, Nica and Ed.
Left side, top to bottom: Kelvin, Ken, Me, Mondy and Albert.

Me, Nica and Jen rode Kelvin's car to Happy Lemon. Friggin awesome pimped out ride. I don't have a picture right now, I'll post one next time.

So yeah. That's all. Another post before the weekend. Promise.

The Turnover (Long Overdue)

It's been awhile since I've posted anything so I'm gonna make up for it this week posting about what's been happening in my ever-so-interesting (I wish) life.


Last March 20, 2012 - Tuesday, was DLSU Outdoor Club's turnover dinner! For those of you who don't know what a turnover is, it's an event where those in charge pass their responsibilities onto juniors who they think deserve the honor. So yeah, we had our turnover and it was fun, old officers and current officers, our faculty adviser, and of course the incoming officers were present.
None of the junior officer actually knew what their positions on the org would actually be so we could be "surprised" at the turnover.
The old officers gave speeches and wished us luck on the responsibilities and challenges we will be taking on.
As you all have probably figured out, I am dedicated to all the orgs I take an active part in and DLSU OC is one of them. I don't know if this'll make me sound cocky, but I was pretty sure that I'd become an officer... Ok, it does sound cocky, but that's not how I mean for it to sound.
Anyway, so yeah, I am now VP for Membership Development. And I just want to take this time to say thank you to the officers who gave me this position and felt that I was deserving. I will do my best. I promise. So yeah. 
Here's the list of DLSU Outdoor Club's officers for AY 2012-2013:

Jason Sim, New President beside Lance Dy, Old President
(c)Victor Chan

Tob Castaneda, Old EVP beside Vlad Alcasid, New EVP
(c)Victor Chan

Mem Dev Team: Gerard Buenalor, Old AVP beside Aimee Chua, Old VP beside Me, New VP beside  Justine Ragos and Ryuta Murakami, New AVPs beside Bea del Rosario
(c) Victor Chan

Activities Team: Iris Ang, New AVP beside Ram Manipol, Old VP beside Victor Chan, New VP
(c)Victor Chan 

Finance Team: Crisha Bolisay, Old AVP beside Cz Santos, New VP beside Jason Sim, old VP
(c)Victor Chan

Logistics Team: Jerome Alcasid, Old VP beside Abi Dolon, New VP beside Benj Tuason, New AVP
(c)Victor Chan

Publicity Team: Mico Lorenzo, Old AVP beside Apa Azores, Old AVP beside Eileen Robles, Old and New VP beside Steph Bernardo, New AVP
(c)Victor Chan

Documentation Team: Vlad Alcasid, Old VP beside Laura Cua, New VP
(c)Victor Chan

Socio-Civic Team: Abby Manawat, Old VP beside Larry Sze, Old AVP beside Jodelle Cuanan, New VP
(c)Victor Chan

I think this is still missing a few AVPs and I'll update you when I know for sure. But for the moment, there you go.
Thank you so much old officers for all the guidance you have given us and for all the memories you have been a part of. I hope all of you will still be part of many memories to come and I hope that so many of you reading this will be making new memories with me and the rest of DLSU OC!

The entire crew. I made the Lion, by the way, in 1.5hrs!

Hunger Games Book vs Movie? [No spoilers from either, I promise.]

If you didn't already know, I am a HUGE Hunger Games fan. I've read the entire series five times and I'm probably going to read it again some time soon. Yes, I'm that much of an addict... or that much of a bookworm. You decide. 
So anyway, I was able to score tickets for the premiere of Hunger Games on March 22nd, thanks to DLSU Outdoor Club and Hunger Games Philippines.

Then I watched it a second time the next night with my family.
I watched it twice in two days and I still want to watch it all over again. But here's the thing, it's not as faithful to the book as I wanted it to be.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie and I think it was awesome; it's just that there were characters that they didn't feature in the movie who I think were so important in the book. They didn't spend enough time showcasing the build up of certain relationships. And they did leave out a lot of mini-events from the book. It was an extremely compressed version of the book. 
I know, I know. There is no possible way to make the movie exactly like it's written in the books and how everyone envisioned it in their heads. Especially since the book was so detailed.
The only real disappointment for me was Katniss and Peeta's costumes while they were on their chariots. It was so extremely lacking in the "boom factor".
The up side is, though. As different as it was from the book, I wasn't disappointed. So here's a tip for all of you who are just about to watch the movie and have read the book: Don't hold on too tightly to the book version as you're watching the film. Just lay back and enjoy it as the games come to life.
Hope this helps and (what kind of fan would I be if I didn't say it?) MAY THE ODDS BE EVER ON YOUR FAVOR!

Happy Thursdays!

Happy Thursdays are making a comeback in DLSU! So here's another vlog. This time it's with my friend, Ken Vergara. We made it on his Samsung s2 with the Paper Camera app. Pretty cool. Made us look like we had rotten teeth though. Oh well, papel (paper in English). Camera people were Jen See, Nica Villanueva and Albert Uy. At some point Nica and Jen forget that they can be heard on the video, too even if they aren't seen. Sorry for that.
Drumroll please! Now presenting KEN "THE FACE VALUE" VERGARA'S DEBUT ON MY BLOG!

End of Installment

The last vlog installment for Zambales! It's pretty much just me talking to the camera, Apa making a few comments and Cz washing her clothes in the ocean.
Enjoy!

The Totem Pole

Here's part2 of the Zambales trip video installments. This one is of Gerard climbing this tree trunk thing that the Crystal Beach people really meant for the visitors to climb. Cz and Apa were talking about Gerard's intelligence/stupidity as he was coming down.

So there you go. 

The third and last installment, the one that makes the most sense, I think, will be up tomorrow.

175 Degrees!

Spent the weekend in Zambales! The waves were awesome for surfing, but we passed on it and just enjoyed swimming in the ocean. We got eaten by the waves... sounds better in Filipino: Kinain kami ng alon. But I'm too lazy to blog, so I decided to make a vlog on the beach... With Cz, Apa and Gerard. I've blogged about them before if you read the past OC posts. On the way home, we stopped in Pampanga and ate at the original Branch1 of Razon's! Their leche flan on top of the halo-halo were bricks compared to the paper thin slices they serve here in Manila. Don't have pictures of our Pampanga side trip though... Sorry.

My favorite shot from the trip. (c) Isbog
More pictures to come.

So here is one of the videos, I'm gonna post them throughout the week since they take forever to upload. Sorry for the crappy audio, the wind was blowing and all. And for the fact that we're all kinda weird in the video, we're always that way, but more so in this one since we were feeling the beach vibe. Plus, we were kinda high from all the chillin' we got to do.

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Before the Week Ends

I promised I would, and so I do. But I have to make this quick since I'm leaving for my surf trip in a while.
Super stressed the past few weeks. I dunno why. Bright side of the week, I was able to go through my friend, Raymond's iTunes Library. Eargasmic, I swear to God. It is one of the most complete collections I have seen. Sad thing was, I couldn't transfer the entire thing into my iPod since it exceeds the memory space I've got. Major bummer. I got a few though so it wasn't a total loss.
So yeah. I'm sorry this is such a sucky blog post but I'm in such a huge hurry and I just wanted to get a post up before the week ended, like I promised. Better ones will come.
Have a great weekend!

Two Hundred Forty Six

It's been half a month since my last blog post so I'll catch you up slowly since I don't think I've got the energy to blog about everything right now.
Let's start with my Anawangin trip last Feb.11-12, 2012 brought to you by none other than DLSU Outdoor Club.
Kudos to Abi Dolon and Laura Cua on the first activity they were in charge of.
To say it was a success is an understatement. It being a beach trip pretty much meant that everyone would have fun without being too exhausted to enjoy the place. Not to say that I'm not able to appreciate the view when I go on climbs. It's just that I'm too exhausted to do anything about it.
We took a boat ride to the cove. Took about an hour? But I loved it. There was a cool breeze and you could see all the shorelines and the endless expanse of blue. Lord, I'm in love with the ocean.
The first few hours after setting up camp-sandy with pine trees, how awesome is that?- we spent swimming, playing volleyball and taking pictures on the beach. After a while we went up some mountain at the edge of the beach. Simple climb, pretty effortless hike, actually.

Chillin on the boat ride. (c)Rod Calzado

View from the boat (c)JR Altarejos

Boats on the shore (c)Ryuta Murakami

Beach in the late afternoon (c)Ryuta Murakami

View from the mini-climb (c)Ryuta Murakami

Campsite (c)Ryuta Murakami

Sari-sari store near the campsite. Where we bought additional "supplies" (c)Rod Calzado

The weekend was fun, spent with old friends and a few new ones, as per usual when you go on OC trips. At night, we had a campfire and a ton of food. It was fun. We played games and all. Even had s'mores... they did, anyway. I'm not exactly a fan of marshmallows.

Laura and Lester, first timer. Siblings heating up s'mores over the campfire. (c)Ryuta Murakami 

There was even a group of guys sexy dancing for each other a few sapces over, lights and music and all. Extremely funny. No pictures though, sorry to deprive you all.

First time anyone went missing on a trip. EhemRamManipolEhem and EhemRyutaMurakamiEhem. Just for a few hours though. Didn't tell anyone they were heading off to wherever. Made Abi cry. Shame on you.

Apparently the lovebirds consummated their love on a night trek up the mountain we hiked in the afternoon, but this time by moonlight... Kidding about the lovebirds and consummation of love, by the way. The idiots didn't even bring flashlights.

View of the campsite from the idiots' evening trek. (c)Ryuta Murakami

Their excuse: "The moonlight was bright enough to guide us anyway".

I wanna smack their heads together.

Deep breaths. Moving on.

Next day, got up, had breakfast, packed up the camp and headed back to the boats for our visit to Pundaquit.

Rise and shiiiine! (c)Ryuta Murakami

An island with a lighthouse. It was... fun? The stairs we had to climb were rickety and rusty and it was pretty nerve-wracking having to climb them. I'm afraid of heights, so I wasn't able to enjoy the view from the lighthouse much. But from my vantage point, it was serene.

The rickety staircase, Gerard and Apa. (c) Ryuta Murakami

Lilai, first timer, and the view from the light house. (c)Ram Manipol 

The group at the Lighthouse.

It was located past a huge deserted house which would have been perfect for fashion photo shoots, if you didn't mind transporting all your clothes and letting your makeup melt before the shoot began, but whatever.

The house (c)Ram Manipol

The hallway (c)Ram Manipol

View behind the house (c)JR Altarejos

So yeah, took the boat over to Zambales took showers, took the bus back to Manila and finished off the awesome weekend. And I'm finally done with the blog post. It's kinda long, but I wanted to make up for the long absence.

By the way, the waves were awesome that weekend, extreme bummer I wasn't able to surf. Oh well. Surfing weekend coming up soon! Awoo awoo awoo!

Another blog post will come within the week. Honest.

Manggasm vs. Orange Jiss

Haven't been posting lately. I'm sorry. Been extremely busy with school work and the usual org activities. Especially this week. The junior officers of JEMA are competing in a juice race. The team that earns the most by the end of the week wins so we're all going into overdrive selling as many juice cups as we can. I'm the leader of Manggasm, naturally. So yeah. I'll just post some picture of our supporters and hopefully, if you come visit us during University week, you'll become one of our supporters, too! GO MANGGASM!

Martin Reyes and Aiki Herrera! DLSU Archers.

Top: Paolo Gallardo
Bottom: Loye Clamor
DLSU DRAGONBOAT TEAM!

PEP SQUAD!

PEP SQUAD DRUMMERS!

PIGLET AND BATGIRL!

SIR ARIES!

DANCE FEST ORGANIZERS! 

LA SALLIAN LEADERS!

LSDC STREET!

Hope to see you guys soon!


P.S. I'll post about DLSU OC's Anawangin weekend and the LEAP Class I headed yesterday soon.