Posted on: February 17, 2005
I take Crescence out for a walk outside, every afternoon just after school, whenever I can. She loves going outside. Every time I take hold of her leash she gets all excited and starts to scamper towards the door. Once outside her tail would wag vigorously and she would start running, dragging me from behind. It's really hard to control her when she's excited so I just stand still. When she realizes that she can't get anywhere she calms down and I start walking again.
Crescence would normally stoop down, her nose touching the ground, sniffing anything and everything along the way. She gets startled and would run away whenever tricycles would pass us by. Loud noises scare her so do dogs who would bark at her when she gets too close to their territory. She would cower behind me and her tail would hang down whenever she feels frightened. I would usually take her home after that because that's where she feels safe and secure.
She has grown a lot in her four month's stay with us. I've seen her changed from the shy, timid, sad-eyed pup that I knew of before, into a hyper and energetic dog who would chew on almost everything. Dogs are cute and adorable while they're still young and they usually get pampered for it. When Crescence was first introduced to us, my sisters and I would spend hours watching her. We treated her as if she was our baby and gave her all the love and attention that she could have ever needed. We still love her now, but she's not that adorable anymore. Come to think of it, we were all once cute and adorable but time took it all away, he sure did leave some for me though :)
Crescence is not house trained yet so we have to keep her on a leash to regulate her movement. I've been reading a lot of articles on how to train dogs so that someday, when she knows the do's and don'ts in the house, we could permanently take the leash off her and give her the freedom to roam around the house. Training a dog though is not easy. I tried this afternoon to train her how to sit. With tidbits of adobong pork in my hand, I approached her and enticed her with the treat. She wanted it badly but I didn't give it to her yet because I had to associate the treat with the command I was to teach her. Frustrated, she kept on barking, not knowing why I was just standing there not handing her morsel. Eventually she sat down but when I approached her she stood up and started to jump on me again. I turned away again and waited for her to calm down. When she finally did, she sat down again, and this time she didn't got up. I walked up to her and said 'Sit!', then I gave her the treat and patted her on her head. I did this a couple of times and it worked because whenever I approached her she would sit down and patiently wait for her treat.
She learned fast. Then and there I started thinking of how tomorrow I could teach her to roll over and play dead. She could be the coolest dog ever once I've taught her to do tricks. Proud of what we've had accomplished, I praised Crescence and gave her a pat on her head. After washing my hands I went back to her. "Crescence sit", I said. She just stood there and she stared at me. This time, with a commanding voice, I said, "Crescence sit". She leaped, her front paws touching my chest. Undaunted I tried one more time and said "Crescence sit". She just continued on leaping, bouncing off her leash.
Oh well, I guess it's back to square one. Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow.
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Posted on: February 16, 2005
Kasama--------------------
Bb Eb BbSana'y masabi sa awit kong ito
Bb Bb/A Gm C FLahat ng ninanais nitong puso ko
Bb Eb BbSana saan man, patungo sa buhay
Bb Bb/A Gm May pag-ibig, may pag-asa
Eb BbMay saya at saysay
Bb Eb BbSana, sa bawat sandali'y matikman pa
Bb Bb/A Gm C FSarap ng pagsasama, at simpleng ligaya
Bb Eb BbTara na! Sakyan lang, malay mo.
Bb Bb/A Gm Eb-F BbNand'yan lng, nand'yan lng, ang hinahanap mo
----
I can't get the chords to go in line with the words they are to be played on because blogger won't allow me to, so I guess you just have to hear the song for yourself to know.
Download the .mp3 file of the song, and the UK coke commercial, where the ad was originally based.
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Posted on: February 15, 2005
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Posted on: February 14, 2005
It's red shirt day in the UP. No, it's not because of Valentines Day. Rather, it's because the students are rallying against the P 357 million budget cut. Funny how red could mean both love and activism. Here at the UP we celebrate the season of love by staging protests against the government.
Activism aside, love is really in the air. You can see it everywhere. Flowers, balloons, chocolates, haranas... you know, the usual valentine cliches that you get every February 14. Who can blame them? It's only once a year that you get to formally celebrate love, so why not make the best of it? I may not have a date this valentines but at least I get to celebrate it with one of my special someones. Meet Ate Leeann. My ever-so beautiful sister who, once in a while, has PMS written all over her face. It's her birthday today. My sisters are so lucky. They get to have their birthdays in cool dates. My other sister, Joyce, was born on New Year's Eve.
Anyway to all you guys out there: HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
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Posted on: February 13, 2005
Today was our PI class field trip to Banahaw. Ate Lee and I left home early. The bus was supposed to leave at 6:30 am but schedules are always prone to change. It was an hour later before the bus started moving. I sat on the back of the bus with my sister beside me. Behind us were four of her bio blockmates. The rest of the students on the bus were from the college of public health. Before proceeding to Banahaw we stopped over in Sto. Tomas, Batangas were we bought our lunch. We were supposed to eat them when we get to Sta. Lucia falls but I was hungry so I finished most of my lunch in the bus.
After an hour or so we finally arrived in Banahaw, Quezon. We took a jeep ride to our first stop which was the Sta. Lucia falls. It was about a 100 meters below us so had to go down a flight of steps. It was slippery and none of us wanted to fall down so we were very careful in our descent. When I reached the bottom I saw children jumping off the rocks and diving in the river, in another corner were people doing their laundry, on the far side was the falls that was fabled to have healing powers. We had to cross the river because the picnic site was on the other side. Sir Esguerra was already on the water helping the others to cross. The water was really cold. I held my shoes up high so that it didn't get wet. I crossed the river as dry as I can be but then I tripped and got my pants wet from the knee down. Good thing though the camera in my pocket didn't get wet.
The place was serene. The sound of the water rushing down was calming and relaxing. It's my first time to see waterscapes such as this after living in a desert country for almost half my life. I wanted to swim but I didn't have extra clothes. Ate lee never said anything of us stopping by a river so I wasn't really prepared for this. The others took out their lunches and started eating. I roamed around and took pictures of the river. After an hour we had to go to our second stop so we started climbing the stairs we went down a while ago. If going down was hard, going up was even harder. There were about 289 steps all in all. The one in our Batangas field trip was only a 100. It's like climbing a twenty story building.
When everyone got to the top we hiked across the village to our second stop which was the chapels of the Rizalistas in Banahaw. Along the way we caught sight of certain symbols like the all-seeing eye. If you watched National Treasure you'll be familiar with this one. It's a triangle with an eye at the center. Esguerra said it is a sign of the Rizalistas and is associated with free masonry. I remember seeing it in a basillica in Batangas on our previous field trip.
The old chapel was in renovation. The new one however was one of the cleanest that I've ever seen. The tiles were so bright and shiny that you could see your reflection on them. Although they are more or less like Christians in belief, there are major differences. Their priests are women whom they call their sumprema. Their first ever suprema was MBB (I forgot what the initials stand for) whose teaching have become part of their doctrines. They revere Rizal and other Filipino heroes. It's interesting though that Aguinaldo was not one of them. During the forum with one of the leaders, I asked if they treat Rizal as a god. He answered that Rizal is just as man as any other of us human beings and it is only God whom they worship. I have my doubts though. I've also noticed that they were feminists. In one of the paintings outside the old chapel they quoted a verse from Jeremiah. Part of it says, "Mananaig ang mga babae sa mga lalake." When I asked him about this he says that they are not feminists but they believe that when the end is near the women would be superior to the men. He cited examples of how in today's society women have equal rights with men. He also used GMA as an example.
It would be better if the person we interviewed was the suprema herself because she would have given a better insight on their sect and what they believe in. A lot of the beliefs shared by the person we interviewed closely resemble that of the Catholic faith so it's really hard to tell if they are a cult sect, as most of the people believed.
Anyway the interview lasted for almost two hours. After that we packed up and went home. It was an exhausting day but the fun and the experience made the trip worthwhile.
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Posted on: February 12, 2005
The Mainplace held a Friday night acoustic gig which was hosted by Soul Shop. Ate joyce and I volunteered as waiters for the event. A day before we were sent to an HRM school here in Cavite to learn the rudiments of serving the table, proper handling and placement of utensils, carrying 4 plates at a time (which is really hard by the way), and some basic napkin folds. It was a short crash course to prepare us for the event.
We went to the Mainplace at 7 pm that Friday night. When we arrived, there were tables covered in red table cloths that lined up outside Soul Shop. In the center of each table was a ceramic plate where on it laid a flower held together by two stones. A mini stage was at the center. Soft ambient lights flooded the usually dark street near the church. Acoustic music was streaming from the speakers. The whole setup felt like the usual sight one sees in Baywalk during the night.
People started arriving at 8:30. The performers was already there setting up their equipment. Each of us was assigned a different table and after a brief orientation we started walking towards the customers seated and asked their orders. To my surprise the guy at the table I was assigned to was the same guy who gave us the crash course. Serving their table felt like going through a graded OJT (on the job training). I didn't want to mess up so I kept reminding myself the little that I have known from the lecture. I was tense at first but when I got the hang of it I enthusiastically went from table to table taking orders and serving them.
It was hectic. I went to and fro taking orders and dishing out plates. There were at least 60 or more people and there were only 10 of us waiters. Individually we were serving at least 6 people. That's small compared with the size of customers waiters normally serve in restaurants. Considering this is my first time it was hard and exhausting but no matter how hard it looked I still kept on going. Ate lee would be so surprised if she saw me. It's not really in me to do this kind of things. To be honest i'm a lazy hardworking fellow. It's my paradox. I'm a couch potato who prefers being served rather than serving, but when time comes that I start working, I give it my best. My father would always say that "Masipag ka naman e, pag tyinaga nga lng."
It was already midway through the program. The performers are already playing their second set of songs. I was at the back searching for tables to be cleared, but most of the people are still eating so I just stood back and enjoyed the music for a while. The vocalist started reading a tiny piece of paper. It was a request from the audience. "Once in a Lifetime by Freestyle or 214 by Rivermaya to be sung by JC", he read. I thought he made a mistake but then the youth started to tease me and it's obvious that one of them gave out that request for me to sing. I just stood back in shock and disbelief. Luckily they performed a couple of songs and for a moment I thought they forgot. But after a few sets the vocalist called my name and asked me to come up stage. I was hesitant. The others tried to encourage me but really I was too embarrassed to go up there and sing. I gave in though. The vocalist made me sit down the chair he was sitting in and gave me the mike. The keyboardist didn't know the song so the vocalist requested kuya JR to come up and play it. The vocalist then asked me to give a message to my friends. All I was able to say was "Lagut kayo sa akin mamaya."
Eyes were on me and I was there at the stage praying that I won't freeze up. Kuya JR started playing and I sang. Amazingly I was able to finish the whole song without messing up. After finishing I was eager to get off stage. I felt so hot in embarrassment. I've never done anything like this before. I've sang a couple of times in church before but never in a gig. And the fact that youth, guests, and pastors, were there to watch, made it even more embarrassing. But I'm glad that's over with. I'll never forget that experience.
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Posted on: February 10, 2005
I worked my butt off until the wee hours of the early morning just to finish my paper. Tomorrow's the deadline and with time running out I rummaged through my research looking for ideas that I could put on my paper which was only four pages at that time. Writing is not an easy job. I would always find myself staring blankly at the screen not knowing what to type. This happened a lot while I was writing my research paper. Thank God though I was able to finish it on time. The family-sized coke, which I drank all up, helped a lot. Caffein is simply amazing because it makes you do things you don't normally do, and in my case it kept me awake till 5 o'clock in the morning, giving me ample time to finalize my paper. I could imagine how hard it would be for students and workers alike to work without this wonderful drug.
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Posted on: February 08, 2005
Nobody knows just why we're here
Could it be fate or random circumstance
At the right place, at the right time
Two roads intertwine
And if the universe conspired
To melt our lives to make us Fuel and fire
Then know where ever you will be
So too shall I be
Chorus:
Close your eyes
Dry your tears
Coz when nothing seems clear
You'll be safe here
From the sheer weight
Of your doubts and fears
Weary heart
You'll be safe here
Remember how we laughed until we cried
At the most stupid things like we were so high
But love was all that we were on
We belong
And though the world would never understand
This unlikely union and why it still stands
Someday we will be set free.
Pray and believe
Chorus:
When the light disappears
And when this world's insincere
You'll be safe here
When nobody hears you scream
I'll scream with you
You'll be safe here
Save your eyes
From your tears
When everything's unclear
You'll be safe here
From the sheer weight
Of your doubts and fears
Wounded heart
When the light disappears
And when this world's insincere
You'll be safe here
When nobody hears you scream
I'll scream with you
You'll be safe here
In my arms
Through the long cold night
Sleep tight
You'll be safe here
When no one understands
I'll believe
You'll be safe
You'll be safe
You'll be safe here
Put your heart in my hands
You'll be safe here
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Wla lng. Nacipra ko kasi toh last week. We actually performed this during our youth gathering in church. I love this song even though medyo gasgas na. Ang galing talaga ng Rivermaya.
Anyway the song is really easy on the guitar.
The verse goes like this: C#m G#m-F#
The chorus: B F# C#m G#m F#
The verse and the chorus ends with an E
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