see you next year!

which is a few hours away.

Goodbye 2005!

For me, it was a great year, some of my goals were achieved and I'm so grateful with that. Thank God for a blessed year and I hope next year will be equally good or hopefully better.
***
My mother insisted for me to wear red because its good luck according to some Feng shui expert she heard on radio. Because I'm obedient I did not only wear a red shirt but I matched it up with red pants. Remember the Chinese Dance our class performed last semester? I'm wearing the "better half" of our costume. I look ridiculus I guess but its only for a day and no one will see me aside from my family so its okay.
***
Every New Year's eve I dont really join the noise and fireworks extravaganza outside. Why? Well first I have asthma so I dont like being surrounded with smoke. Plus, I am occupied with an activity inside my house. I have this tradition already to listen and jot down the different yearend countdowns of FM stations. I have been doing this since 1998 and I keep my notes in a notebook but unfortunately my "records" from 1998-2001 got lost. Anyways, my siblings find this tradition of mine weird...hehehe....but I love doing this since I always have this feeling of excitement as the djs unravel the hits of the year. I'm proud to say most of my guesses what songs will hit the top post is correct. Even though most radio stations conduct their yearend charts at the same time, I'm still able to track them all, years of experience I guess. Anyways I've already recorded some results of the yearend countdown and I posted it at an Internet forum. If you want to see it here is the link:
http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?p=12374711#post12374711

Happy New Year Everyone!

If I were a Game KNB contestant

Whenever I have the chance to watch the noontime game show GAME KNB, I can't help but notice how its host Kris Aquino "cross examines" the contestants. Sometimes I feel embarass for the contestants (and Kris as well). She often ask questions on their romantic lives and she could be very nosy. She is shocked when some of the players haven't had a girlfriend ofr 8 years, the reasons of their break up and sometimes she sorts of meddles with their relationships. If ever I became a contestant I guess Kris will have an interesting "cross examination" with me.
Kris: So how do you pronounce your name
Me: JE-KUP po
Kris: bakit Jecoup ang name mo, ang weird/unique naman
Me: Kasi po, I was born in the time of coup d etat,(I'm sure your mom remembers that well.) so my father thought na to name me after that, nilagyan lang ng J since lahat ng kapatid ko starts with letter J.
Kris: so dapat JE-KUH kasi french ang origin ng name mo
Me: yung iba po yun ang tawag, pero yun na po yung kinalakihan kong pronounciation
Kris: oh well, so do you have a girlfriend?
Me: wala po
Kris: kaka break?
Me: di po wala po talaga
Kris: as in since birth wala talaga?
Me: opo
Kris: really? *gasp* magpapari ka ba?
Me: hindi po, talaga lang wala..
Kris: di ka pa na inlove?
Me: opo
Kris: Baka naman hindi girls type mo
Me: lalo pong hindi
Kris: ay naloloka ako sayo, mag start na nga tayo...

^^ That conversation will most likely to come up if I ever became a GAME KNB contestant. So I guess I 'll just settle being a homepartner instead

Reconnected

My Internet connection was busted for five days. It was really a frustrating experience. I had so many things that I want to do that got aborted because I was "disconnected" My ISP had some problems and I actually called the customer service everyday asking them (politely) when it will come back. Thank God, today it returned.

***

After a long time, I finally decided to register at Friendster. My friends were wondering why I did not have an account. My answers to them varies, "I want to be unique", "I have no use for it", " I could not open that since I have no Internet back home" "ERS (our library's computer section which I greatly rely on for Internet) blocks it so I can't access it anyway" etc. etc.. But since now, I have an Internet access, why not? When I registered, I got so lazy to "polish" it so I decided to do it next time. But I forgot to do it becuase I was absorbed with my academics (prelims is nearing and tons of assignments) and extra curricular stuff (deadlines for articles!). Then when I'm already free, I forgot my password! So I have to retrieve it, when I'm about to open my email to get the password, --ahhh!-- I got disconnected since my Internet card is already consumed. So the next day, with my new card I tried to connect again but I had no internet access (see story above). So today, I got reconnected but instead of filling up profiles or inviting people, I was engrossed with browsing the accounts of my highschool classmates. It was fun seeing what they are up to. I lost contact with almost all of my highschool classmates. I felt "reconnected" in some way reading their sites. I even sent messags to them, hope they have read it.

2005 Favorites of an ordinary music listener

These are the list of the songs that I love during this year. I’m no music expert, I don’t exactly know how to analyze a songs’ content and its other attributes. I will not say these songs are the best. I’m no rocker, hip hopper or whatever. Yes, I’m more of a mainstream listener (at some point mushy, baduy, bubblegum pop-ish). I consider a song good when it is pleasant to my ear. And the following songs were the standouts for me this year.

10. Pinoy ako- Orange and Lemons
Okay, I admit this song is overplayed and I know for a fact that it is a rip off and I really don’t buy Orange and Lemons’ alibi that the song is just inspired, but I don’t want to be hypocrite to say that I hate this song because before all these things happened I really like the song. I find it catchy and the message of the song is good but sad to say the aforementioned events happened, much to my disappointment. Still, I wont leave this song out of my list.
9. Gemini-Spongecola
From this song I learned a new word “vacuous”. Hehe. Seriously, I like how this song turned Romeo and Juliet into a whole new level.
8. Wake me up when September ends- Greenday
I like the message of this song. The title itself speaks a lot.
7.We belong together- Mariah Carey
The song that revive Mariah Carey’s dwindling career. I love this song and I consider one of Carey’s best. This song is hard to sing because when I saw this song performed in the local variety shows, the performers’ version was bad. (read: screaming)
6. I’m feeling you- Santana feat. Michelle Branch
I’m bias with this song. I missed Michelle Branch sooooo much and when this song came out it became an instant favorite. Santana + Branch= good music.
5. Especially for you-MYMP
I love MYMP’s rendition. The first time I heard this song was last summer at ERS (the Internet/Computer section of our library). The people in the counter played the MYMP CD repeatedly that this song grew on me.
4. My humps- Black Eyed Peas
My favorite dance track of the year. This is the type of song that makes me wish that I knew how to dance. Plus the music video rocks and Fergie is now included in my list of crushes.
3. Crazy for you- Michael Cruz
I know that more loves the rendition of Spongecola but I like Michael Cruz’s version better. I find his voice more effective than Yael. I like how this Madonna song became a rock ballad. And the Star in a million finalist gave delivered it well. Too bad few people appreciate it.
2. Weak-Jojo
Jojo is really one of the best young singers at the moment. Her rendition of this song is fantastic. I could consider her as a young Mariah Carey. I just hope when she grows up she wont be a “Britney’ or “Christina”.
1. You and Me/ Blind- Lifehouse
I could not choose which song is better so I decided to put them both together on top. I really like Lifehouse, I even had their two albums (in cassette tapes by the way) and I thought their hiatus would be permanent. I’m so glad that around summer they returned with a bang, both songs are good then again “Hanging by a moment” will still remain as my favorite. I’m worried however since after “Blind” Lifehouse did not release another single. Will they be dormant again? I hope not.

Connected

I'm so glad that I finally have an Internet connection at home. I have been dreaming for so long for this to come true (hmmm....it sounded so dramatic). It happened just recently when my parents purchase a new computer set. The old computer I use before is a "hand me down" from my father's company.It was actually good that we had a free computer and for 3 years it was really useful to me. However, since the computer is obsolete it is prone to virus and it software(not sure what it is really called) is not applicable to a modem and for the printer we bought. Plus, even the Microsoft office is so slow that sometimes it "hangs". Anyways, my parents told me that come Christmas upon the release of the "bonus" they will buy me a new a computer set and it happened! I'm so grateful to my parents. One setback is the Internet connection is really slow but still its better than nothing.

I feel Christmas now

Previously, I rant over how I dont feel that its the Christmas season already, that everything feels so ordinary but this week I'm proud to say I feel Christmas now! What made me feel Christmas-y? I guess I have discovered the true essence of this season. Yeah, that sounds so cliche but I could not find any phrase that will capture the essence of my experience of seeing Christmas in a whole new level. Well, it started when I found out that my co-staffer at Heraldo Filipino will give me a gift for Christmas. I was so flattered that I decided to buy her a gift too. When I was in a store deciding what to buy for her, I also felt buying gifts to my other co-staffers who became my close friends and also my editors from whom I learn. Then I thought of buying gifts too my other friends who were really became a special part of my life. My presents for them was not that expensive but it felt good giving them. And from that on I was in the Christmas mood once again something that I never felt for years.I guess this was the reason that made me relinkish my love and excitement for Christmas. If before I only like the receiving part of the gift giving tradition and see the other end as a financial burden, now I understand that the cliche (yes, another one) "Its better to give than to receive" is really true.

The bottle I always see

Probably the most popular beverage here in DLSU-D will be C2! For those who are not familiar with it, C2 is bottled tea. But of course it tastes better from the regular tea (because if it isnt,it wont sell). C2 means Cool and Clean and it has flavors (the regular green tea, apple, lemon,peach and black tea).


Accordiing to its manufacturers' website [http://www.universalrobina.com] "C2 Cool & Clean Green Tea is an invigorating, convenient, and contemporary adaptation of this thousand-year old, healthy drink.Delicately brewed from fresh green tea leaves, Camellia sinensis, C2 captures the Yin and Yang of nature with its soothing and relaxing component, coupled with a mild rejuvenating element that restores vitality."

Meaning to say this is a healthy drink.Maybe this is the reason why it became so popular, people are starting to get health conscious. Goodbye to softdrinks? Well not really but still in our campus you could practically see C2 bottles everywhere, when I say everywhere I mean everywhere. All canteens and concessionaires sells it, every table in those canteens there is 95% chance that you will see someone drinking it. Even if you just walk around you will see someone,whether student, faculty or employee, holding a C2 bottle. Of course trash bins welcomes tons of C2 bottles everyday, I once saw a bin overflowing of C2 bottles. Classrooms are not spared. Seeing a C2 bottle left in a chair is nothing new, I once overheard a professor in his senior years saying as he entered the classroom and saw a C2 bottle in the table "Bakit ba lagi ko na lang nakikita to?" (Why do I always see this). It also left me wondering, bakit nga kaya (why is it)? I drink C2 sometimes and I like the lemon one (and most people too since yellow C2 bottles are the ones I always see followed by the apple flavor). But my loyalty remains with tetra pack juices (zesto, funchum), its cheaper and its not that heavy in the stomach. Will C2 remain the king of beverages or is it just a fad? Lets wait and see.....

C2 photo taken from http://www.universalrobina.com

Water Worries

For three days,we were "thirsty" for water...

The water district had a malfunctioning motor or some vital instrument to circulate water to our village so our water service was interrupted. Having no steady water connection was hell! And the whole village also felt grumpy as I have notice irritated faces of people clutching pails,drums and anything that holds water passing in our house. When it rained, we were so desperate that our pails and basins were placed outside to scoop the rain drops. Last Thursday, when I saw the first few drops of water in our faucets I gave out a sigh of relief. Its really true that you will only appreciate something when its gone so I'm glad that our water service is back and I hope it wont disappear...................forever.

one thousand seven hundred fifty pesos

For the first time in my life I shell out 1,750 pesos to buy something "I really want". No its not clothes, shoes or even books. Previously the most expensive I bought was a paperback edition of Harry Potter which cost around 500 pesos but last Saturday my record was broken. So what did I buy? Its the DVD of first season of Gilmore Girls!

So what made me buy that thing even if it is expensive? Because its a rare find especially here in Cavite [I bought it at SM Dasmarinas]. When I was browsing at a video store,I was really shocked to see a Gilmore Girls DVD, so I did not hesitate,I grabbed the copy and went off to the cashier and paid for it. Good thing I had 2,000 pesos in my wallet that time because normally I dont bring that amount of money in my wallet, well I guess I was "destined" to have it.
Yeah,you might say I should have bought the pirated one, but naahhh, I prefer the original even it cost me, anyways this is my favorite show so It's worth every penny. I've finished watching 5 out of the 21 episodes so far and I'm so looking forward this weekend where I 'll continue my Gilmore Girls season 1 rush....

P.S.

I hope next time I will also see a Survivor or Amazing Race DVD too, because I'll definitely buy it given that I still have money. :)

What happened to my Christmas?

It's December already.....

Honestly, I really feel that everything is coming so fast. When you come to think of it, I should feel Chrismas-y. But no... I don't feel it. It really depresses me why I don't feel as excited as before. It is just things are not the same as before. And what really bothers that there is really nothing bad happening to my life for me to feel this way. Have you ever felt that something is wrong but you yourself could not determine what it is? It is the way I feel with Christmas.

The Kiss

Our class watched the school play "Kung paano ko pinatay si Diana Ross", we were actually required to do so since our World Literature class asked us to do a reaction paper. The plot is all about a closet gay [Surprise! actually a lot of plays I have seen here in my school always has a gay theme] and "Diana Ross" is the "alter ego" or the gay side that Andy [the lead] is hiding all his life. Honestly, the story was good and the screenplay was fantastic. But one thing that I did really likie, it had kissing scene between two men. And it is not just a simple kiss, it was a long, torrid kissing. Okay, you might think that I'm fickleminded but I just want you to know that I have nothing against homosexuals. I agree that there is nothing wrong or sinful about being such. I don't want to be judgemental yet I don't want to be a hypocrite. I'm not really comfortable with seeing a kiss between two individuals of the same gender. But I know the kiss was necesarry for the story and I salute the actors for being brave to do that since I know they are aware that people might give negative feedbacks.

Challenges

This second semester will surely be a challenging one. First, we have our three major subjects already. I'm glad that the professors of these subjects are really good. I've heard from the third year students that when they took these subjects last year the teachers they had were not really good, I was really worried that we will have the same ones too.. Thank God that was not the case... Ms. Carillo of Introduction to Journalism is no non sense teacher while Mr.Umali of Intoduction to Broadcasting will surely put out skills to its best... To be honest I'm worried that I will not perform well with this subjects but I'm excited as well since this is it, the subjects that will make or break us [our class].

***

During HF's midyear seminar workshop, I was promoted from being an apprentice to junior staff. I was so happy that the Editorial Board appreciated for the work that I have done. But I was also sad that some of my batchmates [and good friends as well] did not get promoted. I know they felt sad because if I will feel the same way too if I were in their shoes. Being promoted means more challenges in fact for the fourth edition of HF I have 6 assignments one of which is the banner story. Also, I'm also a trainee of our Office and Circulations manager, so I'm trying my best not to disappoint her. Two days ago, I had my first experience with circulating the the third issue of HF. It was one tiring task but at the same time fulfilling. Being part of HF, mushy as it may sounds, is one the best things that happened in my life.

Holiday Hassles

Second semester started last Monday, well, for some I guess. Because of the week long holiday DLSU-D had last week it had affected the enrollment schedule of some students (Good thing my schedule was not affected). Thus resulting to a pandemonium since lots of students (mostly freshmen) lined up to enroll. I felt sorry for the students who have to endure severe inconvenience since the lines were really loooooooong. And that line is for one process only. Some said to me that they finished the procedure late afternoon and some were not able to finish it. That's why I dont like too many holidays, some of the work that needs to be done were not accomplished. It's okay to relax and unwind but we must not overdo it.

Journalism… from the experts themselves.

The Inkblots 2005 is seminar/workshop attended by different student publications from all over The Philippines. The event, also known as the National Journalism Fellowship, is organized by University of Santo Tomas’ official student publication “The Varsitarian”. Held in Thomas Aquinas Research Complex and Beato Angelico Building, University of Santo Tomas from October 17-19, 2005, The seminar/workshop is a three-day series of lectures on news writing, features writing, culture and lifestyle writing, cartooning, broadcast journalism, campus paper management among others. I and staffers Patricia Aurora Cruz, German John Sipin and Associate Editor Mary Claire Mercado represented Heraldo Filipino, the official student publication of De La Salle University- Dasmariñas. Mr. Christopher Gabriel, Student Publications Director of DLSU-D, attended the event also.

The first day was held at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex. It was started by Charie Villa, a former Reuters correspondent who is now part of ABS CBN. She relayed her experiences on being a journalist for more than a decade. After the keynote speech it was followed by lectures on Investigative Journalism by Sheila Coronel of Philippine Center on Investigative Journalism [PCIJ], Filipino literature by Michael Coroza and Culture and Lifestyle writing Ruel De Vera, a Philippine Daily Inquirer writer. The lectures were very informative and the speakers entertained questions from the audience. Mr. Coroza and Mr. De Vera livened up the discussion with their sense of humor. The lectures ended around 6 PM after that an opening cocktails followed however, the Heraldo Filipino team did not attend due to time constraint.

On the second day, the seminar was moved to the Beato Angelico Building. Two lectures were delivered on that morning first was News writing conducted by another Inquirer writer, Luige Del Puerto followed by Features writing conducted by Mr. Nestor Cuartero, entertainment editor of Tempo and feature writer of Manila Bulletin. The latter conducted a “mock” press conference to test the participants’ skill on writing. The “mock” press conference featured Champ, the lead vocalist of the popular band Hale. Several participants (mostly girls) lined up to ask questions to Champ. However a lot of time was consumed for that activity since the participants also asked for an autograph and to take their picture with Champ. When the speaker noticed that he is running out of time he announced that they will not entertain “questions and requests” for Champ anymore. He then asked the participants to write a lead for an article that will talk about the aforementioned activity. His comments on our pieces was that it was more of a “news lead” rather than a “features lead” but staffer Patricia Cruz was commended for her lead since it was creatively written and not stiff. On the afternoon session of the seminar, there were four parallel sessions lined up namely Photojournalism by Ernie Sarmiento, Cartooning by Rene Aranda of The Philippine Star, Column writing by Rina Jimenez David and Broadcast Journalism by Arnold Clavio of GMA 7. However, we were not able to attend all of the sessions since we were asked to choose only one session since all four sessions will be done simultaneously. The HF team picked cartooning by Rene Aranda. Aranda discussed that what is important in drawing an editorial cartoon is the concept. He also cleared that sometimes not all he draws is exactly the same way he felt. He said that it is the paper’s stand and not his personal conviction. After his discussion he asked the delegates to make an editorial cartoon base on the topic Calibrated Pre-emptive Response. Later on he selected the three best editorial cartoons and fortunately two members of the Heraldo Filipino made the cut, yours truly garnered third place and German placed second. Aranda commended my concept despite the lack of artistic style and he liked the sarcasm of Sipin’s work [He referred the hosing down of the rallyists as “patubig ni Gloria”]. After the parallel session we went home.

The third and final day of Inkblots started with a Plenary Session with Christian Esguerra, former Editor in Chief of ‘The Varsitarian” and currently working with The Philippine Daily Inquirer. He discussed Campus Paper Management; he was an effective speaker since he really knows what he is talking about and is experienced with the topic. He also gave advice to the student publications that are having conflicts with their school administration. After that session was the lecture on Sports writing with seasoned sports analyst Quinito Henson. He also conducted a “mock” press conference, the guests were coach Ryan Gregorio, rookie Jondan Salvador and veteran Richard Yee coming from Purefoods, a team from the Philippine Basketball Association [PBA]. This time several guys lined up to have their chance to ask questions to the three. After that Mr. Henson asked the participants to write an article about the press conference. He picked top five articles and unfortunately no one from HF made the list. The winners were awarded with Chunkee corned beef gift packs. The next lecture was about Journalism Ethics delivered by Marites Vitug, publisher and editor in chief of Newsbreak. The last activity was a Panel discussion and open forum with the topic on the dangers of being a journalist. Panelists include Alice Colet Villaloid, a former New York Times correspondent, Jiggy Manicad, a GMA 7 reporter and Glenda Gloria, managing editor of Newsbreak. It was enriching activity since the speakers gave out sensible answers to the questions raised by the respondents. However Ms. Villaloid talks so much that she took a lot of time when she answers questions which sometimes bores the delegates. To cap off the night and the whole seminar as well the organizers conducted a Fellowship night where the different student publications are expected to mingle and share experiences. But due to the fact that we live in a far place and it’s not really practical to stay that late we decided not to attend the said activity.

Inkblots 2005 is one of the best conferences, campus journalists could be a part of. This is where student writers learn from the people who know well how powerful the media is. It inspires the student scribes to further hone their talent because we after all are destined to be at the forefront of the media industry in the future.

Recap

I had my last exam today [Philippine Constitution] and I have submitted my final paper [Introduction to Communcation Theory].

Now I have no more academic worries..... woohooo!!!

To sum up the past months of my life, let me share to you some of this semester's higlights:

• Of course, My big achievement for this semester is being a part of Heraldo Filipino[HF]. I learned a lot during my 3 month stay so far. I have met a lot of people, from our editors to my fellow staff to the different people I have interviewed. I have learned how to overcome some of my inhibitions and work professionally. Plus, I finally put to practice what I love doing, writing. I'm not a "good" journalist yet but I know I will be someday. Seeing my articles for the first on print is something that I will cherish for a long time.
• The subjects this semester are more interesting than what I have taken up the previous semesters. I obtained better grades [I have gotten my first grade of 4.00, the highest grade in my school,for my REED class]. I hope to be a Dean's lister but I'm not holding my breath. The most memorable subject will be Art Appreciation, where my leadership skills was tested as I have been designated as Assistant Producer for our theater play. Fortunately, the turn out was a success.
• The population of my class,JOU21, went down. Some shifted to another course, some have to stop because of financial difficulties while others just vanished without a trace.But also this semester we welcome shiftees and a transferee namely Gerard,Daryl and Jennifer. We also had a classmate who is part of our block but she only have one class with us, Pauline. And I must that girl is smart, she was the one who had the initial idea of doing the [award winning] story of "Sayaw sa Dilim" that we performed.
• I joined La Sallian Speech Club but I'm disappointed since I did not really enjoy being part of it. I guess I had high expectations. It was the same feeling I felt with Friends of the Library[FL] last year. Speaking of FL, I was the Vice President of that club for a month but I have to resign since HF has this policy that the staff are prohibited to be officers of any student organizations since it might cause a conflict of interest. I must say FL is a better club compared last year, I'm so proud with the current officers.

Another chapter of my college journey comes to an end. I'm looking forward for more "adventures" for the coming semesters.

And the award goes to...

Broadcast Journalism 2-1!

Our class won the Best Play in our Art Appreciation class. We bested out 5 other classes. We also won Best Actress and Best Screenplay. Actually we did not receive trophy, plaque or anything; just a simple "Certificate of Participation".Don't get me wrong I'm not being maarte, I'm okay with a certificate but it would have been nice if they have given us certificate of recognition rather than a certificate of participation. Anyways, The fact that we won is aready one big achievement. All the hardwork paid off. My classmates we're cooperative even the irregular students also help to make our play a success [oh... there is one who did not help but she rarely attends class] I salute all of them, the actors and the production people. Compared to our [horrendous] performance in Buwan ng Wika last year, this production prove that our class could do great when it comes to class presentations. As the assistant producer, I'm really proud that everything went smoothly. I just hope this will continue until we reach our major subjects wherein we need to really work hard because as I have observed with the upperclassmen, the productions they do are really difficult and delicate.

More Power to Broadcast Journalism Batch 4!

Moments

....of Embarassment

Yesterday, we had our Foreign Dance Competition. As expected my group, "The Yellow Earth" dance from China made a big mess. The boys of our class were combined with Management and Marketing students and all of us did bad on our performance. Our timing sucks, we our not in unison, some forgot the steps, in short it was a nightmare! Plus our drums that we paid for 450 pesos was a joke, the drums were obviously rushed and it really looks awful. We felt cheated. One the hosts for that program was annoying, he keeps cracking up lame jokes that only he finds funny. The girls of our class who were merged with Psychology students did fine. They performed Japanese Parasol. I did not finish the program becasue I know we will not win anyway an I'm really exhausted both physically and mentally. I'm glad that this thing is over.

....of Pride

After that unforgettable experience, I went to HF's office and I was informed that the second issue of HF will be circulated today. I was excited since this is my "official debut" as student scribe. When I first hold a copy of HF2 I immediately search for my articles, two of my articles are at the front page. I felt an overwelming feeling of joy. After three months on working on my articles, I finally see it on print. Maybe to some it may sound corny and mushy but as you know this is my first time to write for a school paper and ever since I was a child I have always dream of it. Finally it happened and I'm so glad. It's worth the wait.

Flaws

I am disappointed.

I cant seem to do things as I hope for. Yesterday, I had my speech for my Speech and Oral communication class and I failed to deliver it well. Although I did not hear a feedback from my professor I just know that I will not get the grade I want. Sometimes there are stuff that dont need to be verbalize for me to get the message. I messed it up. My topic was not that interesting plus I delivered it bad. I mis pronounced words, I have poor diction plus I was really conscious on forgetting that I glance constantly on my piece which is so wrong since it will really look that I am just reading my piece rather than speaking it from the heart. That was my problem, I did not spoke from the heart. I just talk and read the words. I was impressed with my classmate Nelly who gave a good speech. Her was speech was moving, she was honest and sincere, qualities that I lack. Delivering a speech is not just using deep words or voice projection but really having the knowledge on what you are talking about. The speech may have a nice content but if the speaker is like machine operated who just throw out words the speech will not be effective. Lastly, the reason for the speech must be to express and not to impress.

Another lesson learned.

Leash

Today, my brother finally ends his "hiatus". He graduated from college about two years ago but he did not work nor to attempt to have one. It's not that he do not want to but there were reasons why he was unemployed for the past years. My brother is not confident that he has the skills to handle a job. I can't blame he graduated from a school where he was not trained that well to face the real world. Plus my parents seems to like that he stays home. My brother helps my mother doing house chores. As for my father...well... he always like us,his children,to be "at home and safe from harm". Don't get me wrong, my father is a good person, he is hardworking and caring. But he has one BIG flaw, he is a worry rat and overprotective. He seems like he want us to be in his "leash" forever. I remember many "verbal sessions with voices that could match up a microphone's voulume" between my father and brothers everytime they went home past curfew [the curfew is 6 or 7pm at least or in some lucky time 8pm]. My father is always scared that my brothers might get get into danger when they are out at night. I appreciate his concern but he is already suffocating us. When the cellphone became popular I thought this might ease my father's constant feeling of worry since he could now contact his kids but I guess it became even worse. He sends SMS like every hour, and if you missed a call or text his nervous cell will work again and negative things will be running through his head. What's even worse is if you have a lowbat phone thus you could not response to him, he will be frantic. My father thinks that we are still young kids who could not take care of ourself.When he is not in his "worrying period" my father is a sweet guy. I just hope that someday he would loosen up and let us grow up. My brother started work today and since today is my father's day off he insisted on accompanying him there. My brother agreed on it to avoid complications. It's not a good sign.

Soon to be Stressed-out

My problem is that I procastinate. I tend to do things the last minute. I really get the energy to do stuff when the deadline is near. But I'm worried since the next few weeks will be h-e-c-t-i-c.
Practices for our chinese dance to be performed on September 30. Debates scheduled on the 27th. There is also my speech [date not known yet] andI'm the assitant producer for out play on October 7. Plus I have five articles for HF3 and the deadline is near and I haven't started anything mainly because I have to do two articles for HF2 that were originally assigned to somebody but they weren't able to do it. I have to rush it really. Now I'm scared if only this time that we are just taking minors and we are so busy, how much more if we take the major subjects? We will have three major subjects next sem: Introduction to Journalism, Introduction to Broadcasting and Laws of Mass Media. I just hope I could handle my academics and HF well since I don't want to give up the latter. And also still hoping that despite all these stuff occupying my time I could still have the time to do something for fun [In my case,watching TV]. For now, i better start working....or else.....