17 - EEP Has Come To An End

Every Friday, we would have a class where we would just have fun. Watching movies and doing blogs were the things that we usually do. We were all excited to have EEP. Not only that but also our professor, Ms. Eliz Reyes, who guided us and watched with us every time we have EEP. She never let us down with her great movies. From our first meeting we watched Heneral Luna to our last meeting where we watched The Phantom Of The Opera and the Life of Jose Rizal. It was all so great.

Our meetings didn't have any lectures or discussion but we sure have learn a lot in our sessions with Ms. Eliz. Those life lessons and inspirations found in movies is already enough to fill our minds with satisfying information our minds need. Not only those satisfying information are given to us but also the entertainment it gives from watching movies. It's both educational and fun. Who wouldn't want something like that right? But it saddens me that there will be no more movies to be watched and blogs to do. EEP class has ended.

16 - On The Way To The Public Speaking Competition 

Every end of the English term, they organize an event Public Speaking, Ignite Speech, and Speech Choir competition.

In the Public Speaking Competition, their Speech Communication subject professor or commonly known as EPUBSP2 prof choose their top 6 students of each class to represent their blocks in the competition. The top 6 students will first undergo the eliminations round where evenly divided students will go to different rooms and compete first there. The top 3 finalists of each room will advance to the finals. Finals will be held in the APC Auditorium where an audience will be watching and listening to their speeches. 

Now let's go to when our professor, Ms. Nina, chose our top 6 or rather 8 students to represent our block. Ms. Nina had 8 in her mind it was: Nicole, Bianca, Ado (Palma), Yana, Carolyn, Gracielle, and me. I was shocked that I was included to represent for our block. As you all know if you read my previous blogs, I mentioned there that my greatest fear would be public speaking.

Now let's go to when our professor made us do the persuasive speech with the top 8 having their theme the cult of celebrities. I made my speech and they made their speech and everyone was done. It was time now to vote for the top 6 since we were 8. I was literally shouting and almost crying that they shouldn't vote for me. Luckily, I wasn't chosen. Thank God. Ahaha.

Moving on to the competition. While the others were in the eliminations round, we were at the auditorium, together with the APC Speaks, playing games and listening to music. Their games were pretty scary. It was the Speed Speech and the Impromptu Ignite Speech that made me scared as hell. Of course no one wanted to volunteer to join those games. They had to call randomly. They had to do that...Oh my god. My hands were freezing as hell. 

When the finalists already arrived at the auditorium, boy am I glad to see them. We are finally done with the games. And afterwards, they did their speech. They decided to award the winners during the Speech Choir and Ignite Speech Competition. 

15 - Cram. Cram. Cram.

Today (December 22, 2015), we had the Interclass Ignite Speech and the Speech Choir Competition. Everyone at the APC Auditorium were excited, all were cheering and shouting for their blocks.

Our performance may look like it was practiced and rehearsed for a long time but the truth is we actually crammed it. We started practicing when it was already December 14, a week before the competition. When teachers gave us time to practice and told us to show what progress we have made, we just make things up. We haven't made any progress at all. We also didn't have a good practice since every practice there is at least someone who won't be attending the practice especially to irregular students. We were having a hard time adjusting our time to their free time. For our props, we just did it in one day. In that one day, we gift wrapped a lot of boxes, cut and painted all those candy canes and crowns, and bought all those clothing that we will be wearing for our performance. Everything was done in just a week.

Now let's go to December 22. It was morning at around 7:10 am where classmates started coming in to our classroom. Everyone wasn't even dressed on what they will be wearing for the performance. We also had problems regarding the props. Some props were missing. We had to make another crown since there were only two and we need three. Not everyone has received their costume yet. Not all girls have their neck ties. We also had problems with the others. It was already 8:00 am and the girls still doesn't have their neck ties and some of our blockmates haven't arrived yet in school. Everyone was rushing and panicking at the same time. Also, some of our blockmates didn't know the final step which was only taught the day before the actual performance so we had to explain everything. This is what happened to us just this early morning.

We, my group of friends only, went up to the auditorium to check up on things if the event already started etc. Luckily, it hasn't even started. We still had time. When it was already our time to perform, all of us were shaking. We weren't able to master our performance well. 

After our performance, we were not confident with our performance. Even our leader said that our performance wasn't really that good. Sad.

Now let's go to the awarding ceremony. Now this is a surprise but then again this also happened to our "Sabayang Pagbigkas" competition. We won 3rd place in the Speech Choir competition. It was amazing winning the competition where we haven't even mastered our performance yet. It was really surprising.

PS: We won 2nd place in the Sabayang Pagbigkas competition with a score of 96.5 and the first place of 97.5. It was so close winning 1st place out of 17 groups. Heheh.

14 - Fears and Nervousness Everywhere

Speaking in front of an audience is a common fear to us people. We are nervous when we are told to speak. The nervousness is killing us. Let's not also forget the huge amount of pressure coming from the audience. The pressure makes us scared that we tend to mess up and forget what we have to say.

I will say that I too is very much afraid to speak in front. It's one of my greatest fears to speak to an audience.

Last week, we attended a competition "Speak Sense". It is a competition wherein the best public speakers from selected high schools fight each other. Our school's organization in public speaking and debate, APC Speaks, hosted the event. They also invited guests from the contestant's school and all of us freshmen (SoM) who are taking up public speaking subjects.

It was my first time to attend a competition like this. At first I was excited since it was my first time, but then when it started everything changed. I was honestly scared. I was actually the one being nervous for the speaker. I don't know why. I was wondering myself that why am I the one getting scared. Why am I worried so much for the speaker? Why do I feel like I am the one talking in front? Thoughts like these began to revolve in my mind until the end of the competition.

It's not only that that keeps me scared but also the games that we played during the competition (informative debate and speed speech). I was also scared since our professor, Ms. Nina, was also selecting students who will be participating in those mini games. I was scared that I might get chosen. I was scared stiff lol.

All of these nervousness was kept inside me until the end of the event. However, I still enjoyed the competition even with those fears inside me. All of the speakers were great. All of them did good. I would also want to congratulate the winners. I hope that they do not end their profession here but continue it till the end. This is just the beginning. :)

13 - No Barriers Should Exist

Zombadings is a movie about a guy named Remington who mocks gay people when he was a child. As a child, whenever Remington sees a gay person, he will mock him. There came a time when Remington was with his mother in the cemetery, Remington heard something and tried to look for it. As he was looking for it, he saw a gay person. Not knowing the gay person is a witch, he kept on mocking the witch. The witch then cursed Remington that on his 21st birthday he will turn gay.

I can also consider that the movie is subversive. It shows how the gay society is not accepted by the

community. They are being mocked by the kids like how Remington did as a child. The adults of the male community does not accept the gays in being part of our community like how they are killing them using the gun made by a student. The movie showed the differences of men and women by the things that men do and the things that women do (men do the building or constructing a building) while the women do the typical things like cooking except for Remington's mother as she was a police officer. (Police officers are mostly portrayed by men) 

There were scenes in the movie that made it more entertaining than rather being more serious about gays not being accepted in the community like when Remington was dancing. I found that funny. Another scene would be when Mrs. Montano was skating inside the house. 

 I found out that in the movie the directors found it very hard to look for someone who will portray as Remington. It took them a lot of time. With that knowing, I am praising Mart Escudero that he was able to enter such a big role. Mart Escudero was known for acting serious characters so this adds to the praising I am praising to him since it can be hard to act a role that is more into comedy when you came from portraying serious characters.

The movie was good. I liked it. It was funny and entertaining yet important to us. It showed us that we should learn to accept people and accept their personalities in life. Nothing should block us from accepting others.

12 - Types of Video Games

Games are a structured form of play, taken for enjoyment, entertainment or for educational purposes. They have rules, instructions, challenges, and interaction. They use both your physical and mental stimulation. But video games are different. Although it is similar from games but video games use handheld devices or platforms to play. Video games are also a structured form of play but it involves the player to generate visual feedback on a video device (TV screen or monitors). Systems used for playing video games (platforms) are personal computers and video game consoles. A video game has different types. Try to look what type of video games do you prefer? :)

There are three (3) types: the Casual Games, the Serious Games, and the Educational Games.

First the Casual Games. These are games that are simple, easy to understand game play, and you can easily grasp the rules. An example of this would be the game "Minesweeper" and another would be "Solitaire". Games that are also found in Google Play and App Store (puzzles, tower defense, hidden objects, etc). Casual games are usually easy to find. 

The next, Serious Games. This can also be called Applied Games. These are games that has other purposes other than plain entertainment. Games that fall under this category usually are about science, health care, politics or engineering. An example would be a flight simulator. It gives you an experience how to fly an airplane. Another would be the game "Surgeon Simulator" as it also gives you an experience on performing a surgery. Most simulator games fall under the Serious Games. 

The last, Educational Games. Games under this category provides education to the player. Educational games both give you entertainment and education. It is educational but most schools do not prefer giving educational games to students. Strategic games fall under Educational Games. The game Age of Empires is a strategic game where you are a leader of an ancient civilization. You build barracks, where you train your warriors, or build a town center and many more. You fight with other civilizations. You have to be strategic and think about how and when will you fight and it enhances your brain when you think. This is just one kind of educational games. There are a lot. 

(Age of Empires III)

A game may fall under one of these categories but it is not limited to only these 3. There are a lot but these are the basic categories of games. 

 

Remember, not all games are made only for entertainment purposes. Every game has a lesson just like a story. You just have to find it. :)

11 - White Turtle

Dancer, writer, visual artist, academic. 

Merlinda Bobis is a Philippine-Australian writer born in Legaspi City in the Philippines. She attended Bicol University High School and graduated in Aquinas University in her college time. After taking her first degree in Aquinas University, she took up 2 post-graduate degrees in University of Santo Tomas and University of Wollongong in Australia (1 for each university). She now lives in 

Australia.

She writes both in Filipino and English. Her works integrates the traditional culture of the Philippines with modern immigrant experience. Her work "White Turtle" won 2 awards: the Steele Rudd Award for the Best Collection of Australian Short Stories and the 2000 Philippine National Book Award.The White Turtle is a collection of short stories that has various kinds of humor and emotion.  

Like the short story "Before The Moon Rises" shows how the war impacts the Filipino citizens. Another is "Colours", it tells a story about a man who loves his married neighbour. It shows how unrequited love works. A short story still included in the White Turtle is "Jar". "Jar" is a brilliant short story as it shows a story about sexual abuse in the workplace.

Merlinda Bobis has a way of drawing her readers into her stories. Making her readers stimulate their senses with only the use of words. The development of the characters and plot in each of the stories is beautiful. Her stories may be about us, Filipinos but it doesn't make us feel embarrassed. We are more likely to read about it. We can say that one of her style in writing is showing the reality of the world. We just have to open our eyes and realize the things that we are doing.

10 - Unrequited Love Prevails

"Dead Stars" is a story written by Paz Marquez Benitez. It was published in 1925 and considered to be the first modern Philippine Short Story in English.

The story revolves around Alfredo Salazar and two women: Esperanza and Julia. Alfredo and Esperanza have been together and the society takes that the two will be married. However before the wedding, Alfredo met this girl named Julia where Alfredo immediately fell in love with her. Alfredo and Esperanza got married. After eight years, Alfredo went on a trip to the town where Julia lives. He visits Julia but he found out that she doesn't love her anymore. She no longer had feelings for him. 

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At first I wasn't really expecting someone to love me especially with the person who will be married soon. I didn't know what to do so I too eventually fell in love. He loved me and asked me "Did you ever have to choose between something you wanted to do and something you had to do?" He was forced to marry someone he doesn't love anymore because he made a promise to that girl.

As years pass by, I was living quietly. Someone came for a visit without me knowing who is coming. It was him, the guy who promised the girl that she will marry her. He still loved me but I didn't. I stopped loving him and I will never love him again.

9 - Don't Even Try

There are a lot of vendors out there that sell cigarettes. We are tempted to buy cigarettes from these vendors. There are two types of smokers: the avid smoker and the heavy smoker. The avid smoker enjoys smoking and does it for pleasure and excitement while a heavy smoker smokes a lot. Though he/she doesn't enjoy it but he/she can't live a day without smoking cigarettes.

People nowadays smoke due to peer pressure. We need to stop that peer pressure and make them open their eyes and see what they really are doing in their lives.

Asia Pacific College has an made an Anti - Smoking Campaign. It only has one goal and that is to prevent smoking in each and everyone of us. The thing is, outside the school like right in front of it, is a smoking area and our goal is to stop their students from smoking. It also might not be easy for APC to stop their students due to others already have an addiction to smoking. What these students would do is probably ignore what they are saying (since nothing has happened in their bodies yet) and only care what they are feeling now and not what will happen to their body in the future.

Smoking destroys dreams and lives of you and the people around you. Little did they know that smoking greatly affects the people surrounding them. Second hand smoking is actually worse than smoking. Its already somewhat similar to killing them.  Asia Pacific College should raise awareness of what smoking really is but then again I highly doubt that they will even take note of this. The answer to this issue lies within the smokers themselves. We just have to trust in them that they will be able to understand what they really are doing to themselves.

So for you non-smoker people, don't even try smoking as it will kill you and the people around you.

PS: I didn't even know we had an Anti - Smoking Campaign here in APC. D:

8 - Unity

October 26 - 31 marks the School of Management (SoM) week or formerly called as School of Accountancy and Business.

All students under the School of Management are required to participate in the events during the week to show their support for their chosen representatives. On the first day, we had a parade together with the Sto. Nino Catholic School leading the parade from APC to Lapu-lapu.

Afterwards, Ms. Victoria Nañagas formally opened the SoM week. The winner of the cheers and chants competition, MA151, also performed their cheers as part of the opening of the SoM week. The APC Dance Company also took part in opening the SoM week. Most of the girls were screaming their hears out when the APCDC blew the stage with their great performance. After the dance of APCDC, they showed to us our models for our Mr. and Ms. SoM.

Mr. and Ms. SoM is not only the main event in the SoM week, there are also the SoM Sportsfest, the Clash of Courses, and seminars. Everyone was excited for the events especially the SoM Sportsfest. We would be looking forward on who will be the champions for these said events. With the end of the SoM week, I hope that it was able to strengthen our unity and bonds with each other.

7 - Parasitic Beasts

Parasyte started out as a manga. Afterwards, there came out an anime series of the manga. Then came a film adaptation of the manga.

Parasyte is about a young high school student named Shinichi Izumi where a parasite entered his right hand. The parasite's mission failed since its goal was to enter to the ears and to take over the brain but it was preventing it due to Shinichi wearing earphones. However, it didn't stop there as Shinichi was wondering what entered his right hand, it started moving on its own. While searching the net, the parasite tried to eat Shinichi but failed again. The parasite disappointed, it surrendered and after a while the two became friends.

Naming the parasite as "Migi" because in Japanese it means right. Migi lead Shinichi to different "friends" and are forced to fight them since all "friends" are seeking for food. A new teacher came to Shinichi's school and found out that she is working on an experiment about the parasites and the offspring of parents that are infected with the parasites. Mr. A, the "husband" of the new teacher Tamiya, keeps and eye on Shinichi and when the two confronted, they fought. Shinichi and Migi won however, Mr. A wasn't totally dead as his body was dying he had to look for another. A woman was near Mr. A and helped him and that woman was Shinichi's mother. As "Shinichi's mother" went home, Shinichi would not believe that that was Mr. A and made him vulnerable to being attacked.

Shinichi died but Migi revived him. Migi used a part of himself to bring Shinichi back to life. Since Migi used parts of himself, there are parts of Migi inside Shinichi. Shinichi slowly changed. He changed his attitude and became braver. Slowly becoming like Migi.

The first part ended as a cliffhanger. Someone was taking a picture of Shinichi and Migi after Shinichi said that his mission was to kill everyone that is infected by the parasite.

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When the movie started, I wasn't really expecting to watch something like this. Horror. We don't usually watch horror movies that is required in school. All of us were surprised.

I actually asked my brother if he had a copy of the Parasyte anime, he did have but he asked me why am I looking for such thing since I don't usually watch anime. I told him that we watched it during our EEP class and he was schocked that why would Ms. Eliz have a copy of this movie. Haha.

Anyways. The movie was great however, it ended in a cliffhanger. It made me want to look for the second part of the movie.

I hope that we would watch more movies that would intrigue us again. :))))

6 - Life in the League

League of Legends is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena or MOBA game for short. It is a game similar to Defense of the Ancient 2 or most commonly known as DOTA 2 and Heroes of Newerth wherein two teams of 5 fight each other to destroy their opponent's base.

I've started playing this game since its first season (around the year 2010) and I was still in 7th grade that time and I'm still playing it till now (It's already season 5). Lol. I didn't really imagined myself playing this game until now since I'm not really fan of games such as DOTA 2 and Heroes of Newerth. I don't really know what made me continue to play this game, honestly.

Of course, playing from the 1st season until now, I've encountered a lot of ups and downs. My 1st big achievement would probably be reaching the max level (Level 30) during the first season. My 2nd big achievement would be when I was able to reach the Diamond Division during Season 3 until now. (This is the 3rd division out of 7 divisions in which the 1st division contains the top 200 players here in the Philippines). Since you make your way up to the 1st division, you can also go back down to the 7th division. I was able to experience dropping divisions due to my teammates and it was so depressing that it actually made me stop playing for like 2-3 days.

I've also met a lot of friends (Real life friends) by playing this game. There is one that I found out that we were schoolmates (High School times). Another is, my classmate then his cousin. We really had no idea that we were playing together and when we were able to found out that they know each other and told us that. We were stunned actually. We then became friends and we are still playing together until now. Another one is another classmate of mine and his cousin. We are actually 'more friends' or in Filipino they say "mas close" than my classmate (his cousin). Yes I know, it can be confusing. Haha.

League of Legends has made a big impact in my life. Meeting new friends and learning to have determination in life and made me more responsible in life. :D

PS: League is also known to be League of Legends or so they say.

5 - Even Nonsense Has A Meaning

Last Saturday we watched a play entitled "Ang Tatay Mong Kalbo". I honestly

didn't get what the play is all about. I still have no idea until now the message

that they are trying to convey. Haha. However, the play was interesting.

I was with my friends (Leslie, Nicole, and Bianca) last Saturday and was really

looking forward to watch the play since my classmates who watched it last Friday

told us that it was really worth it and funny. It was worth watching. 

The play started with Mr. and Mrs. Santos talking about how great it is to live 

in Makati. Then came Maria, their maid, who actually made the whole audience laugh.

Mr. and Mrs. Reyes came next with only knowing this time that they are actually "married"

Later came, Hepe, a fire fighter or a chief, who is secretly in a relationship with Maria. 

It ended with Mr. and Mrs. Reyes mimicking how Mr. and Mrs. Santos were doing in the first part of the play which made it more confusing for me to understand.

All of them were telling a story which really had no sense with the play but I'm sure they 

are trying to show us, the audience, a message. We just have to find it but it seems that it is impossible for me. I've been thinking all night (Saturday night) on what was it all about and I got nothing. It's been bothering me until now on what was it all about. It didn't even revolved around a bald father. It was mentioned in the play but it wasn't really focused on the father.

Anyway, the play was good. My friends and I enjoyed it. With that, I hope Theatre Phileo will make more plays like this. Plays that would entertain us and intrigue us with what the play's hidden message.

4 - Fate Exists

The plot of the movie “Turn Left, Turn Right” is actually based on the book “A Chance of Sunlight” by Jimmy Liao, a Taiwanese author. Where a couple that is only separated by a wall. They are always close to each other wherever they go but never get to see one another.

When the two exchanged their phone numbers and went home. They found out that the number were smudged. This is where the movie starts to get interesting. We have mixed emotions. We feel hopeless that they won’t be able to contact one another yet we feel excited that we as the audience see both of them nearby but the actors themselves don’t. We feel sad that the movie showed a split screen of the two doing the same thing and only being separated by a thin wall. However, in the end one prayed to have a miracle and the other cried to let her see him again. It was granted. An earthquake occurred and destroyed a part of the wall. Both were stunned, when they saw each other. 

They talk to the same people, they do similar things but there is only a small time difference that prevents them from seeing each other. Sad. :c 

This movie shows that there are things that are meant to be together. Like how this movie showed it.

Both are convinced

That a sudden surge of emotion bound them together

Beautiful is such a certainty

But uncertainty is more beautiful. 

3 - Wake-up Call

Passing over the 200 million mark, Heneral Luna is considered to be the highest-grossing historical film made in the Philippines even though at its first week a lot of theaters removed this movie from their list due to other mainstream films to open. It is also one of the most expensive historical film ever made reaching about 80 million Philippine peso. Heneral Luna also made it to the Oscars, it will be our country's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category. Heneral Luna is truly a success.

I can say that I don't really much know the things happening back then but with this movie I was able to know and understand well what was happening during the Philippine-American War. A lot of conflicts were happening during the war. The line "Bayan o Sarili?" shows that we don't care for our country but only ourselves. Filipinos were too blinded with their self - interests, self - interests that would not actually help the country. General Luna said in the movie that we, Filipinos, are our biggest enemy, lacking in resolve and torn by self - interests. I agree with that statement. Heneral Luna also said in the movie "Ganito ba talaga ang tadhana natin? Kalaban ang kalaban. Kalaban ang kakampi. Nakakapagod." Again it supports the idea that we, Filipinos, are our biggest enemies. 

Another thing is when General Luna is looking for someone who is willing to fight for our country and invade the Americans and only one stood up and his name is Lt. Garcia. Out of all his people, only one volunteered to fight for our country. This shows that only a few really care for our country and that few is not enough or us to change the country. General Luna also mentioned that we need more people like Lt. Garcia. It is true that we need people like him who can fight for our country.

2 - World Championship 2015

October of every year, Riot Games organizes an event where the top teams around the globe compete to be the best team in the world. For this year or season (Season 5), there are 16 teams competing. There are 3 teams from Korea, 3 teams from China, 2 teams from Taiwan/HongKong/Macau, 3 teams from North America, 3 teams from Europe, and 2 teams from the International Wildcard Qualifiers. They will be divided into four groups. A group contains 1 team from each of the regions. There should be no two teams of the same region in 1 group.

World Championship 2015 has two stages, the group stage and the knockout stage. The group stage is the first half of the event. In this stage, teams from each group fight each other twice. The top two teams from each group advances to the next stage while the bottom two teams will be eliminated. The knockout stage is the second half. This is where we will see who will be crowned the world champion of season 5. In here, teams fight teams from other groups as they advance to the semi-finals and eventually the top two remaining teams will fight in the finals. Games that will be played in the knockout stage are Best of 5.

As of now, the group stage is still happening. Group stage will end at October 11. It is assumed that the knockout stage will begin on October 15 and it will end on October 31. I am looking forward on seeing the World Champion 2015. I can hardly wait. :) Here are the standings of each team as of this day (October 7, 2015).

If you want to know we also had a team here in the Philippines that was able to enter the World Championship. It was in the year 2013 (Season 3 of League of Legends). Unfortunately our team, Mineski, wasn't able to reach the bracket stage and finishing last place in the worlds but they were able to gain good experiences and a chance to fight their favorite LoL players coming from different regions around the world.

1 - KEEP FRIENDS CLOSE AND ENEMIES GUESSING

Ok. This is my first blog and blog post so I'm not familiar on how and what people write in blogs since we usually write our journals/reflections on paper or on twitter in my previous school and I don't really do things like these. I'm not fond of sharing things about myself.

"Keep your friends close and enemies guessing." A quote from a game that I always play called League of Legends (LoL). I can relate to that because I am always competitive with other people. I always want to be better than them. I might look shy and friendly on the outside but in the inside, I am thinking a lot of ways on how to be better than you. I see everything as a game that I should always win.

If I'm with my friends, competition still exists but I don't really make it an issue since we help each other out in so many different ways. Hence the quote "Keep friends close and enemies guessing". Besides, if you make competition an issue with your friends, most likely you will lose all your friends and you will be left alone. It is scary to be alone. I have experienced it already and I don't want that to happen ever again to me. I feel like people around me are judging me everywhere I go when I'm alone.

This is how I see others and myself now but I still have a long way to go so I guess my perspective with others might change. I still have a lot of time to discover myself even further than just being competitive.

Well, this is probably the first time I ever shared a big part of myself :). Haha. I don't know. I feel awkward as I type this blog post right now.