The majority of my life has been, in a single word, uneventful. Nothing was happening. I used to excel in academics and studies, in my Grade School, without exerting effort at all. All of that changed during high school. It was during this time that I learned more about myself, and how to understand others.
At my first year in Philippine Science High School, I was unable to excel. There was the sudden realization that there are a lot of people smarter than me in Math, Science, even English/Language. It was also during this time that I had taken to a group of friends. They were from the Ateneo – I was surprised that there were many of them in our batch – and they were not what I expected. I was expecting stereotypical nerds and jocks, like a stereotypical high school. My friends were, well, more jock than nerd. But that didn’t really matter. They taught me the basics of camaraderie, and I did enjoy time with them.
In second year, we went our own ways. This time, I had discovered new friends in my new section. I had a close friend who was from the Ateneo as well. He told me a lot of stories about his former school.
I was expecting the Ateneo to be more than just what my friend described to me. Everyone in his former school was relatively richer than his family was. He would be bullied by older students on the school bus and by his fellow batchmates as well. Of course, I had my share of bullies on the school bus and embarrassing experiences, but not to an extent such as his. And despite of the society that mocked him, of the culture that forced its definitions and limitations upon him, he still remained himself – there was still kindness in his heart. And it was this that drew me to him, and so our friendship started.
From that day on, I felt that whatever purpose I had in life was revealed to me. For me, my mission was to show people that they were cared for, and capable of producing kindness. I wanted to show that this world was unfair, uncaring and indifferent only because it was what they were told. This world is full of sadness because people were to be blind to everything else. These thoughts seemed to fill my life with a purpose, and I believed – not that I found out in the future that they were false or that they were simply naïve ideas of children; rather, I found out it was not easy to fulfill these purposes.
I had returned the kindness of my friend with kindness and concern in turn, and it made me happy as well. The second year contained many wonderful memories and experiences, and the “family” of sorts that we had carried over into the future. We were always closely knit together, more than just a barkada, more like an actual family.
Third year, however, was a most stressing time, and it was a bit sad as well. It was also the most memorable of the years I spent so far. It was during this time that I made a new friend from an acquaintance in second year. He was one of the smartest persons I knew, winning contests he was sent to, or at least getting recognitions for them. He was also very kind to me as well. He would try to teach me when I would not comprehend the lessons we were taking up. He would always have time to listen to me, although he was usually quite busy with his contests and requirements. In time, he became a special friend to me. He showed me that by understanding people, I could show them that they were cared for.
It was during these times that love grew in the hearts of people, and was expressed. I was surprised to see most of my friends asking their “special someone” to go to the prom with them. My best friend from last year was asking someone as well, even though he said that he would go stag (not go with anyone.) We were all surprised, yet we still helped him, and finally he got to pop the question. My story was different, though, and a bit sad.
One of my classmates in second year was my classmate again in third year. He was also from the Ateneo, and he had quite a reputation, both here and in the Ateneo. He was an outcast, a pariah of sorts, ostracized by the batch and ridiculed by his peers from the Ateneo, but still he felt at home with the rest of our group. I took it upon myself to try to console him and understand him. For a while, it worked. However, we had a misunderstanding, and it developed into a grudge.
Somehow, I had violated his feelings, and eventually he had a vendetta with me. He would attack what I say and hurl insults at me. Such acts did not disturb me much. However, he was also trying to ostracize me from our group. He brought with him a few handhelds and played games with most of my friends, making them spend more time with him than me. Eventually, he proceeded to physically attacking me with various “weapons.” He even attacked me during our Retreat, and it made me really depressed that night. My friends were there for me, however, and it turned out okay. Eventually we got him banned from the school after another attempt to hurt me.
In his absence, I realized how similar we were to each other. For instance, we both believed ourselves mature and understanding of others. Even our mannerisms were the same. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how similar we were to each other. Eventually, however, I made mistakes that sundered my life, and I regretted these things so much. I had promised myself that I would change, and not make these mistakes again.
Right now, I am in the fourth year, with my two best friends and the rest of our group, trying to change myself for the better so that I would not hurt my friends anymore. Adding this to the workload for the fourth year, and preparing for the UPCAT, the more difficult ACET and maybe even the SAT, I could see myself being stretched to the limit. It was a bit of relief when my “enemy” reconciled with me, and I really appreciate it. I will not back down, however. I will graduate and qualify for the Ateneo, and eventually fulfill the purpose of my life somehow with my job. Until that time, I am here. I will change. I will work hard for the future, so that it will be different from the past. This school, and the experiences I have had here, and the friends I have, has taught me more than limits of functions, or reaction rates and equilibrium expressions, or quantum physics, or epics and works of literature, or soccer and badminton, or marching in cadence, or even cramming. All of them – my school, my parents and teachers, my friends, and the experiences I have - taught me how to live this short life I have. I feel a bit content; knowing that I have touched a few lives – the friends closest to me – and made a mark on this world with the achievements I have made, even if they are only small.
Somewhere in my high school there is a plaque with my name on it. The competition it was commemorating wasn’t that big – a Social Science Quiz – but it is more than that. It shows that I existed, that I was here on this planet. And I will continue to exist, after I die, in the lives of the people that I have touched.
To my avid readers (as if) : I apologize for being too lazy to update my blog. It's all because of STR, and long tests, and etc. Right now, I'm supposed to be doing Filipino, but, oh well. We have a lot to talk about that happened over these 12 days since my last post.
First, the not really important stuff. I was finally able to watch Transformers... Yey. Be happy for me. Be very very happy. Anyway... it was nice. While I am not familiar at all with the series, I still appreciate it. There is still the cliche nerd turning into hero over the course of the film, which is so overused and unoriginal and unreal, but Bumblebee's... appropriate background music really does deliver. All in all, it's a nice movie... I'm not sure how bad Harry Potter 5 sucked though... I still think it would be nice...
Speaking of Harry Potter, I was able to read and finish Deathly Hallows in a single day... when I was supposed to be reading Ang Mag-anak na Cruz. I slept at 2 am just to finish it... and it was nice. It really does tie up all the loose ends. There were a few slightly disappointing points. First of all, R.A.B. really did turn out to be //SPOILER; we were actually expecting somebody else - not a new character, but we got it right. There were also a few unanswered questions. For example, it is shown that Petunia Evans Dursley had correspondence with Dumbledore. No, not after the Boy Who Lived incident; she had a letter from him, maybe even about Hogwarts, when she and Lily were just teenagers. It might be likely that Petunia is actually a witch; she might have wanted to be a witch, at least. SInce there are no more books after, we may never know. Also, I expected something more elaborate for the Harry vs Voldemort fight thing. A cool duel like what happened between Voldemort and Dumbledore; Harry throwing spells at Voldemort, him doing the same, no more annoying Priori Incantatem/twin-core wands to slow it down (ah, spoiler... but then again, if they did do Priori Incantatem, it would've made a cool fight... the echoes of Voldemort's victims floating around...)... not just his spell simply backfiring on him. More questions. Can a simple Protego protect you from Voldemort's Killing Curse? Seems... unlikely, but for some reason... hmm... Other things. A lot of people died... I would've made a list, but... oh well... Voldemort dies, duh... Harry dies as well. What a spoiler.
Enough Deathly Hallows. Let's go to... Pisay! We (sodium + xby) watched on saturday, after the review. I was lucky to come, 'coz i was sick that time, with a slight fever. After taking a trip through Manila (we passed by Tobit's previous school, St. Jude, on the way...) we finally got to the CCP. We proceeded to the balcony, where I sat with Vien and Kyla... and directly behind Sir Talaue... There were a lot of teachers there, because they were all invited to watch at the same time we watched - 1530. The movie lasted a good two hours or so. The movie was, well... I couldn't really have an unbiased opinion of it, because I do study at that school. It was nice... mainly because we could see in the movie... parts of our own life in Pisay. We could relate to the stories of the people. I wouldn't want to spoil the story; all I can tell is that it is discontinuous. It covers the lives of different people throughout the different years of high school life, as the batch graduates. After a while, it might be redundant to see the students having the same class over and over again... but still, it is worth the discounted price of 50 pesos. There were also food and "drinks" there... drinks, as in, drinks that you're not supposed to drink yet. Why is it minors like beer anyway? Why are we so excited when one of our classmates brings beer or something? It may not even taste good at all... Maybe it's just a self-imposed standard by the society. I mean, just because we can't drink beer makes it a substance we look forward to drinking when we can. Anyway... we had a lot of Sodium pictures... It really was fun. We saw a lot of teachers at the place; most of the teachers we know are there; even ma'am cardenas was there... While it seems we might've wasted our time watching on the 21st when we watch it by batch on the 27th, there are still some... important things. I am definitely bringing some money to get a Pisay shirt...
Let's pray for Tobit and Steph, that they win something in IMO in Vietnam. And for Tobit as well, so that he would finally make a move when nobody's looking. Well, not what you think... It's just that... this might be the only chance he gets with Steph alone... I know that he would make the right/proper choice, whatever it may be. Let's just wish them good luck... And, expect them to bring presents/souvenirs/pasalubong... OR ELSE. (Yep, that's from Vien... Well... I want a souvenir also... Not really the panda bear that says "I love you!" when you squish it, but I want that also...)
My throat, or rather, the posterior end of my oral cavity hurts so much... I can't really eat because the sheer pain forces me to abandon eating. It really is painful... I just hope it heals soon...
That's all...for now... More posts to come.
This week was long and tiring. However, a lot of things happened over the course of these past few days. I'll try to go over them...
First... I passed the first LT in Math! I even got the highest score in Gluon - and my score was 28/40. It was obviously that freaking hard. It really was a good thing that i was able to solve the two problems in the problem solving part. They were relatively uncomplicated as compared to the ASN part and the FitB part... Still, I am glad that I passed. The first LT of Math 5 is always the most difficult one... and I'm glad I passed it... sorry for all of you who might be offended...
In the Com Sci LT, i only got 26/27... well, sorry for seeming arrogant, but I was in Proogies... I was supposed to ace that exam without any problems... I've also been troubled by the PS given to us in Proogies. No programming stuff; just... logic. Not even being group mates with "god" (the de Villa guy who won programming competitions at first year...) seems to help. I hope I can think up of a solution to that... Still, I am excited with the upcoming competition thingy. If me and my partner (the twenty or so of us were split into pairs of two) win, we get tickets to movies in Trinoma. Well... I know what I'm going to do with them...
The Filipino LT was, well... um... I don't know. There was a lot of stuff I was unable to answer. It was asking specifics and stuff, like the meter of a song or a creed. It also gave sample pieces of literature and we were supposed to identify these. It was hard, because, well, I didn't know what to expect. I hope I pass... even barely...
I got 35/40 in the Bio LT... Yes, I am supposed to be happy, but a lot of people were higher than me. I have to do better next time... One must always remember that whenever you barely pass, almost pass, get a high score, or ace a Long Test, there is always one after it which will be a chance to improve your grades, drastically improve your grades, or spillover into bonus points or such. After you take a Long Test, what's done is done. You pass, you fail, etc. Look forward to the next LT as a chance to do better.
CAT earlier was so much fun! We had a bonding experience... in the rain... and we were marching and marching in cadence, over and over again. And while we were doing that, rain fell on our bodies. I'm not surprised if we get sick, but still, I hope I don't... Anyway, for toiling under the rain, our entire platoon got one (1) merit (yep, corresponding format:D) A few other people got demerits as well though. Vien got one for his necklace which was an accessory, and Kim also got one for being unable to march in cadence most of the time. Well, I'm sorry if I offended them... I just hope there are other ways we can get merits. There are so many ways to get demerits. How come getting merits isn't that easy?
We also had an acquaintance party in Atom Family. I was rather surprised by the huge population of this year's Atom Family. They were planning a field trip to a Coke (the drink which used to contain the drug) plant I think... must be the one in Laguna. Anyway, I had to go after that, because I had to submit my Bio notebook for partial checking. I won't have to do that anymore if I have high grades in Bio.
Earlier today, it rained so hard. Like a storm actually. Well, more like a storm/whatever you call it caused by an actual Signal 4 typhoon. The winds were so strong, and the rain was falling so hard. I remained stranded in the gazeebo, because I could not afford to get my ACET forms wet. I just waited for the rain to calm down. It was very strong, however, and it took a long time before the winds died down. But then it rained again in CAT... and you know what happened...
Anyway, I suppose the climax of this week is his reconciliation with me. Yep, you heard that right. He actually apologized to me. I was very surprised. A part of me sees this as a sign of change in him; I feel that he did that even though he knew that she wasn't there to be impressed by it. Yet I know that it is more likely that he did that because he wanted to impress her/everyone. Still, I am relieved actually. At least I don't have him as an enemy anymore... I think.
That is all for now... Tune in next time, when we discuss... what else but what I've experienced.
Ah wait... I suppose this counts as a PS. Our group in English has a total of ~165 points! Pro kami eh. There was also a bonus of 10 pts given if a member of the group has passed all quiz prior to, well, th e point in time where we got the bonus. He called it the iron man bonus or something. Anyway, go Eda and Clarisse, the reps of Gluon! And they're both of our group... Hope they best the other sections... but still, I will support Kim. He made it to the finals as well; he's one of the reps of Tau... I hope he wins, if not Eda/Cla. Go Gluon... and Kim(Tau):D
Due to incessant readers' demand (that means you, Vien) I will post again. Not that I have anything against it though. It's just that, I was, well, a bit lazy to post. So many things happened, and I might not be able to cover them all.
What I could remember vividly were my barely passing marks in physics AND chem. I didn't expect to get such a low score in chem. Probably because what I did to solve the problems was wrong. Oh well. I will have to make up for it in the future. I can't afford to get low grades in chem. The bio long test was a bit annoying due to the part where we had to count chromosomes, chromatids and stuff. I didn't know how to do that; I didn't memorize that kind of stuff. Math, on the other hand, was a bit challenging. As I struggled through the long test, I felt that I didn't have enough time to do the problems in the problem solving part. Well, I was unable to solve a lot of items in the Fill In the Blanks portion. It was the most annoying part actually. I was able to do both problems in the end. Also, I realized I forgot to discuss one of the items in the long test. There was an identification part, which was unusual because it was math. I forgot to discuss LORAN, an application of hyperbolas... Sorry...
Our meetings at Proogies were quite enjoyable. We, the seniors, were actually the noisiest in the room. Compared to us, the other years were silent. C++ was the language to be used in Proogies. The good thing about that is the simplified input/output. Even though Kuya Ivan was discussing stuff we knew (and most probably forgot) two years ago, it still was fun.
CAT was as fun as ever. And, yes, if you consider marching in cadence, sitting in two seconds with maong pants, standing up in two seconds after said feat with maong pants, and bearing the lower years who would take their time lining up for the flag retreat - if you consider all of these fun activities, you must be a masochist, or a sadist, or there is something else wrong with you, or you are plain sarcastic like me. Well, at least now I have a tickler and B/U/R pens.
After a week's respite, we have been given the next task for STR - which is actually a list of tasks. Yes, it is a play on words. I don't know for sure when this deadline is. I hope we can pass it in time.
Life Sci was interesting, as usual. We proceeded to continue on our topic, which was dreams. While it was difficult to gather data, it still was an interesting topic. Joel had another dream; this time, it was a bit like a nightmare. It was very unpleasant for him. I also found out more about his life actually. Of course, these are the sort of things that one should not disclose. I really don't know much, but still, I appreciate him sharing his dreams with me and our group.
Now, for not academic stuff. Recently I've been obsessed with the trailer for KH3, which is known not to not have KH3 as its title. I've been watching the trailer over and over again, partly because the graphics are amazing, and the sound is, well, enchanting, to the point that I have LSS for it. You can watch the high-quality version on YouTube at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA5bf5jG2co
There are a few things I would like to clear up. First of all, the guy who gets frozen IS NOT ROXAS. Yes, he looks like Sora/Roxas, and he used something that resembled the Kingdom Key. But HE IS NOT ROXAS. And, he is not dead. You can see his eyes move even though he's frozen. Next. The guy dressed like Riku Replica is NOT Riku Replica. Why do people even think about stories for him? The old guy summoned him. He's not a summon in the FF sense of the word (think Bahamut, Ifrit, etc.) but rather, he seems like a normal summon - uhm, a temporary magical construct brought to reality to serve its master, more like a Patronus. Yes, he can wield a Keyblade... but that may simply be because he was an extension of the old man. The blue-haired person is claimed by many to be a woman, and her name is Aqua (analogous to Kairi, sea.) There are two other names, Terra (analogous to Riku, earth/land) and Ven (analogous to Sora, sky/air), and there are 3 persons to assign them to - the person who looks like Sora/Roxas, the person with the eyes that changed into yellow, and the old man. Many claim Ven is the Sora/Roxas look-alike. The identity of the third knight is a mystery. Some say it is Terra; others say it is Xehanort (a lot of KH2:FM stuff points to this conclusion actually.) Terra is also in KH2:FM. At least, a guy called Terra was. The music for the video is called Fate of the Unknown. I like it; I've been having LSS over it for the past few days.
There are a lot of stuff that happened these past few days, actually. Stuff that I would not rather talk about. But there are also stuff that I can talk about... and that was it.
P.S. The STR unit actually has a website. It's maintained by Sir Tayco, the STR teacher of Charm, I think. It's concerned mostly with STR 1 stuff, though. The site is http://www.freewebs.com/pshsresearchunit/
First of all, sorry for not being able to post on the previous days. I was a bit down or something, and was too lazy to post. It seems like I am still too lazy to post; this post will be a bit short.
A lot of good things happened today. First of all (yes, it is redundant...) we had free periods in Physics and Chem. I was a bit thankful for that, since I don't want to know my score in that long test. It was a pity actually. I sort-of understood completely how to solve the problems given. I did not manage my time wisely, however, and I feel that I made so many mistakes that I failed. I hope not. I really need to get 1.75 above in Physics; otherwise I will not be able to make it to the Director's List. No, I am not GC; it's just that, I can't afford not to be DL since I will lose certain privileges that are important to me. Good thing the same doesn't go for Chem. I am pretty optimistic about that long test...
I also found out that I made it to Proogies!. I am very fortunate that I have been blessed with such an honor, and I will not screw it up again. I look forward to it with eager anticipation. Kim also made it to Proogies! also. I'm happy for him, and that's not sarcastic actually...
Gluon did well in soccer today against Graviton. I finally got to touch the ball at least once, and I was able to push it a distance forward just when they were making an attack. It was rather intense. In the end, it was a stalemate which was only broken by a penalty kick. So, the score was 1-0. A similar stalemate happened with the girls.
We were able to submit our capsule proposal today as well. We are rather fortunate, since some people don't have approved topics yet...
We also had an acquaintance party of sorts in Gluon. There was food... food... and more food... and did I mention food? There was sushi, pizza, 2 kinds of ice cream, spaghetti, pancit palabok or malabon (whichever, don't really know actually) and barbecue. And also 9 or so bottles of coke. We had a lot fun and ate a lot of food. There were also a lot of other non-Gluon people who came; Ma'am Cion took pity on them and let them have some food. We then had fun cleaning up the place and stuffing everything into a small cardboard box, and then throwing it in the trash can...
Other stuff that happened today include the quiz in English. We spent the period given to us by ma'am quines group-studying for the quiz. Quite unsurprisingly, none or few of the things I remember most vividly came up. I mean... the trivia stuff I remember most actually didn't come up at all. And I am still not used to super-specific questions, like "What did Achilles do when... blah blah blah happened?" Hope I did well on that quiz. I also hope that more than one of our members go to the next round (we have one guaranteed member in the next round because two of our members are pitted against each other.) Controlling 4 of the 8 spots in the quarterfinals isn't really reassuring when one of you must go...
We had a quiz of sorts in Econ, and we were to discuss issues and apply economics to them. For example, I chose to explain the necessity of CAT in terms of positive and normative economics. It's not that I needed a book...
Anyway, the real climax of this [insert adjective here] day was, well, the soccer match between Tau and Graviton. No, it wasn't because Alex scored a goal in his own goalpost. It was, well, what was happening during the match. And also what happened after it, later in the afternoon. Something just... happened; something which was significant to me. I can't really say what it is, but it is important to me...
I was expecting this to be a bit shorter. Oh well. And, I want you to know that I won't be finishing last Friday's post. I'm just too lazy to. Sorry :D