Panaginip

Dahil malapit na ang Halloween at nagsisimula na ang pagkukwento ng mga nakakatakot na pangyayari, ang isusulat ko ngayong gabi ay tungkol sa isang nakakalokang paniginip ko ilang linggo na ang nakararaan. Bakit nakakaloka? Parang totoo kasi at sobrang natakot ako nang makita ko ito. Ewan ko lang pag binabasa niyo na... Pero eto siya:

Gabi na at walang kuryente. Kaming dalawa lang ng kapatid kong si Ena ang nasa bahay. Nasa garahe siya at may hinahanap sa van habang ako naman ay nasa loob ng bahay, nagsisindi ng kandila. Madilim at medyo umuulan nang gabing iyon.

Ilang segundo ang lumipas at may kumatok sa aming gate. May hawak akong flashlight kaya tinignan ko kung sino iyon. Nakita ko, mula sa siwang ng gate, ang ilang mga taong naka-motorsiklo. Sumigaw ako upang sabihin sa kapatid kong huwag silang pagbuksan pero huli na; nabuksan na niya. Dali-dali akong lumabas ng bahay para puntahan si Ena.

Agad-agad ay pumasok ang mga tao at hindi sila lumalakad. Nagfofloat sila na parang yung mga multong nakikita nating decoration sa mga tindahan. Marami sila at sabay-sabay silang pumapasok sa aming garahe; ala Kitty Pryde ng X-Men ang estilo ng pagpasok. Nakasuot sila ng mahaba at itim na tattered cloak. Nakaalis ang hood kaya nakikita namin ang kanilang mga mukhang napakaputi. Slanted ang kanilang mga mata na parang mga Intsik at walang kilay o pilik-mata. Hindi ko rin napansin kung may pupil sila. Ang paligid ng kanilang mga mata ay may halong pula at puting pintura. Nakanganga sila habang papalapit sa amin.

Nang makita ko ang mga taong ito (kung tao man sila...) ay bigla akong kinabahan. Hindi rin ako makapagsalita ng tuwid. Pero kahit na ganoon, alam ko ang dapat kong gawin. Kahit nanginginig ang buo kong katawan sa takot, iniunat ko ang kanan kong kamay sa direksyon nila at sinabing, "In Jesus' name" ng paulit-ulit. Noong una ay hindi malinaw ang pagkakasabi pero kalaunan, diretso na ang aking pagsasalita at lalo pang lumalakas ang aking boses. Pagkaraan ng ilang sandali, sumigaw ang mga nilalang at umalis na...

Anong masasabi mo?..

"They swarmed around me like bees,
but they died out as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off."
Psalm 118:12

CCEMI Academy Intramurals 2009 - comments!

Ahem. Ahem. I'll just give some of my comments regarding the stuff I've witnessed earlier.

Miss/Mister Intramurals 2009:
Oooookay. I think this was a bad event... :(

Cheerdance Competition:
Red Earth Shakers - Okay. The cheer dance was dirty, with some people not knowing where to go or what to do. Also, the routines are repetitive (e.g. alternating). The music was great. It could've been better with more practice.
Green Knight Shades - Love the intro. That was really nice. However, when it came to the middle, the routines didn't look like they're suited for cheer dancing. It looks more like interpretative or something subtler than cheering. Music was great, too.
Blue Heirs - I liked their cheer dance, except for the fact that they recycled some of the routines, formations, and yells. They were horribly familiar. (Fact: It's called plagiarism in writing. :))

Basketball (Green vs. Blue):
Very predictable game, which makes it not too worthwhile to watch. The determination of the Knight Shades were to die for, though. Heheh. (May over exaggeration factor dito. Huwag na lang pansinin.)

That's all... I guess? Bored lang ako kaya ganyan.

Lady Gaga's version of Viva la Vida

Well, really. When I first heard this cover, I knew that a really good song was messed up. The accompaniment could have been great, if the lyrics weren't half as bad. This clearly isn't a good cover.

Well, don't get me wrong. Lady Gaga can sing but this just didn't work for her.

No, lady, you just don't go around ruining a good Coldplay song. The original is waaaaaaay better.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uFRg2epy-w

Abby's 8th birthday

Yup! Yup! It's my youngest sister's birthday today, and I treated her to McDonald's (bragbragbrag). She ordered a Happy Meal and Chicken McNuggets. After that, we went to a shop and I bought her "food" erasers.

I won't say how much I spent. XD

Book review - The Story of my Life by Helen Keller

Rating: 9/10

Well, I never did like autobiographies much.

But I guess this one's an exception. Helen Keller wrote her story in such a nice and simple way that the reader will feel like the famed woman is right in front of you, chatting endlessly to you. She also talked about her interests and faults which is a lovely thing for me (since I found out she read books in like fashion). I liked her immediately when I learned that she was able to go to college and graduate! Helen Keller is really a great woman and Anne Sullivan is a great teacher.

Two mishaps

October 16, 2009 is one of the most memorable days in my U.P. life. Why? Two important things happened to me today.

Mishap # 1:

We were taking our second long exam for Archaeology 2 when suddenly, my trusty black ballpen refused to write. So I took out another one from my metal pencil case. A few minutes later, it also refused to write, so I used the previous ballpen again. Then it refused writing so I took the other one. This happened so many times that I just decided to use my magic pencil (good thing it was there). I don't know if Sir Mandy allowed pencils during tests so I wrote an explanation on the first page of my blue book:

Hehe... Sorry po nawalan ng tinta ang mga ballpen ko. :)

I hope he understands...

Mishap # 2:

After the test, I walked back to the dorm to arrange my things for departure. I brought my bags downstairs and placed them beside the lady guard's table so she could watch over them while I check out. Two girls checked out before I did and went home to Baguio. When I finished the necessary procedures, I went back to the guard and found that my bags had disappeared. She was frantic and so was this other guy who I think is the gardener of the dormitory. I was feeling frustrated and was on the verge of crying but I held it off. Haha.

So the lady guard went to the RA Counter and reported the loss. The resident assistant gave us the numbers of the two girls and I started to call them. At first, they denied having taken the bags but when they checked... Tadah! They had taken them. By then, my voice was shaking. I asked them (as calmly as I could) to drop them off at the Dau terminal station. They agreed so I decided to leave the dorm.

As I left the building, I felt a horrible pang of sadness and tears began to form but I stopped them from falling. With only my backpack, I rode the Katipunan jeep, the LRT to Recto, and the bus to Angeles.

I dropped off at Dau and made my way to the terminal station, looking for the PTJ and Pasalubong Store where the two girls had left my bags. After some walking, I found it and inquired at the vendor. She affirmed the presence of my stuff and gave them to me (of course, she made sure that they were mine :)).

I don't think I'll be able to describe how happy I felt when I say my bags back. Haaaay...

Book review - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Rating: 10/10

This book is definitely one of the best books I have ever read. The story is told in simple words and yet it stays on your mind for days and days on end. It's a mixture of humor, adventure, growing up, and lots more. When reading this book, you feel as if you're really there, like the characters really exist. What I also liked about it is the courtroom scene. It doesn't use too many legal jargons like Erle Stanley Gardner's but the impact is the same. Harper Lee is a genius.

Every bookworm should read this. :)

Movie Review - 5 Centimeters per Second

Rating: 8/10

5 Centimeters per Second tells the story of two childhood friends: Tohno and Akira. They spend most of their time together that their classmates always teased them, but it didn't really matter to them. As long as they were together, everything was alright. There came a time, though, that Akira had to move away from Tokyo with her family to Tochigi. Tohno assures her that it's alright but deep inside he's hurting. It's the same with Akira.

Obivously, it's a love story but one that is beautifully weaved into three chapters. The characters are sort of believable and the plot is realistic. The song at the end of the movie is a real joy. This movie is nice and if you want a break from all the ninjas and shinigamis, give this one a try.

Two new books! - again

So yeah. I bought two new books last Friday. I had a lucky find with Michael Crichton's The Lost World and Helen Keller's The Story of my Life. Yippee! Can't wait to read..!

My book collection just reached 113!

Consultation with Mr. Guerrero

I was wont to think last week that my consultation would be very scary, resulting to my nervousness about the subject. I had always imagined myself to be crying over the criticisms my professor would throw at my short story. But, in reality, it all happened in a different way.

I scheduled my consultation for Monday, 2PM. By 1:45, I was out of the dorm, making my way to the FC while running Mr. Guerrero's room number on my head. As I was walking, I could picture myself walking into the room, handing him my draft, sitting on a chair while watching him read it with a disgusted face. Then, after reading it all, he would give it back to me and begin saying all the nasty things about my work. After some minutes of hearing criticisms, he would be done and I would go back to the dorm with a sad, sad heart.

Ha. But it didn't happen that way.

There was an awkward thirty minutes first. I thought that we would consult with Mr. Guerrero on his room (FC 2061) so I waited there for thirty minutes, knocking at the door every five minutes or so. When I was tired of waiting, I decided to ask around for the Institute of Creative Writing. The woman operating the photocopier machine directed me to the room. And, yes. He was there. I am soooooo foolish. XP

So yeah. He took my draft and spent some ten minutes reading it. That was like the worst ten minutes of my day. When he finished reading, he walked up to me and began to point out the mistakes in the draft... In a nice way. He wasn't all shout-y and stuff. He was actually patient ('cause I didn't know what the heck run-on sentences are). He even said that it was well-written, and it only needed a little more adventure...

All in all, I was light-hearted as I walked back to the dorm, knowing that a Palanca awardee had read my work and said that it was well-written.

(I have to work on my grammar... XD)

Gender Awareness Seminar

I had to attend this for our Kas1 subject last Monday from 8am to 12 in the afternoon. Actually, I arrived there at around 9:45am, just in time to see the last slides about lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, etc. The seminar itself was informative, but what unnerved me most was the question and answer portion.

Someone asked a question about the church's stand on homosexuality. Then this woman answered that the Bible didn't say anything clear about the subject so the Catholic church doesn't have anything to say about homosexuality. She also said that there were four gay/lesbian writers in the Bible but she failed to remember who.

I was like, "HUWAAAT?!?" when she said those things. That is so nonsense. The Bible did mention something about homosexuality although it doesn't really say it directly. Take the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, for example. I have only one thing to say about the four writers: foolish. Plain foolishness. Why would God, in all his goodness and perfect-ness, use those kinds of people? It's true that He used sinners, but when they began to write the Word of God, they shunned their sinful ways and turned their backs from the world.

I felt worse after that seminar. Very much worse.

My left sandal

Ta-daaaah! This is my paragraph for our Creative Writing 10 class. It's a very weird composition, actually. XD

"My left sandal, like all other sandals in the world, was bought with its twin at the same time and at the same place. It was during a mall sale, two or three years ago. For their cheap price, they were surprisingly good: efficient in walking because you feel as if you are wearing nothing at all. Additionally, they were of a good color that sets off almost anyone’s skin tone. The sandals were so great that I wore them all the time: to church, to the mall, to school activities, and just about anywhere. We were on good terms – my twin sandals and I. We helped each other to trudge gracefully on every road, be it rugged or straight. My left sandal, though, was dearer to me for the reason that it was more durable than the other. It remained faithful to me, even though I had shut them out from the world for a long while. It refused to let the ravages of Time get to its weakness: the strap. It remained attached, stood strong and won my undying approval. My left sandal proved itself to be the best shoe-friend a girl’s foot could ever have."

Book review - The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Rating: 9/10

Amy Tan is a great writer. When I read this book, it really seemed as if a Chinese lady was really speaking the words. It was like all of those ladies were real people. She has a great talent for story-telling. It's no wonder this book was in the New York Times Bestseller List for nine months.

Movie Review - Grave of the Fireflies

Rating: 10/10

Grave of the Fireflies tells the story of two orphans, Seita and Setsuko, as they try to survive in a war-torn Japan. Together, they face hardships until the fateful end. This movie is a masterpiece. It has the power to move people to tears. It's background story is so real and you can just imagine what people did in those times in order to survive. This movie tells the story not only of Seita and Setsuko but of every single person who struggled during the war years.

Two new books

I finally got myself a copy of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. I heard that these books are masterpieces so I'm happy to have bought them for 105 pesos in Booksale.

Hurray for Booksale!

Oh well... I don't really think I'll get to finish them quickly 'cause final exams are coming. Gah.

By the way, this is my 200th post. Happy 200th post, bloggie dear!

Movie Review - Yaya and Angelina: The Spoiled Brat Movie

Rating: 8/10

(...At dahil Tagalog na pelikula ito, magsusulat na rin ako sa wikang Tagalog.)

Nakakatuwa ang pelikulang ito. Siguro, para sa iba corny ang mga jokes na binibitawan ni Michael V. pero para sa akin, may sense na man sila. Nakadagdag pa sa tuwa ko (marahil) ang pagkagusto ko sa tandem ni Yaya at ni Angelina. Nagagandahan kasi ako sa segment nila sa Bubble Gang (Ang Spoiled). Isa pa sa mga magandang factor sa pelikulang ito ay ang pagiging creative at flexible ni Michael V. Napakarami kasing role na siya ang gumanap.

Kanais-nais naman ang pelikula nito: halo-halo na ang comedy, drama, at action. Pero kung hindi ka mahilig sa mga bagay na corny, huwag mo na lang panoorin. Sigurado akong hindi mo naman maaappreciate.