42 Pesos

I am officially a peasant. I panicked as I was about to leave for school because I realized that I had no money at all. I had to pry the lid of my coin bank and stole petty change from the counter, just to secure my transportation fee of P21 to- and another P21 from home and school respectively.

Imagine if even one one peso coin dropped from my pocket. I wouldn't have made it home. Haha. Sure, I can, but in this heat? Even the rain isn't cooling down the air.

Ultimately, I valued money today more than I ever have valued any material thing. I know it's all just material things and they're not supposed to matter as much as non-material things in this world. But hey, reality check, it's only practical to look beyond that.

Value money for money has value.

My Tiny Contribution

In the previous entry, I had this spiel about taking on the world as the stage instead of the other way around. That's in the light of me being a "student-artist" because of my affiliation with my organization in the University. In simple words, I dedicate my leadership for social awareness and change. My generic but sincere life goal: MAKE A CHANGE. Regardless of size and intensity, make a change. I know that it's not a student-artist's priority in life, but as a leader, I believe that it's one of the most essential things one must value. After all, what value is there in one's craft if sense and sensibility does not go beyond that?

Before I get too deep and philosophical (if I ever do haha), I think it's about time that I start my tiny contribution for my society, and maybe, if I'm lucky, to the world at large.

[Okay, this just in. I can't find that video file that Meryl and I did for our WRIMULT (Writing for Multimedia) final project. This is so frustrating. I've been searching for it in my hard drive for more than an hour now. I might just have to give up... For now. I'll replace the video as soon as I get the file from Meryl. *SIGH*]

Disclaimer: This is a project for class and isn't meant to be distributed for public use. The use of "La Mesa Ecopark" and "A Project of ABS-CBN Foundation" are copyrighted (or something like that) and I am fully aware of that. Again, it's for a project. And in my degree program, Organizational Communication, we usually just assume a client organization that we're communicating for. (Isn't my course just the best! :D) Besides, I'll take this down as soon as I find the right file, and of course, edit out the copyright infringing part. :)

On Being Hopeful

I am back from total internet hiatus. Last week was intense! April 20-21 and 23-24 was Cultural Arts Office Executive Board 2010-2011 Leadership Training and Teambuilding Seminar. CAO LTTS, for easier reference. Haha. It's my second year to participate in such activity, only that I'm elected President now, and last year, Vice President for Externals. Now, the only reason that I divulged such terms on this entry, because I normally would prefer to be vague, is that I feel more hopeful of what this incoming school year could bring.

I am more in touch of bigger responsibilities, or so I think. Or would it be more apt if I said, I have the biggest responsibility? Hmm. As GMG alumni and funny man Jino del Mundo said to me some time in March, I think it went like this:

Congrats, Cee! You're the mommy of the group now. You're first in line when the shit hits the fan. Good luck!

It may sound snide or sarcastic. But it doesn't sound as bad, really, especially when you know him. It's actually a great advice because it would always remind me of the responsibility at hand. ANYWAY.

We had this commitment sharing on the last day of the teambuilding seminar. We were to create an artwork reflecting our commitment as officers of the organization. We came up with this:
It's an impression of our workplace, the Teresa Yuchengco Auditorium, or TYA, as we fondly call it. It is shaped into a sphere to represent the world. Contrary to popular belief that the TYA is GMG's world, I strongly oppose this statement because I believe that it's not enough. To those who know me as me, I'm all for change and non-conforming. Not that I plan to deviate from the norm but I think that I, together with my co-officers, can make a significant change. In the same way that we do our best to create a beauty in the success of shows we produce on stage, maybe it's time that we carry out these endeavors in creating a better world, by saying instead: The world is our stage. Deep, yes. Long way to go, yes. But it's a start! ;)

I have high hopes for this year. :)

[Both photos courtesy of Meryl. Thanks, sis. :)]

On Sleep

Sleeping never took a lot of effort, you know. It never should! Effort surfaces only in times of non-exhaustion; those times that you direly need to get those forty winks but you just can't seem to do it without much force. But basically it's because you don't need sleep, and everyone needs it.

This week should have been sleep-until-2PM-and-wake-up-only-to-realize-I-could-sleep-some-more-so-I-do-just-that kind of days because summer vacation (supposedly) has started as soon as my last final exam ended. However, this week has never been so tedious because I lacked sleep due to various reasons: Monday night was Movie Club Mondays; Tuesday night was Cultural Arts Office's different group's executive boards' ack, too much possessives! leadership training and teambuilding seminar (CAO EB LTTS) day one and it was exhausting, but I needed to cram our Operational Plan for the incoming year, so yeah, late night yet again; Tonight, I really planned to sleep early, like, right after I do some stuff online. Stuff includes checking my freshly-uploaded grades for the third term. No comment, more later. Must saturate.

So today, I was a walking, talking, less-than-functioning zombie. Four hours isn't enough rest. Right this moment, as I type, I feel like I'm asleep, but I'm not, but then again I'm supposed to be. And yes, I shall do so in a few. But here, just to make up for all the sense that this entry has spared:

Thanks to Meryl for the photo of me and the AY 2010-2011 Cultural Arts Office Operations Manual! Yeah, mein. My EB batch is gonna do wonders. We'll be great! Let's go, I believe! :)

More Soon?

Movie Club Mondays Week 3 happened last night at Il Ponticello. It was good. Technical problems hindered us from starting on time, but as soon as it was fixed, all good, yeah. Thanks to Mr. Maui Mauricio for proposing this project to us. I personally hope this Monday night activity goes well. It would be of great mutual benefit to both parties (GMG and Movie Club Mondays) if it goes long term! :)

I have to give props to our performers, too: Raleene and Rizza Cabrera! The duo was awesome! I think Riz was more than stoked about last night's Movie Club Mondays! Hee. I'm more a fan now than I already was. Haha. :)

Here are some snapshots I took with my phone last night. Sorry if some faces were transformed into something like James Cameron's Avatar characters, haha. My phone's flash is oddly blue. No idea why. So here:

Hello. Thanks, people, for coming! Thanks, Ponti! :)

Thanks, GMG friends! Your support meant A LOT. :)

One word: AWESOME.

Hee. Shameless fan-girl photo. HAHA.

Movie Club Mondays (Week 3)

Il Ponticello Cafe Ristorante, in partnership with the Loyola Film Circle, presents Movie Club Mondays, a weekly screening of the metro's premiere short films!

On its third week, Movie Club Mondays presents short films from DLSU Green Media Group!

April 19, 2010 (Monday, duh? Haha!) 9:00 PM @ Il Ponticello Cafe Ristorante, 2nd Level, Antel 2000 Building, 121 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, Makati

Watch out for these shorts:
- My Pet (Anna Bigornia)
- Frou Frou: Shh... Wag Mong Sabihin Kay Itay (Mayk Juat)

- Doble Vista (Nix Lañas, Nisha Alicer, and Caren Crisologo)

- Baliktanaw (Jason Moll)

MORE DETAILS HERE!

No admission fee! Just bring yourself, good cheer, and friends! If it makes you any interested, beers are sold buy-1-take-1! Hehe! :)

Academic Emancipation

And after today, I might not have to. Well, academically-speaking, at least. My last academic requirement met its flat line this morning. However, I have tons of other things to accomplish. All the tons of other things, thanks to GMG for this responsibility; a window of random chance to keep my brain from being idle.

[Photo taken from I-forgot-whose-Tumblr.]

Mizuno Infinity Run 2010

Today's run had its pros and cons:

• CALL TIME / GUN START - The first thing I liked about today's run was that it didn't demand a really early gun start. The race kit said: 4AM - Assembly time, 6:30AM - 5K gun start. What I didn't like about it, though, is that the sun will be too scorching by that time. However, it did start early. My dad was late for his 15K run by almost 20 minutes, and good thing I checked in at least 15 minutes before the 6AM gun start. I have three friends who didn't make the 6AM start because the race kit indicated 6:30. Boo for poor organizing!

Here comes the sun, too-do-do-doo! [5:20 AM]

• THE ROUTE (Part 1) - It wasn't very new to me so I enjoyed it, at least. But arriving and checking in late left me (and my mom) thisclose to the end of the 5K pack! Being amongst the tail is really frustrating, see. It brings out the competitive tiger in me and it leaves me tired and frustrated. Haha.
  

Yes, that's 26th Street, the second turn after the starting line. And yes, those are all 5K runners in front of me. Haha. See, frustrating! [6:03 AM]

• WATER STATIONS - No complaints here. I loved how the water stations were evenly distributed throughout the route. The moment I felt my throat go dry, hello, water station. Thanks, Gatorade! :) Another plus, photo booth! Hahaha! I know, it wasn't necessary at all. I didn't like how it interrupted my run, but I really liked the idea, generally. Haha, mom and I are cam-whores! In the end, we had to take five minutes off our run time to compensate for the lost time while lining up, posing, and smiling at the Fort Victoria photo booth! Hahaha!

Been only running for at least seven minutes and I have the audacity to take a pit stop at the first water station despite the sweat and all that. Hahaha. Yuck. [6:07]

• THE ROUTE (Part 2) - I liked the route but I think the race didn't have enough marshals. It would be nicer if they were in official t-shirts or something like that, so they'd be easier to spot. And I think there weren't enough signs on how much longer we need to endure. Haha. Or even arrows that tell us where to go! It was frustrating.

Imagine the joy in my heart when I saw the finish line! [6:45 AM]

• POST-RACE FREEBIES - And so I finish, beating my personal best again, with 41 minutes! Woohoo! The lines were, as always, killer long. It was worth it, though, because the Gatorade was cold enough. My Mizuno Infinity Run 2010 finisher's shirt was a size bigger. I can't believe they didn't have enough XS. Oh, well, I had to settle for the small. Good enough. So anyway, all good!
  

Fourth place? Haha! Nah, far from it. Personal best: 41 minutes, woohoo! [7:05 AM]

The family that runs together, gets tired together! Hahaha! Flaunting the finishers' shirt when we got home after breakfast! [9:39 AM]

Welcome to Finals

Finally, Lasallians will soon face the wrath of the stresses of finals week. It may not be the prettiest sight one's hopes and wishes can muster but I definitely would choose that over any other academic week. Third term felt so long, my oh my. I don't like the idea of final exams because I like projects, papers, presentations, and deadlines better. I'm weird like that, I know.

I was supposed to see my best friend, Bru, and a good friend, Carizza, fresh from Davao City today. Unforeseen circumstances and unlikely mishaps got in the way. I'm sad. But! The weekend is beckoning! Hopefully, they'll have time between their debate tourneys to squeeze in some bond-with-Cee-time. I want to make this meet up happen. I miss them both so bad! So there, I'm sad. But not sad enough to shun away how great my afternoon and evening went!

Even though I'm missing two people, I had an awesome time with another set of two people anyways. My other best friend (yes, I have quite a list of them), Joh, and my lover-friend (no malice on the title), AJ, are a match made in awesome-land. We went to Greenbelt, despite the lack of purpose (which was supposed to be the meet up), and just had fun. I couldn't say more. Us three are crazy. Hahaha.

ANYWAY. I have a packed weekend ahead of me. Projects, papers, and a presentation to work on are on an OC-made time block. apart from that, I have org term-end responsibilities to tend to in between study time and examination days. I normally would have gone on a serious rant-fest given this scenario. I'm actually surprised how calm and collected a state I am in. I'm looking forward to an extremely busy-but-fun-in-between weekend.

I'm loving my life. :)

Not Bitter, Just Annoyed

I made a promise that I would never write out of impulse because I can't take them back and there would be so much to regret over in the end. This time can be an exception because it's about something I'm sure of, no matter what happens. For the sake identity censorship, yes, I'm nice like that, I'll leave out their names and will try to be as less vague as possible.

I saw an exchange of comments over Facebook between a boy and a girl. The girl posted a video where only the boy was tagged. I'm certain that it's something I'm not supposed to see because of reasons I'd rather keep to myself. So anyway, the video was apparently about the girl greeting the boy a happy monthsary (see, that's not even a word. Haha.) The boy goes loco, OMG OMG thank you, I love you, I love you, I love you. La la la. And so the girl went, blah blah blah, I love you, too!

And then the boy goes I love you one more time.

Okay, I'm not bitter because I don't have a boy I can say that to. Believe me, there are times that I long for someone but I'm totally fine having none at the moment. Anyway, the point is, I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed neither at the way they conversed, nor with the million I love yous that I felt was empty, but at the fact that they do not have an inkling of an idea what the hell love means. I'm sure about this, okay? Fine, so what if they're just both 15 (clue right there), I've said those words to someone when I was just 14. But then, years later, I came to situations and experiences where I realized that I didn't mean it then because it was not love after all.

Who am I to talk about love that I reserve my right to be irked at "false" love? And who am I to say what's love and what love is not? I do not know who I am to say so, I cannot tell if I have the credibility, but I sure as hell know what love felt like. I know the boy, he doesn't know what love is.

Happy Hiatus

I'm getting quite used to these hiatuses. It's really nice, you know? Although I still panic whenever I'm actually not doing anything or whenever I'm trying to not get stressed, I have to say, It's very therapeutic. Holy Week this year was definitely less "holy" than the last few years because I don't know why, so to speak. My family still did the tradition, though: did the Way of the Cross, but not Visita Iglesia; stayed home and didn't bathe because it's Good Friday; things like that. Yeah, about the not-bathing thing, don't ask. I've no idea why I comply but it's what my late maternal Lola always ordered us to do. Haha. Hit me up in the comments if you know why, okay? Enlighten me!

I expected to do tons of school work and all that, but I never came around to even thinking about school. Or work, ehem. I slept, pigged out, bonded with my folks, played a lot of games, watched DVDs, doodled, la la la. I felt like a kid again. Everything was so carefree. I wish everyday was carefree.

Holy Wednesday: Meryl and I shot our video PSA about water conservation at Bonifacio High Street with Gabe, my brother, as our talent.

Maundy Thursday: The family did the Way of the Cross and attended the Washing of the Feet at the National Shrine of the Sacred Heart, San Antonio Village, Makati.

Good Friday: I was a total bum. I grew roots on the couch, yo.

Black Saturday: Why is is called such? Enlighten me. I know there's Google but I'm just so lazy. Heehee. I went to the longest mass of the year: Easter Vigil Mass. How long? Try two and a half hours?
So today is Easter Sunday; new life, new start for believers of the risen Christ all over the world. HAPPY EASTER, EVERYBODY! :)