Wednesday, October 26, 2011

SEIZE the Break

The school assignments. The nerve-wracking exams. The researches, reports and recitations. Just thinking about the activities in your school becomes a tug-of-war over what must be at the top of your mind.
Yes, you're extra busy at school these past few days, but it doesn't mean you can't have fun. you need a breathing space -a time to stay away from cramming and a time to escape from the hustle and bustle of school blues.
Good thing there's the semestral break. There's so much that you can dow while this short vacation is here. It's real challenge, at the same time, a great opportunity to bring out the creative, imaginative and productive person in you.
So welcome the sembreak with zest and life. Plan for it well and do most of each day that you're away from school. Spend every moment with your family and friends. Seize the break!

Friday, October 14, 2011

My Father's Last Farewell to Uncle

During that morning, I wake up from my bed and I can smell the fragrance of coffee in my father's cup. Then suddenly I hear a voice from my mother and said, "Temio, ig-agaw nmo, si Jun!". Father was greatly surprised by his appearance. I stand up and trying to look at my Uncle's face. We have the same height, and they have father's same eyes and forehead. Then I go to the bathroom to take a bath so that I can prepare myself for work.Then say goodbye to mother, papa and uncle. 

When I come back from work and school, I see father and uncle drinking "Kulafu" while talking about their past when they're young and still living in Dipolog. They are happy to see each other again. It's my Uncle Jun's first time to visit my father since they were young and still living in Dipolog. After a few hours, they stopped drinking then father said to him, "Matulog nako Jun.", then Uncle directly replied to him, " Sige Mio." Father said to him that, " Ari lang ka tulog sa sala, uban mo ni Michael." Then Uncle agreed.

I prepared my bed foam and placed it on the floor. Uncle ask me, "Nagtrabaho ka dong? Nag-iskuyla ka?"
I suddenly answered, "Nagtrabaho ko sa Chowking dayon nag-iskuyla pod ko Uncle."
Then he replied, " Mao ba. Buotan lage ka dong. Padayona na dong, kay dakong grasya ang ihatag sa Ginoo diha kanimo." I silently laughed to myself. As I am trying to sleep, he is still talking to me about himself, "Gamahay jud ko dong nga nagbisyo ko samtang nag-iskuyla sauna, sige man gud kog inom kuyog ako mga klasmet, Maayo pa ka kay wa kay bisyo. Padayona lang jud na dong. Nagsundalo na lang gud ko, dayon Sargeant ko sa among platoon." 
I listened to him but I fall asleep.
I wake up and it is Saturday, whole day class! 
After the class I went home, the door in the house is closed. I opened it and the lights are off. I switch on the lights and hear my sister's voice coming towards me, "Dong si uncle kay na-ospital." I am in shock and hesitating on what happened to him. I stay calm, thinking everything will be okey.
It is the second since uncle is staying in the hospital. I suddenly wake up and watch my cellphone's clock, it is still 3 am, the temperature inside my room is cold and the windows is open. I try to sleep again because it is still dawn, then someone shouted in my mother's window, "Be, si Jun kay patay na!". I hear it! and I am shock  on what the man, who is with my uncle in the hospital, have said.

After the day, I come home from work. I see gloomy yellow lights from the house. And I run towards the house. I pass in the backdoor then I see a coffin. I try to sneak in the coffin then there I see my Uncle. 
I hear many voices, voices from my mother, father, sisters and other people. Then I see people playing "Mahjong". Mother is cooking peanuts and my sister preparing the food to be served for the visitors.
I asked a question to mother, "Ma, unsa diay nahitabo ni Uncle?"
She answered, " Nakuyapan siya sa CR, dayon natumba siya. Taas kaayo iya blood pressure kay wala siya katulog niaging gabie, sige man gud siya inom bino, samot kataas iya blood pressure. Mao to gidala siya sa ospital, dayon naparalyze siya. Ang pump na lang sa oxygen ang naghatag niyag hangin para makaginhawa siya."
I said to myself, "Kalooy ni Uncle."

3 days later. I come back home from school. I see some people carrying uncle's coffin and behind them is my father looking at uncle's coffin, I go to him. They place the coffin inside the van. As I watch, I see people focusing their eyes on the coffin while it is placed in the van. I place my arm to my father's shoulder. Comforting him because of his cousin's loss. I asked father," Asa na si Uncle, Pa?"
He merely answered, " Nanawag iyang igsuon, adto siya ilubong sa Dipolog."

The van starts to go, then I hear my father's sad voice saying, " Goodbye Jun."

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Rage against the Aliens

Some believe that in the near future aliens from other planets may come to the Earth.
Now the question here is: will they come here for peace or not? A program on the National Geographic Channel said that they will come for our natural resources like trees, grass, water and also to conquer us. Hey that's scary!
I'm asking myself why earth?
"Let's say that the aliens are zebras. They eat grass and trees and drink water so when they ran out of these natural resources at their planet, they will need to migrate to another planet which have them - they are going to deplete these things, just like what the aliens have done to them at their own planet".
Now, if they are able to travel through space that far they surely have more advanced technology than us. So even though we have bombs that are 15 times stronger than the bombs used at Hiroshima we still can't defeat them. 
"So three months after the aliens supposedly had made contact with us, and while they were harvesting our natural resources, the survivors make plans to plant bombs in the trees. and it works!
" One of the alien ships goes down. The survivors get the wreckage of the ship. They find aliens weapons in them and their technological secrets. They use balloons to fly and carry bombs and finally sacrifice themselves to save mankind."


WE HAVE DISCOVERED THAT ALL WE NEED IS NOT TO GIVE UP HOPE. WHEN THERE IS HOPE, THERE IS STILL SUCCESS.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

150 years after Rizal

THE PHILIPPINES in the 1800s: A Spanish colony. Method of governance: backward. Labor foisted on laborers, military service imposed on relatives; ignorance and fanaticism, instilled in people by lack of proper education and a ban on any complaint against government or Church authorities.

The Philippines today: "Independent" with a democratic government whose leaders expand their frame and fortune by dishonesty and injustice, apportion more funds to the military than to education and connive with the media to control the thoughts of the masses. Consequently, many Filipinos are still uninformed, impoverished and extremist, retarding the formation of better nation.

What difference does today make? Now that we are free from the Spaniards, can we say that we are truly free? Aren't we still oppressed and worse, by our own countrymen?
Whatever happened to the equality our national hero wrote about? "All men are born equal, naked, without bonds. God did not create man to be slave," Dr. Jose P. Rizal wrote in a letter to the young women of Malolos, " nor did he endow him with intelligence to have him hoodwinked, or adorn him with reason to have him deceived by others."

A hundred and fifty years have passed since Rizal's birth. Filipinos who hail his ideals believe he was right when he said the youth are the country;s future. What the youth become will determine the course of new chapters in the country's history.
However, elders struggle to teach the youth as they themselves find it hard to walk the talk and escape form the darkness of oppression. This is why our national hero continues to be relevant today. From his life and writings, we, the youth have a lot to learn and emulate.

Jose Rizal was awake to the harshness of reality. This endowed him with a deep love  of country that transcends the common concerns of the young: family, romance, friendship, pride, safety. By this, he encouraged his fellow youth to resist abuse and lift the Philippines to freedom and independence.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

I like you so much. It's not even funny.


I like you so much. It's not even funny.
.
I like you so much that if you were a movie, I would watch you in the theater every day until they stop screening you. Then after that, I would buy a DVD and watch you again. Then if the DVD starts skipping, I'm going to download you and watch you, I won't... because I like you so much.

I like you so much that if the zombie apocalypse finally came and we get cornered with our backs against the wall with like 50 zombies coming after us and we don't have any ammo left and there's only a 10% chance of survival and that is if you were McGyver and I was Batman and we both had NZT, I'd still wouldn't want to be anywhere else except there with you, getting our brains eaten by zombies.
And if they bite you and turned you into a zombie first, I wouldn't kill you even if you chased me around and tried to bite me. I would just chain you and make you  my pet and walk you and stuff.

I like you so much that if we had a crappy relationship and then had a really bad break up, and we get both really hurt and decide to have our memories erased and then in the process we kind of meet each other again but this time we have no recollection of each other again but then we listen to tapes of each other saying how much we were hurt when we were together, that sort of thing... then I'd say to you: "I can't see anything that I don't like about you."


Then you would be like: "But you will! But you will! You know, you will think of things. And I'll get bored with you and feel trapped because that's what happens with me."
Then I would say "Okay." Then there would be a pause.
Then you would say "Okay."
I like you like that.
I like you so much that if I worked as a pharmaceutical rep in 1996 and you had Anne Hathaway boobs and we made out and then I would find out that you had Parkinson's disease and I get freaked out because some guy said that it will get worse and I would because some guy said that it will get worse and I would have to spend the rest of my like taking care of you, cleaning up0 your poop as I watch everything I liked about you vanish before my eyes, even then I would still stick with you.

I like you so much that if we had a summer romance but then we would get torn apart because your mom didn't like me, I would write to you everyday but you wouldn't get my letters and you would think I forgot about you so you get engaged to Cyclops while I remodel the house where we first made out in and then you would see it on the newspaper and then you would come to ee me and then it starts to rain and then we realize it wasn't over and it still isn't...over. Then we kiss in the rain then you grow old and you would get Alzheimer's and forget everything so I would have to read you a story from a notebook about what happened between us but you wouldn't know that it was about us until end. Then you would remember for a little while then you forget again and then you get all hysterical but I won't mind because I really really like you.

So in summation, even if you were a zombie with a spotless mind because of Alzheimer's disease and you had Anne Hathaway boobs but they shake all the time because of Parkinson's, I'd still like you.

Yep, that's how much I like you. It's not even funny.