Densha Otoko

Stupid me. I never mentioned my username on NaNoWriMo. It's "kiore". So, buddy me, if ever you plan on joining. um. yeah.

I'm watching a new drama called "Densha Otoko" which basically means "Train Man". Apparently this was really popular in Japan because it's a true story.

Summary: A true love story turned to bestselling novel, created from the Internet BBS, 2channel to blockbuster hit movie. Ito Misaki plays Aoyama Saori, working as an office lady at a MNC, gets into trouble with a drunkard on a train. She's saved by Yamada Tsuyoshi, played by Ito Atsushi. As a form of appreciation, she sends him Hermes teacups. Having no experience with the opposite sex, Tsuyoshi decides to ask for help on the Aladdin Channel BBS on how to interact with Saori. (taken from http://wiki.d-addicts.com)

So anyway, there's also this translation project going on of the original 2ch thread (kind of like forums but faster thus somewhat like chat) which you can find here. it's a fun read, kind of confusing but you can probably understand it. it's nice to see how all the people on the channel are helping out the Train Man in his quest for loooooove. :D oh and it stars oguri shun!

Watch it on crunchyroll. Yay. (Honestly, Japan should pay me for all the plugs I've been putting in my blog. But then again, it's not as if people watch the dramas after reading about them in my blog so maybe i'm hoping too much. ;) )

Balagtas must hate me.

Ako'y tutula mahabang-mahaba.
Paumanhin na lang, kung di ka matuwa.

Ako ay nagcomputer hanggang hating-gabi,
Habang si Cheryl ay nanood sa tabi.

Ako'y nagchat, naglaro, at nagsulat,
Hanggang mata'y di na madilat.

Hanggang dito na lang ang aking pagtutula,
Kahit na sinabi kong ito'y mahaba.

Ngunit may dahilan ako kung bakit ko ito nagawa,
At ito'y sa itaas, nakasulat na.

Pasensya na lang sa mga nag-abala,
Para basahin ang aking munting tula.

Ako'y tumula, mahabang mahaba,
Ako'y matutulog, tapos na po.

Bow.

Yuck ang corny grabe. Ang bulok nmn tlga ng Filipino ko. Sorry na lang kung di ka makatulog dahil sa kacornyhan ko.

The Birth of the Strikethrough (at least, here in my blog)

I recently read a blog by this 3rd year girl and I was like. Wow.

Not just wow, but WOW.

To make the long story short, it makes MY blog puny in comparison.

My blog is just all drabbles and useless stuff, and when I say useless stuff, I mean stuff that nobody cares about anyway but they still read about because they have nothing better to do.

It's so sad.

Not that I'm going to change my blog or anything. I like it the way it is.

But, you know, there are some things I long for that I'll never get unless I work harder.

Um. And we're talking about Charmaine here. Working hard is most likely not in her vocabulary.

SO anyway, wla lang, little rant.

Fair na sa tuesday! Hoy mga tao endorser ako ha, watch out for me! Hehe, jke lang.

DJ Kathy will be there too, and so will Mascot Abi (JOKE).

The day I've been waiting for for my entire high school life has come at last. The day the 4th year peeps get free reign. YES!!!! Mwahahahaha!!! (That's an evil laugh, in case you didn't notice)

Btw, what does inauspicious mean?? o.O

And pano mag strike through sa blogger??? Huhuhu... I suck.

You know what I'm good at? Grammar. As in the most boring subject verb agreement part. The rest? Down the drain.

Oh yeah, I have a pretty weird active imagination!

Yay! I know how to use strikethroughs!!! Expect more of this handy little thing. :D

To Future AJSS People! Yeah!

Make me proud...! (Hahaha)

Here's a little thing I did last year during AJSS... might help. It's an essay for our English class. I got a B ata... :D

I have a few stuff din here on my blog about AJSS... Kaso lang it seems na nung time na un di pa ako madaldal mag blog. so, well, sana makatulong.

ito oh. especially ung nos. 4-13 dyan.

ANYWAY, found a nice quote! By myself. sorry. haha. it was in a previous blog post.

"WOMEN are social creatures. MEN are sports, food and technology slaves."

:D

hugz

After a very very VERY long time, I am finally back to CoP, that is, Cardinality of Pandalettes. And I have soooooooooooooooo much to tell!!!! So, I'm switching to kwento mode :D

1. Filipino LT. This one's for you Danica. I mean, it was super super unfair! Remember the FEU Nicanor Reyes thing? Well, it was on the day of the Fil long test, and when we took the make up test, it was VERY DIFFICULT, and completely different from what we prepared for. I mean, is that fair? We were out not because of personal reasons but because of the school's glory and yada yada. Mrs. Albano actually wanted us to go, and now we get this? I know we didnt win and all that, but HELLO? unfair with a capital U
2. Okay, next thing, the auditorium. I mean, I went in before, when it was still under construction, but now that everything is perfect and totally cool, we were all like WOW!!!Yes, all caps. with a few !!!s for effect. :D And the other day the principal took us in like guinea pigs testing the air conditioning, rating 5 for coldest and 1 for hot, and when some people (i think trying to make a joke out of it, although it was quite obvious that it was not a joking matter) raised their hands at 1, the faces of the engineering people literally FELL. Well, okay not literally. I mean, that would be totally freaky. But anyway during the thingy in the audi, (as in auditorium, not the car, if you know what i mean) there was this powerpoint presentation which was more of a "The principal is GREAT" thing rather than an actual presentation of how the auditorium was completed. BUT anyhoo, we're all used to that.
3. The MATH CLUB, my flesh and blood, my life and soul. The great SMS. well, duh it's great because i'm president. JOKE LANG PO! No violent reactions please. So, thing is this monday is the math challenge and these few days have given me more eyebags than you can imagine (thankfully, they're only metaphorical eyebags and not real ones so i dont look like a panda yet (hardihar janine)) BUT everything has gone on smoothly, and I have to thank GOD of course, I've been praying for this thing since day 1. I just pray to God that He will continue to support us till the contest day itself. Oh, and the LotM will be held in the auditorium! how cool is that! However, only the opening will be held there. The contest proper will be back in the stephenian hall. Well, um, okay then. A bit more sipsip power :p jke lang ulit. I dont go for sipsip, okay?
4. what else...? hm, oh yeah! yesterday me and danica were chatting... and here's the whole thing: (ever heard of copy paste? how bout "save conversation"? :p)

charmaineyv: whatcha doin?
charmaineyv: researching? ;)
chipmunkrfuzzy: no
chipmunkrfuzzy: just hangin about
chipmunkrfuzzy: bored to death cuz a certain som1 isnt updating her blog! haha joke
chipmunkrfuzzy: u?
charmaineyv: i cant update!!!
chipmunkrfuzzy: huh?
charmaineyv: i soooooooooo want to update but blogger is super slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow
chipmunkrfuzzy: so wacha doin now den?
charmaineyv: devo
charmaineyv: evil devo
charmaineyv: as mentioned in my stat msg
chipmunkrfuzzy: hey! how can something holy be evil? hehe
charmaineyv: 'it's evil if i do it
charmaineyv: hahaa
charmaineyv: and doing daily devo once a month is not really considered "holy"
charmaineyv: :p
chipmunkrfuzzy: ngeh...
chipmunkrfuzzy: haha
charmaineyv: kwen2han mo k
chipmunkrfuzzy: ng?
chipmunkrfuzzy: huh?
charmaineyv: i dont know
charmaineyv: i,mbored too
chipmunkrfuzzy: huhu
charmaineyv: i know
charmaineyv: !!
chipmunkrfuzzy: k once upon a time.....there was a girl name charmaine....(continue)
charmaineyv: hey!!
charmaineyv: that was what i was going to do!!!!
chipmunkrfuzzy: hha
charmaineyv: evil mind reader
chipmunkrfuzzy: u wantd a story
charmaineyv: anyway
chipmunkrfuzzy: rily?
chipmunkrfuzzy: told u
chipmunkrfuzzy: im a rilly good guesser
charmaineyv: i was gonna say once upon a time there was a girl named danica
charmaineyv: hahha
chipmunkrfuzzy: hahahaha lol
charmaineyv: anyway, fine i'll continue
charmaineyv: While she was walking in the woods (as if she would EVER walk in the woods) Charmaine found a golden giraffe who was trying to reach an apple on top of the tallest apple tree. However, since it was golden, it couldn't stretch its unelastic neck and thus it was sobbing hysterically.
charmaineyv: should that be inelastic?
chipmunkrfuzzy: haha
charmaineyv: well anyway
chipmunkrfuzzy: ya
chipmunkrfuzzy: economics remebr?
charmaineyv: you go next
charmaineyv: ohh
charmaineyv: righ
charmaineyv: t
charmaineyv: jaja
charmaineyv: haha
chipmunkrfuzzy: so charmaine tried to help the giraffe but she cudnt reach the apple either huhu. Then they had d brilliant idea of her perching on top of the giraffe to reach the golden apple
charmaineyv: and so charmaine sat on the giraffe's head and he lifted her up. but since charmaine is VERY HEAVY, she fell to the ground with a thud. the giraffe suffered from a broken neck, so now it was hungry AND injured.
chipmunkrfuzzy: haha
chipmunkrfuzzy: Charmaine felt so sad that she let the giraffe eat her! hahah!
charmaineyv: And so the giraffe gobbled her up, but then spat her out because she was full of CHOLESTEROL and he might die a horrible and gruesome death i.e. heart attack. Besides he still had a broken neck.
charmaineyv: pls bring readers digest pala bkas
charmaineyv: tnks
chipmunkrfuzzy: ahh k
chipmunkrfuzzy: w8
chipmunkrfuzzy: k foud it. whew
chipmunkrfuzzy: but its a liitle shaaby bro used it...n well d rest is history
chipmunkrfuzzy: so back to our story
charmaineyv: ok
charmaineyv: it
charmaineyv: it's ifne
chipmunkrfuzzy: so Charmaine landed on the ground with a big thud. Muck and all sorts of slime covered her. She was about to open her mouth to say something when suddenly out of nowhere, psychotic Danica came out brandishing a plasma rifle and japanese katana with shades( to look cool of course)
charmaineyv: fine
chipmunkrfuzzy: continue pls
charmaineyv: ok
charmaineyv: The giraffe then died of shock. Charmaine got angry at Danica for killing her friend giraffe and got up, the much still on her
chipmunkrfuzzy: she thought of exacting revenge and was about to lunge at Danica but thanks to tack and the knowledge that Danica is in fact a volatile lunatic ready to shoot at sight, she chose not to. Smart Girl.
charmaineyv: and then, since Charmaine was already covered in muck, she decided to scare Danica, pretending to be a great big swamp monster
chipmunkrfuzzy: of course that would be a pretty crazy move because Danica is mentally unstable so she blasted at Charmaine...but her plasma blaster melted the muck instead so now it clung top Charmaine's skin and she became the Slob Monster! haha
chipmunkrfuzzy: 4 real
charmaineyv: but with the help of the ghost of the golden giraffe who wanted to eat the apple, Danica successfully blasted Charmaine to never land, since, if you remember, the giraffe was killed by charmaine's cholesterol
chipmunkrfuzzy: wow so now they were reunited giraffe and charmaine
chipmunkrfuzzy: but remember Danica has a PLASMA rifle which can shoot ethereal stuff so.....
charmaineyv: ok...
charmaineyv: so charmaine and giraffe floated away as fast as they could
chipmunkrfuzzy: ut den dey realized Danica wasnt shooting at them she was busy prancing away chasing cute little butterflies...oblivious to them
charmaineyv: ihhh
charmaineyv: However Danica wasn't exactly a prancing and butterfly chasing type, because she was actually collecting butterflies for her butterfly powered ray gun
chipmunkrfuzzy: and so she was claaping her hands in kazak boom style waiting for her ten charges....
chipmunkrfuzzy: poor little butterflies...
charmaineyv: :)
chipmunkrfuzzy: anyway they should also take note of the mad glint in her eyes and her chesire cat smile spread across her lips
charmaineyv: then one of the little butterflies was bitten by a mutated spider and poof! it became... SpiderButterfly!
charmaineyv: But since not even SpiderButterflies are immune to rayguns, it was absorbed by Danica's spiderbutterfly powered raygun
charmaineyv: dont ask me where danica gets all those rayguns
chipmunkrfuzzy: haha
chipmunkrfuzzy: anyway it overloaded and went boom
chipmunkrfuzzy: so Danica suddenly pissed of took her humogous katana instead!
chipmunkrfuzzy: and with practiced coolness chopped ,r.stupid mutant butterfly in half
charmaineyv: and don't forget her cool ala Matrix shades! B-)
chipmunkrfuzzy: ya and so in sloooooow motion she was like doin backflips and cartwheels...4 absolutely no reason!
charmaineyv: hay
charmaineyv: i have to go
charmaineyv: :)
charmaineyv: sorry
charmaineyv: it was fun though
chipmunkrfuzzy: ya..me too
charmaineyv: we can do it another time! YAY!
chipmunkrfuzzy: in a weird retarded way haha
chipmunkrfuzzy: k c ya
charmaineyv: ok
charmaineyv: wait
charmaineyv: i'll save the conversation
chipmunkrfuzzy: haha k

have fun reading that, typos and "hahas" included. if it's sadistic blame danica not me.

bukas pala may contest ako, rajah soliman. journalism. i joined copyreading. i guess now isnt a very good time to say that i still have no idea what to do.

TOODLES! mwah... >:D<

I can't believe I forgot to mention this earlier!!!!!

FictionPress is alive!!! And newly updated!

And new story from me....

(pending title, pending summary, pending content. pending everything.)

It's lame, but MOVING ON.

I'd love to rant and rant about how evil the school is because of the Fil Long Test, but I'm kind of not in the mood. So I'm just gonna pick up my lazy butt and go study Physics. Ok? Good. :D

memes

Things are back in business.

I am officially reentering the world of FictionPress.com as (watch out for it) a full time writer!!!

Yeah that's right. Inspiration struck. Where did it come from? From Kathy's short story about Clytemnestra!!!

Whoo. You probably think.. Whoa, Greek lit? Must be boring.

Well, yes it's true. Greek lit IS kinda boring. (No offense, ma'm bueno.) But mine was inspired by Greek lit, not Greek lit itself. More like mythology.'

Oooooooohh...

So, let's just see where this goes... shall we?

Okay, about my OTHER life. My life outside the computer. Things have been stressful, but I have always counted on the periodic tests as a stress reliever. Cool, eh? True, actually.

Stuff have been happening. Pretty... intense stuff, if you ask me. About a boy. Um. Yeah. Ha ha ha ha. Urgh. Not talking about that. Not that I'm :( or anything. Am :) in fact, but still. -_-,

Math club... ooohhh yeah. Things have kicked up a notch. But now is not the time for commitments so it's gonna be set THERE for a while. There, in that corner. That far far far FAR corner.

Yearbook. XP. I never knew I was gonna actually hate editing. Now I do. As I said, XP.

Chorale. MTG. Clash of the scheds. Thank goodness CAT hasn't been thrown into the mix.

Speaking of which... CAT!!!! Oh my gosh, tomorrow's our test. Me, I am officially out the window. Bye bye!

And I love today! We (we as in me, isen, eric and enin. heheheh!!!) played this pinoy henyo sort of game concerning grad pics (classmates... you know the deal) and I got every single one except the last one because of wrong info given to me. hmph.

That's pretty much all I guess. That's it. bye!!! thanks for reading... and COMMENT. Or TAG. Whichever floats your boat.

Recount

So. I was like checking out my blog, and guess what? I realized na wala pa pala akong nakkwento tungkol sa FEU Essay thingy and Sipnayan!!!

Well then, here goes!

*Kwento mode*

So, yun. FEU. Medyo late na kmi umalis from the school kc sabi daw may hinihintay kaming kasabay. PERO di na sumipot yung kasabay kaya mga 8 am na kami umalis, eh 8 am naman yung start ng program. Tuloy pag dating namin sa FEU mga 8 something na. But anyway, we (actually, Mrs. Bueno. Si Danica at ako ay wlang gnawa kundi mag tawanan. At magbasa pala ng garfield. BUT anyway.) asked around for directions pero ang weird weird ng mga tao sa FEU di nila alam. Pero buti na lang may nakakita sa amin na organizer ata ng contest who then led us to the venue, which was a small room na medyo maliit (a bit smaller than music room/chorale room) but still it was a nice place, rather clean and neat kahit na medyo malamig. So. Um. Ahh... uhhhhhhh...

(lost my train of thought...)

oh yeah!!! nakita ko sina tonibelle at mavie and nagkwentuhan, kamustahan and well, masaya. 3 lang kmi AJSSers. So un, nung nagstart, ok ok pa ako. Topic: Do reality shows make good television? So there, I wrote. TONS of stuff. As in 2 pcs of paper scratch ko. But I managed to finish it, but with an uber lousy title: Skyrocketing to Stardom, which doesnt even make any sense, but anyway I was pretty confident because I actually wrote okay, for an essay. So after writing, may tour daw pero naglunch muna kami, at mga 10:30 am!!! anyway, lunch lunch lunch.... Then, Danica and I walked around FEU (dami tumitingin sa amin... the purple school daw kc... hehehe) parang tour then may nakita kami parang seed/brain/fruit thingies (na matigas, not slimy or anything. yuck. galing sa puno eh...) on the ground then whoosh! we were treating it as a soccer ball. hehe. wheeeee.... si danica galing sumipa...

so, yan, bumalik kami, then announcement of winners... BUT FIRST each of the contestants have to go up on the platform (coz it wasnt much of a stage) and say something about the experience yada yada... so yan salita salita, I was last kc nga late kami, pero di ko na lalagay d2 kung ano sinabi ko kc super LAME. So, announce winners. Talo ako. Aw.... but it's ok. First time ko nman, no reason for me to give up!!! *sparkling eyes* St. Jude nanalo. Um. yeah.

Tapos na essay! for like, 2 hours we did nothing. actually we just sat around outside the auditorium waiting for extempo to start. nagregister si danica, but first! gusto namin magCR (actually ako lang. nahawa kay eninaj. hehe.) then magCCR kami PERO nakalock! nkita kmi ni mang Jani (tor) then pinapasok kami sa backstage ng audi! Naks adventure. haha. anyway, may nakita kami african american person super tall like THIS as in taller than zach pa nga. babae!!! whoo. then wala lang. experience.

So start na contest. Danica was taken away by the aliens, este, the organizers. me and mrs. bueno enter the auditoriumie. (ala katherine grace :D) then then then...!!!! ayaw kami papasukin!!! WHAT? EVIL!!! KASI DAW may pagkain ako, sandwich. and water. so what did I do? I drank my whole bottle of water and kept my sandwich in my pocket!!! then pinapasok na ako hehe... di naman ako baliw na isusubo ko ung sandwich ng buo noh. hahahahah.

so!!!!!!!!!! tantatanantanan!!! The contest is starting!!! in like, 45 mins. Seriously super tagal. dapat tawaging UH ang FEU as in university of hintay. (haha, corny joke) but anyway start na! Danica was still abducted, este, backstage. The topic was...... Should freedom of speech be compromised for peace? or something like that... yeah speech speech boring boring, then may isang nagspeech na parang naks ok to ah, but then medyo ahem, basta. (lalaki po cya) then pag baba nya sa stage kita ko kasama nya... whoops, chiang kai pala. ehehehehe... well, magaling naman eh. then blah blah boring boring boring... then DANICA! whooo! PERO bwisit, biglang may tumawag sa cellphone ni Mrs Bueno!!! Si Atinon. Like HELLO? Grabe ang timing!!!!!!! Buti na lang ok lang si danica, not disturbed (well nasa stage naman and i dont think narinig nya na malakas boses ni mrs bueno but still!! the concentration!!! like poof! it became coco crunch! corny joke #200... BASTA!) pero mga 1 minute lang cya nagspeech. i thought it was ok naman, kc hello? DANICA!!! Ang galing galing nya... pero i think malaki yung demerit dahil sa short speech.... then pag balik ni danica sa seats, lumabas kami at naglakad lakad. kinain ko na ang refugee sandwich ko... hehehe...

then pagbalik namin sa audi natulog muna ako then sabi ni mam bueno uwi na daw kmi. so home we go.

The end.

Wla na nangyari eh.


PART 2! Sipnayan!!!

Pixx! (Courtesy of Krizia... kc yung isang photographer ko di marunong gumamit ng cellphone... joke!!! Ty Krizia at Candice! :p)

Picture of the Year daw... Hahahahaha...

Me and Candice... awww... ang abnormal ng mukha ko... hahaha

Come see the totem pole! :)) Sa KFC...

Ang cute naman nila... Awww... :)

So um yan. Next time na yung kwento kasi.... sinisigawan na ako ni Cheryl the big purple dinosaur!!!!

Inner Peace

This week, I had three contests. GMATIC on Wednesday, FEU Nicanor Reyes Essay-Writing Competition on Friday and today, Saturday, the Sipnayan. Unfortunately, I did not win ANY of these. (Although we didn't do horribly naman.) BUT I am VERY happy. Why? Because of this!

Mali lang nga spelling ng name ko...

Oh well! :)

I love you all! Mwah! >:D<

Pictures of the Essay Contest and Sipnayan will be up here soon!

And once again, COMMENT! :D

Thanks

OO NGA PALA....

THANKS for commenting~!! I'm so happy...

1. Candice (Onga, sayang, but then masaya pa rin! Can't wait for the Sipnayan sa Saturday! Tska dyan na pics natin o... bkt di mo sinend pics mo?)
   
2. My sister (Whatever. You are SO not the cuter sister!!!)
   
3. Janica (Aww... thanks... masaya naman sa Grace... hehe. tahimik si willard nun eh, haha...)
   
4. Kathy (Yes you are part of my blog! I mentioned na pasok ka sa yrbk committee at may typhus+dengue...)
   
5. Abi (Ayaw mo nun, baka madiscover ka...)
   
6. Danica (Yeah I know. :P Jke!)
   
7. Kevin (Thank you!)
   
8. And Rachelle din pala kahit medyo matagal na yun... (hehe. ok lang yan, your fish is back!)
   

TY!!!! :D


Anyway, tomorrow, may contest naman ako sa FEU. Nicanor Reyes Essay Writing Contest... my first time joining a writing contest... am nervous. Wish me luck! Pls pray for me!

Sa Saturday naman may Sipnayan... (teamm8s Aldrich and Krizia) Honestly, yumayaman na ako ha. :D

Math Club... hay I'll talk about it some other time... kung kelan di na gano ka hectic ang aking schedule...

Ok, am done... ingat na lang dear readers... watch out for crashing meteors.. :D malay mo, mangyari yun... haha. *knock on wood*

my 3 day journal of events (that is, the seniors' camp)

Being part of the graduating class has brought countless blessings to me.
In a way, this symbolizes how God blesses us as we grow and mature in His name.
Today marks the first day of our Seniors' Camp.
I only hope that this would become a new beginning for another life ahead of us.


Seniors' Camp "B Clik"
September 7-9, 2006
Development Academy of the Philippines, Tagaytay

Day 1 September 7
I woke up early in the morning, scratching the gunk out of my eyes. A tiny peek at my cell phone (which also serves as my alarm clock-slash-timekeeper) and WHAT THE--
I was late!
It was precisely 5:47 am. I barely had time to actually do something, let alone brush my teeth, freshen up and run to school in record time. I scrambled to get up, only to fall down again because I was tangled in my sheets. Grumbling, I wrestled with my bed sheets and finally, after struggling for control, I was free at last!
But enough about my waking up on the wrong side of the bed. I got to school, arriving about 10 minutes after six, fairly early, considering the fact that I woke up late. Once at school, I met up with my friends, and frankly, compared bag sizes. Sadly, mine was enormous for a hand carry and looked titanic in comparison to my friends'.
Minutes later, we were ready to board the buses (we were Bus#5) but first, we had to get in line to get our "hand carry" bags checked by Mrs. Recosana, our adviser. The boys had theirs checked by Mr. Rapisora, who was a lot stricter (and may I mention, who was also our Bus Marshall).
Once aboard the bus, Abi, that is, my seatmate, and I were in a a bit of a dilemma because there weren't any more seats left! Thankfully though, we just overlooked a couple of empty rows up front, so we were saved!
As the bus left, Sir Raps announced a bit of stuff, like rules and such, and then at last, we were free to have fun!
We immediately dug into our stashes of junk food and soft drinks and enjoyed like never before.
The journey to sunny and not-so-warm Tagaytay was long and tiring, but nothing prevented any of us from joining in on the fun and laughter. Abi, however, was obviously tired for some reason, and was asleep for almost the entire trip, and this induced a sleepiness in me which I succumbed to about halfway along SLEX.
It's said that field trips are generally more fun in the bus, and I totally agree. I mean, it's where you get to share all your innermost craziness without having to keep quiet or behave.
Finally we arrived at Tagaytay! The temperature dropped noticeably and the roads looked a lot more different. Small huts littered along the street, with bananas, pineapples, and other fruits hanging from their facades. Brightly colored buildings, which I later learned were hotels and inns, stood by towering palm trees. As we went on, we reveled in the majesty of the great wonder which was Taal, standing in all its volcanic glory. I was not able to take a decent picture of it, though, me being slow and not at all nimble. I had to fumble with my cell phone for minutes before managing to set in on camera mode, by which I was too late because the bus was moving.
Another Kodak moment (or rather, view) almost passed me by when the bus went past the pineapple plantation. There were little green hills that were fully covered with pineapple plants. It was my first time seeing these things so I was truly amazed.
We arrived at DAP soon after. At first we were all, "This is DAP??" but when we stepped down the bus, I walked around to enjoy the fresh air that was as cool as it was sweet. We were greeted by a welcome drink (mango juice) as we wandered around the lobby, but first I rushed to the restroom! 
After the brief visit to the restroom, I went to check the room assignments posted in the lobby. I was in Room 327, with "Atsi" Janette Ong, the counselor. Hopefully, this was good news, but at that point, I wasn't quite sure.
I headed to the auditorium where, after a brief picture taking session while waiting for another bus to arrive, we were treated to a brief orientation, after which was an inspiring message by Reverend Burton Williams about sacrifice. He said that a life for God must be a life of sacrifice. Only in this way will God be able to use us as instruments of His plans. He cannot work through us unless we follow Him completely and leave our old lives behind. It really struck a chord in me because it cleared up one of the reasons why I hesitate to go all out in serving God.
After the message, we all went to the BBQ Patio for a photo shoot and then, it was lunch time!
One satisfying meal later, my roommates, Ana, Janine, Abi, and I took our luggage and went to our respective rooms to unpack and meet our counselor. I was kind of wondering what Atsi Janette would be like. Would she be boring? Would she be tedious? Would she be old as a bat and do nothing but sleep (although I doubt this one)?
Thankfully, Atsi Janette was nothing but nice. She was friendly, and most importantly, she was not boring at all! The good thing is, she was also my study counselor, aside from being my room counselor!
So far, I was pleased with the whole thing. The place was rather old, and not as glamorous as I initially expected, but thing is, if it was all Shangri-la, we wouldn't get to concentrate on what we were supposed to be doing there in the first place: to worship God and to learn more about Him and His Word.
Later on, we sang a few songs like "I Wanna Be Like Jesus" which is a lovely song because it encourages Christians to do all they can to achieve Christ-likeness, which is something a lot of Christians lack.
Then came what we were all waiting for! "Game K N B?" was an "Amazing Race"-type of challenge where each group had to run around DAP, which was pretty tough because it was all new to us, and accomplish tasks assigned to each station. But first, the whole group had to memorize Bible verses ranging from easy to downright impossible.
It was not an easy task, definitely, but it was made much worse when my group was paired with a group of boys from 4-Violet who couldn't care less if we ended up in last place, but with a few words of encouragement (and even reprimanding), they finally toned down their horsing around and got to memorizing. We finished only 7 tasks out of 15 however, which is to be honest, pathetic, but still, it was no reason to lose hope!
During the game, things began going downhill for me. I felt feverish, and my throat hurt, but I drank lots of water to see if the feeling would go away. It didn't.
By dinner, I was feeling worse. I asked for medicine from the nurse and she gave me Biogesic, but I didn't feel any better after taking it.
After the meal, it was singspiration once again. I felt better while singing praises to God, and I thanked Him silently for it. After singing, there was another message by Rev. Williams, this time about following God with the heart of a servant. Rev. Williams gave four examples of men after God's own heart: Samson, with the heart of a strong man; David, with the heart of a shepherd; Solomon, with the heart of a leader; and Joseph, with the heart of a servant. The first three failed to completely follow the Lord because they fell into sin by yielding to lust, while Joseph, although given the chance, did not, and thus, he ended up becoming the 2nd most powerful man in all of Egypt, with men and women bowing down to him.
This is definitely an eye-opener because it made me realize that following God is not all obeying and worshipping Him. We have to do all this with the will and humility, but most importantly, we need discipline, to be able to emerge as the victor at the end of it all.
Next came "Standing in the Gap". What was 'Standing in the Gap"? What we did was pray for the camp, pray for the students, and basically pray for everything. It was a rejuvenating experience, because it proved that we were putting everything in God's hands and trusting Him completely.
The following activity was B-Group, or simply, Group Discussion. The group met with the study counselors, (the group mates were different from the roommates) and we were told that each one of us need to undergo counseling with the counselor. We scheduled our times, and off to bed we go.
The day was eventful and great, and I learned so much. I hope that the second day will be just like it, if not better.



Day 2 September 8
The next morning, I thought I felt pretty good, compared to the day before, so I went ahead and took a shower. Bad idea. The water was freezing! I was almost shivering after the shower and this did not do my already sodden state any good. Therefore, my fever got worse, and the whole morning, I was feeling drowsy and I almost slept through the whole thing.
First thing after breakfast was another "Standing in the Gap" where we prayed again (and of course, I prayed for myself so that I would get better quickly).
The B-Silent part that came after was actually Quiet Time or Daily Devotion where we read God's message for the day through the help of material such as "Daily Bread" or "Campus Journal", but in our case, our material was already printed in the handbooks!
Singspiration. We sang this song called, "Let Everything That Has Breath" which is so upbeat and cheerful that although I was sick, I couldn't help singing along and tapping to the beat.
Then! Another message, this time by Pastor Jebo Banzuelo. The thing about Pastor Banzuelo is that he's a lot younger than Rev. Williams; therefore, he didn't have a hard time trying to reach to us, because he was "into the times" and he knows what goes with the younger generation. I'm not exactly saying that he understands us only because he's young. He does try to make an effort, and besides, he's Filipino, so we relate more.
After the message was Bible Study. We reviewed a psalm written by David, which basically tells about the Lord's goodness and faithfulness. I couldn't remember the exact details, because as I said, I was sick, so I couldn't concentrate on what was being discussed.
The counselors and staff had a meeting afterwards, so technically, it was free time for us. We went back to our rooms, and I felt terrible. I spent the rest of the afternoon in my room with the camp nurse, Mrs. Angie Salvador. She was very nice and everything although others think that she's standoffish, but in fact, she isn't, at least to me. I don't know if that's only because I'm sick, or she's just nicer to me, because, I don't know. Because I speak Chinese?
But anyway, after dinner I felt a whole lot better. I guess rest does help. I then went to listen to the final message, by Pastor Banzuelo. He asked for a commitment from each of us, which we wrote on little pieces of paper, and put into a box in front one by one. It was a rather touching moment, but it was kind of ruined because people were laughing and talking to each other. Well, we're high school students. It's unavoidable.
After that was the Praise Night which they, my classmates and students from other sections, all prepared for. Keyword: they. I was in my room while they were rehearsing for it.
Still, it was fun watching the groups perform. Although some of them just simply ruined the whole thing by doing stuff like imitating teachers and disrespecting other religions, they were funny, although annoying. After the performances of each section, a counselor led us in singing a lot of songs, some solemn and some upbeat, and the whole event was truly inspiring and touching. It was more at this point that I began to think seriously about serving God because He is so great and majestic, and so many people are willing to sacrifice for Him. Why? There must be a reason for all of this, and I wanted to make it my mission to find out just what this reason is.
Although I was still sick, I enjoyed the day a lot, especially the Praise Night because I feel so blessed having the chance to be part of this Christian family and worship and praise God together.



Day 3 September 9
When I woke up, my fever was almost gone, but I did AGAIN the unimaginable: I took a shower. A freezing, subzero temperature shower that would definitely kill me. And there went my day.
I spent the whole morning in my room with the nurse and another guy who was also sick. I just slept the whole morning. I missed the testimony of my classmates, and I didn't share mine, too! (Although I really didn't have much to share.) I even missed the whole closing ceremony.
During the bus trip home, I was feeling fine, so I decided to join in on the fun once more. I truly got to enjoy the ride back to Manila because I got to talk with my friends and chat with them. I sat beside Rachelle this time, because she was sick, too.

Conclusion
The camp was one of the most inspiring events that have ever happened to me, but without my friends, it would have been meaningless. By the end of the school year, we will be going our separate ways, but I believe that our hearts will feel far from empty as we bring our treasured memories, together with our Christian faith, along with us as we continue walking on the path of life.

Lame, lame, lame... sigh...

Hello again! I'm not really supposed to be blogging right now as it's 11:21 in the middle of the night, but anyway, it's okay. I'm actually supposed to be revising a short paper but whatever.

I need essay writing classes. I'm horrible at essays. Honestly. I can't even bring myself to write something properly decent. It's a bloody process, I tell you. Geez.

But enough with that. I already finished "Catcher in the Rye". It was weird. Very weird. And disturbing because of all the swearing and reference to adult stuff. But I guess, I still need time to process the story. It was nice, in a way. I don't know. Just read it if you like. I liked it a little because our Philo teacher sort of explained it. I'll explain it here once I understand it. I hope.

I have to write a poem too. A stanza, actually. It's sort of a son to mother thing, and the image our group is going to use is a potter. Yeah, generic, but hey, who's complaining? Well, anyway, here goes. (I'm actually typing this as I think of them right now.)

Rough calloused hands on my once fragile frame
Perfected each and every curve, molding me,
And I have you to thank, my dear mother,
For looking beyond what you see.

Kind of rushed, but anyway, that's fine. Who cares. Haha. I'm just not inspired, you know? Sure there are cute guys in AJSS, but none that actually creates a spark, so ho-hum, life is boring without a crush around. I guess I should be satisfied with a guy who's my type and all, but he gets... boring. Am I mean or what? Ah. Whatever. :D

And on my tagboard, I wasn't the one who wrote the "Hello fans" thing. It was my sister. But I didn't remove it coz I thought it was cute... hmmm.... basta!

Thanks to you guys too, for reading my blog. I think my blog is getting boring, not like my Friendster one, but I'm turning boring without my friends in school. Really! I'm not my hyper little self anymore. I was a bit depressed actually, but I already found the solution to that. SUGAR! C2, ice cream, you name it.

And guess what? I discovered something. Jollibee's Coffee Jelly is really good! Especially the Jollibee in Masangkay. Mmmmm.... I got it with ice cream (P37, P10 pesos more than the original P27 without ice cream, but it is SO worth it) and I swear, I was in heaven.

Anyway, I'll just end here, because I think I'm ranting too much now. Till next time! Bye! Tag kayo ha!!!:D

P.S. to my batch/classmates: My sections for next year are Red and It. Ano section nyo? hehe :P