Blog 31: Wildcard (Thieves)

You know what I really despise besides liars? THIEVES. Ugghhh...I can’t emphasize enough just how much I hate thieves. To me, they’re such low life people who have no conscience or guilt whatsoever. How can someone manage to find the courage to go through other people’s belongings and just steal whatever entertains their eyes. I never understood what kind of satisfaction these people get when stealing. The reason why I’m venting my hatred towards thieves is because I’ve had my own share of bad experience from them – as a matter of fact, I’ve been robbed horribly twice during my high school years. TWICE! I know it may seem that I’m overreacting, but wait until you find out which belongings of mine have been stolen...

Let’s rewind back freshman year, shall we?

It was a typical after-school day; I was already at the girl’s freshman gym locker at that time, getting ready for lacrosse practice. There are more than a dozen of girls that were changing from their school attires to their practice clothes – that also includes me, of course. But anyways, it was just a typical day for me. But little did I know that I was about to get robbed by some scummy person that day. So after lacrosse practice, I come back to the locker room; I gathered all my things, changed into fresh clothes before heading out to the late bus. While I was in the bus, waiting for it to leave the school; I searched for my iTouch that my parents got me for my birthday just a little over a month ago to listen to my music, but I couldn’t find it at all. I searched through all my bags, but I had no luck. At that time, I was only just a freshman so I didn’t really have a ride home except for the bus. I wanted to go back to the locker room, hoping that I’d be able to find my beloved iTouch in the locker room, yet I don’t want the bus leaving me with no ride home at the same time. I was split between going home and finding my iTouch. But the iTouch was much more valuable to me that I didn’t care if the bus left without me. And so I left the bus and went back to the locker room. I searched every corner of, but I was left with nothing to find. I also realized that my iTouch was not the only thing that had been stolen from me that day. My wristwatch that my dad bought me as a present for my 8th  graduation, which cost at least $100, was also stolen as well as my perfume and money. I was happy that the Tiffany necklace that my mom bought me wasn’t stolen. The necklace was just as valuable as my iTouch and my wristwatch, so I was at least a bit happy that the necklace wasn’t stolen.

But it wasn’t even like I was the only one who left their stuff out in the open. Every girl in the locker leaves their belongings out, because who would really steal, right? Well we were proven wrong. Among us, was a thief -- or were thieves. I just found out a couple of days later that a girl had her pair of Uggs stolen as well as another girl’s pants. Who would steal someone else’s clothes, especially someone else’s pants?!

From then on, I stopped leaving my things out in the open because I was afraid that someone would go through my bag and steal again. I was pretty lucky that I didn’t have anything stolen from then on until just recently...

Someone stole my money that was folded and tucked in my wallet -- which was also beneath million other things that were in my bag -- in the locker room...AGAIN. The amount of money stolen from me wasn’t just a simple $5, $10, or $20. It was $122. Any person who had that much money stolen from them would feel horribly. I know I did because I was pretty much stopping myself from bawling my eyes out. I was terribly upset, my heart sinking just by thinking of the amount. I don’t usually cry over money because it’s just money, but that was just such a huge amount that I was saving it up for any expenses I will need in college. It was basically my birthday/graduation money from my godmother that I haven’t seen in awhile and to just have it stolen from me just like that; it’s horrible.

I refused to tell my parents because I know that they’ll be screaming at me for my stupidness of leaving such a huge amount of money out in the open as just like that. I recognize my fault as I should’ve been more cautious of the amount of money I was carrying and that I should’ve put it inside a locker. It was pretty much my fault, someone just took interest in it. But it wasn’t like I intended to do so. I rarely splurge my money, I spend it on things that I want and actually need and because of that, I barely open my wallet. And because of that, I forgot how much money I had in my wallet. I didn’t think that anyone would steal from me because what is there to steal from me? I don’t carry money with me most of the time, so the time that I had actual money, I forgot to put my bag in a locker. I intended to put that $122 away, but it just slipped my mind. That was pretty stupid of me too.

I just hope that whoever stole my money will have karma bite them in the end. Seriously, I really do despise thieves. UGHHHHH!!!

Blog 33!: What is Important to Me...

Of course, the final blog is always the hardest to write about. But I think this will probably be the most personal blog that I’ve written in a while. You definitely saved the best for last Mr. Mannion!

Coming to think of it, there are many things from a very early age that had stayed very valuable to my life and there are definitely those that I thought was important to me at that very moment. At this point in my life, I value every little thing that I have and I’m so thankful for what I have gained over the years. Now that I’m an adult and I’m about to start a whole chapter in a book that I’ve been writing over the years, I can say that I have never really fully seen the significance of the things that I have until now. I guess that just comes with age, right?

But anyways, there are many aspects in my life that definitely have huge significance in my life. The first one the popped up in my mind is my future. Also, I’ve never fully grasp the importance of planning ahead, envisioning my future until my senior year. I’ve always had big dreams, but I was also the type of person who hates plans. I was never the one who stressed about plans or having to plan about tomorrow and such. I’ve always been carefree, I worry about what’s happening now and not about what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow. I’ve lived my life just basically having to adapt to what life might potentially bring. However, I now know that having too much of a carefree life and not planning ahead isn’t always the best way to live life. I’ve learned the importance of my future and how to carefully plan for it.

Also, the most obvious aspect that holds a great importance in my life would have to be my family. They were there when I was born; they were there when I first learned how to walk, how to talk, how to read; they attended all my graduations (the Philippines have graduations for all grades – every year); they witnessed me grow and developed from a young girl to a woman. The have been with me and have supported me on from the very start. They are probably the greatest part of my life. Without them, I definitely won’t be who and where I am today. Words cannot describe just how much I am blessed and grateful for the family I have.

Most of those who are older than me, upperclassmen – back when I was just a small freshman – usually say that you’ll realize who your true friends are during your junior and senior year. That advice is most definitely true. Now that I’m in my final year of high school, with graduation day just around the corner, I look around and notice the people around me – they are either those I was friends with, those whom I’ve been friends with ever since, as well as those I became friends with recently. With the amount of growth – both physically and mentally – the friends that I have now are the ones that I would consider my true friends. They are my closest friends; they are the ones who have been,and still are, with me. Just like my family, they’ve seen me at my best, yet they never left my side even when they’ve seen me at my worst. Seeing how they’re still my friends and having the patience for me, even though there were times where I have disappointed them, I’m so thankful for having such great people surround me.

But then, many adults who are much older than me tells me often that the friends they have now are the ones they became friends with in college and that your high school friends will just remain in your high school memories. This makes me rather sad because of just how much I value the friends I have now. This only shows that I need to make the most of what I have now, never taking granted of the people that are in my life because I know that this advice will most likely come true, but I hope not all of the friends I hold dear with me right now won’t fade even after I have graduated from college. Perhaps, I’d be given a chance to reflect on this once again when college graduation comes. Although, that’s another chapter in my book that I have yet to write..

Blog 32: Defining Courage

We all have different definitions – interpretations – when it comes to courage. Being courageous can vary from saving a person’s life, from a soldier going behind enemy lines, to even just surviving a life obstacle. Most people would probably mention something heroic when they are asked “What is courage?”. But to me, you don’t have to be a hero or to be some kind of a superman to have courage. You don’t have to be an adult to have courage. Some younger ones are even more courageous than their older counterparts. Courage doesn’t have any age limit. There is no such thing as a human who is a coward or someone who is not courageous at all. Everyone of us possess some type of courage, no matter how small that “courage” may seem to be. It’s just a matter of how and when we show it.

Usually, many of us categorize  a shy and introvert person as someone who doesn’t have any courage at all because we think that they are afraid of interactions and any form of socializing. But what may come as a surprise is that these people do have courage. Their courage may not be as visible, but they do have it. Courage is something that all of us have within. It’s pretty much an instinct. Perhaps an example would give a better view of what I’m trying to say.

Let’s say that you’re a student who does everything that you’re told. You’re someone who is friends with everyone, you don’t have a problem with anyone, you stay away from anything that may cause you and other people a problem, you don’t pick fights – as a matter of fact, you’ve never even had a fight with another person at all. You’re an overall good student and because of that some people think that if they were to push you around, to to step on you; you wouldn’t do a single thing about because what they know is that you don’t like having problems with anyone at all. So these people start pushing you around, telling you what to do...just basically bullying you around. What do you do? Well, you have two choices: either you let them keep bullying you around and let yourself become a pushover or you find the COURAGE to stand up and defend yourself from these bullies.

Wouldn’t finding to have the courage to stand up for yourself a form of being courageous? OF COURSE IT IS!

Also, courage can be found all the time. We don’t notice it right away, but courageous people are among us every single day. A single mother is striving every day at work just so she could feed her children. A person is fighting for their lives as they are suffering from leukemia while a young track star who has just lost his legs from an accident is trying to find the courage to accept his loss.

See, people are being courageous day in and day out. As a matter of fact, I do know someone in my family whom I would define as courageous. My grandma. My mom and her family weren’t really well off – they weren’t rich, but they weren’t dirt poor. It’s just that they weren’t as well off compared to now. My grandma managed to find the courage to work hard and be able to send all her six children, including my mom, to college and graduate after my grandpa died all of a sudden from an illness.Other mothers in her situation would rather just give up and have her children stop school and help her work. However, my grandma refused to have her children stop going to school. She wanted all her kids to do better than her and my grandpa did, she wanted them to have a much better future. She knew that by finishing their education and earning college diploma is the only thing she could hand them and the only thing she could promise for their future. My grandma strived to pay for all their colleges by working, selling various products in the market. And now, all of my mom’s siblings, including herself, are all college graduates and are much well off than they were before...and it’s all thanks to my grandma’s courage to keep working hard for her children, even after the sudden death of my grandpa.

Blog 30: Advise to Younger Self

I have done many things in my life, many of them had a good turnout and many of them ended up as mistakes. It would be a huge lie if I were to say that I never regretted any of my doings. There are a lot of things that I do regret back to when I was young -- back to my old self two or three years ago. I wish that I could have the chance to do all of them all over again or if I had the chance to give myself, back then, some piece of advice. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work that way. But if the world did work that way, I would have tons of advices to say to my old self...

1. Outspoken and Outgoing

• I would advise myself to be more outspoken and outgoing instead of keeping everything to myself. Maybe then, other people who saw this weakness of mine wouldn’t have taken advantage of my introverted self as well as stepped on me.

2. Take Every Opportunities

• I would tell myself to take every opportunities given to me, to enter every opened doors without any hesitation or without being afraid. There were times when I wanted to do something, when I wanted to join a club, when I wanted to join a sport, or whatever just for the heck of it, but I ended up not doing so because I was scared of what would happen if I ended up not liking the club or the sport.

3. Be an Individual

• Looking back two to three years ago, I didn’t want to stand out among my peers because I was afraid and was too concerned of what other people would think of me, especially my fellow peers. I always thought to myself that being different, setting yourself apart from the crowd would only mean that no one would like you. I believed that if you didn’t follow “what’s in” or if you aren’t flowing in the current “trend”, people wouldn’t accept you. But obviously that’s not the case because if you always follow other people, you are doomed to never finding yourself -- never finding who you really are. You will end up losing that sense of individuality within you; you are losing what makes you the person you really are and that’s never a good thing.

4. Keep an Open-Mind, Be Friends with EVERYONE

• Back then, I wasn’t really too sure about making friends outside my comfort zone. I didn’t really know how to act towards those who are not in my circle of friends or if they were different from me. There was a time when I did judge a person by how they looked without getting the chance to know them personally. I was ashamed of such a thing because they ended up being one of the best people I’ve met, they became a huge part of my life as well as being one of my best friends. I would advise my younger self to keep an open-mind and basically befriend everyone without having the urge to judge a person without having the chance to learn who they really are.

5. Do What Makes You Happy

• I’ve always been a people pleaser. I wanted to please people all the time, not wanting them to be disappointed at me that I always ended up doing what they wanted me to do instead of what I wanted to do. I would tell my younger self to stop trying to please every single person because at the end, all the decisions that you make in life will affect you the most. So, always follow what you want to do without being limited by other people just because you wanted to make them happy...

Blog 29: Forgiveness

Forgiveness...Forgiveness, in my opinion, is one of those things that are straddling on the border between easy and hard. What I am trying to get at is that forgiveness can either be an easy process or a hard one. Not everyone can forgive easily, some may do it easier than others while some are having a hard time with it. It is also the same on how often a person can practice forgiveness. There are those who forgive those who have sinned against them every single time while there are those who don’t bother forgiving those who have done them wrong. Both sides are understandable though and that’s what makes us human. We are after all human, right?

Personally, I think that forgiveness should not be measured by how often it should be practised because it varies among people. Everyone is different, therefore their attitude -- their approach on forgiveness varies. Instead, it should depend on what kind of wrongdoing a person has done to you and how much it really affects you. If it is over something that can’t be fixed easily can’t be reverted back to normal, then the idea of forgiveness can be quite hard to grasp. Although, if it is something over that can be talked through and can be fixed easily if both parties are willing to work it out, then the idea of forgiveness won’t be too much for them.

As for personal experience, I haven’t been really in a situation where I haven’t forgiven anyone who has done something wrong to me. I usually get along with people and as bad of a habit this may sound, I’m usually the person who apologizes first whether it was my fault or not. Pretty bad right? And if someone did sin against me, forgiveness doesn’t really come that hard for me and I barely hold any grudges on a person. Plus, I usually forgive a person in a heartbeat just as long there is a hint of sincerity when they are apologizing. If it seems fake to me, then they can forget about their hopes of me forgiving them. But those cases are very rare.

Just because forgiveness comes easy to me does not automatically means that there will never come a day when forgiveness will be an impossible task for me to complete. A situation in which the idea of having to forgive someone will be very hard for me to do is if I was betrayed -- stabbed in the back by someone I consider close to me. If a person I consider close to me stabbed me in the back, forgiveness probably will not come that easy for me mainly because I wouldn’t really know how I would deal with it. I probably wouldn’t even know how to properly react to it. I would probably take their apologies, but I don’t think I don’t think our relationship would be back to normal or would I be able to forgive them fully.

Blog 28: Wildcard (Blog Without Substance)

A wildcard blog...mmmm...I have to be honest Mr. Mannion, I have mixed feelings whenever it is a wildcard blog. I know most of your students love it whenever you put up a wildcard blog because it gives them freedom of having to talk about anything they want to talk about. I am sometimes one of those students, but not ALL the time. There are times when I hate it when you put up wildcard blogs mainly because I do not know what to say of or what I should talk about. It is sad because I think I’m the only one who feels about your wildcard blogs this way.

Usually, I would have a lot of things to rant about, like how much I hate my day, my future, what I want to do in life, or just anything random. But I just cannot come up with anything to talk about that might interest you whatsoever. All the topics that have crossed my mind, the topics that have been nominated to be the subject of this blog seemed too typical and cliche for me. Also the fact that this blog has to be at least five-hundred words, makes this assignment a bit harder for me to write. Hence, the reason as to why it might be unusual for you to find any contractions or whatever in this entry. I am pretty much just typing as much words as I can, refraining myself from using any contractions in hopes that I would be able to get myself to five-hundred words much faster so that I could end my never-ending senseless rant. However, I am only around two-hundred eighty words or so. So, it will be a while until I finish this blog. But anyways, I do not think that I am the only one who does this...right? Well, hopefully I am not the only because that would be very embarrassing on my part.

And so, here I am just typing every single thing that comes up to my mind and sadly, all the things that are coming up on my mind are all without substance. I might as well just tell you what is going on around me besides the fact that I have been sitting on my kitchen counter doing your blog. My sister is sitting beside me, her eyes glued to the laptop, watching her make-up videos on youtube -- so typical of her. But I do applaud her make-up talents...if that is even considered a talent. My two cousins directly from the Philippines, who have been staying at my house for the past three and a half weeks, are both sitting on the sofa in the family room watching an unfamiliar show on Disney Channel while my mom is right next to them, sleeping soundly. It has been a while since I last followed a Disney show. I guess that is just me growing up since I find some of the show’s humor pretty bland compared to shows that I have been watching a lot of lately like That 70’s Show, FRIENDS, How I Met Your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory.

I just checked the word count of this blog, and guess what! I’m over 500 words. I guess there’s no need for me to use contractions anymore, as YOU’VE noticed. This also means that I’ll be ending my blog now since I already reached my goal of having written a 500-word blog. Hopefully, I’ll write a much interesting one next time...

Blog 27: Unfinished Business...

Believe it or not, I still do feel like I have some unfinished business left to do despite the fact that there are less than 2 months left in my final year of high school. Time is passing by so quickly that it is so overwhelming and because of that, I feel like that I am running out of time for the things that I still have to do. Many of the underclassmen are probably thinking that we, seniors, are pretty much done for the year; that we do not have anything to worry about, but just have fun for the remaining months that we have left -- that we have nothing to stress about anymore except for finals. However, they don’t have a single clue of the amount of stress that we, seniors, have to go through especially when it comes to our college preparation.

Most of my peers already heard from the colleges that they applied to. Some may have been denied, but most of them have been accepted to the colleges that they want to get into the most. But for me, it is a totally different case. The fact that I have decided to apply to colleges out abroad, mainly universities in the Philippines, makes my situation completely different. I have applied to at least four universities in the Philippines and two universities here in the U.S.; and so far I have not heard from any one of them. Well, except for one of them. Unfortunately, the one university from the Philippines that I did hear from did  not accept me into their school. This was pretty much a disappointment to me because the school that did not accept me happened to be my top choice.

My decision pretty much depends on whether I get accepted to the Philippines or not. If I happen to not get accepted to any universities in the Philippines, my choice would be to go to college here. It’s not that I do not want to go to college here, it’s just that I’ve set my mind to go to college in the Philippines, not mainly because of financial reasons, but because of how I just love the atmosphere there; I can definitely see myself going there and it would be a bum if I don’t get accepted into any of the universities I applied to.

And so, waiting for one of my chosen colleges puts me in a doubting situation. I start to doubt myself whether I am good enough for these schools. It is pretty much an unfinished business because as of right now, I still have no idea where to go after graduation high school. Would I end up going to a school here or a school in the Philippines? And if I was to compare my situation to one of my fellow classmates, it seems that I am slacking behind on something that I should be ultimately sure on. I still don’t know what to answer when someone asks me where I’m going to college next year because I still don’t have a college that I’m certain of. All I can do really is shrug my shoulders.

Hopefully by the end of the school year, I already have an answer to that question. But as of right now, I still have tons of unfinished business...

Why Do the Good Die?

You know death to me is one of the biggest mysteries that intrigue me a lot. Even though it may be easy to comprehend the fact that a person is born, lives, and soon dies where they end up in a “much better place” than in the world we are living in; there are just so much questions that stems out of my mind whenever I hear the word “death”. Why does death come? Why do the good die? Where does one go after death? Where did grandpa go to? Will I ever meet my ancestors, those who have passed before me? Is there even an afterlife? Does heaven and hell even exist at all? Do we cross to a parallel universe? Or do we just wake up like it was all just a dream? This makes me ponder what death’s purpose.

Perhaps death really does have a purpose in life. I think it serves as a balance in life -- there are people being born while there are those who are dying. It acts as an equilibrium, nature’s own way of balancing the population of all those that inhabits earth. Imagine if death did not occur at all, the pain of losing would not exist, but the world we live in today would be overcrowded. Resources would be cut short, we would not have enough to satisfy everyone’s needs and this can eventually lead to a catastrophe. Another thing is that, I believe that everyone has a purpose in life, a reason as to why they are born. We all have some kind of a mission that we must do in life
and once we accomplish them, our time on earth is done -- no matter how good of
a person you were.

So what really happens after we die? As a Catholic, I have been exposed to the idea of Heaven and Hell. Of course, not everyone is a Catholic or is affiliated with a particular religion. Some may not even believe in Heaven and Hell. I do believe that there is some kind of “life” after death -- some kind of a Heaven and Hell.  But at the same time, I also think about reincarnation once in a while. I think that we are somewhat born again into another person or as if we have woken up from a very long dream and the cycle of living repeats itself. Perhaps we are given another mission to fulfill, but
this time, as another person. I really do believe that there is some kind of an afterlife that comes after death. However, the things that occur after death is still a huge mystery to everyone on earth. There is no definite depiction of what happens to a person after they encounter death. No one knows about it. It is like this whole confidential matter that no one is supposed to have knowledge of unless they are dead. The only way to find out is, really, by dying. The living world will never know.

Designing a Curriculum

Mmmmm...I’ve never really thought about a topic like this before, interesting idea nevertheless. If I were to design certain curriculums for students of my age, I would probably design a more on-hands curriculum. What that means is that students are able to engage themselves on subjects that they see fit for their future careers. Of course, the basic subjects such as Math, English, History, and Science are still applied to a student’s schedule since I still think that the student should still have, even the most basic, knowledge on those subjects. Only with the kind of curriculum that I am proposing, the students would not be limited to classes that does not really classify or compatible with the careers they intend to take in the future. Being a student myself, I have taken some classes that are not really attuned to the career path I’m taking. I want to take the path of a businesswoman in the future, but how does cooking class help me with my choice of profession? Aside from the clubs and sports that the school offers, I seriously think that our school are still lacking in extra-curricular activities and classes that would facilitate our chosen professions as well as replace some of the tedious bookwork with actual hands on activities. For example, if you are interested in music or a musician (singing, composing, songwriting, arrangement, etc) there could be a class taken and it would occur in an actual music studio where students are able to be familiarizing themselves with how music production actually works. If you see yourself as being engaged in the business world, there could be a class that takes you to class trips to business districts and be familiar with how the business world actually works. So, it’s pretty similar to going to a vocational school, but at the same time different because a student doesn’t have to only take the general subjects like math and English. They would be still able to take other classes such as a language class or a calculus class while at the same time having a business class. I also think that we should have more varieties of languages to learn other than Spanish and French. The school should include languages like Latin, Italian, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Portuguese, etc.

In all honesty, I view a basics skill class not as serious as other classes and more of like a fooling around class due to the student’s lack of motivation and understanding in such a subject. What I would recommend is that teachers should be able to have a more interesting way of teaching basic skills students rather than making them sit on desks and doing a numerous amount of work that they don’t really care much about. Teachers should be able to offer activities that let the kids be engaged on hands on activities because I think that they would be able to understand the subject more other than reading it from a book.

The day-to-day schedule wouldn’t be that much different to what it is now. The electives would stay, but there would also be an addition to the choices such as actual music class, business class, etc. I would probably have students be able to stay after school, if they want to, for an extra class that they would want to take, but can’t fit it in their schedules. So basically, students would have more electives and not be limited to just two.

As much as I hate homework, there is no denial that it really helps. I would leave the homework to the teachers, whether they want to give their students a lot of homework or not.

In My Room

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My room is really just like any other typical teenager’s room. Posters and pictures of my favorite people -- from my favorite movies, singers, actors, to tennis players -- are plastered everywhere on my wall. As a matter of fact, every wall on my room has their own individual themes. I have a wall that basically serves as my tennis shrine with my favorite players’ pictures, my very first tennis racquet hanging on the wall, and basically all my recollected memories of my tennis team. I love the sport and I would probably consider myself a tennis addict. There’s also a wall dedicated solely for my friends, most especially my best friends. I hung all the pictures we took together -- some were years ago while others were taken recently -- as well as things that reminds me of certain memories between our friendships. Then behind my door are more pictures, but this time, they’re family pictures throughout the years. On another wall are things from different places I’ve been in such as California. I like to collect street signs or license plates that have the places’ names on it for me to paste on my walls. I have a bookshelf as well as a place where I keep my cameras and my video camera since I’ve always been fascinated with filming and photography. I also have various artwork plastered on my wall. Probably one of the most valuable belongings in my room is my iPod stereo for my music. Honestly, I wouldn’t describe my room as the typical girly girl type. It has more of a sporty, laid-back, calming ambiance to it.

When we were all little, my sister, brother and I would sleep in the same room on the same bed. Well originally, my sister and I would share a room while my brother had a room of his own. However, my little brother was too afraid to sleep by himself so he would sleep in our room every single night and sleep next to one of us. Though as we got older, we finally moved out and each of us had a room of our own. My brother eventually got rid of his fear of sleeping alone and was able to sleep in his own room with no trouble. But that doesn't mean my siblings and I got rid of our old ways. There would be times when we would have our little sleepover to each others room -- mainly my room because of the size of my bed -- because we felt like it or we just watched a horror movie. Personally, I don't really mind people sleeping in my room once in awhile, but I do enjoy my free alone, time and would most likely prefer to have a room all by myself.

I would exactly say that my room is all neat and tidy or that it resembles a dumpster. It's somewhat in the middle. While I do prefer to keep it clean, sometimes I can't help but make some mess especially with my clothes. Oh typical girl problems. Trust Me.

Wisdom Achieved.

What is wisdom? This is quite an interesting question because even I can’t really explain what wisdom is. If we were to refer to the dictionary, it tells us that wisdom is an accumulated philosophic or scientific learning. If we were to abide by this definition, wisdom can be anything that enlightens us. It could be getting straight A’s on report cards or graduating college - most especially if you were to graduate with a Ph.D from a top university or quickly rising to the top of a great corporation. However, in my own opinion, I don’t necessarily consider these as the only source of gaining wisdom. Just because a student is getting straight A’s in school does not always mean that he/she is wise. For all we know, that certain student is just a very good student who follows directions very well or does what h/she is supposed to do. Therefore, it cannot be easily justified that one is wise just by judging from their report cards or whether they gained a Ph.D from a top university. Conversely, it can, indeed, be a stepping stone in determining if one truly possesses wisdom. Sure, there are IQ test that we take during the course of our lives, but that doesn't really mean that you know everything just because you scored high on a computer generated test. You see, intelligence does not always mean to be able to accumulate some type of learning from a simple textbook alone or by taking notes during a class. It is much more than that. There are a variety of ways in which wisdom can be gained----I believe that wisdom also comes from experiences and it is something that a person cannot take a test for. As a matter of fact, there is a fine line that separates common knowledge attained from school from knowledge attained based on personal experiences and both are equally important. Nevertheless, one does not need certain “qualifications” to have wisdom like how a person who was not able to go to school or finish school is automatically labeled as being “dumb, stupid, etc.” Like I have mentioned before, wisdom can be conquered through various ways not just by going to school.

I actually do have someone whom I consider rather wise and that is my dad. He’s not that old, but he has gone through numerous trials in life as well as being able to go to school. Thus, he does have many insights on both life and common knowledge.

Every mind was made for growth, for knowledge; and its nature is sinned against when it is doomed to ignorance. - William Ellery Channing

I find this quote by William Ellery Channing very endearing. Perhaps it’s the fact that what he says is very true; that our minds grow as we get older as well as the only reason that we can sin against it is when we choose to be ignorant. I agree with the saying that “the older you get, the wiser you get” because by the time you are in your late years, the amount of experiences you have gone through in your life is what will help you view the world and everything else around you in a much broader light. By that time, you have already matured into an adult as well as your mind. We grow old with our mind. That’s why I prefer asking older people like my grandparents or my parents for advice on life or whenever I’m going through a tough phase in my life because they know more than I do and that they have been in my shoes once in their life…

Jobless.

JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! With the economy continuously plummeting down to ground, it is very hard to get a decent profession. Nevertheless, everyone seems to be in search of a job - whether it is a dream job or not - right?. There are those careers that pay much higher and offers more benefits than others, and with that, many have come to a conclusion that the latter one is less significant than the other. But is it true? Is Job 'A' much more important than Job 'B' just because the yearly salary of Job 'A' is greater than Job 'B'? I would like to disagree on such a thought due to the fact that I don not believe that a profession's importance is solely based on how much it money it brings to a person's bank account. One example would be celebrities; they earn millions of dollars from filming movies, endorsements, album sales, or even from a simple publicity stunt. As a matter of fact, most celebrities earn more than politicians - even more than the President of the United States himself. Though we all know, well hopefully most of us do know, that a president's job who is busy trying to run a country is much more important than a celebrity's who is pretty much earning money without doing anything significant that could help develop people's lives other than offer meaningless entertainment to those who choose to pay attention to it. Therefore, I completely disagree that a profession can be defined by how much money it earns.

Although, I do somewhat agree that some jobs holds more purpose and importance in society than other jobs. If you were to compare a doctor with someone who works as a cashier at a retail store, which would you choose to have a more important job? Would you choose the job that checks out your purchases or the one that is constantly saving people's lives? No doubt, more people would choose the doctor. Back to my analogy between the president of a country and a celebrity, both are profession and it is a way of living. However, both holds different purposes in society as well as different importance. But I would say that a president is a much more more valuable career if compared to a celebrity’s.

However, despite the fact that some professions are more important than others, I still don't believe that one is better than the other. Sure, I may be contradicting myself here, but it is really hard to say that one specific job is much more important than the other because a I personally think that a job's significance should not depend on which one is better or which one holds more significance in society because in reality, the careers that we choose to take brings some kind of an impact in the world even in the smallest possible way. It' is just a matter of whether a person loves what they are doing.

Taking a Risk

It would be huge lie if I were to say that I have never taken a risk in my life or have never thought about taking one. To be honest, I’ve taken so many risks in my life -- I’ve gained some great benefits and some ended in a bad note that only gave me life lessons. People at my age may have tried dangerous things and survived. Unfortunately, there are also those who have dared to do the unthinkable and did not survive. Though, let’s not be pessimistic about such a topic. Let’s dwell in the bright side instead. Indeed, taking a chance does not always result a sad ending, it also brings new opportunities and opens new doors to one’s life. Not only that, taking risks can help a person open their eyes into making the right decisions.

One of the many risk that I have taken in my life was when I went to an open audition for anyone who desired to be in the entertainment field via singer, dancer, acting, composer, modeling. As a kid and up until now I’ve always find dancing very entertaining and exhilarating. It was just of my favorite things to do as a hobby that I do alone on my free time. Before, dancing was just a passion; never would have I thought that dancing would be one of the few things that I have found passion in. I am not a professional dancer nor was I enrolled in a dancing school. Instead, I was down my living room in front of a computer on YouTube, learning some new choreography to a song or down in the basement with my iPod hooked on a stereo, dancing freestyle. The music easily ran through my mind and my body, feeling every single beats. That was my passion.

Then one day, I happened to come across this site that was holding an open audition in New York to any young aspiring talents to showcase their talents. My attention automatically sparked while my eyes widened. Right there and then, I knew that I wanted to to join the audition. Although, something inside me held me back from signing up for the audition, I had doubts about myself and how I might make a fool out of myself due to my shyness when put on the limelight. I was never the type of person who enjoyed being put on the spotlight or being the center of the attention. I hated the feeling. And so, I decided to ignore the audition. A couple of days after stumbling upon on the audition site, my friend and I were discussing about music and our passion for it -- her in singing while I talked about dancing. She then mentioned an audition site that was happening in New York. Ironically enough, she was talking about the SAME EXACT audition that caught my attention a few days back. She encouraged me to tryout for the audition. I refused at first, explaining to her about my fear of making a fool out of myself in front of everyone and my lack of confidence. But her constant words of encouragement gave me some push towards my decision of auditioning. I came home that day with the thoughts of the audition running wildly on my mind, I was hesitant a bit due to the fact that my parents my just laugh at me and reject at my silly thoughts. Yes, I was also afraid of what my parents would think about it,but my desire to go to the audition was far greater than what I had expected that somehow I was able to put all my fears behind me and end up asking my parents if I could go to the audition site. To my surprise, they were quite supportive of me and took me to the audition. I was very much relieved, the happiness and excitement I felt inside was more than what I could describe. And so, I auditioned and had a blast. Though I didn’t get too far with the audition, I was able to take home a once in a lifetime experience. I took a risk and what I had gained from it was far more than what I could benefit from. By taking a chance, my passion for dancing grew even more.

A Little Thing Called Love.

What is love? Is love really definable? Just what exactly is love? If you were to look it up in the dictionary, love means to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person; it is a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection. The dictionary gives a rather very close meaning to what love is, yet the given meanings are not enough to describe such a simple word.

Simple. How can a word that is composed with only four letters from the alphabet, a word that only has one syllable, a word so simple, hold endless meanings that can be interpreted in different various ways by so many? In my personal opinion, the word “love” cannot be so easily defined. Hell, can it even be defined? Perhaps it’s easy for a person, who has not experienced what it’s like to love and to be loved - or rather does not understand the concept of love, to say, “Well, love, of course is _______ and ________, with a little of _________ mixed in.” But if you ask what is love anyway, I would probably be bad at describing it because there are million of ways to describe it. Love can’t be really seen, smelled, nor tasted, but it can be felt. If you ask of a description of the word -- what love feels like -- well, love brings you both pain and happiness. Without the pain that love brings, it would be impossible to see and feel love. With the pain, we are able to realize and notice just how beautiful everything is, even the smallest things.

Love makes your heart flutter in weakness, it makes your heart beat nonstop whenever that certain someone appears in front of you. Even with just a mere thought of them makes your world stop in an instant as if nothing could matter more than that special person.. Often at times, you find yourself going crazy about them, unable to ignore or forget such a feeling; and at the end all you do is keep going back. Your mind is about to explode from just thinking of them. With every touch, every sensation love brings, it seems to keep you in a trance. Although, with every beauty love brings comes the unbearable heartaches. There is no such thing as a “perfect love”. If a “perfect love” is what you seek of, where everything is just filled with happiness and beautiful times, then you might as well give up on searching such a kind of love because it’s not guaranteed that love can only provide you those good times. There will be a time where one will find themselves crying, being torn apart, their heart shattered into pieces, and it’s as if the world has fallen apart upon them. But it is only natural for the feeling of suffering and sorrow to be attached to a world like “love”. Loving someone and love itself is never easy, and if it was, we would be living in such a beautiful, peaceful world. There's going to be moments where it may see that everything couldn't be more perfect than the the present moment you are engulfed in and there will be times where it may seem that everything you knew and know of has fallen into darkness with no way out. But that's what makes love beautiful. Without all of its imperfections, we wouldn't be able to appreciate the things that makes it perfect.

Love is found in the most unexpected places, at the most unexpected moment. There is no definite place nor definite time that will tell you where and when to find love. There is no map that shows you where love is located, no clues that hints you where to find love, there’s no pot at the end of a rainbow that is filled with love. If anything, you don’t really find love, love finds you. Love also has no certain routines nor habits that can be pinpointed. Love is not hard to get, it comes naturally; it may take time to get, but sooner or later it will come. There are those who has already found the person they’ll love and spend the rest of their lives with and yet there are those who haven't found it yet. It’s just a matter of time really. It’s also rubbish to say that there are those who can’t have it or those who don’t deserve to love and to be loved. There are no qualifications of some sort to be granted with love. Everyone can have love, it just depends on what they decide to do with it -- if they choose to cherish or throw it away.


One can never have too much of love if they know how to cherish it. If one doesn’t know how to care for love, then what value does is really hold? Is there even a sentimental value in such a feeling? It must be fully appreciated in order for a person to see the value in what love can bring.


We, as humans, often come across things that we thought was valuable to us and yet only find ourselves wanting to get rid of such a thing. For example, when you were probably just a child, you always want the best and newest toys out there. So whenever your friend showed off their new toy, you always end up wanting the same one. You ask your parents for that certain toy, they buy it for you, you play with it several times, but find yourself growing tired of it. Love is no different from a toy. To fall in love so easily only means to fall out of love too quickly. One may thing that what they have is love, but when given the time to sit down and just think, it can be quite surprising what they might realize after mere self-reflections. Soon, they find themselves trapped in love’s lucid dream because of their realization that what one once thought was love was never really love after all. Some of us truly fall in love with that one person who we can't live without, and yet some of us only fall in love with the idea of love and being loved. Hence, the reason as to why people in relationships break-up...

Blog 15: Time Machine

Time traveling is not a foreign topic for me. As a matter of fact, it has always been a constant thought of mine. If I was able to travel back to the past, choosing a particular time or era is something that would be pretty hard for me to do. There are many eras in the past that I would love to visit such as the ancient era of the Roman Empire, the Greek Empire, the Chinese Empire and ancient Egypt. I would definitely want to be able to live in the times of when Alexander the Great, Achilles, Hector of Troy, Augustus, Caesar, just to name a few, roamed the earth. And since I am Catholic, I want to be able to see how Jesus Christ lived and how he was crucified by Pontius Pilate. I want to witness the era where the Three Kingdoms ruled China. I would want to go back to the ancient times because that particular era, in my opinion, is just so interesting and it is just full of culture. Not only that, Hollywood generated movies about these empires and about the ancient world like Troy, Alexander, Gladiator, etc; made my interest in the ancient world grow even further. The things I would probably end up doing at those specific era is that I would explore and experience how life was during the ancient times. Experiencing how life is without all the advanced technology that I have surrounded me, without all the usual technology that I use every single day. I want to meet people from the past, interacting with them as if I was a part of that timeline. I also want to witness famous/infamous events like the Trojan War, the Persian War, etc. I also want to be able to watch gladiators fighting, even how horrid it may seem, in the humongous and famous Coliseum during the domination of the Roman Empire. Perhaps you could say that the movie Gladiator made me want to watch gladiator fights.

Traveling back to ancient times would be really cool, but it’s not the only era that I wish to visit if I was given a time machine or the power to travel back in time. I would not mind stopping by the 60’s, 70’s, and the 80’s. To me, these decades seemed so full of life and color. They’re just a happy-go-lucky generation in my opinion compared to the generation I live in now, where everything is just so fast-paced. And coming from my parent’s stories about those times especially in the 80’s, I would definitely love to take a visit. I am also in love with the fashion from those times even thought some are a bit questionable. But, hey, everything changes with time and so does our fashion sense. I probably would do everything that any teenager would do during those times especially since they don’t have anything to fill their boredom or they don’t revolve themselves around the Internet, any social networking sites, or a cellphone. Everything just seemed so laid-back and I’m pretty jealous of that.

Blog 17: Walking Down Memory Lane

Whenever I think about the past, various pictures of my memories cross my mind. From the most distant memories that I could possibly remember when I was still a young girl until to the most recent ones, I could probably and proudly say that I can still vividly recall most of them as if they are movies on a constant playback running on my mind. I would not really say that I have had the best memories nor can I say that I only have happy ones either; because in all reality, we all know that that is a far cry from reality; pretty impossible to happen. Everyone has at least one memory that they consider rather too sorrowful for them to even want to remember and sometimes we choose these memories to be buried in which they are almost extinct from our minds, yet never gone. And then there are also those memories that we cherish so dearly maybe because they were joyful ones, as well as because they served a purpose in our lives that had impacted us in very possible way. Memories are in fact, events in our life.

Like I have mentioned before, I have a very vivid memory and perhaps my one of the memories I can remember very clearly, and it probably will not leave my mind, would be when I broke my arm. It was, I think, the year 2000 or 2001 and I was still living in the Philippines. I was about five or six years-old at that time, I just finished watching a Jackie Chan movie, and as a kid I was a huge Jackie Chan fan. When girls my age would usually watch movies about fairy-tales, princesses, and such; I would usually watch action movies especially Jackie Chan's. Don't get me wrong I did watch all those Disney classics especially Mulan--oh how she was my favorite Disney princess, or rather Disney heroine. I think that kind of gives off some details about my personality, right? But back to as I was saying, I just finished watching a Jackie Chan movie with my brother and cousins, and I was so amazed with his martial arts stunts that I would usually try to imitate him. So when a part of the movie came when he would do a flying kick while high up in the air, I wanted to do the same. Therefore, my brother and I, as well as my cousins went outside of our house and started doing some martial arts that we saw in the movie. I was so into trying to imitate Jackie Chan's stunts especially his flying kick that I tried to do the same stunt. Oh how stupid of me, but hey what can I do, I didn't know better and I was just a kid! So what I did was place a chair in front of me that served as my kicking target while I climbed up into a higher ground, well, a higher chair to say the least. Standing from the higher chair, I balanced myself as I focused my attention on my target. I jumped, so high in the air, while I was on my kicking position. Then, the rest was history. My foot collided with the chair I had intended to hit from the first place, landing abruptly on my right arm on the cemented floor.

Everything went blank; I felt certain numbness before feeling a surge of unexplainable pain on my right arm.  The pain was unbearable and to make it worse my arm looked horrifying. With my arm bent as there was also a cut, I didn't know what was going on nor did I know what had just happened with my arm. As a six year-old I was terrified out of my wits. I started crying I uncontrollably as fear overcame me. My two aunts came outside to where I was, sobbing my little heart out, since my mom was still at work. Examining my arm, they tried to ask me what had happened, but nothing came out of my mouth nor did anything cross my mind until they asked me again and again. I lied, I actually lied about how I ended up on the ground and injuring my arm just so that I could avoid a scolding from them and especially to my mom when she finds out due to my stupidity and recklessness. What I told them was that I was sitting on the high chair and trying to reach something and fell, landing hard on my right arm.

As time passed by, that lie I had made up was still my excuse whenever that topic would come up within my family members, with the exception of my little brother of course. He was the one who actually witnessed the whole incident and the only one who knew what had really happened. He eventually ratted me out and I just blushed in embarrassment as I admitted to it. Nevertheless, it was a memory worth reminiscing.

Blog 9: Family Member Elected to Office

If I were given a chance to be able to elect someone from my family to serve for the government, I would pick my uncle. The position that I would choose to elect him in would be the position of at least a governor. Why? Well it is basically because he is a lawyer. Perhaps, that’s the biggest, yet not the only reason as to why I have chosen him, out of all my family members, to be elected into office. In addition, the reason as to why I chose my Uncle Mike was because he is very much familiar with politics and how it functions. Despite the fact that he is currently residing in the Philippines, he is still very much familiar with the American government and how it works, as well as the issues that they are faced with.

As a matter of fact, I can envision him being elected as the governor of New Jersey. I could just see my Uncle Mike bringing the economy of New Jersey in an upwards direction. With the fact that Governor Chris Christie is targeting the public schools by cutting the school’s budgets down, and cutting school teachers and their salaries, I think that’s an issue that my Uncle would be able to resolve since he values education very much. Moreover, my Uncle Mike also went to a business school before he went to pursue law school. Thus, he also has the mind and knowledge of a business man. He knows the little tweaks here and there about the business world. He would be also be able to offer benefits for everyone of us such as building new businesses that would only make the economy of the state of New Jersey a lot stronger than it is now.

To add to that, Uncle Mike has a good mindset, has good virtues, and principles that would not make him a corrupt politician. Corruption and my uncle does not mix well as he personally hates it. But when anyone takes the time to look at it, who finds corruption appealing anyways? He is not easily swayed by the temptation of having a lot of money, gaining more power, or anything that benefits him through the act of a corrupt politician. It is not in his nature at all. He would rather see his countrymen gain benefits before him, he loves to serve the people. Perhaps that is the reason as to why he is a lawyer in the first place. And speaking of people, my Uncle Mike is a people’s person. He is very charismatic towards the mass since he loves interacting woth people and love to hear their honest opinions o issues. He believes that by listening to them, you are able to learn many things about them and that you are able to improve not only things that needs improvements, but also be able to improve on yourself and how you will be able to handle matters. With these qualities, I believe that my Uncle Mike is eligible enough to be elected as a governor.

Blog 12: Unlimited Travel - Anywhere and Everywhere

If someone was to give me a plane ticket for anywhere in the world and unlimited money for a good three months, I would most likely spend it on many things such as buying numerous souvenirs, traveling to different destinations in different countries. and eating loads of food that I have never tried before. Though at the same time, I would spend the money wisely.

I envision myself traveling around the world instead of staying in the same country, but I have always wanted to visit the countries in Europe and Asia the most. European and Asian cultures just fascinate me so much. It’s not that other cultures other than the two don’t fascinate me, but I have always been more interested at Europe and Asia as well as the culture behind it.  If I was in Europe, I would love to visit Spain, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, and Portugal; just to name a few. Europe itself is just very mind-boggling in my opinion just because of the rich history that surrounds the continent. I always enjoyed watching and learning about ancient times like the Greeks and Romans. I would love to be able to see all the famous landmarks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Colosseum in Italy, the Eiffel Tower of France, visit the Buckingham Palace or the Stonehenge found in United Kingdom, visiting the sites of where the Greek empires once stood such as the site of the Battle of Thermopylae where 300 Spartans defended and died, and the infamous concentration camps in Germany. There’s just so many places that I would love to visit in Europe

My reasons for wanting to travel around Asia also shares the same reasons with my reasons for wanting to travel around Europe. I am very much fascinated with Asian culture because of the rich culture and all the traditions. Perhaps, it is also because I’m Asian myself or my “Asianess” kicking in, in which I find a certain connection whenever I’m talking or learning about anything Asian-related. The countries I would love to step foot on beside my home country, the Philippines, are South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, just to name a few once more. Once again, I would definitely visit famous landmarks such as the Great Wall of China, check out the fast life and vibrant lights of Tokyo in Japan, travel in a boat in Bangkok through the waters of Thailand, etc.

In terms of a place to stay, I would probably stay in a luxurious hotel, just to see how it feels like to stay at a fancy hotel. However, I wouldn’t pour all the money into a fancy hotel. I am more concerned about spending my money on traveling to other places. Moreover, when it comes to food and trying new foods, I will most definitely willing to try new foods. I love exotic food so much, well not too exotic to be exact like cow eyeballs or something way out of this world. But most of the time I will try new food, it all depends whether my stomach can hold what I am eating and if it doesn’t gross me out, which is very rare to happen to me anyways. And to add to that, I am not a picky eater to start with. Also, who doesn’t love Asian food?! Thus, trying new food wouldn’t be a problem for me at all.

Blog 16: Keeping Nature Balanced

What does "Keeping nature balanced" exactly mean? In my opinion, the balance of nature is a relationship between organisms --- plants, animals, humans, and other living organisms to be able to co-exist with one another. That is just the natural community our planet provides. These are kept in balanced by all the interactions made by the organisms in specific areas and also their interactions with the non-living factors that surround them. There are many factors that keeps and affects the balance of nature such as population growth of one species. Predators are present for a reason; if a certain specie or, rather prey, happens to grow rapidly without the presence of predators, the flow of the food chain would be affected. In addition, another factor would be keeping stress out between organisms. Animal tend to be very aggressive and fight with each other due to environments being overly crowded. So it is quite important that the flow of the food chain and the population of species not be disturbed in order to keep nature in balance. Other factors that might affect the balance of nature are changes that are deemed to be unnatural especially when humans interrupts the flow of nature.

I would say that the natural world is strutting the borderline in terms of being balanced. If you were to compare the world centuries ago and now, there has been obvious changes that has occurred and the natural world has become less and less balanced. Many living organisms have now become extinct and are on the brink of extinction. The natural environment as well as habitats are being destroyed every single day by the ongoing advancements we, humans, make. We are obliterating forests, in which are home to thousands of species, for industrialization and emerging developments. Moreover, global warming is another factor that interrupts the balance of nature and one of the causes to global warming is pollution that are caused by humans. It will only be a matter of time before all these nature that we take for granted will be gone. Doomsday may very well be near if such disruptions are made in the balance of nature.

However, humans are not always at fault when it comes to nature's balance. As a matter of fact, we are part of that balance. What are we anyway? Are we not part of the world? Are we not also living organisms? We are indeed part of nature's balance and just as much as we tend to take something out of nature's balance, we also give something back. We are at the top of the food chain, therefore we are responsible to keeping order in nature. We are the ones who track and repair what is off balanced in nature. That, in my opinion, is our purpose in nature. That is what we contribute to nature's balance. Although, we are not always in control. There will be factors in nature that we will not be able to control and thus, we will just have to learn to accept it and adapt to it. Sometime, it is better to just leave it to mother nature.