SPEECH CHOIR COMPETITION

After 2 weeks of preparation, finally it all comes down to performing our speech choir. The event started with an opening speech and some mechanics on the judging of the speech choir. A lot of preparations, practice, some arguments, stress and sometimes laziness but thankfully we were able to perform. A lot of thought and creativity was put in the performance and the AVP as well. At some point there were doubts and problems but we were able to successfully finish. 

            We were the last ABMA to perform and so the nervousness kept on creeping in while watching the other blocks perform. Each block was great and did their best to perform. Also, after each blocks perform their speech choir the ignite speakers perform their speech with their power point presentation. Seeing all the creative costumes and performance of each block makes me worry about our block. I just hope that everything that we’ve been through would pay off. At last, our block was next; first, our AVP was shown. I’m proud to say that I did a good job acting in the AVP even though I thought I looked like a fool. As we perform my hands doesn’t seem to stop shaking from nervousness and my mind was focused on the performance. And finally it ends. Thank God, we were able to perform even though there were little mistakes. After our performance, we were finally relieved but anticipating who are the winners. After all the performances, it was finally the time that we’ve been waiting for; the announcement of winners. The winners for the Public Speaking Contest were the first to be announced and we were so proud of the result because our blockmate, Jod Gulle, won 1^st Place. Next the ERC logo making contest was next and it was good news because our blockmate, Wella Roxas won 1^st place. The winners for ignite speaking was next, Gem Bravo our blockmate won 1^st place. This made us really proud and thankful. There was also the announcement of the best AVP and we congratulate CPE 151 for winning. The last one, the moment that everyone was waiting for, the announcement of winners of the Speech Choir; the champion was CPE 151, 1^st runner-up was given to ECE 151 and 2^nd place was given to none other than ABMA 151! Yay! Praise God! We got 2^nd runner-up. All our hard work has paid off. It was a great experience and hopefully the next ones would also enjoy this contest like us.

          

Public Speaking Competition

    When I hear ‘public speaking’ it makes me thinks of confidence, fluency and wit. That’s what happened today, I was one of the chosen representatives of our block to deliver a speech about “Integrity has no need of rules.” a quote by Albert Camus. Honestly it was nerve-wrecking; I am not used to do public speaking although we have a subject about that. You see I have the tendency to jumble or stutter my words when I get nervous especially if it was not really my thing to do.

        Anyways, gathered at the auditorium finally, to deliver our speeches in front of our respective panellists and fellow contestants. All the preparation comes down at that moment, mixture of confusion and nervousness fills me. Trying to remember all the words in my speech; as I was called to speak I have the confidence that I’ll be able to finish my speech but it didn’t go the way I expected it to be, maybe because my heart wasn’t really in the competition. I was just there to finish a task that was given to me; I didn’t treat it like a competition that I have to aim for. I did put my effort into making my speech, I tried all my best to revised and revised but I felt like my speech wasn’t content-wise. I guess, I’m not really good at writing speeches that are competition material? I don’t know. I have to admit, I’m more of a poet and song composer, I just really don’t like serious speeches. Yeah that’s it.

       What I liked about the competition is that I gained an experience and I gained friends. At least when the time comes that I have to compete again hopefully I will be ready. I’m thankful for this English term because I was able to gain knowledge and skills. Through this I will be able to use it in the near future.

Event: "Pinoy Games"

I was supposed to attend an artist talk that was required to be blogged about but I wasn’t because I had to participate and facilitate an event which is of the events handled by Bahay Bumbilya an organization that I’m part of. Since I wasn’t active for the past 2 terms, I had to make up for the days I’ve missed and to handle Pinoy Games is my chance to participate. We were give a head facilitator who would instruct us and assign us with the things needed to be done.

                 We had several meetings to plan the event and come up with twists for the pinoy games. The pinoy games that are played on the first day was Agawang Base, Patintero, Agawang Buko and Tamaang Tao while on the second day the games that was supposed to be played are Piko, Bete Uno, Chinese Garter and Tumbang Preso. While planning and preparing for the event we had a hard time looking for players but thankfully we had several people that joined on the first day most of them are members of Bahay Bumbilya who went to support the event. It was fun watching all of them play and be confused about the games played since all of us facilitators of the event does not know how to play some of it but the President of Bahay Bumbilya came to the rescue and hosted the event and helped us facilitate which made it more fun since he uplift the mood with funny comments while the players play. As the time passes a lot of the members of Bahay Bumbilya visits and helps us out as well. The first day finished successfully but the second day was already cancelled since we decided that no one was interested to play anymore.

                It was my first to handle an event but I learned a lot from it, seeing the officers of Bahay Bumbilya do everything they can to make all the events successful makes me motivated to work harder in school. 

Event: A visit from Bejamin Alves

I was impressed by the film called Sana Dati which got stuck on my head for several days made me curious about the casts who played the main characters. I followed them in their social networking sites like instagram and twitter. Now, when our professor announced that ERC will be holding an event which one of the actors of Sana Dati will be a guest we were excited to meet him. The actor is none other than Benjamin Alves who played Andrew Cesario the love of Andrea Gonzaga who was played by Lovi Poe. The event was held on March 18, 2016; it started at around 1:30 pm and the venue was at MPH1. Benjamin visited and celebrated his birthday early with us!

                The venue really prepared, with cakes, cupcakes, and other food. The stage was decorated with an artsy background.  A host officially opened the event and asks for some representatives to play a game which didn’t turn out really well... they didn’t win since none of them knows how to properly play the game or maybe they were just confused because of the host’s outgoing personality. After the game, Benjamin was introduced, the room was filled with applause and screams, didn’t know he graduated Summa cum laude at the University of Guam with a degree in English Literature. After being introduced, the top 3 winners of the Slam Poetry performed their piece and Benjamin has to choose the best of all of them but he announced that he liked all of their performances and chose all of them as winners. Benjamin also performed his personal piece in front; it was inspired by his past love. I have to admit, I really liked his poem, and it’s really going to struck you in the heart because you know it was well written with true feelings.

Insights: Paddington

Paddington a movie that is not just entertaining but also heart warming perfectly made for everyone to watch. A movie that is filled with adventure and mishaps, with lessons that we must remember. For instances, we should show good manners to others, we shouldn’t just mess with the things that others own and we must show our hospitality.

It wasn’t easy for our adorable bear, Paddington, to find the home he was looking for but in the end he was able to find out that he was in the right family all along. The Brown family (only Mary Brown her son Jonathan) is the one that let Paddington live in their home in the mean time but as the story goes on Mary’s husband, Henry Brown, accepted Paddington and was willing to help Paddington also to find the explorer who his uncle Pastuzo and aunt Lucy once met. The only problem is Millicent Clyde, a sadistic taxidermist who captures, kills, and stuffs exotic animals to house in the Natural History Museum. She found out about Paddington and she was out to get him. She caught him when he was looking for the explorer who happens to be her father.

                Honestly, when I saw Millicent holding a knife with all the stuffed animals around her laboratory makes me so sad because I can feel how the animals were captured and not knowing that they’re going to be embalmed....ugh! Such pain... not knowing that you’re not going to wake up anymore because you’re embalmed while you were sleeping....gosh how cruel! I wish people would look for another way to show to people the species they have found. For example, why not just create a fake one instead of embalming a real one because isn’t that also killing? Anyways, enough with my inner animal loving personality.

                I was happy when the Brown family rescued Paddington from the cruel hands of Millicent. She deserves to be punished and she was... She was sentenced to community service at a petting zoo. Paddington, is now officially a part of the Brown Family and he writes to aunt Lucy saying that he has finally found a home. 

APC EPIDEMIC IV: Case 316

On March 10, 2016, APJMA held an event called APC EPIDEMIC IV: Case 316. A survival game event that filled the halls with screams and thrill. Team players must solve a case by going through every designated floor or levels where they’ll find clues spread out for them but not everyone will be able to survive because of limited clues in every levels and because of zombies awaiting on each floor ready take their life away.

As a marshal in the game I have a lot to say about it. APC EPIDEMIC IV: Case 316 is my most favourite event from College Week. An event that I won’t forget because of how much I enjoyed participating. I enjoy watching those who chose to act as zombies because even with the heavy make-ups and costumes they are wearing, they had fun thinking and planning of ways to scare the team players. It was funny how all the team players try very hard to find the clues they need even to the point where they get the wrong clues. We would always wonder where they found those objects like board games or sticks that aren’t even clues. Seeing how hard the facilitators and organizers of the event works makes the game run smoothly and the story of the game more convincing. Maybe there were little troubles and complaints coming from the players and the ones who are acting out as zombies but with us marshals, head marshals and facilitators we were still able to handle it. Being a marshal wasn’t easy as well because we have to watch over our designated floor. We have to make sure everyone is safe and no one was breaking the rule but with all those screaming, shouting and running coming from the players and zombies we really have to focus on who’s going to the next level or floor. Although, it was tiring I really had fun.

Although it was great, I hope that next time when they hold another event like this they’ll be able to make everyone who signed-in participate, attend the meetings and come on the day of the event on time. I also hope that they’ll be able to explain the mechanics and flow of the game properly to the marshals and zombies next time. I would still love to participate on the next EPIDEMIC.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire

Who wouldn’t want to be a millionaire? I think almost everyone wants to. 

                On March 8, 2016 we had an event called “Who wants to be a millionare?” yes it’s similar to the original game show but this is more focused on English. Each chosen blocks has three representatives to play in the game, whoever wins first place receives a trophy and a cash prize worth 3000 pesos and whoever wins second place gets a trophy as well and a cash prize worth 1500 pesos. Yes, it’s not literally millions but STILL it’s CASH!

                The whole audience was the blocks rooting for their respective representatives. It was fun watching them play and answer correctly. Audiences also had the opportunity to learn because of the questions and facts that was given to the players. Some of the questions were easy because of stock knowledge, some are challenging and some are unknown to them so some of them try guessing.

                     It was nerve wrecking for the representatives because their blocks are watching, cheering and cheering for them to win because they are the ones who has received high grades from the subject who was chosen to be their adviser for the said event. Some might have really reviewed for the event and some might have just relaxed until the event comes. I actually liked watching because I was learning new facts and words.

Seeing how the real game show is, I have to say that the questions for our version was still easy because in the original it’s mixed with Science, English, Math, History and other facts. Kudos to those who win and survive from the game especially those who are able to answer the million worth question but I am still proud of those players in our event mainly those who represented our block even if we didn’t win.

Photos taken by me.

 

Insights: Sana Dati

Love stories in real life doesn’t always end the way we wanted it to be because we don’t hold the future. I was able to watch a movie entitled “Sana Dati”. A romantic movie about a videographer named Dennis who was hired to cover the wedding of Andrea, the last love of his older brother Andrew. Andrea is getting married to Robert, a failed politician turned businessman who she first met in a wedding where she also met Andrew who was making a cover for the event. Andrea and Andrew eloped disobeying their parents and leaving their family. Sadly, Andrew dies due to his sickness Arrhythmia leaving Andrea who can’t move-on by his sudden death. Although, she has decided to live a new life and get married, Dennis’ unexpected appearance in her wedding gave her a chance to remember all the memories she had with Andrew making us viewers know what really happened. 

It really hurts to lose someone who we really love but what hurts more is when they die. No one can really predict what the future holds and sometimes the outcome hurts. Trying to forget them is really hard especially if we hadn’t really accepted it or moved on from it. Also, wrong decisions can bring bad effects especially when we disobey our parents. It’s not always us who make decisions in love we would always need somebody’s guidance mainly God’s guidance.

What I liked about the movie is that Dennis became a way for Andrea to relive the past love she can’t let go of because of fate’s cruelty. I also liked that Dennis didn’t agree to Andrea’s offer to runaway after the wedding, I felt that his mission was only to learn and know something about Andrea and why his older brother left their family. I loved the ending when Andrea went back to Andrew’s grave, ready to let go along with the things that Andrew gave her. Although, she said that she isn’t going to take of the blue shoes that he gave to her because she still needs to commute, she eventually left it as well when Robert followed her and was planning to pick her up. At the very end of the movie, she finally accepts the love that Robert has for her by saying “I Love You.”

Pictures: from google images

APC Anti Smoking Campaign

Smoking is definitely bad for your health even if young smokers find it cool. No matter what they invent just to make smoking more beneficial to public health, it will always be harmful. Cigarettes and E- cigarettes have nicotine that has bad effects for your health; it can lead you to cardiovascular disease, reinforcement disorders, for pregnant women they might have fetal development, and other bad side effects behind those main diseases.

In our school, we have a campaign called APC (Asia Pacific College) Anti Smoking Campaign; you’ll see posters in our school stating that smoking is bad for your health and there are also posters showing what happens when you smoke but I still find students and even professors smoking. Well, you really can’t remove that habit immediately, it takes a long process but they can if they really want to stop. Although, it is bad, it will also have a bad effect if they stop immediately especially if they’ve been smoking for so long, of course, because their body is already used to that and when they suddenly stop that’s when sickness or bad effects occurs more often. That’s why don’t start smoking, it’s a bad habit. Whether you are smoking or you stopped smoking, you’re already damaging your body.

I really don’t understand why cigarettes are created when all that it causes is bad even if in my research it originated from religious rituals. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit we’re to take good care of it because we’re the ones who are going to suffer if we tolerate those bad habits.

I really appreciate that our school is taking some time to advocate the Anti Smoking Campaign. I hope that more and more students will help. Let’s start a healthy practice as young as we are because with a healthy body is a healthy mind. 









Photos from google

Insights: Turn Left, Turn Right

When we started watching the movie Turn Left, Turn Right, I thought it would be something about music or poetry because the story started with rain (makes it feel more artsy for me) and then one of the main characters was reading a poem and then the other was playing a violin but then another scene shows up that made me think it would be a creepy film but no, it was not... it was simply a Love Story.

            It’s about two main characters namely; John Liu who’s a violinist and a composer who seems to have a problem having a permanent job. Next, is Eve Choi, a translator for a book publishing company, she’s tasked to translate foreign books into Chinese. Both of them have a problem with their job which makes them similar but that was not the point I was drawn to the movie. It was the times when they always cross paths but always has different directions examples: they ride bikes in the opposite directions on each side of the same street. Or they pass in a revolving door one coming, one going. Or on escalator – one going up and one going down and on a train station: one boarding one exiting. It’s really frustrating even if we know that they’ll meet eventually... and they did but destiny has some different plan. Even after meeting and exchanging numbers the ink was washed off by the rain and both got sick having a hard time to properly figure out a way to meet because they CANT’T EVEN CONTACT EACH OTHER. 

            Anyways, what’s more frustrating is they didn’t know that they’re living at the same block and the buildings of their apartment are side by side. Each had a nemesis that would do everything for both of them to forget each other but nothing could change the love that they have for each other. I really liked that even after all those crazy events happening destiny still made a way for them to meet even if I find the way they met again a little bit fast forward, funny and weird. Why? Well, why on earth is there a SUDDEN EARTHQUAKE just for the walls of the building to crash down and make them meet.  I didn’t like the unsatisfying ending (I find the ending meaningfull but...) even if we all know they ended up together and live a happy life.

I still have to admit, I did like the movie with all the headaches, heartaches and screams coming from my female blockmates and me due to the crossing paths of the main characters but never meeting. After watching the movie I remembered that in life we will never know what comes in our way and what the future holds, there will always be twists and turns but no matter what comes I will always entrust everything to God, even my love story because I would love Him to be the author of it. 

All pictures from: 

https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=turn+left+turn+right&espv=2&biw=1024&bih=623&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwimtrCS4JHLAhXJNJQKHQR_DBsQ_AUIBigB&dpr=1

Follow your PASSION...I did!!!

I was expecting something usual in the seminar that we had last February 11, 2016 but I was surprised that it was rather entertaining especially the guest speaker who’s none other than Jon Santos. The opening was a video of him singing while impersonating politicians, celebrities and etc. All of us who were watching had a good laugh and enjoy the video.  Next, Jon Santos introduced himself and made some little impersonation of Miriam Defensor and Erap. He talked about his journey in life and how he followed his passion. Through his journey he believed that nothing is an accident in life.  

Through this I got reminded that in life it’s about the inward and not what’s outward. All learning will enrich you but learning what you love will make you richer and will give you joy. Learn to be strategic and independent. I felt like when he said “knowledge is everything” it means that we gain knowledge through experiences. We must not let things stop us and we must be positive in facing every situation. We must learn to adjust in everything that life throws us and we must grow. Love can build if we take good care of it. We have plans in our life but we must accept that if it doesn’t work out there’s another plan for us that is greater and better. In life we must always be grateful even if negative things might come there will always be blessings that will come. 

In life we must learn to dance with it. We must be watchful and careful in choosing our friends because friends that connects with you even if apart from each other and stands beside you are the ones that will last longer. In life there’s always constant refining. We must face high roads and humble roads with faith.

Chants and Cheers Competition

                Another competition that will test ABMA 151's patience towards each other and skills that they have is Chants and Cheers, an event where 6 teams has to compete by chanting and cheering their own piece; those 6 teams are the ABMA blocks, and CPE 151 and ECE 151.

                We were given 1-2 weeks to create a piece for our chant and cheers. We were brainstorming and giving some ideas to the leader. The first piece was inspired by cup song, but some thinks that it's already very mainstream so it was changed. I find our leader funny while creating the piece that we'll perform because when somebody in our block suggests she would immediately ask them to write it and pass it to her, she would say "Sige, lagay niyo lang diyan, para marami tayong masabi." And it actually worked because we were able to create a piece to perform in Chants and Cheers and it was meaningful as well.

                Now, the hardest part was the steps to make beats and memorizing the whole piece. Some doesn't get the steps that easily so it has to be repeated several times or taught slowly to be able for them to catch up. Those steps contains stomping of feet and clapping of hands to create a pattern of beat. When it comes to memorizing the songs, we all had a hard time because not all of us knows the whole piece, some would murmur the words once they don't know the lines and when we practice we would sound like dead people or we lack energy. Our leader and our other blockmates who are heads of the practice scolded us because we weren't doing it right, we had several shouts and arguments with each other, but after we had an open forum we were able to restart again and continue with our practice. It's very suprising actually because after that heart to heart talk within our block we were able to practice with full energy and loud united voice.

                

               After a long long hard practice we performed in Chants and Cheers competition with nervousness and excitement. Showing what we've accomplished and what our block has done, we were blessed to be placed as 2nd runner in the competition. Yay! 

Here we are coming your way,

chanting our hearts and

cheering

We're ABMA 151!

(cr: all the photographers in the event)