Don't you wish that someone or something should've warned you about the academic year? A guide, maybe; a warning that could have been really helpful.
(This is how Obama's inauguration affected me. Crap, I'm crazy.)
A (socially/emotionally retarded) Juvenile's Guide to Normalcy and Stability in College
A strange, new world awaits you. You are ignorant. You do not know everything. Right now, forget your academic achievements prior to college. Rather than help you, it will make you seem like an arrogant a*s.
Make friends. How dare you say that you can survive alone. Swallow your pride and insecurities and ask help. Contract your facial muscles to form a smile. Gesticulate. Don't bring a book you're currently reading so as to force yourself to have stimulating conversations with your peers. Scratch that. Force is such a strong word. Be genuinely interested. Know the saying Don't judge a book by its cover? Remember it by heart and don't ever forget it. Accept that some people do give off hot air in the room. Don't mind it.
Be discerning of your decisions. You might regret it later. Take risks and just try. You've got nothing to lose since you're just a wimpy freshman. If you want to do something, even if you don't think you could do it, just do it (Nike has a good ad agency).
If you want to audition for the UP Manila Chorale, don't eat allergy-inducing food from McDonald's. They will cost you an opportunity.
Know your territory. That way, you can save more money.
Don't overestimate yourself. Get a dormitory unit or a condominium unit. The commute is hard. Traffic sucks. Sitting for two hours in a cramped car will make your butt sore.
Use technology to your advantage.
Think of the future but get your feet on the ground. Don't procrastinate. Don't feel like such a failure if you fail your first exam. Don't reassure yourself by using your university as an ice bag/safety net. Study. It works. It sure does. Don't lose your momentum by the beginning of the second month of the school year.
Enjoy. Play the guitar, sing in the shower more often, watch movies (preferably with your friends), practice your swing in the driving range, squeeze your dog's wrinkly face, draw, write, read non-depressing books, buy stuff for yourself, and spend time with your friends. In short, carpe diem.
Practice speaking in Filipino. It's embarrassing. At the same time, tame your twang.
The world wide web is your friend. Just don't make it your best friend.
Head-banging to Air Traffic, The Strokes, The White Stripes, Cold War Kids, Switchfoot, and other bands of upbeat music is cathartic. Stress is like, so uncool.
Laugh at yourself. It's fun.
Be familiar with the LRT, the MRT, the bus, the jeepney, and other alternatives of transportation. You will be needing this in the future if ever you need to go to various libraries, celebrations (the annual lantern parade), or would spend the whole day in your assigned MRT station (RockEd/NSTP).
Control your temper. It will induce palpitations and asthma attacks. Which reminds me, don't have an asthma attack before your Philo1 class But be thankful that you didn't get to watch the Oblation Run.
Your close circle of friends in college are great, funny, fantabulous people. No matter how cliche it sounds, treasure them. Find another less embarrassing word for treasure. Do manage to remember their birthdays.
Music is love.
Love for a certain subject has a symmetric relationship with your final grade.
(On a more serious note...) Pray. Thank Him for opportunities, grades, and everything you will receive throughout the academic year. Pray for self-control, patience, joy, and perseverance. Have faith and be grateful.
Paying It Back for Mang Meliton a.k.a "Mang Milton"
Posted by Mike on Dec 26, '08 9:06 AM for everyone
Meet Meliton Zamora, a retired University of the Philippines janitor and my hero.
For forty-five years, he swept floors, cleaned up trash, watered plants and did odd jobs at the University.
I met him when I was active with the UP Repertory Company, a theater group based (then) at the third floor lobby of the Arts & Sciences (AS) building. He would sweep and mop the hallway floors in silence, venturing only a nod and a smile whenever I passed him.
Back then, for me he was just one of those characters whom you got acquainted with and left behind as soon as you earned your degree and left the university for some big job in the real world. Someone whose name would probably ring a bell but whose face you'd have a hard time picturing. But for many UP students like me who were hard up and had a difficult time paying their tuition fees, Mang Mel was a hero who gave them the opportunity to finish university and get a big job in the real world.
The year was 1993 and I was on my last semester as a Clothing Technology student. My parents had been down on their luck and were struggling to pay for my tuition fee. I had been categorized as Bracket 9 in the recently implemented Socialized Tuiton and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP). My father had lost his job and to supplement my allowance, I worked part time as a Guest Relations Officer at Sam's Diner (back when the term GRO didn't have shady undertones) and took some odd jobs as a Production Assistant, movie extra and wardrobe mistress.
To be eligible for graduation, I had to enroll in my last three courses and pay my tuition fee. Since my parents didn't have enough money for my matriculation, I applied for a student loan hoping that my one of my Home Economics (HE) professors would take pity on me and sign on as a guarantor for the student loan. But those whom I approached either refused or were not eligible as guarantors. After two unsuccessful weeks of looking for a guarantor, my prospects looked dim, my future dark. And so, there I was, a downtrodden twenty year old with a foggy future, crying in the AS lobby. I only had twenty four hours left to look for a guarantor.
Mang Mel, with a mop in hand, approached me and asked me why I was crying. I told him I had no guarantor for my student loan and will probably not be able to enroll this semester. I had no hopes that he would be able to help me. After all, he was just a janitor. He borrowed my loan application papers and said softly, "Puwede ako pumirma. Empleyado ako ng UP." He borrowed my pen and signed his name. With his simple act of faith, Mang Mel not only saved my day, he also saved my future.
I paid my student loan the summer after that fateful day with Mang Milton and it has been 15 years since then. I am not filthy rich but I do have a good job in the real world that allows me to support my family and eat three meals a day. A few weeks ago, a friend and UP Professor, Daki, told me that Mang Mel recently recorded an album which he sells to supplement his meager retirement pay, I asked another friend, Blaise, who's taking his Master's degree at UP to find out how we could contact Mang Mel. My gesture of gratitude for Mang Mel's altruism has been long overdue. As fate would have it, my friend saw Mang Mel coming out of the shrubbery from behind the UP library, carrying firewood. He got Mang Mel's address and promised him that we would come over to buy his album.
Together with Blaise and my husband Augie, I went to pay Mang Mel a visit last Sunday. Unfortunately, he was out doing a little sideline gardening for a UP professor in Tandang Sora. We were welcomed into their home by his daughter Kit. As she pointed out to a laminated photo of Mang Mel on the wall, she proudly told us that her father did retire with recognition from the University. However, she sadly related to us that many of the students whose loans Mang Mel guaranteed neglected to settle their student loans. After forty-five years of service to the University, Mang Mel was only attributed 171 days of work for his retirement pay because all the unpaid student loans were deducted from his full retirement pay of about 675 days. This seems to me a cruel repayment for his kindness.
This is a cybercall to anyone who did not get to pay their student loans that were guaranteed by Mang Mel. Anytime would be a good time to show Mang Mel your gratitude.
Mang Mel is not asking for a dole out, though I know he will be thankful for any assistance you can give. So I ask those of you who also benefited from Mang Meliton's goodness or for those who simply wish to share your blessings, please do visit Mang Mel and buy his CD (P350 only) at No. 16-A, Block 1, Pook Ricarte, U.P. Campus, Diliman, Quezon City (behind UP International House) or contact his daughter Kit V. Zamora at 0916-4058104. ._
http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"> name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12">
Nothing is impossible.
Man has proven that through automobiles, airplanes, and even landing on the moon. Man has established civilizations and empires that have lasted for centuries. Would it have all been done by one man? No, some may insist. Everything that has been done was attained through cooperation. It brings us to ask if it is then possible for one man to change the world. And due to a lengthy discussion (we are Political Science students, you know), we were asked if the world should change and what we’d like to change about it.
A lot of people may say that change can never be brought about by one. People have helped along the way. Without ‘others’, he wouldn’t have changed anything. Some may also say that the world is an immovable force; it is too big and vast. While a few may not even consider the idea, simply stating that change should begin with us.
Yes, people have helped along the way. Yes, the world is big and vast. Yes, we should start change with ourselves first. But let’s not get ourselves delve deeper into the quicksand of technicalities. If people would always say that an individual had help along the way and ergo, could not be considered, then heroes could not be heroes. We shouldn’t be able to remember Einstein or Andres Bonifacio. If people would stress that the world is vast, then why did Alexander the Great nearly conquer the world? But yes, I do believe in changing ourselves first.
I strongly believe that one man can change the world. Adolf Hitler did. And even President-elect Barack Obama epitomizes the word itself. I may have been called an idealist but I prefer optimist. All of us have the capacity to make a difference, to spark a revolution, to think up a grand idea that can change the world. I think we should just have the conviction, faith in ourselves and humanity, and an incredible vision. After we change ourselves.
With all these arguments, I do believe that the world should change. Again, people may say that without pain, conflict, and death, we would not know what happiness or love is. Virtues would be nonexistent. But aren’t we living in the world everyday trying so desperately to improve ourselves and not wallow in our own filth? Aren’t we being human by bringing pain to other people and solving that afterwards?
Yes, pain, conflict, and death exist. But we strive to forget and move on. I believe that God created this world for us to be happy. The world should change, by people igniting the fire of hope and love in others. We are constantly in a struggle for happiness and we should help others find their own. All the sources of human suffering are in a great degree but are conquerable by human effort; and though their removal is a slow process (generations will have died), it can be achieved.
If I could, I would change the perception of the impossible – in the sense that there are unfathomable problems and that peace or anything close to nirvana cannot be attained. Humanity has already proven itself capable of such a feat, but people are still scared to death of that responsibility.
All of them might be a dream to many. But I’m still an optimist.
‘The real tragedy is the tragedy of the man who never in his life braces himself for his one supreme effort – he never stretches to his full capacity, never stands up to his full stature.’ –Arnold Bennett
These made my year: (I do think they're in chronological order)
Kalog (Aby, Cathy, Rosette, Yuko, Kate, and Anna) - They were a different breed of people I usually stay with. And it's not bad. It is new but it's also very warm and unexpected, especially when you're still kinda new in your senior year.
Cate Blanchett getting double nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in the Academy Awards and winning Best Supporting Actress in the Golden Globes. - It's pretty weird, you know. But she is my favorite actress.
Making up with my friends - Speaks for itself
Graduation - The hard work was all worth it. The arguments with Ms Pineda about the school paper, the cramming, the competitions, the research paper, and the projects would be meaningful and would pay off in the end.
Sarheene's birthday - The last time we'd all be together before college life would start.
David Cook wining American Idol - Come on... David Archuleta? Ugh. But I still hate the radio stations' abuse of 'Always Be My Baby'. It's not his best song! How about 'Billie Jean'?
Indiana Jones and the Kigdom of the Crystal Skull - Haha moments. Indy's back. Older, slower, but with a new villain I love.
De La Salle University, Abegail Castro, Angellyn Ko, Jhana Sulit, Zalde Landicho, Belinda To, Ralph Yu, Raphael Cho, Joren Tan - Although short, the Animo experience will always be remembered. I made a lot of new friends and strengthened the one I had with Aby. Leaving at 6 am and taking many routes to and from La Salle was fun too.
Finding out that I was reconsidered for UP Manila - May 29th, around 3 pm, PE class. I got a call from Papa begging me to stay in La Salle. Confusion, anger, and arguments followed. This was a miracle.
The planner Louise gave me - It solved my time management skills. Whew.
Tina Fey bagging three Emmys: Best Actress, Best Writing, and Most Outsanding Comedy Series for 30 Rock - Tina's one of my favorite people. Other than that, she also out-Sarah'd Sarah Palin in SNL with her famous quote "I can see Russia from my house." She is undoubtedy the world's funniest and smartest woman today.
UUL and GBox. The 'block spirit' phase. - Short-lived, crazy, and quite fun. Pre-block issues.
Death of Ye ye - Although devastating, this brought me a new friend in Tessa Trazona.
The Dark Knight - Posthumously shows Heath Ledger as the creepier Joker. A metaphor about current times.
Karatula winning in the Skit Nayt - Our org's first major activity. I also enjoyed the Quiapo escapade.
Dien Castillon, Aeson Dantis, Daphne Maza - New additions to the menagerie.
My GWA despite my lackluster academic performance - Another miracle. We survived!
My 30 Rock, Heroes, Ugly Betty, and (gasp!) Gossip Girl marathon - I kind of love TV and when I do get crazy, I watch Gossip Girl. For fun and leisure.
Barack Obama being elected the 44th president of the United States - Who wouldn't write this as one of the events that made their year? (Republicans) 'Yes, we can' is now a famous quote.
Richelle Ugalde and Lance Dador - Latest additions to my menagerie.
Rock the Riles - The 7th of December was so fun and 'exciting'. Bands, photo ops, friends all made my day. Watching Ang Bandang Shirley, Juan Pablo Dream, and Sugarfree with friends was unforgettable.
Michael Johns in Greenbelt - Swoon and 'in awe' moment.
Floy Quintos' Atang - A great musical starring Shamaine Centenero-Buencamino and Ayen Laurel.
Lantern Parade in UP Diliman - Bonding, walking, bonding, and walking. Great fireworks. Hyped up parade. Lots of cheering. Food. Walking.
Star City and 'Twilight' - Hated the movie. Loved the friends. Partly loved walking and standing in line for 20 minutes at most.
This could be a naive answer to the question but I believe we should learn to ACCEPT. Accept that humans are flawed, that this friend of yours can be bitchy at times, that college will always be hard (especially since it's a premier university), that there will be a time for everything, and that there are things which are not in our control.
