Farewell '05!

note: Tamad mag format

For some life lasts a short while, but the memories it holds last forever.
-Laura Swenson

Life indeed is short. Look unto the lives of some famous people, they may have walked among our ancestors for how long, but they placed their mark into the book of history. Memories are amazing. You can venture to another dimension just by running through your memories; sometimes it even makes a tear or two drop. And just a while ago, my uncle showed me a picture, it was framed and by how it looked, it seemed really old. And there a 3 year old boy looking onto the camera, emotionless, being held by his aunt, extremely happy. That was 12 years ago; seemingly, I remember it when it was hanged on the room of my aunt at her place in Ilo Ilo a long time ago, now it hangs on my grandmother’s table. That’s how memories work; it has to be triggered by something. And if I go back to the year 2005, all these will come back.

2005, memories cherished. I really enjoyed the year, and as New Year approaches, I wanna share some highlights within the year.

1. Sabaw – You can never count this out. It was summer this year when we officially started the band. Newbie’s in the field of music, we turned out to be one of the 8 LSGH based bands who were given the opportunity to play during the Christmas fair. I see a really bright future ahead of us; hopefully the light will continuously glow.

2. Exchange Trip – I spent 2 weeks of my summer in the Land Down under. Such an amazing experience, and I’m sure all those who took part of the trip also enjoyed it! It was such a great trip, and we enjoyed every second of it.

3. La Salle Controversy – I’m a UAAP a diehard, and this really affected me. I’m sure you all know about this, but I want to remind you the true nature of media, they sensationalize everything. And what does sensationalize mean? “To cast and present in a manner intended to arouse strong interest, especially through inclusion of exaggerated or lurid details: “doubted the ability of the liberal press to handle such information fairly, to refrain from sensationalizing it”. Go figure.

4. Gigs – Amoranto Stadium Gig, LSGH Battle of the Bands and Jam for the Rights of Children. I really enjoyed all of those gigs, it was fun.

5. Interaction with St. Scho – Meeting new friends is indeed fun.

6. Poveda Concert – Rivermaya, 6 Cycle Mind and Sandwich, all in one concert? I must be dreaming. All it lacks is Bamboo.

7. Overdose and Last Band Standing – LSGH Concerts, I really enjoyed them.

8. Birthday Party – Birthday, we ate at Yellow Cab that evening, we saw Mr. Lobo, Ms. Jo-anne, Ms. Mace and Ms. Vasco at Yellow Cab. Had dinner, jammed all night. They gave me a new RJ Telecaster and a Samick amplifier, and the next day we wer on TV! Hahaha! Whatta day!

Well, that’s 2005. Highlights of the year, hopefully 2006 will be as great!

Adventures

Yesterday, I was seated at the SCO Office waiting for 4 o’clock to come. I patiently wait, clutching my old and cracked mobile phone on my left hand waiting for the “Go La Salle” tune to play. It was 5 minutes to 4, where is the car? I stand up, say goodbye to everyone and walk towards the gate. While walking, I grab my phone and call up Edwin. When he answered, I asked him where he was; tones changed, he said he was in Manila. My mind went nuts; I couldn’t help raise my voice. After all, its 4, he should be here by now. I could wait until 4:30 but that’s it, but he is in Manila! Why? Mom brought him there, she forgot to pick me up, or maybe she knows that I will understand. Well, personally I don’t have a choice but to understand because if I don’t, I will just cause mayhem at home. Anyway, back to the story; I decided to take a walk to seven eleven, while walking I was deciding whether I should take a taxi or dare to walk home from La Salle. After some time, I decided to walk home. Yes, I walked home from La Salle to the house for no reason. I was opting for a new adventure; why not try walking home instead?

I passed by Shell and purchased a Gatorade, Iced Tea and the new edition of Speed (mainly because of the cover :P) But still, that Speed Edition talked about Google. I found a nifty program called Google Earth and it’s great for spying. Not applicable in the Philippines though. You can see maps, roads land marks etc from you own PC. Plus how two guys actually started Google, cool story.

I got home an hour later. I let La Salle at 4, spent around 7 minutes at Shell and 8 minutes finding a taxi and crossing streets. It took me around 45 minutes all in all, minus street crossing, Shell etc.

Today, I repeated the same feat. After giving away all my presents (sorry if there wasn’t any name, I was quite in a hurry) I walked home again with Raffy and Vince. I spent the afternoon sleeping and they, well, stuff on the computer.

So it’s finally Christmas break. I can finally catch up on some sleep and stop worrying about things for once. Our band has a lot of gigs this Christmas season, check our Friendster account for all the details. Well that’s it, finally I can sleep! A new adventure awaits me this Christmas season.

Procrastination

I have always asked myself, why human beings get a bit lazy at times? You cannot deny the fact that some of the most hard working men and women in the world don’t stay workaholics 7 days a week, one of these days they will try the magic of every high school student, particularly Lasallians, procrastination.

We were given a Filipino project, if I’m not mistaken the week right after the Sem. Break. Anyway, typically December 14, the agreed upon due date seemed years away. And like we know, time runs fast before we know it it’s a week before deadline. Heck we go around and shout “Shit! One more week left? We haven’t even started yet!” Then we panic, run around in circles and jump up and down finding a solution to how it will be done, messing other people’s lives for the sake of being able to finish your project instead of working on it during the allotted period of time. Well, you can’t blame me I’m one of those guys! Except for the part of messing other people lives but a lot of my friends are seeking help from me! That’s what procrastination brings, stress and sleepless nights, constant screaming and impatience and the “Kitchie Nadal” eyes. Can you blame us? After all we are human. Of course there is a big difference between responsibility and laziness. Laziness is when you forget about your responsibility and responsibility is being lazy to be lazy. Well, you must be confused, that’s my basic description of those two!
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Saturday night fever hasn’t left. Hangover over the Battle of the Bands and the evening concert is still here. I have caught myself singing hymns I never dared to sing before. I actually enjoyed Orange and Lemons for once, I never really liked them before, nor do I like them now but still it’s great to hear them play. I have always been a big Sugarfree fan and I just can’t get enough of how they play. Well, what do you expect, “Ako ang Hari ng Sablay!”. Finally, Barbie! So pretty, so angelic, so… *I’m getting carried away*. Still had loads of fun that evening!

Well anyway, that’s my story! Christmas break is a day away and I haven’t started workin on the gifts yet! Well, maybe I’m just lazy! :P

Why I love La Salle || Last Saturday

I have been a certified UAAP Die hard for a long time, a UAAP fan before that. I’ve always found answers to whatever happens to La Salle, and I proudly sing the Alma Mater even though I’m sintonado. That’s how I love La Salle. But there is one thing that has made it so lovable, it has made every student broaden up their horizons, share what they have and their talents and of course, to develop the full potential of a person. I mean, every school is like this, but still a very distinctly different approach to how it is done. In the end, we will always go back to school anyway.

Why I am I saying this? Yesterday my friends and I were given an opportunity to expand our talents and share them as well, an opportunity which we really practiced for. We were given the privilege to be part of the LSGH Battle of the Bands 2005, trying to earn the right to be the Last Band Standing. Unfortunately, we failed to get into the Top 3, but still it’s such a great honor to play in a stage with a screaming crowd.

We went to Galleria afterwards. We split up, not supposedly though. Jaco, Vince and Ogie, the three chick boys came with the girls and me, Jet and Archie who just went around Galleria. We stopped by to eat at KFC with Io and Jon. Afterwards we went around until we decided to go back to LSGH despite the heavy rain outside. Originally, we were to take a taxi but then we decided to, run back to La Salle. Momentarily I forgot about how sick I was and we had a great adventure running through the semi-flooded EDSA streets, to avoiding busses running through and fighting the thick crowd with their umbrella’s and jackets! What an adventure!

Finally, it was the concert. Jaco danced like a lunatic, I carried him whenever something great happens. I was so vain, taking countless pics of anything in sight, including myself. Anyway, I just wanna say that Barbie Almablis is so pretty! Hahaha. Sugarfree rocked the house as well. Oh yeah, congratulations Aleta Band Project!

Well, that was great day! Thanks to La Salle, it was possible! Thank you Lord for giving us such a wonderful day! Animo La Salle!

Crazy?

These past few days have been crazy; next week won’t be an exception.

Last Saturday could fall under the category of “Happiest Night”, to all those green thinkers out there; it’s not what you think. Well basically I spent the night at Poveda attending a concert entitled Beat it featuring a lot of bands. I particularly like Rivermaya (favorite band) and 6 Cycle Mind (my other favorite band) and sang to the tunes of their songs like Liwanag sa Dilim, You’ll be safe here, Umaaraw Umuulan and Awit ng Kabataan by Rivermaya, Sandalan, Sige, Biglaan and Alapaap by 6 Cycle Mind. Though Alapaap was popularized by the Eraserheads, they still played the song. Damn it was good to actually jump up and down and, jumping to the beat of the music! Other bands who performed that evening were Kjwan, Imago, Sandwich and Dicta License. Personally I didn’t like Dicta, but Sandwich and Kjwan were great as well! That Saturday I also met up with Lia and Inez, Lia the last I saw her was, grade 7, as for Inez, it’s my first time to see her. I also saw Nadal, who transferred to Ateneo after we graduated Grade 7; I remember walking beside him during the graduation march during our grade school graduation. Still, Rivermaya and 6 Cycle Mind made my day that evening. Why are you so damn good Mike Elgar (Rivermaya guitarist)?

Sunday was great as well. I had my usual Sunday SBMA at LSGH and tried to teach the kids some songs, and we ended up singing a lousy song. The title gives me the creeps, it make me want to go back to my childhood days. What do I expect from Grade 4 students? One of them though was singing Hallelujah excessively. Right after I spend the next hour sitting and reading Phantom of the Opera by the Quadrangle staircase. At 11, we had the kids have their snacks before sending them home. 3F had their class mass that day, guess what, Ogie was there and we chatted a bit before he left. Finally, lunch at the brothers, a little tour of the Brothers house, sharing and finally had a game of Basketball. Afterwards threw the Frisbee around the field, purely out of fun. I also met John, who is a postulant from Myanmar, quiet and reserved, before I knew he was from Myanmar I was wondering why he wasn’t replying to my questions in Tagalog.

Monday, no classes and spent the afternoon at Vince’s to practice for the BoB on December 10. We were able to make progress during the short practice.

Tuesday was our intramurals. Losses to J and A ended our chances in Basketball but coming out top in Soccer and Volleyball gave us hope to become over all champions.

Wednesday I bought a new book, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It’s actually a nice book I only started reading it the other night, right after I finished Phantom of the Opera.

Well, that’s my week and I haven’t even gotten into the loads of homework we have.