Zard - You're Still Living Inside My Heart

It was December 2009 when my aunt died of breast cancer. Each of us in the family has to look for her coffin and entertain visitors. I was really stressed that week so I decided to sleep for a while in the afternoon. But my mom abruptly woke me up saying that someone from the visitors have been to Japan. (yeah, mom knows I'm Japanese at heart) First I was bit pissed for waking me up like that. Then I met that person, Daina. She lent me her Japanese audio CDs and that was the time I've listened to Zard's single: Yureru Omoii.

Three years ago, I was watching Music Station on Animax by June. I've seen their tribute for Zard but I still don't have the single idea who she was. But as I've seen the tribute video, I felt like she was someone very important to others. And now, it proved that she was.

I started to look for down-loadable videos and musics of hers for the last four months. Since I was only Japanese at heart in the family, I was the only one who enjoyed her music. And because of her, I started dreaming to be just like her.

 

And now I've met several friends on facebook because of her. We mourned for her death anniversary last 27 and more like it was nostalgic to recall how she suffered. That time, it was impossible for her to live but she still faced chemotherapy and never complained how hard it was.

The only thing everyone regrets was that she was never married. She remains an urban legend for being mysterious.

We love you Zard! (Izumi Sakai)

Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Head

During summer, when we feel the scorching rays of the sun in our skin, we wish to rain.

Especially that it badly affects the living of our fellow men.

Here in the Philippines, for almost four months there was no rain.

The el nino phenomenon destroyed crops.

Of course it was hard as well when the typhoon Ondoy left its fury in our country.

Many were killed.

But somehow, when it rains, there is something I feel different inside me.

Although it's very distracting, I feel comfortable.

I'm really happy it rained hard from the past few days until now.

But it was a bit nostalgic. There are emotions that I can't explain.

EGOISTIC VEEP

EGOISTIC VEEP

Akala ko noon magkakaroon kami ng harmonious relationship ng vice president ko noon sa student council. Pero hindi pala. Super close kami noon pero noong nasa pwesto na kami, may mga bagay na nagbago. Maliban sa malayo ang classroom ko sa kaniya, may mga iba pang dahilan. May mga kamalian din ako sa administration ko but I don’t see a thing na mali ang pakikitungo ko sa kanila. I’ve always said to them whenever nagmee-meeting kami na mag open sila sa akin lagi. Hindi din naman ako nakakatakot kausap maliban na lang pag meeting. Sa buhay ko never ako naging mean. Pero bakit may mga tao paring nananadyak sa likod ko?

Magalit na kayo sa akin kung sino man sa mga kakilala ko ang makabasa nito. But this is my way, my life, ang magsulat. Para akong tanga sa harap niyo four months ago na hindi ko man lang nakayang i-explain ang sarili ko ng maayos. Pero ang pinaka hindi ko makakalimutan ay ang sinabi ni Ms. Vice president sa akin. Okay, okay, narinig ko na ang gusto mong sabihin na tatlong beses ka pa pala nagsinungaling sa akin noong tatlong beses din akong nag-tanong kung bakit malamig na ang pakikitungo mo sa akin na naramdaman ko pa talaga na maging ‘left behind who outranks me’. Was it the studentry or was your ego that matters to you? Kung hindi lang ang sarili mo ang iniisip mo, you could have told me the truth noong tinanong kita as a friendly advice. Sabi mo binibigyan mo pa ako ng chance na mapansin ang importance mo as vice president of the student council, ano iyon? Kailangan mo pa palang magsinungaling sa akin. Tinanong na nga kita, di pa ba sapat yun? Gusto mo pa ata noon na habul-habulin pa kita? Ikaw na mismo ang nagsabi sa akin na minsan nawawala ka na sa sarili mo kaya di mo na ako pinapansin, I believed you because it must have been hard for you na pagsabayin ang studies at ang SSG lalo pa’t running for first honor ka sa 3^rd year curriculum noon. I gave you that damn respect that’s why I didn’t bother you anymore. Anong use sa iyo ng Constitution and by-laws ng SSG na nasa kamay mo lang? Nakalagay doon na kakailanganin lang kita as the NEED ARISES. Kung naging magalaga ang samahan natin noon, you will let me know hindi yung ginawa mo pa akong tanga o baka naman doon ka nag-eenjoy? Ang sama mo pala.

One more thing, noong nagbigay ako ng sulat sa iyo na gusto kita makausap sabi mo busy ka. Bakit hindi ka na nagreport sa akin ulit? Natatakot ka bang ikaw naman ang pagsabihan ko ng sama ng loob? Baguhin mo sana iyang ugali mo na madami ang hindi nakakaalam.

Naging mahirap sa akin pagsabayin ang studies, student council, school paper and others. I hope na habang nasa posisyon ka pa sa SSG, marealize mo kung gaano kahirap din ang nadaanan ko pati na rin ang mga previous SSG presidents. Good luck.

TO MY FORMER SUBORDINATES:

I hope you’ll leave your life na hindi umaasa sa kung ano ang magagawa sa inyo. Isipin ninyo kung ano ang magagawa ninyo in return. Don’t just let someone bear the entire burden na pagkatapos ay wala kayong magandang gagawin kundi batuhin ang leader niyo o kung sino man iyan ng bato. Sabihin niyo na, na goo-for-nothing-president lang ako. Pero ilagay niyo ang sarili niyo sa pwesto ko noon? Kakayanin ninyo kaya?

TIPS FOR UPCAT TAKERS

I may not be the perfect authority to give tips for students who dream to be one of the Iskolar ng Bayan and I don’t even know whether I would passed the examination. But atleast, I have close friends whom I had talked to and were definite passers of the University of the Philippines College Admission Test and I’ve searched different blogs regarding their experiences who took the UPCAT on the last few years.

Around 70, 000 students each year take UPCAT and assume that 50 percent of them chose UP Diliman as their first choice campus. Most of the students have the notion that Diliman is the best institution among UP schools located in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao but the truth is each campuses has its own specialties. If you realy plan to take UPCAT, there are many factors to be considered:

1. Like I’ve said before, every UP campuses has its own specialties. For example, in the University of the Philippines Los Banos Electrical Engineering Department ( UPLB) in Laguna, out of 14 board exams since 2001, 13 were 100 percent and 1 has 95 percent of passing.

2. Next is, you have to think about the course you would like to pick or you have picked. According to Franz, currently fourth year engineering student of UP Diliman said that UPCAT is one of the easiest admission exam in the country. The thing that makes it difficult to pass is that thousands of them take it every year and there are limited slots for every courses. He suggested that be careful of choosing quota – courses such as nursing, engineering, and accountancy. Perfect example is in nursing, there are only 75 slots alotted.

3. Again, so what course did you pick? UPCAT measures your intelectual ability on the following areas: mathematics, science, language proficiency and reading comprehension. I’ve read blogs that reading comprehension was the hardest part of the examination because it was time consuming. But if you picked engineering or accountancy as your first choice course, you should have high scores in math and science even you slumped english, you’ll pass UPCAT. ( that’s what they said )

4. You’ll get a deduction of .25 point for every wrong answers that’s why I discourage those who plan to take the exam to do random guessing, just educated guess. For example, if there are four to five choices in the test,be sure to have eliminated two to three of those before answering the question you are unsure but I guess it’ll be a great help than random guessing especially in reading comprehension. (If you’ll leave it blank, there’ll be no deduction.)

5. In reading comprehension, patience is very necessary bacause it’s really long and it’ll annoy you. Don’t forget to bring wrist watch so that you could monitor your time. Here are some suggested strategies for reading comprehension passages and questions:

1. Skim the question to find out what you should concentrate on.
2. Read each passsage actively and visually.
3. Paraphrase while you are reading.
4. Read all the answer choices carefully
5. Leave the most difficult questions antil the end of each section.

6. I almost forgot, your high school grades matters! So if you don’t have good grades in your freshman to junior years, there’s no sense in taking UPCAT. Admission to UP depends on a student’s University Predicted Grade ( UPG ) which is a combination of the student’s score in the UPCAT and his average of final grades for the first three years of high school.

Here are some items as far as I can remember that I encountered on this years’s UPCAT but the test varies annualy.

a. Language Profficiency ( Error Spotting, Vocabulary, Arrangement of Sentences)

b. Math (Geometry, no Trigonometry)

c. Science (Chemistry and Genetics)

If you seriously want to be an UPCAT passer, then you must consider your first day of school as your first day of preparation for UPCAT. You really have to be prepared and don’t take high school for granted (what I mean is, some performing students just excel for the meantime but they are not really planning for college).

So that’s it! I hope it helps. You’re on the rightest page if you really dream of becoming a UP student. Remember to sleep well during the night before the test and be at your best shape the actual day. Don’t bring too much snacks to avoid unexpected trips to the bathroom. You’re lucky because I knew all these stuffs just recently.

Always value your time. Admission to UP is a great fulfillment not only for you but also for your family because of its high standard of education and special privileges. However, if you will not pass UPCAT, don’t be depressed. Rather, think that GOD has other plans for you. Don’t forget that there are many successful personalities who just graduated from provincial or even local Universities and Colleges.

ED

ED

He’s often misunderstood. My classmates (even my lower class men) look down on him because he’s not as intelligent as they are. He’s not an achiever, he even falters whenever our teacher calls him to recite. Everyone thinks he’s a nuisance, a lazy dumb ass that’s why he does not have the respect he must’ve even they’re telling that they do and that he doesn’t. I’ve given a lot of thought about that, but for him, he does not really care what others think about him. What matters most for him, was ‘me’.

I too thought he’s annoying. But, I’ve realized how much I was to him. It was more than words. That’s why I accepted him in my heart. I slowly got to know him better. Be it good or bad. I’ve intuitively known why he acts cocky at school. He escapes cleaning duties but what they don’t know is that he was the one who does the cleaning and maintaining the orderliness of their home. Being a big brother of two, he takes all of the responsibilities and he’s also to blame for anything that turns bad even it wasn’t his fault. It must have been tough for him. He can’t open all of his problems to anybody and being arrogant was his defence mechanism. He really needs a good friend that he could always count to help him out.

My classmates said he changed a lot because of me and I felt good about that. I’ve given him enough attention and love that he was longing in his heart. I didn’t spend my time with him just to fling, I made it worthwhile. I’ve shared him all of the things my mom has told me. I’ve helped him do his assignments. We’ve been together through thick and thin.

We mutually helped each other, definitely no strings attached. But his help made my student council officers feel bad about me and to him. Whenever my mind gets nuts, he was the one to cool me down. He always volunteers to be of assistance even I don’t ask him to do so. My vice president felt terrible. She told me that instead of her, I picked Ed to do the responsibilities that was intended to be hers. She got it all wrong.

Meeting Angels in U.S.

(This story's what I've written for our school paper)

Meeting Angels in U.S.

Raina Adalla Garcia

As what my family had planned last year, off we went to mainland America last summer. On my previous article I keep on comparing Hawaii from our country but now that I had seen two other states of Uncle Sam- California and Texas, It’s no use doing that again as I realized it’s baseless comparing the Third World from the First World although I can”t stop wondering why they are that so blessed and ours are not where in fact the Bible says we are all created equal. Anyway, so much for that sentiments. This time I will share some of the highlights of our trip and I will introduce you to our family friends and relatives who had been so generous and hospitable to us during our 21- day stay to Texas, California and Hawaii.

Our trip, was in many ways, seemed complicated for me because of the stopovers, connecting flights and time differences from one State to the other. From NAIA we arrived at Narita, Tokyo International Airport after three hour and 25 mins. flight . We waited to board on our connecting flight for three hours and 20 mins then departed for Los Angeles and spent nine hours and 40 mins on air. Upon arrival at the Los Angeles International Airport terminal 2 we were taken by a bus to terminal 6 where we had our connecting flight bound to George Bush International Airport in Houston, Texas. Our final destination atlas after another three hours and 40 mins. airflight. We were met there by the smiling Caguioa brothers Tito Blan and Tito Amor. Tito Blan drove 45 mins. to take us to his cozy home in Sugarland City, Texas and played a terrific host to us for five days with his lovely wife tita Arlene, a nurse and an accountant at the same time. They have three kids- Kuya Aldionn, Brandon and Caroline who are all lovable especially Kuya Aldionn because he showed us around Sugarland and Houston along with his Vietnamese-Chinese girlfriend Cindy. Tito Amor and his wife Tita Alma with their witty daughters Charlene and Nicole are all very generous who gave us bag,wallet,clothes ,perfume, books and some pocket money. The Caguioa family always took us to different buffet restaurants every meal time where foods are so many and choices are limitless. At a buffet restaurants a customer will just have to pay $10 to eat and drink all we can. After staying there for three days, we were fetched by Tita Marilou and American husband Giles Honeycutt who is an Electronics and Communications Engineer. We rode the car for four hours and 55 mins.until we reached their serene home in Forth Worth, Texas . The wonderful couple together with their only daughter Danica treated us to a welcome dinner at Zorro’s Buffet. Obviously, majority of the food servers there are Mexicans while others are Filams. There’s a fiesta atmosphere in the restaurant and again I gave up eating even I still wanted to try tasting other deliciously- looking dishes there..The Honeycutt family is very-very kind to us. Tita Marilou is very loving host while Uncle Giles is very thoughtful. Their daughter ate Danica treated us like her own sister. All of them are very generous as they gifted us with almost everything they can find and can think of to give like a cell phone and uncle Giles’ spare laptop computer.

After six-day stay at Forth Worth we traveled back to Houston. This time we took the Greyhound bus. It had 10-15 mins. stopped-over at Hilsboro, Waco, Hearne, Bryan, Navasota, Prairie, all these in Texas state. Surprisinglly I never saw anyone wearing face masks amidst global news alert on the Influenza A(H1N1). We arrived at Greyhound bus Houston station after five hours and 45 mins. trip. My very kind Tito Blan met us there and again took us to their home in Sugarland. I was so surprised to find out that all his kids – Kuya Aldionn, Brandon and Caroline stayed awake and patiently waited for us to arrive even it was already almost 9 pm and they still have school the next day. I was so touched. We were so busy packing our belongings because the next day, May 28 we were scheduled to fly back to Los Angeles in the afternoon. Tito Blan is really an angel to us. He is very loving and caring as he helped us tidying our things and provided Balikbayan boxes, and a luggage. Afterwards he drove us anew to George Bush International Airport in Houston. Boarded the Continental Airlines, we departed Houston at 2:45 pm (Houston time) and arrived at Los Angeles International Airport at 3:50 pm.(Los Angeles time) with three hours and five minutes flight duration. Dad’s Mexican-American prima (cousin) Delia Garcia Limon and her friend Filipino-Mexican-American friend Rose met us at the airport. Tito Randy Oriel, a famous Dentist to the stars in California was also there. He took us to his car and drove two hours ( the traffic was heavy in Los Angeles) before we reached Salo-Salo Grill, a Filipino Restaurant in Cerritos, California for a dinner with his fellow Dentist wife Tita Marissa , Asian Journal writer Dan Nino, Tia Delia and Rose who are both English Teachers . For the first time Tia Delia and Rose had tasted halo-halo and surprisingly they liked it. I told them it wasn’t the best yet because in the Philippines Chowking serves the best halo-halo. After our sumptous dinner, we left Cerritos at 10 pm. Tia Delia drove us to her spatious and luxurious home in Santa Maria, California and arrived at 1:08 am. Her handsome husband Tio Eduardo welcomed us with their unico hijo Christian. My cousin Christian is dashingly attractive. He looks like my favorite actor Shia Labeouf (a.k.a. Sam Witwicky of Transformers I and 2). I gawked the next day when he introduced his Italian-American girlfriend Melissa because she looks like Megan Fox ( a.k.a. Micaella, Sam’s leading lady in Transformers 1 and 2) What a coincidence. Tia Delia is virtually another angel to us. She is so sweet, warm, very hospitable and an eloquent host. She brought us to Pismo beach which according to her is the third dirtiest beach in California but as I see it the beach is clean with clear water, beautiful boardwalk and a chilly wind. She took us next to San Louis Obispo Port where for the first time in my life I saw Seals, Seagulls and Squirrels. We excitedly watched the Seals splashing in the open sea, crawling , making noises while others are just sleeping. I was so amused when Tia Delia brought us to eat at Fire Stone Grill because a serving of burger can feed three persons of average appetite because it’s huge. When we got back to her home she showed us their “ motor home” parked at the backyard.. It amazingly looks like a mini-bus outside but with all the home-amenities inside like kitchen, sink, oven,ref, TV, bed, couch, a toilet and bath. She said they use it whenever they go to a vacation because it’s a lot cheaper than staying in a hotel. We also had the chance to meet Tia Delia’s two other siblings, Tia Blanca and Tia Guadalupe with their husband, children and children-in-law in an interesting dinner. They all look gorgeous, sophisticated, tall and they all have high noses and thick-curly eyelasshes. I felt like I was in a company of Mexicanovela actors. We bid good bye to Tia Delia and Tio Eduardo on the early morning of May 31 as Tito Randy fetched us. He drove us to Los Angeles where he bought us entrance tickets to the Universal Studios. We were greeted there by huge billboards of different stars and a particular big screen for Beattles where their songs are continuously played. Afterwards he took us to the Staples Center, the home court of the Los Angeles Lakers. I can visually picture it to my mind again when I saw it on tv as a venue for Michael Jackson’s memorial. He finished the day’s tour by treating us to Manila-Goodah Restaurant. The Filipino waiters told us it is frequented by Manny Pacquiao whenever he is in L.A. Tito Randy is really a blessing to our family. He spent a lot of money bringing us to restaurants and other places in California. He was also the one who paid for our excess baggages when we checked-in for our flight bound to Hawaii.I know he is not only a famous Dentist but also a successful businessman who owns a multi-storey commercial complex building in Cerritos but he is very-very humble in all his ways. He is really an angel.

We were met by another wonderful person when we arrivered at Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii after nine hours flight fron Los Angeles. Tita Mely Ylan Drake lovingly welcomed us with handful of fragrant lei. Immediately I knew she is a very interesting woman who is already on her 60’s but looks more than a decade or two younger. She drove her car and took us to her equally interesting home at Kapolei, West Waikiki which is just a fence away from a world class golf course nestled in an elite community. Tita Mely is married to Michael Drake a U.S. Airforce Pilot while she is a Historian. There is no dull moment with her because she loves to talk and relate stories and I learned many things from her. We hit more when she learned I am interested about Japan and I am learning Nihonggo because she said her German bestfriend lives in Japan whom she visited often. I beamed when I learned she is a vegetarian like me which I believe is her secret of youth . Tita Mely was our terrific host for a week. She helped us purchase our school supplies and clothes and drove us around in her Mercedes Benz. We had the chance to meet again our last year’s host- tito Lito, tita Miniang and their sons especially kuya Dong and they remain warm and generous to us.

I felt that our family is so blessed because we have many friends and relatives who are kind-hearted and I thanked God so much for that. For me they are all Angels sent from Heaven. Someday I wish to be like them so I can repay their kindness and generosity.