Year 2008: A Year of Firsts and "New's"

* This is my first "taglish" post...

Wow, ang bilis ng panahon! Parang kailan lang yung mga araw na nagdaan ngayong 2008. Itong post na ito ang last ko para sa taong ito, at bukas ay year 2009 na. Imaginin niyo yun! Ang taong ito ay napakamemorable sa buhay ko sapagkat marami akong mga naranasan, nadiscover, napuntahan, nakilala, napatunayan at iba pa. Ang post kong ito ang siyang parang "recap" sa buong 2008, as I reminisce this period of time.

Year 2008

January 1, 2008: Ang first day ng 2008, kung kailan kaming Dolores clan ay tumungo papuntang Pasay City at nagcelebrate ng New Year sa SM Mall of Asia. First time kong makapunta roon, na last year, pinapapangarap kong mapuntahan dahil halos lahat ng mga "CCCians" ay nakapunta run, na-oOP ako sa mga stories nila pag pumupunta sila roon, but good thing I waited dahil nakapunta na rin ako sa wakas!

Grabe pala ang MOA, ang laki! Halos mahilo ako sa kakalakad at parang hours na ang lumilipas kapag naglalakad ka roon! Di mo akalaing mall yun talaga, "nakalutang" sa tubig! :D Sabi ng lolo ko, ang sementong tinatapakan doon ay dating tubig.

3:04pm: Naalala ko pa rin yung time, kaming 5 Dolores cousins ay pinayagan na pumunta sa "Science and Discovery Center" sa MOA. Ang mahal nga ng ticket, buti nilibre kami ng mga parents at tito namin, P350 per person in 5 hours.

When we entered, kami ay nanood muna sa "planetarium". Yun ang 2nd time kong makapunta sa planetarium, first ay yung Field Trip ko sa dati kong school nung Grade 3 ako. Napakarealistic ng view na parang nandun ka sa pinapanood mo, isama pa ang SFX (sound effects), fantastic!

Pagkatapos ng 1 hour na panonood, kaming 5 ay nagtungo sa loob. Doon may mga robot, inventions, dun ko rin nalaro yung "Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects" sa maliit na oras at "Wheel of Fortune" sa computers dun. Siyempre, di nawala ang picture-taking: sa aquarium, sa mga giant robots, sa hagdan, sa trivias, maging dun sa "Burping Machine" at "Bacteria Center". Naadik din kami sa pakikipag-compete sa "Grossology", nananalo kasi kami..... :D At bago kami umalis, kami ay nagpapicture dun sa isang booth na ine-edit yung background, napili namin yung may mga planets.

Ang mga pictures namin sa SADC ay nasa photos ko, "Mall of Asia Scenes" sa http://profiles.friendster.com/patrickjuacalla.

January 18, 2008: First time kong makabili at magkaroon ng Nokia cellphone since my first cellphone was Siemens C62. Ang nabili namin ay ang Nokia NSeries na N70. I chose the black theme of the phone which costs P11,000 until now.

February 9, 2008: Date ng competition (Biology Quiz Bee) namin sa UP Los Bańos. Kasama ko sina kuya Karl Patrick Daliposa at Carlo Nikko Calarion. Si Lance Gerome A. Dela Cruz, my best friend, observer siya. Kasama rin sina Mrs. Cherrie Usares at Mr. Vic Gammad (coaches).

Kami ay talagang nangapa sa Quiz Bee dahil wala sa aming naibigay na pointers, yung ibang school meron. Ito ay nahati sa dalawang bahagi: Written Exam and Oral Exam.

Di ko na matandaan kung anu-ano mga score naming tatlo sa Written. Tapos sa Oral, nakakasagot kami kaya lang medyo mahirap yung scoring (Easy, Average, Difficult):

Correct: 5, 10pts.

Wrong: no score

No Answer: 3 pts.

Most of the times, no answer kami, ang hihirap ng tanong kasi, puro "scientific name" na hindi namin napapag-aralan. Playing safe as to say.

At ganoon, nabigo kaming makapasok sa top 3 schools, in short, we lost. But it's okay, at least our score was -11 pts. :(

At least nakapunta kami UP :D

February 14, 2008: Valentine's Day, pero hindi ako nakipag-date! Date ito ng finals ng "Impromptu Speech Contest" namin sa school. Nakapasok ako sa elimination nung November 29, 2007, ranked 1st :D . Kabadong-kabado ako nung time na iyon, kasi 2nd Year palang ako, 13 y/o, may kalaban na 16 y/o (4th year) at pilot section pa.

Sa year level, ang kasama kong kabatch na friends ko rin ay sina Ate Mariz R. Ponti at Frances Anne G. Brecia. Magagaling silang lahat siyempre kaya sila nakapasok kaya kinakabahan ako nung oras na iyon.

Ako ay 4th na magsispeech, after ni Ate Riz. I remember na ang question ko ay:

"PACUCOA accredited CCC Level 1. For you as a student of CCC, what are the changes you would like to see for us to be granted Level 2?"

Hindi po exact yung question basta may idea siyang ganun. Buti nalang di ako namental block, tinulungan rin ako ni Ate Arielle Alejandro (Editor-in-chief namin sa Ginintuang Uhay) nang kaunti, at nai-apply ko naman.

Then after the last speakers, awarding na, and with God's grace, I ranked 3rd our of the 11 speakers (yehey!) may trophy kasi.

* 2nd si Kuya Michael Atienza (3rd year)

* 1st si Ate Arielle Alejandro (4th year)

February 20, 2008: A very special day, 'cause it's my birthday! Sa taong ito, ako ay isa nang ganap na adolescent, 14 years old.

March 2008: I forgot the date of our Recognition Day, but I shouldn't forget it but I still forgot it (ang gulo :D) 'cause that was the day that I first experienced to suffer from chickenpox (bulutong)! Kaya pala ako matamlay nung marching na sa event at mainit ay dahil symptoms na iyon ng bulutong: fever and weakening of body.

Pagkatapos ng event, umuwi kami kaagad, at nakita ng mom ko na may red spots ako sa binti, at kanyang conclusion ay bulutong. Huhuhu...:(

I suffered for almost 2 weeks, buti nalang bakasyon na. Naranasan kong hindi maligo for 14 days pero naligo parin ako gamit ang.... colantro. Hay....

Naalala ko, pinandidirihan ko ang aking balat sa sobrang dami ng spots, ang ambok lahat, ayoko nang i-remember. Basta, suffer ako nun.

March - April something 2008: First time kong ma-addict sa isang Asianovela galing Taiwan, yun ang Hanazakarino Kimitachihe (Hana Kimi), na naging dahilan ng aking pagbili ng DVD sa sobrang fan ng show. Naging fan club member din ako ni Wu Chun at Ella Chen.

April 19-24, 2008: 6 days ng aming BOC seminar para maging Student Catechists. KAMI = III - St. Albert the Great. Ito ay ang first time kong pumasok sa summer vacation. 9 hours per day, hay... Buti may focus pa akong makinig doon, at for some time, kami ni Juzelle, classmate and best friend ko, nagka-countdown.

April 2008: I can't remember the date pero nang dumating pinsan kong si Ate Shayne Rinon upang magbakasyon sa Angono Rizal, may pasalubong siya: Krispy Kreme doughntuts flavored Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate at Hershey's Kookies and Kreme. First time kong makakain sa ganung kamahal na doughnut, P38 per doughnut! Sulit naman kasi napakasarap lalo na yung Dark Chocolate, first doughnut ko sa KK ever. Hindi ko natype yung Kookies and Kreme, nakakasuka, pero kailangang kainin.

Nakaranas din ako ng parang hindi perfect na "alignment" ng aking left jaw na pag ako'y nag-oopen mouth, umuuga siya. I'm still feeling it right now.

May 2008: Buong month, ngunit paputol-putol, first time kong magturo ng Catechesis at sa mga bata. Nahati ang III - St. Albert the Great sa mga groups, at ang grupo namin nina Ate Riz, Czarina Eustaquio, Roemer Timbre, Melissa Gutierrez, MM Javiniar, Sharmaine Florante at Kuya Joed Abad ay nadestino sa chapel sa Mayflower (Greenland, Cainta Rizal). Doon kami ay nagturo ng mga topic about Jesus and moral values.

Makumpleto ko rin ang SpongeBob DVDs, from "Anchor's Away" up to "Whale of a Birthday"!

May 10, 2008: Ang Dolores clan ay nagpunta sa Laguna upang magbakasyon at magswimming. Nakalimutan ko na yung pangalan ng resthouse, kung saan kami nag-overnight at nagbabad sa tubig. Ang sarap dun, promise :D Visit http://padj.multiply.com/ for the pics.

June 2008: Naging, of course, Third Year High School student ako. :D

Na-elect din akong class President ng III - St. Albert the Great, in short, first ever president ako ng III - St. Albert the Great :D

*3rd Year Life so far: Sa period na ito, first time kong magpunta sa iba't-ibang bahay upang magpractice or anything related for the project. Ang mga napuntahan ko ng mga bahay ay kina:

Lance (once), Juzelle (4x), Liza (2x), Ludivinia (once), Kuya Joed (labas, once), Ate Sharms (twice), Jessa & Jessica (outside, once), Raisa (3x), Ate Camille (once - napakaganda! :D), MM (outside; once)

July 2008: First time kong magsuffer sa isang "sakit" na umabot hanggang December 5, 2008, sumasakit lagi ang left thigh ko pag umuupo. Buti wala na ngayon.

Bumili rin ako ng aking 3rd pair of glasses, whose grado is: 150+, 50+

August 8, 2008: 888 - The day when I officially opened the 5th season of my own version of

"Deal or No Deal", starting at my 373rd episode.

September 2008: I joined the "Spanglers" club, YouTube and signed up for Blogger!

October 16, 2008: Hiniram ko kay Clarence Philip Santos, classmate and friend ko, ang installer ng Mystery Case Files: 4-in-1, dahilan kung bakit ako nakapaglaro nang complete at walang limit! Tagal ko na ring pinangarap na malaro iyon. Ang mga nakasama ay "Huntsville" (Case # 8 na ako as of now), "Madame Fate" (finished), "Prime Suspects" (finished) at "Ravenhearst" (finished). Thanks to Clarence!

November 2008: In one week (during fiesta break), nanuod ako ng sangkatutak na horror/ slasher films, those were listed and their posters were in my post, "Red Letter Day".

November 30, 2008: Time when I bought my 2nd Nokia Cellphone, Nokia 5310 Xpress Music. Ang Nokia N70 ko ay hiningi ng mom ko at yung 5310, reward for being an achiever hehe :D

December 2008: Halos buong month, naglaro lang ako ng MCF (Mystery Case Files), tinapos ko na yung tatlo, "Huntsville" nalang. Good thing, top agent ako sa "Madame Fate" 7th, "Ravenhearst", 6th at "Prime Suspects", 5th.

December 1, 2008: I started collecting Coke smile caps to obtain Coke smile glasses.

December 5-6, 2008: In my post, "Red Letter Day", days of sleepless pleasure, almost 24 hours of no sleep dahil sa Youth Camp sa Antipolo na "walang tulugan".

December 10-11, 2008: Retreat again in Angono Rizal (Loyola Retreat House). Second time kong magretreat of course na overnight.

December 19, 2008: Christmas Party ng St. Albert the Great! Hirap maging host.

December 22, 2008: Date when we visited Mrs. Vergie Mendoza's funeral. Yun ang first time kong makapunta sa Antipolo City at sa isang funeral at nakakita ng isang corpse ng tao.

* Year 2008 din ang first year ko na may mamatayan akong mga naging teacher: Mrs. Mendoza and Mrs. Lineses.

December 25, 2008: We celebrated Christmas sa Mandaluyong City, Dolores Reunion. Doon, nakatanggap ako ng napakagandang gift ni Ate Shayne na SpongeBob Alarm Clock, galing DV. Pati na rin SpongeBob plush toy from mommy. Masaya kaya lang na-bored ako, walang YM. :D

- At sa wakas, nakumpleto ko rin ang Coke smile glasses! May excess na 2 glasses.

* 2 red, 2 yellow, 1 green, 1 purple & 1 orange.

December 27-28, 2008: Umuwi kami sa Luisiana, Laguna upang magbakasyon at magrelax at umattend ng Raflores Reunion (Paskuhan). Masaya, ang napamaskuhan ko ay P4, 130. :D Masayang bumalik doon, sariwa ang hangin, pero umuulan lagi, kasi nasa mountains na. Halos 2 taon na kaming hindi umuuwi run kaya kami bumalik dun.

December 29, 2008: First time kong gumawa ng commercial, spoof: Coca-Cola na naging "Tiktik", project in Arts.

December 29-30, 2008: Ang dalawang araw na ito ay napakamemorable 'cause first times kong umuwi ng 8-9 ng gabi dahil sa project. Halos mag"transform" na ang mom ko sa sobrang "galit" sa pagiging gabi na kung umuwi.

* Pumunta kami ng grupo namin kina Ate Cam, at nakilala si SAM.

December 31, 2008: I am typing this post. Later at midnight, tatalon ako para mas tumangkad pa. Nakumpleto na rin namin yung 12 round fruits para swerte raw. Welcome 2009!

* Hay... Ang daming nangyari sa akin ngayong 2008. May suffering at blessings din. At least, fruitful ang year na ito at buo pa rin family namin. Hay... 2009 naman, ano kaya ang mga mangyayari sa akin. Abangan nalang... :D

The Road Not Taken

"The Road Not Taken"

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And, sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other side, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though, as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

in leaves no step had trodden back.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet, knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference

This poem is very beautiful for me. It tells about a "traveller", a person who looks for a greener pasture as he made his way in the yellow woods, wherein there are two roads in different directions.

Some lines have very meaningful significance. They are written in simple English but they have deeper meaning that will truely inspire the readers.

Two roads diverged - symbolizes two options in life. These may refer to our choices when we are going to decide what kind of life are we going to partake in. The roads in the poem are very much different from one another:

* One road is grassy, meaning it has the features of abundance, enough harvest and rich vegetation. The road that many would choose for it is rich in let's just say, the "daily needs of life" are provided.

* The other road is the opposite of the road above. It is lifeless, less grassy, less abundant and has poor vegetation.

A yellow wood - "autumn" season features trees with yellow leaves. This symbolize the few years of a person's life as the leaves continue to fall one by one, it resembles to our life which in every moment it decreases.

No step had trodden back - symbolizes our final decision/s, in which in every step or decision that we make, we cannot turn back on it or we cannot change it anymore since the consequences are already coming.

The road less traveled by - the road that the persona took. It is the one that is less grassy, less abundant and has poor vegetation. This is the "risky" road.

The poem actually tells us that whatever decision we make in our life, we cannot change it anymore. Even if we take the risky decision, we must always keep in mind that it is always in the matter of our process of how will we be able to go to the end of the road (goal). Process may change.

Red-Letter Day

It's been a quite long period of time that I am not dispatching posts in my blog.

There had been numerous events that occurred in my ongoing life from the past 39 days. Most of them were very memorable to me because of certain reasons.

November 24, the giving of our report cards and in every giving of our cards there's the announcement of the rankings in our class. Last First Grading Period, with modesty aside, I ranked 2nd and in the Second Grading, I remained in that position with an average of... secret. Okay, humbly speaking, 96.45% :D Mixed emotions trounced me: happiness and about 11% of distress, well the reasons are just too personal.

The few remaining days of November was our "break", the time for our relaxation due to it's Cainta's fiesta (Dec.1). Well I took the chance of let's just say "celebrating" this "break". I watched a huge collection of horror and slasher movies, for me to relieve "STRESS" :)

My computer hours increased (from regular 2 1/2 hours to 4 hours). I spent most of my time chatting (YM) with my friends, some advance reading on our lessons, playing games and became an addict to "Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate, Ravenhearst and Prime Suspects". The game made me insane and dizzy in finding those imprudent objects!!! But a cup of hot chocolate with so soft marshmallows reduce my stress in the game.

More and more events happened. Before November ended, my parents gave me a brand new celular phone, unit Nokia 5310 Xpress Music, my most aspired phone model! They chose the black theme of the phone and I taught myself on how to hold it because its only about "mm" thin, it's like a toy in my hand and it seems to slide away from my hand!

November ended and December came, the Christmas season. I am fond of having countdowns especially Christmas because I am excited for the coming of Christ. As the year comes to close, I met the busiest schedules of my entire life this month.

December 2, the finishing touch of our project (Jesus in the Manger) in Technology and Livelihood Education was made. We were so proud of our work which it was made of recycled materials. Some teachers even praised for its beauty but some....

December 5

Anyway, the hardest activity I've done was when I was in the "Saint Paul Youth Camp" in St. Paul College in Pasig City. To fully understand my tiring fate, I still had classes from 7:00am to 3:00pm. Me, Pauline and Celine departed at 4:00pm.

When we get there, thousands of participants from St Paul Publishing Magazines, especially from Youngster. The Kenosis team was able to socialize really well. The camp was all about St. Paul, since it's his Jubilee year. There were singing, dancing and preaches from priests and nuns. It was fun, but tiring because the camp ran from 5:00pm to 6:00am (of Dec. 6) and guess what, I thought that the catch phrase of the camp was: "Walang Tulugan", like Kuya Germs in which we were not informed about. During the camp, I really appreciated the best efforts of our CL teacher, Ms. Brequillo, as I saw her really sleepy (she attended most of the retreats of our batch) so I guess she really needs a complete rest.

As we had our amazing experience in the camp, we returned to CCC at 7:00am. We had classes AGAIN (it's a Saturday) because we had our intramurals that time. But to God's mercy, we were excused of course, we were overfatigue and needed to rest. As I was home, I ate a little and slept at 8:00am.

* TOTAL TIME (NO REST): 25 hours of no sleep. A record in my life!!!

December 10-11: Days passed and after the camp, another overnight event comes in: Our retreat. We went to Loyola Retreat House in my hometown, Angono Rizal. We enjoyed the event, as our class reconciled and found "new selves". Anger was removed and unity was made present, thanks to our beloved adviser Ms. Peligaria. It was an emotional retreat, in addition to our confession but in our last day, blissful atmosphere was present, as we took pictures as our remembrance for we will not return again to the Retreat house.

* O I almost forgot, December 9, my most awaited day, the season finale of The Amazing Race 13. As I watch, my body trembled with excitement and edginess while I was eating a huge can of "Chips Ahoy!". With all my prayers, the result came out really astonishing as I jumped for joy because my favorite team, Nick and Starr Spangler won the race!

This month also, I have a goal: To collect all the 5 Coke smile glasses! They attracted me very much because of their dazzling colors! I sacrifice my diet to drink Coca-Cola products to obtain 35 coke smiley caps to have all 5. (1 glass=7 smile caps) So far, I have 4 (red, green, yellow and the purple (which is not yet claimed) and I don't have the orange glass YET. Hopefully, before the company run out of stock or the promo stops, I'll be able to get that orange glass.

I have a question, "Is it bad for me, a 14 year old boy to watch "Banana Split"? Well, since last October, I started watching the said sexy comedy show after MMK. And speaking of MMK, I really loved the "Sanggol" and the "Lason" episodes of the drama show. These made me cry, well because I felt the stories of those episodes. The scenes were very dramatic and I loved them both!

And one more thing, the reason I write this longest post of mine is because we had no telephone for 2 weeks! No talking, no internet, no fun... But at least it came back. As I type this post, I am happy of all the things and the "new ones" I encountered in the past 39 days. I am now enjoying the velvet comfort of my white stuff in our home, since I am a teenager who loves "white" things.

* I covered my classroom armchair with white cartolina, I have a white trash can, all my towels are white, all my polo shirts/ clothes are white, white bathroom towel, white soap, white drink (milk), white pillows and blanket and others as I prefer white is the symbol of cleanliness, which I am fond of.

Well, from those I typed, the events taught me various lessons, including patience. We know what we say:

"Patience is the best of qualities; he who possesses it possesses all things."