kailangan ko lang humirit sa huli kong post.

medyo scary pala siya. hindi dahil "i hear voices" and all that. hehe. naisip ko lang bigla ang Evan Almighty and all those other religious things, na sa oras na diretso kang nakakarinig mula sa Diyos, mas malaki hinihingi Niya sa'yo.

kamusta naman ang mga voices na naririnig ko. hindi ako natatakot sa kanila. natatakot ako sa mga susunod na mangyayari.

hehe.

kung sa bagay, sino ba naman ang engot na humingi ng close encounter kay God? Isang close encounter na hindi nalalayo tulad ng naipakita sa ending ng Evan Almighty, kung saan inanyayahan ni God si Evan na sayawin ang isang walang kwentang sayaw pero alam Niya na tunay na ikaliligaya ni Evan, ang sayaw na nagpapakita ng pagkakaroon ng parehong trip ni God at ni Evan, na ang Diyos ay hindi nalalayo sa tao. Tulad ng nasa palabas, bago ang ganito kasayang encounter, ilang araw ng pagpapahirap, pagsasakripsyo ng dangal at mga bagay na importante sa kanya.

Sino nga ba ang engot para humingi ng ganito?

hehe. ako. say hi to my religious side : )

hearing voices...

this sunday seemed to be like any usual sunday. I would do my dad's powerpoint in the morning, check the dancers' outfit and make up for the day, and take charge of the slide show for the songs to be sung during praise and worship.

as the people were singing and my mind was somehow drifting off somewhere, i started to hear a very beautiful voice singing. she was doing a second voice on a very high-pitched melody that made the song even more beautiful to my ears.

I tried to look for the person singing. As I hear it, it came from my right side, which happens to be the stage and the speakers whose sounds all heads toward me. I looked at the back-up singers, Jhing, Ate Rona and Ate Beth. Knowing them, not one of them could sing such high pitch melody. However, Jhing was trained to do second voice but she wasn't singing at that time.

Should this sound scary, I think not. In the first place, I was in church.

I tried shrudding off the idea, thinking that this might only be a product of my imagination. But the voice gets louder. As the instruments were getting louder and the singers already worshipping in tongues, I could hear the same voice louder, singing again in higher octaves, the song sounding as if in tribal tongues doing a second voice.

This was not the first time I heard voices in church. A few weeks ago, I was hearing a voice of child singing the same song, full of happiness.

That same afternoon, getting quite excited of the idea, I was once more in church for the youth services. We were singing worship songs. I felt like my right ear suddenly stopped hearing the sounds I hear from my left ear. If I were to hear the same sounds, it's as if everything that comes in my right ear was only in the background music and for a few seconds, I once more heard the same voice I heard that morning.

I may be right, I may be wrong. But it didn't matter really because I knew the situation felt different and I knew God was coming closer to me than He had been before.

I may be quite sure of this, but I think I just heard angels singing.

accident prone kuya

naiwan akong kasama si kuya jonell ngayon hapon. kinailangan kasing sunduin ng tatay ko ang bunso kong kapatid. nagkataon din may mga kailangan ayusin sa pajero, kaya iniwan na lamang ni tatay kay kuya ang gawain iyon.

nanatili akong nasa loob ng bahay at nag-ayos ng kakainin at sinimulan na ni kuya ang pagpapalit ng gulong ng van.

maya-maya, nakarinig ako ng malakas na ugong, na parang bumaksak ang van mula sa pagkakaangat nito. nang sumilip ako, tama nga ang pakiwari kong bumagsak ang kotse sa pagkakaangat nito gawa ng pagkadaplis ng jack. sa kasamaang palad, naipit ang mga daliri ng kanyang dalawang kamay.

"yung jack! ayusin mo yung jack!"

ahehe. sori ha. kahit may konti naman akong alam sa mga jack, di pa rin talaga ako marunong, bilang taon na rin ang nabibilang nung huli aong pahawakin ng ganyan. isa pa, yung diamond form na klase ng jack yung gamit nila. lalong hindi ko kilala yan.

"magtawag ka na. mapuputol na ata mga daliri ko e. "

syempre, takot ko na lang na may mangyari na namang kung ano kay kuya jonell. tumakbo ako sa may kanto, nangharang ng mga tricycle drivers. mabilis na tumakbo ang dalawang drivers papunta sa bahay namin at inangat ang pajero upang matanggal ni kuya ang kanyang mga daliri.

grabe na lang mag bonding moments namin ni kuya, nahihiwa ng kutsilyo, kukulangin ng dugo, bigla na lang nawawalabn ng malay, nauuntog. wala na lang akong masasabi. manhid na ata ako sa mga ganitong sitwasyon kaya kalmado na lang ako forever.

pero in fairness, buti na lang may mga tricycle drivers na mabilis na tumulong. hindi ko rin alam ang gagawin kung wala akong inabutan sa kanta nyan. alangan namang ako magbuhat ng pajero? gudlak na lang...

keynote interview vs focus interview

In my thesis proposal class, we were discussing the difference between a keynote interview and a focus interview.

The difference lies in the representation. If a person interviewed happens to represent a certain group to therefore say that his points are of the group, the interview is a focus interview. If the person speaks of his personal opinion, the interview is a keynote interview.

Since the class doesn't seem to be totally convinced, Sir gave an example, the effects of the no id no entry system in CMC. Say we were to interview "him", what kind of interview would it be?

"focus interview. because he represents the students and the student council"

"keynote interview. because what he says are personal points of view."

Then, there was the debate. I couldn't help but smile.

With him, it's a whole different situation. He says he represents the students but raises his own points of view. What was even more interesting is that my classmates were quite aware of such a case.

sense of ownership

we were having our council GA. we've been laughing for quite some time becuase of "his" crazy ideas for the RIPADA and Cris Mendez campaign. the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the College of Music Student Council came and greeted him.

"Hey, this is my council."

we all looked at each other and bursted into laughter.

"Your council?"

"Since when did we become your council?"

** funny as it may sound, grabe na lang ang sense of ownership sa council. i knew it. it's all about him and not the students.

batch interview

kung tutuusin, hindi naman talaga ako nagtataray sa mga ganitong interviews. ni hindi ko nga kayang panindigan ang ganoong klaseng pamamaraan. pero alam ko sa sarili ko na kung walang ibang gagawa, kung walang ibang maggigiit nang ganoong klaseng kahigpitan, ako na lang ang gagawa. kung sa bagay, dahil ko rin naman talaga kayang magsungit hanggang sa dulo, sa tingin ko kapani-paniwala naman akong hindi talaga ako ganon.

nakakabigla lang ang mga nangyari kagabi.

nung una pa lamang, medyo nagaalangan na kami nila weng sa mga aplikante ngayong semestre, dahil stand up sila. hindi naman sa ayaw ko sa kanila. naniniwala lang ako na kahit pareho sa prinsipyo ang dalawa, malaki pa rin ang pagkakaiba ng ujp at ng stand up lalo na kung paguusapan ang mga kaparaanan. kung papasok sila sa isang academic org, ano kayang magiging implikasyon nito?

pero sige, mahal ko ang stand up. hayaan na natin sila.

mula sa sampung aplikante, apat na lamang silang humarap sa amin para sa batch interview, at dalawa sa kanila ay stand up.

sa totoo lang, nakakatamad ang interview kagabi. tanungin mo ng preamble, hindi kabisado. tanungin mo ng constitution, ni hindi nabasa. tingnan mo ang sigsheet, kulang-kulang. tanungin mo ng prinsipyo at ideyolohiya ng org, beauty pageant answers ang binibigay. hello! aplikante kayo??? di nga???

natural lang na mainis kami di ba, pero sige, sigaw sigaw lang ng kaunti. wala namang personal na atake.

aba, pagkatapos ng lahat, nasabihan pa kami na ang mismong pagsigaw-sigaw namin sa kanila ay isa nang pagkilala san pyudal na sistema. ito ay balikwas sa aming laban sa pyudal na sistemang nananaig sa lipunan.

a, hello? mass org kami??? hindi di ba. wala naman kaming sinabing mass org kami e.

kung pyudal na sistema lang ang ating pag-uusapan, di ba sa umpisa pa lang, dapat wala nang application process dahil ito mismo ay nagpapatong ng kapangyarihan sa mga miyembro higit sa aplikante.

sori ha. academic org pa rin kasi kami, may political stands lang. hindi ibig sabihin no'n kelangan na namin bitawan ang mga natutunan namin sa peryodismo.

ayoko man sanang mainis sa pagmamahal ko na lang sa stand up, pero nakikita ko na lang ang sarili ko na lumalayo ang loob ko sa kanila.

ACLE

I must say, this is the most tiring, emotionally disturbing day in my whole life. and for the first time, i am actually feeling tired of ranting and whining.

Classes were suspended this afternoon to make way for the Alternative Classroom Learning Experience (ACLE). One of my orgs, Union of Journalists of the Philippines - UP Diliman, chose to show one of Howie Severino's documentaries titled "Huling Hala Bira" which talked about a squatters' area literally located under train rails that crosses over Pasig River. We also had the chance to actually have Howie Severino for a mini-forum after the viewing.

With Howie Severino coming, everybody seemed to be focused too much on his coming, nobody cared about the event itself.

One. The younger members had problems looking for an LCD projector saying that all the projectors in the Journalism Department are already taken and reserved for someone else. It's actually impossible, with the Department having three projectors. Weng and I couldn't take that answer. When Weng talked to Ate Raquel, we were able to get one without any effort.

And, god, projector set-up. Nobody knew how to do it.

Two. No registration sheets. Someone forgot to print one and so they had to resort to blank pink papers manually writing the details needed, which by the way will be given to the University Student Council. You're kidding me on this one, right? I went to the Department, asked if I can type and print a page for the org.

Three. Since Jam had to leave and pick up Howie at GMA, everybody was just waiting for her. The event was to start at 1pm, but it was until 1:45pm when a talk on the UP situation started. Why? Nobody felt the urge to act or at least be concerned of the people inside the room waiting for something to happen.

And so I had to ask, do we have any instructions? No. So what do we do? Wait for them? We don't know. What do we have in our program? We don't have any program. Ah, ok. That's nice.

We had to think of something. Since Jem had been planning on a UP Situation discussion, fine, have her start. Apparently she needed some visual aids when she didn't have one. We had to look for someone who had a copy of that specific powerpoint. After ten years, funny, we didn't find the one we needed but rather an older version.

Four. Token for Howie. A recycled box filled with mamon. Not that I hate mamon, or I have some issues against being thrifty, but seriously, I will never give such gifts even to student speakers. Please, a little sense of decency here. What we give him will reflect the org's name. Mamon doesn't set a good impression. Sorry.

We volunteered to buy the token as originally planned however, MJ decided that she be the one to go. We gave Howie a bottle of wine. Hapi.

So ok. The ACLE was rather good. We even had music majors as audience, which is quite interesting actually. What I didn't like about the discussion actually was that we all found Howie playing the safe take on media, that he doesn't have any advocacy since it connotes propaganda, that the audience are intelligent enough to interpret and elicit their own forms of actions, and that he didn't answer when asked of his struggles while doing the documentary (pertaining to government restrictions or a bigger issue than just a simple housing and relocation).

Five. When Howie left, everybody left. Only three of us decided to clean the room, arrange the chairs, return the projector to the Department.

I'm sorry but I have to say it but by event organizing standards, this ACLE flops.