Love leaves a memory that no one can steal

but sometimes it leaves a heartache that no

one can heal.

Te quiero mucho,

Ashley

            After reading that entry in my diary, my face gave a dark frown and my lips became stiff. I wondered why I wrote it before. I put down the diary and began to think, trying to sustain my curiosity. Unfortunately, how matter I tried digging circumstances in my memory; nothing came up to picture those words.  I found it very hard to remember since it was written a year ago. So, I just put in mind that maybe in that moment something unpleasant desolated my day that there were no other words to write on and instead of writing literal terms, I wrote that meaningful quotation. Until the moment I closed the diary. I sat still in the bed and enjoy the silence. My eyes rested on my wrist and reached that yellow baller. Yes, the yellow baller. My heart beat faster and faster. Finally, memories flashed in my mind…

Check out the full story here: http://authspot.com/poetry/the-memories-of-the-yellow-baller-2/

Published: Triond.com (2011)

The mining in Palawan has become a very controversial environmental issue that the government as well as the Filipino people, themselves, has been facing. The issue has bring out various environmental organizations such as Save Palawan Movement, Kabang Kalikasan ng Pilipinas (WWF-Philippines) and Tanggol Kalikasan impeding the mining activities and protecting the biodiversiy in Palawan. The point that they would like to stress is that Palawan is one of the provinces in the Philippines which is very successful in terms of Tourism. It is rich of attractive places like islands and islets, rocky coves, and sugar-white sandy beaches, to name a few. Palawan is also the home of the famous Puerto Princesa Underground River, Kayangan Lake and Palawan Divers.

Puerto Princesa Underground River

It is very disgusting to know then, that the mining will destruct this very rich natural resource where the livelihood of many Palawan people depends.

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth. It includes removal of the soil. There are different techniques in mining in which the most harmful is the mountain top removal. This technique is done through the use of explosives and big machines. It is a common knowledge that Palawan is also abundant with mineral resources such as nickel, copper, manganese, and chromite. Needless to say, the place attracts several miners, and mining, so to say, can cause a very big problem to the biodiversity and natural ecosystem of Palawan.

In the news article, we can read that President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" C. Aquino wants to have a stop on this mining activity in Palawan, or if not, minimize. At the date of press covering, he said that the government will stop entertaining applications of mining in Palawan. He is also considering the same reason that the mentioned environmental organizations are giving: to protect the biodiversity of Palawan.

The Save Palawan Movement, a multi-sectoral coalition of concerned environmental, legal religious and other civic groups launched a campaign to gather at least 10 million signatures to put a stop to mining in the province. The campaign is being done manually and even online to spread the calling of “No to mining in Palawan”. Up to date, the campaign continues and people of all ages are enticed to support. All we have to do now, student or not, young or old, the government and even ordinary citizens not only of Palawan but as well as the whole Filipino community should work hand-in-hand to stop mining in Palawan and possibly, in several places which promotes successful tourism, protection of biodiversity and normal balancing of the ecosystem.

College life is a kind of depressing and tough. Facing the unending quizzes, making difficult assignments, burning midnight candles to set up reports, working on knotty projects, and preparing patiently for the arduous examinations are inescapable. However, MUST students are creative enough to find time in order to unwind. Aside from reaching up feat, they find space for hang-outs. Places around Cagayan de Oro City are already forthcoming in a way that they are designed to keep the students going.  The students nowadays are fond of window shopping, eating snacks served along the street, and surfing the net during their leisure time.

Mall Promenade

 

Mall promenade is usual for MUST students. Limketkai Mall is just few walks away from MUST. Most of the students set off to wander in this cool and pleasurable place to escape the nerve wracking mathematical formulae and equations they encounter inside the classroom. Window shopping is common in these places where one enjoys strolling around the mall and discovers its different sections. It is also a delightful mean to wipe boredom away without spending even a single cent.

Pabayo Street

Street Foods are also typical nowadays. Going out of school gives the idea of a full brain yet empty stomach. In such moment, food is already top in one’s mind. So, oftenly students simply give attention to the food serve just beside our school gate and it is pretty sure that one can expect fullness in just five pesos. Aside from food chains which offer low cost meals, street foods also lined up just outside the school. Stalls are now present serving light and delicious snacks such as kwekkwek, fish ball, tempura, and barbecue only at cheap prices.

Online World

 

Internet cafe grows in number within this time. Apart from academic researches, computers are also one of means of fun and time passing. Students are now prone and addicted to different merriment offered by the internet such as facebook, twitter, tumblr, myspace, and the like. Computer online games are also there. The most common is the Defense of the Ancients or commonly known as DoTa. It is a custom scenario for the real-time strategy video game where each team is there to destroy the opponents called Ancient, heavily guarded structures at opposing corners of the map. Most players of this game are young males.

These are just bits of innumerable means of fun made by the students. It is their way to relax and free themselves from gloomy corners they have had.

Enjoy More, Pay Less

Just click the title. This article of mine was actually published in Triond.com, where I post and publish articles to have some earnings. :3

Ah, no. I will just blog the content later. :D

Irene Joy Balabag Dayo

Fourth Year College
Block K1

Bachelor of Science in Technology Communication Management

Mindanao University of Science and Technology

Just finished reading all 6 books of this American phenomenal television show! 'T was sooo inspiring! Haaamazing, you can try reading these too.

The Vampire Diaries 1: The Awakening

The Vampire Diaries 2: The Struggle

The Vampire Diaries 3: The Fury

The Vampire Diaries 4: The Dark Reunion

The Vampire Diaries' The Return Trilogy:

The Return: Nightfall

The Return: Shadow Souls

And I'll be downloading this soon.. 

The Return: Midnight

I just like this song "karong panahuna", ka-relate kau ko. :c Kidd :D. Bitaw, I just find the story behind this song very amazing. I included the full copy of the lyrics, so you can imagine the flow of the story by yourself. Give it a try. Here:

Scrolling through my cellphone

For the twentieth time today

Reading the text you sent me again

Though I memorized anyway

It was an afternoon in December

When it reminded you of the day

When we bumped into each other

But you didn’t say hi cause I looked away

And maybe that was the biggest mistake of my life

And maybe I have not moved on since that night

Cause its 12:51

And I thought my feelings were gone

But I’m lying on my bed thinking of you again

And the moon shines so bright

But I gotta dry these tears tonight

Cause you’re moving on

And I’m not that strong to hold on any longer.

ho woa ohhh...

ho woa ohhh...

when I saw you’re with her

didn’t think you find another

and my world just seems to crash

I shouldn’t have thought that this would last

And maybe that was the biggest of mistake my life

And maybe I have not moved on since last night

Cause its 12:51

And I thought my feelings were gone

But I’m lying on my bed thinking of you again

And the moon shines so bright

But I gotta dry these tears tonight

Cause you’re moving on

And I’m not that strong to hold on any longer

As the sky outside gets brighter

And my eyes begin to tire

I’m slowly drowning and memories of him

And I know it shouldn’t matter

As my hearts begin to shatter

I’m left to wonder

Just how it should have been yeah…

12:51

And I thought my feelings were gone

I’m lying on my bed, I'm not thinking of you again

And the moon shines so bright

But I gotta dry these tears tonight

Cause you’re moving on

And I’m not that strong to hold on

Cause I’ll prove you wrong

That I can move on through this song

So much stronger ho whoa…

Ho whoa oh whoa…

Ho whoa...

(Lyrics of 12:51 – Krissy and Ericka)

I really enjoyed laughing with the Kimmy Dora 2 last night. Thanks Jeff and Jula and also to Limketkai Cinema 4. :D

Since “to express is free”, then I’m gonna tell you about my thoughts on Pinoy Big Brother’s trending loveteam – Myrtle and Yves (MyrVes).

The time that my addiction to Pinoy Big Brother Uber 2012 started just after Kit (5th Evictee) was evicted and it was the time that Myrtle has filed a TRO or Temporary Restraining Order against Yves in the Big Brother house for the reasons that: First, Yves has a bestfriend/girlfriend waiting for him in the outside world. Second, Yves needs time to know his true feelings (or so I thought? the thing that went into my mind now is “they needed time to know the real feelings they have for each other”).

So, the main thing that goes into my mind until now is it’s really Myrtle and Yves at the beginning. I mean, they are the love team.

After some series of events that forced the Big Brother to invite Kim (Yves’ bestfriend/girlfriend) to enter the PBB house, I think the true feelings were realized. There and then, there is only one thing at the end: Yves loves Myrtle. Yves chose Myrtle and decided to break up with Kim and they’ll go back as bestfriends. “Boss and Baby – The End” (I really salute Kim because she’s a fighter).

I would like to give the idea I have with concerns to the housemates’ and house player’s intuition.

Yves: He loves Myrtle but he felt it’s wrong and he’ll going to fix everything if he’s already out of the PBB house. He will fix everything that goes within him and Kim. Then, he will go back to Myrtle. However, Big Brother decided to invite Kim to the house and let Yves fix the problem inside PBB house and not to wait until Yves will go out. When Kim was already in the house, Yves was in nuts (At that time, I understood him. “Nalilibog” siya uy. Heehe). Until such time that Big Brother let him chose whom to talk first. He chose Kim and there, they broke up. Afterwards, he talked to Myrtle. Myrtle labelled him as “manloloko” and “masamang tao” and the thought in him was just the same: he loves her. He accepted the rejection and the words that cut. He’s just being true to Myrtle, to Kim and to himself and chose not to pretend even though he knew that he will hurt someone he values so much and make other people in the outside world hate him. Anyways, he just lives with the real purpose in the PBB house: MAGPAKATOTOO.

Myrtle: She is a very tactful person because of an experience that made her to be one. In her past, someone he thought loved her cheated her. In line with Yves and her, she’s in denial stage. She was actually in doubt because at first, she definitely knew that Yves has girlfriend outside the PBB house that made her file a Temporary Restraining Order (TOR). She actually empathized with the situation of Yves and Kim. In other words, she’s putting herself in Kim’s shoes and realized that it would be painful. There and then, she was involved in “PBB Awkward Edition” and yes, from there, I can say she’s also a fighter. When she and Yves talked about the situation, she called Yves as manloloko and masamang tao because the latter told her before that he and Kim were just best friends. She doesn’t want to be a panira to a relationship and yet, unknowingly, she’d been. There’s one thing I can say: she’s inlove with Yves but Kim hinders her to admit her true feelings. She’s admirable because she got to know the possible consequence of her actions even it pains her very much.

Kim: A fighter. While imagining and putting myself into her situation, I actually disliked the feeling. Watching your boyfriend in the television inch by inch sticking to other girl and you can do nothing about it feels like a punishment. She entered the Big Brother house and faced all the faces there and the real purpose why she was there. She cried, she felt cheated, she became angry to Yves and still, she smiled. She’s been fair to Myrtle and told Myrtle that she was not angry with her (Poor wonderful thing, kung ang uban pa ato magpatay na uy, Heehe). She let go with Yves because she values him. She doesn’t want him struggling from guilt. She accepted the pain openly and left the PBB house with light heart. What made me admire her is the thought that without a doubt, she accepted everything though it could possibly hurt her heart and her ego; she put value to the person and nothing else. I can’t forget this line from her: “Kung magmamahal ka ng dalawa, piliin mo na lang ‘yung pangalawa kasi hindi mo naman mamahalin ‘yung pangalawa kung mahal mo pa ‘yung isa [una].”

I really admire myself (rot!) while typing this blog because I was able to give my idea and my thoughts as what and how I view these three characters inside Pinoy Big Brother house. What I posted above is mainly “kung ako and paistoryahun” and purely my own view and not a general idea. I hope I sounded “un”-judgemental because I ought not to judge everybody else based on negative aspects. I want to view the situation with the things I like about them. I really admire the three of them, actually. I just hope PBB will stand what the program meant to be – to show and acknowledge those Pinoys who are NAGPAKATOTOO.

Writing is a work that requires passion, practice and training. So, as student-writers, we organized a series of writing seminar-workshops that will provide ideas and tips to our newly hired members and also for us to review the basics of writing.

On May 29, 2012, we had our News and Feature Writing Seminar-Workshop. The organization held this seminar-workshop in order to guide the publication members in writing news and feature to provide insights in writing this categorical writings effectively and efficiently.

During the seminar, two speakers are present. The first one was Mr. Aldrin C. Torrejos, former editor-in-chief of the Trailblazer. He discussed on the different structures and techniques in feature writing. The second one was Mr. Drazen A. Evilla, the former Associate Editor of the publication. He, on the other hand, talked on various types and tips on writing news.

On June 9, 2012, we then conducted the second part of our seminar-workshop. It is all about writing editorial. I, personally, appreciated this seminar because I am one of the editors who will organize the editorial article. We invited Mr. Mark Dave Cerbito, the editor-in-chief of the The Trailblazer S.Y. 2009-2010. We also had a writing activity after the discussion.

I just want to share the pictures taken in our seminar. Here:

News Writing Seminar-Workshop

Editorial Writing Seminar-Workshop

It is sooo disgusting that it has been a long time that I posted blog posts here. Uh, makalagot. It’s just that I’ve been so busy with the whole month of May and honestly, until now. Perhaps, I should share tidbits of my adventures here.

The first activity I had with the Trail staff 2012-2013 was our Team Building Activity. It was really awesome. We held it at Covadonga Center of Spirituality and Culture at Aluba, Macasandig, Cagayan de Oro City. The place is so nice. It really looked like a hotel. Actually, it is a retreat house and at the same time, a place where cultural activities could be held.

We stayed there for one day and one night, May 18-19. At the first day, we conducted a seminar with two different speakers. They are superb. I won’t state their name; I’m afraid they will get angry of me. Kidd. By 6pm to 10pm, we discussed on our Constitution By-laws page by page. I think it’s a great idea discussing on it because we really need a very substantial review on our CBL in order to avoid crisscrossing on our own laws. At night, while my other colleagues were soundly sleeping (or perhaps, trying to sleep), I, together with my Managing Editor in Finance, secretly planned on tomorrows activities. We really took a hard time planning because actually, were so sleepy at that time. However, ironic it may seems, I slept by 2am. Uuurgh; sooo.. hmmp.

By dawn the next day (actually the time was 4am), we woke up (I don’t know if “woke up” is the right term because I don’t think what I’d done before was a real “sleep”), took a bath with all the talking with the other person at the next cubicle. Heehe. We’re so excited on what would be the outcome on this activity. I actually felt a little nervous because that was an activity, first activity that would be spearheaded by me as an EIC. Scaaarrrry.

We went down by 5am to take our breakfast. I am so confident that all were ready just to find out that the boys are not yet prepared. Ahai. They’re still on their bed shirts and shorts with sleepyheads and wala pa jud kaligo intawon. Hahai. They told us that they’d slept late practicing on the This-is-a-what game. Hehe, this game is an intelligence and speed-testing game. Actually, it’s fun. I won’t mind explaining it to you because the rules were so difficult to understand. It will just make your head go in circles.

So, while waiting for them (I was nearly angry this time. Patience rot. :D), we proceeded to the rooftop and set all the needed props. Afterwards, when all were geared up, we conducted different games. There are two teams: Team Dadto and Team Wako-wako. (Owwwdiva? Unique kau mga names. Pinaawat-awat samu last year. Haaha, joke,). Of course, these games have purposes; to promote teamwork, camaraderie, intelligence, patience, time element management and to enhance team management and leadership. These games were called as Cheer leading, This-is-what- game, Newspaper pass, Polygon game and Spider web. There were other two or three that I just failed to remember. Sorry. :D

The activity was really full of fun; laughing here and there. Actually, it took all of the time allotted to it. At 11am, we carried out the activity evaluation and continued the discussion on the CBL and afterwards, the Awarding Ceremony; Team Dadto won and the Mr. And Miss TBA were in the names of Jay Miguel Alacha (Jay) and Quennie Quidet (Q-Q), respectively. Pakpak! :D

By 11:30am, we ate our lunch and prepared to leave. And of course, we didn’t fail to take pictures. Heehe, my forte.

A treat from Ma'am Maris after the Team Building Activity 2012. Sana palaging ganito. :D

The Team Building Activity is just a small activity but it would be a good start to begin for this year. We still have a long run to go which means more pain, more struggles and more unexpected events to come that may surprise this organization but I hope at the end of this year, all the mean struggles will turn out into a productive end, a worthwhile end that would also be a good start for a new year of the publication. After all, I believe all the challenges we are having are just of one purpose: to strengthen the publication which serves one purpose: to strengthen the studentry and the university it serves.