{ Horror Stories }

I was talking earlier to my boyfriend about the spooky experiences my family and I had experienced here in our house. I decided to share to you some of those spooky experiences.

Many people, including me and my family, believe that our house is haunted. Each one of us here in our house has at least experienced a single spooky event. Even our visitors have their own experiences inside our house. We believe that when a visitor visits our place for the first time, he or she will experience something spooky. Here are some of the scary events we have experienced.

• Spooky Item Number One: The Dwarf

It was November 1 that time (I could not remember the year anymore). It was very late in the evening. There were three of us inside the room: my grandmother, my auntie and me. My grandmother was already sleeping in her bed. I was sitting in a rocking chair watching television with my auntie. The television was muted because we were not actually focussing much on the movie. It was also very silent inside the room and all the people in our house were already sleeping. I started to rock my chair very hard. While rocking the chair, I was shocked! I heard baby voices shouting angrily. The voices sounded like the voice of a dwarf. Afraid, I stopped rocking the chair. I could not seem to move and speak that time. When I got my consciousness back, I asked my auntie if she heard those baby voices because I thought that I was just imagining those things. Surprisingly, she also heard those voices! She scolded me because she thought that I was the one who was shouting with a baby voice. I told her that it was not me. I tried to rock the rocking chair again to check if the sound came from the chair. But when I rocked it again, we heard no sound. After that, we ran very fast to the bed and covered ourselves up with a blanket.

• Spooky Item Number Two: The Family

This story was experienced by my cousin named Vicky. Vicky was inside her room together with my other cousin Mia. They were already sleeping. Vicky suddenly woke up because of a bad dream. She checked her clock and it was past three in the morning. She was trying to sleep again but cannot because of a weird feeling. Then, she saw something! A guy wearing a barong was standing near the door and was looking at her. She was so afraid and she wanted to shout but there seemed to be no voice coming out from her mouth. She closed her eyes so as not to see the guy. But when she opened her eyes again, the guy was inches away from her! That time, she managed to shout and Mia woke up. The two of them did not go back to sleep anymore. The next night after that event, Vicky experienced something spooky again. They were already sleeping when Vicky woke up again because of a bad dream. When she checked the time, it was the same time when she woke up yesterday! (Past three!) She closed her eyes immediately and covered herself with a blanket. Then, she heard a girl crying. She decided not to mind it and just tried to go back to sleep. But the girl continued crying. When she opened her eyes, she saw the same man again at the door together with a little girl wearing a dress! The next few days after the two consecutive events, I told Vicky that she was not the only one who was hearing the girl crying every night. I was actually hearing it too when I stay up late until dawn. Then, people from our neighborhood said that there was always a family (a man wearing a barong, a girl in a dress and an old lady) standing in our terrace.

• Spooky Item Number Three: The Sound

I always stay up late every night. Every time I am about to sleep, I am always hearing a weird sound from the ceiling of my room. The noise I am hearing sound like a ball bouncing on the floor. At first, the noise is not too loud and it seems far away from me so I do not mind it that much. But as minutes pass by, the noise gets louder. It is like there is someone who is playing with a ball at the room above mine. What freaks me out is that the room above mine, which is the room of my brother before, is empty and no one stays there because my brother does not stay with us any more.

• Spooky Item Number Four: The Old Lady

It was twelve midnight that time. I was in a room in the second floor together with my cousins. My cousins were teasing me. I got irritated so I decided not to sleep there and just go to our basement where my parents' room was located.When I was at the top of the stairs, I noticed one of my cousins at the couch talking to someone on the phone. I continued going down the stairs. I looked at my cousin again. I was terrified when I saw an old lady in a white dress sitting beside him! I was petrified that time. Thinking that I was just hallucinating, I looked again at the couch. That time, the old lady smiled at me. Because of too much fear, I ran fastly to my parents' room. The next morning, I asked my cousin if he saw the old lady. He told me that he saw the old lady and that was the reason why he stoped talking on the phone and why he did not greet me.

• Spooky Item Number Five: Mia's Ghost

This event was experienced by our maid. Our maid was cleaning a part of the house near the stairs. While she was cleaning, someone tapped her at her back. She was frightened. When she looked at her back, she was relieved because it was just my cousin Mia. Mia told her something but our maid did not understand what it was. Then Mia went out of the house. Immediately after that, our maid went to Mia's room. Surprised, she saw Mia there! She cannot believe when she saw Mia because Mia just talked to her downstairs and went out of the house. A similar event happened to me. It was late in the evening when my classmates came to visit me at our house. I told them that our house was haunted. Since they were enthusiasts, they asked me if we could explore the house and hunt ghosts. Wanting to spice things up, I agreed with them. We went to the fourth floor wherein the whole floor was divided into three rooms. Each room was separated by a door with a small glass on it allowing someone on one room to peek to the next room. There were two stairs leading to the fourth floor. One leading to the left side of the floor or the first room and one leading to the right side of the floor or the third room. We took the stair that led us to the left side of the floor where the first room was located. We were noisy and were scaring each other. That time, my classmates, my cousin Mia and Karen, and I were only the ones at the house. All my other relatives were attending a night party. My classmate Jeff, who knew Mia, told me that Mia was there at the third room looking at us through the glass on the door. Since we were too far from that door because we were at the other side of the floor, I could not figure much the face. All I saw was a girl with a black long straight her. I knew immediately that it was really Mia because she was the only one in the family who had that kind of beautiful hair. What bothered me was that she just kept staring at us. I felt uneasy. Then, she turned off the light at that room. My classmates panicked so we decided to run downstairs. When my classmates left, I went to Mia's room. I asked her if she went to the fourth floor and stared at us through the door with the glass. She said that she did not go there. At first I did not want to believe but Karen confirmed me that Mia did not leave her room because the two of them were watching television that time.

Those were just some of the experiences we had. Maybe there was really a family who died in our house. I am not sure. When I asked my aunties about who owned this house before they bought it, they said they do not know. All they knew was that when they bought the house, the dealer told them that there was someone who died in here. But they still bought the house because they badly needed it. We tried to bless the house a lot of times but spooky stuff still continued to appear. Maybe because our house was too big and some parts of it were always deserted. We just learned to get used to the scary events happening in our house. We just hope that those who will visit our house for the first time will not experience what we are experiencing so as not to freak them out.

// Sex Assignment on Infants with Ambiguous Genitalia and Sexual Identity //

Lately, we have been discussing things about human and sex in Anthropology10. I am starting to realize that classifying humans as either male or female is becoming a must in our society today. Based from the majority of the human population, a male and a female body are different from each other. These two bodies have different characteristics. Even the genitals of a male and a female are different from each other. Maybe because of this knowledge, the society biologically classifies human as either male or female. Our sex is determined through our primary and secondary characteristics or physical traits and by our sex chromosomes. The way a person lives greatly depends on his or her sex. That is why from the moment we are born, our sex is identified. As stated earlier, one way of classifying sex is through physical traits like the genitals. When a person is born with a penis, he is a male. When a person is born with a vagina, she is a female. Today, we are faced with a problem on how we will identify the sex of those persons born with ambiguous genitalia and persons that contain a sex chromosome that is not strictly XX or XY.

Let us be aware that not all humans can be classified as a male or female. There are people who have ambiguous genitalia or ambiguous sexual identity. We call these people intersexual and hermaphrodites. Let us also admit that these people may not be common but they are also not rare. Approximately one in two thousand are born with ambiguous external genitalia annually in the United States. What do we do now with these people?

When an infant with ambiguous genitalia is born, the medical community’s standard procedure is to assign a sex on the infant. The physician will perform a surgery on the infant’s genitalia and sculpt it to the appropriate genitalia of the chosen sex. Since female genitalia are easier to fashion, physicians have opted for a female form. Physicians advise the parents to raise the child in a manner consistent with its surgically altered genitalia without regard to the sex identity that might have otherwise naturally developed. This “innovative therapy” became a standard procedure without its outcomes being tested and through informal acceptance. This standard procedure started when reports on the Joan/John case said that the sex assignment done on Joan/John had produced successful results. However, the problem is that the physicians failed to see the long-term effect of the surgery on Joan/John. Joan/John suffered a lot of problems due to the surgery. These consequences were never published. Because of this, the medical community believes that sex assignment is the best answer for infants with ambiguous genitalia or ambiguous sexual identity. They do not look on the possible consequences that this procedure may produce to the child. Thus, sex assignment does not really guarantee that the infant will have a happy life when he or she grows up.

There are a lot of other problems caused by sex assignment. First is that the medical community makes the situation look like that sex assignment on the child is an urgency. Physicians tell parents that not performing sex assignment on the infant may cause social problems because our society is not ready for intersexual and hermaphrodites. They don’t know that assigning a sex on an intersex infant or a hermaphrodite may also cause problems. Second, physicians advise parents to keep the sex assignment done on the infant as a secret. These can cause problems. For example, an intersexual raised as a female is showing “tomboyish” traits. The person will not understand his or her full personality and identity because he or she does not know that he or she is actually an intersexual or hermaphrodite. And if he or she learns that sex assignment is performed on her, he or she may get angry and sad because he or she will realize that the society does not accept people like him or her and that his or her most beloved parents have betrayed him or her. Third, the child’s right to open future is lost. The child’s right to choose what he or she wants to be is lost because the people around him or her has already dictated who will he or she be. His or her choice is lost.

For me, sex assignment on infants with ambiguous genitalia or ambiguous sexual identity is not the answer to the problem. Sex assignment will only cause more social problems and it doesn’t really guarantee success. Through the use of Anthropology, we can perhaps understand what the problem really is. The problem is with our society. Our society has no space for people who are intersexual and hermaphrodite. A simple example is our comfort rooms. We only have rooms for females and males. We are not aware that there are other people out there who are not really male neither female. Performing sex assignment on these people means that we treat them as abnormal and that the reason we are assigning sex to them is to make them normal. This is wrong. Who dictates what is normal anyway? It already becomes natural to us that persons should be identified as a male or female. We must realize that we should question now this hegemonic power of our society to tell us that there are only two sexes. We are not aware that what is supposed to be a biological classification is becoming a social influenced classification. The reason why society tells us that there are only two sexes is so that we can be useful. Male and female are very important because of reproduction and Christianity. That is why even though some of the intersexual and hermaphrodites cannot reproduce, our society still try to make them look like a female or male because this is what is normal for our society. We should learn how to understand these people because it is not their fault that they are born with an ambiguous genitalia or ambiguous sexual identity. There is actually nothing wrong with them. It is our society that tells that there is something wrong. Sex assignment on an infant is not good because the right of the person to determine his or her life is gone. If sex assignment is to be done, it should be done on a much later age when the person has already decided what he or she wants to be. He or she then will have the choice to be a male, a female or remain intersexual or hermaphrodite.

* Should the Government Stop Sending OFW's to Abroad? *

We had a debate in English 1 yesterday. Our topic was about whether the government should stop sending OFW's abroad or not. I got to defend the side that said the government should not stop sending OFW's abroad. Well, personally, I believe that the government should really not stop sending OFW's abroad because they benefit the country.

First, OFW's contribute a lot to our economy. If the government stops sending them abroad then our economy will fall down because a big part of our economy depends on them. Our country is a third-world country. We are not that industrialized compared to other countries such as America and we also cannot afford the latest technologies. Because of this, we cannot improve our products. Thus, we do not have a lot of good products to export. And even though we have good products, it does not help much in boosting our economy because there are many more industrialized countries which can produce better products than what we can produce. Since Filipinos are known around the world as hardworking persons, we can "export" labourers and professionals to other countries. Philippines is one of the countries who produce good labourers and professionals. Thus, it will be easier for OFW's to get job abroad. This will boost our economy a lot. When the time comes that our economy is very stable, we will be able to afford the technologies needed to improve our products. There will be no need for Filipinos to go to abroad anymore. OFW's can get back to our country and start their businesses in here.

Second, sending them to abroad is an opportunity for the Filipinos to be productive. As we all know, we do not have a lot of job opportunities here in the Philippines. A lot of Filipinos, even if they graduated from prestigious schools, can't find a job easily. The government cannot offer a job to every single person that is aspiring to have one. And even if there are job opportunities in here, the salary that you will get is not that high. Sometimes, this salary is not enough to pay for all the needs of a Filipino family. Instead of doing nothing and seeing their family die from poverty, Filipinos have to seek for other choices. Going to abroad opens a lot of opportunities for Filipinos to have a job. In abroad, they can earn more money to sustain the needs of their family and at the same time, help in boosting our economy. They will be able to use what they have learned here in the Philippines and show their abilities and talents there. They will also be able to improve their knowledge. Not all OFW's plan to stay in abroad forever. Most of them are just saving money so that when they come back in here, they will have a more stable life. When they come back in here, they will be able to share what they have learned there to other Filipinos.

Third, it shows to the world what Filipinos can do and gives a preview to our culture. Others may say that sending Filipinos to other countries takes away their nationalism. I guess that idea is wrong. What is nationalism anyway? Nationalism is loyalty, devotion and love to a nation. It is promoting the nation's culture and interests. OFW's are willing to sacrifice and work in abroad for the benefit of the country. Isn't that nationalism? Also, when OFW's go to abroad, they are able to show their abilities and greatness. When they become successful persons, other people will see that Filipinos are great talented people. OFW's bring honour to our country. Today, there are a lot of successful Filipinos around the world. This is the reason why the Philippines is starting to get respect from other countries. Also, when Filipinos go to abroad, they bring their "being a Filipino." They show to other people how we live our life. For example, there is a famous designer now in America who uses the designs of the clothes of the native Filipinos in the clothes she makes. Through this, people there have a glimpse of our culture. Another example is how OFW's deal with other people. They show that Filipinos are friendly people. This is why Filipinos are known around the world as friendly persons. The examples above are evidences that when a Filipino goes to abroad, the Filipino culture in him or her is never lost.

Fourth, it will encourage the Filipinos to be hardworking. People say that the government should stop sending OFW's to abroad because it will result to "brain drain" here in the Philippines. They say that when all the good professionals are already in abroad, we will be left with nothing. But I do not believe on that idea. I think that the reason why we do not have enough jobs for all the Filipinos and enough resources for the jobs to be improved is that our country is starting to be overpopulated. This is why a lot of people are poor and jobless because the ones who have jobs in our country are those who are educated in good schools. If some of these professionals go to abroad, there will be job vacancies for the Filipinos left in here. There will be enough jobs for the Filipinos because our population is reduced. There will also be enough resources that the government can use to improve the jobs and job salaries here in our country. Those people who are not so good and talented will be encouraged to work harder because they know that there are already available jobs for them. And in order for them to get those jobs, they will exert a lot of effort to improve their abilities so that they will get hired.

Sending OFW's abroad does not harm us. It gives benefits to our country. Also, it is a person's right to choose where he or she wants to be. So why stop sending OFW's to abroad?

xXx Friend Problem xXx

I am so confused right now. I have a problem with one of my classmates and I cannot seem to find a solution for it. This classmate of mine is one of my closest friends. I'll name him "Kyle".

Kyle and I met during the Freshman Orientation. I kind of bumped on him while I was running. Starting from that day, we became friends. He is my classmate in almost all of my subjects and he is also my laboratory partner in Chem16. As time passed by, we became very close because we were always with each other. Last last week, I chatted with him in ym. He asked me who my bestfriend is. I told him that he is my bestfriend. He also told me that I am his bestfriend in the class. The day after that, one of my classmates named "Jela" approached me and opened up her problems to me. We talked the whole day that was why I barely got a chance to talk to Kyle. For the next few days, Jela and I started to be close and started to accompany each other. At the same time, the way Kyle acts suddenly changed. He did not talk to me that much which was very unusual. I asked him if there is something wrong and he told me that there is nothing wrong. That night, I got the chance to talk to him in ym again. He told me that he was jealous of Jela because it seems that Jela was replacing him as my bestfriend. I told him that he is still my bestfriend and he is the one who is going away from me. Days passed again, he still acted differently. I told Jela about my problem with Kyle. Then I learned that I'm not the only one who was getting irritated with him. I found out that almost all of us in the block have problems with his attitude. After some days, my irritation for him vanished. I understood what his problem was. He needed attention. I tried talking to him even if he did not want to talk to me.

As a friend, I want to tell him why some of us are irritated with him sometimes. But that may make things worse and make him more depressed. But if I do not tell him, my other classmates will continue being irritated with him because he will not change. Shall I tell him or not?

..Definitely Screwed Up..

From the moment I woke up this morning until 7:00 am, I did nothing aside from lying on my bed and trying to sleep again. I found it hard to get up from bed this morning. Maybe because I did not want to go to school today. It was 7:30 when I realized that if I do not stand up at that very moment, I am going to be late and I cannot be late today because I have my practical exams in Chem16 and Chem16 is my first subject. So, I hurried up and went to school.

I had heard a lot of rumours for the past few weeks that the laboratory instructors in Chem16 would give us a hard time in our practical exams. I was thinking for the past few days about what preparations I had to make for the exam. I practiced the basic techniques in the laboratory because I was so nervous that if did not practice I might screw up. My heart carried fear for the past few days. Now, I experienced the peak of my fear because I had to face my exams. When I reached our laboratory room, I was hoping that the exams would be postponed. However, I was unlucky. Our teacher came in and told us to go upstairs because the exams was about to start. "This is it." I told myself. I tried to relax as I entered the room. There were ten tables in the room and each table contained an experiment for us to perform. I was shocked when Mr. See told us that time limit for each table is two minutes. "What? Two minutes?!" I shouted. The exam started. I was in the first table. I couldn't perform well because I was panicking. I was thinking of the two minutes stuff the whole time and I did not notice that the time was up for the first table. I was not able to perform the set-up. I imagined that things would really go bad. I felt so down that time. I reached the sixth table and I kept saying to myself that I need to perform well this time. It was because I did not have a single good performance on one of the previous tables. I was either I did not finish the set-up or there was something wrong I had done in the set-up. I wanted to cry because I knew that I was definitely going to fail and I could not fail this exam. I looked at the sixth table. There was a test tube with a solution inside it. We were supposed to identify the solution by observing. For two minutes, I stared at the solution and tried to figure what it was. The time ended and I came up with no answer. Mr. Sean told us that we were supposed to smell the solution. The solution was actually vinegar. I was so angry at myself. How come it never crossed my mind to smell the solution? Argh. Finally, I was in the last table. My nightmare was about to end. In the last table, we were to pretend that we were mute Chem16 students and pretend that there was a fire inside the laboratory. I acted that I was panicking. After the time limit, I was glad because I thought I did the correct thing. At least I knew that there was one table wherein I did the correct thing. But, I was so wrong. Mr. See explained that the right thing to do was go outside of the laboratory for that table. I was deeply depressed. I didn't know that we were allowed to go out. We went back to the classroom. I heard complaints and rants here and there. Of course, I ranted too on how the time limit was too short, on how the exam was so hard and on other things to complain about. One thing was for sure, I definitely screwed up in this exam.

Perhaps, preparation was not the only thing I needed for this kind of exam. Mastery in the techniques in the laboratory and exploring possibilities maybe the best gear for this exam. How I wished I had those things.

+ Just a Simple Person +

After a few months here in UP, I felt what a normal life is once again. Actually, I hadn't felt it for a long time. When I was in highscool, I somehow forgot what a normal life was and what it was like to be treated as a normal person. Back when I was in elementary years, I was a simple person who barely caught the attention of other people. However, things changed when I was about to enter the third year of my highschool life.

I was studying at UST that time. Unfortunately, I had to transfer to other school not because I was flunking but because of some personal issues. My parents decided to enrol me in ESPS, a school near UST and a school wherein the principal is my auntie. The first time I heard that idea, I immediately disagreed with my parents. I knew that studying in a school wherein your auntie is the principal was going to produce issues. And I did not want issues anymore because I just escaped from an issue in UST. I was so tired. However, I had no choice. It was hard to transfer schools because I was already in third year highschool. So I decided to agree with my parents.

My first few months in ESPS were hard. I became a loner. During break times, I felt like eating inside the stalls of the bathroom because I thought it was better to eat there alone than to eat inside a canteen full of students who were all strangers to me. Days passed, my classmates began to approach me and I became their friend. Everything was okay. I was doing well in academics and I had a social life.

I tried my very best to keep my connection with the school principal as a secret. But my classmates still learned about it. The way they treated me changed. They started to treat me as if I was the principal of the school. They thought that I was a princess. Some even feared me. At first, I thought it was cool because people looked up to me. But I was wrong. It was no good at all.

That time I was always an honor student. Because people learned that I had a connection with the principal, they thought that I was cheating. They blamed the teachers and said that the teachers were faking my grades. I was so down that time. Many thoughts crossed my mind. What if the teachers were really just faking my grades? I started to lose my trust on myself. Whenever our class won on contests, students would say that we won because the principal is my auntie. It felt bad because I knew that I was working hard for what I was getting. I had sleepless nights just to be an honor student. I even started missing my dinners. What hurts the most was that people failed to see how I was shedding blood to get what I wanted because of the single fact that the principal is my auntie. It was like no people trusted me anymore. I also experienced a lot of pressure from my teachers. They were expecting me to get high grades all the time. They gave me more works to do compared to my classmates. Of course, I accepted the pressures they were giving me because I wanted to prove to the people that I am indeed intelligent.

I was somehow thankful that I did not lose all my friends. Some people still believed in me. They knew that I was an honor student because of my hardwork. What hurts was that even if they believed in me, they still treated me as a different person. They looked at me as if I was someone higher than them. All I wanted that time was for people to treat me as a normal person. I also did not know who my real friends were. Some people advised me that I should be careful in choosing my friends because some people might just befriend me for selfish reasons. I did not listen to those people who advised me. That was why I was deeply hurt when I learned that some of my friends were talking behind my back. They were just being good if I was there so that they could get what they wanted from me.

My real friends, teachers and employees in the school treated me as if I was a princess. If I wanted something, I could just get it in a blink of an eye. I was very spoiled. I did not even experienced commuting because there was always someone to bring me to school and fetch me from school. I felt that my freedom was lost. The guards in our school would not let me get out of the school. I always had to wait for my "sundo" for me to be able to get out of the school. I remember a time when it was our dismissal and I was not able to go to my "sundo" immediately because I had to take a special exam in math. My "sundo" came and the guards came looking for me. They asked my friend where I was. My friend, who thought that I already went home, told them I was not in school anymore. The guards panicked and my "sundo" called my parents. They continued to search for me in the whole school because they knew that I would not go home by myself. When my exam was finished, I got shocked when I saw them because all of them were panicking.

Some of my girl friends and some of the guys were afraid to mingle with me anymore. They thought that I was too good, too intelligent and too rich for them. They thought that it was very hard to reach me. I wanted to tell them that I am just a normal person who wanted a simple life. As time passed by, people noticed that I was just a simple person. They realized that I did not used my connection with the principal for selfish reasons and that I am good person after all. But the way they looked up to me never changed.

Now that I am in UP, I am experiencing a lot of changes. I am beginning to be an independent person now. People think of me as a simple person. My parents told me that I should drive my own car to school but I hesitated because I did not want people to think that I am sossy. I am also happy because UP lets me experience what a hard life is and how to do things on my own. It is my first time to ride in jeepneys alone. I am also experiencing to walk miles of roads every day. I am glad because I was able to enroll myself alone because before my parents were always the one who deal with my enrollment and other school stuffs. I am also grateful that I am able to meet diffent kinds of people who teach me a lot of things about life. I guess being in UP is one of my best experiences in my life because I get to be what I want which is being simple.

---> Bad Luck <---

My weekend was really great but at the same time depressing. A lot of good stuff happened but I guess bad luck is always with me to destroy my day.

My weekend was great because I was able to hang-out and be relieved from the academic stress I was experiencing lately. I was so excited when my boyfriend visited me. I hugged him like I never hugged him before. It was eight o'clock in the evening when, out of the blue, an idea strucked me. I invited my cousins to go with me and my boyfriend to Trinoma. We had no car and we were not really thinking on how we would go home in case there are no taxis anymore after the last full show.

Anyway, Trinoma is really a beautiful place. It has a "paradise effect" because the place is filled with plants. There are fountains and things like waterfalls. At the terrace in the third floor, you will find Starbucks. The place has a nice ambience. The place is surrounded by an artificial fog coming from the man-made ponds. I guess that place is right for Starbucks because it is nice to drink a cup of coffee in a view like that while relaxing with the breeze touching your body.

Enough of describing Trinoma. We decided to watch Transformers. It was awesome and the computer-made effects really stunned me. I wish I can make effects like those someday. Going back to the story, the movie ended at one o'clock in the morning so we had a hard time finding a taxi to take us home. We had to walk and walk before we were able to find a taxi. Fortunately, we were able to go back home.

My experiences were already great until we realized that something was missing. That made my weekend depressing. My boyfriend left his cellular phone at the taxi. The driver did not want to return his phone. I guess not all people here on Earth are as good as the person who found my phone and returned it to me. My boyfriend got scolded by his parents. I got sad because of the unpleasant things his parents told him. He actually experienced a near-death or a 50-50 situation before. Whenever his parents get mad at him, they always say that he should not have survided that event. That makes him emo and I really get affected when he is like that. I also got depressed by the fact that my means of communication with him was lessen.

Even though bad luck never seems to leave me alone, I guess I just have to think that everything happens for a reason. I just have to be optimistic always.

..:: Not That Unlucky After All ::..

Whew! This day was really very tiring for me. I had experienced mental stress first thing in the morning. Probably it was because of my Chem16 lab. There was one problem in the experiment, me and my classmates had performed, that most of us in the class could not solve. I felt like giving up that time because I had absolutely no idea on how to solve it. I also felt a little bit envious of my classmates who could solve it. Fortunately, they were so good to lend their time in tutoring me. I guess I have to devote more time in studying so that I will pass my course.

I was not really able to concentrate with my studies today. I had experienced a lot of bad things for the past few days. I was actually worrying about my problems in life that these bad experiences had brought. I did not even want to go home because of issues concerning my family.

Because I did not want to go home immediately after class, I invited my friends to accompany me in watching Pan's Labyrinth. It was free for all the freshies. Oh, I really love being a freshie. There are freebies wherever you go. Anyway, the movie was good but it was not focussed on its theme. At first, I thought that it was a magical film about fairies and things like that. But I was wrong. Yes, there were some magical scenes but the movied focussed a lot on the sub-stories of the main story. The cinematography was also great. I had also learned a moral lesson. The movie was telling us to consider others first before ourselves. Well, I agree with that. What I did not like in the movie were the scenes showing brutality. I do not really like watching films with brutality like torturing people because I really get affected as if I am feeling the pain that the characters are experiencing in the movie.

When I was about to go home, I realized that one of my cellular phones was missing. I really panicked that time. I did not know what to do. I tried my best to remember where I left it. But the more I tried to remember things, the more my brain shutted down. I really did not want to go home that time because I knew that I would be so dead once my parents found out that my phone was missing. Fortunately, there was someone who found my phone and she was able to contact me. She was willing to return my phone. I was so relieved that time. I was also grateful that the one who found my phone was a very good person. I guess I am not that unlucky after all. God is really good. He answered my prayers. I could not wait to get my phone tomorrow.

< The Desire for Learning Taekwondo >

From the moment I first met my P.E. teacher up to the end of my P.E. classes today, there was only one thing bugging me and making my heart go on beating faster. That thing was taekwondo – the P.E. class I chose.

When I enlisted in the taekwondo class, I was so happy and excited because I was so desperate to learn it ever since high school. Unfortunately, I had no chance back then. But now, I had the opportunity to learn it so I did not even think twice when I enlisted on it. I never thought if that class was going to be hard. I did not even think that it might make my back ache, cause pain on my muscles, tire me too much…or in short, torture my body. I guess, all I know back then was I wanted to learn it so badly.

However, that feeling of excitement I had for taekwondo turned into something I never expected. It all started when I first met my P.E. teacher and gave us a class orientation. He started telling things that we need to do in class. “Gagawa kayo ng 50 – 100 pumpings at 10 – 30 na push-ups,” he said. “What?!?” I told myself silently. I was really shocked and started to get nervous. I did not even know how to do push-ups. Then, how I am going to survive this class? He continued discussing things – things that made me more afraid and nervous. I suddenly felt that I wanted to drop this class. When the class was dismissed, my mind was still wandering on thoughts of quitting the class. “Why did I even enlist in this class in the first place?” I suddenly uttered. For a moment there, I forgot my desire on learning taekwondo.

But things changed again. I started to realize things that are really important when I was doing my assignment for taekwondo. I read the tenets of it which are as follows: courtesy, integrity, self-control, perseverance, and indomitable spirit. The last two stroke me. I realized that I cannot really learn something without having a full determination on learning it. If I do not persevere, I will not succeed. Even if challenges and obstacles hinder me from achieving my goals, I shall not be defeated. I must try my best to face any insurmountable odds. I also gained a personal desire to achieve. These realizations, of course, do not only apply to taekwondo. I started to believe that these things will help me a lot to go through my Chemistry and other subjects and hopefully, help me to graduate.

Those were the reasons why I started to practice and practice. I always put on my mind that I should never give up. I tried to do push-ups and fortunately, I learned how to do it. I believe that taekwondo is a lifelong venture. This venture can be started by anyone but only those with perseverance can finish it. As one of my classmates said, taekwondo is a discipline. I know that it will help me to be strong and face the real world.

After my P.E. class today, the nervousness I had finally died out. My class went well. Now, I am fully determined to learn the said martial art and after I finish the basics of it, I might enroll for advance taekwondo on schools teaching it. All I have to do is practice and practice. And whenever, I feel like giving up…all I have to do is say this line to myself: “One more try…”

haNds d0wn!

tiRed...

whew... Finally, our NCAE is over. Well, it's a bit hard especially the Science part basically because it's composed of test items which require analization and I admit it that it's on analization where I suck. Anyway, I loved the Math part because it was easy and yes, math is my favorite subject. The abstract part made me sleep...haha. I got dizzy because I stared at the figures for like an hour and I still can't figure the answers so I just slept. Of course, I did not allow the proctor to see that I was sleeping. Can't even remember how I did that, lol.

Anyway, my day was happy. Mrs. Orden gave me a project. I thought I could spend the whole day tomorrow going "addict mode" on watching Princess Hours in youtube because we have no classes, hehe. Jayson and Angel went to my house to help me so that I could go on with my plans for tomorrow. But we ended up chatting about different "stuffs" and laughing our ass off. Somehow, we were still able to finish the project because of Jayson. He's really great because he is so creative and he works very fast. Angel and I did a little contribution by disturbing Jayson and chatting with him once in a while.

Even though I'm happy, I still feel a little bit of saddness. I dunno. Probably because of him. I've been trying to forget but my memory won't allow me. Argh! I hate this heart of mine.