Monday, January 23, 2012

Legacy Project: The Fifth Second

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*The Outreach Reflection (previous article) is a better read, seriously x.x this one is too random, unstructured and aimless, I was rushing this because of a pending errand given to me by mom*


During that time when I got bitten by a dog, I estimate that for the first 4 seconds I was denying the fact that I got bitten. During those four seconds of shock my body was reacting to the situation as if the bite did not connect, so I was basically trying to lunge left and right in the hope of evading something that already hit me. It was only during the Fifth second that I acted upon the situation with me wholeheartedly accepting that I got bitten. I had to man up.

Nothing says you'll be saying goodbye like making a Legacy Project. Making something that you'll gonna be leaving behind. Leaving behind something means you'll be going away. And that thought, for quite some time, overshadowed my excitement to finally be able to work and make money. If i ever get a job


Although I'm not sure as to the certainty of me being able to graduate this March, still the thought came to me, that graduating from college feels different from graduating from high school. Or maybe it's just that I view it as the end of structured learning. I never saw myself as a guy having a PhD at the end of his name. I feel just being able to graduate college is enough. I think.


I have always pictured the other side as my window of opportunity. When I was in elementary, High school seemed to be the promised land. I forced myself to excel in the things I could excel in only to find out that, things I love to excel in stuff that do not merit the support of the school (a kind of support I've always wanted to have) for the reason that It's not helping in the promotion of the university. I like playing the guitar. I love doing covers. I like volleyball. I like cooking desserts. I like facilitating during ORSEM activities... i like to do all those non-academic stuff that has no chance of being put in a tarpaulin outside the gates of the school. I happen to like doing the useless things that won't merit me a medal and be commended during the Monday Assemblies at the university Gym. I like these hobbies that I can always turn to, whenever I feel bad, that this particular person got a shot at this particular opportunity, for the sole reason that he is more handsome than me. The only good opportunity for me during high school was that program organizers back then would seek my help in playing the guitar for certain singers during prom, intramurals etc. But then again, the credits usually go to the one at the center of the stage., the singer. 


The lack of support for the things I love doing made me feel down most of the time. This is apart from the bullying I got, and heartbreaks I received. It made me believe that College is the promise land. My window of opportunity. So come college I decided to take a different approach. I was bargaining with puberty, "Please give me muscles, so that I won't look so wimpy at college, I wouldn't wanna be pitiful in front of the many girls that dumped me in high school". I was mind setting for success. "This time I'm gonna be involved in endeavors that would put my name in tarpaulins!". I was re-evaluating my intentions. "I want every girl who thought I was a nobody to regret ever having thought that!". I was making the plan concrete, "Mom, please buy me a laptop, I'll look cool and intelligent". I was all set in proving to my algebra professor who gave me a 77 mark during my second year in high school that he made a very big mistake. I was very sure that a day would come when I'll be so good in academics that I'd be able to show my chemistry teacher she made a mistake of giving me detention when in fact it was my seatmate who cheated in the exam.


And yet here I am, doing the Legacy Project... which is the mark of the end of college.,, without actually being successful at any of the things I said I wanted to do. The last laugh isn't mine. 


Although I did try my best, at practically everything, someone was always better. The constant chase for the perfect, just made me fall sick. And now, I become frightened whenever I am faced with a situation where I want to give it my hundred percent... since, by experience, giving it my all will make me sick. 


Legacy is a nice word to attribute to the old. And that's how I feel at the moment. Too old to do stuff. I feel as if i need to take a break.


This is exactly what I'm afraid of. Whenever given a task to reflect about something and I feel there isn't enough time. I tend to lose focus on what I want to say. I just scrolled up to check on what I wrote on the first sentence. And the next few lines are my attempt to synthesize everything, my attempt to make sense out of this chaos I just typed.


The Legacy Project made me re-evaluate how I tried to go through the college as a whole because it's one of those things that mark the end of something. I knew I gave my all, but there's a feeling that something's not right. Maybe it's because i never had that experience of finishing strong. I always found myself in the middle part of a list. I never was the one on top, I am the one in front when the honors would be given to the ones at the back. I was an award anti-magnet... and this bugs me, since it's nearing graduation and I expect that most of the tears that are gonna be shed during graduation is coming from the feeling of disappointment rather than a sense of victory. That is, if I graduate.


I guess doing the Legacy Project is being in the Fifth Second, It is a point of no return. I just have to man up and deal with it. But I don't discount the fact that it's a very cool project. It really is! and I'm excited to see it being implemented soon.



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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Outreach Activity: Seniors for Seniors

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During the tricycle ride towards our host school, Naga City Science High School, I once again experienced that moment when I'd pick my phone out of my pocket to check the time, put it back in my pocket, then pick it out for a second time to check the time again because during the first try I wasn't paying attention.

This usually happens when I'm in the state of over thinking stuff either because I've got a lot of tasks planned out for the day or because some kind of big event is gonna happen and I just wanna check if I'm gonna be late for it or not.

Weeks before the event I felt my share of, somehow, being a beneficiary of some kind of outreach as well. However it wasn't in the form of what we gave the NCSHS students.

SUPPORT /səˈpôrt/
1. (verb) Bear all or part of the weight of; hold up.
2.(noun) A thing that bears the weight of something or keeps it upright

With the way I allocate the time I have for a day - being at rest for the most part in the hope of recovering fully before February, It has become a routine to spend most of the hours away for my laptop as possible. This means that during weekdays, I usually would be at the common hall of our school, just sitting by the comfy corner of the hall populated by IT students due to the presence of electrical socket they need to use their laptops with.

This situation paved the way for me to be engaged in a genuine conversation with a friend, something, that I haven't had the chance or choice to do because for the past years, all I've been busy about was getting through college, and all I'm interacting with is my laptop, its battery issues, and the rust forming in the metal parts of its keyboard.

I can never deny that what sparks up conversations between guys are the ladies and any topic lady related. Commonly what happens is it starts with a joke as triggered by say a college girl that passes by, "Man, Check out those curves!!". The conversation dwells on that for a minute or two. We laugh and let the humor consume us. Then somebody would always deliver a reflective remark of some sort, "Those curves aren't gonna make me dinner". Then the dialogue becomes deep and guys reveal a different persona. Oftentimes when I witness this happen, either to myself or to the one I'm talking to, I feel unbound and humbled at the same time. It's quite amazing.

The conversation centered on getting support from the right people; and by 'right' we meant, from the people we want it to come from. With both of us being sentimentally faithful when it comes to relationships in general, It's wasn't difficult to agree on how wise it is to be exclusive as to the choosing of people we wanted to matter in our lives. That being agreed upon, it comes as a natural phenomenon for both of us, to expect some kind of support/thoughtful act/care from the people we chose to be part of our exclusive circle. However, getting support/thoughtful acts/care from the people we wanted it to come from does not always happen, and the possibility of it happening cannot be controlled. Worse is the reality that explicitly telling someone how he/she must care for you, in a way, diminishes the genuineness of the act especially when it is already during a time when you're in a hell hole. But then again, being two dudes who aren't served the dinner we most likely expected, we do what every single guy does as speculated in the unwritten code of conduct for the gentlemen, and that is to grow some balls and smile saying, "I got this". Of course with a guiding principle being a line taken from the internet - 'I thank everyone who didn't help me at that time. Because of you i learned to do it myself'.

The silence that took over after we reached the peak of our dialogue became a time for me to re-evaluate who among the persons I come in contact with, treasure the support when it comes from me. During that day I marinated in that thought. Part of me was saying I shouldn't rob them of the opportunity to grow, but I came to that conclusion wrongly since I mis-defined "giving support" from "facing their problems for them". Facing their problems for them is not a good idea. Both the person giving the help and the person being helped lose. Giving support however, does this amazing thing of invigorating the one being given support and making the giver of the support feel some kind of fulfillment because of what they just did. Both ends win, and that's amazing.

The conversation I just had with this friend;It was in a way a form of support. Though it surprised me that it came from somebody who I didn't know could provide me with such. He did not face the problem for me. He just signaled that his presence was there and that he takes part in my experiences too.

I'm in this tricycle ride towards the host school, together with my team mates; Humming the tune of Cristina Grimmie's rendition of, 'O, Holy Night'. It was then that I realized even though I may not be in the repertoire of people who these high school seniors want the support to come from, I still could give the effort of making my support matter. That is what I think would make the outreach activity special.

And I'm thankful that each member of the team I'm in is doing the same. I loved how there came a point sometime during the afternoon sessions when I observed that the feel of the whole program shifted from, "We are doing this because it's a requirement" to "I'm loving this, and we want to be here". It's not anymore visitors talking to kids who will graduate. It's about college seniors giving support to high school seniors; It's about people who wanna share in each others experiences; It's about giving them metaphorical hugs saying, "don't worry, you got this"; It's about us, giving a part of our present selves to our younger versions.

It's funny and awesome that when you give support, you gain some.


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Saturday, January 14, 2012

acoustics and acquaintances

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acoustify ALL the rock songs!!! *insert 'all the things' meme here*

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Omoide Kakera 想イ出カケラ (Fragments of Memories) acoustic cover
composer: DevilishP (ダルビッシュP)
english lyrics: nano
acoustic arrange: neithan
vocals: neithan

intro:  G# - A# - Gm - Cm

verse 1:

Cm                  Cm
irodoru keshiki azayaka ni
G#                       G#
machi wo se ni shite aruita
Cm                    Cm
tsunaida hazu no kimi no te wa
G#                     A#
ima wa boku no tesuri nuke

refrain 1:

G#                       G#
fureau tabi ni kokoro hibiita
Cm                                  Cm
dakishimeta nukumori wo
G#                             G#
kasuka ni nokoru kimi no kaori wa
A#                   Cm
sora no aosa ni toketa

chorus 1:

           G#                     A#
kasaneta koe wo egaku wa yume no naka
Gm                    Cm
omoi wa kaze ni ubawarete
            G#                A#
namida wo fuite egao no mama de
        Gm          Cm             G# -  A#
zutto zutto kimi wo matteru

verse 2: (same)
shizuka ni utsuriyuku toki ni
bokura senaka wo awaseta
miageta sora no hoshi-tachi wa
futari yasashiku tsutsunde

refrain 2: (same)
kazoekirenai omoide kakera
mayoikonda ano hi wa
kioku ni nemuru asenai sugata
yozora no hate ni kieta

chorus 2: (same)
afureru omoi hakanaku maiagaru
kanashiku someru kono sora wo
sore demo boku wa mune ni tojikometa negai
zutto kimi ni aitai yo

interlude: Cm - A#6 - G# - D# - Fm - Cm - G# - A# - Cm - A#6 - G# - D# - Fm - Cm - G# - Cm - Cm

chorus 3: (same)

hana wa sakihokori kisetsu wa meguru kedo
ima demo boku wa yume no naka
namida wo fuite egao no mama de
zutto zutto kimi wo matteru
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Of all the covers I did, this sure is the one I consider very untimely done. Midterms are scheduled next week and academic concerns need to be dealt with if I wanna be able to graduate come this March. However, I feel that this (the cover) is something that I must do before focusing everything on academics once again.

I recently stumbled upon the "One does not simply" meme (see 3 second video clip below).



This has been constantly used in different contexts to provide a certain type of humor -> http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/one-does-not-simply-walk-into-mordor


Sometimes, you just feel that a particular person you meet is a bro (How I Met Your Mother reference). I spent a good two weeks' time trying to be close friends with a girl who I wanna be bestfriends with, or bros with for that matter, to the point that it already got awkward.

There was one time that she got sick, and I was all up her facebook wall trying to check on her if she's doing better or if her illness was getting worse. I remember a day when I forced myself to be early for my afternoon class so as to buy time to hang out with her; And by hang out i mean, be in a conversation with. There was this other time when she and her friends were busy doing projects at the school's common hall, They looked as if they didn't sleep for days and were all weary and tired so I decided to buy them some snacks, hoping that it would win them over. You could just imagine how awkward it was. As I placed the cookies on the table, I was waiting for a smile to happen... but it never came. No hint of being unburdened was reflected on her face. and her friends... well, they did what good friends do... make me feel like a clown. But they said thank you nonetheless. They are very polite and kind people.



After that I stopped trying. For I finally accepted that 'I cannot simply walk into mordor'. It sucks when you get very sick to the point that you fear death/non-recovery very much you try to do everything you really want and everything you still can do. I forgot that my context of what life is, as molded by the chain of events that recently happened to me, is far different from hers.

It would make no sense if I tell her I wanna hang out with you and your buddies. It would sound awkward if I say to her I want you to send me a text message when you feel bored. It would come across as a joke if I tell her let's grab lunch together, you can join me and my batchmates or let me join you and your buddies; Accompany me to the store to buy stuff; Tell me about your day; How'd you do in the quiz?; What do you plan to do over the weekend?

no sense at all - coz I assume that for her and her buddies, It's just my way of flirting around and being the clown that I am. It's sad coz, even if I explain, they can never understand that part of me shouting, "I wanna be friends with you, NOW, while I still can... while I'm still able... I think I deserve a friend like you... good-looking, decent, kind, intelligent, cultured, dresses well.... this list could go on... let's play DOTA, or 'hello kitty world' i don't care... it's still a game.,,. I'll be a bro, I'll wingman you to get a date... You can wingman me to get a dance at the senior's party... I can.... "

*takes off glasses* *drinks a glass of water* *goes back to the keyboard*

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Bros 4 Life Myk!!! It sucks that you had to go to manila to continue your studies.... guess what?, I found a wingman here in Naga, but she's a she... but girls sometimes make better wingmen right? Friendship can never be rushed; Great things never come that easy. But why can't it? I mean people spin a wheel and win a million dollars. Couldn't she be that one great find? The bro that could be there when you're not around since we're both busy being awesome in our respective fields?

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I can't simply walk into Mordor

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