Rehab - Yan-Yan Alabado (Cover) Amy Winehouse by Yan-Yan Alabado

Rehab - Yan-Yan Alabado (Cover) Amy Winehouse by Yan-Yan Alabado

This is an amazing song. I hope you guys would like and download it. My friend'a an amazing singer. :)

When Hard Work Gets Paid Off

As I opened my eyes under the warmth of my sunny morning, I was already feeling anxious about the things that will happen today. Yesterday, I just received a warning from our class adviser regarding my place on the "Honor Roll". From that point on, everything around me became adverse of my typical school day. It seemed that the tables have turned.

First thing, I got not-that-high on our Chemistry quiz. It was heart-breaking because I crammed my head, stayed all night just to give myself a review about Ethers and what not. Actually, my score is satisfactory. However, I know I am better, I can be better, I can get higher. I really didn't know what was I thinking, and why did I let that happen. I was almost mad at myself for that. However, I've always kept in mind: I'm not gonna spend the remaining good days of my life, just for that one bad thing that happened. I am not that shallow!

Then, came the quiz on Economics. It was easy. I mean, I only had few mistakes, but still, it was disappointing. I guess, a bad message in the morning equals a bad omen for the whole day. A quiz on Trigonometry was also present. It was quite hard. The lesson is easy. Although, there will always be things in a test in which you are not sure of. What's more, there was injustice on the quiz. I can't believe our teacher gave those people who asked questions a minus one rather than the ones who were copying answers. Luckily, I got over with it this morning. For what reasons? That, I cannot tell yet. It would sound shallow and narcissistic

So, back to reality... Back to today. Obviously, I had to set my anxiety aside. There were still lots of activities that we had to do. One of which I will never forget is when me and my friend Aira Trinidad hung out at our Trigonometry teacher's office. It was fun there! He was accommodating and funny. I wish all teachers were like him. After that, well, there weren't that much actually. We just cleaned... that's all.

Until, it was the moment of announcement. Our class adviser started announcing the names from the 44th place. I was happy that everyone got very high scores. Although, I pitied those who went down. I don't like to mention their names. I know this is too disappointing for them.

The announcement continued on and on until it was on the Top 5. I am happy that I'm the 5th placer this first grading. All that hardwork with the guidance of God payed off. I am happy of the outcome. What's more, I am satisfied. Then it came to the fourth- my place during Junior year. I am so proud of my special friend Kezia Calderon for being able to achieve that place. She truly deserves it. Beneath her quirky attitude and her questions, lies a sophisticated woman who's about to break out of her shell.

Afterwards, our teacher announced the Top 3 and that was that. Then, I asked for our adviser to announce the people who got the highest grades for every subject. I am so proud, once again of Kezia Calderon for her best... although, I forgot what subject did she top. LOL. Christian Ain Bunuan and John Kennard Fronda made me proud too. For the first time, I hear Christian Ain's name to be the "Best" on one subject. She was the most excellent on our Economics class. Good job bes! Also, John Kennard, once again, she successfully won the crown of being the "Best in English". It seems all of her training for her Miss Pharmacy pageant thing paid off. All those listening, and memorizing the Q and A's of major pageants weren't no good! In fact, it has brought her an award that tells the truth, it tells that she truly deserves to be, and is, Best In English.

If there's one thing I'm kinda hating on the "Bests" was Computer. I was wondering why wasn't I the best in it?! I've been doing great there! Every hands-on exercises, I was successful. Even my best competition Gynard Alfonso didn't top that subject. I was pretty sure it was him and I who were competing for that place. However, it was his Brother Gyvard who got that name. It was really unfair. I feel unbiased. I asked our teacher this afternoon about that, it was because of that one slogan or poster making contest, whatever, in which we didn't win. But still, it seemed unjust. When I looked at the grading sheet a while ago, the top 4 even got higher grades on Computer than I did! It seemed so biased because; I am intelligent in Computer! I am good at programming! I know all the codes that we use! I know how to make  a program without even looking at our book!. It just makes me feel so "unright" for knowing that other people even got higher grades than what I got. And to think, that some of those people who got higher grades than what I did were the ones who were ASKING FOR MY HELP on our hands on and I even do their projects for them, ugh! It just makes me feel ****.

I wonder what was the basis of our grading? I'm pretty sure it's unfair. I am not mad at our teacher, I am mad at the outcome of the grades. They just seem so jargoggled.

However, if there's one good thing that comes out of this crazy mess, it is my new pride regarding wisdom or knowledge. No matter how high their grades are, I'm still the best in the application of the things that I learn from school. And therefore, I am proud to say,I am a learned and an educated person. Grades are just numbers. That's that.

Grades change, but the lessons you've learned from school, will always stay in your heart.

Tatak 2013 at It's 2012-est

“The keys of success are concealed everywhere. Be sure to have a bird’s eye view. For they are like opportunities. Once you see them, never hesitate to grab them.”

- Ridge Ross L. De Veyra

Today was quite an adventure. I really had fun!

Before I went to the training/seminar a while ago, I was hesitating on whether I should go or not. But, I’m glad I attended. I’d probably regret it for the whole day if I didn’t come.

I was almost late this morning. But I’m glad I still made it. They were registering a while ago when I got to school. The first that I saw as I entered the gates and stepped at our Plaza Maria was Kennard’s Harem pants. I was astonished. I’m glad she was able to find those pants that she have been craving for some time. She looked nice! Very dancer-like. Unfortunately, some of the people from school thought she was wearing pajamas. How ignorant! Then again, I can’t blame them.When you’re not familiar with something, you make think of it as something which is very different to what it really is. It’s not ignorance. Come to think of it, it’s mere innocence.

Then, I came to notice Kezia Calderon’s footwear. They were gorgeous and badazzled. They reminded me of the footwear of the ancient Greeks. Although, the ones that Kezia is wearing, are very fashionable. I don’t know why, but I seem to be attracted to anything related to Fashion this day, which is weird, because I’m not a Fashion person.

So, the program started with an action song as a prayer. To be honest, it was very awkward at the beginning. I mean, can you imagine people you don’t know teach you a dance which you are going to perform afterwards? As in, ASAP?! Although, we’re Catherineans! We’re good at adapting to changes and we are easily thought… well, at least that’s what I think. After some speeches and some introductions, we started our first activity. They called it Cinderella’s Shoe. In this activity, you are supposed to take off one of your shoes. The facilitators are going to swap the shoes into others and you are supposed to find your shoes, and at the same time, return the shoes that are given to you. Not to mention, we need to know things about the people who gave our shoes, and the people who we return the shoes. It was disturbing because I’m not comfortable taking my shoes off in public. However, I had fun! It really was quite an experience.

The next activity was fun too, although, I forgot what’s it called. The game was like “Open the Basket” game. We were supposed to look for two people whom we can shelter with our arms. On the very first round/call of the facilitator, we initially got eliminated. LOL. By the way, my partner was Aira Trinidad. It was funny and embarrassing. We had to go up the stage and wait for others to get eliminated. When they were done eliminating people, we had to show the ones remaining that we deserve to be with them. We needed to dance in front of lots of people, who were even younger than us- the ones who were present. Usually, I have stage fright- whenever I’m in front of people, I instantly get tongue tied or immobilized or what not. But today, I didn’t. I guess it was the spirit of fun enveloping me that I forgot about being shy. The only barrel of bad news a while ago was, I didn’t know what to dance- we didn’t know what to dance! Some of our classmates know some, but we don’t. So, all I did was, imitate whatever they were doing. Looking graceful or not, one of my primary goals were to get out of that stage. Luckily, I did. Although, some of my friends were still left. They weren’t allowed to go down yet and join the next activity.

The next activity was about finding our groupmates with specific animal sounds. Our sound was the sound of the turkey. It was hard because we had to be blindfolded. When I was blindfolded, it was frustrating. It was hard living in reality with darkness as the only thing that I am seeing. When we were allowed to take our blindfolds off and some of our stage friends were allowed to join us, we proceeded to another activity. It was about catching paper balls. It was the most difficult thing ever because: I’m not good at catching! I suck at sports. That’s the very reason I study hard. If I can’t contribute to society physically, at least I’ll be legendary in terms of wisdom and knowledge. And so, we were catching balls. I had a lots of faults. During the first throws, I wasn’t able to catch the balls. And my friend Christine Jewel Supan was blaming me for being physically incompetent. I didn’t mind her annoyance. It was actually true! And that’s something I’m not shy about. I’m not good at sports, I don’t care! I won’t die unhappy just because I can’t shoot, bat, hit, dribble, throw or catch balls. That activity was hard because we had to catch and throw multiple balls at the same time. We had to finish a routine with five balls. In the end, we succeeded. I am happy for my understanding groupmates and for our sheer focus on winning. After that tense activity, we took our recess break, which is provided by the facilitators. Thanks guys! I was full!

For our last activity, we had Amazing Race. To be honest, it wasn’t amazing because we didn’t won. However, it was fun. It taught us how great our team is on being sports. That tied-foot-thing game was extremely painful. However, it obviously was to teach how good do we coordinate with each of our teammates. I hope the other students grasped the lesson concealed. Afterwards, we had to use the sticks to transport paper balls on where the facilitators told where they were supposed to be. Once again, it was a psychological and mental test which measures how good are we in making in strategies and how well do we work with people we barely know. For the last part of the race, we had to look for scattered papers that concealed a message that we needed to tell to one of the facilitators. I think it was a test of honesty. Some groups crumpled other group’s paper and put it on the trash can. Obviously, that wasn’t being sport and honest at all! We were the sixth placer for the whole game. It didn’t matter what our rank was, as long as we all had fun!

There were other things that happened too in which I haven’t told yet. I think those are for me to keep private. Those facts/scenarios were about my friends and schoolmates whom secretly obscures pain and other emotions with the toothed laughs that exhibit on their everyday lives. I guess I don’t know them well yet.

Sometimes, it’s more fun to hang out with the people you barely know. They don’t judge you, and you don’t judge them. I guess that’s the beauty of having friends-you-haven’t-met-yet.