My internet connection at home is really crappy and so I haven’t been able to post on ANY of my WordPress blogs because the page takes too long to load. It really sucks. In the meantime, I created [yet another] WordPress:
Struggling to make a difference.
It’s… yeah.
I haven’t posted a while, and so I’d like to take this time to talk a little about that horrible typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) that hit Manila last Saturday, what it did, and what our school has been doing about it, because I think that ISM has done outstandingly this past week. This is gonna be really disorganized, so bear with me.
When Ondoy messed up the city I was in school for MUN Locals. What we thought was just strong rain ended up devastating Metro Manila, submerging entire cities, killing hundreds of people, displacing hundreds of thousands, affecting millions. I didn’t see my house for four days, couldn’t contact my parents for two. When I finally came home on Wednesday afternoon, I came home to a damaged first floor that smelled like trash. It was the first time our house ever got flooded. It’s hard to imagine that there are millions who experienced worse.
On Sunday ISM announced that it would conduct regular classes the following Monday, the 28th, much to the dismay of students who were looking for a few days of freedom. However, the initial gloom and desire for rebellion was converted into something more powerful when school kicked in. Students came to school carrying various donations and relief goods, some had their own campaigns such as a rice drive and “Operation Ondoy” (McDonald’s), and a concert was planned for Friday (tonight).
And the school has been doing well in that department. My film teacher was right. Our school is a unique place wherein some of the wealthiest people in Manila are able to connect with the poorest and those who need aid the most. The idea of bayanihan could be seen in ISM throughout the week. Besides, this is, ultimately, our city, and no matter where the students may have originated from, at this time the Philippines is our country, and our country needs help.
Right now, we need to spread more awareness because the effects of Ondoy can’t just fade away because some celebrity broke a nail. This isn’t just about the need for relief, this is also about climate change. I bet the people at Greenpeace are all up in their “I Told You So” modes right now, and I guess they’re right. The past few days have been really eye-opening for me. In the end, it’s not about whether or not these disasters happen. It’s about doing something to prevent them from happening, or at least slowing down the inevitable. There’s a new storm around, Pepeng (Parma), and it’s a super typhoon. On the PAGASA site it’s called a “tropical cyclone”. So we should prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
…
Every day in the past week, the FAT lobby has been filled with donated goods, and by the end of the day the lobby is empty. Two trucks of donated goods are being sent to PCF in Tondo and the Papaya Foundation in Payatas everyday.
The concert, Singin’ In The Rain, raised over P300,000 (ETA: P400,000) in cash donations, not counting food sales and definitely not counting goods donations. I do believe that Mr. Dickinson will have his head shaved on Monday due to this massive success.
Next week, the school will be showing the HS Play, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [ABRIDGED], and all proceeds will count towards typhoon relief efforts.
On the last day before October break commences, Pista Sa ISM will be toned down from its usual grandeur and be more of a fundraiser, also for typhoon relief.
Good job, Bearcats!
The idea of being seventeen frightens me. My sixteen-year-old life has been rather turbulent and I doubt that the year ahead will be any different, let alone better. I find it hard having to grasp concepts such as responsibility as I get closer and closer to real adulthood, especially since I don’t quite think that I’ve ‘found myself’ just yet. I still need to find that one thing about me that separates me from other people. I have to be able to balance work and play and the IB. There are tests to take, assessments to keep track of, blogs to update. I’m so glad that I was able to update my Interests Include blog tonight.
Anyway, yeah, the idea of being seventeen on Sunday is baffling and frightening.
Oh well, we’ll see what happens.
x
I like Animal Collective. I didn’t realise I did until I decided to really listen to them without condemning them for being such a pretentious indie hipster band. Merriweather Post Pavillon is actually a pretty good album, and yes, “My Girls” really is one good song. I guess even I can’t deny that any longer. Whatever.
I like Hipster Runoff. I think it’s a pretty amusing little corner of the interweb and some of the posts are strangely humorous, regardless of whether or not they were meant to be that way.
I don’t really like Quentin Tarantino. I mean, he’s made some pretty decent films like Pulp Fiction, and I’m gonna watch Reservoir Dogs when I find the time (since I have the DVD for the next month), but I don’t think his general body of work is anything too special. He’s a director with his own style, sure, but I think of him as one of those directors that people feel that they have to like since he made Pulp Fiction and whatnot. But I saw part of Thunderbolt: Death Proof (or something, I can’t remember the title, but Kurt Russell was in it) and I realised that his style isn’t something that I’m too big a fan of. That, or I was just watching a horrible movie. I don’t like the random useless conversations, I don’t like the exaggerated bleeding in Kill Bill, and I’m not big on his overuse of contrapuntal music. Sorry, Quentin.
Okay, that’s all.
x
So I wrote lyrics. They’re so substance-free, though. Kinda like pop-punk. Useless.
I’ve got to make an announcement
I’m getting claustrophobic
It’s time I got away from this room
The air is dense and it’s too crowded
I hate being seperated
By being four metres from you
Yeah, it’s a problem
I can barely breathe
I just want to be closer
This is a song for love that’s unrequited
I’m singing because it’s not really a secret
Everyone knows that I am singing for you
You know, you know, I’m always talking to you
I want, I want to hear your side
Everyone knows I just wanna get closer to you.
The room’s abuzz with constant murmurs
The casual observers
don’t know what’s going on
Whatever. Didn’t finish it. Debate ended, and I had to vote. I had no idea what was going on the WHOLE TIME, though.
x
By the end of this month (if you’re not too picky) I will have finished my first month into the IB Diploma.
Honestly, though, I feel like I’ve been in school forever.
Though the weeks feel short and the days pass quickly, the pace at which each of my courses goes by has been insanely fast. I’ve been doing a lot work lately, and by that I really do mean actual work and not just messing about. This week I had to write my first comparative commentary in Filipino. I have never written so many Filipino words in one piece, ever. Also, English also gives quite a hefty load to do, and our current unit is on poetry by an Amherst guy named Richard Wilbur. He’s amazing, honestly. His poems are so meticulously crafted that I learn something new every time I read one of his poems. But I find them really hard to understand. They’re just so dense with stuff.
I also think that I’m involved in too many activities this year. If Prom Committee, BOB Committee and CWS were counted as official clubs this year I would be way past the Policy of Limitations in school. Woods would flip his lid. I’m such a cheater, I know, but I think that I should take advantage of all the activities I can take part of in school. For CAS hours, or something. No, really though, I do want to be part of all those activities. MUN may be as hard as Rafa Sy’s abs for me, but I really do feel that I reap some benefits from it, even when I don’t really say… anything.
My biggest problem in terms of courses will probably be Film HL, though. I mean, I think I’ll have the analysis and independent study parts down, but I’m screwed for production because my group bound to bomb. Since this is a public page I won’t be going into further detail, but may I just add that there is a lot of frustration involved. I have a personal notebook for such rage. But the writing parts, the talking about film parts, I might be better with those. It’s just the actual film production that I tend to struggle with. UGH. For my independent study, I might do a genre study on defining “independent cinema” and how different cultures attempt to deviate from their nation’s mainstream film culture. Maybe. I dunno. I’m going on a Gael Garcia Bernal DVD binge for the next few days, though. Too much cuteness!!
Also, I am excited for Cinemanila because Diego Luna is coming to Manila. Oh My Freakin God.
But I digress.
So, aaanyway, three full weeks into junior year, my favourite classes are Psychology and Filipino (for some reason, I keep forgetting that I’m taking Physics). Again, this is a public place and therefore not the appropriate venue for the release of any explicit opinions. I have other outlets for that, since I am a self-professed serial blogger.
I really do like Psychology class, though. And Filipino is a riot. Actually, there are many things I like about most of my classes, such as Math. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun in a Math class before, especially today. I love my Math SL teacher and think he is absolutely hilarious. I just hope I pass at least half the classes that I’ve signed myself up for the next two years, and I hope I can balance all that IB stuff with all my EACs and all the standardised tests I’ll have to do and such.
I’m being cut off by mis padres, hence I must now finish off and possibly continue this at a different time.
Buenas noches.
xx
Because I couldn’t sleep yet, I wrote a song. It doesn’t really have a melody, though, except for the cheesy one in my head, but these are the words that I ended up spitting out. The lines are really simple. I wasn’t trying to be poetic or anything. Tonight was indietronica night, though, and that may have been one of the reasons for the simplicity of the words.
Directly from my LJ:
entice me
let me touch your heartbeat
i want to know what it feels like
let me feel your heart beat
i need that giddy rush cos it feels so right
and let me look at your voice
i want to see the colours
show me the spectrum of your voice
because i want to gaze at your blinding light
entice my seven senses
i want to know you in a different way
cos you’re so special to me baby
do you know what the seventh sense is?
let me hear your soft scent
i want to listen past the silence
vanilla symphonies of your scent
the music pulls me in as you walk on by
and let me take in your kiss
the cherry scent of your lips
just to get a whiff of your kiss
maybe i’ll figure out what gets me high
entice my seven senses
i want to know you in a different way
cos you’re so special to me baby
do you know what the seventh sense is?
let me have a taste of your skin
the softness is so tempting
just my hands all over your skin
maybe then i’ll let you touch me
and let me know who i see
you’re such a mystery
i know you’re more than just what i see
cos baby you complete me
baby you complete me
entice my seven senses
i want to know you in a different way
entice my seven senses
cos you’re so special to me baby
entice my seven senses
i want to know you in a different way
i need to get to know you baby
entice my seven senses
do you know what the seventh sense is?
…
Alright. That’s all. I’m going to sleep now.
