Singapore Field Trip

It's been my third time in Singapore already so I wasn't that much amazed when I arrived. My classmates whose been here for the first time were very excited. I could tell from the smiles on their faces.

And a few of our teachers also came with us to Singapore. Some of them is their first time here as well.

We went boat riding in the Marina Bay and got the change to go under the bridges and stare at the Marina Bay Sands in the middle of the bay

 

    

We also had fun at night and explored the lofe Singaporeans have at night.

The Thoughts on Fireworks

                             

What do you think of when you hear the word fireworks? Is it just the lights and the colors that rush to the sky and produce thunder like sounds when they explode in mid-air creating art? To me, fireworks isn't just that. When I think about fireworks, I remembered the time when I was still a young boy. The time where my father took me to see them at my grandparent's house on his shoulders. Seeing the lights and the colors flash before my eyes was amazing. Seeing flowers of fire bloom in the sky producing booms and crackles after the ignition.

I still carry that feeling all the time. When I ace the test or when I get excited over an event or when we win. The feeling will never rest in peace. It's the thrill and adrenaline that forces it comeback to me like a rocket of nitro bursting out of a cars engine, just waiting to get to the finish line. It's when your heart stops for a moment so that your mind can focus on what is actually happening. When you are hugged or when you are kissed it bursts out 10 times grater then acing a test. It changes the way you see the world. Your pupils dilate and the word seems slower for a second.

Fireworks is what I see in my mind whenever I get hugged or kiss. I don't know why though but it just is. It's that wild feeling you have and the joy inflating and when it is finally popped, joy packed molecules bounce around everywhere in your head so fast that they create light images. The feeling of being so happy that you just couldn't control it that it starts to form pictures in your head. Overjoyed with positive energy that your mind goes wild with ineffable explanation of such that all you could think of is that day you rode on your father's shoulders to see the fireworks up close, delighted and astonished. 

GOLFING!

I may not be as good as my Dad in class A, but I do enjoy this relaxing game. Golf for other people my be boring, but for me it's thrilling. Golf is not just hit the ball and go to where it lands until you put it in the hole. Golf is a game of accuracy, precision and skills. Golf is like a puzzling game because you need to know where to set your ball and where to swing. If you don't then you will have a bad time. The only opponent you have in this game is the course. You have to know it well, just like you have to know your enemy. I love this game because it's relaxing and quiet. I usually play with some friends or with my classmates. A sunny morning and driving through the course while Frank Sinatra's songs are playing feels like your in the old vintage days.
Putting is very difficult, but not when you know the green. You should know your angle if your downhill or up hill. Know whether the ball will curve to the left of the right

This is my 11 year old cousin putting the ball into the hole

This is her swinging

Rain, Rain Go Away, We're Playing Golf

This video was taken last June when my friends and I were playing Golf in Sarangani when the the heavy rain came and canceled out game. This was the first time we experienced driving the cart under the heavy rain.

The Road

This picture was taken two months ago when I was on my way to a beach resort located in Gumasa with my classmates in that van while I was with the girls and my friend Rain in this car. As you can see it was raining when we traveled there, luckily it stopped when we got there.

The Way We Live

Don't judge me because you think I'm weird, judge me for how much you actually know me. I maybe weird to you, but that's because my brain tells me what to do. I choose to live this way because I want to. This is how I want to live and this is who I am. Other's might think I'm weird, that's because you don't know me personally. If you get to know someone deeply, you'll know that he is just as human as you and you will learn to love a friend. Don't judge the way people live because you don't know their background story.

Dole Philippines School

This here is Dole Philippines School. The school I've been in for almost about twelve years counting Kindergarten and Prep. I didn't really take much pride into this school because honestly I thought it was boring and ugly. The more that I didn't appreciate it when I grew up because of all the nosy teachers and there evil doings to brain wash us students. I hope they're not reading this blog because I don't mean to offend them (that much), but anyways I'm just kidding. 

When I my friends from other schools hear the acronym DPS (Dole Philippines School) they think of our language right away because DPS is an English speaking community. To those of you who don't know; English is very important in DPS because of the different ethnic groups we have here in DPS. The Tagalogs dominate this school, second are the Cebuanos, followed by the Ilonggos and that's not all of it. Other students here know how to speak in Chinese, Spanish and Hindi. This is why English is very important here, so the next time you try to judge our school think of the many students that wouldn't have understand each other if we didn't speak in English. It's not just for show.

As To the teachers here in DPS. Well aside from giving misery to children, they have been known for being really sociable to the parents of the students. They don't tend to have very tight relationships with the students nor the parents, but they sure do know how to spend a great time with them, especially when it comes to the Ilonggo teachers because they're always the funniest. We have different kinds of teachers here in DPS. One of the teachers, who happens to be my adviser, is a bit of a joker and as I said he's funny because he's Ilonggo. The nice teacher and the wild one, but can be very mean and aggressive sometimes. There are teachers who are "Bear Grylls-like" the one who talks mostly about his childhood adventures and how he would prefer living on the jungles of the Amazon rather than living in the modern civilization of man-kind. Other teachers who are a bit socially award when it comes to romantic relationships. Teachers who are still single but live life happily. We have strict Math teachers and who are the same times sport gurus when it comes to soccer or basketball because they believe in the phrase "No Pain, no gain". Other teachers here are conspiracists and start making a reasonable explanation to whatever happened to the Germans after WWII or what was the real reason behind Napoles's "Pork Barrel Scam". No two teachers have the same character and that's what I like about this school because when you look into the lives of this teachers it's almost as if you're watching a reality T.V. show and the seasons stop when you graduate.

The principal, well I can't say much about her because she's been the principal for about ten years and I don't really know the reason why. If she's reading this blog let me just say she's the best principal ever. I may be just saying that so I don't get my ass expelled but the truth is, yes I am just saying that so that I wouldn't get my ass kicked out.

To all of the students in DPS, just keep following out motto "Well-Rounded". These students here call me Niño. My family has been known in this school ever since my uncles and aunts first came here to DPS. We, my brother and cousins, who are currently studying here, are known as the Tan's. I don't want to do something stupid again to bring the honor of my family down that's why I play it cool in this school. The students here in DPS are known for being nice. Sure, they're "nice" most of them that is. Like the teachers we have different kinds of students here in DPS too. We have the A class students who always make it into the honor's list even when it looks like they don't even try. They always are the teacher's lap dogs (wait let me say that again). What I met to say was "pets" because they always seem to do the teachers biding because they seem to get the job done no matter what. We have the athletic types, the type of guys who spend most of their time playing on the soccer field or the basketball court. Here in DPS the athletic types are also the smart ones because if they get a grade lower than C+ they are disqualified for any competitions. The next clique is the gamer group. These guys huddle up together and start talking about the latest gaming news and top 10 video games of the year. They don't really like socializing with other people especially when it come's to athletic types and girls. The second type are the party animals, also known as the drinkers. These guys blow their minds off  when it comes to the word "liqour". They hangout with each other and start getting drunk in other peoples houses because they think it's "fun". Then start regretting over the hangovers they have in the morning. Then finally the music lovers show up at the bottom of the inverted pyramid. They spend all day listening to there songs or playing the guitar in there classrooms. There are different kinds of students there in DPS, from sassy girls to socially awkward boys. If you're wondering where I belong. I manage to fit in in all groups. All groups except the alcoholics. I'm not socially awkward or neither am I a bully. I'm just a guy who likes making friends.

DPS has taught me how to be really friendly. It all started when I was Kinder here in DPS. My first teacher ever was Ms. Cherry. She was really nice and she taught me a lot. She taught me how to make stories just by looking at the pictures. That's what I did before when I would bring a book to school and didn't know who to read it. I just looked at the pictures and started making my own stories. This is why I became someone who is so interested in making stories for other people to enjoy. I love stories and I love how I make people happy and making them smile just because of my stories. I thank Ms. Cherry for everything she taught me. Ms. Cherry, if you're reading this blog. I hope I made you proud as a student. This is Mt_Path and I approve this message.

Ocean Blue

Isla Jardin Del Mar

The ocean is vastly wide and great. Three fourths of the world is covered entirely in water, and only 2% of it has been explored. There is just to much information out there just waiting to be grasped by someone willing enough to have it, but apparently that is just a dream scientists today think of. Just what is inside that large pool of blue? 

Friends By Chance

I thought that the world was vastly big. That people you see that walk along the roads of the city will never be seen again. I was wrong. This is the story of how three boys found each other. 

Rain (left) was a new student when I was in the third grade. I was didn't know anything about him, I was completely clueless. I didn't know what this guy was going to be like. Then later on at recess he walks up to me and starts talking about some online video game called Battle On. I didn't know what that was, but I pretended that I did just so that he would feel left out in the class. So I was there listening to everything he said about that game in which I was completely oblivious to. I learned he was from Quantum last year. Weeks passed and started hangout a lot in school. Playing trading cards like Yu-Gi-Oh  and Pokemon cards. We talked about a lot of things; where ever our imagination took us. We never fought, until we were in the sixth grade. We fought about something stupid. He made fun of me because I was Canadian, and that pissed me off. So I punched him in the eye and I left his left eye purple. The pain ended eventually when he came to my house and apologized, but the feeling was still there. It marked him. It left a mark, a mark that told him that he shouldn't mess with a best friend. When we were in the seventh grade, I learned that he was going to transfer to another school next semester. It pained me to know that he was leaving the school. The closest friend I had was going to leave. He was going to go to BSM (British School of Manila). No more everyday jokes and laughs. I had to walk alone everyday now. I had to go home all by myself and it just wasn't the same ever since he left   
It had been three years since he left DPS. We've only hung out when he came back to Gensan on his breaks like Semester, Christmas and Summer break. Last summer, I joined the golf club in Gensan, and that's how I met John. I met John as a fellow golf mate in the tournament. He was pretty good, just not that good compared to me (that was a joke). He was a pretty fun loving guy. He was always happy and smiling. It was like God gave him an unlimited supply of blessings. When the tournament ended, we had lunch at the clubhouse at the golf course. We sat down and I learned he was from Quantum. So I asked him about Rain. I found out that I wasn't the first best-friend Rain had. John was the original friend of Rain. I asked him when was the last time he meet him. The last time He met Rain was last 2 years ago at his house. I learned that Rain and John were very close friends when they were classmates since the first and second grade. Rain would spend hours at his house and play tag and hide and seek while John's older brother would play the Playstation. Then like what happened to me. It happened to John. Rain moved to DPS after the second grade.

Last August, we had a reunion. A Quantum and DPS reunion. Though only two of Rain's classmates in Quantum came we still had fun at Veranze where that picture of us was taken. 3 friends who had similar fates, met each other by chance. John met Rain, Rain met me and I met John. This is a small world.

The Brothers

For more than 10 years, I've been very close to these guys. That's me in the middle and my two cousins, who happen to be brothers, have been one of the closest friends I'd ever have. We date back year ago when they first came to our house and spoke in English. I understood English from cartoons on T.V. but when these two guys came the only phrase I knew how to say in front of them was "wait for me". It was a bit embarrassing, but it showed how determined I was to make friends even if I didn't know their language.

Ever since I started hanging out with the youngest, Carlton (left), I've been watching more American cartoons and started speaking in English. This guy taught me how to live life the way I wanted it. Going home from school, we started throwing away our H.W. from our bags and out of the window of the car going home. Our moms started to wonder why our envelopes were empty. We didn't tell them and they didn't know what we did. He was a bit of a bad influence to me, but I didn't try to blend in with him. Since he taught me how to live life the way I wanted it. I began to be more of myself than to follow everything he says.

The on the right is the older brother, Charlie. He was more of the leader type and that we both followed what he said because he was the eldest. He was the coolest guy I knew when I was young because he would always top us in everything, especially in video games where he would always win versus and build a better character in MMORPGs. This guy taught me how to become a leader and to become determined to what I do. Without this guy, then there would be no one else to try and top. To get above him was always my goal, and this is what made me today, someone who's determined to do things and never stop trying. Since he was the leader, we would always try to rebel against him. He was always being to be cool and we hated it sometimes. He taught me how to stand up for myself so that I could be a better person.

These guys, I admit, were rascals. But without them in my life then who would have taught me the things I've learned from them? I wouldn't have been the person I am today and the son my parents take pride in. I would have been weak and scrawny without a base to stand on like a twig fallen of from a branch, isolated. They're the reason why I stand up and live life happily, I thank them.

Friends Who Protected Are Stronger Than Walls That Crumbled

When I was a young boy, I always wanted all kinds of adventure. Action and Adventure like the war stories about my Great Grandfather my Great Aunt use to tell me about. For the rest of my childhood I was living a wonderful, peaceful and away from stress life inside the walls of our compound our Grandfather erected. I wasn't really much of a town boy in my early years living in this world. Though I didn't realize it before, I came to realize that I was a young prisoner when I was a young boy. That the world outside those walls had more than meets the eyes. That the world outside the walls had more stories than my imagination could create. Instead of the kitchen they had Markets and instead of cars that could fit only 1 family, they had jeeps that could fit more than the families living inside our compound, and instead of roommates they had neighbors who would help you instead of fighting for who gets what. Come to think of it, my childhood was boring. All I had inside the compound was the pond where I fished, the basketball court in which it's rarely used and the swimming pool that's been green more times than it had been blue.

But my Grandfather didn't want his grandchildren to have the same life as he did, so he made these walls. Walls that kept us outside from the childhood we could of had. It's sad just thinking about it, but it was the truth. This affected the way I lived as a child, but that didn't affect the way I communicate with people. I thought we were poor once back then because everyone else lived together happily whilst we lived inside the walls in paradise but with so much problems. They had friends to protect them, yet we had walls that would crumble and break. This made me the man I am today. A boy who appreciates the other people living outside our walls. Though they only had torn cloths and broken roof tops, but they had smiles that was worth more than anything we could afford. They were more contented than we could ever be, and that's why I know that they were better people than us.

"Pota Noh?!" — Boy

This picture — taken by my classmate Jonas Villalobos (Polomolok: Sunset) — was the best shot he got so far when they went hiking in the pineapple fields in Polomolok. I got a copy of it and I made it into a meme for our group. With the phrase "Pota Noh!?" which literally meant fuck yeah was a phrase our class kept saying over and over again. Until the picture was used in public and it became very famous. You might be wondering who this boy on the picture is. The boy on the picture is my friend and classmates since we were kinder in DPS (Dole Philippines School), and yes he was always this crazy.

Live It!

 It is not our fault if we are born poor in life, being disabled or having such a tragic start. Life as others know it is a race, the first one on the course is always the first. To them life is a systematic simulation where everyone are test subjects or lab rats just waiting to be first in place, but they are wrong. If you chose to live life as you want it then there wouldn't be any worries. I, for myself, an equalist. I belief that everyone in the world is equal and that it isn't your fault that you were born poor, being disabled or having such a tragic start. The world has given you life and there for you breathe the air in which we live in. So stand up and rise to complete the way you want to live. It's life it doesn't matter if you're last or first. What matters is how you live and how you chose to live it wisely. So stand up and live it!

Gensan Tuna Festival 2013 (Fire Dancers)

          

These are some of the dancers who danced with fire and performed in the Gensan Tuna Festival 2013 at the Oval Plaza. 

I almost burnt my face when my sister was taking pictures.

Tree Planting in Kalsangi

It was an early foggy Saturday in Kalsangi when I got there to participate in the tree planting for the 50th anniversary of Dole Philippines. I didn't expect that the weather there would be so cold and foggy all of a sudden—  then again it was Kalsangi. It was placed high above the mountainous area's of Polomolok. The grass was moist and the clouds were grey. It wasn't the weather you were going to expect when someone tells you, "Hey! Lets plant a tree". The weather you'd want would be sunny, where sky is blue with cottons of white fluffy clouds fly around and birds singing on branches so that they see you plant a new home for them. Never mind the weather, at least we healed the world even for just a bit. 

Chance

This photo was taken 4 months ago in a road trip to the beach, Isla Jardin Del Mar. I took this picture when I got to open the window of the car and tried to take the picture of the cornfields and just the corn nothing else. It just so happens that I took the sun with it too and I got this amazing shot by accident. Chance is a very important part in our life and it requires timing. We don't always get what we want, but when we get the unexpected it will turn out to be good in the end. So don't worry, chance will hit your life some point in time and all we have to do is just wait for it.