The Top 50 Things That Changed My Life This 2009 (Part VIII)

For a recap:

50. Mass Card
49. Spider Solitaire
48. Ma'am Joy's Birthday
47. Typhoon Pepeng
46. Childhood Friends Reunion
45. Annabeth's Birthday
44. Grand Palazzo Real
43. Birthday Movie
42. Field Trip
41. Closing Party - Gold
40. Tumblr
39. Kuliti
38. Backmasking Frenzy
37. Gapan, Nueva Ecija
36. Plurk
35. O2Jam
34. Friendster
33. One Town One Product (OTOP)
32. Jesus Our Victory Church
31. Pagemaker 2009
30. WhitePanorama
29. St. Cecilia's Auditoriu,
28. First Day of Classes
27. Mt. Samat
26. Juniors-Seniors Promenade
25. Poems
24. Mt. Arayat
23. Cheerdance
22. MP3
21. Photoshop

20. The Lyre

19. Chowking and Siomai House

18. Yearbook

17. FTalk

16. Antigone

15. Ako ang Kriminal

14. Battle of the Bands

13. Class Funds

12. Gold Forums
Twelfth on my countdown is Gold Forums, the forum that kept me busy on April, and the forum that made me release my amateur Photoshopic thinking, my feeble composing skills.. and fasten my dot-dot-system typing skills.

The Gold Forums, located in gold0809.forumotion.com, is my Internet home for a few weeks. I got really hooked in posting that my post count actually peaked at 250 posts a day. Hahaha. :D And that’s when I have not gotten my social life. Haha. There are lots of things to post to, there is an anime thread, Cleaners thread, the Class Funds thread, music threads and lots and lots of cool threads to talk about. There is even a Surveys and Quizzes board, wherein just one click, you’ll get access to loads of surveys and quizzes to answer when you are completely bored. Haha

But moreover, it is the people out there that makes me stick to the forum. From the boastful Admin, haha, to the most active goldminers out there, namely Annie and Rodjeilyn. Annie became my detective partner in out investigating quest on Rodjeilyn, also known as Daboy, who has a secret past as a boy?! Wth. Hahaha. I miss the bondings there, though we really do not see each other, through those avatars, those chemical elements avatar.

I miss the threads wherein one page gets occupied by only one poster.. over spammy.. hahaa. And because of the great volume of threads to reply on, with everything going off-topic, I tend to forget what to reply and where the story has ended. Haha.

I miss posting threads of my Tagalized song.. haha.. that’s where I find appreciation. I miss posting poems, wherein the people there read it and appreciate to. Other posters on the forum are Vhinna,Kareejil, Julia and Annabeth, with the last one also posting poems too. Julia on the other hand posts dramatic words, while Kareejil shares her opinion straight out.

The Gold Forums got me addicted. The whole day, the whole night, I was like posting there 24/7. Hahaa. I want to increase and increase my post count.. and I do not want to lose my title: “Superior Goldminer”.

I made new new new relationships on the forum. I got closer to Annie and Daboy, like never before. Now, we have our group, the oldie group. And I got my new nickname, Daboy calls me manong for being forgetful and Annie considers me as one of her three ojii-san. (Ojii-san is the Japanese translation of grandfather.) haha. Memories. Memories.

11. Yahoo! Messenger
Introducing, the application that connected me to the whole world. Haha. :D Yahoo! Messenger.

I have known this application since I was in first year high school, but it was only on 2009 when it started to have a great impact on my life. With the dawn of Internet connectivity on our home this year, Yahoo! Messenger (or YM for short) grew as a daily necessity for me.

Every morning, the first thing I do, (except for breathing and going to the comfort room…) is to open the computer and open YM. Haha. YM has since been a way of connecting with friends, even at home, for free (except for the Internet fees and the electric bills).

Chatting had already become a habit for me, with my frequent chatmates being Annie, Rodjeilyn, Vhinna, Alvin and Jefran. Who can’t resist the BUZZ!!!? Hahaha :D and that very familiar yellow smiley face with an overly huge smile. The emoticons are also cool. Haha. Can’t tell you my favorite. Haha.

YM status messages has also became a statement for many. This is where you put what you are doing, but for many, including me, this is where I put what my mind is thinking, where I advertise my blog, where I share some songs and where I release my emotions. Haha. :D

If you are down and depressed, go online at YM and you’ll find friends ready to comfort you – day, night or even at 3am. Haha :D

YM, this year, took its fame around February and March, when everyone started to conference. With the medieval role play on A.P. and the issue of class funds, people started talking in secrecy to conferences. This is where group of people discuss and share thoughts.

10. NOman and Tulorista
Ranking it at number ten are two major groups inside the classroom: Noman, the bigger one, I do not know who is the founder, and Tulorista, the one that I am in, and also with no particular founder.

Let’s start with Tulorista, my family, haha. Tulorista pioneered on June 16, 2009 (and this sounds like the history of Systems Plus) with five incorporators (lol). Haha. At first, Tulorista was not recognized, not until monsoon rains wetted Angeles and something dripped on Ynah’s desk. Haha. Ynah screamed that day and complained about the drippind water from the ceiling. Among all rows in the classroom, we are the only row that gets affected by rain.. and with the tulo (drip) of the water from up above.. somebody coined the word “tulo-row” for our row.

Then, on our fourth month, that was when we first greeted each other Happy Monthsary. We never thought of having a monthsary before, the idea just came out of Emanylene’s mind. Haha.

Today, with some events happening on the classroom, we added three members, and they are now officially part of the happy family.. Vhinna, Paul and Ann. To complete the cast, there is Kacielyn and Ate Jov. Woot. :D and they are one of my families in Ampere. :D

Now, I do not know if I should write this, but since this is my blog, and we are living in a democratic country that practices freedom of speech… I would like to talk about Noman.

Noman is comprised of almost half of all Ampere, with some branches on Baryon. They wear those distinctive violet bracelets and you can find them every lunch break at the stairs. “tropang totoo” and “tropang hindi tao” as they call, Noman is making buzz of the whole classroom lately. Their huge number will make you notice them always, as they will always make citations of their name. I cannot enumerate all the members because they are too many and I do not know all of them.

Now, why is Noman included on the top 10.

First, they are so changing because they have half of the Ampere with them. At times, I feel out-of-placed.. I felt that first during the field trip, and that feeling grew with each passing day. Every time I go pass their group, it seems like I am a stranger to their topic.. I do not belong I know. T_T. There is only one thing left to do, walk away.

They always brag that they’ll eat at Didi’s every Fridays so that their bonding would grew stronger until college. That made me feel unimportant. It is like they have chosen the persons that are important to them, that they want to be friends with until the end, and that does not include me. Ouch. Real pain. And looking at the person who are Nomans, I feel sad 

Second, they have some of my friends. With the founding of Noman, I felt that they became out of reach.. out of grasp, for they have their new clique to be with. Some of my closest friends have become far I believe. I’m getting pulled and pulled away from some important people in my life. T_T One thing I would thank for Noman, despite the fact that some friends are being pulled away, some are also getting pulled nearer to me.. the people who share the same situation with me.

Hope no one gets offended. That is just my HUMBLE opinion. Yes. Humble. Haha. (P.S. This was written before the unity. January 2010. Not yet updated for the unity. :D)

9. Threads of Fate and Death
Taking the ninth place in my list is the never-dying Medieval role play in World History, entitled Threads of Fate and Death (by Kevin).

Woot. And this was the first, as I would like to say, successful play that we have come up to in my high school life. Haha. I do not see it as a failure, but I see it as a masterpiece. Under the direction of Paul, our play is a sort of a musical, with dances (but without the song). Hahaha. And I did not know why we did not win at least one award (i.e. sound effects, script or the whole play itself. Cheers to Kervy, best actor! :D)

I remember that this play caused everyone’s schedule to be destroyed. We were once apprehended by Ma’am Malig for being late from practice. This was one of the few times when the whole classroom would meet in a certain place to practice. We are the busiest section that year. Haha. Many of us are bringing loads of props, with the other group also bringing in their boastful sound system. Haha.

It ruined every subject on our schedule. We will talk about it all the time, and our recess and lunch breaks were all dedicated in finishing it. Never before have I seen a section very dedicated to one project, maybe it was brought by intense competition and exchange of words between the groups. Haha.

The fun part was the practice. Who can’t forget Paul’s face getting mad? Hahaha. I miss Karla sitting in the middle with Kervy and Kevin battling. I miss the traders, the dancers, the two princesses.. ooh.. all are concrete memories. Haha. I miss Patrick chasing the bus, I miss Vhinna collecting sampaloks, and I miss Claudine and Emy in their villain roles. Haha. Woot. I also miss Kareejil in her narration. I miss how Rodjeilyn, Mother and Jennica glide in the air with their dance number. Haha :D

Who would forget February 28’s first Sampalok Wars?! Hahaha :D Woot! The sampalok wars is the epic battle between two fronts who bombard each other’s bases with those deadly sampaloks (they are not sampaloks actually but the look like one. Haha.) The sampalok wars continued to have its third battle, beating the World War with only two versions. Haha.

The Top 50 Things That Changed My Life This 2009 (Part VII)

Sorry for the oh-so late update, but this has been one year in the making. Anyways, there will be a 2010 year-ender special also :D

For a recap:

50. Mass Card
49. Spider Solitaire
48. Ma'am Joy's Birthday
47. Typhoon Pepeng
46. Childhood Friends Reunion
45. Annabeth's Birthday
44. Grand Palazzo Real
43. Birthday Movie
42. Field Trip
41. Closing Party - Gold
40. Tumblr
39. Kuliti
38. Backmasking Frenzy
37. Gapan, Nueva Ecija
36. Plurk
35. O2Jam
34. Friendster
33. One Town One Product (OTOP)
32. Jesus Our Victory Church
31. Pagemaker 2009
30. WhitePanorama
29. St. Cecilia's Auditoriu,
28. First Day of Classes
27. Mt. Samat
26. Juniors-Seniors Promenade
25. Poems
24. Mt. Arayat
23. Cheerdance
22. MP3
21. Photoshop

20. The Lyre

19. Chowking and Siomai House

18. Yearbook

17. FTalk

16. Antigone

The biggest movie of the year has hit the 16^th place in my list. Antigone! Haha :D woot. This was like the craziest project that we had this year. This movie took 7 weeks of whole week meetings and a bond of friendship that lasts until now.

It all started on the first story that we tackled on English, and it was Antigone. The story was great and was overly tragic. A king had made his son commit suicide, with his son cursing him on his last breath, his whole kingdom turn against him, his wife committing suicide also, and it all started with a decision of killing his son’s fiancé whose name is Antigone. Antigone, on the other hand, has twin brothers who killed themselves, has a father who committed suicide because her father married his own mother (in effect, Antigone’s grandmother) and killed his own father. Her mother also blinded herself.

I was in charge of doing the script, and after doing it for like one or two weeks, I finished it with 16 acts in 25 pages in just over 10,000 words. Haha. That’s the longest script I have written in my life. The English I have used there made me take several tours in the thesaurus. Haha.

After the script, of course, there is the props making, and I was assigned to be one of the propsman on our first meeting, but soon, that grouping went skyrocketing to Pluto and it never came back. There are no more groups and everyone is participating in the propsmaking.

It took us at least five Saturdays and Sundays to finish all the props. Chica is the best propsmaker in the universe I think, he managed to build helmets of great quality (weee. And I wore them on one scene..), then comes all the swords, then all the dresses, with the tailoring team headed by Ate Jov and Kareejil. I remember bringing plastics of cloth home twice, one from our nightly practice when Chica, Charlotte and I went straight to Chowking, and the other when we went to Alvin, they were like cheap laundry plastics and I look totally poor.

I can also remember staging up a camp inside the jeepney, haha, with me bringing a giant styrofoar along with the game control-looking-shield. The styrofoar was big. BIG! And entering and leaving the jeepney became a hard challenge. Haha. And there is also the gawgawan mode at Annabeth’s, where the backmasking frenzy started, it was when Annabeth screamed her lungs out on a backmask of Jingle Bells. We also had the scotch-taping mode at Alvin’s house, the painting-the-coat mode at our house and the researching mode at Ate Jov’s house. Haha :D I miss those modes so much.

Of course, as a group, we eat a lot. We ate at Chowking and McDonalds at Clark, we ate rice toppings (in which a spoons became problems), we ate grilled chicken at Ate Jov’s and Alvin’s famous kare-kare. Haha.

Then, there goes the shoot. Before the shoot, of course, we need to find a place. Creon is a king, and we can’t settle for any simple room. We need royalty at its finest, cheapest and nearest! Haha! And there we stumbled upon Grand Palazzo Real, woot, the place in which when we first went, I had my public street bath, and on my second visit, we already had our first shoot.

The shoot was one of the most fun part. I can see Chica’s stern face getting angrier each moment he delivers her lines. Charlotte and Julia are just fine, then Annabeth forces her tears to go out. Kervy looks like a beggar at first, now I look more like a character in Holy Week. The elders look young, though they look like they are the officers of a laundry shop. I remember Nayong Pilipino, when the word “puri” was given birth. Haha. We are like living displays of stupid warfare on the ancient times. Chica were dressing us in a public place. We are asked to wear a guard’s costume which wouldn’t fit at all. After two hours of wearing it, haha, the day ended with not even half of the scene shot. Haha.

Then, there goes editing. (For Antigone series!) haha. Editing had me sleeping overnight on a classmate for the first time, and that is on Alvin’s home. Haha. Seeing the videos is fun, with all the bloopers, and the funny facial expressions when I press pause. We passed the movie incomplete, though we got a grade of 95. Weird. Haha. :D The movie was an effort worth looking back and an experience more than enough to treasure.

15. Ako ang Kriminal

Ako… Ako… Ako ang Kriminal. T_T that was another trademark of mine this year. Ako ang Kriminal, entering this list at number 15, is the title of the dramatic monologue piece that was given to me for the competition at Buwan ng Wika.

This was my first venture into the acting stage in my whole life! Never have I declaimed or acted on a stage of this size. On my never ending journey for plus on my card, and for experience, I was forced to join Buwan ng Wika in any way possible. I cannot be in modern dance, for there are so many greater dancers out there, and I don’t deserve any spot there. And after eliminating all other possible slots, I find the last one, dramatic monologue.

Argh. Then, as Ma’am was circulating the room talking about Buwan ng Wika, I volunteered for the slot, and I said that I will try. But, to my surprise, the next day, without even hearing me act, she said that I’ll be the one to represent the section in that contest. The contest is intersection, and the one who’ll win in the intersection will represent the fourth year level in Buwan ng Wika, which will be watched by a thousand strong students.

Ma’am Alfonso is not satisfied by what I am showing, and the contest is tomorrow. T_T I do not think I will win, for I am battling against Jefran who is a veteran on the field of acting. The piece is gruesomely long and uses inhumanely deep words. After hours of memorizing, facial expression practice sessions in front of the mirror, and actions and styles think-ups, I guess I am not ready. Haha.

But then the day came for the intersection contest. Lucky for me, I only saw two other participants: I, Jefran and Jehriel. Haha. And when one by one we are called, they cut the lines short, and they have crunched the poem in one-fourth its original, and I was the only one who completed it. I guess Jefran is just giving it as a bonus to me.

Then, there comes the biggest stage, the main event.. the inter-year level battle. I have been hearing news that the third year participant is good, with her depiction of Sisa highly realistic. When the contest came, she was really great, and she got the attention of the whole stage in her first act. Mine was long, boring, and ugh, very deep. The first year followed and she was teaching everyone how to enter showbusiness. The second year participant shared to us the pains and struggles of an overseas Filipino worker.

The contest ended, and I was second to the last T_T hahaha. At least, I tried. An acting career is not that bad to pursue. Haha. Venturing into unchartered lands is one way of exploring the world beyond. A shell shall be cracked, or else the bird will not go out. Hahaa :D in other words, one should try other things than the usual.

14. Battle of the Bands

Another embarrassing moment steals the number 14 spot.

The Battle of the Bands was the most tiring program I have ever been in to. It occupied much of my January and February, and it pulled me out of the classroom for weeks.

To start, the Battle of the Bands was a fundraising program by the Student Body Organization (that does not exist today). At the start, we recruited high school bands that will join the contest (and we have recruited five, luckily), and started to collect P20 from each student in SPCF. The P20 is for the tickets, though everyone is required to go.

Before collecting, we had to write letters for Sir Antonio to approve it. We need to fill in our amendments, and with numerous meetings, we have agreed that it’ll be a fundraising event. There are debates over the amount and the prize, but they all settled in P20. After it, we have to formulate the rules, we have to ask permission for the use of the Multi-Purpose Hall, and we have to write a letter to the office again for the date. After it, we have to advertise, we have to spread the word that we are going to have the Battle of the Bands. After it, we have to make forms for the bands to fill up, we have to make the program.. and I need to take a break. Haha.

Collecting the P20 took us almost a week. First, we need to discuss where the P20 will go, room by room, president by president and teacher by teacher if we must. Then, we need to talk to each treasurer, president and auditor (around 30 of them) to help us in collecting. Collecting from the officers became a problem also, for some of the students won’t pay at them, some have problems with comprehending our discussion and we need to repeat our explanations all over again and persuade the students to pay. I understand the part of the students, for if I were them, I would complain on why it is compulsory, but as the Vice President of the Student Body, I can’t do anything but agree as to what the whole Body is saying.

When everything was done and collected, the time to brief the bands followed. After the briefing, they told me that I’ll be the emcee. The twist is… I am going to be with a real DJ. I was like, “wth are they talking about?!” But that was real. The day came, and all I have in my mind was pressure.

My moment on stage was crazy. When I said, “Whew…”, everyone just screamed as if they’re energy is on infinity. I felt like the star, though I know I am not. Haha. But once the DJ entered, everything just went out of my way. I am not used on being an emcee without the script, and this experience had made me learn to deal with it. I am not used on emceeing like I was in a talk show. I am used to deliver normal, straightforward and formal introductions, not the one typical of a concert. T_T and the whole event, I was downright stupid at stage. I hate myself that day. :D

That experience shall be buried, but the lessons learned from it should be kept. Now, I am comfortable of emcee-ing that way, though I always commit mistakes in doing it, though not that much on my first run. Hahaa :D And I never thought that I could be such a public figure. Haha

Well, the story of Battle of the Bands did not end there, it went on until the first week of May, when we submitted our accounting report. I spent almost a week tabulating all the receipts and figuring out what went wrong. Me and Monique were required to fill in a thousand peso that is missing in the funds (though at the end, we never knew where the money went. Sad ending for me.) When we gave our accounting report, we were like two months late, and we are apprehended saying that Ma’am Malig hadn’t got her monthly wage for two months because of the delay. T_T too much responsibility.

13. Class Funds

Yes! Class Funds! This pain-in-the-pocket thing is on the thirteenth spot on my list (coincidentally thirteenth). Class funds have been significant for me since last year, because last year I was the treasurer of the class. If I had made a list last year, class funds could be up to number five or six.

This year, our class funds took its negative turn again, causing division in the classroom and a bond torn forever. It caused an issue that circulated the campus like wildfire and a fine image that was stained. We were seen as rebels, mutineers and seperatists by many, though only few know the real story behind it.

It all started when our inquisitive minds noticed that we are putting in money almost regularly, and we are not hearing anything about it… I would not like to expand this and be a controversial blog post so let us get to the playing-safe summary… then, a parent came, went to the principal, and inquired about the funds. Our adviser felt hurt or mad or idk what she felt..

And there you go, our name as a class has already spread throughout the campus as money-minded suckers who wants nothing and cares about nothing but money. We are reputed to be gold-diggers who won’t care about how our adviser would feel as long as we get the money. Ma’am Dungca even labeled as us “rebels” on her visit to our classroom. Couldn’t wait for someone who’ll name as Ampatuan the next time.

Haha. Good thing today, we still have that class funds, and it is still burning in a hole in my pocket, but today, that is not that much of an issue.

Btw, I was the class president back then. Haha. :))