15 - Public Speaking Competition

I wasn't a part of the public speaking competition or the speech choir, I had my pubspe and speech choir competition last term but I attended to support my fellow blocks who were AC151 and AC152. I could see their tensed faces, I experienced it too but the bad thing about my experience was we were kind of humiliated in front because we didn't memorize the speech.




Anyway, I was so proud with AC151 because they placed 2nd runner up which was really really amazing! I couldn't help but feel proud because I have such talented block mates, they never fail to amaze me. Also, I would like to congratulate my fellow block mate in AC151, Gracielle Sitjar, for winning the Ignite Speech Competition!! She delivered it so well with confidence and I was so proud of her. I remmeber my Ignote speech, it was terrible. ANd watching her to it so well was just fantastic! I'm sure our professor, Sir Nomer Yuzon, was also very proud of her. We were all very proud of her, and I am honored to be a part of this amazing block with such talented people.

References:
Photos - APC Facebook Page

14 - Speak Sense

The inter school Public Speaking Competition with the theme "Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got." This event was held at the APC Auditorium from 9 in the morning until 12 noon. We were basically given a chance to watch the inter school public speaking competition. 

This competition aims to develop the public speaking skills of high school students and to overcome their fear of public speaking. This event was really helpful, to me and to the students, because somehow we were inspired, the fact that public speaking sounds scary, its actually something more than that. people tend to think public speaking is a waste of time, but no, the talent of publicly speaking is actually so much more. 

You get to voice out your opinions, become an advocate, tell what is right from what is wrong. You also learn to become confident, it raises your self esteem which is good, because not all people have this. Public speaking becomes an edge in your life because this is not just some talent, it is an honor to speak and represent what you want in front of a crowd or probably an audience. 

There was this certain speaker that I really admired the most. I think she was from Pasay Science High School, she knew that she was speaking in public yet she wasn't afraid to share her own life experiences. She told us about wanting to end her life - I was shocked because for me, as much as I know what it feels to have so much problems, I think suicide is of the most stupid things any person could do because you let your problems take you away - she told us about her family as well, i think it was because they weren't buying her the things she wanted. But honestly, I applaud this girl because she was able to face all of it. as hard as it seems, we can't have every thing that we want. We have to be thankful and contented for what we have right now, and that's something worth living for. I can't really imagine what's she's been through but she stayed strong. One of the moral lessons we can get from her is that there is nothing more precious than time. we should continue living, a quote I remember is "It's just a bad day, and not a bad life" we humans are made to move forward, not going back to the past, just looking back. We all for a fact, at some point in our lives, wished that time would just stop. But, we can't keep living in the moment, there are far more greater things that await us. Our journey as high school or college students is just the start of who we are going to be in the future, the time we have now is the most important and precious thing because anything can happen. We also should be thankful for what we have, it's all our parents probably had. Just believe and keep the faith, for God will guide you and he will never give us problems that we cant solve.

References:

Photos - I saw these somewhere in facebook

13 - The Phantom of the Opera

Our last few meeting sin EEPENG were fun, well, I had fun. because my professor made us watch one of my all time favorite plays entitled "The Phantom of the Opera" from the title itself, it sounds pretty awesome. So it's kind of a musical, from the point of view we were shown. Anyway, this play is all about a girl named Christine, she was gifted with a very beautiful and high pitched voice. Her father told her that there would be an angel guiding her, which she called the angel of music. Ever since, she knew that she had a vocal teacher, but cannot really explain who her teacher is. So this girl was a ballet performer, and unfortunately, their lead singer refused to perform because there were odd things happening at their place.

At the end, Christine was convinced to sing of the performance because it was hard to cancel, also because they were a full house and they can't disappoint the guests and refund everything, they heard christine sing and they were overwhelmed with how beautiful her voice is. Someone asked who her teacher was but she d\said she didnt know who. While Christine was alone, someone appeared before her, it was her angel of music. Her angel of music has been with her ever since she was a little kid, he taught her how to sing very beautiful songs. When christine and her angel of music met, she was full of joy because her teacher loves her very much, and he wanted christine to sing at the play and become famous. by doing so, the angel of music sent a message to like, the director of the play, asking that christine would become the lead singer, and that they would preform the opera that he wrote, or else he will do bad thing, or more like take someone else's life if the disobey him. the other were frightened  so they did what he said, but the real lead singer refused, and insisted that she would perform and not christine. because of this, the angel of music became mad. the chandelier began to flicker, and the audience were frightened. so they asked christine to sing, but things began to complicate. christine had a lover, who i think she knew since they were little. they were going to go out for dinner, i think, but then christine disappeared, the angel of music kind of took her, and to make the long story short, the angel of music kind of begged christine to stay with him and he'll love her the way hye loved her when she was just a child. christine's lover found them and the angel of music threatened to kill him if she chose to be with her lover. anyway, instead of getting mad, christine kissed the angel of music, and i guess the angel of music realized that christine loved him too, but they werent meant to be together. the angel of music became sad, but he let christine's lover go, and asked them that they would never speak of this ever again.

Sorry I sounded boring but I definitely recommend everyone to watch this spectacular play, it will give you chills and goosebumps but i guarantee that you will never regret watching this. all of the characters portrayed their roles perfectly and i didnt see any flaw, so it basically was a 10/10 score for me, i really enjoyed it. plus, everyone was very talented, you would see how well the play was because all the characters did their very best.

References:
Google Images

12 - Plagiarism is a crime

When we hear the word plagiarism, what usually comes into our mind? I never really took plagiarism seriously until I went to college. University of Santo Tomas was really strict with plagiarized, as in really REALLY strict. But before I get into details, what exactly is plagiarism? According to the dictionary, Plagiarism is defined as an act of imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and representation of that author's work as one's one work, as by not crediting the original author. Pretty complicated right?
It simply means to not get, copy and imitate everything that you find in the internet, books, magazines, articles etc. you can, but as long as you cite the source to where you got it from. Like what I did earlier, the definition of plagiarism that i typed was from dictionary.com, i had to say dictionary.com because i got it from them, and not stating that means it came from me. Anyway, an experience of mine in my freshmen year in UST, I had a marketing professor, and somehow, I don't really know the entire story, but he was sued by UST for plagiarizing a work or thesis. so yeah, he was a really awesome professor, he told us that what they're blaming him for isn't true,


 i do hope it isnt. I never knew the college could be so strict, i mean like suing your own hired teacher is intense. also, when i was in high school, plagiarism wasnt a big deal at all, thats why people, or rather college students, do it. if the elementary and highschool teachers were strict with plagiarism, no one would dare plagiarize and they would actually use their own brains instead of googling everything. another experience I had in college was in my english class, we were asked to do some sort of book report, so we were 3 people in a group. Basically, me and my groupmates read the book, so when we got our paper back, the teacher drew a big "PLAGIARISM" on it and I was like, what the hell this is our own words. Sometimes professors can be really offending, just because the students sounded "cool", "smart" or "professional" on their essays doesn't mean that it's plagiarized. It's like making us feel like we aren't capable of saying such things. But overall, moral lesson is, do not ever copy something off the internet without citing or crediting. It is illegal and I do hope that people will stop plagiarizing, cause what if you were the author of a certain book and your work got copied, you would feel bad right? Be an informed citizen before making dumb actions.

References:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plagiarism
Google Images

11 - Health Supplements

In our modern generation today, scientists have discovered and developed different kinds of supplements for our body. There are different kinds of supplements, there are: dietary supplements, nutritional supplements, herbal supplements etc.
Dietary supplements include everything from vitamins and minerals to herbs such ascinnamon and St. John’s wort. Dietary supplements also come in a number of forms including: Tablets, Capsules, Powders, Softgels, Gelcaps, and Liquids. They are sold from a number of retailers including: Pharmacies, Grocery stores, Vitamin and health food stores, Websites, Mail-order catalogs. The main types of dietary supplements include: Botanicals (derived from plants and possibly including herbs) Vitamins, Minerals, Fatty Acids, Other Dietary Supplements.

A nutritional supplement is a marvelous thing. It can be a vitamin, a food, a random plant extract, a chemical that probably won't actually kill you, or even nothing at all. It can be promoted as medicine only not quite, and isn't sufficiently regulated that you need to actually prove it's effective for anything at all, as long as you don't make any specific health claims.A handy way to sell them is as vitamins. The churlish might say you were selling pseudovitamins, but they just want to undermine the health freedom of your potential customers.

Medicines are nasty and chemical. You need something more holistic. Natural is always good, so use natural products and say so. Big Pharma is out to kill your customers! Until you can get them to buy your company. Bodybuilders love this stuff. They know the value of a good anecdote! Just make sure the bros get the word out. If you need a veneer of clinicality, orthomolecular medicine is an excellent source of suitable terminology. Of course, you certainly wouldn't claim to be practicing medicine. So don't forget a suitable disclaimer.

Because of our modern technology today, we are able to create such supplements for our body. Kids nowadays dont have to complain when they dont want to consume vegetables, instead, they can take health supplements for a more healthy and convenient lifestyle.


References:
http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/medication/other-treatments/herbs-supplements-and-alternative-medicines/types-of-dietary-supplements.html?referrer=https://www.google.com.ph/
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nutritional_supplement
Google Images

10 - Truly an Inspiration

A few months ago, one of my English professors asked us to watch a play entitled "Ang Tatay Mong Kalbo" known as the Bald Soprano in the English language. While watching the play, I found it kind of weird but at the same time really funny. The adaptation of Isagani R. Cruz of "Ang Tatay Mong Kalbo" was really good, I enjoyed it a lot. Here's a little bit of information about Isagani R. Cruz

Isagani R. Cruz is a multi-awarded and prolific poet, playwright, short-story writer, critic, educator, publisher, advocate, and Filipino. He was born in 1945. He is the former Philippine Undersecretary of Education and currently a Professor Emeritus, a University Fellow, and the Academic Publications Executive Publisher of De La Salle University, the Director of the Teachers Academy of Far Eastern University, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of Santo Tomas. As a writer, he has received a tremendous amount of recognition for his many contributions to Philippine literature having written at edited over thirty books. Among these achievements include winning the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature numerous times and being inducted into the prestigious Palanca Hall of Fame in 2004 for his noted plays, essays, and short stories written in either Filipino or English. He also won the SEAWRITE Award in 1991, the Centennial Literary Contest Award in 1998, and the Balagtas Award in 1999. He has represented the Philippines in international conferences held in Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and many others. Cruz’s scholarly articles and studies have been published in both the Philippines and the United States. He served as the editor of Loyola Studies, Palabas, Interlock, and Malay. He has also worked and contributed regularly to Philippine periodicals such as Times Journal, TV Times,

 Modern Romances, Bulaklak, WHO, Parade, Observer, Panorama, and Ms. Ellaneous. Regionally, he also wrote for Asiaweek magazine. Aside from his awards for creative writing, Cruz is also well-known for his film and drama reviews.As an educator, Cruz continues to work with the biggest universities in his country. He is the Alfredo E. Litiatco Professor of Literature at the De La Salle University where he was the head of theDepartment of Literature and Philippine Languages. He is also the publisher of the De La Salle University Press. At De La Salle he has taught quite a variety of courses including Science Fiction, Advanced Writing, The Teaching of Literature, Rizal, and Bridge. Currently he is also teaching Philippine Literature in English at theAteneo De Manila University.

Very impressive right? I adore Isagani R. Cruz for being a really hardworking Filipino Author, I think he should be recognized more for what he does. He has made a difference in our country, I personally think he is one of the most talented Filipino authors. I do hope I meet him someday

References:

http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Isagani_R._Cruz

Google Images 

9 - Be an Informed Citizen

25^th of November 2015, my block mates and I attended a seminar in the APC Auditorium which was kind of about a public speaking event; it’s actually for The RamPage, APC’s newsletter. So, there were three speakers, all of which are GMA’s writers, The TV show Jessica Soho. Before the event started, the mentor of The RamPage showed us a documentary video of President Ferdinand Marcos’ achievements and that former President Cory Aquino, and his husband, had some kind of secret.What I understood was Marcos and Aquino were really great friends, Marcos paid for Aquino’s medication in the United States, he let Aquino live long enough just to kill him in the end, the point of the video that there are hidden secrets in our Philippine History that is meant to stay a secret, but what he was trying to voice out was President Marcos is not a bad person and president and he was definitely not responsible for the death of Ninoy Aquino, that everyone thinks is a hero. 

So many questions are raised in this that is why we are given a chance to choose between what we think is right and what is wrong. After the video, the first speaker from GMA started discussing how to write effectively. She taught us how to transition our sentences and how to come up with good ideas to make our story better, she also said that “there are no such thing as bad stories, just bad story tellers.” She encourages us that everyone has their own story and its always going to be up to us on how we tell it. The second speaker discusses about the political issues that we face in social media. Like for example Essena O’neill, Essena is a very famous fashion and lifestyle blogger from Australia who is now on a campaign about banning social media. All of her photos on instagram are only "fake" smiles, or rather, she was paid to advertise products and she didn't feel happy about that anymore. She said that social media kind of ruined her life because it makes people revolve their life around number; number of likes and followers to be exact. She said that life is too beautiful to be wasting it on technology in social media, the second speaker also emphasizes about the explosion that happened in paris, Syria, basically around the world which taught us to be more aware of what is happening in our society right now.  The third speaker told us about how important it is to be aware of what is happening, which is social media. Social Media keeps us informed with what is happening. In our generation today, social media has become something that need, this is our source of communication, we just have to learn how to control and know what is reality from not.