Boring Busy Day

Image borrowed here

This day has been a very tiring day. All those last minute preparations professors in our minor subjects required, the quizzes, the departmental exams and finally, the thrill of the upcoming semestral break. They have succeeded in draining all my energy out! I was completely exhausted as our last subject ended, my head ached and had a terrible longing for home. We will have our final exams tomorrow on our math subjects (College Algebra and Trigonometry) and while my friend is telling the rest of our trio that he's so eager to go home to study, my mind was already drifting on taking it all in bed. When I got home I quickly ate my dinner (all alone!) and played my brother's guitar that has been accumulating dust for so long. Somehow, all my worries about those exams vanished and all I cared about was relaxing and going to bed.

Despite all the hassle, I can still say that this day wasn't really as bad as it is. I saw Kitty and Peanut as I got off the jeepney I rode from school. I had a brief chat with Peanut on her way to the next jeepney station. It was well, okay. Aside from that, I'm starting to see stars in the night skies again constantly reminding me of all the high school drama I should get over with.

It was heartwarming and exciting to feel exhausted with all my school works again after almost seven months. Now I'm really starting to feel college :)

Spicy Chao Fan Memories!

Hey. We just got back from Manuel Roxas High School - you know, the school where the elections for barangay level officials was held - and I came home with a very great news.

What's that, you say? I just LOST the position for the SK Chairman to this James Flores and honestly speaking, I'm quite happy about it, really. Let's just say, politics was never really meant for me and I'm so thankful that I lost because I can't imagine myself sitting in that position without doing my service wholeheartedly. He won by 15 votes. It was a close one. But in the end, the rightful one for the position shall truly prevail.

I'm not having regrets for running on that position. Actually, the whole experience just made my semestral break a very worth of while. I experienced to be a leader in a week, making small decisions and mingling with other youths I've only known by face. I've made knew friends(or maybe let's say acquaintances) and experienced being a politician where shaking hands with other personalities and pretending to be close with some you've just met for an hour is like a cliche. You know, it's really funny when someone whose a total stranger would walk right up to me and treat me as if I'm a celebrity or some sort of a super high official or something. I don't know what's with them but often I'd just raise my right brow in curiousity and ask myself questions like, "Um... have I met this someone somewhere?" or say something like, " I swear I totally don't know him/her!!!"

And speaking of celebrity, I almost felt like one when we had our motorcade and when I realised all those flyers and posters oversaturating a poor wall or a tree trunk! It was embarassing, of course, but I saw that it'll only last for a week so it's better to make the most of it.

To the team of "The Dawn of the New Generation", thank you for showing me all of these stuffs, I sure learned a lot from you guys and something tells me that our team will not just evaporate after the elections. Congratulations to Jaja, Robin and Michael for making it to the positions of SK Kagawad.

As for me, lifegoes on. I'll concentrate more on my studies and I'll promise to do well in school. Who knows, maybe someday, I'd get to be a celebrity just like how I dreamed it to be(and certainly NOT a politician!!!). At least for now, my dream to be an envoronmental warrior/volunteer will remain a distant realistic one. I'd rather work free with Mother Nature than be a prisoner of my self-imposed laws.

I don't know why I'm overjoyed by the taste of this sweet failure, but there's one thing I know for sure, and that's being a politician is not what God really wanted for me, not what my family and friends really wanted for me, and not really something I wanted for myself. I accepted my fate as a candidate and I played my part no matter how I hated it at first. My burning passion is NOT in any way or another related to POLITICS. That's the reason why the taste of bitter failure tastes so sweet for me.

What will I miss after this "running-for-SK-Chairman" week? Well' I'll surely miss those times we spend under the sun with our campaign tees on. I will miss the feeling of complete burn-out and satisfaction mixed with a pinch of hunger and sometimes irritation. I will miss our team - The Dawn of the New Generation. And finally, I will miss those times I ate the Sweet and Spicy Chao Fan during our meriendas in ChowKing.

I will never forget all these wonderful times I spent with them.

;D

The 11th Hour

"Global warming is not only the number one environmental challenge we face today, but one of the most important issues facing all of humanity ... We all have to do our part to raise awareness about global warming and the problems we as a people face in promoting a sustainable environmental future for our planet."

---Leonardo DiCaprio

Nobody likes being lectured at, even if it's by Leonardo DiCaprio - and especially not when one is at the movies. But, there are times when a strongly-worded lecture is exactly what's called for. And there are strong words indeed in the dire environmental documentary, "The 11th Hour," which, though produced and narrated by a Hollywood celebrity, is as serious and frightening as a heart attack - and it requires the same attention!

Those who saw last year's Oscar winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," might wonder whether this film is any different from the Al Gore starrer. Well, it is.

The difference is in the scope: While "An Inconvenient Truth" focused on global warming and climate change, " The 11th Hour" takes a broader look at the ever-growing, toxic footprint humans have made on an increasingly ailing planet.

Issues

You'll no doubt be familiar with the issues that the docu is talking about. Among them are global warming and climate change, as well as, soil degradation, air and ocean pollution, and the rapid extinction of species. It's a bleak list, and the film, helmed by sister-directors, Leila Conners-Peterson and Nadia Conners, makes no bones about how bad things are today.

As a film, the docu isn't particularly enjoyable - and it's not meant to be, but it will keep you riveted. It's also less polite than "An Inconvenient Truth" and has more than one talking head in it.

There are, in fact, more than 50 earnest speakers, and their gloomy predictions paint such bleak picture of the present state of the planet's- and our- health that, for the movie's first half, you'll fell quite depressed.

Toward the end of the harrowing sequence of statements and images, however, the mood lightens. The film throws its disheartened viewers a lifesaver in the form of sustainable, renewable solutions to this "convergence of crises," giving us a glimpse of a carbon-neutral, waste free future - where homes and buildings don't bleed the environment dry.

Resource Speakers

"The 11th Hour" assembles an overwhelming number of resource speakers: Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, former CIA director R. James Woolse, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, scientist David Suzuki, environmental architect William McDonough, and a host of ecologists, entrepreneurs, oceanographers, engineers, authors and eco-activists.

Viewers might find them wearying, but there's much to be gleaned here if you pay attention. Facts and opinions are delivered concisely, and the editing keeps everything moving at a brisk clip - sometimes, too brisk - so, there's no excuse to be bored.

Yes, it's dark and gloomy, but we need movies like "The 11th Hour," because in spite of all the whistle-blowing that's been going on, many of us still seem to think that the environment is the other guy's problem. Fact is, it's now our 11th hour - and we don't have time to waste.

BLOGGERS TO UNITE ON BLOG ACTION DAY

All Blogs Invited to Take Part in Joining Voices to Help Environment

An international initiative of bloggers known as "Blog Action Day" launched today, with the aim of uniting thousands of blogging voices, talking about one issue for one day. This year on Blog Action Day, which is slated for Oct. 15, 2007, bloggers will be discussing the environment. Major blogs have signed up to participate, including Lifehacker, Dumb Little Man, Lifehack.org, Get Rich Slowly, Web Worker Daily, GigaOm, The Simple Dollar, Zen Habits, Freelance Switch, LifeClever, Unclutterer, Pronet Advertising, Wise Bread and many more.

"For just one day, we'd like to unite as many of the millions of bloggers around the world and speak about one issue - the environment," said Collis Ta'eed, an Australian blogger from FreelanceSwitch.com, and a cofounder of Blog Action Day. "We want to display the potential and the power of the blogging community, which is a disparate community but one with an amazing size, breadth and diversity. By bringing everyone together for one day, we can see just how much can be achieved, and how much we can be heard."

Blog Action Day is a non-profit initiative, and will be an annual event. As an alternative to blogging about the environment on Blog Action Day, bloggers can opt to participate by donating their blog's proceeds from Oct. 15 to one of several environmental organizations chosen for this purpose: Greenpeace International, The Nature Conservancy, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the Conservation Fund, and the Sierra Club. Bloggers who would like to participate in Blog Action Day should visit BlogActionDay.org or email Collis Ta'eed at collis@eden.cc, so they can be listed on the Blog Action Day site. To participate, a blog just needs to write about the issue of the environment on Oct. 15, 2007, or donate its proceeds for the day to one of the chosen environmental organizations.