Yesterday, Youth Vote Philippines gathered various student organizations from UP and around the Philippines for one of many in the series of voters registration and education campaign to involve and engage the youth to act now for our country by taking the first step to go register and make others register as well.

By making the youth aware of the situation, questioning and acting upon it, and sharing it with others, then we can make a STATEMENT and an impact in the development of our country. Atom Araullo and Juana Change’s message to the youth.

Launched last September 2008, Youth Vote Philippines is an alliance of various youth and reform-minded organizations for 2010 and beyond — Young Public Servants - INCITEGov (YPS) with Akbayan Youth, Ayala Young Leaders, TAYO, FTV, Reform Coalition, Student Council Alliance of the Philippines, WhyNotForum, Youth Alliance Philippines, and Movement for Good Governance. Their objective is to create online and offline collaboration for voter’s education and increased voter registration.

“Laugh, dance, vote” is one of the messages of Youth Vote Philippines. Jaime Garchitorena, one of the great minds behind this campaign, said that “laughing and dancing are crucial to youth experiences.” In the forum he said, “Laugh when you have to laugh, dance when it is time to dance, and come May 2010, vote when you have to vote,” he said.

“He believes this message, which will be promoted through the Internet, on tarpaulins and shirts, would encourage the youth to be more proactive in the May 2010 elections,” according to the ABS-CBN online news report.

Visit Youth Vote Philippines’ website, and make it known!

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Last Saturday UP Chinese Student Association conducted a clean-UP around the campus. We went around our assigned routes and took out trash from the waiting sheds, posts and sidewalks.

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I recently had lunch with my uncle Martin in FlapJacks. As I already ate here before, I was quite hesitant to do a repeat because I didn’t liked it that much before. But this time, I was surprised that their menu had a better design with inviting and mouth-watering photos of their dishes. Their food choices became wider and better (in my opinion).

We were given a complimentary salad (which I forgot to ask the name of). I shall leave this dish without a review because it was just given for free. Moving on, we ordered a newly added dish to the menu, the Shrimp Skewers with rice and veggies. The herbed rice complimented the shrimp skewers. The sauce that came with it was deliciously powerful; but thankfully it didn’t overpower the whole dish.

Photos taken using a Sony Ericsson W760i

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The Ateneo field roared with the Maroons as U.P. clenched the championship last Tuesday against the FEU Tamaraws. 1-0 was the final score. The game was intense; players from both teams played really well, while the crowd cheered hard for U.P.

Kriska “KKK”, Beng, START AIT and I (so as other UP students and alumni) were there to watch and support the team as they battled for the point, and defended the goal to the very end, to victory! Congratulations!

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Happy Birthday to my birthday-mates Clea, Merry, Ted, Ella!

To those who texted, emailed, ym-ed, plurked, multiplied, facebooked, greeted me last night during the victory party (di ko na kayo iisa-isahin dahil ang dami dami dami n’yo, overwhelmingly!); to my family, wonderful slatemates (Titus, Lee, Jose, Barbie, Sheena, KKK, John, Anika, Gabby, Rinno, Laura, BJ, Austin, Dhadi, Ching, Jan, Gino, Angela and Raymund), CSA, KAISA, Absolute Cousins, APB, Bloggers/ Online friends, ISA, LEAD, Manila Foodistas, MATTER, PALS, PDA, PRIME, START, UP friends, Xavier friends, at sa mga posibleng nakalimutan ko [sorry])

Malugod na pagpapasalamat, sincerest gratitude to everyone, 謝謝你們！Sa walang sawang pagtiwala, pagsuporta’t pagtulong. I have been really blessed with great friends and acquaintances. I really treasure you all! *sniff* hehe

P.S. Being 21 is no different from being 20, or 18… What matters is how you live your life, and what will be your legacy. (magiging 21 din kayo! bleh! haha) Carpe Diem!

P.P.S. A bit of trivia for all…today’s Square Root Day. Fun! haha

We went to The Arena in San Juan to root for our UP Men’s Volleyball in their best of 3 Finals game against UST. It’s really unfortunate that there were only more or less a handful of student who went out of their way to cheer for our awesome team. While UST or FEU or DLSU had a multitude to their side, UP had the drums, but so little of the manpower to cheer. This is something we must fix next year.

In any case, we didn’t sit down anymore, instead, we went to the cheering squad for reinforcement. It was fun being with the cheering squad, shouting our lungs out with the drums.

After the game, we went to Victory Greenhills to attend service. Pastor Steve Murell, founder of our church was the one who preached. He talked about the legacy we should leave, in our one life to live. It was very powerful, striking and moving.

Side-tripped afterward to shop for stuff for tomorrow, and dinner at Soms. See’ya guys!

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First of all congratulations to all those who won in the USC elections! Secondly, congratulations and good luck to the Executive Committee-elect of UP Chinese Student Association. I know you’ll be able to do great things next year.

USC Elections is over. As for me, I am very thankful for all the people who have been there to support, guide, train, and nourish my desire to become a better student-leader.

More than a party, KAISA has been a family to me. Looking back, I am amazed with what we’ve all gone through, what we’ve all sacrificed and what we’ve all learned throughout this experience. This is a new chapter that would soon be written with more wonderful lines and stories that matter.

They say that what I am having right now is the expected withdrawal symptoms from the elections. Truly, I miss being with my slatemates every night, trainings upon trainings, sleeping late and waking up really early, going room-to-room expecting the unexpected, and a lot more.

Elections pushed each and everyone of us to work and perform more. It only proved that “yes, we can.” Deep inside we all knew we could do it, but all the while, I could ask, “why weren’t we able to do this before the campaign started?” Sometimes, it just takes some push or even a tap for one to be able to go that extra mile. That for me is what we all want; that for me is what counts.

After all of this, yes, it’s hard to go back to “normal student life.” Though hard and tiring, I miss everything. Now, it’s time to perform, to walk the talk. I hope that all of you would still be there.

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Hi guys, I am back! I have been away from the internet, from my family, friends, etc to focus on my candidacy for UP USC Councilor. Thank God, all my sacrifices, all the hard work paid off. Thanks to you all!

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