As I welcome 2008, it’s just right for me to look back at the experiences that I had. For all the good times and the not so good ones. For all the memories that are forever treasured and remembered. Thank You Very Much to everyone that had touched my life, one way or another. To the next year – to 2008 (and beyond!).

2007 has been wonderful.

• Had New Year with my cousins at our house. (It was when I lost my innocence to alcohol?)
• It was a really wonderful experience being in my first org – Chinese Student Association (which I consider family now). <3
• I got chickenpox (I had to cut class and stay at home for 3 weeks! Boo!)
• University Scholar babeh!
• I went to the Xavier Variety show with Tiff, Harrell, Vanessa and Cokie, and just enjoying watching without worrying about tasks of being in Stallion or in the Variety Show Committee.
• UPCSA goes to La Luz Beach, Batangas! Woooot!

• Got a real job (part time) in Outblaze Asia-Pacific as Online Content Support (thanks to Tiff! I can’t thank you enough dude!)

• Had my first summer class in UP (…and learned that Summer Class = HOT HOT HOT = VERY UNSUITABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNING!)
• I got Malikhaing Pagsulat under Prof. Rene Villanueva (God bless his soul!) for 3 days (He was replaced/ subbed by Sir Eliserio after…)
• Played Frisbee – with Tim Sy and Chris Ng during summer (UF2 class with Aouex)
• Got elected as Vice President in CSA (Thanks so much guys! I love you!)
• Proclaimed Tiff and Sean to be best buds in CSA (they’re the best!)
• I got to be a Registration Assistant in CSSP/ AS101 (kalog peeps!)
• Had to choose MemComm people. Met with them at Starbucks Katips for the first time! We did the Sigsheet (Leslie = d’best! – she made all the art in the Sigsheet!) MemComm = LOVE
• Attended State of the Nation Address (rubbed shoulders with the President, Speaker, political figures)

• Went to the Office of the Vice President, met Noli, had pics taken! That was it! My future flashing right through my eyes (and mind you, I wasn’t dreaming while it was happening)

• CSA applicants exceeding “projected” number. (We’re growing exponentially as Kim said). Met a lot of new people. Got close to new people. Made new friends I LOVE C.S.A. (It had its ups and downs, but still we’re here. We’ll keep fighting, and changing for the better I hope!) XD
• Got my first? Oh no, second acting Gig (Thanks to Ma’am Anna!) *First was when I acted as a Chinese salesman in Chris Ng’s BC class. That was fun! **Second was with Bembol Roco! Yeahboy! Haha! No need to elaborate much. I’m now international! Oh yeah! Wu’s international too!
• Had new doggies! (Debbie – Mini Dachshund, Sophie – Yorkie, Jade – Shih Tzu, Kirby – Shih Tzu)
• I VOTED! May 14.
• Harry Potter Book 7! (and now it’s finally done)
• Formed BFFL (best friends for life) with Barbie, Reg, Rog and Tenai (Go Pub Ad! Go NCPAG! Go UP Law! Haha!)
• Bought my own MacBook with my hard earned money! (That felt great!)
• Dared Tiff to live without swearing (that was fun…or at least for her, because she had cake!) She almost did it, but not quite. (Medyo positive ang pagkasulat ko ha!)
• Had first complete BFFL inuman session @ Guiley’s Island to celebrate BFFL Reg’s birthday! Yeahboy!
• Had second complete BFFL inuman session to celebrate Barbie’s birthday @ her house
• Mimi’s Birthday @ Shantung

• Halloween @ Ayala Heights

• Sketchers Streetdance Battle Year III (my first ever! UP won!!! as usual!)

• Christmas Party @ new office of Outblaze (Played Wii! Crazy Wario Ware)

• Watched AVENUE Q! (yippee!)
• LANTERN PARADE!

• Reunion with my 1C,2C,3C,4B classmates

• Christmas @ Ayala Heights

Thanks Tiff, Joyce, Pat, Sean, Austin, Thea, Harrell, Kim and Merryan for your love and friendship – for always understanding me. I know that you’ll always be there for me, kahit ano pang sabihin ko sa inyo, you guys will be there to listen

Thanks to MemComm (Chris, Alvene, Ariel, Clea, Ainna, Leslie, Pam, Pao Pei, Arianne, Sarah, and Carlo) and Execomm (Jayne, Laureen, Krisha, Jarv and Scott) and to the Deps!

Thanks to CSA! You’ll forever be my family!

Thanks to BFFL! (Barbie, Reg, Rog, Tenai!) and to Blanch and Pebbles!

Thanks to my Xavier classmates! (d’best!)

Thanks to my blog readers!!! I LOVE YOU OH SO MUCH TOO! XD hehe

Thanks to everyone! You’re too many! (Sorry! Hehe! You know I love you guys too!)

I LOVE MY FAMILY! Thank you!

And now, *drum rolls* I LOVE MY OH SO WONDERFUL COUSINS, who’ll forever be in my heart! Clumtards President – Achi Denise, VP – Tin, Sexytary – Moi!, Treasurer/ Speaker of the Haus – Luj, (ano si Adi? …at sina Tippi, Justin at Jen? Haha!) Don’t forget our lawyer – AJ! And to my other cousins! Thanks for everything!

Happy New Year!

My classmates are the best! It was unfortunate that we weren’t able to play the videos and the pictures of sabaw moments throughout the 4 years of high school. I guess that’s one thing to look forward to next year! Merry Christmas guys!

Except for commuting from home all the way to Cubao, everything was a blast! It was that rare moment where you don’t care about anything, but to pour your lungs out, jumping, shouting, cheering for your team/s. To top it all, I was with my friends, who were as crazy as I was! Woot!

Earlier that day, we watched a movie at Gateway. I arrived a little bit late for Hitman. Tiff, Harrell, Harroun, and Chris were already inside. Good thing I didn’t miss a lot. I actually liked the movie, despite what other people’s reviews were.

Had merienda at Burger King after the movie. Then we all went to Timezone, where we met Patrick. After Timezone, we were headed to the main event at the Araneta Coliseum.

No it wasn’t a PBA championship game of San Miguel or Ginebra or Red Bull. It was something better, much much more cooler and more awesome! It was the Skechers Streetdance Battle III! It was our first ever, actually. And I was really excited because I had 2 teams to cheer for - Xavier School and UP Diliman!

UP Diliman’s UP Street WOWED about 10,000 in attendance at the Araneta last night. They really deserve the win for the 3rd straight time now! Our fellow CSA member, Ayna Salazar, is included in the competition team of UP Street. She really deserves to be part of the team! You ROCK! Congrats!

Although the judges didn’t think that Xavier had something to say, ARANETA thought otherwise. It was really crazy yesterday as people cheered for my high school! Yes, they didn’t bag the title this time around, but I really thought they did great! You deserve the recognition! Luceat Lux!

My palms were numb, my throat was sore, but it was all worth it! Until next year?

Clockwise from Top: Patrick, Harroun, Me, Chris, Raein, Harrell

Photos: http://superbong.multiply.com/photos/album/80

I went to the office today and had these “pasalubong” waiting for me and Raein. We also got our certificates of employment, which we will need to apply for a credit card.

It’s so sad that Austin, a common friend of Raein and I, wasn’t allowed to go up the building just because of what he is wearing. Uhh.. isn’t that too discriminating?

We played DOTA at Ash Creek, and it was my first time to actually play the game. (so you’ve guessed right - I sucked more than Raein…haha) I didn’t know that there’s this place in Ash Creek where you can play computer games. It was flocked with Xaverians (students of Xavier School) dismissal time.

I thought that it wasn’t allowed by law to put such kind of establishment near schools? Anyway, we ate at Burger King after the game.

After eating, we went to Sureplay, in Araneta Avenue to play badminton. It was all fun! I haven’t played for the longest time now, and I had to warm up for an hour before I got the hang of it again. Play-all-you-can for 60 pesos was really worth it I guess. :):)

I have a lot of papers and exams lined up for the next 2 weeks, so I might not be able to update as regularly as before. In any case, today I’m happy to finish my Filipino 25 (Ideya at Estilo) Outline and Final Paper.

In other news, AL SALLE, I mean De LA SALLE (DLSU) beat its longtime rival Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU) in the Season 70 qualifying game for the finals. Now La Salle will face season undefeated University of the East(UE).

Proof of their rivalry? I give you College jokes (taken from Zim):

QUESTION & ANSWER
Q: What should an Atenean do when a La Sallite hurls a grenade at him?

A: The Atenean should pick up the grenade, pull the firing pin and hurl it back at the La Sallite.

PASIKATAN NG GRADUATES
UP: A number of past Philippine presidents graduated from UP. Presidents Roxas, Quirino, Laurel, Garcia and Marcos, to name just a few!

ATENEO: Hah! That’s nothing, a number of Ateneo graduates became national heroes like Jose Rizal, Gen. Gregorio del Pilar, Gen. Antonio Luna, Evelio Javier and many others.

UP: That just goes to show you, UP graduates become presidents and lead countries while Ateneans end up getting shot!

LA SALLE: Wala ‘yan! Talo kayo sa mga gradweyt namin!

UP & ATENEO: Bakit sino ba ang mga graduates ninyo?

LA SALLE: Aba! Marami kaming sikat na gradweyts; si Gary Valenciano, Dingdong Avanzado, Ogie Alcasid, Monsour del Rosario.

A TYPICAL CONVERSATION
Two La Sallites meet on the street and carry on a typical La Sallite conversation:

La Sallite #1: If you can tell me how many chickens I have in this bag, I will give you both of them.

La Sallite #2: Uh, two?

La Sallite #1: Daya mo! You peeked!

I got this from Maki of No Need for Ink,

We just laugh off these jokes. But some, really take them seriously. I wonder who does.

Despite all of these, Chris Tiu and TY Tang, basketball stars of Ateneo and La Salle respectively still remain friends. Both are alumni of Xavier School.

I just want to say that it was a nice game, and the break I had from all my work was really worth it!

I am very happy that efforts of putting up a livelihood program are well on their way, and are making results in Southern Leyte, as I blog.

More than 500,000 pesos in cash and kind have been donated to the victims in Leyte, and we’re giving them sustainable resource.

I know that what we started during my time was continued during the past 2 years by the Student Council and the Drives Committee. Recently, I have read that the Xavier School has once again actively reacted to the victims of calamities in the Philippines. I am happy to leave that legacy in Xavier.

Now, I can’t express how happy I am to see its fruits until today. I can’t express my gratitude to the Xaverians who continue to believe in public service.

Jann Sy, Features Associate Editor of Stallion, the official publication of Xavier High School wrote something about it.

Change the World:Project bEgay

“How do we change the world? One act of random kindness at a time.” – from the movie Evan Almighty

Too late? It’s never too late to help those in need. Victims are victims, regardless of when they were afflicted and where they are now. In light of this, the Student Council, along with Mr. Boom Enriquez of the HS Filipino department, has taken the initiative to ignite the student body’s sense of social responsibility.

In order to alleviate the suffering caused by typhoon “Egay,” and its predecessors, “Chedeng” and “Dodong,” the Student Council has once again launched “Project Donate To Aid”, commonly known as “Project DoTA.” The project, launched last September 5, is aimed to assuage the already poverty stricken community around us by collecting donations for the benefit of these victims.

This year’s project is entitled “bEgay,” which is word play on bigay, a Filipino word that literally translates into “give,” and typhoon “Egay.” Since the project is focused on giving, the SC decided to take a risk by using DoTA bottles and DoTA pails, instead of the conventional cans. Through DoTA pails, one may donate canned goods, clothes, toiletries and the like, while DoTa bottles are simply for money. These innovative ideas gravitate around the idea, “More than money, the victims of ‘Egay’ need food, clothes, and other concrete materials.”

In addition to these two novel concepts, the Student Council also has a program entitled “DoTA All Stars Shootout.” This program is aimed at those basketball enthusiasts who wish to donate a few pesos to help out and have a good time playing their favorite sport. This “Shootout” will be held at the HS Gym, cost P20 each to play for 30 seconds, and will last throughout this whole week. During these 30 seconds, students will be given the chance to shoot as many baskets as they can. Meanwhile, the shootout finals will be held the following week for the students who shot the most baskets during the previous one.

When asked about the success of the project, SC External Vice President, Martin De Joya, simply said, “I hope that we all give as much as we can, all for the right reasons,” and added, “I can’t really expect a lot from each one, but I just hope that everyone gives even just a small contribution.”

He also hopes that after the two weeks, on September 22, the day the project ends, the Xavier community would have given its all and would have raised more than P10,000 and hundreds of canned goods and other necessities.

What do you say, Xavier community? Can we change the world? Will we be able to accomplish this monumental task? The answer is in your hands. Hopefully, the answer is YES.

Last Saturday, we were all amazed to see these photos of Joseph Pascual on Inquirer Super! Saturday. What more, when we saw the byline (Photos By Joseph Pascual), we were really impressed. (at least I was! :D )

As Joseph puts it, “BEST ADVICE. Don’t think, just do something. Thinking gives you time to doubt and second-guess yourself, and more often than not, that feeling in your gut is right. Trust yourself and go for it, whatever it is.” I guess that’s how he managed to be this successful.

After that shoot, Inquirer editors (Photo Editor) like his work. Some major companies, I’ve heard, also share the same sentiments. So he had this shoot with Inquirer again about some skater dudes. (see pictures below):

…and about iPod playlist of UP Students.

So I guess you’re now famous eh? Don’t forget us “little” people.. hehe

(Yehey! ^^) I hope you get more projects soon.

“Let your light shine!” - this was sort of my motto when I was back (not so long ago) in Xavier High School. It means that you do your very best in everything that you do. Yes, I must say that it wasn’t always easy. There were ups and downs, as well as moments that I slack off and wanted to quit. But, always, people would be there to support and extend a hand.

I met Fr. Zulo in my fourth year in high school. It was an unexpected one, really. Richard and I were planning Xavier DoTA (Donate to Aid) at that time. I thank Fr. Zulo for being a bridge to Fr. Go. Also, we thank him for his support to the whole thing. It was really wonderful

I want to share with you the highlights of a recent article written about Fr. Zulo in Starweek (Philippine Star).

“Our job is to help the kids of today’s world prepare for tomorrow’s world,” says Fr. Ismael Zuloaga, SJ on his role in Xavier School. Throughout his more than 20 years of service, he has witnessed generations graduate from Xavier and has touched the lives of many. He has furthermore been a man for others through his work as president of the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and Oceania from 1992 to 2004. Celebrating his 50th year as a Jesuit tomorrow, Fr. Zuloaga continues to shine his light on the Xavier community….

…One of Fr. Zuloaga’s legacies is the Xavier vision of producing graduates that are “Men fully alive, endowed with a passion for justice and the skills for development.” The Jesuit explains each aspect of the vision with enthusiasm: “To be fully alive,” he says, “is to be psychologically developed, happy and joyful, sharing and self-giving.”

As for having “a passion for justice,” Fr. Zuloaga explains, “our students have to understand that all that they are given - and they are given a lot - is not for themselves, but for others. As a school, we want to prepare them to be leaders in the world and stewards for development.”

Xavier strives to provide their students with the capability to enable development in the world. “I’m happy that it remains,” Fr. Zuloaga says of the vision he instituted so many years ago. He says that this vision is “alive in a number of our alumni who not just know about it, but live it! That’s one of my greatest consolations,” he says. With a content sigh, Fr. Zuloaga adds, “That’s what kept me busy, happily busy, for some 20 years… I did not get tired in those 20 years. The others got tired of me,” he laughs

Without Fr. Zulo and his team of very eager and hardworking Jesuits, faculty and staff, Xavier School wouldn’t have been into what it is today. As what the article says,

“Fr. Zuloaga’s legacy will be his students, Xavier’s alumni who are and will continue to contribute to the betterment of the communities where they live,” says Miguel A. Tan of Xavier Class 1966. As head of the Development and Alumni Relations Office, Fr. Zuloaga puts importance in the Xavier formation of the alumni “to help them live their family life and their professional life in a Christian, civic, and joyful manner.”

He stresses that,

The school’s alumni of around 13,000 actively support the school. “One reason why I am a happy man is because I often say that my 20 years in Xavier, looking at its alumni, were not wasted,” says Fr. Zuloaga.

Fr. Zuloaga, who knows most of the alumni personally, names some of those that have truly fulfilled the Xavier ideal of becoming “men for others”: Fr. Johnny Go, the current director of Xavier; Secretary of Agriculture Arthur Yap; Fr. Aristotle Dy, the director of Jesuit Communications Foundation; Johnip G. Cua, president and general manager of Proctor and Gamble; and the five recipients of the 2007 Xavier-Kuangchi Award: John Burtkenley Ong, Edward S. Wang, William Chua, Francis Chua, and Wellington Tong.

“I didn’t do much, but they are my students,” Fr. Zuloaga says modestly. “We do hope to have more people in government. I think that all schools should produce men who gradually can change the corruption in the environment.”

And I agree with him completely. I think that this is the challenge Xavier has given us. After all that it taught us, Xaverians, we should strive to excel and gradually change our environment for the better.

He adds, “One of my greatest joys is to think that students of my time are leading their life either as priests or as lay people in a type of work that is of service of others. It is a great joy to see people like that.”

Fifty bright and fruitful years as a Jesuit has passed. But for Fr. Zuloaga, this is only a promise of more to come as he continues to shine his light on all, a beacon of compassion, education, and service.

You may read the whole article at Philippine Star (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Starweek&p=49&type=2&sec=52)