Take Home Exam

Chapter 9: Himala

Use the concepts of Existentialism and Essentialism in explaining God and religion in the text.

The characters in the text except for Elsa are essentialists because they believe that there is a God. They believe that Elsa could perform miracles and she can heal. But on the latter part, Elsa proclaimed that it’s not true that there is a miracle and people are the only ones who make theme. Therefore, Elsa is an existentialist who doesn’t believe that God exists. Upon hearing what she said, people kept quiet as if they were shocked. But when Elsa was shot by a gun and dies, people cried and even said that she is a saint. People are not bothered on what Elsa announced and they still prayed for her soul.

Chapter 10: Nina’s Ascent to the Universe

Based on the essay, what preparations did Nina and her supporters had to manage for the big pageant? And what does it say about the Filipino concept of beauty?

Nina didn’t really want to join the pageant because she was worried about the bills since she is supporting a younger sibling in school. But since her friends were insisting her and willing to help her, she agreed for she hoped that this might be a way to let other people know about her career as a visual make-up artist.
At first she was having difficulty regarding her schedule since she’s busy with her other commitments such as modeling and styling projects. But she was still able to attend the pageant screenings with the help of her friends. Her friends and supporters were able to manage everything about the pageant just for her to be able to make it to the coronation night.
All the preparations and hard works that they managed proved that beauty pageants are given importance in our country. Aside from being the country’s pride, Filipino women also let other people know how beautiful they are to be confident on joining such pageants. And you see, Filipino women even do everything they can just to get the crown.

Chapter 11: People at War

Focus on the last part of the story. Do you think It is valid that Eden killed her baby within the context of war?

I think it’s not right that Eden killed her baby. She has no right to take a life of an innocent child. The baby doesn’t know anything what’s happening around him. They could have just covered his mouth gently so the Japanese won’t hear his cry, not to cover him with a pillow to death. They should save the baby first before their selves because the baby could live more years than them.

Before I die

So yea, it's been years since I last updated this blog. haha. SO I'm back when Miss CHavez gave us another task. ;)) And here it is...

If you only have one month left to live, what are the 5 possible things that you want to do before you die?

That was really hard to answer. I don't like talking about death but I have no choice 'cause it'll be graded. At first nothing came to my mind but then I decided to make it fun. Here are my answers:

1. Go to Disneyland!!!
2. Update all my accounts in all networking sites and post that I am going to die.
3. See all my relatives and have a month-long celebration.
4. Wear a two-piece swimsuit and take a pose. XD
5. Kiss Japoy Lizardo!!!

I was like enjoying it to the point that I want to write more. haha. But wait, there's this more exciting part. She asked us to do one of the things we listed! We were like, "What Ma'am?" haha. My other classmates were already shouting, "Ma'am pano yun magpapakasal na'ko?" and "Ma'am mag-aanak na'ko?" haha. Silly boys. Well for me, I would really love to do the number 5 but gawd, I don't have any ways on how to do that before the semester ends. So disappointing. XD So I have no choice but to do the easiest which is the number 2. Now that's the reason why I posted that I am going to die on my official blog. Now you know. ;)) I was actually expecting funny comments from my co-bloggers but I was shocked when I saw their touching comments that they're concerned about me. aaaahhhhh. Well I also posted it on my active networking sites (no myspace, multiply). Here are the screenshots:

  
  


And oh, there is one classmate of mine who was really curious when he saw my post on Facebook. haha. I was really laughing while talking to him. Look at our conversation here.

The book that changed my life

Honestly, I'm not a bookworm. I don't like reading novels, poems or whatever articles. I hate seeing bunch of words with no photos at all. Believe me, I don't have good reading skills. I observed it when I was in highschool. We have this subject where we read different articles then there are questions below regarding the article and I really suck on it. I can't easily understand what I read. Reading comprehension is one of the parts of entrance examinations I'm afraid of. So that's the reason why I'm not fond of reading.

But I came to a point that I become interested in reading. Do you want to know what's my inspiration? Friendster. Yes. On the profile section, there is this Favorite Books field where you can put the your favorite books. Everytime I see my friends' profiles, I envy them that they have something written on that field. So I decided to read a novel just for the sake of having something to put on that field.

It's not easy at first especially that the first novel I read was Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. It's translated to English from French and it uses old English. I needed to repeat a page for about three to four times just to understand it. Crazy, right? But believe it or not, I was able to finish it in three weeks! It's an achievement for me. haha. Then I started to read more novels, and the latest I read was Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho.. I think I improved because I read it in just three days. I was even amazed with myself. And that novel somehow changed my life.


Veronika Decides to Die is a story of a lady who has an almost perfect life yet she wants to kill herself by taking tranquilizers. Her first attempt didn't work out and she woke up in a place for mad people. During her few remaining days there, she met different people who taught her different things about life. She experienced everything she haven't experience all her life like hatred, love and sexual awakening. While her life is coming to an end, she slowly realizes that she has lots of reasons to live, and how much she really wants to live her life.

The novel shows that despite of having a perfect life, a person still needs something to be happy. We should not just limit ourselves to what kind of life we have now but we should also learn to explore life, learn to know more people, and learn from them. We should learn to go beyond that to be able to experience life's hidden treasures. Killing yourself is not the best solution to any problems. There are lots of people around you to help you. You just have to open your eyes and heart to appreciate them.

If I would be famous, I would like to be...

I would like to be Oprah Gail Winfrey. All I know about her is that she is popular, rich and charitable. But after I made some research about her and read a few articles, I admire her more and I more want to be like her.

She is so brave and strong to survive the kind of life she lived. Despite of her traumatic childhood experience, having a broken family, poverty, abuses and heartbreaks, she still continued to live and pursue her life. Even if I put myself on her shoes, I don't know if I could be as brave and as strong as her so I'm really amazed with her.

She is also intelligent and talented. She is a writer, an actress, a host, a publisher and a producer. At a very young age, she started to earn for a living. She is so dedicated to her work and she is a very hardworking person.

Despite of her riches and for being a billionaire, she kept her feet on the ground. Wholeheartedly, she invests in different foundations and institutions to help those who are in need and those who are less fortunate.

Because of her contributions, she was given different titles like, "World's Most Influential Woman", "World's Most Powerful Woman" , "Richest African-American", "World's Only Black Billionaire", "Most Philantrophic African-American of all time" and "Greatest Woman in American History".

She may not be beautiful and appealing to the eyes of other people, but she has a good heart that gives people a reason to love her.

What's Up With Me Right Now?

From being a Tourism student, I'm now an Information Technology student. I'm 18 years old, and supposed to be a junior student by now. But because I stopped studying for a year for some reasons, I'm still in my sophomore year now. I've made lots of mistakes and wrong decisions before and I regret it. I tried hard to put back things and thankfully, with God's help, I succeeded. It's been a long journey and finally, I'm a Thomasian again.

Being in a world full of boys is harder than being in a world full of girls. I'm not like the other girls out there who like being with the boys. But oh, I'm not a lesbian okay? You might not believe me when I say that I have two younger brothers but then I'm not confident being with boys. It's true. I feel shy to start a conversation with a guy. When I see a group of boys along the street, I would find another way to walk to just not to pass by them. And, I haven't dated with any guy, which I think is just fine. Not that I'm in a building where I seldom see girls, I can't control myself not to say "Oh my God!", "Gosh!", and "Shocks!" on my head when I pass by the boys. Honestly, everytime I enter the building, swipe my I.D. and walk to the room, I'm so nervous that I feel like my heart would pop out of my body. haha. I don't know why I'm like this, but I only have one reason on my mind: I've never been in a world full of boys.

I'm an irregular student now, which is the result of being a shifter. I'm in a block section where all my blockmates are so close because they've known each other since last year. At first I felt like I'm out of place. I felt like I won't know them until the end of the semester. But as the days pass, I notice that there are students who go in and out of the room every subject. I think they're like me. I thought maybe it would be harder for them to know all their classmates since they transfer from a section to a section every subject. At least for me, I belong in one section only. So far, I only know three persons in the section I'm in and they are Gian, Riel and Lyka, who introduced theirselves and I appreciate it. I'm not that close to them but at least I know them by name.

Being an IT student is one of my dreams but it's just a year late when I realized it. Though I don't like my new uniform, I'm actually happen that I've followed what my heart desires. I'm just a little disappointed that I don't have any computer subjects now. I really have boring subjects this semester but I hope that my professors will give me reasons to enjoy my subjects. Speaking of professors, I have nice and kind professors this semester. So far, I find none of them as a terror professor. hehe. They all have this sense of humor which would actually help us to kill our boredom during lectures.

I'm staying in a dormitory now and I'm blogging in an internet cafe. Commuting all the way from Cavite to UST is a big NO to me so I came up with the decision of staying in a dorm. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss my own bed. I miss my computer. I miss eating real food. I miss watching tv. I miss everything in Cavite! But anyway, it's my own decision in the first place. This will somehow help me to be independent. I learn to wake up early without mama shouting, "May Anne gumising ka na!" and just depend on my cellphone's alarm. I learn to budget my allowance and try to save a little. I learn to appreciate vegetables as viand because it's much cheaper. I learn to live without tv, radio or even a computer. I learn a lot of thins, actually. As they say, learning is not limited at school or at home, it can also be found outside, at the real world.

Right now, as a sophomore irregular student, I want to start making the life I'll be living for the next years of my life. I want to start it all over again. Forget the mistakes but keep in mind the lessons. It's not yet the end of my life, I'm just starting.

Hello, Miss Chaves!

We really thought it's Chavez but we're wrong. It should be Chaves. Okay. I hope Miss Chaves won't mind if I make a welcome post on this blog before I make the posts she asked us to do. I believe that every blog should have a welcome or introduction post, before going to the main posts.

Yes, this post is entitled Hello, Miss Chaves because I know that I already have one sure reader of this blog and that's Miss Chaves herself. I'm not expecting any other people to drop by, read my posts and comment but I'll appreciate if they do.

Well on my whole life of studying, this assignment would probably be the best assignment ever! I do love blogging. I love bloghopping, posting rants and musings and meeting new friends online. But this time, it would be a little bit different. Miss Chaves will be the one to give us the topic and we should discuss it. I see this as an essay writing and I hate essays! It's because I'm not good at essay writing but I'm still trying to improve my skills in it. So I guess blogging will help me somehow.

I'm just kinda disappointed when Miss Chaves said that we have to make a blog just for this assignment. I wanna use my domain, my official blog. Or if not, I want a domain for this and not just blogspot, wordpress, lovejournal or whatever. But because this blog should be up by tomorrow, I won't have time to seek for free domain hosting and customize the domain for a day. So I ended up using blogspot.

About my layout here, it's an xml blogger template. And it's not just that. It's a wrodpress theme converted to xml blogger template. Believe it or not, it's true. When I browsed the blogspot world, I found some familiar wordpress themes used by the bloggers. I was shocked. How could they use a wordpress theme in blogspot? I thought of one word: conversion. So I searched on Google about the converted xml blogger templates and yes, I'm right. it's possible to convert wordpress themes to xml blogger templates. I just don't know how they do it because I only see premade themes, but it's amazing. I hope I would learn how to do that someday. It took me so long to decide on what template to use. I want a blue three-columned with a footer bar template but since it's my first time to do this, I fail everytime I upload the template. So I have no choice but to use this very simple template. I might change it next time.

Well I guess this is enough for an introduction. I'm going to start posting later. aaahhhh. I'm not used to this. Have three posts in one day? Create a post with five to seven paragraphs? That would be boring to read! Well this is what Miss Chaves wants. So here it goes.