Sa kanya pala ang kantang ito?
Bob Marley - I Can See Clearly Now
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day
Oh yes I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I've been prayin' for
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day
Look all around, there's nothin' but blue skies
Look straight ahead, nothin' but blue skies
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Here is the rainbow I've been prayin' for
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day
bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day
For You
You dont need to leave
It seems a bit naive,
No need to disagree
Or seek my history
You're staring at my soul
My sanity you stole
But then I knew all along
That anything could go wrong
Though I can't see you
I can't feel you
I'm so glad you opened my door
And when I get near
All my fears disappear
And I won't be alone anymore....
Fill Her, by the Eraserheads
One of a Kind
I got this 500 peso bill from PNB. Notice anything unusual? I had it changed, but before doing so I took a photo of it. It turns out if you have one of a kind bills like these, its worth more than the bill's present value.
Oh well, I'll just have to look out for those Arrovo bills.
So True!
From my good friend and classmate Moon. I hope Scott Adams doesn't mind me posting. Enjoy!
Survey Time
With nothing better to post, I give you...a survey I got from Friendster. Enjoy!
1.ANO'NG STUDENT NUMBER MO?~ 95-16268
2. ANO ANG FIRST CHOICE MO NA COURSE?~ Fine Arts major in Visual Communication, bagsak sa talent exam hehehe
3. SECOND CHOICE?~ Arki, mali prioritization, non-quota inuna
4. ANO COURSE KINUHA MO?~ B.A. Art Studies, interdisciplinary major, no choice e hehehe
5. NAG-SHIFT KA BA?~ oo. B.S. Arki
6. CHINITO/CHINITA KA BA?~ hindi po
7. NAKAPAG-DORM KA BA?~ Narrehan for four years, although Molave sana gusto ko
8. NAKA UNO KA BA?~ Arch 32, Arch 68, Arch 33, all in one sem!
9. NAGKA-3?~ Math 17, Math 53, Math 54, Physics 71, Physics 72
10. LAGI KA BANG PUMAPASOK SA KLASE?~ As much as I can, kung hindi pagod
11. MAY SCHOLARSHIP KA BA?~ wala po, loan board lang lagi
12. ILANG UNITS NA ANG NAIPASA MO?~ 130+ for Arki, 30+ for MAURP
13. NANGARAP KA BA NA MAG-CUM LAUDE?~ siyempre naman, kumag laude ang bagsak
14. BAKIT?~ Maganda daw ang markado
15. FAVE PROF:~ Prof ko nung Comm3
16. WORST PROF:~ Prof ko sa Plan 299 Research Methods
17. FAVE SUBJECT/S:~ Model Making, let’s go shopping sa basura!
18. WORST SUBJECT:~ PI 100 at STS, just like the rest of the crowd
19. FAVE BUILDING:~ Main Library, tulugan
20. PABORITONG KAINAN:~ Beach House
21. MAGKANO BA ANG BINABAYAD MO SAJEEP?~ nagsimula ako sa 1.25 sa ikot
22. LAGI KA BA SA LIBRARY?~ Opo
23. NAGPUNTA KA BA SA UHS?~ Opo, naoperahan ako sa in-grown ko dun.
24. MAY CRUSH KA BA SA CAMPUS?~ Sa campus wala, sa college meron.
25. ANU-ANO ANG MGA NAGING PE MO?~ Arnis, Table Tennis, Tai-chi
26. KAMUSTA NAMAN ANG BLOCK NYO?~ Non-existent, both blocks. I had two blocks, nung freshman, tapos nung nag-shift ako
27. MEMORIZE MO BA ANG ALMA MATER SONG- Lately, pero hindi masyado
28. MEMBER KA BA NG VARSITY TEAM?~ Nope.
29. NAKA-PERFECT KA NA BA NG EXAM?~ Oo naman.
30. DITO KA BA NATUTONG UMINOM NG BEER?~ Sa boarding house, gin pa.
31. Bakit UP?~ Bakit hindi.
32. Cute ka ba?~ Siguro.
Girl
The speech of Batch 2007 summa cum laude for UP Diliman was shared to our yahoogroup by Arkitek Nick. I would like to share it now, since I too felt what Nick felt while witnessing her speech at the amphitheater.
______________________
UPD 2007 Valedictory Speech - by Nick Del Castillo
I would like to share with you a beautifully written valedictory speech by a 16-year old "girl" who graduated summa cum laude with a BS Physics degree.But first, I will share with you my experience hearing this speech during UP-Diliman's commencement exercises last Sunday, April 22, 2007. This batch of graduates seemed so happy to graduate that they cheered wildly at every phrase President Roman uttered in the formal mass conferment of degrees, declaring each of them a graduate. I felt the electricity of the crowd swell with each phrase toward the final declaration that they are at last graduates.
So, imagine that sense of pride when their valedictorian was introduced. A mere 16-year old, who could just be graduating from high school, but is actually finishing at the top of her entire graduating college class with an GWA of 1.099. Actually, many of us were doubtful if this wisp of a girl, not even 5 feet tall, who smiled at everyone so innocently, could tell us, could inspire her class to go forth and meet life after college. But she was the chosen one to deliver a message to her class. And so, out of respect for her feat, we gave her a standing ovation upon her introduction.
With her first words, "One of the things that strike me as being very "UP Diliman" is the way UPD students can't seem to stay on the pavement...", everyone was silent. It was a silence I have seldom experienced. It was as the amphitheater was empty, and it was only the girl and I in that huge space. But i looked around, and even the audience -- the parents and guests surrounding the graduates -- were silent, intently listening to this small voice, now made louder, not by the amplifier, but by our collective silence.
This is when it would not be exaggerated to say, "You could hear a pin drop" by the quality of silence. But I would say, and those of you who have been to the middle of the UP Amphitheater would know what I mean, you could hear the leaves rustle with the slightest breeze.
It was speech that did not talk about a student's personal experience with Physics, as I had feared. It was a young person telling us how she looked at the world -- her world for 4 years -- and how she is encouraged, inspired and compelled to make a difference in this world. She received a long standing ovation, not out of respect this time, but I guess because of what she made us feel about ourselves, about our country and about our future.
I will be humble enough to say that she inspired me. I am renewed once again in my idealism. I hope it strikes a chord in you, because it has strummed my chords so deeply.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mikaela Irene Fudolig – BS Physics, Class 2007 Valedictorian.
___________________
Mikaela Irene Fudolig – BS Physics
Speech at the Commencement Exercises, UPD, April 22, 2007
One of the things that strike me as being very "UP Diliman" is the way UPD students can't seem to stay on the pavement. From every street corner that bounds an unpaved piece of land, one will espy a narrow trail that cuts the corner, or leads from it. Every lawn around the buildings sports at least one of these paths, starting from a point nearest to the IKOT stop and ending at the nearest entry to the building. The trails are beaten on the grass by many pairs of feet wanting to save a fraction of a meter of traveling, no matter that doing so will exact some cost to the shoes, or, to the ubiquitous slippers, especially when the trails are new.
What do these paths say about us, UP students?
One could say that the UP student is enamored with Mathematics and Pythagoras, hence these triangles formed by the pavement and the path. Many among you would disagree.
Others could say that the UP student is naturally countercultural. And the refusal to use the pavement is just one of the myriads of ways to show his defiance of the order of things. This time, many would agree.
Still, others will say that the UP student is the model of today's youth: they want everything easier, faster, now. The walkable paths appeal to them because they get to their destination faster, and presumably, with less effort. Now that is only partly true, and totally unfair.
These trails weren't always walkable. No doubt they started as patches of grass, perhaps overgrown. Those who first walked them must have soiled their shoes, stubbed their toes, or had insects biting their legs, all in the immovable belief that the nearest distance between two points is a straight line. They might even have seen snakes cross their paths. But the soiled footwear, sore toes, and itchy legs started to conquer the grass. Other people, seeing the yet faint trail, followed. And as more and more walked the path, the grass gave in and stopped growing altogether, making the path more and more visible, more and more walkable.
The persistence of the paths pays tribute to those UP students who walked them first – the pioneers of the unbeaten tracks: the defiant and curious few who refuse the familiar and comfortable; the out-of-the-box thinkers who solve problems instead of fretting about them; the brave who dare do things differently, and open new opportunities to those who follow.
They say how one behaved in the past would determine how he behaves in the future. And as we leave the University, temporarily or for good, let us call on the pioneering, defiant, and brave spirit that built the paths to guide us in this next phase of our life.
We have been warned time and again. Our new world that they call "adulthood" is one that's full of compromises, where success is determined more by the ability to belong than by the ability to think, where it is much easier to do as everyone else does. Daily we are bombarded with so much news of despair about the state of our nation, and the apparent, perverse sense of satisfaction our politicians get from vilifying our state of affairs. It is fashionable to migrate to other countries to work in deceptively high-paying jobs like nursing and teaching, forgetting that even at their favored work destinations, nurses and teachers are some of the lowest paid professionals. The lure of high and immediate monetary benefits in some low-end outsourcing jobs has drawn even some of the brightest UP students away from both industry and university teaching to which they would have been better suited.
Like the sidewalks and pavement, these paths are the easiest to take.
But, like the sidewalks and pavement, these paths take longer to traverse, just as individual successes do not always make for national progress. The unceasing critic could get elected, but not get the job done. The immigrant could get his visa, but disappear from our brainpower pool. The highly paid employee would be underutilized for his skills, and pine to get the job he truly wants, but is now out of his reach. And the country, and we, are poorer because of these.
Today, the nation needs brave, defiant pioneers to reverse our nation's slide to despair. Today, we must call upon the spirit that beat the tracks. Today, we must present an alternative way of doing things.
Do NOT just take courage, for courage is not enough. Instead, be BRAVE! It will take bravery to go against popular wisdom, against the clichéd expectations of family and friends. It will take bravery to gamble your future by staying in the country and try to make a prosperous life here. It might help if for a start, we try to see why our Korean friends are flocking to our country. Why, as many of us line up for immigrant visas in various embassies, they get themselves naturalized and settle here. Do they know something we don't?
Do NOT just be strong in your convictions, for strength is not enough. Instead, DEFY the pressure to lead a comfortable, but middling life. Let us lead this country from the despair of mediocrity. Let us not seek to do well, but strive to EXCEL in everything that we do. This, so others will see us as a nation of brains of the highest quality, not just of brawn that could be had for cheap.
Take NOT the road less traveled. Rather, MAKE new roads, BLAZE new trails, FIND new routes to your dreams. Unlike the track-beaters in campus who see where they're going, we may not know how far we can go. But if we are brave, defiant searchers of excellence, we will go far. Explore possibilities, that others may get a similar chance. I have tried it myself. And I'm speaking to you now.
But talk is cheap, they say. And so I put my money where my mouth is. Today, I place myself in the service of the University, if it will have me. I would like to teach, to share knowledge, and perhaps to be an example to new UP students in thinking and striving beyond the limits of the possible. This may only be a small disturbance in the grass. But I hope you'll come with me, and trample a new path.
Good evening, everyone.
Teacher
I love teaching. Ever since highschool I would grasp at every chance I get to teach. During my arki board exam review days, I would gather my org mates and try and teach them structural design for practice. When I was involved in the construction industry, I would be asked by my boss to serve as proctor for examinations for his classes, and when possible, I would guide his students around our on-going projects, lecturing and sharing knowledge on plumbing and construction. I have also already sent out applications for teaching positions. I hope somebody notices.
I got the chance now to teach in a review center. I was offered to teach plumbing and sanitary design. Coincidentally I was preparing for the Plumbing Board Exam, so I readily accepted the position.
Now I understand how hard it is to teach. You have to prepare lesson plans, as well as find ways for the lessons to be less boring. Since this is a board exam review class, it wouldn't be a problem since review classes are basically series of bombardments of principles and concepts on the subject being taught. Thankfully I myself went to a review school, so I know what people would be demanding from the lecturer and the course, and understands the relevance and place of review classes in reviewing for the boards.
_________________
I started off the review class by introducing myself, then explaining that I am an urban planner, as well as a plumber. I would further explain the relevance of planning in connection to plumbing, stating that the Architecture is but a middle part of a larger environment, and that plumbing, as a specialized field would not relate only to Architecture, but to Environmental and Urban Planning as well. After that it was three hours worth of concepts and principles. I just hope that they comprehended this placing of the position of Plumbing and Architecture in the total built and natural environment.
But of course I did not limit myself to just reciting what is expected from the plumbing course. I also had to inject inputs and experiences, in order to show the relevance of plumbing to Architecture.
And of course jokes and anecdotes would be a part of the whole lecture, since jokes would serve as highlights where people most remember concepts. Favorite jokes would be:
1. Pointing out that a dug well is where Sadako came out.
2. That you do not bring a date up to the roof near a VSTR for stargazing (based on the experience of a colleague)
3. That I was saving up money for the Php250,000 "smart" watercloset
4. Water closets as your best friend (during drinking sessions)
5. "Manong", with his handy tabo, and the male through urinal
6. And that I encourage students to eat, especially during the sanitary design portion of the course. I especially asked them to bring kare-kare, champorado and peanut butter sandwiches.
The second class which falls on a saturday would prove as a greater challenge, since I had to deliver the nine-hour lecture course in one day, plus the remaining three hours of the T-Th-S course. So that would be twelve hours of almost non-stop talking.
Hopefully I would still be asked again to give lectures, I really enjoyed my stint as a lecturer. No matter how physically and mentally challenging it may be.
________________
One interesting comment I got after the lecture was when a colleague asked a student how I fared as a lecturer, she answered "Parang marami siyang alam." Hmmm..."
parang" lang?. I think the student would not have said "parang" if only she and her group would listen and stop chatting and eating without listening. UP students talaga tsk tsk...
Now I know why teachers are masungit. That is one aspect of teaching that needs consideration, how to handle students.
Building Modernity
Building Modernity: A Century of Architecture and Allied Arts traces the evolution of architecture and designed environment in the Philippines in the 20th century, structures that had been created within the framework of modernism. The exhibition is composed of archival photographs, paintings, vintage graphics, blueprints, building components and ornaments, and related artifacts. The exhibition underscores the larger stylistic tendencies, movements, ideologies, and technologies that have shaped the complex Filipino architectural culture of the last century; acknowledging the plural expressions of modernity.
The exhibition is a collaborated project of the Committee on Architecture and the Allied Arts of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), together with National Museum of the Philippines and the UP College of Architecture . Exhibition opens on February 7, 2007 , 5 pm at the Museum of the Filipino People (formerly Finance Building), National Museum Complex, Manila. It will be the main feature of the National Museum from February until May 2007.
Building Modernity Lecture SeriesTambunting Hall, 4th Floor,Museum of the Filipino People, National Museum ComplexAgri-Fina Circle, Luneta Park, Manila9 am - 12 noon
February 28, 2007
Building the Imperial Imagination: The Politics of American Colonial Architecture and Urbanism
Dr. Gerard Lico, University of the Philippines
March 14, 2007
Remembering Who you Are: History, Identity and the Designed Environment
Arch. Emilio Ozeata, University of the Philippines
March 21, 2007
Conservation of Modern and Contemporary Architecture
Arch. Rene Luis Mata, University of the Philippines
March 28, 2007
Contested Meanings: Public Parks and the Revive Manila Program
Prof. Tessa Guazon, University of the Philippines
April 11, 2007
Development of Philippine Architecture from Pre-colonial to the Present
Arch. Cristina Turalba, University of the Philippines
April 18, 2007
Philippine Architecture in the 20th Century
Arch. Norma Alarcon, University of the Santo Tomas
April 25, 2007
Modern as Native: Vernacularism in Philippine Modern Architecture
Arch. Edson Roy Cabalfin, Cornell University
May 2, 2007
Tropical Architecture in the Philippines
Arch. Nicolo del Castillo, University of the Philippines
For more information or reservations, please call the Museum Foundation at 404.2685/ 722.9073 and look for Elvie, Flor or Patricia.
For more Museum Foundation events and activities please visit our website at
http://museumfounda tionph.org/ news/Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Inc.G/F National Museum of the Filipino PeopleValencia Circle, Rizal Park, Manila 1004 PhilippinesTelefax: (63-2) 404-2685
