I should leave my video camera at home. Video blogging takes too much of my spare time.

I had another Sunken Garden afternoon with some of my friends in UP MCO last Friday.

After my two morning classes, I headed off to the Media Center because Ynna invited me to talk about the tuition increase approval over her and Ely’s program on DZUP.

Right afterwards, I talked briefly to some org representatives regarding upcoming activities for Mass Comm week. Then I headed off to the Batibot to meet my UP MCO orgmates for our pseudo-Amazing Race activity. I was grouped with Bev and Jau. The video clip below isn’t a very long coverage since we were eliminated from the race early on anyway. Hehe. That was rather disappointing.

In the afternoon, while cooling off alone at the UP CAST tambayan, Pet suddenly came in and requested me to act for her Film 114 video exercise. I’m telling you, kami-kami lang talaga nagiging impropmtu crew para sa isa’t isa. [The other picture is from documentary film class the previous day].

Yesterday, if not for an impromptu decision to submit to coercion and have dinner with Ayeen, Kim and two of their high school friends, I would have ended the day without having spent a peso on food.

In the morning, I went to Rina’s TV production class to host her talk show. Prior to her airtime, however, her Korean classmate sort of requested that I guest in his own talk show because his other guest backed off the last minute. Haha. That was an Engrish madness. I was keeping myself from laughing at the set the whole time. I could barely understand the questions I was being asked and how they were phrased so I ended up talking nonsense and trying to keep myself from bursting into laughter. The great thing is they made me drink all these different types of Korean liquor. Anyway, back to Rina’s own talk show. I was the host and Ge was my guest and our topic was singles on Valentines’ Day. For this stint, I got a McDonald’s lunch.

In the afternoon, I went to Chesa and Kay R.’s Film 114 video exercise shoot then to Andre F.’s own similar undertaking at CAL. For this, I got a free merienda. LOL.

Okay. That was another, in the words of Celeni: retarded, video blog clip. That was done a while ago at the Bahay ng Alumni and what I meant to say was: Hi, we’re currently in Con and Jobelle’s shoot for their Film 114 scene study/video exercise. Production season for film and even broadcast majors are starting once again, and since we don’t hire crews, we help each other out and volunteer to be each other’s crew people. That’s all! LOL.

Speaking of all these Film 114 exercises–I haven’t done mine yet!

These past days, some of my friends and I have also gone around Mass Comm and had discussions with fellow students regarding the passage, albeit deceitful and ‘illegitimate’, of the tuition increase proposal. Much have been argued about it, and I’m still as against it as I ever was. My contention now is on how it was passed by the Board of Regents last December 15. The sudden change of the meeting’s venue proves that the Board is bent on avoiding public scrutiny. Hell, even Congress sessions are open to public. Second, the meeting was done in such a haste. Such a significant proposal passed in less than half an hour? Oh, come on. Third, the meeting was done with the deliberate exclusion of the two regents with actual constituency representations. And as for transparency, the administration, up to now, refuses to release the minutes of the meeting so we can actually have a glimpse of how exactly the closed-door meeting transpired. How difficult is it to honestly transcribe a half-hour meeting? It’s been more than a month now.

And because UP Diliman’s website simply serves as a propaganda tool of a university administration bent on railroading this tuition and other increases proposal, I’m publishing some of the various open letters I’ve been coming across, which university administration websites and newsletters will, obviously, refuse to publish.

(more…)

Video blogging is such a effort-intensive blogging activity for a one-man production team. I shoot footages, upload, sequence, edit, score/narrate (if ever), and it doesn’t help that I still have a snail-paced internet connection speed. I guess I’m sticking to more frequent photo blogging for now. Hehe.

The fireworks were great. Last night was great. Kahit sobrang nagkakagulo ang mga tao papunta sa at sa Mall of Asia mismo.

Last Thursday, I finally got the video camera I have been ‘needing’ all my college life.

But before I got to that, in the morning I got to go to another part of UP I’ve never been to before, the library of the School of Urban and Regional Planning. I went there to do some research on the Pasig River, which might be our group’s subject for documentary class. Earlier, I got to visit the media services section of the Main Library to do the same thing. I used to go there a few times when I was a freshman. Whenever I’m bored, I’d watch documentaries or read old newspapers on microfilm. Dork.

After my classes, some of my MCO friends tagged along with me to SM North. I was to pick up the video camera my parents bought for me a few weeks ago. Then we tried out some expensive crepes at some fancy shop at The Block. Hm, for people who are often with me, they find me one of the most frugal persons they know. It offends me when people take me to say, Starbucks, and I end up paying for expensive coffee. Needless to say, I don’t think the crepe was worth the price, hehe.

In the afternoon, I attended a UP MCO acquaintance party for applicants in Mass Comm. The activity ended at half past seven in the evening. I then proceeded to Sampaguita Residence Hall for a UP MCO production festival. It’s my first time in Sampa!

A few days ago, I semi-consciously “booked” myself to three different meetings all at 4PM. I ended up running up and down our college trying to attend to everything. I really have a problem with saying “no” to people.

When I thought I couldn’t get myself into more commitments with me having two academic organizations, a political party, the student council, loads of academic work, obligations to a family business, and having to keep up with friends, here comes me volunteering for a pseudo-part time job at maintaining our college’s website, and me volunteering to tutor public elementary school kids every weekend with the guys at Universitas. I’m killing myself. Did I mention I also try to keep this pseudo-blogging career?

All’s well, really. It’s just that I sometimes feel like I should focus on less priorities than on spreading myself out to so many different commitments, which eventually render me incapable of doing my best at any duty.

(Picture above taken on my jeepney ride to school.) Today was a fairly ordinary day. I attended a lunch hosted by our college dean for those who helped solicit money from our affluent alumni last Christmas (through caroling). It was held at the Tea Room at the College of Home Economics (CHE). It was my first time in the Tea Room–actually, my first time inside CHE. Feels good to discover new places in your university.

After documentary class in the afternoon, I attended a couple of activities of my organizations, then I tagged along some friends to Ortigas. Turned out to be a multi-level marketing seminar by a health and wellness company. It was pretty awkward, because these people are my friends, but I’m not a believer in multi-level marketing. I would’ve pointed out some clever tactics and ploys in the audio-visual presentation, but yea, I just kept my silence. My main contention was that I couldn’t imagine how the hell I can earn back a 13 thousand peso investment without actually selling anything. And recruiting people and exploiting my relationships with them doesn’t sound too appealing to me. When I was asked if I wanted to join, I just had to politely say “no”.

Here are some links on information regarding multi-level marketing.

You know what I’ve always wanted to do ever since shows like Lonely Planet / Globe Trekker started fascinating me? It’s to travel around the Philippines and eventually to other parts of the world sans the packaged tours.

I’ve been doing my usual round of blog hopping and got glued to browsing through the archives of some of the Filipino travelogue blogs in my blog roll like Ivan About Town, Rough Groove, and Byahilo and other blogs linked from their blogs. Their pictures whet my travel appetite.

Damn, some time after college, I’ll go on a road trip by the Pan-Philippine Highway! Here, by the way are the notable trips I had last year:

Banaue, Ifugao & Sagada, Mt. Province
(The blog entries are here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7. Photos can be found here.)

I went to the North Luzon highlands with some UP students on an Art Studies field trip last March. I actually lied to my parents because I told them this is a field trip for one of my classes, which isn’t true! I just tagged along with Patti and her classmates.

That was a wonderful trip. I never realized how majestic it is up there in the mountains. Going there will pretty much destroy much of one’s notions of a Philippines that’s all tropical and all beaches. The picture below is one of my favorites. It’s Patti and we were on top of our jeepney on the way to Sagada. It was an exhilarating ride, with cold crisp mountain air gushing at our faces. And it felt like we were about to be thrown off the cliffs at every curve in the highway.

Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro
(I never finished chronicling this trip. Here are the unfinished blog entries nonetheless: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Photos can be found here)

This was a trip last April with some of my friends in UP Cinema Arts Society care of Patti, whose maternal family is from Puerto Galera. What makes this trip notable is that we stayed with a family who actually lives there, we almost avoided much of the Manila crowd that swarms the town every summer season. We went to this secluded and very rocky beach right below a cliff (which we, obviously had to limb down) at Sinandingan. Then we also went to an abandoned lighthouse on the edge of a beautiful cliff (WOW, this entry is full of cliffs) a few minutes walk from the house where we stayed.

Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental & Camiguin
(here are the blog entries: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Photos can be found here.)

This was a trip with my family last May. It was only my second time in Mindanao and my first in Cagayan do Oro and Camiguin. It was a nice trip, though as always, there’s a part of me that always stays reserved whenever I’m traveling with my family. It was a fun trip, nonetheless.

Other trips
Well, we also went to Subic. And of course, the occasional family trips to my maternal and paternal hometowns in Bulacan and Cavite. Browse through my travelogues, for other trips in the past.