On Discernment (Part 5 of ?)

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i just got the news that my high school and college classmate-cum-best buddy passed the bar examination and is now a full-pledged lawyer.

on my way to dinner this evening, i found myself delivering the following litany to a fellow seminarian:
"grabe ang mga kaklase ko. malayo na narating nila. may mga naging pari na, may lawyer na, may mga magagaling na professor at teacher, may best selling author pa nga. at ako? eto... nagigitara lang sa misa."

i was honestly expecting some sympathy from him, but instead i got this line from him:
"kuya, remember... great airplanes need long runways."

FIRST 5: 5 kicks from 2012 NBA All-Star weekend

here are my top 5 sneaker choices from the 2012 nba all star weekend (photos taken from nicekicks.com)

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1. anfernee hardaway wore nike air foamposite one player exclusive during the celebrity game. this pe was very identical to what he wore during his playing years with the orlando magic. penny still has one of the best kicks line ever, perhaps next to michael jordan (charles barkley would be a close third).

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2. kevin durant wore two kd4s at the same time: the year of the dragon edition in his left foot and the upcoming cool grey colorway in his right. his shoe line has to be the next best thing nike has to offer, provided that they don't screw up with it. kd just gave me a good idea on what to do with his kicks.

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3. paul george wore nike flight one fresh mint during the slam dunk contest. some say he was "robbed" in the competition, but he wins the kicks category by wearing this in his reverse sticker dunk and the tron-inspired dunk. it's nice to see a classic shoe in a fresh colorway during the all-star weekend.

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4. rajon rondo wore nike air foamposite one galaxy during the all star game. this shoe has caught the attention of people around the sneaker community after a riot ensued in a florida mall on the occasion of its release. it surely feels good for players to get those rare kicks without the hassle we undergo.

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5. kevin durant wins the all-star game most valuable player award for the first time in his career while wearing kd4 galaxy edition shoes. he led the west all stars with 36 points to give them the win. these joints glow in the dark and was released recently but i didn't had the chance to cop them. too bad.

AND 1: Lebron James chokes (again)

oh well, what's new?

AND 1: 2012 Slam Dunk Contest highlights

thank god i missed watching this. looks like the dunk contest has gone out of the radar again.

1996 NBA All-Star Game

the 1995-1996 nba season has to be one of, if not the most memorable nba seasons of all time. for one, it marked the return of michael jordan to a full nba season, leading the bulls to a record 72-10 win-loss record and stirring them to their fourth championship and the first of their second three-peat. and of course, the shoe game then was so beautiful that it featured the best and most memorable kicks during for someone who grew up in the 90's. even when i was in the minor seminary, i wanted having those kicks so bad that i drew them in my school notebooks. well, that partly explains why i collect basketball shoes today particularly those that i wanted to have way back then. but that's another story.

the 1996 nba all star game was also one of the highlights of a very memorable season. held in san antonio (whose star player then was david robinson, my basketball "idol" next to michael jordan), the east all stars won against the west, 129-118. michael jordan scored 20 points and was named all-star mvp for leading the visiting east all-stars (who was with the likes of scottie pippen, grant hill, shaquille o'neal, penny hardaway, reggie miller, patrick ewing, and the like) against the west all-stars (comprised by some notable stars then: david robinson, charles barkley, hakeem olajuwon, jason kidd, shawn kemp, gary payton, john stockton and karl malone).

i saw this article from solecollector.com featuring the all-star game. for those who grew up in the 90's, the kicks will surely elicit memories of the sneaker game that was.

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"the reign man" and shaq wearing two of the most iconic reeboks in the 90's: kamikaze and shaqnosis, respectively

 

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jordan pulls up a jumper with the aj xi colombias, which will be out this coming december

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i bet you can name other iconic shoes in this image. hahaha

On Celibacy (Part 2 of ?)

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"Sa bawat isang pinipili, may isang libong ibang tinatangihan."

- from the movie "Unofficially Yours"

On Ash Wednesday

our forty day period of prayer and fasting in preparation for jesus' passion, death, and resurrection begins today with the celebration of ash wednesday.

archbishop luis antonio tagle explains the essence of ash wednesday in this segment in his tv show "the word exposed" shown last sunday.

AND 1: Durantula drops 51 points

too much linsanity, people forgot about KD! too bad the clip only lasted 30 seconds.

AND 1: Tenorio for three... BANG!

there seems to be a resurgence of the pba as of late. ticket sales have gone up, crowd appreciation also took a stride, and games have been quite exciting in its 37th season.

i watched the last quarter of this game on tv while having my "birthday dessert." what an epic exchange of baskets in the end game between alaska and barangay ginebra in their out of town game in quezon. everything seems to be going the gin king's way until blue eagle alum l.a. tenorio buried two big three pointers (a rare four-point play and a game winning trey at 2.1 seconds left) in the end game to give the aces the win.

with games like this, the pba is on its way back to its golden years.

Happy Birthday, Preacher in Basketball Shoes!

birthday weekend has never been this fattening (at sambokojin, eastwood)

that's not my birthday cake. hahaha! (at national shrine of our lady of guadalupe)

with mama, quakie, nanny, and aunts (at chicken bon chon katipunan)

AND 1: Happy Birthday, His Airness!

happy birthday to the greatest basketball player of all time.

Happy Birthday Coach Crisostomo

wow, it has been a year since my students made this video for my birthday. good times.

AND 1: LIN for the win

yellow mamba strikes again!

Love Notes: Mangyari Lamang by Rico Abelardo

this poem, read in sir bobby guevarra's theo 141 class, is for the members of SAWI (samahan ng mga atenistang walang iniibig). or am i the only one left? hahahaha

Mangyari Lamang
by Rico Abelardo

Mangyari lamang ay tumayo
ang mga nagmahal
nang makita ng lahat
ang mukha ng pag- ibig
ipamalas ang tamis
ng malalim na pagkakaunawaan
sa mga malabo ang paningin

Mangyari lamang ay tumayo rin
ang mga nagmahal at nasawi
nang makita ng lahat
ang mga sugat ng isang bayani
ipadama ang pait ng kabiguan
habang ipinagbubunyi
ang walang katulad na kagitingan
ng isang nagtaya

Mangyari lamang ay tumayo
ang mga nangangambang magmahal
nang makita ng lahat
ang kilos ng isang bata
ipamalas ang katapatan ng damdamin
na pilit ikinukubli
ng pusong lumaki sa mga engkanto at diwata

Mangyari lamang ay tumayo
ang mga nagmahal, minahal at iniwan
ngunit handa pa ring magmahal
nang makita ng lahat ang yaman ng karanasan
ipamalas ang katotohanang nasaksihan
nang maging makahulugan
ang mga paghagulgol sa dilm

At sa mga nananatiling nakaupo
mangyari lamang ay dahan- dahang tumalilis
papalabas sa nakangangang pinto
umuwi na kayo
at sumbatan ang mga magulang
na nagpalaki ng isang halimaw

At sa lahat ng naiwang nakatayo
mangyari lamang ay hagkan ang isa’t isa
at yakapin ang mga sugatan
mabuhay tayong lahat na nagsisikap na makabalik
sa ating pinagmulan
manatiling masaya
at higit sa lahat magpatuloy
sa pagmamahal

Love Notes: Final reflections on love

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a few days before valentine's day, i thought on posting something from my h4 cle lessons about love, particularly those taken from m. scott peck's book "the road less travelled."

Looking back: God as Love in Salvation History
In salvation history, we have witnessed God’s love, and as we’ve discussed before, love as eros and agape. With M. Scott Peck’s definition of love involving the willful extension of oneself, it is once again applicable to our relationship with God. God made Himself known and came to aid the Israelites and thus, God’s infinite ego came to include man; man became part of God. But the relationship does not end there for God calls on man to love. Man thus allows God into his ego boundaries, to let God dwell in him and be part of his being. Moreover, God went even further and became man in Jesus Christ, who exemplified a model of love. Christ extended his ego boundaries towards the marginalized and the rich. Christ’ perfect love (life and sacrifice) moves us to love as he did. He shows us the power of love as a fulfillment of one’s being and thus we are all called to be Christ-like in loving ourselves and others. 

God is Love, both eros and agape
God gave humanity the freedom to love. We are drawn to God (eros, cathexis), but are called to freely choose and extend ourselves for that God (agape, breaking down ego boundaries). The result is that we continue to grow in freedom and in love.

We have the freedom to choose what we do, or at the least, how we feel and what we think of our lives. We have the freedom to do things that promote our growth and the growth of others. We have the freedom to love.

Hence, love is not mere attraction, nor is it mere sacrifice. Rather, freedom and love are messy, complicated things that require serious effort and attention. It is easy to simplify love according to what we see in the movies. Unfortunately, life is not that easy. However, because of that, it is much more rewarding. 

From Love to Justice
Love is the ultimate vocation that we are called to. It is our universal vocation, which can be uniquely expressed by every individual. However, after understanding the nature love—it is true; that our vocation, as much as it is ours, is one that involves others. We must love our neighbors.

Love of the beloved, though good, is not yet the fullest expression of love. Love must transcend this and be infused to society or it should become the standard of conduct in life. With this, we need to extend ourselves not just to those close to us, but to society in general, and more precisely our neighbor. This is where the call to justice begins.

Love Notes: Love as decision and commitment

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a few days before valentine's day, i thought on posting something from my h4 cle lessons about love, particularly those taken from m. scott peck's book "the road less travelled."

Looking back: Myths of Love
Each myth always involves the movement of the ego boundaries. It’s apparent that in many of these myths of love, the ego boundaries have been restricted or is sacrificed to the point that a person no longer grow. In such cases, since love is unable to achieve its goal (spiritual growth of self and others), these experiences are thus myths or in the words of Pope Benedict, “a caricature or an impoverished form of love.”

Love as decision and commitment
True love, according to M. Scott Peck, goes through three stages. The first of which is "falling in love", or infatuation. Here, love presents itself as a feeling, an emotion that we seek and enjoy. It brings pleasure, excitement, and ecstasy, but sooner or later, it will have to die down like other emotions. Love begins in physical attraction, but it takes more than that to be truly and really love.

As reality begins to set in to the picture, realities about love, the partner, and the decision come into the fore. This is the second stage known as "falling out of love" or disillusion. Here, love ceases to feel good, things to back to its normal and ordinary ways, and the love once found seems to be lost with the reality of the "other-ness" of the partner.

Some people stop on the first stage, others last until the second stage until partners find themselves torn apart by love itself. But the challenge is to bridge these stages and make a concrete decision to love.

The third stage of love is "choosing to love" or decision. Going beyond the feelings and imperfections, partners get to care and accept each other: to love each other in richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for better of for worse. In the context of marriage, this love finds fulfillment as it builds a partnership of whole life: a total sharing that involves physical (love as bodily, as "two become one" in love), spiritual (commitment of spouses, with God at the center of their lives), material (sharing in building up the family and raising children), and psychological (union of mind, heart, soul) realities.

Love is therefore the capacity to share and care for the other. This decision to love brings forth a commitment to love oneself authentically ("to love your enemies") and perfectly ("to love the another as God has loved me").
 
tomorrow: final reflections on love

Love Notes: Myths of Love

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a few days before valentine's day, i thought on posting something from my h4 cle lessons about love, particularly those taken from m. scott peck's book "the road less travelled."

M. Scott Peck will continues his discussion on love by discussing other myths of love. He looks at what relationships aren’t really love because they fail to achieve what love is meant for.

1. Romantic Love / Fairy Tale Love
According to this, there is one person “out there” that is “destined” for us forever. This cannot be love because once again, it removes the role of free will and of effort.

2. Dependency
In dependency, a person may be putting forth tremendous effort, but it is not yet love because it is not truly free. True love must come from one’s freedom.

3. Cathexis without Love
You can cathect many things (hobbies, people, etc.) but it is not love if there’s NO personal spiritual growth. If we make what we cathect our end goal, then we don’t grow spiritually. Reminder though, cathecting itself is not necessarily bad since it allows us to extend our ego boundaries and grow (through our hobbies, etc.), but it becomes the myth, hence detrimental to growth when cathexis becomes obsessive 

4. “Self-Sacrifice.”
In this myth, the idea is that someone should always in order for it to be love. Again, we see a misconception of the act for love. It is not love because it does not lead to spiritual growth of the self and others.

Given all these myths, it is apparent that love is not a simple affair. It’s so easy to rush into love because of the “good” feelings it may provide us. But alas, emotions and feelings don’t last. To dwell on just this aspect of love draws us to the danger of bitterness and disappointment once we lose it later on. Relationships are tricky and very dynamic. M. Scott Peck (and even Pope Benedict) invites us to have a strong resolve; to have commitment in love. Couples have to work things out and think it through all the time.

tomorrow: love as decision and commitment

TIMEOUT: The things we need to do to become priests...

Love Notes: Love and the Myths of Love

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a few days before valentine's day, i thought on posting something from my h4 cle lessons about love, particularly those taken from m. scott peck's book "the road less travelled."

M. Scott Peck defines love as “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.” Perhaps it is important thing to note that he does not define love according to what it is like (or characteristics of it), but rather according to the purpose it serves.

The Myth of Falling in Love - Man naturally wants to “Fall in love”
“Just as reality intrudes upon the two-year-old’s fantasy of omnipotence so does reality intrude upon the fantastic unity of the couple who have fallen in love. Sooner or later, in response to the problems of daily living… One by one, gradually or suddenly, the ego boundaries snap back into place; gradually or suddenly, they fall out of love.”

Falling in love is a myth holds that love is something that takes over us, much like that “mad passion” described by Pope Benedict XVI in Deus Caritas Est. Remember from Benedict XVI, Love is not something that just takes over us. We must work for it to happen. Moreover, Love is not a feeling because it is not an uncontrollable emotion, but rather a choice as exercised by our freedom that leads to personal growth.

Although falling in love is not yet real love, it is very similar to true love because of the experience of ego boundaries. When we fall in love, the boundaries of our ego are temporarily suspended. In authentic love, the boundaries are extended to include the other. Exercising real love gets us closer and closer to the “ecstasy” of transcending our ego boundaries.

The experience of falling in love must also move towards the experience of choosing to love. We may not control the experience of falling in love, but we are free, and responsible, for continuing to love.

Love is AGAIN both eros and agape: According to M. Scott Peck, the process of love involves stretching and thinning our ego boundaries to include the other. In other words, we are trying to expand our ego (a process that seems to be self-enlarging, i.e. eros). However, in doing so, we are paradoxically giving up the ego we once had. We have to sacrifice certain things in order for our ego boundaries to give. This is where agape comes in.

We can also begin to see parallelisms with our understanding of happiness and suffering from the previous lesson. The joy of growth and the happiness we derive from the fullness of our being should enable us to transcend the suffering of having to sacrifice and suffer for the growth of others.

tomorrow: myths of love

AND 1: LINsanity continues!

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who says asians can't drive? the "yellow mamba" drives, crossing over john wall, for the slam.



and the linsanity continues as he poured 38 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals against the lakers. take that black mamba, 'cause yellow is number one.

Love Notes: Ego Boundaries and Love

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a few days before valentine's day, i thought on posting something from my h4 cle lessons about love, particularly those taken from m. scott peck's book "the road less travelled."

What is the ego?
Often, we think of the word “ego” as having negative connotations. The way psychologists use this word, however, the word “ego” is not something bad. In Latin, ego merely means “I” or “me.” This includes all the values and attitudes and opinions we have about ourselves. It shapes the kinds of things that we will do. For example: We may be tempted to steal money, but then we decide not to because we say to ourselves, “Well I should not do that, because I see myself as an honest person.” And so we don’t.

Moreover, the ego we have drawn through the activity also reveals something more to the ego. The ego obviously has a shape (in this case, a circle), a line that distinguishes who we are from who we are not. The self is contained within the circle and what we are not or what we have yet to become remains outside. The line surrounding the ego represents what M. Scott Peck calls “ego boundaries” 

What are ego boundaries?
Ego boundaries are the limits of how we view ourselves. They usually develop naturally within an individual as he grows up and matures: from childhood all the way to adulthood. They continue to either extend (expand the ego) or retract (limit the ego). We want to extend our boundaries because by doing so, we end up with a “fuller” ego. This act, however, is not an easy task.

The hard reality is: to get the most out of life, we need to get out of our comfort zones, which is hard and we are not comfortable with this. We need to break free and experience many things to attain a fuller life. At the same time, we must remember that there are many things in life that are fixed and should be respected (i.e. laws, traditions and cultures, etc.)

If we want to discuss love, particularly how we as individuals love, we need to have a sense of how our identity is formed. Know that our conscious identity is largely determined by our habits, our attitudes, but most importantly, how we understand ourselves. In other words, our identity is not a fixed, genetically determined thing. From the perspective of our faith, we are not just our genes and our brains. We are something more—something flexible, something free, something with infinite possibilities.

tomorrow: love, and the myth of falling in love

Progress, not Perfection

Part of my reflection submitted in the course "Explorations in Individual and Family Resilience"

The article entitled “In Search of How People Change: Applications to Addictive Behaviors” discusses stages and patterns of behavior modification particularly in the realm of substance addiction. It has been said that change of addictive behaviors involves progression through five stages, i.e. pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. However, the experience and reality of relapse for those who underwent such process became bases to propose a model that would integrate the aforementioned stages with processes that occur within such stages. Instead of a “linear” model of change in behavior, the article proposes a “spiral pattern” of change where one may repeat a particular stage yet at the same time progressing towards termination of addictive behavior.

Hence, relapses should be seen not as a “failure” in the process; rather they may serve as opportunities to deepen one’s experience in a particular stage as they learn from their experiences and try something different the next time they happen. Through one’s internal drive to change and with the help of external intervention, a person seeking to change his addictive behavior is challenged to make the most of the stages and processes towards transforming oneself for the better.

I am struck by what Charles told me in our conversation: “In dealing with therapy and rehabilitation, what matters is progress, not perfection.” Indeed, it does not mean that when one undergoes the various stages of rehabilitation, his personal issues and addictions are over and done. True enough, self-awareness and dealing with one’s issues are not linear in nature; rather they are spiral in nature whereby these issues and the process of dealing with and managing them are lifelong processes. As such, there really exists the possibility of relapse of such in one’s lifetime, yet what matters is how one handles such situation and discovers something new from it.

Another important insight in this reading is the importance of building and crossing the bridge from awareness to action. Awareness, being the first step towards rehabilitation, is perhaps the most crucial in the process. In the words of Anthony De Mello SJ, “When you are aware, you can be in control; if you are not aware, it can control you.” No matter how much intervention and how many times one goes through the stages and processes of change, it ultimately depends on the person who wills to change for the better. Moreover, part of the process of healing and transformation is to help others to also change for the better. As Choncho mentioned in his discourse last meeting, “By helping others, I help myself.” Perhaps it is in leading others to change for the better that one’s process of changing for the better also comes to full circle.

Change is perhaps one of the most difficult things to do or handle, especially when patterns of behavior have already been established in one’s life. As the saying goes, “Change does not happen overnight.” Just as a seed slowly breaks its shell to open itself and eventually become a plant and eventually bear fruit, change involves a process of shattering, opening, growing, and sharing. For now, I appreciate the reality that there are gradual yet certain changes undergoing within me, and there would definitely be more to come. There is this saying, “Growing up is optional while growing old is mandatory.” And I believe that it’s never too late to do so.

TIMEOUT: Rickroll'd

an ateneo student "rick-rolled" his history paper. i almost did this in one of those epistemology outlines in college. and i'm very tempted to make one soon. hahahaha!

Happy Birthday, Steve Nash!

happy birthday to my favorite point guard in the nba!
that assist to aying in tuesday basketball this afternoon was my best imitation of his bounce pass in transition. of course, there's no substitute for the real thing.

Kapatiran 2012

 

last saturday, the diocesan seminarians network of the philippines (semnet) gathered together in divine word school of theology in tagaytay for kapatiran 2012, with the theme "amare et servire: diocesan spirituality and mission."

according to the semnet core group, it was attended by more than 600 theology seminarians from 22 of 26 members seminaries in the philippines. the attendance in the annual gathering has actually increased since my time as coordinator of the semnet secretariat. besides, tagaytay is a nice place to be and the seminarians from the tagaytay cluster (mission society of philippines, san pablo theological formation house, saint augustine major seminary, and tahanan ng mabuting pastol) really did their best to make this kapatiran a fun and memorable one.

the day started with breakfast, opening ceremonies, and the mass presided by his excellency archbishop luis antonio tagle of manila. his morning homily was superb as he reflected on the theme of this year's gathering as well as looked into pressing issues within seminary communities.

the mass was followed by merienda and sharing among batches into small groups. lunch was served after. the seminarians went to terra moy center of the focolare movement for a series of talks about the spirituality of love and unity in the community.

after the seminarians returned to their respective seminaries, they had their lauds and benediction in the evening. the evening program begun with cavite's famous dance called "karakol" which was actively participated by the seminarians of every participating seminary. over dinner, the delegates were rendered with songs by the band "moonflowers" which brought most of them to dance and party the night away. seminarians from the military ordinate of the philippines, san carlos seminary, saint alphonsus regional seminary, and the tagaytay cluster of seminaries showcased their talents in the program.

next year's kapatiran will be hosted by mother of good counsel seminary in pampanga. it will surely be something to look forward to, as it will not only be my last kapatiran but also because of pampanga's good food, sights, and hospitality.

congratulations to semnet core group, tagaytay cluster of seminaries, and the rest of the semianrians of semnet! see you next year in pampanga!

AND 1: LINsanity!

my favorite former golden state warrior scored 25 points, hauled 5 rebounds, made 7 assists and two steals in new york knicks' win over the new jersey nets, 99-92.

fantasy-wise, "linsanity" played solid perhaps because the nets didn't have good shot blockers for that game.

Flashback: Kapatiran 2007

tomorrow, i will be off to tagaytay city for the annual gathering of diocesan seminarians in theology called "kapatiran." i thought of looking at my old blog and sharing the highlights of kapatiran 2007, which happened when i was the national coordinator of the seminarians' netwrok of the philippines (semnet). tomorrow will be my first kapatiran in 5 years. i am looking forward to meet the diocesan seminarians of the philippines in our gathering!

the long weekend started with perhaps the biggest activity of my "reign" as head coordinator of the seminarians' network secretariat - kapatiran 2007.

kapatiran is an annual gathering of diocesan seminarians from all over the philippines to foster brotherhood, camaraderie, and networking among the members of the seminarians' network. this year, st. alphonsus regional seminary of lucena, quezon hosted the event. according to the numbers, this is the biggest kapatiran so far - 605 delegates representing 19 of 26 member seminaries from all over the philippines!

from the opening ceremonies at the seminary (which was converted into a mini-pahiyas village complete with higantes and moriones), to the tours aboard the jeep lucban (20+ seater jeeps!) at tayabas (mcst convent, tomb of servant of god bp. alfredo obviar, minor basilica of st. michael the archangel) and lucban (kamayan sa palaisdaan and kamay ni hesus healing center) and the evening activity (vespers, programs, performance of the 1st philippine idol mau marcelo, the food, performances, launching of election txtwatch), whew, that was a lot for a one day affair! needless to say, it was a successful kapatiran.

i have to admit that i have been getting a lot of compliements from people around (from the bishops to the formators to the seminarians), but i think the people of SARS deserves a standing ovation for all their effort, preparation, and support for the event. to msgr. andro castro (rector of SARS), mace, jordan, tonton, and monmon (reps of SARS for the core group), the rest of the semnet coregroup, the semnet secretariat (mel, danmats, ian, boleck), and to everyone, mabuhay kayong lahat!

Feast of Presentation of the Child Jesus

today is the feast of the presentation of the child jesus. mary and joseph brought the child jesus to the temple in jerusalem forty days after his birth, as part of the jewish ritual of purification after child birth. it was there where they met simeon, who said the words we pray during night prayer:
"lord, now you let your servant go in peace, your word has been fulfilled. 
my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people, 
a light you reveal to the nations and the glory of your people israel."

these words were composed into this song by hangad, entitled "simeon's canticle." i used to show this video clip to my students in cle when we talk about vocation or god's call.



may we, like simeon, be witnesses to christ through our small yet significant deeds of letting his light shine in our lives, so that others may see his light.

xavier fair memories

in my three years as a xavier teacher, one of the events that i enjoyed the most was the xavier school fair. scheduled usually during the first weekend of february, it's the time of the year where people flock to xavier for the class-made booths, carnival rides, and the highly-anticipated variety show. traditionally, fairs have an "xs" integrated in the title, depending on the theme used for the given year. looking back, i had fond memories of three editions of xavier fairs: scorched, big bang theory, and foxsilized.

my first fair had the "wild wild west" theme, complete with horseback riding as one of the featured rides in the fair. that year, our class won the best booth as we got the highest income from among the booths in the fair. i also enjoyed the variety show, as it featured what perhaps was the "tail-end" of the resurgence of opm rock. that fair was also quite "colorful" with all the sub-plots involved. but that's another story.



my second fair had the "outer space" theme. unfortunately, i had rather vague memories of that fair, though i remember that i even "broadcasted" that such could actually end up as my last fair, but wasn't exactly so. our class booth was at the tail end of the income list, but i guess it didn't really matter at all. for some reason, i also forgot what transpired during the variety show. oh well, maybe it wasn't that much of a highlight then.



my third and last fair had the "dinosaur" theme. it was the first time i had to be "hands on" with a fair booth as a class adviser, and it was quite difficult juggling things with all the academic stuff at hand. but i enjoyed preparing the booth, from buying the prizes to the entire process of brainstorming and executing the plans. there was also much "drama" then with my advisory class, but that just made my final stretch at xavier quite memorable. the video above had some of the major highlights of the fair. i actually had a cameo somewhere in the middle. hahahaha!



this year, xavier will be using the "superheroes" theme. i won't be able to enjoy the fair this year due to prior commitments, but looks like it will be one interesting fair ahead. i am truly amused by this video done by my former students dancing to the tune of super junior's "sorry sorry"... even inside the director's office. wow. hahahaha.

in the end, all these are memories now. i enjoyed my three years working at xavier, and i can say that "i had my time." for now, there are more pressing things to deal with, and with the clock ticking, i guess i'm running out of time.