Aiee. Another one of these awards. I like it! Merci to Chiui again!! You must really like my blog...

Oh, there are rules in getting this award.

RULES:
Put the logo on your blog. (Already did that.)
Add a link to the person who awarded it to you. (Did that, too)
Link 10 other bloggers whom you wanted to share this award to.
Give a reason why you consider that person’s blog cool. (Okeydokey then)

Ms. Anne - her blog has the possibility of becoming a book!!
Jorge C. - for the extremely honest posts. More honest than mine, right Chiui?
Jerome - for his dedication on the search for truth! Ask on, Master Agnostic!
The JBnoys - because they contaminated me with JB fever. Although I like it. =)
Butch - very amusingly intellectual in a way. Haha!!
Danna - duh! First blogger I've ever met? She made my first blog's layout.
Abby - fellow Twilight fan! NOTE: you get this award if you answer this question on my cbox honestly: Vampire or werewolf?
Mabu - because. That's all. Haha! Intrinsic, people.
Karl - more on the photos than the blog. He's real good.
Donn - for making that simple effort of making a blog, placing one post, and leaving it like that forever! My goodness, Donn! Ba't gumawa ka pa ng blog?

There, my reasons. I'm outta here. Two posts a day is plenty already.

Yung title lang muna ang Ingles para sa pahayag na ito. MagTaTagalog muna ako ngayon, para sosyal. Kahit nung isang buwan pa ang Linggo ng Wika, may naisip ako na ngayon ko lang natanto (eto ang totoong nosebleed!)

Magkwekwento ako ng isang istorya na nangyari sa klase namin sa SOSC1 nung isang linggo. Kami ay may diskusyon tungkol sa moral na dilihensya (moral dilemma yun, di'ba?). Biglang nagtaas ng kamay ang isa naming kaklase na medyo tambay ang dating. Nagulat kami nung nagdisscuss (Sorry, I really can't keep myself from English. Pardon me for using Taglish) siya sa Ingles! Lahat kami, nagsasabing "Ouch, nosebleed! Grabe, biglang banat si Sega, sosyalero pala 'to eh!" Pero bigla akong napaisip.

Tinanong ko si Sir Mos, ang aming propesor sa takdang iyon, kung bakit ganoon ang mga Pilipino. Bakit kapag nagsasalita ng Ingles ang mga tao, iisipin nating sosyal sila o laking aircon people? Pero 'pag nagtatagalog, parang wala lang?

Nawalan na ba tayo ng puso sa sarili nating wika? Nagpasukob na ba talaga tayo sa kolonyalismo?

Sinabi ni Sir Mos, na kaya ganoon ang Pilipino dahil tayo nga ay sinakop dati ng mga Amerikano, at hanggang sa ngayon, tingin natin ang estado nila ay mas mataas kaysa sa atin (kahit ngayong may recession sa US at humihina ang ekonomiya nito). Kaya kung nagagaya natin ang kanilang mga ginagawa, baka kung sakaling matulad tayo sa kanila. Pero hindi ako at si Sir Mos sang-ayon doon. Sabi ni Sir Mos, dapat makamit natin ang panahon kung saan magiging proud tayo sa sarili nating wika at bansa. Dapt magkaroon ng panahon kung saan kapag ika'y nagtagalog, ika'y sosyal.

Ang sabi ng manunulat na si Bob Ong, sa kanyang librong "Stainless Longganissa" na kakatapos ko lang basahin, tayong mga Pilipino ay may barok English. Mali-mali ang pagkabigkas at parang bulol. Pero ang mga Amerikano daw, may Thig-alog. Kung magsalita, parang ganito: "Eyno bah eytoung geynagahwa ney Rowan? Eyng weird..." Kitams? Pinagtatawanan din pala natin sila dahil ganoon ang pagsalita nila.

Dapat makamit natin ang panahong iyon, na ang mga Amerikano naman ang ma-nosebleed sa pagbigkas ng wikang Pilipino. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!!

I'm a real lazy blogger. Too lazy sometimes.

It's been five months since my first step on UPLB. And a lot has changed since then. Yep, a lot.

You guys don't even know what happened! So, as a celebration of the start of sem break, I'll tell you everything that's happened to me since June 15 until now. Or maybe I'll start from the real beginning. I don't know how many installments this blog entry will have, for I cannot finish it now with one measly post. So let's start with the real beginning: the realization.

January 11, 2008. The University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT) results were released online. I just came home from my usual appointment at the barber's shop, when my sister Holly greeted me with the words "Kuya, pasado ka sa UP!!" She was really ecstatic at that point, to the degree that I was also that excited myself, but then her libido lowered when she continued "pero, sa Los Baños."

Those last words didn't dampen my excitement. Who cares if I go to a farther away university? I PASSED, for goodness sake! They said only 1 out of 10 applicants get in. I'm going to the UNIBERSIDAD NG PILIPINAS, LOS BAÑOS!

I am taking BS Development Communication. At first, Mom and I thought its aim was "to develop how we communicate". After 5 months of intense training in DEVC10, though, I learned that it is the other way around. Development communication is

"...the art and science of human communication applied in the speedy transformation of a country and its mass from a poverty to a dynamic state of economic growth, to make possible greater social equity and the development of human potential" -Nora Quebral, the first professor to coin the term.

In other words, we communicate to produce development. Anyways, that made me psyched up for the years ahead of me.

My happiness intensified when I got another letter from UPLB, saying that I'm qualified to take the Advanced Placement Exam (APE). I guess I've mentioned it here in this very blog already. That means I don't have to define what APE is again.

Too bad, I didn't pass any of my APEs. The'yre too hard.

Then again, I had a three-day preview of what's it like in the campus. I saw the buildings, the fields, and those all-important bulletin boards (they're almost always full). I felt a weird sensation, somewhat a kick in the stomach, although it wasn't painful. It's maybe a concrete manifestation of being "blown away." Right then and there, I knew, I was stepping into a higher level in my life.

Before I get to the soft, tasty marshmallow center of the choco-mallow named "college", I had to go through the aluminum foil package known as "registration and enrollment". Yup, it's the nightmare of every student and parent alike. Going to and from the university registrar and the admin building under the hot sun, while trying to squeeze through people cutting in lines and stuff is very very frustrating. Good thing we didn't take long, since we moved fast (there's no stopping Mom from getting out of the heat. Haha!)

I'll continue in another part. It's too long to fit in just one entry. You'll get tired of reading. So, anyway, just keep tuning in for the rest of the story.

Rowan out.

Whoa. First semester's almost over. One (or one and a half) week to go!

I was bloghopping, and I saw in one post in Danna's blog mentioning that their sembreak's almost come. Well, our last day of classes is scheduled on Oct. 10, which is incidentally UPLB Loyalty Day, so I guess there's not much classes then. Still, prefinals are coming!

In UPLB, there's an online registration system called SystemOne. It's where you register for your subjects for next semester. I've been warned that, in SystemOne, there's a race in getting slots for each subject. So it's a good thing I got complete subjects already. Here's my tentative sched:

MONDAY
NO CLASSES!!! I LOOOVE MONDAYS!!

TUESDAY
7:00AM - 8:30AM SPCM 1 - Speech Communication
10:00AM - 11:00 AM ECON 11 - General Economics
2:30PM - 4:00PM NASC 7 - Animals in Human Society
4:00PM - 5:00PM ECON 11 - General Economics (recitation class)

WEDNESDAY
8:30AM -10:00AM HUM 1 - Literature, Man, and Society
10:00AM - 11:00AM DEVC11 - Introduction to Mass Media Writing
11:30AM - 1:00PM NASC 5 - Environmental Biology
4:00PM - 7:00PM DEVC 11 - Introduction to Mass Media Writing (recitation class)

THURSDAY
same as Tuesday, but without the 4pm recitation class on ECON 11

FRIDAY
same as Wednesday, but witout the grueling 3-hour recitation class on DEVC 11

I really don't like Wednesdays. My classes last until 7pm! Oh come on!! DEVC 11 recitation class goes fo0r 3 hours straight!! It's a good thing my dorm is just a minute's walk from CDC...

On the other hand, I like the distribution of breaks. Ample 3 hours everyday, and I get to go home earlier on Fridays. Whoopee!!

Ah, sembreak, when art thou cometh?