It's been a long year. 2009 is already at its peek, while we left the memories we had in 2008. It's been a year of hardship, not just for a Frustrated Student™, but also to the country. I can barely remember what I have done the past months of 2008, all I know is, my bad deeds outnumbered my good deeds. Really. From the start of 2008, I started collecting photos, documented the moments, and recap the memories I've been through by seeing right through the photos. So how did you live 2008? Here's how I ended 2008. Are you up to read my activity highlights of the year 2008?

January THE SLEEPYHEADS and the HARDWORKERS: I've always wanted to sleep and sleep and sleep. I guess that's one of my good old times, but I wasn't able to beat my seatmate from sleeping and snoring out loud in a big classsroom discussion. While here goes the hardworkers, finding every inch of answer they could get when the professor gave a nosebleeding assignment, and quiz.February PROM NIGHT: I guess everyone enjoyed their prom, except me and the Apocalypse. Everybody's boring, the sick-sounding band the organizers acquired and the food served tasted like sea-water.

March GRADUATION: everybody cried their emotions, well, I guess I've included myself in the one night drama we had in our Graduation Night. Everybody's eyes were bulging, while bidding temporary goodbyes.

April FIRST PIERCING and SUMMER FUN: I was shaking when the ear-piercing professional draw her hand on my piercing spot, my brain stopped working, but later, I was in great relief knowing that it is already finished. This month was also a month for our class section, making the most out of the summer, we decided to have a farewell party. I also got the chance to have my first set of Photography.

May COLLEGE and the CALLING: I enrolled my self at NDDU, with the course IT. I guess I have to live up the course which my sister really wanted. Nothing interesting

June LIFE AS A FRUSTRATED IT STUDENT™: The first semester began and life as a college student started. Meeting up the different faces of the University while making up the faces of those terror profs!

July PRINGLES AND LAKE SEBU: a combination of Pringles for the travel and experiencing the juicy tilapia of Lake Sebu for lunch, what more I could ask for? I'd consider those moments, a great time.

August INTRAMURALS AND MY MEDICATION: having the great time during intramurals as a freshman while being interupted by my asthma attacks which led to confinement in the hospital.

September STARTED TO BLOG: i don't know what pushed me to blog, but there's a sudden urge to write my personal experience everyday, so I started this blog.

October JOINED MBS2 AT GENSAN: I got the chance to participate in the summit's second year. Altough I'm new at this event, I got to meet new faces, including Joanna of Evexjux, and Sir Avel of Bariles Republic. I also learned a lot of things about blogging, while it helped me to create blog posts endorsing Mindanao, especially Gensan.

November HALLOWEEN AT GRAB-A-CRAB: we spent an unusual halloween eve at Grab-a-Crab and gathered sometime in Coffee Club 101. The place was camouflaging the halloween season, besides, there are also roaming group of weirdo vampires and a petite sadako in line with their trick-or-treat promo.

PLURK CITY: I was influence with those widgets I see in everyone's blog, so I explored plurk, and started enjoying it. My karma number is 71.

December EARLY CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION WITH THE APOCALYPSE AND LOGO REQUESTS: I recently took a night-out with the my group, Apocalypse, to have our early Christmas celebration so that each of us could celebrate with our respective families. I guess the old times were put back to life again during our city-strolling.


Here's just few of the many things I experienced as this year is about to end, so what's yours? Comment on me, so I can read yours too. Be sure to capture every moment you had in 2009 by joining Project 365, ok? Happy New Year.

The young man was sitting on a cold, broken chair, with light barely passing inside his cell in Fort Santiago. Knowing that 2 hours from that time, dawn would crack, and it would be the last chance to witness the new morning for his country. December 30th 1896, was a history for the country.

Jose Rizal, clinging on as the ink of his feather pen was already fading, the chance to finish a poem was at stake. With only a small slip of torn paper to write on, he began writing his farewell poem with his tiny handwriting. Bidding goodbye to the country his fighting with, his family, and his fellow countrymen. Then ended his last message while folding it inside the fading light of the lamp.

As dawn breaks over Manila, He knew he would end his 35 years of fighting for freedom. Being a docro, a historian, a novelist, a sculptor, and a swordsman, fear never consumed him. That's why he was remembered as the country's greatest National Hero who inspired the struggle against Spanish Rule.

At seventeen, Rizal devoted his life to help Filipino people. Later on, the on growing urge for freedom made him speak out for some positive changes and reforms in the Philippines, thus making the Spanish government threaten. His speeches and views angered the Spanish Governors, who were frightened by the people's growing demand for revolution. In result, Rizal was arrested after the revolution breaks. By the year 1896, Rizal was arrested and condemned to death.

As years passed, the heroic virtues of Jose Rizal is brought back to life by annualy celebrating Rizal Day every December 30. This celebration has a huge part on Philippine's history, the deeds of our National hero, Jose Rizal is one way of making us, Filipinos, proud of our heritage.

Recently, Bariles requested me to make a logo for his blog. Blogging for about a year, Bariles features Gensan as a growing city. Blogging about the events and current development of the city, making his blog the number 1 blog of the South Central Mindanao. So, having the opportunity to help contributing things and development for his blog, I decided to creat the logo.

I never had so much experience making logo, but for this one, all my idea dried up, my brain's not working again. All I can imagine is, the logo should be blue. Obviously, as you can see, the output, speaks for itself.

Basically, the logo is made up of abstract inputs, such as waves, fish, and some circles insignificantly appearing. The logo is based on the theme of the blog, and so much related to the wealthy waters of Gensan. So what do you think? It's not that good, but, it's not that bad either. I'm still praacticing the use of paths and pentool. I've had hard time dealing with these tools the past few days.

Visit Bariles Republic for Gensan updates.

I'm not really a die-hard fan of Twilight Saga, you know, Vampires and such things. Edward Cullen? Bella Swan? Obviously you heard them from those avid fans of Twilight. You've got those high-jumping fellas with pale-looking faces. OK, but here's the big deal: ABS-CBN grabbed the chance the place a Twilight remake by having their co-producer, Ignite Media, for $ 1 million US dollars. Is this an Advantage or disadvantage move? well, we'll see after it.

We all know recently that the project has been a great issue around the web, especially to those who are vampires (I guess i'm reffering to those Twilight-lovers), negative reactions from th fans. A Petition was even established to contradict the rising of the remake. Many opposed. I guess the company is up with it, expected the reactions about the project. So, just let ABS-CBN work it out. I know they're giving a best shot for a remake of Twilight. Let them prove it.

So if you're an avid fan of Twilight, be off to the shooting places, abroad, and in other locations, such as Tagaytay, Bukidnon, and Baguio. Pretty sure Edward Cullen will take a long jump in one of Baguio's fine pine trees!

Davao City's coffe hang-out, Chicco de Caffe establish a contest regarding their logo to be used. In line with this, Angel from Monster Express, asked me if I would like to join in the said competition. Obviously, i'm up to things related to graphics and logo making, so I decided to take part on it. I'm not making my official entry instead I affiliated my entry with the entry of Angel, in short, the logo I made would be under her name, knowing that she is a student of Davao, and its almost impossible for me to go to Davao just to witnessed the event. So I decided to affiliate with her.

Moving on, the final output of the logo I made above. Well, I can't think of a better idea, instead I decided to go with the flow, whatever I can think of, knowing that Chicco de Caffe is an Italian coffee shop, so what I did was to do the basic colors of Italy's flag, as stated in the mechanics. Then, off to the 3-hour creation in the Photoshop.

The 3-hour logo making made my ideas go dry. I can't think of a better idea except the fact that I want the logo to be more on a retro approach. Basically, involving the fonts, Jane Austen, and MotterFemD, while doing my rounds with the paths , marquee tool, and gradient mappings. What I did first was to apply the color scheme involving the colors of the Italian flag. In line with the retro approach of my logo, I decided to make a tampered sticker effect, to emphasize the words inside, while balancing it with the colors outside, which serves as the secondary background to balance the view of the viewers while noticing the centered logo. So, I guess its not too bad, making me satisfied for this day, thanks to pen tool, paths, marquee, and gradient effects.

Well, whatever happens, Goodluck to us! Oh, and don't forget visiting Angel's blog.

Truly Yours,
A Frustrated IT Student

Two days from now and everyone will be up for another splendid Christmas day. Christmas celebration is the most awaited festivity of Filipinos. No wonder nobody does Christmas the way we do with such unique and strange habits.

2.) Christmas Caroling Imagine having yourself a good time with your favorite channel flashing on the TV when a group of children disrupts your "having a good time with the TV". Well if you're a traditionally-cultivated Filipino, get used to it. Children with those improvised musical instruments made of bottle caps and cans, with a matching improvised Christmas lyrics. So if you are tired of the repeating songs you heard everywhere, prepare your coins and finally you'll be off to a peaceful nirvana.

3.) Noche Buena Obviously happens on the Christmas eve after the midnight mass. Be sure you didn't eat your dinner to early, because you'll be preparing your appettite for the ton of food - jamon (hamon;sweet ham), lechon, queso de bola (cheese ball), lengua (cow tongue), roasted chicken, cake, and many sweets. In addition to the event, you'll get to experience dancing, sing along with the videoke machine and even see a playing Santa doing his old trick again.


4.) Fireworks Frenzy Indeed Christmas and New Year's eve are the nosiest evenings of the year, and most advantageous for the fireworks vendors, and those boom doctors, those who specialized in re-attaching lost fingers and disastered legs, but Filipinos do it happily, just lighting up the wild firecrackers, such as, Judas' Belt, Superlolo, Triangle, Bawang, and many other enojoying blasts. These are alsow the words shouted upon arriving at the emergency room when asked what's the caused of his or her burn.

Ever been into places which you'll never forget? You'll surely never forget because of the things which mostly captured your attention. Then if you've ever been into public places, with people just strolling around and taking glimpse on whatever they see, make sure you properly tied up yourself. Just like in places with weird signage, the makers tried to beautify their signage to catch the crowd's attention, but what negatively comes out, is the grammatical composition and the spelling of the words. It made my head cracked when I saw these signage while doing a city-stroll.

The huge crowd was in a rush, but I noticed the kid along with his mother and father, was still there, staring at the spinning ferris wheel, neverending. The kid was longing for a ride, but still his parents can't give anything. Chances are fading for the little fella, but i'm pretty sure he'll be enjoying the night together with his mom and dad.

The lights were already turned on in the nearby stage, but still I can't make up the faces of the people strolling around the dusty walkway. All I know is, i'm finally back again strolling around the place I used to hang when I was still reclaiming my innocence.

The kid was finally over with the neverending spin of the Ferris Wheel. Saw him smiling with excitement, while trying a quality time with his mother and father. It's just another simple thing given away to put smiles and happiness into one's self. Seeing the real meaning of Christmas is to see how happy the family is.

For a writer, another poem to write. For a painter, another canvass to make. For a blogger another post to create, but for a kid, and his family, another Real Christmas to experience.

Then i'd be very thankful for that, I can do the laundry, blogging, and plurking at the same time, and even form a band with myselves! no way? This thing must be crazy, i'm many, and I am everywhere. That's insane.

Photoshop is one way of doing clones, just in the photo, not in the real life. I guess you'll be damned if that happens. All you need is a dose of imagination and a bunch of ideas sprouting from your mind. Just leave it to the camera, do the multi-shooting, and a handful of photos with different pose, then Photoshop will do the rest.

I was stunned the first time I saw and learned this kind of manipulation, but later on realized, that it was just a matter of creativity and self-exploration, and that's the way how to crumble the cookie.

So, are you ready for giving yourself a full blast with these types of manipulation, wherein you can be from those worries from the real world.

I took over the mall recently, and notice the growing number of people coming in and out of the mall, while trying to go with the flow and dodging the upcoming crowd. Its awful to see the long line of people paying at the counter, while having you in the last spot paying for just a single item you want to buy.

While taking over the long line and waiting for my cue, I noticed a young boy, dressed in rugged and dirty shirt and short shorts, dying for a toy in the corner. He suddenly grabbed the other toys which got his interest, while I was just staring at him unnoticed. The sudden feeling of mixed emotions struck me, I felt sorry for that boy. I was already at my cue, and the boy was nowhere to be found, maybe he did a little mall-hop, I guess.

Christmas is just around the corner, and while we are waiting for the day to come, we'll experience more splendid things we'd never imagine. Making our Christmas more exciting, we have to color it. Meaning, we have to consider other people, make them happy, while in return, it makes us happy too. Small deeds, which leads to big changes in the life of others. Making people smile with colors.

Another way to contribute in a more meaningful Christmas is to be part of the solution in PAY IT FORWARD GENSAN!, a project of Michelle Carillos, which started out as a small decision to do, and now aimed to provide and share the spirit of Christmas, through feeding at least 200 street children of Gensan.

See, how splendid it would be if we brought smiles into our fellow natives. Even just for a small pay of effort we could already be happy, and at the same time, making the spirit of Christmas as colorful as we could ever imagine.

Christmas is fast approaching and you better see kids giggling again for new toys from Santa himself. What about foods? Have you decided what foods and sweets you'd like to prepare, well, i;m already off for some new grabs for this year's awaited season. Sweets? There are so many delicious picks you could ever imagine. That's why I'd like to share the sweets I'd like to chunk with in the coming eve.

1.) Brownies Unlimited- Ever tried these sweet brownies coming straight from Brownies Unlimited? Mocha Frostees, Fudge Cake Bar, Walnut Swirl Brownies, Double Choc O' Chip Brownie Bar, Tiramisu, Blueberry, Mango & Strawberry Cheesecake? Ever tried them? I'm gonna crack my head enumerating the delights of their products, but one thing's for sure, you'll surely gonna love it. Share it!

2.) Krispy Kreme Doughnuts - Good things Krispy Kreme opened a branch here in Philippines, and I've got the chance to experience the Original Glaze. Obviously, there are many varieties of Doughnuts you'd be crazy for. Not to mention the Caramel Kreme Crunch and the Cinnamon Twist. Go grab some!

3.) Pinoy Kakanin - and lastly, but you'd love for sure, especially Filipinos, are Pinoy Delights, somewhat called, "Kakanin". If you're a tradionally pinoy, you must be familiar with, Kutsinata, Puto, Sapin-sapin, suman, etc? These are just few delicacies p
repared during Noche Buena, and Dama de Noche.

Se jeep, todo ingay ng barkada, nagpapakahulugan lang ng di pagsang-ayon ng mga nakatabing matatanda. Tawa dito, at tawa doon, kahit problema sa eskwela'y kinakalimutan, matungghayan lang ang pagtawa ng buong grupo.

Sa classroom, naghahanap ng bakanteng upuan makatabi lang ang kachismis na classmate. Sa isang napakatahimik na klase, na sinasabayan rin ng nakakaantok na titser, hayun pinatugtog ang "Kung Liligaya Ka" ni Imelda Papin mula sa cellphone na kinagigiliwan tuwing lunch time. Pag dating ng examination day, todo tago at yuko nang ulo para lang makapanggoodtime at maipareho ang mga sagot sa katabing wala ring alam sa mga pinagsasagot niya.

Ganyan ang dating namin nung nilalakbay pa ang mga huling araw ng hayskul, matapang, maingay, at higit sa lahat, walang kinatatakutan, para bang isang tagline ng balita. Kahit ganyan ang naging asal namin, natuto rin kaming maging seryoso at pilit na ipinasok sa isip na matutong tumanda kahit minsan. Naging "Black Sheep" ang aming seksyon ng dahil na rin sa amin. Ngunit masaya naman kami.

Nagtaka ka ba kung bakit ganito na lang ang mga nailagay ko sa lahok na ito? Isang punto lang ang nais kong ibahagi sa inyo, at iyon ay ang linyang, "The best things in life aren't things", kung nakuha mo ang ibig ipahiwatig ng linya, malalaman mong napakahalaga ng mga taong nakapaligid sayo, lalung-lalo na ang mga KAIBIGAN. Masasabi kong isang pack Mahahalagang Regalo ang natanggap at nakita ko nung ako'y hayskul.

Sa tingin mo? May mahalagang regalo ka rin bang natanngap ng tulad ko? Maligayang LP!

Saturday Afternoon- I sat down on the couch with an on-going sleepyhead, one of my friends messaged me to watched a cheerdance competition. It's a sleepy afternoon, so I decided to drop with them. Everytime I hang-out with them we're always get into trouble, and tell ourselves, "We suck, but it was fun". Yeah, it was fun, hanging out with my group, APOCALYPSE.

Ever wonder why Apocalypse? I really don't know. All I know is that i'm proud to say that I had made a great contribution to make the group succeed in the past 3 years. It's been a while since me and my friends get to know each other back in the second year of our high school days.

It started out as a joke in 3rd year high school, while renaming my friendster name in "Apocalypse" and encourage my close friends, Riza and Honey to also change their name. At least it made us happy, aside from the fact that we were recognized by friendster people, with wondering with thoughts of, "Why Apocalypse? Andami nyo ah?".

We're 15, or 16, or 17, I don't know, and you know what's good about the group? Different perceptions of life, and different showcase of talents. We have a visual artist, a fashionista, kikays, photographer, adobe nerds, or even duel master. We have the same world everytime we get together.