Holiday gifts and more!

Why do I receive more gifts during Christ’s birthday than my actual birthday?

Not that I’m complaining about this fact, but rather, I’m just asking a hypothetical question.

People say it is better to give than to receive. But guess what, I’m always excited every time I open a gift. So more or less, I enjoy opening gifts rather than wrapping them. Har har. I’m just being human.

But don’t worry, it’s not only me who benefits from the gifts given to me. Everyone else does! *wink*

So if ever you gave me something for this holiday season, check out the list below that I checked twice.


I’m sending my sincerest gratitude to everyone else who shared their blessings to me this holiday season:

Mom for the Wade shoes; Teni for the 500 Php SM gc that contributed very much to my new Diesel shoes; Gabbie and Mai for the Simpson and Adidas shirts, respectively; Caitlin, Diwa, and Elena for the bags; Marielle and Pauline for the hankies, Zion for the hand towels, and Alex for the bath towel; Jack for the ‘Rayban’ shades; Nathan for the cute watch, Abbey and T. Joy for the bracelets, and Inna for the wrist band that I really love; Sam and Aiah for the key chains and T. Marie for the bling bling; Mike for the purse; Adina for the wood carved pangkamot; and Myla for the pillow.

To those who are very concerned with my hygiene:

Reisa for the Soap Factory soap specials; and Diwa and Mia for the soaps and shampoos.

I really felt Mia’s concern because the shampoo she gave me has a label that says:

“The way your hair look’s can tell a lot about you.”

Come on Princess Mia!

Diwa for the toothpaste and Jotham for the night mint toothgel that I will really enjoy; Gina and Clarisse for the M&S hand wash; and Khaim for the hand sanitizer and bug spray.

Two days before our Christmas Party, my green mug which was a gift from the UPIS Student Council suddenly turned into mugs. Because of that incident, my broken mug was replaced by four new mugs courtesy of Miggy, Kiana, Kaye, and PSYSC who gave me a UP centennial mug.

Thank you also to Marielle for the travel mug and Mrs. Yu for the water bottle I won during the Faculty Party. And also to a donor I don’t know who sent green charcoal also for the Faculty Party.

Gobs for the lovely picture frame; Toni and Misha for some CDs; Abbey for the 2010 desk calendar; DOST-SEI for the planner; Pauline for the planner and notepad; T. Rose Ann for the notebook; Ara for the post it; T. Joji for the cute crocodile stapler; Frances for the laser pointer; Wawu for the faber-castell pencils; Pangilinan Family for the led book light; Kyla, Miko, Marco, Jornales Family, Mr. & Mrs. Gutierres, and Pastor Mike & T. Francie for the enthusing books you gave.

I was really amazed why I received only one toy this Christmas! Haha! Thank you Miguel!

They say that the best way to a man’s heart is thru his stomach. I’m now opposing this saying since last December 12, I was diagnosed by my ENT to be suffering from laryngospasm resulting to coughing and shortness of breathe. She said acid reflux is causing my laryngospasm and heart burn. For that, I was advised to stay away from acidic food including those which are sour and spicy; caffeinated drinks: soda, iced tea, coffee; food with tomato sauce; and chocolates!

So now, I’m thankful for those who made me suffer this holiday season for giving me food which I am abstaining from eating. Thank you very much for making me drool as my friends and family members savor the gifts you gave me:

Jigger and Ayie for the M&S dark chocolate all butter biscuits and Belgian milk chocolate biscuits, respectively; Shauna for the Droste Pastilles; Luigi for the Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark; Andrea and Marielle for the chocolates; Eloisa and Enzo for the chocolate bars; Andy for the cookies and Hans and Zeb for the brownies; and Nathan for the Chokolate de Bohol.

Let me introduce a new saying that goes:

The best way thru the Urban gurU’s heart is thru his larynx!

Thank you also for the scrumptious pastries you gave me:

Aiah for the lemon squares and T. Rafael for the lemon square cake; Manette for the macaroons; Ty and Josh for the pastries; Gaea and Kha-el for the tarts; Caparros Family for the Snowballs; and David for the M&S all butter Scottish shortbread fingers.

Thank you also to whoever gave the candy cane I found in my table; Marco for the queso de bola; and Christel for the sparkling red grape juice cocktail.

Finally, T. Fe for the Php 300 cash I won during the Faculty Party; and Mom for the Php 10,000 cash wherein half of it turned into a 29” flatron TV with the help of my other siblings.


From last year’s 75 gifts, there was a slight decrease into 72 I received this holiday 2009. But above all of these gifts, this is the most important one that all of us should be rejoicing…

'Til next year!

The Real Low Pressure Area

Despite the supposed-to-be-shinning-shimmering-splendid summer all of us enjoying right now, the country is currently exposed to its third tropical cyclone for this year. As of 10 pm today, PAG-ASA reported that Tropical Depression "Crising" has remained almost stationary. It is located 290 km West of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro giving a public storm signal number 1 warning over Palawan, Cuyo Island, Calamian Group of Islands, Occidental Mindoro, and Lubang Island.

On the other hand, a soon-to-be-tropical-depression was estimated in the vicinity of Albay. This Low Pressure Area (LPA) was estimated at 40 kms East of Virac, Catanduanes, and therefore will cause panic and depression, again, to my Mom who is in our house in Albay.


Image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). An image of the Philippine loop is also alavailable here. Please visit the PAG-ASA weather bulletin for updates about Tropical Depression Crising. Next bulletin will be out at 5am of May 1.

Summer gurU

It's official, cyberhybernation is over!

After almost a month long of blogging hiatus, 25 days to be exact, the Urban gurU is back!

However, since am melting because of this scourging heat, am back as the Summer gurU! Yey! o.O


So what happened to the Urban, I mean, Summer gurU for the past 25 days?

*flashback*

• March 23-24 - finals! I have to finish the last 4 exams I'm supposed to give for this school year.
• March 26 - honors deliberation. Have to finish the graduating class' grades and finalize the honors lists.
  
• March 27 - Candlelight Ceremonies of the graduating class at Loyola Grand Villas. I have to shop my attire an hour before the event. Bwahaha!
• March 31 - Graduation Rites. Have to finalize the audio-visual presentation needed that day and that took me an entire day to finish! Praise God it went well!
  
• April 3 - Graduating Class' Retreat at Camp Explore, Antipolo, Rizal. Went home exhausted. And just like any other retreat, no one wanted to go home... *sigh*
  
• April 4 - Departure for Balanga City, Bataan for PSYSC's National Science Camp
• April 5-9 - Camp Bataan. For the record, this is my 7th Camp! Whew!
• April 10-12 - rested at home for the Holy Week.
  

Am not that busy, right?

But no, here's the deal, got more things happening this summer:

• April 13-24 - Log_on. It's a refresher course am giving at school for those who are taking high school entrance exams next school year.
• April 27-30 - Curriculum Refresher Course. I'll be giving a workshop for teachers about integrating Science in the elementary level. (details will follow soon)
• May 9 - iBlog5. I'll be riding an Ikot jeep and head to Malcolm Hall for the 5th Philippine Blogging Summit.
• May 11-29 - School Workshops. We will be preparing this time for the next school year!

Whew! What a jam-packed summer! Is this what they call vacation?

I don't think so...

Let's just enjoy the heat of the sun!!!

Credits go to 12 years old Just for the new Urban gurU graphics!

The 25th of December 2008

The time is just 11:55 pm.

So technically, it’s not yet the 25th.
Tic. Toc. Tic. Tic.
In a few moments, the clock will reach 12 o’clock. And hey, the entire world will celebrate Christmas Day!
Families share festive meals, exchange of gifts with their loved ones, friends celebrate with cheers, cellular phone networks crashes caused by the huge traffic of SMS sent, never ending phone calls, television shows countdown, hence, those who are at work has no choice but to render their service to other people —nurses, doctors, policemen, firemen, call center agents, gasoline boys, 24 hour fast food crews, etc. — good thing I never dreamt of being one of them.

Past 12 o’clock. The world celebrates Christmas.

This year I’m celebrating Christmas with my nuclear family —mom, dad, sister, and brother— just like a decade, or more, ago. My sister’s husband and their son are both in Manila, so hypothetically, no extensions this year.
I saw our one and only family picture this morning when I woke up. That picture was taken when I was just eight or nine years old. I missed the good old days —those days when I don’t care about the world around me; days when they kept all the problems from me; times when I wake up on Christmas Day, I’ll find either a gift, a card, a toy, or cash in the sock I hung on the window.

12:20 am. Fireworks stopped. It’s raining.

Rain resembles blessings.
When it rains during your wedding, they say you will be poured with bountiful blessings.
When it rains during your JS Prom and you’re having it on open grounds, maybe your class adviser forgot to hold on to an egg.
When it rains on Christmas day, blame it all on global warming! And I’m definitely sure about this.

12:25 am. The rain stopped.

Suddenly, I miss the Internet. It has been more than 50 hours since the last time I was online. Although there’s an Internet connection here at home, I opted not to get in touch with my friends.
Suddenly, I miss my cell phone. It has been almost 40 hours since the last time I sent an SMS thru my cell phone. Although there’s a signal for my network provider a block away from our house, I opted not to get in touch with my friends.

This is my definition of hibernation. I cut all of my connections to the outside world. I want to hide myself from the world —the world full of agony, bitterness, pain, and inequalities. Agony caused by life’s adversities. Bitterness realized from imperfections. Pain brought by challenges. And inequalities established by a vindictive society.

Past 1 am. Mom asked me to pick up my towel.

When an organism hibernates, it seeks out a den.
Our house is my den. It is a den where I rest at times when I need to hibernate. This is my comfort zone. The free flowing river at the back cleanses my soul. The green mountains around and the majestic Mayon Volcano refreshes my mind. The calmness of air at night rests my body. And the warmth given by my family keeps the flame in my heart to burn.

1:10 am. A group of men passed by our house.

Since silence creeps through the cold air around me, I can hear all sorts of sound here and there. Frogs croaking, crickets making their sound, the cell phone of the neighbor rings, buses and trucks passing by the nearby Maharlika highway screeches, roosters cock-a-doodling (at 1 in the morning!), and my dad snoring from upstairs.
This is what I like best here at home: no traffic outside, I don’t need to buy food from the nearby carinderia, I can eat my dad’s champorado, I don’t need to worry about any bill: may it be phone or internet or boarding or insurance or credit card… even just for exactly two weeks.
In every 52 weeks per year, all I ask is at least two weeks of quality vacation. And I’m thankful to God that He had given me this.

1:30 am. I can feel that my pimple is about to burst.

If you noticed how random my thoughts are, it is because of the following reasons: (1) sudden emotional distress caused my amygdala and hippocampus to panic; (2) my interneurons are lethargic already; (3) it’s my bedtime already; (4) and most importantly, I’m afraid that my pimple will burst on Christmas Day.

This is who I am. And I choose to be myself.

But despite my frailty and my shortcomings, I’m still thankful to the Lord that He blessed me all of these years. Nonetheless, He gave to us His most begotten son, Jesus Christ. Happy birthday Sir! I owe you my life. : )

5 minutes before 2 am. The rain started to fall again.





Written before the clock ticked 12am and ended before the clock ticked 2am; 25th of December; in a house along the Bicol River.

Soon...

Want to know why the Urban gurU is very busy lately?


First of all, he's still enjoying his golden tan from...




Second, it's because of...

soon...

Sembreak Day Three

This entry was written last October 28, 2008, 12:27AM while the Urban gurU was at Sariaya, Quezon. It just so happened it got lost in translation just like Scarlett Johansson...

naalala kita pag umuulan SEMBREAK
naalala kita pag giniginaw SEMBREAK
naalala kita ilang bukas pa ba
bago tayo ay magkita

I really hate it when my phone receives an SMS early in the morning. Since I always place it near my pillow, I would wake up easily even just by a single SMS alert.

Past 7 AM, AJ’s SMS woke me up saying:

This is Ms. AJ of PSYSC blah blah blah… I just want to confirm Sir that we’re supposed to meet at McDonalds Philcoa at 2pm this afternoon for our trip to Sariaya?

Good thing I woke up on the right side of the bed. So I replied:

Really? Oh that’s why no one from PSYSC showed up last night! Wadapak! I thought it was 2am?!

I’d better go home now and catch some sleep. See you this afternoon!

After a few minutes, my phone rang.

After her call I went back to sleep for another hour or two. Past 9am I fixed my bed and tried to catch some Pokemon.

Oh, by the way. I always watch Pokemon before going to work. Like this one ryan_h caught for me:


Lunchtime I went to SM North to pay some bills and to deposit a check; passed by National Bookstore to look for the latest Reader’s Digest but ended buying a Discovery Channel Magazine.


Thou it is almost a hundred pesos more expensive than RD, the free CD of exclusive Discovery Channel ringtones, clips and wallpaper convinced me a lot to buy the mag —stuff that I can use in classroom instruction.

1:15 pm but am still on a jeepney headed back to UP Campus. Car accident along CP Garcia stranded me in an Ikot jeep that made me decide not to go anymore to the National Institute of Geological Science (NIGS). I’m supposed to give an HSBC form to Enj at her lab coz she’s about to leave for Kidapawan that night and am about to leave for Sariaya AT 2PM!!!

1:40 pm. Alas! Am home coz I decided not to give the form to her anymore. I still have 20 minutes to pack my things for an overnight stay at Sariaya, Quezon to visit PSYSC’s 2008 Children’s Science Interactive Workshop, as a member of its Board of Trustees.

I arrived at McDOA (McDo + philcOA) 15 minutes past 2 o’clock but AJ wasn’t there yet. She arrived after I’ve finished my fries and then we left to fetched another speaker at the College of Engineering.

Around 3 o’clock pm, our five-hour journey began. We had a pitstop at Sta. Rosa, Laguna to fetch another speaker. By the way, Chico Garcia has really nice pix of some EK-EK at Enchanted Kingdom. I highly suggest that you visit his site for the said pix.

It was not a boring trip with an Archeologist from the National Museum, a Chemical Engineer, an Environmental Engineer, and a Grade School Science Teacher. I guess you already have an idea of what topics transpired in our conversations. Nevertheless, since Science is already a part of our lives, I assure you that we still have other things to talk about. Examples were: the mechanics of why Filipino motorbike riders are very prone to accidents, Petron and Shell’s monopoly over the country’s oil economy, Coast Guard trainees diving over Manila Bay, an engineer’s bridal shower, and the THES-QS results and other politics inside the University, to name a few.

See! I told you, they are purely not geek talk!

8 pm we arrived at Villa Del Prado. The sumptuous dinner waited for us as early as 7pm. Am telling you, any dinner would be very sumptuous for anyone who just came from a 5-hour drive.

Past 9 o’clock we transferred to a nearby resort where we will be housed.

So now, here I am writing this entry in a beach resort somewhere in Sariaya, Quezon.

It’s drizzling outside.
It’s cold.
And I’m excited to see YOU.

And oh, by the way, I just missed again another deadline for the Blog Awards Challenge. And that really…

When the Urban gurU returned to Quezon City last November 1, he found out that the Blog Awards Challenge's deadline was extended. Unfortunately, work piled up on his desktop causing him to cram in computing his students' grades and not be able to write for the BAC.

Sembreak Day Two

walang silbi sa bahay
kundi bumabad sa telepono
o kaya'y kasama ng buong barkada
nakatambay sa may kanto

In this case, I spent the day in front of Ace, as usual. And since I am certified weekend mall rat, I had dinner with best friends at Trinoma. Teni just came back from Palawan last Friday and it had been almost a month ago since the last time we saw each other. Markitotz who seems to be busy also with his work and his crunchyroll addiction decided to cancel his appointments for the day.

Dinner at Conti's and coffee at CBTL made our day.

Sembreak Day One

dear kim kamustang bakasyon mo
ako heto pa rin nababato
bad trip talagan t'tong Meralco
bakit brownout pa rin dito

October 25 is the official start of my semestral break. Even though it is a Saturday, I still included it in my official 9-day-vacation version 2.0 for 2008.
I just can’t wait for my version 3.0 vacation for this year —Christmas break!

--o--

Rom woke me up with an SMS asking me to prepare a costume for the Halloween party I’m supposed to attend later that night. Because of that exasperating SMS, I was not able to return to dreamland that early Saturday morn. Instead, I stressed out myself the entire morning thinking of what to wear for the affair. I am very thankful to my plurkmates who were very creative in giving advices about what to wear for the party. Here are some of their awesome suggestions:

• nothing (yeah right, Pen, I’m sure you’ll enjoy that!)
• my everyday attire coz it’s horror enough (I know that already Dean, since obviously, am a horror teacher. Bwahahaha!)
• bahag (g-string) - good thing I don’t own one (Thank you very much Yaya Eloisa for the wonderful suggestion.)
  

In the end, I decided to come as myself. No make-ups; no costumes. Just me, myself and I.

Am telling you, it worked! They let me in!
However, they excluded me from the Best in Costume Award coz they thought I was too authentic for that award!

--o--

Prior to the Halloween party, the Professionals Group of the Gerry Roxas Leadership Awardees (GRLA) held their organizational meeting at the Gerry Roxas Foundation Office at the Aurora Towers. An election of the governing body of GRLAs was held in order to have an interim Executive Committee that will function for six (6) months or until their successors are elected and qualified on a meeting called for the purpose of establishing a permanent structure of the organization.


In case you are a recipient of the Gerry Roxas Leadership Award, either still studying or a professional already, please leave a comment here or visit the Gerry Roxas Foundation’s website.

--o--

While waiting for the Halloween party to start, I dropped by the Lomo exhibit at Cubao Expo which Denxa, a college friend, participated. I was amazed that the analog cameras we used to capture our fond memories back then are now considered as vintage.

While at the exhibit, I asked Denxa a stupid question, "May nagdedevelop pa ba ngayon ng mga film ng analog cameras?" She answered, “sa Florophoto,” with a matching raised eyebrows.

Here are some of Denxa’s friend’s pix during the event at Cubao X. LOL. (Too many reference points!)

--o--

To cap off my stay at Cubao that day, we watched the LFS of HSM3 at Gayway, I mean, Gateway.

Duh. I can’t even spell out HSM3. Of all the showing movies that night, they decided to watch the gayest movie of the year. Well, am just too scared that my students would found out that I watched that movie on the second day it was shown in Manila. Worst, I was able to watch it even before they had seen it. Yikes!

To be fair enough, I was really amazed by the technicalities of the movie. From costumes, production design, cinematography, sound, to choreography, it was fantabulous! (Fantastic and fabulous combined.) It’s rare that I appreciate a musical, so this one is an exception.

Even so, the plot was sooooooo cheesy, am too hypocrite to reminisce those mushy days. Charantia, anyone?

--o--