SUMMER COME NOW!

Summer, the time to relax and unwind from the worries of school. Just say your goodbyes and leave it all behind. Summer is viewed as a break for students, a time to learn new things, a time to get better, meet new people, make better, new memories, visit new places, and just like the word itself, summer which kind of sounds like sunny. How do you see summer?

Summer in the Philippines starts in mid or late March to early or mid June. Here in the Phillipines, it comes in the sunny part of the season and going to the beach is pretty common in the Phillipines. For student their view is mainly fixed on it as a break and they can also add to it. For me, it is a time to do a whole bunch of things. Make use of my time and not waste my summer. It may not be like the show " Phineas and Ferb", but I'll make it amazing in my own way. In this blog post you'll see what I think of summer. Feel free to comment on how you see summer.

I am a student and the main thing that summer is for me is a break. A break from the responsibility  of school and possibly replace it with different responsibilities. I really do feel like I need a break and I need summer to come now. A summer break is a long one and that would be great! The break would also be in good timing because I want to get away from it all. Sleep late, wake up late, watch series, visit new places, and of course a break! Summer is synonymous with the word break for students and a break surely would be welcome. This time around I would divide my things to do during the summer. I would make sure and include no slacking in my list of to do's in summer. I am so excited and I just can't wait for summer to come!

When summer comes I would be so happy! Summer would also be a time for me to learn new things. The first thing I would make happen is spend time with friends before they go. Say what I want to say. Goodbyes may be hard, but I know that everyone would have to say goodbye sometime. When the goodbyes are done, I want to learn new things. I would look into different things I can learn in the summer. I would only do it if I am interested in the thing I want to learn. Maybe learning new instruments like the guitar, piano, and drums would be nice. I would also get into thinks like photography and maybe math (because I feel like I am degrading in it).  I would not only be happy about summer, but I would also use it as  a time to learn new things.

Summer is not just happy times, but you should also use it as  a time to make yourself better. That is what I am planning to do this summer. I would hit the ground running and immediately get into sports or maybe go to the gym. While getting physically fit, I would also make myself mentally fit. I'll get into programs for making myself smarter. I do not see summer anymore as a very long vacation anymore, but I now view it as a vacation to make yourself better. When you think of summer it can also make you think of relaxation. I do not think anymore of it that way. I know that there will always be room for improvement and that there is no more free time for me like the time I get during summer. It may be summer, but I will surely get busy.

One of the best things a person gets to do during summer is meeting with new people. Making new friends is fun, especially if they are the ones you get to become closer and closer to with time. It can be either through tutors or sports, but then it doesn't really matter as long as you get to meet new people. We are social beings and I know that it is important for us to continue and make more friends. The number one rule for me this summer would probably be, " BE MORE SOCIAL". I know that I have no problems talking to people, but the first step is always the hardest one and I know that once you go past it, the rest is easy. I plan on meeting more people this summer.

I would also see summer as one of the best times to go the beach. Who wouldn't? Go swimming, ride jet skis, go diving and other things would be so much fun and for me this are the things best done in summer. It can be with family or friends, it doesn't really matter, what matters the most is that you are with loved ones.

This summer, I would want to go the beach with both. I plan on getting together with friends as we say goodbye and make it special. I would also ask my family if they are ok with a vacation on the beach. The beach would really mean a lot for me this summer.

I like visiting new places and this summer would be a nice time to do it. Explore the places I am going to visit. The journey would also be nice and surely fun. The best place about visiting places is that you experience new food, places, culture, etc. and all of this will be on full show especially if it is summer. Students are out of school and then go out with friends and maybe even visit new places together. Before summer ends, I'll make sure to visit new places.

The typical way I used my summers before weren't that good. Next summer is going to be a whole lot better. The things I am going to do. The aspects of me that I am going to make better. The things I am going to learn and the people I am going to meet. I plan to make next summer my best summer ever! Summer come now!

This Year's Openhouse

Each year, our school hosts this annual school activity called "Open house". From first graders to the highschool students will have to do some sort of showcase. Others will present their ideas while others will be in charge of entertaining the guests. The countdown, preparation, and execution was boring, tiring, fun, and fulfilling.

The day was Friday and the whole classroom and I knew what was going to happen ahead. The whole day was exhausting. I started the day off by waking up the sound of my phone ringing and ringing to the sound of a barking dog. So I took off my bed, shut my phone off, got a towel, took a shower and began my trip to school. My group and me where the kitchen crew for that week (the ones who are in charge of cooking for the whole class) had no water the whole day before and the whole morning the day after that. We were lucky enough to have cooked the food, but we didn't have any water to clean the dishes with. The day went on and we didn't get to clean any dishes. The rest of my day was spent copying assignments, doing seat works and organizing my to do list of the projects I hadn't finished. During the afternoon, I managed to finish my timeline with my other group mate. It was already late in the afternoon and go home. I was tired of all the work and the people. Then it turned out that our projects weren't good enough. Our teacher told my classmates and me to fix it. She said that our backdrop was too lame and we had to fix it during that day. It was already late and I was not in the mood. It was a bad day.

I woke up to the next day looking forward to the day ahead,but this morning was different, I heard voices of people singing and praying. So I went out and checked who it was, it turned out that there was  a prayer meeting being held at my house. My mom's side of the family is very religious and my grandma is the most religious of them all. She was the reason for the people being there. I had relatives down there and so I came down to say hi and bless. I went up and thought of all the things I had to finish. The pressure was there and the nervousness to finish was really there. I told myself that when I finish I will take a break for days, but now I know that I can only do it in the summer where I plan to get into a lot of new activities and maybe go out of town. Going back to the point, I needed to finish all my projects before 4. My family was downstairs, eating lunch, I was at my room working non stop to finish all of those and to my surprise, I finished!. So I went to my closet, picked my clothes and got on with taking a bath. I rode with my family and asked to be dropped off at school. There I was, my hands were full of projects and as I went into the classroom felt good that I finished it all. Inside the classroom, I noticed something was wrong. It was like I left something and leaving something it was. I was calling my partner in that project, Gus and asked him where he was. He told me that he was near. So I thought to go back home and get the project and with 40 minutes left I thought I can back in time for the Open House. I went outside and I saw a taxi with Gus and his brother, Jules in it. So I ran to the taxi and went in while asking Gus to come with me because I needed to get our project. I counted every minute and I felt that we were going to be late. So I took action, I asked the taxi driver to drop me off near the nearest gate instead of going to the gate where cars without stickers should pass, which was five minutes away. So I got down on the taxi and made a run for it. I felt like Walter in the movie "Walter Mitty" because I was running in formal clothes. I reached my house, got the stuff and went out running. I tried to sprint to make myself faster, but I just couldn't because of the amount of stuff I was carrying. Thankfully, a stranger gave me a ride to the gate and it was a great feeling to ride a motorcycle. It was my first time and I spent it with a stranger which was really weird. I made a run for the taxi and asked him to drive fast going back to school. I saw that he tried, but it just wasn't enough. We arrived school 6 minutes late because of the traffic. The project got a bit broken as I ran and I had to finish it up when I arrived at school. The trail was really fun, but I don't want to be in that situation for a very long time. The experience was so much fun and felt like it came from a movie or TV show. I finished fixing it and I frantically pasted it to the wall. People kept telling me about my back and I didn't notice how sweaty I was. I knew then that the hard part was over.

So I went to my spot, the Humanities area. I was in charge of talking to the people who were interested and explain the thing in my area. Meeting new people was unexpected because the Open House before had no visitors except the parents of the students. It was a nice surprise. Before I knew it, it was over and I felt really fulfilled for it to have finished.

I will look forward to visiting the Open House next year!

THREE C's Of Life

Choices,chances, and changes, it is what makes up our lives. You will always have a choice no matter how hard you have it. You will also have a chance as long as you believe and change, well change will always be there no matter how hard you try and stop it. These three things choices,chances, and change are what makes up our lives.

Let' start with the reason you are reading these today. Your parents chose to have you, keep you, and raise you. Their choices made help you who you are today. While it is also your choice that affect them and vice-versa. Arguably, the most important choice done for your life is the choice made for your life was the choice your parents made when they had, took care and raise you.

Your everyday choices affect you in the short and long term. The best examples of this are losers and winners. The phrase "Quitters never win and winners never lose" probably came from losers and winners. Quitting is a choice it is a lot like giving up. Losers made that choice and it will surely help them in no way. They can not make bad choices and avoid the consequences. On the other side, winners never lose. But sometimes winners lose but it is a test of character. You can only really test a man's character by seeing the way he pick himself up from the dirt and drives on. That is what champions are made of. No matter how hard the loss, their must be a redemption. Also, choices like studying or not studying will affect you in the long and short term. That is the importance of choosing the right choices.

A chance is all you need and once you get it all you have to do is shine. This is what bring me to my next point. Chances you take are the ones you will always remember and chances you don't take are the chances you regret not taking. Live life with no regrets because once you die you will not be remembered for the thing you did not do but the thing you did. Try and live live by taking all the chances you get. Life is short but it can also be made long through the way we spend it and taking your chances will surely make life seem longer. Chances are a big part of everyone's lives.

The third one is change. Everything in the world changes. Our world, things, and ourselves change with time. Time cannot be escaped with because as we grow older we also get more mature. Change also makes us who we are today and this is probably why I came up with the philosophy " There are no mistakes because it made us who we are today" which I think I just probably got from a movie. No one can avoid change because it is part of our lives and it is just a challenge that we need to deal with..

The 3 C's of life are the main parts of our lives. We need to understand it better so that our lives can be better. Also, it is what makes us who we are. Aside from those things, what do you think are other major parts of life? Thanks for reading!

The Theatre of Dreams

I love soccer. My favorite team is Manchester United and I would not say that i have been following it for a while now. My interest in soccer just probably grew three years ago, I was eleven then and I have been following the football world ever since. From the stadium to the people of the team and of course the history I loved it all.

I remember the day I got into soccer. I watched a game and then I said to myself " I want to be able to do those things". Honestly, I wanted to be those people or at least be like them. I want to do what I love the most and currently it is football. While I am not yet at that age where I get to pick I will surely try my best to do good in what I am doing right now and that is school. My relationship with the sport came to me during third grade. Me and my friend or barkada in Filipino wanted to do something easy, so we chose Ping Pong. I was young then and probably didn't give much though to it. So there we were taking classes... Wait! I was wrong, I should have said that we took a class. Our teacher only came once and then I and the entire class did not see him again. So we took our concern to the office. We talked to the girl at the desk just inside this office. It was not that big and it had a lot of walls to it. So you cannot really see through the walls. She was kind enough to acknowledge us and told us to come to one of the doors and there was a lot! We then went inside and there she was the principal. She's a nun, but there is just something about here that made me scared but who knows? I may not be scared anymore since, you know, I got bigger,smarter and more open to people. When I was younger I was scared of people. Talking to them, looking them in the eye, and even just greeting them. She told us to pick a new sport, so me and my barkada talked because we did not want to be separated from one another. We made a group choice of going with soccer. To be honest, I was just going with the flow. So there you have it, that is how I got in and I got into it more and more overtime.

Now I was just starting out you know. Going to training and enjoying games. Playing with a smile is not something that I would say I do a lot because I try my best to play and I would say that I am competitive. I don't show my smile a lot because I feel that I should concentrate and try my best to win. I would say that the best time to smile is when you win because, you know, why would you not smile if you win? Then I started to watch and really learn the things about teams. I would not say that I chose United but I would rather say that there was a feeling of connected or spark. I liked how they played and I even liked the team more when I learned about history. It was started by a group of middle-class working men wanting to play what they love the most, football. Their work made the club and it won and lost. It had debt and it was told to quit by a lot and they responded the only way they know how, they won. Then the unthinkable happened... The plane in which the entire squad was flying on, including the manager was at Munich, Germany. It was a cold, windy, and that day had very bad weather. They tried to take of and it did not happen twice. Third times a charm, isn't it? Not exactly. The plane crashed and the whole team went into the wreckage. There were survivors and they felt devastated. They were mentally,and physically hurt. Who wouldn't be? Seeing your friends and they were not just friends, they treated each other like family. The team's board held a meeting and they suggested to stop the club. The manager disagreed. He rallied the team back and got the players he needed and got some of the players who survived back and they won trophies after that. They go down, but they get back up and win with great finesse. Don't you think of that as a rich history?

The club has a philosophy that no player is greater than the club. It is true but I also believe that the players and whole squad is what makes up the club. Players of the past and present and the people involved are what make up the club. The team today is not like the teams before it is not as good but I still support them. From all the players I would choose Rooney as my favorite player. His skill,pace,power and other characteristics are ones that are world class. He is not like the others and I think that the best thing about him is taken out when he gets angry, it bring the best out of him. The team is made with the core of Rooney, Van Persie, and De Gea. They are led by David Moyes and it is a new ere. The manager has changed and all are different. The players are important and surely without them there are no team.

The stadium in which they call home is called Old Trafford, more famously known as the Theatre of Dreams. It has gone through a lot and houses the fans whenever there are games. It is iconic and one of the most famous stadiums in the world. A lot of dreams were made or broken and that is why it is nicknamed the Theatre of Dreams.

I love all of it and of course the journey I had onto this point. I can say that I am fan. Also, I tried a game called QuizUp. I recommend you try it. There is a topic Manchester United and I am 1st at the rankings of my country. So, I must be a fan after all. 

Thanks for reading!

A Gruesome Part Of History: The Inquisition

                The Inquisition, was a Church court established in the 13^th century. The main purpose of the inquisitions creation was the Catholic Church wanted to investigate and trial those who are accused of heresy. The court was at the peak of its power during the medieval and early modern times. It was brutal and unjust. The Inquisition brought a lot of pain in different parts of Europe, gave birth to new methods of torture, and finally showed the people who were truly wolves in the Church as said in the bible that we should be aware of the wolves lurking, and hiding in our Church.

               

                Another name for the Inquisition was “ The Holy inquisitions”, but it was surely not holy. Everything in it was to the benefit of the corrupt officials during the church. Priests during this time abused their power and just the words they say scared the people so much. It also was very hard to accuse the corrupt church officials of their wrong doings. To even establish an accusation against a bishop itself required 72 witnesses; against a deacon was 27; against an inferior dignitary was 7, and for non-members of the clergy, 2 was sufficient to convict. Can you believe the power the priests had? They were like God himself! People feared their words. Most of the leaders of the church also did inquisitions as a  way to get money. The Inquisition did not actually glorify God, but instead used God’s name in the wrong reasons and way. To even establish an accusation against a bishop itself required 72 witnesses; against a deacon was 27; against an inferior dignitary was 7, and forcient to convict.

                The procedure of investigation was brutal. Even the slightest sign that you may be a heretic would bring you to trial and believe me, their trials were not fair.  Once you were convicted all your belongings were taken away to make up for the investigation and this is where the corrupt church officials got their money. It was dirty money, the  people they accused were innocent and if they would not admit they would use violent way to get them to confess what they want them to confess even if it wasn’t true. No one should ever go through this procedure of investigation, no matter how evil the deed.

               

                No one was spared. Children from the ages of two and up were not spared. Women with children were also not spared. The only ones who were probably exempted from the inquiry for the inquisition was the priest and higher ranked. People would not have dared to accuse them. The one of high rank who are also not spared are probably the royals since they have no power over the church. The church during this time didn’t really care just as long as they get their money.

The items used for torture brought a lot of pain and if used too much can cause death. Things like the rack, shocks, heretics fork, pear, branks, wheel, breast ripper, garrote, hanging cages, head crushers,  iron maiden, strappado, boots, Judas cradle, guillotine and methods like water torture and being burnt at the stake. All of this was made and used primarily for the torturing during the time of the inquisition. People who were accused were put into these kinds of torture in order to get them to confess things they did not do and confess thing the accusers want the accused to confess. Whenever they do confess they are told they are promised their lives but instead they are burnt at the stake. In some ways, of torture, it is done in public places to cause fear towards the people. A lot of innocent lives were killed on the things mentioned above and thankfully they are not here anymore.

               

There were a lot of different inquisition movements that mainly happened around Europe. Three movements were mainly led by the Spanish, Portugese, and Roman. The other movement was done in the Medieval times, it was called the Medieval Inquisition. And all of them are the same, though they have have different leaders for each movement.  They are the same because they have same goal to get money through accusing people who are innocent.

                The Inquisition also brought the terms witches, werewolves, and vampires came to light because of the inquisition. The witches were made to describe women were not only accused of heresy, but of witchraft as well. They were called witches. Wolves were used to describe the people who lusted for blood to be spilled. The last one, the term vampires was used for those people during that day who thanks to people from Europe before and their myths. The terms were made thanks to the people before and their myths.

                I view the Inquisition as a waste. The church’s name was put to shame. The actions of the people who claimed to have God on their side, but instead used God’s name to take advantage of the people is such a shame. God did not deserve it and the people should not have died. A lot of lives,dreams, and names were destroyed because of the Inquisition.

                Finally, the Inquisition is a new thing I  just learned. Me and my classmates were told to research about the Inquisition. So I researched about it and I was interested. Since this is my blog, I decided to put my knowledge and feelings about the Inquisition here. So I would like to say that in short the Inqusition was generally a bad thing.  A lot of innocent people were killed. New names that sounded bad were made. Things or I guess we should say, weapons were made by these bad people who wanted to do harm to their fellow people. The people in higher ranks used the Inquisition as a time to get rich because they actually gained a lot of profit from the brutality of it all. Now this is the end. Thanks for reading!

Time Passes By

Every second, minute, hour, day, month, and year that passes by is irreplaceable. I thought more about this idea during a meeting at school last Friday. Everyone knows that time is irreplaceable, but I'll share with you the interesting lessons we learned during that meeting which came from a pretty experienced guy.

Imagine this with your eyes closed. There you are sitting at your desk reading a book and your teacher calls for all of your classmates and you to gather around. That is what happened with me and if you haven't guessed it yet the teacher called us because the pretty experienced guy I was talking about, Sir Chris (he's also the head of the school) came to meet with us. So there we were gathered around in a circle and then Sr. Chris arrived and started off by saying his hellos and so did we. The topic today was pretty serious was time and it was a subject that everyone should be interested because every single one of us can only have so much time. So he talked in front us all and we listened as we should be because the lessons he gave can really help us in our lives. As I said he was experienced and indeed he was, he knew already at his 40's and you what they say "Trust what people older than you are saying not because they are older than you but because they made more mistakes than you". 

The first thing he explained to us and I will now explain to you is the four kinds of time, important and urgent time, important but not urgent, unimportant and urgent, and unimportant and not urgent time. Important and urgent time in my own words are things like doing your homework and other things that are both import and urgent. Now, the most important thing you should spend time on the most are the import and not urgent things in life. It consists of time with family, and friends. The other two kinds of things are not important and both urgent and not urgent. Things like playing games and using social media. Other activities are free for you to categorize since I am sure that whoever is reading this is capable of such things. Which of your common day to day activities are in what categories? 

We then went into the subject of winners and losers. Which one would you choose? Winner right? If your answer is loser come on I am sure that you can be much more than that, don't you want to be someone that matters and make your place in history or are you happy with the life of a loser, bumming around and choosing to do nothing? If you are contented with being a loser don't even bother to read on or read my blog for that matter you get your life fixed! Now for those who are still reading this, congratulations! You do really want to be a winner. Now being a winner, you have to do hard things and I recommend you read the book "Do Hard Things" it will inspire and help you on your road to being a winner! :) 

I will also add something onto the definition of winners and losers. Winners are people who are on the road to being a success or people who have already achieved success. Losers are people who choose to do nothing with their lives. There are losers who are doing things, but these things do not do them any good, but instead only causes them harm. Examples of this are gamers, I used to keep playing, but then I realized that I should not keep playing because it benefits me with nothing sure I gain experience and level up but how am I with my lessons in school? So I made a choice to stop.

The next thing I learned was that I need to create new better habits. If you are a frequent reader of this blog you would already know that it is part of my grade and if you did not know that now you do. This is part of a habit I am trying to create, make a blog every week. It all starts with your mind. Do you want to be better? What actions are you doing towards your goal? Once you get consistent with your actions, it becomes a habit. Nice sequence huh? I challenge you to create habits of making yourself a better person by creating a good habit? The choice is always with you to be a loser or a winner so which one is it going to be?

Overall the meeting is one I enjoyed greatly. I probably will never forget that experience. I am happy to have shared the things I learned with you and remember, be a winner!

LOCKED OUT...

Most people today would probably agree with me and say that a lockout happening in life can be good and a time to better yourself or a time that brings bad things that it would actually cause you a lot of pain and make your life negative. Being locked out of something is something everyone of us experiences. It also may bring people together or tear us apart one by one. It can help us evolve our technology and in turn become stronger, smarter, and faster compared to the people who lived before us or can be our downfall and cause us to become no more. Join me and you can be at ease with the thought that I will give it my all to show you what the word lockout is and what it brings out on us.

The word lockout is one commonly used for the interaction between employers and workers. A lockout happens whenever the employers gives a list of specific decisions in which the workers do not agree to and therefore the employer doesn't allow them to work and so the workers are well locked out of their jobs, thus the word lockout was born.

Enough with all of the stuff about the definition of the word lockout. I experienced a lockout recently but since I do not have a place to work in or an employer, which is really no surprise since I am still just in high school. The lockout I experienced was a lockout with my phone. Some people might say that it would not be that bad and I would too but then I had it disabled at our winter break and it sucked. Because of this I missed out on a lot of my phone would keep on ringing there and I cannot see the text or know who the person was. Imagine this with your eyes closed. You are home, lying on your bed and you would wonder what other people our doing at that time while you are there with your phone beside you and it keeps ringing while you cannot see who texted. I tried a lot of ways to find a way to get it open again so that I can use it again. Today, I got my phone back but then it has nothing. No messages,contacts,apps, and anything a phone normally haves.  If you read along, I assure you that you will learn a thing or two.

As I said the lockouts people experience and I included are times to grow as a person or sadly, for some people fall. Let’s take a look at our best possible friend when learning from the mistakes of our ancestors, history. History helped me find the person called Jose Rizal.  The national hero of the Philippines.  He was put in prison by the Spanish colonizers.  While in prison though, he became better and he helped the Philippines break free from the Spaniard with the help of the experiences he had from the Spaniards. The experiences like being locked out in prison and metamorphic ally speaking being locked out of helping other Filipinos directly because it was not safe to do during the time of the Spanish colonization. If you want to look for a modern example, I can help. The answer to that would in front of me. Currently, I am watching MTV and it is talking about the musician Akon. He started out small, a car thief. We all know what happens to thieves’ right? They get caught. So there he was in prison and he thought about is life a lot. Primarily thinking about the pain his family is experiencing because they don’t have any more a person to supply them with their basic needs. He used his time in there to begin a new life. He literally turned his life around. When he got out he stayed out of trouble and pursued music. He worked and worked and he eventually became the person he is today. Through music he united a lot of people thanks to his music and he used his fame to help people of his native land, Africa.  Now let’s look onto the other side. People who fall from lockouts are also the ones who rise up. When you fall you got to push yourself up and the people I just mentioned are people who fell but stood up. My point is simple  great people fall but rise up and if you ask what happens to those who fall but don’t stand up, well they either die or go on to become people of evil.

Being locked out of something essential like basic necessities needed for life will make us humans learn to evolve our technology in order to survive or do the exact opposite. At the start of man we were locked out of heat and vision in the night and so we made fire. Then during the time of Thomas Edison a lot of people didn’t have a light source and so he invented the flash light. It made the world a better place.  There has been no example in history where man died because of being locked out of something and I hope it will never happen. In the whole timeline of man people were forced to create, innovate, and  then repeat.

Our species can become stronger, smarter, and faster or fall because of the effects of being locked out from a specific commodity. The human species today has the potential to become better in every way than our ancestors because of the technology and information we have today can surely make us the best there ever was but I am not saying that we are the best there ever was because not all of us reached our full potential. Some of us may even lock ourselves out of other people and become loners ,people who become depressed and this can also lead to sickness. I say that people today have the potential to be the best but the potential does need work to become the best.

This is the end of my post. Thanks for reading!