:: Absolute Insanity ::

Philippines is once again facing another challenge that will change the course of history as the election is fast approaching. A new system of voting is to be implemented in this coming election, yet million of registered and qualified voters are not computer literate and has little or no background or knowledge in using and even worse operating it. It has been perceived as the answer to eliminate the discrepancies from counting of votes to the proclamation of the victors. But, doom may be hand on hand with this glory.
Many speculations continue to arise as the government tries to instill into us that cheating is impossible with this method. However, many Filipinos are afraid and hesitant with this system. I, myself is not hundred percent confident of its efficiency and freedom from malicious interventions from the politicians. As I have read from a writer’s article on the web, I agree with his idea that implementing this system would not be as effectve as the government says. As an Information Technology student, I am aware of the securities measures that they might equip with the machines and all the other devices that will be used, but I believe in the notion that he who controls the technology, controls the votes. I believe that the new system is still vulnerable for cheating. And because it is computerized the whole process will be fastened, but so as cheating. Sticking to the manual voting system would very inconvenient because of several reasons, but it is harder and more risky to manipulate in contrary to the new one. I think that the intention for the transition of the voting system is for betterment, but I know that those dirty politicians will manipulate and deceive the Filipinos at all cost and the automation is not a hindrance for them, even an opportunity.

If I could turn back time, I would see to it that I’ll start to the point where I was just a kid crazy over watching Jetman, Fiveman, Power Rangers and the like with matching snaku and regent cake  commercial. Oh God I could still remember how I would go berserk or plea to my father not to change the channel. It’s real funny and when I come to think of those memories, I just laugh and it makes me feel like I want to live those days again. Well, what can I say, childhood is absolutely where I want to spend eternity, just playing games and enjoying life as if nothing else matters. Bad days and hurt feelings are simply wiped away with a lollipop. Hahahahaha xD

These past days kept reminding me of how wonderful it is to live in childhood stage. I know I sound strange, but its really true, I bet it crossed your mind several times… Yet, We gotta face reality, go on with our lives and live it the best way we can. We have a lot of growing up to do and we gotta do it on our own…

Whew! It’s a cold rainy day here in Davao City! The weather is so deceiving, I thought it’s still early in the morning. We just had our overnyt outing at waterworld together with my classmates. It was fun and I was so full with the foods! Damn I almost puked at the pool!…hehehe I didn’t have enough sleep the other night sorting out things for the outing and last night as well on account of card games and chores. ^_^ Well, I really had fun and I am happy I was able to pull off the almost impossible plan for the Christmas outing. Thank you very much for all those who attended it especially the Sponsors Karlo Jesus Sobiaco and Joseph Rey Sator, the class A people and their friends or rather special someones with the special participation of Sir Exander Barrios and Madam Jasmin Frigillano. Thanks also to Hyzel Rendon for assisting me in planning and for the tasteful and delicious dinner, to John Egon Asuncion for helping out, Patrick John Yap for the procurement of goods and to everybody. It’s sad to say that we were not complete because some have already left the city for their respective vacations and important errands, it could have been merrier with you! Anyway, I’m not gonna dig in the details, just ask around because I’m in a hurry here. Hehehe

Because the outing was all that’s left for me to stay here in the city, I’m heading home to my hometown Makilala this night to celebrate Christmas and New Year with my family. I wish you a wonderful yuletide season and I pray that God will give us all the blessings we need to stay happy and joyful. May we have a fruitful year end and a great start of another year! Good bye everyone! See you next year!

-ciao-

Today, a very important event in Mindanao took place as Mindanao Conference of Information Technology Students was held at Holy Cross of Davao College. Different activities were carried out in celebration for the said event, and one was the Mindanao Wide IT Quiz. This day marks one of the greatest days in my student life because I was one of the participants of the quiz bowl, together with Mr. Christoper Pelayo who represented our school University of the Immaculate Conception. Different schools from Mindanao have gathered together to celebrate the event and there were about 19 participating schools namely AdDU, UM Main, USEP, UIC, HCDC (host), STI Davao, STI Digos, UP Mindanao, SPAC, Notdre Dame of Kidapawan College, Notre Dame of Midsayap College, DMMA, Brokenshire College, SPAMAST, MSU and others.

I am happy to say that we placed 2^nd runner up from the competition and ranked 3^rd out of the 19 participating schools. The competition concluded with USEP’s victory having a total score of 41 with their outstanding performance on all rounds, followed by Ateneo de Davao University with a total score of 36. We placed next to them with a total score of 34 and I think it was either UP Mindanao or STI Davao tailing behind us.

The questions were solely based from the Philippine National IT Standards or PhilNITS exam and were provided by Sir Aloysius Torres of PhilNITS Center Davao. We have undergone review for this certification exam along with other participants from other schools which gave us the advantage. We also did a quick review the other couple of nights and this morning which really helped so much. The quiz comprised 3 rounds, each with different levels of difficulty from Easy, Average and Difficult. The easy round was composed of 10 questions with 1 point each, the 2^nd round also with 10 questions with 2 points each and the difficult round composed of 5 questions with 3 points each. We managed to answer 9 out of 10 questions one the first round, with one question, which, only us got the correct answer. We took the lead on the easy round together with USEP with scores 9. We unfortunately misinterpreted one question about system availability in relation with RASIS and we somehow regretted.

We started fine on the average round and answered the first question correctly, but suddenly, things started to go bad. It was on the average round where everything went into uncertainty as me and my teammate got confused with the questions and ran out of time to carefully analyze them. Anyway we managed to score half of the total scores from the round, while USEP led followed by ADdu, UP Mindanao and STI Davao. Our anxiety and remorse were intensified as we had our supposedly final answers replaced by a wrong one after swift deliberations which turned out to be incorrect, not to mention that my teammate was troubled in account to the call of nature or jingle bell time (if you know what I mean).He drank a liter of water before the competition started to ease the tense which unluckily brought him into a uncomfortable condition. We didn’t lose hope in that round as we saw a chance to get to the top 5 because the score intervals were not really that far, except of course for the leading team who were 10 points ahead of us, getting a perfect score in that round.

As the final round approaches, my teammate still couldn’t chill as he tried to suppress with all his might the distressing force of nature xD . We finally had a glimpse of hope as we answered the questions correctly and eventually reached higher ranks. We managed to redeem ourselves on the difficult round and were the only team who perfected all the difficult questions. As the tabulators were about to announce the final scores, I called up one of the watchers for the second time (called her up from the average round) to acquire permission for Chris to go wee wee…hehehe. So, the results were proclaimed and we were happy about it. I really did enjoy the event, all the nerve-breaking questions and all the thrilling and exciting competition. Well, we did our best and everything went just fine for us.

One of the highlights of the activities in the afternoon part was the presentation of Student Researches which also gave way for Ronald Borla, Joseph Rey Sator and Sean Lester Benitez to showcase their Open Jive Entry system the Multi Website Management using XML-RPC with special mention and image display of PIXELS 4(yes, P4 was in the big screen!) in the demo. The activity ended with awarding of winners and distribution of certificates.

I would like to thank Mr. Exander Barrios for choosing me as the representative of the event and for motivating us, Ms. Sheena Rhea Maranguit our coach for facilitating and accommodating our needs, Sir Roy Manseras for the lucky prediction (Lolz xD), our class A family for the early cheers and prayers and for everybody especially the lower year students Lara Cada for guiding me in the venue, Therese, Jona, James Guardian (a former UICian now at HCDC), Meloraine Vicedo (thanks mel :D), Molly Nuera, and everybody who supported us. Thank you very very much! It was an honor to be part of the event and it was our pleasure to have your support.

It’s now officially chrsitmas season and in line with that, I have altered my blog’s design with some effects. As you can see it now has a snow falling down, which I think is cute and nice, isn’t it? I have also mixed it up with the music Christmas Alphabet to jive in so that you can feel the ambiance of the yuletide season in thissite.I hope you liked it!

A pet is like a precious gift
the coolest pal you get
They dance with you to make you smile
and for you will run a mile

See them roll and fetch the ball
and jump right through the wall
their eyes are twirling round and round
and making cute and funny sound

Its fun to see them flip a wing or make a fancy crawl
climb so fast but cant get down on a tree so tall

They reach and lick your little toe
and give your lip a kiss
pray for all the angels to keep safe your every pet
just be sure to care for them to have them at their best
they’re good and they will do everything to be the greatest pet you met

---

This poem is actually my original composition. I did not intend to write any but the situation calls for it. It was on our world literature class when Ma’am Dupa of UIC tasked us to compose our own original poem with any topic we liked. So what popped in my mind was to have the theme about pets. I was not really on the mood but somehow I managed to write few lines. I continued it home and finally I finished it. Ad by the way, the poem has the melody of Christmas Alphabet, since it was part of the task - compose a poem and sing it in a Christmas song tune. Me together with my colleagues Hyzel Rendon, Harris Masulot, Jan Benedict Pilapil and Jonel Pineda performed it in front of the class. You can sing it too with accompaniment to hit the timing.

This article is a response to Ms. Maribeth Q. Galindos’ Rizal versus Bonifacio, Is It Fair To Compare?

The idea of comparing two different personalities that also have similarities in some ways appears to be an inevitable action of people today especially us Filipinos. The issue is in fact somehow interesting and for some people worth debating. In my perception as a Filipino student who happens to have no total awareness of every detail of their lives, it is not appropriate to do a comparison of two very important heroes of our nation. The title was not given to Rizal because of his wealth nor has it not been given to Bonifacio because of his financial status. They both deserve the merit of a hero who sacrifices his life for liberty and freedom. We all know they both died with glory, and end that marks true patriotism and courage.

It is not the things Rizal had that Bonifacio lived without determined his being the National Hero. They have done works that most of us can’t even think of doing. They are undoubtedly the heroes of our country and deserve to have reputations beyond the others. The likes of them are worthy to be given recognition. There has to be reasons for the selection of who qualifies for the title. My point is, evaluation must have been performed, consultations, and deep assessment…etc were done before reaching the verdict. The title is not something that can be decided to be given to a hero overnight, it had undergone proper and legal processes.

It is better not to mind the issue that much, maybe dissolve the pros and antis groups and unite in facing the current problems our country is facing. They are both heroes with exemplary works, and so we must also make a hero out of ourselves in our own little ways.

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Did you miss the episode? Then that makes two of us. I was so busy having some talk with my classmates last night which caught my attention away from the episode. Actually I made it to the last minute, I mean it: last minute! I sat on the chair in front of the TV just to find out it just ended. What the heck. I thought nothing special happened but just this afternoon while I was having merienda on the UIC Main campus canteen with Bernil Jane Salarda, Jesamie Tiongco, Joseph Rey sator, Sharellyn Enriquez and Mavis Joy Ibanez, they brought up the topic that the most popular mother icon in the Philippine Showbiz today Aling Dionisia Pacquiao visited the PBB Double Up house and marked her footsteps there. Along with her was the comedy queen Ay-ay de Las Alas, they were separated into the houses. Aling Dionisia actually made quite an accidental joke calling Big Brother as “Brother,” which I think is better than to call him “Brad.” Lolz. She demonstrated some fancy boxing moves along with the barbels and gave some advices to the housemates especially Melai who she thinks is a little too irritating. She even called jayson as “ukoy-ukoy,” a colloquial visayan term connoting a slightly derranged behavior which is associated with the term “Siokoy” or the male mermaids of the ocean. Well, I haven’t finished watching the whole episodes and don’t have any idea yet what happened on the other house with Ay-ay. I’m pretty sure they had real fun there too… The episode also features the arrival of housemate Cathy from Finland and the surprise birthday celebration of housemate Rica.
Enjoy!

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If you search this movie on imdb, it says there that this movie has been released year 2007 yet it had its hit this year. From the country where I live in, I think the reason behind why they didn’t show this right after releasing because it has undergone strict evaluations because as I have heard on my friends it is really scary and most in the internet says it creeps the hell out of people. I have also noticed that when I key it in to google, the search engine doesn’t return any suggestion at all, and suffice it to say that most file hosting sites are deleting this movie on their disks.Well, judging on the summary and some clips, it really is scary and even if they say I’ve got the guts to last watching gruesome and horrifying movies, I would say that it might really be very disturbing. In fact I only watched the first couple of minutes and I stopped it. I won’t continue it unless I have someone beside me, not a paranormal element hopefully. S-)
Anyway, these are just based on my opinions and are not actually facts, but mind you there is really something about this movie I might add.
The movie file is not hosted on my host and I will not be held responsible for any issues that might arise. I say just enjoy the film and don’t get yourself into a state of absolute insanity…

Well, the UIC ITE seniors, including me have just had our Educational Trip on Cebu. As you can see some pictures above, we really did have so much fun. We went into many places, and obviously people went into cam whore mode. I wont be making this post long because I know that all of you are so much excited for the pictures. Here are some of the clips taken from the tours and more links will be added eventually so keep updated. Enjoy viewing!

Dayday’s Cam

part 1 >>> part 2 >>> part 3

Sator’s Cam

download zip file

Jesa’s Cam

download zip file

Fabio’s Cam

download zip

Felice’s Cam

download zip

Earl’s Cam

part 1 >>>

You can also:

download Sharellyn’s ringtone here!

download the Sunflower Party mini video!

I started playing with this bizarre game Last year, October 12, 2008. I wasn’t really minding the date so I had to search my email for the email verification when I signed up for this. Well, it’s been a year now since I started wasting my time hooking up with this game. It was on server alpha where I embarked on a unrealistic voyage and started my career as an emperor of my own little town. When I first saw this, I really said to myself “Is is this even worth playing. I mean, just look at it, no animations, so dull, no action and totally a piece of crap.” Little did I know that it was an online strategy game, which I was so blind I had no idea what it was. I have tried my very best to understand the game but I just got so puzzled on how it works that I’ve even came to the point of quitting it, and I did. But because my classmates keep  babbling about how nice it was, I gave it another shot. And whooops! I got the it right and I finally knew what I had to do with this game. So, I read and practiced my way to the game building my formidable little army and started destroying another souls day by killing his soldiers and stealing his resources for good, or the other way around..hahaha xD

It was not fun at all until I saw my military reports go on red alert, indicating an incoming attack. Oh I swear to got I got real nervous as if it was happening in reality. And that’s where the addiction started! I have lost many battles, lost hundreds of men, got looted with thousands of resources, got Absolute crisis and scarcity of food. It was when the seed of revenge was planted. I honed my skill, wielded a the best fighters and entered into “addict mode.” Sure I did victorious moments together with my allies and friend, I even liked insulting and messing up with the loosers..hehehe. Everything got so exciting when I got promoted as the DBZ or Dabawockeez(forgive me if the spelling is incorrect) where I made connections and treaties with other alliances, arranged acceptance of new applicants, etc. It was a nice but very exhausting role. So on and on the game gone.

It was all going good when suddenly I got banned and my account was gone for good. Yep, sad but I admit I deserve it. Who does not do dirty stuff around there?huh? Don’t act all innocent, I know every strategy you know. Multiple accounts…and there’s more… X

But, destiny smiled upon me after that horrible day [...there was a brownout while I was writing this...and some parts were deleted I can't retain them xD] because the new server Beta was opened up which allowed my to level up my addiction into obsession. So, I made friends with new people and one player really gave me techniques, strategies and additional knowledge on surviving the game. I was oline almost all time of the day and keep refreshing my browser if in case I get attacked. I was sitting the whole day in front of my PC and wasted my time spying, attacking, and of course defending my colonies. Since I was the Diplomat, I was responsible for Declaring Wars and stuff that made me pretty busy. This went on and on until that very day that the course of history was changed, and it was when the damn thesis started bugging me off. So each day, my interest in playing deteriorated but still I find times to take peak and do my thing a little. There were also times when I couldn’t stop and get back to “addict mode” I rarely got the chances. So, everything went so complicated, new version released, some players quitting, alliance changed, and etc diminished my interest.

At the moment, I still have my beta and gamma account, I signed up for delta but I didn’t pursued it. I grew tired and weary of the game. I’m just maintaining them now just for the sake of not getting my towns erased from the Ikariam.ph World. It’s been days already since I logged in.hehehe

SO, that’s the story of my Ikariam days…(*_*)

Gotta take a rest now buddies, we got a field trip in Cebu City tomorrow! weeeeeh! Vacation mode activated. ^_^

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Fear runs deeper…Distraught, confused, and half-wild with fear, Sarah Carter emerges alone from the Appalachian cave system where she encountered unspeakable terrors. Unable to plausibly explain to the authorities what happened - or why she’s covered in her friends’ blood - Sarah is forced back to the subterranean depths to help locate her five missing companions. As the rescue party drives deeper into uncharted caverns, nightmarish visions of the recent past begin to haunt Sarah and she starts to realize the full horror and futility of the mission. Subjected to the suspicion and mistrust of the group and confronted once more by the inbred, feral and savagely ruthless Crawlers, Sarah must draw on all her inner reserves of strength and courage in a desperate final struggle for deliverance and redemption.

I am dying to see this! The best horror thriller movie I have watched so far!