IT'S MY UPCAT TOMORROW?

So. I'll be taking the UPCAT (University of the Philippines College Admission Test) tomorrow morning, August 16th. Wooo~

I had been reviewing since May for this exam, and I am confident in God that I will be able to endure this test and pass and be accepted into the University of the Philippines. I have another post about my reviewing. If you haven't seen it, it's right through here.

Although I say I am confident, there's still this tiny part in me that says, But remember the 70k+ people you'll be competing with? And then I get nervous again. But then my lovely mother said not to get worried. I'll list down some of the advice she gave me.

First off, she said that I should not get worried because God is with me. I prayed that I will pass the UPCAT, and I reviewed a lot, and I should trust God no matter what.

And trusting God in the UPCAT means absolutely trust in Him alone. No doubt should ever poke at your brain.

I reviewed a lot, and I should just try to process everything fast. I said that I think faster when there's adrenaline rush, so I'll be jogging in the wee hours of the morning before the test.

Don't think about passing. Focus on answering and finishing the test. Don't get gigil at the test paper.

Bring chocolate for energy. Yeh. And food, cuz the test is like four hours and you're not gonna eat?! Okay.

And yeah. Just be confident in God. No worries.

:)
Eunicorne xx

Throwback Thursday!

SO. I've decided to post a throwback thingy every Thursday? Yeh. (MAYBE NOT. Whut) Woop woop~ But I still have yet to see if this is going to work for me. Hah. Anyways. I shall start.

So yes. Throwback. I need a photo. Here's one.

Presenting: The Godspell Cast. Nope, it's obviously not the original; this cast is made up of the students in the theater class in our school.

So I shall tell you a little story. The day was May 31st of 2013. It was drizzling because of the rather odd weather in the Philippines. We were headed to the PETA Theater in Quezon City for the one and only show of Godspell. After a few months (two or three, I think) of preparation, tiredness, rehearsals, and script memorization, we were finally going to act it out on stage, in front of a live audience. Within that audience was our beloved teacher, Ms. Neomi Gonzales, our parents, family, friends, schoolmates, and a lot more. The theater was filled. Lights and sounds were up and running, cues memorized, makeup retouched, and 3, 2, 1...

Wait. Before I become a tad overdramatic, I shall just kinda make this story a bit more fun. It's still all real, I promise you.

So yeah. Everything I said in the paragraph before the last was true. But I missed out some important and hilarious details.

I got sore/inflamed (whatever you call it) throat the night before the play. It so happened that while I was putting hairspray, I tilted my face upward so my nose caught some hairspray. The liquid went straight to my throat and stayed there. Plus, I accidentally inhaled some powder while someone was putting it on me and my clothing so it'll look messy steampunk. The result? I looked good. My voice was the exact opposite. I couldn't talk properly and normally, much less sing. This play was a musical. Self-explanatory. Good thing I didn't have any solos. Good thing I knew how to use stage voice.

A lot of the costumes were made from old clothing. The theme was steampunk. If you don't know what steampunk is, go Google it. Anyways. It was cool making those! It triggered everyone's imagination. The kind-of bad part about it is everyone mistook the steampunk color palette to be emo-ish. Guess what? A lot of people showed up with costumes that had a lot of black in it. Our teacher, Ms. Neomi, advised us to tweak our costumes a bit so it was more steampunk. So we did. The outcome is pictured in the photo above. Still had a lot of black, ey?

Godspell was the last play where this batch was together. So after the play, and the giving out of certificates of something something, the tears began streaming down everyone's face. Except mine. I felt really sad because it was like the last time I'll be with these people in a play, but my eyes just didn't have the energy to cry, and my throat felt like sandpaper. Meanwhile everyone was hugging everyone and the parents were taking photos, and the tears were still streaming down everyone's face. One of our friends who didn't join the play went around asking for souvenirs, like bangles, gloves, scarves, earrings and stuff. It was quite funny because when we were getting ourselves cleaned up, one of my friends/ates was like "Eunice, take care ha. No boyfriend muna! I'm gonna miss you! No boyfriend muna!" And I was like, yeah, sure okay.

SO YEAH. There. #ThrowbackThursday because it's Thursday here in the Philippines. Aye. Kbai

Eunicorne xx

I like photography.

I think you don't have to be a professional to take really good photos. I dunno. I'd like to share some of my favorite shots. :)

 

 

 
 

That's all I have to show right now. :) Sorry if the layout is quite messy, I kind of don't know how to fix this. Haha. Anyways. :))

All photos are copyrighted to me.

(c) Jasmin Umali

Pride.

[This piece of writing is rather odd and messy and uses a lot of metaphors and similes, and connects everything like a puzzle. This writing may or may not feel sad/depressing to some people, but please bear with me because this was my mood when I wrote this. Thank you for reading.]

~

pride

prīd/

noun

1. a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.

Pride is a big thing. Some kind of pride is okay, I guess, like having pride in your sister for winning three gold medals in some sport. Another kind though, I think, is when you overdo it. Like when you have such a deep satisfaction in yourself that you never take anyone's advice anymore. Instead, you take what everyone says as an offense you your so-called greatness, when you're actually just one more idiotic person who needs a lot more improving as anyone else.

I'll just tell a story. This happened.

Sometimes, people tell me to tell them about the things I, or other people, want them to improve. Then one day, they do the thing I want them to realize they have to improve on. I tell them that they have to improve on that particular area, then all of a sudden, they explode. My words were supposed to be the key that, when turned, triggers the self-thought in the person, and in turn, makes them stop and pray and improve. But heck no. My words became a fire lit match, that when brought close to a hydrogen-filled balloon, it just obliterated anything within a certain radius.

It hurts. I try to be helpful, and yet all I get was a beating. Not physical, but verbal and emotional. It hurts even more when you're not in the conversation, not even in the same room, but you hear every. single. word. Both voices rising, one trying her best to contain the situation, the other defending his pride. It just sucks because I promised, but I couldn't say it out loud, straight to his face (but in a kind way, but still), because I sort of know what's going to happen. It's going to get worse.

What do I do? I sink back into my bed and attempt to make a decent conversation with my sister, so she wouldn't have to go through the agony of hearing them quarrel downstairs. Call me a super overactive shielding older sister but heck, I don't want her to hear the negative things and adopt them.

It kind of worked, but he was still so frick fracking talking too much. I cannot. I took a shower just to hear the water in my ears, and not their raised voices. It eventually ended, right after I took a shower. They went out. Their original plan was to go and have something printed somewhere. One thought the other was waiting, then the other one burst out just because they have a slight misunderstanding. 

Some days or weeks later, we come at the same topic again. About openness and how important it was to tell the other family member about the things they had to improve on. So the interrogation (exaggeration) began. 

"So what can I improve on?" he starts asking the family over dinner.

I say that there was nothing to improve, but it was all fine, and it was better than compared to a few months before. I had forgotten all about the recent quarrel, but a few minutes into the conversation, I kinda remembered it. And when I say something about an issue, I don't just keep a straight face if it really hurt me. If I don't care, or if I was angry, I'd have a straight face. But when I got hurt, especially emotionally, that's where my eyes turn into a waterfall. 

~

The problem about all of this is that this pride thing, can be from the fact that like hey, I do a lot of stuff for you guys, I am the 'head' and therefore I should be respected. Anyone who acts otherwise will immediately be bombarded with loud words. But you can still tell me what you want me to work on. Like what?

I know people have a lot going on in their lives, what with the world going too fast, change comes to frequent, everyone demanding more from telcos, and it's hard to manage the telco of the whole Philippines. Sometimes what causes the bursting up is pressure. Pressure on everything. From the house to your work to your idiotic nephew to anything related to life. 

Well I guess the only thing you actually have to do is to just let it go. I mean, if you identify with me or with the person I'm talking about, you just have to let it go. Not like let it go, can't hold it back anymore so you'll just be another hydrogen-filled balloon with a fire right next to you and you burst, damaging everything within your reach.

Let it go, meaning, let the hydrogen-filled balloon find its way to the clouds. Let God take care of your problem. Lift it up to Him. He knows what to do with it. Surrender. Don't let pride get in the way of your surrendering because it's getting in the way of your relationship with other people. Surrender your pride, your pressure, your anger, and let God mold you and fill your life. This may be hard, but it's worth a shot.

I don't know who I'm addressing this to, but I don't care. Maybe you need this. I also need this.

Thank you for reading. 
Eunicorne xx