#5 Ming Ming

Last July 24th, I was able to watch a short drama entitled Ming Ming. The moment I entered the amphitheater, I got excited to watch the drama because I was curious of what was it all about. But aside from being curious, I got excited because it wasn`t my first time watching a live drama. The first time I watched a drama, I was really amazed. That`s why I expected the same thing in watching Ming Ming. Before the drama began, the spirits already entertained us. They As the introduction of the drama started, I was really confused about the role of the two spirits. But thankfully, they did an interaction part and viewers who had questions in their minds were being asked. When the show has already started, I was a little confused because of the three characters` point of views narrated in just a single act. The writer`s way of delivering the story was more on a flashback.

It tells about three generations (Ai, Pi, and Ming Ming). Pi was the daughter of Ai, and Ming Ming was the daughter of Pi from another man. They gave the name “Ming Ming” because for them, she`s like a cat. Ming Ming was already dead when she knew everything about her identity. She heard it all by a flashback.  The drama showed how rebellious Pi was to her parents and how she and Ming Ming got influenced by the outside force (school, technology, etc.). Also, it tells us how a single big mistake will affect our lives and our family`s lives.  In Islam, they really take good care of their girls. They are so precious for them. They do not easily let their girls stroll in the city especially at night. When it comes to marriage, they don`t just easily give their daughters to any men. They will make sure that their daughters` lives won`t be a mess. A woman should not just date a man, especially a non-Muslim. This should be known by their parents. In Islam, parents of some are the ones deciding the marriage of their daughters. Mostly, the parents of both are already acquainted with each other. They know that by this, their daughters won`t feel any burden at all, rest assured that they would give anything for the girl. They follow the culture and traditions of their ancestors from generation to generation.

But generally, for me, the drama was a huge success. The casts did their best for us to fully understand the message they wanted to share to us. They really showed the emotions of their characters. They don`t just directly narrate the whole story. They used idiomatic expressions and flowering words that will give us hints and ideas. They also used symbols that will symbolize each character and the significant things related to the characters. They really know their character well and they were able to answer questions asked by the viewers. I must say that I understood the story before hearing the summary in the interaction part. Congratulations to the casts and crew! :)

#4 Dreams

I was already in high school when I discovered what course I really want to take up in college. But it doesn't mean that I don't have any goals in life when I was still in grade school. It`s just that I don't have clues yet of what I want to be when I grow up. I simply asked my parents on what job can I possibly get in the future. As far as I remember, when autographs were still popular in our grade school days, I sometimes wrote "I want to be a physicist." (even though I am not into physics) in the ambitions part. I`m not even aware of what a physicist is, only that they like and do a lot of physics. As what I have said, I only got that from my parents (especially from my father who likes math and physics).

But things have changed when I entered high school. Before enrolling, we were already told that we need to get a course that is science-related and as long as it is in the DOST course list (our school is under the DOST). I didn't think much about it because I was just about to enter the school. In school, I learned a lot of interesting subjects. By studying those subjects, I came to realize and told myself "Ah, I want to be like this and like that."

In my third year in high school, two of my subjects were about Biology. I like the subject even though there`s a lot of memorization and because I was inspired by our biology teacher. As a result, I wanted to be a biologist or a doctor. A doctor who takes good care of kids. Yes, a pediatrician. It's because I love kids, especially those who behave well when I`m around. I find them cute and fluffy. They always lighten up my day. I want to see them grow up well. But this dream started to become blurry when I found out that I don`t like blood injections. I can always feel  pain every time I can see a syringe full of blood. Because of that, I decided to appreciate subjects other than Biology.

In my last year in high school, we were oriented about some of the courses offered by DOST. Metallurgical Eng`g, Mining Eng`g, Materials Eng`g, Chemical Eng`g, and Food Technology were some of the courses discussed in the orientation. I got hooked up with Chemical Eng`g. They told us about the different jobs we could get after finishing the course. I must say that they were able to convince me to take the course. Also because, I love Chemistry (inspired by our Chem teacher). My mind was focused on that course. This was the final course that I confirmed in MSU-IIT.

Unfortunately, things went wrong during our enrollment day. I was not able to enroll in Chem Eng`g because of the limited slots. Instead, I enrolled in Electronics and Communication Eng`g, and hopefully, I can shift to Chem Eng`g on the next semester.

Taking an engineering course does not mean I already gave up my Med dreams. I am still in the process of getting rid of this fear of blood and needles (trypanophobia). Hopefully, after finishing Chem Eng`g, I`ll be getting Biology subjects so that I can proceed to Med.

#3 The Unforgettable Day

The story entitled "The Sweet Unforgettable Day" tells about the woman who had a creepy yet an amazing experience about her dead mom. In the story, the writer merely described the feelings and emotions of the main character in her sweet unforgettable day. For me, it was a sweet unforgettable day. How can it be sweet when it was all creepy? -__-

Surely, the woman misses her mom so much because only a year had passed since the death of her mother. The thought that her mother is dead is still fresh in her mind and heart that the pain she felt is still there and not yet healed (may be healed, but not completely). It may be the reason why she felt that her mom was there with the strong scent of the perfume. She still can`t accept the fact that her mom is already gone and she can`t move on with that (not yet). She just can`t get over it. 

The pain may give you trauma or a shock that MAY lead you to hallucinations. Because of the good memories you had with a loved one who just died, you might be imagining of occasions or situations wherein you are smiling with a loved one beside you or simply hallucinating about your mom being there inside the room with you.

Communicating with the dead? For me, it depends on the person. He may believe it because he was able to experience the same thing and he was aware of it. Without forcing himself to engage in that kind of situation, he happens to be there, communicating or feeling the presence of the dead. It may be also because we believe in souls or spirits. On the other hand, he may not believe it because he didn`t have any experience at all and/or he didn`t want to experience anything at all. Some people say that if you`re really willing to experience something like that, someday, you will experience that something also.

The author may have delivered or wrote the story in a more exaggerated way.

#2 Meet ME

Hi! I`m Honey Fatima Ricablanca Velasco. My classmates, batchmates, and schoolmates call me "Fatima" but other people call me "Honey/Hani". My two names didn`t have any connection with my parents` names. It was my grandfather who gave me the name "Fatima" because I was prayed to the Our Lady of Fatima.

I was born in Iligan City on the 19th day of September in the year 1995. When I was still an infant, I spent my first two years in Ozamiz City where my mom used to work before. I am the eldest child of Mr. Leonilo D. Velasco and Mrs. Venus R. Velasco. I have only one sibling (a brother named as Sean Josephus) in the family. Because of the fact that we are only composed of four members in family, we can`t always have family trips. I know how ironic it is. But if a member of the family cannot join a family outing, the other members will not join too, and that makes the family outing cancelled. For us, it was like "One for all, all for one."

I am now a freshman studying Bachelor in Science in Electronics and Communication Engineering in Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology. I never thought of taking up BS ECE. Enrolling in the said course was only a last-MINUTE decision since some unexpected problems on the total number of slots and enrollees in Chemical Engineering came on our enrollment day. I find BS ChE more interesting than any other engineering courses (sorry to say this but it`s only based on my opinion) and I believe that taking ChE will bring me closer to the goals that I want to achieve in life. But hopefully, I will able to shift to my desired course in the semester in this academic year.

I can eat, sleep, walk, talk, dream, laugh, cry, care, love and do crazy stuffs just like what other teenagers do. But when it comes to expressing my feelings, ideas and opinions in pure words, I doubt that. I am a person who can`t say all the things that I wanted to say because of speech delay. That makes me different and unique but, that doesn`t mean that I am unable to catch up with the others.

People who know me will tell you that I am one of the "hinhin" type of girls. But I guess they have created another meaning of the word "hinhin". I may be just sitting in the corner while other people party all around and pose everywhere for picture takings, wearing sleeved-shirt and jeans while girls wear their dresses, and smile just by looking at someone (a crush maybe) while others hold hands with their partners. But know me more, I laugh so hard and do stupid things when I`m with my friends. I am a secretive type of a person. I keep most of my thoughts by myself (I don`t share all of it at all). I am also friendly and thoughtful, and I care about my friends so much. They`ll say that I am always happy (because they will just see me smiling at them even if there were a lot of problems and I don`t get angry all the time). They know me better than I know myself.

There are so many things in this world that I really want to experience. It`s like I want to engage my self into something and I want it to be the way I wanted to. I want to have the things I need and like, I want to be a person who can do all the things that she wants to, and I want to be someone that people around me can be proud of.

These are not the only things about me. Turn a page, I`m a book half unread ;)

#1 I stop to say "Thank you Ma/Pa"

Being a parent is a great responsibility given by God. It is a parent`s obligation to raise their children well. They provided us a house to live in, food and water to take in, providing the basic necessities and. They take care of us, give their full support to inspire us, they encourage us to do well especially in school, they give all their efforts to give us a good life and they sacrifice a lot just for us.

Life would be so hard if you live in this world without any parent taking care of you. No one will cook for you, send you to school and provide your daily necessities. In school (especially in grade school), we were taught on how to express our gratitude to our parents. One way is by giving them a card with those popular lines like, "Thank you for everything, I love you!" most likely when there is an occasion. But as time passes by, I don`t spend time to write a card or say those words in front of them anymore just because I am shy to tell them. I missed the chances to say thank you to them when I was still in grade school

Now that I am already a teenager, my parents are working abroad, a hundred miles away from us. My mother had always wanted to work outside this country. But on my surprise, she asked her agency for an extension of her preparations before leaving the country. She wanted to be on my birthday before she`ll leave. She even went to our school for me to also celebrate my birthday with my batch mates. But as far as I remember, I did not tell my mother even a simple “thank you ma.” As I think of it today, I regret it very much.

But despite of the distance between me and my parents, I still have a chance of telling them what a parent wants to hear from their child. Distance didn't stop me in telling them how thankful I am to have them. Every time we chat, I always have time to tell them “Thank you kaau Ma/Pa.”, at least. For all their hard works and sacrifices, I should not forget to say how thankful I am to have them in this world.

Thank you for my parents for taking good care of me. Without them, I wouldn’t be here. :)