UP Min’s DULA 2011

UP Mindanao held its annual university sports fest known as DULA, which is a Visayan word meaning play, last September 1 and 2. Hopefully, that will be my final attendance in the said event as a student. The main attraction in DULA is the cheer dance competition between courses. This is where every student gets the chance to cheer for their college mates, course mates, friends… and family, in my case. My sister Miko from the BS Agribusiness Economics (BS ABE) was part of their cheer dance team. I have to say I had high spirits cheering for her… in my heart and mind. I’m so proud of her, but I’m not comfortable yelling and jumping so I kept my exhilaration within myself.

Before I go into detail about what came about in our sports fest or intramurals, let me tell you something about me and my two other sisters. It was like the three of us represent the three and only colleges in UP Min – me (BA Communication Arts) from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), Janine (BS Food Technology) from the College of Science and Mathematics (CSM) and Miko from the School of Management (SOM). Good thing though that we were passive with the course and college wars going on at school. We know that those petty disputes won’t do any good to our school, and especially to us. Only narrow-minded entities engage in those rubbish stuffs.

Blood is indeed thicker than water as the old adage says. The three of us may come from different “worlds”, but we still stood by whoever from us is in the battle. Janine and I gave our full blast support to Miko! It feels really good whenever someone from the family succeeds. Why did I say that? It’s because I can truly say that my sister is one of the best dancers in the whole competition, and that paid off because BS ABE seized the 1st runner up slot (BS Food Tech 2nd RU and BA CommArts Champion). Later, I’m going to show the top three winning performances. To my course mates, I still supported you. Good job! And… don’t ever respond to those petty taunts. Keep your cool.

It was the first time that all the courses entered the cheer dance challenge. BS Biology wasn’t able to compete, because they were already considered Hall of Famers for their 4th consecutive victory last year. But they still presented their Grand Slam feat in DULA’s culminating ceremony. I didn’t have the chance to watch it live, but I watched it on YouTube. Rumor has it that they can join again next year. BA Anthropology (BAA) and BA English (BAE) participated in the competition at last. BAE’s intro routine gave me goosebumps. BAA, on the other hand, cracked me up because of their funny spiels. They’re known for their brand of entertaining exuberance.

Here are some DULA photos I gathered from Himati and more…

UP Mindanao Chancellor Gilda C. Rivero doing her speech to formally open the DULA.

My sister Miko’s beautiful snapshots…

CHEER DANCE PHOTOS PER COURSE (from Himati)…

Cheer Dance videos from BACA, BS ABE and BSFT, plus BS Bio’s Grand Slam Performance…

by Himati Vlogs

BS Biology's Grandslam Perfomance by Renzy Benzy

Fun shots with my buddies courtesy of Ed Ralph Aguzar…

What I wore in DULA 2011…

Top: Miss Alice

Pants: Lee

Galdiators: Parisian

Bag: from England

Danglings: from England

Bangle: SM Accessories

Cheers to UP Mindanao for another successful DULA, and congratulations to CSM and SOM for bagging the over-all champion. Before I end this piece, let me just bring out something regarding the course war in our school. To my fellow UP Min Iskolar ng Bayan (National Scholars), I hope we find it in our hearts to stop those quarrels. I hope for sarcasm and name-calling be stopped because it’s an utter waste of time and effort. Those are cheap shots! We are all educated here. We should end those childish arguments that are just so high school.

We always talk about unity and respect, why not do it to everyone else in the campus? Let us not become LOTS (Low Order Thinking Skills) by nurturing grudges to one another just because of a simple thing. Remember, there are a lot more matters that deserve our utmost attention other than just engrossing ourselves to insignificant catfights. Be smart by disregarding temptations to initiate tiffs. Don’t slog out, just simply IGNORE. It takes maturity to stay even kneeled; and it takes emotional intelligence to take anger out of an issue.

I have a sane solution for this dilemma. I think it’s high time for UP Mindanao to take part in interschool competitions instead of just battling with one another within the school. It’s time for us be united and treat each other like family. As I said earlier, it feels good to witness one family member prospering. Do you get the point? Other schools, like UP Diliman, are unified because they fight for their school’s glory, and that they support one another especially in the UAAP. I hope it’s not too late for us to be like that.

With that, I reiterate that we shouldn’t set each other for war. Stop being violently agitated to senseless spats. We don’t want anything to devolve into huge and ugly blowouts, right? We’ll learn a lot if we can take our emotion out of any seething situation. Ang liit-liit na nga lang natin sa school eh, mag-aaway pa ba tayo?

Man from the Past

Photo Courtesy of Stjerne in the Sky

Day 5 - Things you want to say to an ex (30 Day Challenge)

Guess what, dude! I haven't been thinking about you for such a very long time already, but I dreamt of you the other night. That's just weird! I don't know how you sneaked into my subconscious state of mind. You wreaked havoc there. You did things that are just so troublesome. I don't want to talk about it. I want to tell you something else, since that's the task I have to accomplish for this blog challenge. I'm happy that I got better after our heart breaking split up. I'm ultimately happier now with my new life.

I know out break up didn't cause you as much pain as I felt, but it's all fine. I was just so young back then, and I still don't know how to control my emotions. It's embarrassing to realize how childish I was before when we were together, but after years of being away from you I realized that I was not totally in love with you. I was just crazy with the idea that I finally had my first boyfriend. Here are some of the things that have happened to me after you told me you wanted to walk alone without me. I thought you ought to know.

• I met this man named Ciovic. He takes care of me, and I know he loves me more than I love him.
  
• I'm no longer a cry baby. I can now control my feelings. I'm proud to say I'm no longer weak.
• I've learned to love myself more than ever. I strive hard to make myself feel better all the time.
• I got very devoted to those things that I love to do with the help of those people who hold me dear.
• I am very near to reaching my life-long dreams. I know you've always wanted that for me.

I heard you've found the girl you want to marry, and I also heard that your Mom's cool about your relationship with her. I know it's quite impossible for you to stumble upon my blog, but I just want to say that I'm very happy for you. I hope you become a better partner with her this time. This sounds trite, but don't repeat the same mistake. Ok? You're not getting any younger, dude. You should be mature enough. Okay, let me cut this drama now. I hope you're happy for me as well. See you around, Gian.

day 21 – a song that you listen to when you’re happy

Happiness happens to me in different aspects. That would also mean that a particular happy phase in my life has at least one song to make it even more worth remembering. However, if I cite every song for each notable situation I have, this piece will definitely be like a novel. I know you wouldn't want to read a blog as long and elaborative as a book. So in that case, let me be specific by picking only one circumstance among the many ones that made me feel so gratified and lighthearted.

Travelling by the sea makes me ultimately happy. The first time I’ve tried it was when we had a field trip to Camiguin for a short course of photography for our Art and Society class back in 2010. There’s really something special about the sea that fascinates me a great deal. I love its waves, its breeze and most especially, its mystery. I was so glad that my parents allowed me to join that trip. Seeing and feeling the ocean before and after sunrise got me high that I didn’t stop taking pictures of it.

That excursion was one of the best academic activities I ever had. This song called Good People by Jack Johnson reminds me of the great time I had while sailing our way to the beautiful island of Camiguin. This is one of my favorite songs. Have a blast!

Good People by Jack Johnson

"You win

It's your show, now

So what's it gonna be

'Cause people

Will tune in

How many train wrecks do we need to see?

Before we lose touch of

We thought this was low

It's bad getting worse so

[Chorus:]

Where'd all the good people go?

I've been changing channels

I don't see them on the TV shows

Where'd all the good people go?

We got heaps and heaps of what we sow..."

The video used is not intended for copyright infringement.

day 20 – a song that you listen to when you’re angry

I don’t have an exact song that I listen to when I’m mad. All I know is that when I’m not in the mood or when I’m at odds with someone, I just stay in one corner and think those negative thoughts out. I don’t do anything else other than trying to calm myself down. That’s the best I can do to get my mood back to normal. Even taking heed to my beloved music library becomes an unnecessary activity when I’m upset.

I’m a person who gets really angry when I’m extremely cheesed off. It’s a bit hard for me to control my emotions. I take everything too seriously that I also tend to get way much disappointed. I know that’s really unattractive of me to act that way. Good thing though that I perfectly know how to tame myself, and that the only ones who can help me in going through my dark moments is I and my God only.

On that note, there’s this song that makes me realize what I should do whenever I’m coming apart at the seams. Just like what this particular song says, I should just slow down and take everything easy. Without further ado, here’s Slow Down by Reel Big Fish.

Slow Down by Reel Big Fish

"Slow down,

You got to slow down and

Take it easy

Slow down,

You got to slow down and

Take it easy Oh Yeah

Well you've been racing around and your bloods flowing fast and your heart starts to pound

Yeah you've been shaking the trees but no answers fall out just birds nests and leaves

You told that son of a bitch to get out of this place or you'd punch in his face

You threw the telephone down when the bad news came and then it stuck around..."

The video in this post is not intended for copyright infringement.