Birds And Tights

Speech Choir and Ignite Speech Competition
(Thursday April 21. 2016 - Auditorium)

           Today, is a very important day. It is the main event of the English Resource Center and everything we've been doing for the whole English Term has been leading up to this moment. It is also important because this event marks my last post on this blog and truly, what we've experienced today is something worth blogging for. One last time.

           But before the main event (Speech Choir), first I would like to talk about it's little brother, the Ignite Speech Competition. Our representative was Beatrice Baylosis, she talked about "fangirling" about Korean Popular Music and the ways on how exactly to "fangirl." 

Beatrice Baylosis with her speech about fangirling.

           She had a lot of competition, Kristine Mangle from ABMA-155 who talked about her favorite things , Jem Yucoco from CPE-151 who talked about the difficulties of having curly hair, Liam Acosta from ABMA-154 who talked about being alone and there were many more. 

Jem Yucoco, talking about the difficulties of having curly hair.

Liam Acosta, with his speech about anxiety and being alone.

           Fortunately, even with all these adversities and competitors, Beatrice was able to get the second runner up place.

           Now, we move on to the main event.

           As you may know from our block, we are the living embodiment of procrastination and this is certainly prevalent until this last event of the ERC (Speech Choir and Ignite Speech). The piece that we were going to use was given to us weeks prior to this day but with our procrastinating skills and large amount of workload,  we were not able to fully prepare ourselves for the competition. Although we practiced at times, this was hardly enough compared to the amount of practice we needed if we wanted to win.

Some of my blockmates, wearing their "battle masks."

         History repeated itself, how we practiced for the Chants and Cheers Competition awhile ago, was almost like how we practiced for the Speech Choir. We only memorized at first then incorporated movements and formations very later on, there were fights because we couldn't get along, ideas weren't truly expressed because of creative differences, last-minute preparations, etc. 
Basically, just like our practice for the Chants and Cheers and when our block was assigned to "merge" with ABMA-155, everything became two times more difficult.

The winners of the competition, having their photos taken.

ABMA-152 with their speech choir performance.

         One major difference was our costume. On the Chants and Cheers competition, we wore a body-hugging upper garment, a military-style camouflage t-shirt to be exact but in here we wore a tight lower body clothing, called "leggings" to be exact; hence the title.

ABMA-151 performing their interpretation of "The Caged Bird."

         Just like from the Chants and Cheers competition, there were last minute preparations made before we started to perform, we had a lot of competition with good costumes and awesome interpretations and we had the quintessential "last practice minutes-before-the-competition."

         Finally just like from the Chants and Cheers Competition, we didn't get a place. Still, every single one of us enjoyed the experience and that is what's most important in a block section, it's having fun and having a stronger relationship with one another, whatever challenges may come.

         

This Integrity Thing

Public Speaking Competition (Wed. April 20, 2016 - Auditorium) 

          In our "All-English Term" for this school year 2015-2016, we had two Public Speaking subjects. 

          For the PUBSPE2 (Public Speaking 2) finals some of us had to do the "Ignite Speech", wherein the speech (Can be about any topic) is accompanied by a powerpoint presentation that changes slide every 15 seconds, in this project the speaker is only allowed to glance at the presentation from time to time. For the PUBSPE1 finals some of us had to do the "Integrity Speech," in here there is only one topic that can be used and the speaker has to prepare a speech that will last for 5 minutes with an additional 30-second grace period with no powerpoints and whatnot.

         Here's the catch, our professor chose which project we would do. He said that the majority will do the "Ignite Speech" but there will be a select few that will do the "Integrity Speech" because I guess that's more difficult.

         So from the title of this blog you could probably tell what our professor chose to be my final project for both his Public Speaking classes and it wasn't only me, there were 7 others chosen for this. Hint: it's not the "Ignite Speech."

         Now, making a 3 to 4-minute long speech about any topic is one thing but making a 5-minute speech about a given topic is another. First of all the given topic was a quote by Albert Camus, "Integrity has no need of rules." It was all fine but there was one problem, I knew little about this "integrity thing."

         But with a stroke of luck and two overnighters. I've managed to make my speech, I gave it to sir the next day, he asked me to make some revisions and I made them, then gave it back to him again the next day. After a week he asked the 8 of us to recite our speech in front of the class and all of us were able to successfully recite our speech.

         You would think that it all ends here right? Well, it doesn't. In fact, this is only the beginning.

         This was all part of the Public Speaking Competition that happened on April 20, 2016 at the Asia Pacific College Auditorium. You see, the 8 of us were to compete in this competition representing our block, ABMA-153 against the other freshmen SoMA and SoE blocks. The 8 of us were just anxiously waiting for the day of the competition so that we can finally have our final grade for our Public Speaking classe(s).

The assignment of rooms.

         Then the day of the competition came, the long wait is finally over. The organizers of the event had a systematic way of deciding who would compete with whom for the elimination and final round. This was certainly not in favor of us, the contestants.

Me (in the middle), with three of my blockmates waiting patiently.

         There are about forty contestants and there are four rooms, those forty contestants would be scattered equally and randomly on those four rooms, that is the elimination round. Two of the best contestants from each room would be picked and those eight people would then become the finalists who would compete with one another in the auditorium, facing a large audience, while using a microphone. Writing this part of the blog makes my hands shake.

My point-of-view inside one of the rooms in the Elimination Round.

         As if like magic, I was chosen as a finalist. Unfortunately I was the only one from my block that was chosen to compete for the final round.

         I won't go in to detail about the speeches of my seven other competitors. but I can say that I was already blessed and thankful for even being part of the the finalists. Now, all of my hard work and sleepless nights paid off because I was able to get the 2nd place and this experience has certainly thought me an important life lesson, that a little hard work and perseverance can go a long way. 









        

The Giant Head Triumphs

SoMA WEEK FLOAT COMPETITION

          This was it. The moment we've been preparing for. For almost month, all of the first year ABMA students have been preparing their own floats with the theme "Philippine Mythology." There were friendships broken, time consumed and materials used, generally all of us were beleaguered.

          But this was it, the first day of the School of Multimedia and Arts Festival has come and main event on the first day was the Float Competition. Aside from the floats, this was also a competition on who can do the best performance that will coincide with the floats made.

ABMA-153 Group A (Agtawak)

ABMA-153 Group B (Zigbin) Tied for the second place with the Agtawak.

          The competion was difficult, we were up against four sections and each of those sections were divided in to two groups, except for two, which was ABMA-154 and ABMA-155 because there were only a few students in those sections.

The champion, ABMA-151 Group A (Ibong Adarna)

          Everyone made such cool floats and all of them aligned with the theme, so it was difficult to tell who was going to win. The floats of the first block, ABMA-151, were the majestic "Ang Ibong Adarna" and the fearsome "Bakunawa Dragon." ABMA-152 had the two biggest floats which were the "Tiyanak" and the " Si Pagong at si Matsing." I can confidently say that our (ABMA-153) two floats were the most terrifying, the "Agtawak," a zombified hybrid of the "Agta" and the "Wak-wak" and the float from my group the "Zigbin," a zombified "Sigbin" creature. The last two blocks, ABMA-154 and 155 made the "Si Malakas at si Maganda" and the "Sarimanok," respectively.

ABMA-151 Group B (Bakunawa Dragon)

          In the morning, all of the blocks and their floats, took part in the Float Parade from Asia Pacific College, going along Lapu-Lapu Street and back, this parade showcased the talented and creative skills of first year ABMA students. When we came back to APC in the afternoon the show wasn't over yet, instead it was time to show off the performances of each of the blocks.

ABMA-152 Group A (Tiyanak)

         It was certainly a diverse competition. There were different kinds of performances, some acted, some sang, some danced and some did a little bit of everything. 

ABMA-152 Group B (Si Pagong At Si Matsing)

          After the event, the finalists were announced. The five block who made it were: ABMA-151 Group A, ABMA-152 Group A, ABMA-153 Groups A and B and finally, ABMA-154. After a few days the winners were announced on the SoMA Awards. ABMA-154 grabbed the third place, ABMA 153 Groups A and B were a tie in the second place and ABMA-151 was the champion. 

The third placer, ABMA-154 (Si Malakas At Si Maganda)

ABMA-155 (Sarimanok)

Why I Hated James Bond For A Day

WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE: ERC EDITION

          The College Week is an event at Asia Pacific College where almost all of the students look forward to. It has a plethora of activities for everyone, activities that are designed to engage all the students and personnel of APC and to celebrate the spirit our unity as one school.

         Also, the College Week celebration this year (2016) was particularly special as it also celebrates the Silver Anniversary of Asia Pacific College.

          There were many activities that happened during the College Week celebration, activities such as talks from industry professionals, sports competitions, the APC Epidemic - where people  dress up as zombies and chase other people that are trying to solve the puzzles in the event and of course the highlight of the College Week, which is the Mr. And Ms. APC Pageant Competition.

          But out of all the activities during the celebration, there was one that really stuck out for me. It was the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: ERC Edition," the only event in which I was directly a part of but didn't want to join, I was only chosen by my professor in Technical Writing because a lot of my classmates suggested me when he was looking for participants.

          Everything was fine until the day of the competition came, it was March 8, 2016. My heart was pounding even though I didn't want to be a part of this competition, there was still pressure from my blockmates and my professor because they chose me and my other two blockmates to represent our block.

         It also didn't help when I found out that this was a competition for all the students in the school, which meant that we weren't only up against first year students but also against higher batches. *Sigh...

Mr. Lapira and Mr. Yuzon preparing the stage for the semifinals.

          The competition had three rounds (Easy, Medium and Difficult) just like the original "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," the only difference is that this is the "ERC Edition" which means that all of the questions will somehow be related to English. I assumed that we were going to be eliminated from the first round, it's not that I didn't have faith in my teammates but because in my experience, in school competitions involving all levels of students, the higher batches tend to win.

           To my surprise, we were able to reach the top five in the semifinals and for a moment I thought to myself "Wow, we could actually win this..." Then the final question came, the question which would decide if we're going to compete with another block for the trophy in the final round, the question that would earn us enough points to be crowned the second placer or the first placer if we won.

                The question went a little something like this: "In which publication did Ian Fleming first published his novel Dr. No?" The choices were "Oracle," "Playboy" and two others that I forgot.

Me (In the black shirt), realizing what I've done.

          Since I'am a person who is fond of movies and I have seen the movie adaptation of Dr. No, I thought this was going to be a breeze, but it wasn't. I ended suggesting "Oracle" to my teammates instead of "Playboy" and this costed us the chance to go in to the final round.

                Long story short, that is how James Bond made my sad for a day. We lost the competition but we gained something in the process. Now I know that even as first year students we could still go toe-to-toe with the higher batches and more importantly, the experience reminded me that there is still a lot that I don't know; the reason why trying to learn something new everyday is now one of my core philosophies in life. 

          

Andrew Cesario's Birthday Celebration

BENJAMIN ALVES POETRY READING AND BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

          Last March 18, 2016 seemed like a normal day for my class and the only exciting thing that day was that it was Friday but little did we know what was going to happen. It was already our last subject, Expository Writing and the time was 1:35 pm, all of us knew that in a few hours we would all be going home, relaxing but instead of having a class our professor asked us to go to the Multipurpose Hall 1 at the first floor. He said that there would be an event but he didn't tell us specifically what event, so we went there hoping for a surprise.

The birthday cakes, all lined up.

          When we got there, we were surprised. There were lights and cameras everywhere, food stalls on the side and almost all of the first year ABMA students were there along with some Engineering students. In addition, there were birthday cakes on the side and they had these small posters beside them that read "Happy Birthday Benjamin Alves!" After seeing all the things inside the MPH-1, two questions immediately came in to my mind, who is Benjamin Alves and why is he celebrating his birthday here?

          We searched for a place to seat, my block mates scattered all around the hall, while me and seven of my block mates were left with the front row seat because I guess no one wanted to sit there. The host of the event was Ms. Tessie, a comedian from GMA, she entertained us with jokes and funny comments while waiting for the birthday celebrant. Then Benjamin Alves came in and suddenly I remembered,he was one of the main actors in a previous movie we watched, "Sana Dati" but still I was asking, why celebrate here at Asia Pacific College?

          Benjamin Alves came up to the front and thanked everyone, he thanked the GMA Artists' Center for coordinating with Asia Pacific College to make this event possible and all the students and school personnel who attended his birthday celebration. Later on, several students came to the front and read their poetry and from that moment I knew that aside from being a birthday celebration, this was also a poetry reading event. 

Benjamin Alves, reciting his poem.

          Of course, Mr. Alves also gave his share of poetry, it was a love poem. I couldn't remember the whole poem but what struck me the most was the last line: "Love is the most perfect thing, even if it's never." He mentioned that he is an English Literature graduate, which explained his English proficiency.

          Overall the event was a blast, there was food for everybody, we laughed and got to take pictures with Mr. Alves, there were fun activities and everyone just had a good time.