Photographs and Memories

First of all, I would like to apologize sincerely to the melancholics reading this now. Tears run down your cheeks seeing the title of this post, reminding you of your incessant love to Jim Croce.

Let me start. Last Sunday, me and my sister Christine, had the chance to check our old photos stored "inside" the vintage TV we had at home. Yes, inside.. We got all the "intestines" of the TV, and used it as a shelf of photos, albums, and books.

It was an idea that just popped out my mind that moment, thinking maybe, photos could remind me how I metamorphosed from being innocent to violent. Here's what I have found:

The oldest photo I ever have is this. I was a year old.

My Mother, Rosalinda, had alot of stories to tell about this photo. When I was this small, I knew my mother almost regret why I was born. That is because she lived a zombie life. I had the most unceasing cry in the entire town, both my parents don't know what to do. They wished sleeping pills exists dominantly back then. Throwing me out of the house must have crossed their minds... That, I bet. Hahaha.


Obviously, The girl at my back is Christine Aba. The date to which this photo was taken remains unknown. Looking at the photo above, I can see only a few things have changed. hahaha.


I'd like to comment about something I figured out to this photo to the other before it. There's a similarity between them: My sister is always at my back. Up to now, she really is, always.

Finally... to end this photo blog, here's the most hideous-looking photo I EVER had - I have seen a MOSTEEER. The photo was taken during kindergarten years, where joining Sinulog de Tanjay (now Saulog de Tanjay) is never an option - it's mandatory. To move up to first grader, you have to look like this:

Thanks Holiness, passing college isn't as hard as doing this. If it was, I wish I died.

'Till next time, people. Thanks for dropping by CupAvenue.

Today, the World is in my head.

I am writing this blog in the wee hours of the morning, exactly 1:10 am (as I start typing). Boarding house at Villa Mariano - exact place. A 1.5 liter coke, and plastics from eaten burger around my table, some small plastic cups we have shared with my sister who is at this exact moment, snoozing her butt.

Television switched to channel 2, and just turned all blue after the closing anthem about 1 minute ago. All I can hear is the sound of two small ceiling fans connected from ceiling, making a sound. Rolling, spinning. One above my bed, the other, on my sister's.

The rain just stopped pouring down, and I have exhausted all sites. Eyes' a bit tired.

At the moment, while thinking of words to fill here, the television suddenly turned off. It was probably switched to sleep mode. I heard the smooth but annoying sound of a cat near the jealousy. My sister is still completely dozed off and buried to her bed.

I'm a bit hungry but I feel drowsier than hungry.


I am thinking now. How and what is the other side of the world doing? It's 1:23 PM in Eastern Standard Time. The streets are probably busy and people are hurriedly walking. The huge buildings there might be full and busy. Many people at the moment might be enjoying Disneyland. Some might be feeling starved. They might be walking to look for good food.

They are probably thinking about someone. Something. Some problems. Some events. Some people. Some memories.

Some of them must be heartbroken. They are probably thinking of dying. Some are wasted, they have consumed more than enough to feel numbed. They must be calling their friends. Some might be relaxing, and thinking exactly what I think. They must be thinking about me, but does not know exactly who I am.


There must be some people running somewhere in this world. They must be running for their lives. Someone in this large world must be, right now, writing a blog similar to this one. Some people, at this very time the clock ticks, are dying... or must have died. Some people must be in grief because of loss. How sad. How many of them are grieving? How many of them are at fear?

But there must be newly-born babies - they just came out!

Some of them must do something very important right now, and must have forgotten something.
There must be someone thinking about me. How many are they? It must be Zero.

Some of them must be building relationships. They must be making love.

But how many people exactly are making love at the moment?

But how many people pray?

How many people are dying to look for food?

How does the world look exactly from outer space?

There must be an Earth somewhere. There must be another person like me there. He must be writing a blog in his world too! He must also be inspired. But he might not be sleepy. We have a different planetary system.

How small am I compared with the world?

But what is God doing right now?

He must be busy looking after the people. But how can he manage that? No. He's just powerful.

How many hairs do I exactly have now?

And.. when will... I die?

I can't help but think. Today, the world is in my head.

A Macroblog of the "Haven't Written"

I realized (just now) how situations balloon in just a month or two. They happen as they happen and sometimes, you miss writing them to at least save a memory. You sometimes think - I should have blogged this out! Why haven't I?

Thus, a Macroblog. =)

There are too many things that left their remembrance along the road, in the tip of your coffee table and you have somehow let them pass. I myself have let them vanish as the new page flip the next day. I sometimes wish everyday has its automatic record-tracker: it happens, it writes itself down. So here in the Avenue, I'd write down three blogs in a nutshell: The birthday in Sickbed, The Tragedy of the Year, and The Call Center Life.

FIRST CUP: My 21st Birthday (The Birthday in Sick Bed) - Ooops! I seemed to have missed a big portion in this Avenue. I should have said even just a small phrase that contain my hopes and dreams for my 21st year ahead. But wait, should I have second thoughts?

Many people often think their birthday is not worth telling. They simply believe spilling out your birthday, worst, birthyear, is like jumping in a pond of mud - you let yourself become a laughing object of the day!

But as for me, there's nothing as nice as someone telling you their hopes for your birthday - even when you've grown really old. Nothing to hide. I'm 21. All I have been wanting though, was to reach this age, and become a fully grown professional - and that is peeling itself to reality!

On my 21st year, I have told myself: You-are-so-freakin'-good! Be bad sometimes. =)

SECOND CUP: The Tragedy of the Year - Though this phrase may sound like an award for emmy's, this is nothing entertaining or feel-good to the ears. It was the worst day I have, I was emotionally disturbed, and almost fell my bed when I was seeing the tragedy fall from my very eyes on television.

There have been too many writings on the net (and too many videos, in fact) about the hostage crisis in manila, but there are only two strong points I can say: First, these things happen. And this one that has just happened makes the Philippines a no-exemption. Just like other countries in the world, we unfortunately have an evil everywhere, manipulating people in the most tragic way they can.

Next, these are things we should only learn from. But that case will not spring up as learning if there is nobody owning the responsibility of the aftermath. Someone should raise a hand and acknowledge a sin, and not constantly pinpoint people to avoid criticism.

Amid all these, I fervently pray that the Lord guide us through in preventing all these from happening.

THIRD CUP: So This is What They Call "Call Center Life" - I have long been planning of a major major macroblog for this, but time just won't allow me to draft. For the sake of this, I can finally say that I have fully embraced call center life - the life I have never dreamed of in college days.

I had too many negative impressions of a call center when I was 19 years old. I came to the point of thinking that applying for a call center means narrowing my life span to only 10 years. The world has created mental meatballs of the words "call center" as a job of stress, emotional pain, technicalities, sleepless nights, insomnia, worst, AIDS!


But call center is not as bad as I thought. I may have only experienced a month of taking calls, I could conclude that the agent - himself - will create his own description of a call center.

But nothing is as fun as this job - and that tells everybody that I am enjoying every step of the way. I may not stay in a call center as trainer/supervisor for 5 to 10 years, but this one is the job I would constantly owe my life with. I have truly learned!

The Search that was

Beauty, Brains, and Body - these are three essential factors a candidate should possess in pageants like the most talked-about search, the Mr. and Ms. Negros Oriental State University 2010.

Basing these factors in choosing the year's Queen last December 1, i should honestly say, as one of the hosts, that such didn't climbed up to my expectations of quality pageantry. I had the doubt that it may have turned more as an exploitation (as many feminists say).

But honestly, it was not all that... this year's search traversed the boundaries of pageantry (or exploitation) and had successfully surmounted up to the total entertainment expectations of many people who wills to see women and men in the highlights of their lives.

And contrary to whatever exploitation feminists explain, pageants like this will always be a celebration of masculinity and femininity; the celebration of one's success.

*Here are some during the annual search for the Mr. and Ms. NORSU.

Excitements in full swing.

I haven't been this excited ever, I don't know why. The past days have proven that I am such a shithead - i can't help myself. There literally are a bunch of reasons to be excited about this November and December. There's the Christmas, my mother's birthday, my special one's birthday, The State University Founder's Day and my hosting stint(s) that time, and a lot more.

But i won't mention all of those here in this post. But enlisted herein are just some of the excitements that break me down right now.

FIRST STOP: Well if you ask every Dumagueteno what's something exciting in town, there is but only two words: Robinsons Dumaguete. Here's a latest photo posted in the internet:


The mall is slated to open on Monday, November 23, brushing elbows with the Dumaguete Fiesta celebration on the 25th (If i'm not mistaken). This mall is said to be "the first full-service shopping mall in the province of Negros Oriental," according to Robinsons manager, and is said to give Dumaguetenos a different and new "night life.... and a world-class shopping experience."

Oooh, so interesting. Robinsons Dumaguete will also have more surprises in store such as a pleasant-looking al fresco, located at the back portion of the mall. =)


SECOND STOP: After several months of planning and brainstorming, we finally laid everything down to its finality - the finality of one of my several dreams in my life -- being an events manager.

Together with Foundation University Hospitality Management adviser, Christine (my sister) and her two other comrades from her field; Alton Jave Tenorio, Killerbee jock and Weekly Sillimanian News editor and events host, the most ambitious undertaking i ever had in my life has come: The EVENTS Dumaguete!

For Events and hosting services, contact 0939-185-3844.

Caught on Camera: Away-from-School Mode

I'm back in the net with the realization that i should have updated my blog after hurdling the busy months of October and November. Phew! busy is indeed an understatement... and i know it would never be proper to blab much about the crawling enrollment process, and the mind-paralyzing complications at school.

So before I finally open another seemingly draining semester, I took one of my life's biggest treat: Going to Cebu the fourth time this year for a Regional Youth Media Summit with, fortunately, my best buddy coincidentally picked for Silliman Media delegation. A Macroblog will be posted here about that very unforgettable travel soon.

Meanwhile, before I finally meet the last set of tormenting subjects in college this semester, in this photoblog, i'll take a total shift from a school life mode. I'll let you see some of the most relaxing moments caught on camera. And while I'm keying words for my next post had i realized that there were several unforgettable moments caught on camera that have lingered on the past weeks. .. and fortunately, most of them were just about eating, eating... drinking, and hopping. Here's some of the great things i did the past weeks that were caught on camera.

We had some cold coffee dipping at Gabby's Bistro, one of Dumaguete's best resto.

Took some honey bread-tasting at Noriter Cafe. . .

Joined the gigster rockers at Hayahay during the "NU SKUL NIGHT". (This flick taken before the wild night started)

Took a stroll at Angel Alcala Marine Laboratory formerly Silliman Marine Laboratory...

Went to the City of Cebu as one of Dumaguete's 10 delegates for the Regional Youth Media Summit at Mango Peak Hotel (A complete macroblog will posted here in CupAvenue soon.)

Prior to my Cebu Regional Media Summit, i took another exhausting stroll at Ayala Center Cebu - The Terraces. . .

Had another refreshing coffee dipping at Starbucks, SM North Wing.

And just to take the opportunity of the eerie ambiance surrounding the mall that time, i took a pose with this human manikin, if you call her such, that halloween. Awoooo!!

And yes, FINALLY, oh Lord, when i came home to Dumaguete, a big yet small gift came... my stress reliever after the long, long hopping... my newest pet, Hobby - the rabbit with a PIG appetite. =)

Because Grades doesn't spell Smartness

Pieces from Edges
By Joel Aba
An Opinion Article
Published for the Golden Eagles
College of Business and Accountancy yearly publication
Negros Oriental State University


Learning: Redefined

Have you ever tried memorizing long sentences with the hope of putting answers to your enumeration-type test? Awful, isn’t it? But it could be much awful when you have finished memorizing everything, yet you have not actually learned what it’s all about.

It could be “utmost awful” if you do it for the sake of getting a grade.

In our university, even in our very own college, we students could have no other way but agree to this. In fact, I have even found myself guilty of such. We sometimes tend to memorize the words, but not it’s real meaning, not even the essence of why such words must be remembered.

But this manner of getting a grade has gone way deeper than just passing a subject. This has, in one way or another, destructively caused us to have a bound-to-be-fleeting knowledge of what the subject matter is all about.

A subject, if we define it, is one included in a curriculum and is not only any of the various courses of study in a school or college, but a body of learning. Learning, in the other hand is the acquisition of knowledge or skill. Therefore, trying to memorize everything discussed without properly understanding its real implication and purpose to us and memorizing merely to get a grade is virtually nonsense – or simply, meaninglessness.

But this truth does not extinguish the value of what memorizing brings us. Memorizing is good, and it is at its best, if and only if, associated with internalizing the facts printed or copied on our notebooks.

Just like how we learned our ABC, we have tried in pre-school memorizing all the 26 letters of the English alphabet. But memorizing alone is not the real essence of why remembering the alphabet is a must. The practice of using them to produce and spur out some phrases that breeds to sentences, to paragraphs, and to speech is the main objective of such memorization – the “real and essential learning.”

And just like going to school, and answering our paper exams, we need to restructure and redefine the process of how we learn – trying to understand what it is all about, which is primarily the golden rule in learning. Questions like, “Why do I have to study this?” and “What learning could I get from this?” or “How will this confuse me and sharpen my mental abilities?” are the right questions in redefining and reassessing our learning process at school.

Our teachers in the College of Business and Accountancy are all armed to instruct us. It is up to us to remember their instructions by heart and mind, and hopefully resuscitate them in the future, not just memorize them and “gone with the wind”.

Only then will we say that the words, “I have truly learned”.

This could mean "Finally Happy"

Every post in this blog site is a cup. And before I start off my rants in this cup, I would like to tell the whole World Wide Web that I noticed an injustice in this page of the web: I noticed that the entries I posted here in CupAvenue have no dates - and I resent and protest against blogger templates for that. Anyhow, I would like to tell you guys that the dates between the previous post (entitled "One Down") and this recent post you are reading now is virtually close. The previous post "One Down" is supposedly dated August 25, while this one is dated September 2 - that's about a week after.

By the end of this entry you will notice an obvious difference seen between two posts. Both are in the opposite extremes. The post below is obviously a post of my typical rant - Sadness, Sadness, Sadness - since blogging has, for all these years, my avenue to express anguish, yet has also become my refuge.

And that's what I did last week. I blogged my sadness out. And just so you know, I drifted in utmost pain. I found no peace. I see hatred more than love, and I felt more than just depressed. It was a depression that almost shook my life, and in our last weeks together i knew that i was treading on a road of uncertainty and distrust. I was treading on a road of failed expectations and endless exasperation and bitterness. And all these happened just weeks ago.

This post, in the other side of the spectrum, is an expression of, not just freedom, but happiness and full delight. Now i felt like taking that 360-degree turn. And this blog will serve a creamer and sugar to the bitter ingredients inside the cup of my present life.

Yes, I am happy. And you shouldn't be shocked if I tell you that someone makes me so happy. Yes, I know you guys will think that I am taking relationships as that of dress rehearsals, or one-night love affairs, or short-term gamitan. But may you not think that way... Ayaw pod! I should tell the whole world that I am in love with someone I have long been looking for, someone so different.

I don't expect much from this person, but as of this time, I can clearly see not just the sincerity that we have for each other, but the many commonalities we figured out of our selves as we conversed. Right now, we both know that we have found the missing piece of our lives. We both know that our attitudes and values, personality and character, even interests and skills are in one container - and this happened to me for the first time. We are partners, and i love thinking of the fact that we are not just partners in the edge of its name, but partners in its real essence. And this fact breeds a feeling of assurance to me. Though I acknowledge the fact that I never know what lies ahead.

I never know what happens next, more so about what might be the next bitter posts after this. It could be "One Down, Part two" and I'm afraid I might be posting the same title to it's Part 20 after a year. I might blog again and say that i have proven again that I am such a failure. But i never care. As long as i continually, by faith and love, take this challenge with the one I love. And now, I feel the sense of security for the first time.

I never felt this thankful and it feels like a miracle is happening to me. It's a miracle. But now I'm thinking, could a miracle happen to my blogger template posts' date dysfunction? Grrrr. That could be my next bitter post. =)

Twenty.

July 28,1989. 12:03 pm - 20 long years ago.

But 20 years after that fateful date, was a struggling man who couldn't even face the reality of being "bente".

Twenty. Sadly for me, this fresh start with that "2" digit in my age is something i dreaded since then. It's true. I kind of hated it... yet it's a bittersweet feeling turning 20 and leaving that 19th stair, and the moment i finally took a step to the next stair and accepting my 20th was piercing. But I know its not just because i'll have to leave the teenage ... but maybe because of how my bully-looking yet silenced father, Jaime, reacted after realizing that his youngest son is turning 20. We talked...

"What's the plan sa birthday pa?" I asked.
"Pila na diay imo edad?" my 65-year old dad asked me back.
I showed that pouting sad lips and said, "twenty!"
And he exclaimed with that big vice that seemed to me a command...
"Sus! Gulang naman diay ka! Sige raman ka'g binata!

from that moment on, the lines perhaps triggered me to take the first step toward seriousness or perhaps, just a new level of extra-strength (like the infamous "Ultapas nga halang" lols) and a new set of extra-miles.

But yes, it's high time to take responsibilities with determination and seriousness - two words that will hopefully compel me to move even further as a 20-year old guy... (sound seems hair-raising. awoo!)

Teenage will be the best part of life... a fact never to be extinguished yet a fact that makes the whole thing bitter - and knowing that i can never call my self a "teen" again, as i was always proud of to my friends (my friends are mostly in their 20s anyway), notwithstanding the many traynta-on friends i have.

But i shouldn't fret. Ever year is a blessing and a whole new field to tread on. Now, I should have to constantly remind myself with these lines: teenage has to pass, this stage simply has to come... and there's no stopping now.

So then, let acceptance reign on me. whatever!


(Special Thanks t Junrell Calunod for the layout of my birthday wallpaper)