crazycandz

missing a tag-along

2010-03-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

starting this sem, panda bear (code name) keeps on tagging along (this is my term lang) whenever and wherever - where i eat dinner, when i study in school, and of course people noticed, and of course i keep on sayang "wala lang un." i just keep on saying na we're just friends, because i really saw panda bear in that context (possibly a little bit more than that). and people told me that well, panda bear likes me. and he admitted it a few weeks back. didn't know what to do. well, i decided to tell panda bear (two weeks after he admitted) that for now, i am sure that all i can offer him is friendship, but that i enjoy his company naman, pero un nga lang, there is a sort of hadlang, because if i'm gona have a relationship with someone, gusto ko siyempre that we have the same belief. ayun. after that talk, and a clarificatory talk few days after, panda bear doesn't tag along anymore. sure, we would still chat sa ym, pero he doesn't text me anymore, like before. he doesn't eat with me na rin, and hang out or study with me. well, kinda sad pala. coz i got used to him being around na rin, and ngayon biglang wala na. well... that's life :(

thesis nightmare

2010-02-10T02:43:00.001-08:00

im in thesis class right now, and the discussion is about how to write your thesis, which is due one week from now. men! our class is required to submit a 50page draft already, while other classes are spending their time defending their topics. to think that we have nine other subjects to worry about! hayayayay! anyway, i know i'm just JJ-ing but try to understand, writing a thesis is stressful. not to mention i hvae some duties for my org pa. haayyy... and family things pa. nywy, gona listen to the discussion na nga uli.

kissing christmas break goodbye

2010-01-02T19:05:00.001-08:00

christmas break is now coming to an end. coz today is the last day of it. hahaha. but thing is, this christmas (or rather last year's, since after all, it is already january) doesn't feel much like christmas. i remember when i was way younger, when the BER-months come, we would already have our christmas tree up, our house would already be filled with christmas decors, and everywhere one would hear christmas songs playing. now, christmas seems a little gloomier - maybe because of the economic crisis last year. or maybe because, as an adult (i'm turning 24 this year. yuck!) you tend to give more and receive less? come to think of it, i didn't buy any gifts except for the exchange gift/kris kringle, as well as for my inaanak. of course, it didn't help that I seem to not have any spare money to buy gifts. hehehe.
but, as we always have to remind ourselves, christmas is not about the festive atmosphere, or the gift-giving, but about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. and it's not just christmas that we must remind ourselves of this, but everyday. so long as we have Jesus in our hearts, it's always christmas :)

immersion round 2

2009-11-14T03:14:00.000-08:00

i am part of the facilitating batch for this sembreak's internship program of the ateneo human rights center. so for two weeks, i was away from home. for four days, we were in tagaytay, after which we proceeded to socorro, oriental mindoro for the immersion proper, and lastly to puerto galera for the RnR. i will concentrate on the immersion part.
as a facilitator, our job was to make hatid the new batch to their community and in the middle of their immersion, to visit them. me and sir ry were tasked to hatid two pairs (meaning two sites as well). we left headquarters at around 2:40pm, rode the van until happy valley, then proceeded to walk, cross the river (like, 28/29 times!) and climbed the mountain. night fell when we were still on the road. we arrived in the first site at 7pm. so we decided to stay for the night, and to continue the journey the following morning. and this is where the torture session began. upon arriving, we were presented with banana which was somewhat similar in taste to fried saba or something like that. anyway, it was really good. the problem was that there were 6 of us and each ate 2 pieces lang ata. of course, that ain't enough. especially for an appetite such as mine. hehehe. buti nalang on the way, we bought skyflakes and a can of sardines. so to supplement the banana dinner, we had one individually wrapped skyflakes each and a piece of sardines. still not enough of course. in the morning, nobody cooked, buti nalang i brought nova, so that was my breakfast.
after "breakfast" we left for the second site. we crossed the river like 9 times i think. we stopped for a break, and sir ry gave me a piece of his energy bar. and then our travel up the mountain, as in dun sa daanan ng kalabaw. so maputik, madulas, and we even had to use a walking stick and rope just to climb up. grabe talaga. and to think that it didn't rain that day. buti nalang. otherwise super hirap talaga. halfway up, i took off my mojos since it kept on sinking in the mud. actually, hanggang binti ung putik. we arrived in the second site around 11:15, so three hours kami papunta. upon arriving, there were very few people. our lunch consisted of buko. imagine the hunger i felt! grabe talaga. going down the mountain, we travelled through a different route. but it was so slippery as well. in front of me was sir ry so i observed which areas he slipped so that i could avoid sliding as well. also, good thing that there were many "kuyas" who accompanied us. so going down, i held on to two of them. one on each side. hehehe. oh! one last thing. there were limatiks in the area going to and fro. limatiks are somewhat similar to leeches. they suck on blood. but if you take them out when they haven't bitten onto your skin, then good for you. well, i had a total of 4 limatiks, but none were able to suck my blood.
overall, going to the site and getting back was difficult, but it was a great experience as well. and super fun. so no regrets my volunteering to join the immersion as facilitator :)

sembreak's here, but still not much time to relax

2009-10-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

final exams lasted one and a half weeks (from October 12 to 21). but i didn't get to relax yet after finals was over. coz i had to contend with my secreg paper and my torts digests due on thursday (October 22). nywy, i finished them at almost 1AM. by then, sabaw na utak ko, not to mention that i was soooo sleepy na. after all that was done, i slept of course. but sleep was not enough to make up for the lost sleep that i had to endure during finals. i know it's not healthy for our brain cells when we lack sleep, but much as i want to, it always seems as if i lack enough time to study, so where else would i take that extra time but to deprive myself of a few hours of sleep just to be able to read and finish studying the coverage? today (Friday), morning was basically a time to just be lazy, but by afternoon, back to my hectic sked. at noon, i had to do my groceries with my mom, even before i had my breakfast and lunch! that's because we have to use her credit card. after groceries, i had my delayed meal. after an hour, i went to binondo to buy supplies for my org, for the tagaytay part of the internship, and also other stuff that we were going to send to the communities we went to last year. after an hour of rest, i had dinner with friends/churchmates since Kim was about to leave for London. sadness actually. 2mrw (October 24), i need to buy more materials (notebooks and whatnot) to give to the communities. have to bring them to makati so that i won't have such a hard time later in the evening when im going back to makati with my stuff. and then, Kim's despedida is from 4-7pm. and then after that, as mentioned, im going back to makati. sunday morning - start of sembreak internship program. and then we come back on november 6 - friday before the start of classes. so basically, i have no sembreak because of the sembreak internship program :(

medyo masipag magblog

2009-06-10T05:04:00.000-07:00

Here I am once again, blogging. Don't have much to tell really. It's just that I got nothing much going on here at home.
I was supposed to go to Catarman, Samar tomorrow to conduct a training, but then it got postponed (for the second time). It was supposed to be happening on May 23, but then our contact said that it would be better if we did it on June. And then they decided on June 11, since their classes start on June 8. But because of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus, lots of schools moved their opening of classes to June 15, and theirs did as well. So like I said, my trip got postponed to who knows when.
So, my second to the last week of vacation, I have nothing to do, except accompany my grandma to UST for her therapy sessions, watching movies, and reading novels.
But this last week is a bit different, especially since I was able to buy my Asus eeepc netbook. And I'm using it right now. And I'm loving it.
Since my eldest brother was here for the past week and a half, he copied all his movies into my netbook. So now I have almost half of my hard disk's memory full of movies from my brother. And that's what I've been doing almost the whole day yesterday, since my other brother told me that it's important to use a new laptop for three whole days. But aside from watching movies, my only use for my netbook is the internet, since school hasn't started yet. But I'm sure once it does, me and my netbook would be buddies, day by day.

last day at work

2009-05-29T01:36:00.000-07:00

finally, i have come to the end of my apprenticeship. this is my last day here in the law office. as of this writing, i officially have one and a half hours left. that's because i end at 6pm. though i'll be staying here until around 6:30 before going home. but it doesn't help that it's raining right now. which will definitely mean more traffic. i just hope that when im waiting for that bus to take me to buendia, id still be able to secure a seat.
that's the difficulty in makati. at 6pm, eventhough there are a lot of buses, there still does not seem to be enough to take in all the people. which is why i prefer to leave a little later, at 6:30. by the time i reach the loading area for buses, there aren't as much people coz those people who are hurrying to go home have already gotten onto the earlier buses at 6. they prefer to get on the buses eventhough there are not enough seats to accommodate all of them. me? i don't like standing up. that's one of the things i avoided that is why i get up at 6am so that by the time i leave the dorm or my house at 7, there still aren't that much people riding the buses, and that means i get a seat. unlike if i leave earlier just in time to get to the office by 9, i would most likely have to stand up, which i really prefer not to. so, i just make a little sacrifice and wake up earlier.

work, work, work

2009-05-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

I started working on april 13 for my summer apprenticeship in a law firm. Now, it's my 23rd day. 7 days to go, excluding this one. My apprenticeship ends on may 29.
We started out with 5 of us as apprentices. Now, we're down to 2. The first 2 ended last may 4 - their 2nd half was with a different firm. The third was going to (and is now in) the US of A. So he lasted only until may 8. And so, like I said, there are only 2 of us left.
During the time that there were 5 apprentices, i.e. the first half of our apprenticeship, work was not so heavy, obviously since there were more of us. I felt how heavy our work load was the first day when there were only 2 of us left. Imagine, by the end of that day, I had 4 pending work to do! That doesn't happen often, thank goodness. Most of the time, I only have 2 pending work before I call it a day and go home (rather the dorm).

Because of work, I went to San Fernando, Pampanga last thursday (may 14). That took most of the day. And I was almost sent to Zambales today, but it didn't materialize. Sayang. Gusto ko pa naman sana pumunta talaga. Kaya lang, when sir J asked me yesterday if I could go today (the other apprentice also had work to do kasi), I unfortunately had work to do din, and it was kind of urgent (meaning, my deadline for that work is today, and it was only given to me yesterday), so I couldn't go. Sayang. It would have taken the whole day. And I love going outdoors too. Because that meant you're working at the same time getting paid and at the same time a bit relaxed.
Well, I just hope that before I end on may 29, I would be able to go outdoors one or maybe two more times. That would be cool. That's it for now.

Food Sale the Second Time Around

2009-02-23T01:35:00.000-08:00

I was head of the first HR Batch Marino 22 Food Sale last December, which coincided with Human Rights Week and the Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE) international conference. I expressed how I felt burdened the whole of that week. So they promised me that I would have a co-head the next food sale. And so the second food sale happened last Feb 9to12 with a co-head, V, assigned. So I thought that things would be easier. I told V that I really need his help especially since I would be busy with the upcoming summer apprenticeship and interviews. But boy was I disappointed that week with V. It was as if I didn't have a co-head at all. Why?
Strike One: He texted me the morning of Monday (first day of the food sale) that he was still on his way back to Manila from Sagada and so he couldn't help me. The thing is, I assigned him to help me set up. He should have texted me like Sunday night or something so that I could make arrangments.
Strike Two: His food sale shift is on thursday, starting at 10am (set-up). He arrived at 11am.
Strike Three: His shift is from 10to5pm. He didn't tell me that he had CLED duty from 2to4. (As HR interns, we are required to render two hours service per week). The problem is, only two of them were assigned for that day's shift. And based from experience, even three people manning the food sale is difficult enough. And now V was going to leave C alone in manning the food sale? If two of my blockmates didn't cut, I don't know how C could have coped up with manning the food sale all on her own.
And what's more difficult that day was that it was the second day of my period. So just imagine how awful and uncomfortable I felt that day.
But anyway, me and V our now on good terms. Don't want to prolong the "fight". Well actually, hindi naman fight, inis lang. Napuno lang kasi eh.

after a week's worth of hard work

2008-12-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

it's christmas break once again. finally. after one week of stress and toxicness.
my org is the Ateneo Human Rights Center. we are the newest batch that is why we are considered the strike force of the Center. the Dec 8-13 week was a busy one not just for us, the newest interns (members), but for the other interns as well. not only was it HR week where we had food sale headed by me, and other activities throughout the week, but there was also the Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE) conference, the first one ever to be held in Asia, with over 150 delegates from all over the world participating. so doble kayod for us. sobrang hirap. kulang sa tulog, for most of the week, i had an average of 5hours only. once i only had an hour's worth of sleep. hindi pa ako nakakapag-aral ng matino. buti nalang hindi ako masyado natawag throughout the week.hehehe. pero medyo nasira study sked ko. sobrang pagod lang talaga and stress, pero can't complain kasi eto ung pinili kong pasukan na org eh. pero overall that one week's worth of hard work paid off. the food sale was super fun and a bonding experience for the batch as well. and we got to stay in the hotel twice that week. so rewarding experience siya.

toxicness

2008-11-20T18:55:00.000-08:00

as always, these are one of the few instances when i can take a little time off to say something in this blog. well.. first sem has ended and there are only 2 out of 8 subjects left na wala pang grades. this is the last day of the second week of second sem and i'm already sooo looking forward to christmas vacation. our schedule is so difficult!!! the first week of classes, didn't expect that we'd be so toxic already. as in. just to illustrate my point, we have the same subjects for tuesday and thursday, which is civil procedure at 12to2, then public international law at 2to3, and then we have corporation law at 3to5. no break, unlike last year where the sked was easier because they didn't have public international law in between civil pro and corp law. at least they have time to study. nywy, tuesday last week was our first meeting. and then already had like an inch on readings for civ pro for thursday! the problem is, the cases were released at i think wednesday evening. that sure didn't give us much time to read. i remember when thursday came, couldn't eat a decent lunch because of the horrible feeling in my tummy. don't think i ate anything for breakfast either. just iced caramel macchiato for me. bought a jamaican patty just in case i got hungry. ate it at 2:30. and this from a person who's so into eating!!! just look at what it's doing to my appetite. i think i'm gonna experience this every tuesday and thursday. but there's talk of moving our public international law to monday and wednesday. if it pushes through, we'd have 4subjects on wednesdays and we have classes from 12to6pm. but that's totally fine with me than having to experience that horrible feeling every time it's tuesday and thursday that i might be unlucky enough to get called for three subjects. eventhough this second sem, we only have 6 subjects compared to the 8 subjects we had last sem, this sem is still way more toxic than last sem. coz at least last sem we had a lot more free time to study, now we have to cram everything everyday.

my davao trip

2008-08-31T01:37:00.000-07:00

went back to davao last august 23, on a 4am flight. didnt get to sleep so much. actually, slept for like an hour only. that's because i arrived home at around 10:30, without having eaten dinner yet and packing my stuff. of course, had to be in the airport at least an hour before the flight, so we left the house at around 2:15? it was in the NAIA terminal 3. by the time we arrived in davao, it was around 6am. ate a little breakfast. slept for an hour. then we went to the church for my cousin's wedding, which is really the reason why we went to davao. after the ceremony, we went straight to marco polo hotel for picture taking and cocktails before the reception which was also held in the same venue. well, i was "forced" to join the single ladies for that part of the program. good thing i was able to catch a rose, because if i didn't... and the funny thing is that the single guy is my cousin! anyway, that ended our first day. second day, lunch at buffet palace for my other cousin's libre to our davao family (she was married the week before). we went to crocodile park. after that, we went to my relative's rest house, which is about a 2-hour drive. the place is so very nice, much like baguio (with the weather) but much less congested. we stayed the night and then we left at around 9:30am for the reason that our flight was at 2:20pm i think. our trip was juz very quick, but an enjoyable one. now, back to studying!

another exchange with a classmate

2008-08-31T01:28:00.000-07:00

well, this exchange is about an expired choco roll of my roommate. actually, it wasn't expired yet when we offered it to my classmate, but because of his delay in getting it, it went past the best before date. anyway, he still took it. and so when we were texting about this, something like this went on:
classmate: ... tell paula thanks for the cake
me: so long as hindi mo daw siya sisihin kung sumakit ang tiyan ninyo o bumula ang bibig. ubos niyo na ba?
classmate: di pa. More than half pa asa fridge. Kapag nangyari yun then i shall sue you for damages!
me: no u cant do that :) there was waiver on ur part bcoz u knew that t was already xpired.but u insistd on getting t nywy. U r estopped :)

juz wanted to show how studying law can affect the way we converse

unexpected

2008-05-10T19:31:00.000-07:00

i find myself tonight in darien, illinois, USA. i've been here for more than a week now. actually, i wasn't planning to come here. all i was looking forward to this summer is my trip to guam on may 21-25. only my brother was supposed to come on this trip to the US of A. but while my mom was talking to my aunt, she extended an invitation for me to come as well. so my mom said we'll try to get a ticket. that was thursday. the flight was two days later, on saturday. on friday, my mom told me that we'll wait until 2pm if i was going to get a ticket. if she didn't text by that time, then i wasn't going. 2pm came and went, no text from mom. so i assumed that i wasn't going. but at 3:30pm, she texted me that i got a ticket. so i hurriedly went to my dorm in makati to move my stuff to my classmate's room because my lease is going to expire while i'm here. i packed my bags that night. next day i find myself flying to seoul, korea at 1pm for my connecting flight to chicago. so now i'm here, with just a thousand dollars in pocket money, which was borrowed from two aunts (500 each). well, i was able to solicit the one hundred out of the 500 from one of my aunts. so i have 100bucks that's really mine. i'm careful not to spend so much. my goal is to spend only the money that is really mine so that i can return the 900bucks to my aunts.

an exchange between me and a classmate

2008-03-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

this series of text messages between me and may classmate, a close friend in ateneo law, happened last January 9, 2008. it resulted because I brought my classmate nestea ice tea - she's an addict kasi. and me, out of the goodness of my heart, offered to make her ice tea para hindi siya malugi sa wendy's ice tea sa skul. mahal kasi dun eh. she spends like more than a hundred per day on ice tea alone. e wala kasi siya ref sa dorm. ako meron. my nestea shaker was not like the ordinary one-liter shaker, kundi ung cute na mas maliit. i really loved it kasi kasyang-kasya sa bag. hindi bulky. nywy, here is our exchange of texts:

jo:Candy, i have a gigantic kasalanan 2 u... :(
me:Nawala m ung lalagyan.naiwan smewer out der
jo: Yep, im so sorry, hnnp ko ulit pgalis ng plant but its gone, sorry... :(
me:No xcuses.negligence resultng n loss f private property.accused s hereby orderd 2 indemnify plaintf n d amount f d object n question.plus payment f moral damages as plaintf sufferd anxiety due 2 d loss f her valued possession.so ordrd
jo:Grbe k nman candy may! I appeal my case kaagd on d ground n d penalty is 2 much! :( Contrary 2 public moral and policy!
me:Accused, knowing how plaintf values d container, has actd n such a manner dat has caused plaintf 2 lose her trust. Dcision f trial court hereby affirmd.penalty f destierro imposd 4 d safety f accusd,as plaintf s n a st8 f mind such dat she may react violently upon seeing d appellant.final n executory
jo:Waah! Nooo! appeal 2 d highest court p! Its a quasi-delict nman eh, destierro is nt applicable in dis case, at d issue is 1 of social justice rin, given dat d accused didnt act wid bad faith/malice, :(
me:Criminal intent substituted by d presence f negligence.motion 4 reconsideration dnied
jo:Waah nooo, sorry n po highest court, :( being d highest exec as well, u can modify my case, il replace it wid smething else n lang since d n un available...
me:Petition f accusd 2 b entertained 2mrw.therefore, 4 d present moment,d accused shall cease all actions relatng thereto and refrain from nteruptng ds court.

after one hell of a midterms

2008-02-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

midterms are finally over.
comparing last sem's midterms and this sem's, in terms of the amount of time and preparation that went into my effort to review for it, i find that more was put into last sem's midterms than the current one. it's not that i felt that i was better able to face the long questions that would be appearing before me during the exam, but it was because there was almost no time to make an advance review. like last sem, our civil code professor gave us one week free cut. but the problem is, there was still this burden of constitutional law, wherein sometimes we have to read around two centimeters thick of cases just for an hour of regular class. the wednesday preceding the exam week, instead of just one hour of regular constitutional law class, we had to do another hour of make-up class because we were a little behind. so of course much of our time was devoted to reading cases for that class instead of reviewing for our civil code (obligations and contracts) exam, which was the first exam and the heaviest with 5units. as it turned out, we didn't do the make-up class. in a way, most of us were a bit relieved because that meant there was no chance we would get to be called twice for recitation. but some of us were also thinking that surely, sisingilin kami ni cande. meaning that he will ask for lots of make-up classes. and that meant that there will be days of two-hour or three-hour consti classes. and that would mean having a chance of being called for each hour. scary!!!
back to midterms. it's really weird how i felt so...well...relaxed. during the exams of three major subjects, i even played zuma on my laptop - i had to take breaks in between reviewing. couldn't just sit and review the whole day. had to recharge and focus on other things aside from the impending exam.hahaha. even had time to watch movies to destress. (after the exam of course. wouldn't dare watch before taking the exam.
i will end here, coz a still have a research proposal to do, due day after 2mrw. have a topic in mind, but haven't really read up on it

thankful for small things

2007-11-26T03:19:00.000-08:00

I thank God for the small things that normally I would just take for granted. But it has caught my attention how blessed I am for the past semester.
I am thankful to God for the strength he has given me to endure the 1st semester of adjustment here in Ateneo - the new people, the new environment, the heavy study load. Without God supplying me with strength, I wouldn't have made it this far. Sometimes we think that we are able to endure it on our own, but that is not how it really is.
I am thankful to God because He has and still continues to give me good health. There may be times when I may be feeling not so good, but never have I really gotten sick. For this I am so grateful. Being absent can mean a lot, especially here in the law school. It would mean a difference of having a 60 (absent when called for recit) and a minimum of 70 (called but cannot answer) or better. It would be so difficult to miss a day in class.
I am thankful to God for supplying my financial needs - for the dorm, the photocopies, as well as my everyday meals. Never have I gone hungry and had nothing to eat.
I am thankful to God for letting me have as my blockmates a good group of people.
I am thankful to God that I am doing well in school.
I am thankful to God for everything.

grades...

2007-11-09T17:42:00.000-08:00

last night, nov. 9, was the scheduled release of our 1st sem grades at 6pm. many of my blockmates were online and waiting for them. finally, one by one the grades were uploaded. the grades were being uploaded per subject.
the first one that was uploaded was persons and family relations, the heaviest subject for this sem, being 4 units. what a joy to finally see my grade. and then constitutional law was next. then criminal law. these were our major subjects. i let out a sigh of relief. the grade for two of our minor subjects also came out - philosophy of law and legal profession. the other three subjects have not yet come out until now (nov. 10, 10am).
but one sad thing is knowing that one of my closer friends/classmates did not do well for the first two majors. hope he doesn't get into a depression, because while i was chatting with him last night, he was starting to feel it. two of my closer friends/classmates also failed constitutional law. so despite feeling happy at seeing my grades, i feel sad because of what i found out about my friends/classmates.

pag-uwi sa aking pinanggalingan

2007-11-04T02:09:00.000-08:00

it's been three long years since the last time i went home to my birthplace of davao city. i flew there on the night of october 31 with my mom. there was quite a downpour upon our landing at 8:55pm, which was 20 minutes early than our ETA. after arriving at the house, we ate a little then rested for the following day was going to be a long day at the cemetery.
Nov 1 (Thursday) - we went to the cemetery at around 9am, which was later than the usual 7am of before. my dad went also. we brought two cars. nakakainis lang bcoz my dad brought his bunso from his second family (strike 1). for me, ok lang un kung wala dun si mama. but the thing is my mom was with us. konting delikadeza (dont know if tama ung spelling) man lang sana. for those who know our family history u know why i said this. hindi man lang ba siya nag-iisip?! anyway, enough of that. it's over na. we ate lunch at the cemetery. went home at around 2pm. after that we left the house after a short period of time and went to this place that sells terno na pambahay (batik ata ung term ni mama). she and my grandma shopped for an hour while me and my eldest brother waited in the car while watching a dvd. we also went to my ninang and stayed there for like an hour. after that we went home. after an hour at home, we (my brother, grandma, mom, me) went out to eat dinner. medyo nawala pa nga kami pauwi bcoz my brother didnt know the road so well. wrong directions from my grandma kasi. hehe. after dinner we stopped over at the house of my grandma's sister (who i call IMA, which is a chinese term). stayed there for maybe half an hour. we went home afterwards and rested bcoz the following day we were going to the farm, leaving at 4am.
Nov 2 (Friday) - couldnt sleep. tossed and turned for like 2 hours. finally able to sleep at 1:30am, woke up at 3:30 bcoz we were supposed to leave the house at 4am. but no, we didnt. strike 2 for my dad bcoz he didnt even bother to call that he will not go. we found out at 4:20am when my grandma called him up at his house. probably it was his 2nd wife who "ordered" him not to go, knowing that my mom was also going or something. if he wasnt going, he should have at least called to inform us, right? shame on him. anyway, we were still able to go to the farm. we left at 7:30am and arrived there at around 10am. the travel time is shorter na since the road was already cemented almost the whole way. (before it takes around 4 hours) my grandma cooked lunch at the house, and after eating we went to the farm (proper) na. almost two hours ata inispend namin. we were able to leave at 3:30pm, an hour and a half late than our ETD. bcoz of the traffic we arrived at the house at 7:30pm. which was WAY later than was expected. our original plan was to leave the farm at 2pm so that we would arrive in the city at around 5-5:30pm, with enough time to shower before dinner. but no, and all bcoz of my dad. if only we had been able to leave at 4am as planned. we were late picking up my ninang who was going to treat us to dinner. nakakahiya tuloy sa kanya. at least i texted her, and later my mom told her the reason why. anyway, we went home at around 9:30pm na, and all of us were so tired na, especially siguro my brother who drove for at total of around 7-8 hours that day.
Nov 3 (Saturday) - IMA called at around 6:30 or 7am, inviting us to go to this resort that was not so far away, around 45minutes to an hour's drive away. at that time, we just woke up. we arrived at her place after around 2 hours bcoz we packed some of our stuff away na in preparation for our flight later in the afternoon. the original plan was to go to Eden, but that day it was closed for other visitors bcoz a company reserved the whole place ata, so went to nearby Loleng's and ate lunch. after a half hour of taking in the view and walking, we left the place na. on the way back to IMA's place we stopped to buy pasalubong (durian yema, macaroons, tart, etc.). after spending a half hour at IMA's place saying good bye and stuff, we left na. on the way back to our home, we stopped by for 10 minutes to see mom's friend. at home, we quickly packed our stuff, at the same time the sister-in-law of my late grandpa came and talked with us for 10 minutes bcoz that was the only time left. after that we left for the airport at around 4:15 ata (which was already late considering that we planned to leave the house at 3:30). we detoured to buy my other brother's request for siopao. at the airport, my mom's friend came to give her suha. and then we checked in na. un pala delayed by 20 minutes. after staying a bit at the airport, in-announce na mededelay pa lalo ung departure. so in total we were delayed for an hour. we finally arrived in manila, in the house at 9pm.
over-all, it was not really a vacation kasi mas pagod pa ung feeling ko nung pauwi na kami, e dapat ang vacation is relaxing, destressing, which did not really happen during our time in davao bcoz of our super hectic sked. but at least we got to see our relatives, which was one of our objectives or our trip there. sana next time it won't take me another three years before being able to go back.

sembreak sa wakas!

2007-10-26T03:32:00.000-07:00

it's finally the end of the 1st semester. been quite a while now since my last post. well, school has ended, now i have three and a half weeks of sembreak. this is now the third official day of sembreak. got nothing to do. so boring just being here at home. looking forward to my trip to davao. havent gone in three years.
aside from watching movies, i started to read for 2nd semester. i can't go out. no money. well actually, i have a little, but i don't want to deplete my finances until it is replenished.
my braces are finally out after exactly two years of wearing them. took quite a bit of time to take them off. going back to the dentist 2mrw to get my retainers. feels so good not to have them on. and yet it feels so different as well not feeling them anymore.

week after midterms

2007-08-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

week after the midterms, not much yet to do, although there are already a few subjects which are making our life more difficult, as usual. hehe. should be used to this by now. i still don't have enough sleep (like, when will i ever have a complete week of rest? probably when sembreak comes). speaking of sembreak, it's so sad that the last day of the final exams, which was october 17, was moved to october 23, i think. grrr. this was due to the several days of no classes/exams when the rains were really heavy. so... do i have only two weeks left for sembreak? don't know... but it seems so far away still. monday (august 27) is i think the last holiday for this semester. no more no classes left for the rest of the semester... hayyy...

after crim exam

2007-08-11T02:57:00.000-07:00

gosh i'm so tired right now. this week is so draining. good thing class was canceled last thursday due to heavy rains on wednesday. funny thing is that the weather last thursday was really fine. anyway, i'm tired. had a study group last night which started at around 7pm, lasted until 4am. well, we didn't really study for the whole 9 hours. in between we ate dinner (we had shakey's deliver party size i think. one of us had something like palm card of pizza hut). so it was like buy one take one. there were only four of us sharing the pizza. so that was like P120 for 6 slices of thin crust pizza. i was full at 4 slices (later i ate the fifth slice after like 4 hours). we had quiet moments when it was only pure reading. we promulgated a rule that for 20 minutes absolutely no one would talk. if you did, the penalty was to drink 3 big glasses of water, something like between 1 to 1.5 liters of water under five minutes. nobody drank last night. but the other day someone did drink. at that time the penalty was 4 big glasses of water. he couldn't finish it though because he already felt bloated. right now, i feel as if my eyes will already shut. as i mentioned, i went back to my room at around 4am. i studied until 5:30 then went to sleep. the thing is, i enabled the alarm at 7:30. but i woke up at 9am. i don't know whether i accidentally turned it off but i can't remember turning it off. so i had around 3 and a half hours of sleep. after this, i'm going back to my dorm to get some shut eye. i really need it. i just came here to the library so that i could check my mail, update this blog, and get some articles off the internet for our orals in philosophy. well, i'm also charging my laptop, which i'm using right now.hehe. so that i don't have to plug it in when i'm gonna use it back at the dorm. just got my electric bill, something like P700 starting from may 19 to july 2. so that's almost 1 and a half months, i think. considering that i have my ref and almost every night i turn on the aircon. well lightly i don't. especially if i arrive at the dorm at around 4 or 5 am, i just turn on the electric fan. anyway, that's all for now. till my next update, which probably will be after midterms. three more exams to go!

in the midst of midterms

2007-08-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

it's only wednesday.. have 4 more exams to go, plus the take home exam. the persons exam was really confusing. hope i pass, coz i know last year only 2 passed the exam. yesterday's legal research exam wasn't too difficult, as compared to the monday persons exam, but still... after yesterday's exam, some of us went to eat dinner/merienda. and then by the time i got home after going to the grocery, i was kinda tired. after studying a bit for thursday's exam, got really sleepy so i took a nap. woke up at quarter to 12. my study group was going out to eat, and then study. but i was feeling sleepy so i said i'll pass. but a few minutes later i realized that i was a bit hungry so i decided to go along. at first we were going to eat at sinangag express, but we couldn't find it, and we were doubting about whether the car would make it through the flood, so from somewhere near la salle, we went to Goodah (not sure about the spelling), i think it was near ateneo loyola. stayed there until around 3am eating and just making kwento and stuff. when our classmate dropped us off at palm village, where four of us reside, we proceeded to study. i bid goodbye to them at 6am because by eyes were really drooping. right now i'm in the library making use of the wifi access, and studying of course, after only getting around 3 hours of sleep. i think i need coffee... caffeine boost. but if i order, i might be so wide awake like in previous days when i wasn't feeling sleepy at 4 or 5 am. we'll see

puyat again

2007-08-01T19:51:00.000-07:00

two nights in a row ako late umuwi, which is never pa nangyari sa akin sa UP. the other day, monday, mga 4am na ako nakabalik sa dorm (well, technically, tuesday na pala), and then the following day mga 2am na. that's why hindi na ako sumama nung nagyaya uli. i really needed to sleep for at least eight hours, which i did last night. and i feel good. so if there is another shot at study group tonight, i think kaya ko magstay up late uli. of course kelangan may food, pampagising un. hehe

upcoming midterms

2007-07-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

a little more than a week left to study for the midterms. start of puyatan and stuff. just last wednesday, we studied in the library until 9pm, went to starbucks until around 12 then headed to mcdo and studied until around 3am. got back at around 3:30am. good thing one of us had a car. then woke up at around 8am to head for school. and i wasn't even reviewing for the exam! what more when next week comes!!!

out at night

2007-07-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

i studied at the library until around 8:30 last night because my dormmate/blockmate said that he would also study at the library. and so i thought that i would have a companion on the way back to dorm. well.. it pissed me off that he didn't show up at the library. i always want to study at the library after dinner, but i won't if i don't have a companion so i was always asking my dormmate/blockmate if he would study. this is because i really don't like going home/back alone, especially at night because i'm...well...paranoid. (so my friends who live near my home/dorm, now you know, that's why i'm always asking whether you will be going home already). this is one of the reasons why i don't like going out at night, especially if no one will give me a ride home, and so i have to go back alone or commute alone (commute is okay if i also have a companion with me). well.. it's a good thing that last night me and my classmate were studying together and on her way back to her dorm she will pass by mine. and so i had a companion on the way back to my dorm. thank goodness!

Start of another week

2007-07-09T18:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Monday, start of another week of dread and recits. actually, i felt prepared in my three subjects for that day, namely: Criminal Law, Persons and Family Relations Law, and Constitutional Law. I actually wanted to be called, in any of the subjects. i felt that i could answer the questions that were asked. but unfortunately, i wasn't called for any subject at all.
we ate at kenny's. and as usual, some of my blockmates were teasing me about my appetite. i shared with them a barkada meal or something, similar to that of KFC's bucket meal. and guess what? i shared it with three boys!!! (actually, can't really call them boys anymore) hmm.. the barkada meal includes a whole roast chicken, 4 rice, 4 muffins, 4 side dishes, and a pitcher of iced tea. well.. i admit i'm not that conscious of dieting. but hey! it's only right that i eat a lot. i already lost several pounds since the start of classes just a month ago, like maybe 6 or 7 pounds already. so isn't it right that i eat a lot? and anyway, i don't eat much rice. i'm more of takaw-ulam kaysa takaw-kanin.

one month of law school

2007-07-04T19:25:00.001-07:00

it's been such a long time since i was able to put something here. quite a bit of time has passed. the reason for this is because of the new road that i have taken. i am now studying law at ateneo rockwell. some might wonder why i have chosen to take up law in ateneo and not UP. well.. to tell the truth, i didn't even take the UP LAE. for one, my mom insisted that i study in ateneo. i also felt that i needed a change of scenery. and indeed a change it was, as i had experienced this past month. i knew that law school would be difficult. i just didnt imagine that it would be THIS difficult. but im learning to enjoy and love it. if not, one would really have a hard time to get by day-to-day with the constant fear of being called for recitation, which is one thing that i really wasnt used to back in my undergrad days in UP Manila. some people even call their stay in ateneo law school as four years of hell. in some ways, it could be considered that way. but this is something that i have chosen for myself, and i must live with my decision, that is if i am able to survive my first year here. in ways, i am still adjusting to this new environment that i find myself in right now. good thing that i have found a group of friends who are also serious about our study of law. and a class that is still highly cooperative
for those who are able to read this, i seek your prayers.

awaiting the end

2007-04-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

so many days have passed since the end of classes. nothing to do but wait for it to finally arrive. the day when i could really say that at last, it is finished. i have graduated. this will occur on the morning of April 24, Tuesday. actually, im thinking why is it so late? when compared with other universities, we are really way behind. a friend of mine from UST graduated on March. My brother from Ateneo graduated on March 31. now why is my commencement taking so long? almost a month after theirs. well.. i don't really know why. but im glad that at long last, the four years are over. and im gonna be starting a new chapter of my life

one month to go!

2007-02-26T19:49:00.000-08:00

yikes! feb 27 na! malapit na matapos ang academic year! kinakabahan na ako sa aking thesis. right now in the process of transcribing palang ako. sa march 15 na ung first draft ng thesis namin. actually, late na nga un compared sa iba. kaya lang kasi ang tagal magtranscribe ng mga interviews. meron nga akong interviews na umabot ng more than one hour. e pag magtratranscribe, ilang beses ko nirerewind ang tape para sa isang sentence. ung iba kasi medyo malabo o mahina ung voice. week after next na pala un noh? e hindi ko rin madevote ung buong oras ko kasi next week may dalawang reporting pa naman ako.

creepy candy

2007-02-19T05:26:00.000-08:00

etong pic, sabi ng iba creepy daw. hindi masyado halata, pero may "baby" akong hawak. i was thinking about a telenovela na napanood ko kung saan ung "baliw" may hawak na unan na akala niya ay anak niya, and so ginaya ko.hehe. ung katawan ng aking "baby" ay robe. actually. kaya lang puti so hindi masyado makita kasi white din ung damit ko.

crazy candy

2007-02-19T05:17:00.000-08:00

eto ung creative shot ko. this is where i actually got the idea for the name of this blog. actually the story behind this is it wasn't really my intention to look crazy. e nung naghahalungkat ako ng costume, eto lang nagustuhan ko so eto nga. pero hindi pala ito straightjacket kundi ung damit ng engineer. o well..

grad pic - toga

2007-02-19T04:43:00.000-08:00

I had my graduation pictures taken last August, I think. And it took me this long to post it. that's because the CD won't open in our computer which doesn't have a burner, but it opened at a friend's laptop, which has one. any connection?

Been a while

2006-12-28T21:33:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since the last time that i visited my own blog. to tell u d truth, i'm really not a blogger type of person. this blog was created as part of a class project in one of my pol sci majors, if u notice d lengthy article, which is d purpose of the creation of this blog.
lots of things have happened since the time i posted the article. we are now in our 2nd semester of school. my last semester i hope in my stay in up manila. i still haven't gotten around much to starting my thesis. i also took the exam at ateneo makati for law. if i pass then i'll go into law school and buy myself a laptop, hehe. if not, well, i'm still not sure what to do. there are times like these when the future seems uncertain and all you can do is hope and pray that it all goes well.

Pragmatic scattering: Decentralization and the concept of IGR by Candy Angliongto

2006-10-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

Leadership is influence. This is what someone once quoted to me from a book. It means that you are a leader if you have the ability to influence another person or group, if I recall correctly.

As our Philippine history textbooks tell us, we have been colonized by the Spanish, American, and Japanese peoples. We can see as a product of colonization the different ways these groups of people have influenced us (and continue to) in almost every aspect of our lives. Take for example the Americans’ influence on Philippine public administration. Many of the theories in public administration that we are studying are mainly American ones. From this example, we see that the Philippines still looks up to the United States as a leader or kuya figure

The United States, as we all know, has a federal structure. This means a system of authority constitutionally apportioned between the central (federal) and regional governments (states). We must not also forget the presence of the local governments. Authority over agency and program activities is frequently shared by these various levels, jurisdictions, and units of government. In the Philippines, we don’t have a federal structure but a unitary form of government. What is notably missing also is the presence of the states. But what is of interest in this public administration article is the concept of intergovernmental relations.

Intergovernmental relations or IGR for our convenience involves comprehending the complexities of the federal system based on mutual interdependence, shared functions, and intertwined influence. But remember that this is the US setting since we are using the book of an American author – Stillman. IGR is the subject of how the many and varied American governments, meaning the federal, state (which remain independent governments with correspondingly independent jurisdictions), and local governments (counties, municipalities, townships, school districts, special districts) deal with each other and what their relative roles, responsibilities, and levels of influence are and should be. And in the United States, this means approximately 85,000 governments! Imagine how these governments are interlocked with each other. There are interactions in times of conflict, but these governments also interact to address immediate concerns through cooperation.

As the years pass by, American federal involvement has escalated, especially in the financial scene with the transfer of funds (called grants) from the federal to the other lower levels of governments.

Now let us look at the Philippine setting where we have the national government headed by the president. Of course, considering that there are more than 70 million Filipinos, naturally the central government cannot address the needs and deliver basic services to all its “clients” without the help of other governments (local governments) that could concentrate on a particular area. Just imagine how difficult and impossible it would be if there is only one government to formulate and implement policies, that is why the existence of Local Government Units (LGUs) are essential. Local governments are better able to address the needs and problems of its constituents since it is so much more closer to its clients. So the job of the central (national) government is to oversee the LGUs.

According to the article “The Nature and State of Local Government” by Prosperina Domingo Tapales, there are three layers of local authority (government). First are the intermediate units of local government that coordinate services in a larger area and supervise lower levels of local authorities. In the Philippines these are the provinces. Below them are the basic units of local government, those performing services for people who live together in a community. These are the cities and municipalities that we know. Last but not the least is a lower and smaller form of local government that constitutes the sub-municipal level – the barangays which have a historical significance to its existence. Only few countries have this layer of local government and the Philippines is one of them.

But let us look at what is really the relation of the national government and the LGUs and how autonomous are the LGUs to decide on their own without the interference of the national government.

The Philippine government has been plagued with “overcentralization” from what they call as “imperial Manila”. It started from the period of colonization where colonialists thought it necessary to control everything from Manila. It continued until the time of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. During the time of the incumbency of President Aquino, a Local Government Code was passed in 1991 focusing on decentralization. This Code intends to strengthen and empower local governments (all three layers/levels mentioned above) so as to make them autonomous or to free them from their utter dependence on the national government, according to the article “Reforming Government: New Concepts and Practices in Local Public Administration in the Philippines” by Mila Reforma.

Also, there was the establishment of regional offices of the many national government agencies throughout the country within the context of decentralization.

Hence, the shift from deconcentration (administrative decentralization) that actually occurred during the time of Martial Law to devolution (political decentralization) which is equivalent to local autonomy. At this point in time, powers, functions, and resources never previously devolved to local governments were transferred to them, which makes it revolutionary in this sense.

The Code transferred the responsibility for the delivery of basic services to the LGUs, including appropriate personnel, assets, equipment, programs and projects. This period saw the increase in financial resources available to LGUs with this increase in responsibility. But there is the issue that this increase in financial resources is not enough for the rise in responsibilities of the LGUs. And take note that the main source of revenue of the LGUs is the internal revenue tax shared with the national government. But “giving off” responsibilities to LGUs is not the only interaction between the national government and the LGUs.

LGUs are also given the power to create laws/ordinances within their area or territory. One could take as an example the case of the billboards to see the harmony in the laws concerning them. The Arroyo administration released an administrative order on billboards (maybe as a result of the recent typhoon Milenyo). Metro Manila cities also have their respective ordinances regarding this matter. Congress, I hear, might also move to pass legislation about billboards. In this manner, we can say that LGUs are also a means to implement national policies at the local level.

But if you think about it, this seemingly harmonious relation between the national government and LGUs are also a function of the relation between the executives of these respective government entities. Naturally, executives of LGUs who are allied with the current president are more prone to harmonious relation with the national government and maybe more willing to follow the national policies while local opposition executives, I think, will not always go with the flow. I think they are more prone to conflict with the national government, more specifically with the president. But of course there are also times that even though they come from different parties or sides, there is still some manner of cooperation between them for the interest of the constituents.

sala corner?

2006-10-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ang ganda ng dingding and ang puti. Nakalagay Embassy of the Republic of South Africa...nice

Counsellor Grobler with me and buds

2006-10-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

This is me with my three groupmates on our embassy visit to the embassy of the republic of south africa. in the middle is the Counsellor, Mr. Eugene Grobler.