Wonders of Mt. Apo

Mt. Apo as we all know is the tallest mountain in the Philippines; having to read an article entitled "The Mysterious Mountain" gave me more appreciation in our own natural landmark. As I was reading the article it really crept me out, knowing that Mt. Apo actually had "snow caps" which were actually sulfur deposits. It really "fed" my knowledge as I was reading through the article that Mt. Apo had a lot of geological impacts because its not just a mountain, it's actually a mountain on top of a mountain. It was also very interesting to know that there were actually human sacrifices being done their in the mountain in order to please Gods.

Having read the article was not difficult to understand but at the same time some parts were out-of-this-world. The part where it had to talk about the geology of the mountain was a little bit confusing since I don't have such a narrow knowledge in geology, you have to review the terms in order to understand what was being meant. The entire article was very interesting to read, it was very informative as well. Knowing that there is so much to see in Mt. Apo gave me quite a thrill in going there.

A Little Appreciation Won't Hurt

Manners are the socially correct way of acting, they are important in expressing one's kindness and gratitude. We all need them to be able to leave good impressions on other people and to be able to develop relationships with them. Having well manners is great but with the generation today people are losing their well mannered behavior.

From what I have read in this story entitled "No One Stops to Say 'Thank You' Anymore" that even a simple "thank you" can show so much to appreciation. Most people today speak so much rude language that it becomes so common for them and that it is normal for them to speak such languages. For me, showing a little respect and well mannered behavior can have such a big impact on how people will react and have impression on you.

Smarts vs. Elbow Grease

The difference between the impossible and
the possible lies in a person's determination

-Tommy Lasorda


In this generation, being successful is a major concern; you have got to have the wits and determination and also the intellect and hard-work to strive whatever you might want to attain in life. But the question is which outweighs which, intelligence or the diligence to work hard. According to Tommy Lasorda, in a very powerful line of his, one can only achieve something through his persistence and focus. Through hard-work and determination one can achieve their goals and that they will be able to be successful. A teacher of ours told us this story about a girl who had that much determination to go to an American college, which she successfully did.

Growing up, my father always told us that with hard-work comes success and that intelligence is nothing without hard-work. I always believed in what he said, it was a sort of a motivation for me to be able to be where I am now. By refuting that intelligence is nothing without hard-work, im not trying to imply that intelligence is worthelss, of course it's not, you just have to mix it up with some labor. Being able to balance your life will always lead to good, and that having focus on what you really want will always help you to be successful.

The Toys are Back for the Third Time!

This week we had a lot of holidays and there’s nothing more enjoyable to do during these boring, lazy days than watch movies; and I watched a lot of movies this week. It started last Monday when a few friends of mine spontaneously decided to watch a movie in the cinema. So, we went to the cinema and watched this movie entitled “A Nightmare on Elm Street” it was a horror movie but it wasn’t really that good, it was very tacky as I may describe it. A few days after that we had no class again on Wednesday and I spent the entire day sleeping and again we had a holiday on Friday, which is today. Knowing I had nothing to do today I went out yesterday and bought movies to watch the entire day. I did bought a lot of movies yesterday and as of now I had finished about half of what I had bought. Just before I finish the other half I decided what blog I would like to write about.

Of all the movies I saw so far, which were “The Karate Kid”, “The Lasr Airbender”, “Saw V” and other which were not that good on my perspective, the one that I really liked was “Toy Story 3”. Ever since the first movie was released I was already an avid fan of “Toy Story” and I really liked the past two movies. I consider this movie one of the nicest movies I’ve seen this year, so far. To give an overview of the movie the story goes like this:

Now seventeen, Andy has long outgrown the toys and is preparing to move out of the house to attend college. He decides to bring Woody with him, and packs the other toys in a trash bag to be stored in the attic (a move the toys have long prepared for). However, his mother mistakes the bag for garbage and leaves it on the curb. After the toys barely manage to escape the garbage truck, they refuse to believe Woody (who saw what happened) when he says that Andy didn't intend to throw them away, and Woody and the rest of the toys end up sneaking into a box of donations to a local daycare, Sunnyside.

While Sunnyside's children are still outside, Woody attempts again to persuade the other toys to return to Andy's house, but Lotso, the day care’s “chief”, has convinced them that they will be happier at Sunnyside; Woody sets off alone. Meanwhile, the toys at Sunnyside discover Lotso's true personality for themselves: when Buzz goes to ask Lotso to transfer them to the Butterfly room, he is captured by Ken, Big Baby and Lotso's other minions. With Buzz's help, Lotso has all of Andy's toys imprisoned on the shelves of the Caterpillar room.

Woody returns to Sunnyside to help his friends escape. Woody tells the other toys about Lotso's past, convincing them of Lotso's deception and leading Big Baby to throw Lotso into the dumpster. As the other toys are saved, Lotso is found by a garbage man, who ties the bear to the front of his garbage truck along with other bug covered toys.

The toys make their way back to Andy's room, where Woody goes back into the "College" box and the other toys enter a box designated for the attic. When Andy reads the note and discovers his assumed-lost toys, he decides to give the toys away instead of storing them. Andy thanks the toys for all the time they spent together, then he drives away missing the toys. Woody says "So long partner," then introduces Andy's toys to Bonnie's toys. During the credits, Sunnyside is shown under the leadership of Ken and Barbie, where they have turned the daycare into a groovy toy paradise. They keep in touch with Andy's toys 'by slipping letters into Bonnie's backpack.

The movie was really awesome! I really enjoyed watching it and I won’t be having problems watching it all over again. Each “Toy Story” movie I watched, and I had watched each movie a lot of times, always has a lesson you have to realize at the end, and in this third movie I still am troubling to find out what that lesson really is but there is a more obvious lesson which was being able to truly appreciate friendship. Each “Toy Story” movie valued friendship but in this movie it really showed the true meaning in being a friend. I recommend everyone to watch the movie, trust me you won’t be having doubts about watching it; I personally give it a two thumbs-up (the production should pay me for this!).

Oh, and for the record I’m watching the movie again right now! :D

Goals: Motivation To Strive Hard

The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfilment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It's far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

-Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

A very influential statement I truly put my life’s ambition into working from Rick Warren’s award winning book, The Purpose Driven Life. Having a purpose in life is very important for us, having a sense of purpose makes us who we are. Being able to find this purpose may not be easy but, as what the book explains, that only time and God will tell when we will find our purpose. I know we were asked to make a blog about our mission in life, not the purpose, but that phrase made me look through on what I’m going to do about my future.

Ok, now back to the topic, here goes…

As a young boy I always am fond of loving animals and food but growing up with people whose life’s work was dedicated to medicine, that certain field really caught my attention. There was this one time where my brother’s cardiologist did an ultrasound on his heart, because my brother had a heart condition before, and after the doctor did the examination she talked to me and explained about the circulatory system and how it functions; that experience really drew my attention towards medicine. So, as I grew older I’ve really set my mind into taking medicine as my life’s work, as it also serves as my mission. Helping others is also one of the highlights of my mission in life since the field on which I’m going to take is related to that kind of job. As of now, I am taking up biology as a premed course, and I’m slowly attaining my goals. I may have set my mind into this mission of mine but as the book, The Purpose Driven Life, says that your purpose may not be your dream or the thing that you really love but if it’s your purpose then it’s really your purpose! Getting closer to my dreams I may not be certain if it’s truly my purpose but if it’s not, I’m sure I can be able to embrace on what God wants me in my life.