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Last September 19, 2015, I, together with some of my block mates went to visit the National Arts Gallery in Manila. At first sight of the façade of the building, I was astonished. Besides the fact that it is my first time seeing the place up close—because I only normally see the venue in pictures online or just in history books—the National Museum was so much more than what I had anticipated. As we entered the building, the ambiance that I first thought of is that it was classy and similar to that of a mansion. There were chandeliers and the reception crew was very welcoming. We left our bags upfront, paid for the entrance fee and went on with the tour. For the reason that most of us were first timers, we didn’t know where to start. It was overwhelming to see numerous rooms and having that excitement made us amped up to explore. Of course, we had to stick with the objective, which was to complete the requirement. We approached the receptionist and asked for help in order for us to know the specific rooms or floors we were required to visit. Once we got what we needed, we began the tour ourselves, most of our block mates split up into groups. The first room that we visited was of course the one near the lobby, although it wasn’t part of the required rooms to visit. It had a sculpture of this enchanting angel that caught our eyes. Behind it were two paintings, the remarkable ‘Spoliarium’ by Juan Luna and ‘El Asesinato Del Gobernador Bustamante’ by Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo. Proceeding to the upper floor, we continued to the Pillars of Philippine Modernism. We saw artworks made by Manuel Rodriguez Sr., Juvenal Sanso and Galo Ocampo, Jose Alcantara and the well-known national artist Napoleon Abueva. But the one painting that caught my attention was the masterpiece made by Diosdado M. Lorenzo entitled “Landscape” (1966). Medium used was oil on board and its dimensions are approximately 18 inches in height.

            This painting brought me hedonistic pleasure. The first time I saw it I was captivated by how the colors were so inviting and it was pleasing to the eyes. Honestly I was tempted to touch the artwork, my block mates only prevented me from doing it because it was prohibited. The thing that sent me that temptation was because the painting looked 3-dimensional because of the thickness of the overlapping paint. You can see the strokes of the paint brush and how heavy or light it was damped on the board.  The colors were bright and dark at the same time and it created harmony within the masterpiece. One thing I loved the most and probably the reason why it brought me hedonistic pleasure was because it was so realistic, it made me agree through the way it depicted its message. The feeling I get whenever I stare at nature was the same feeling I felt when I looked at this painting. You can imagine the simplicity of the artist and the art itself.  It was positively relaxing. Even my block mates were attracted to this painting.

            As we proceeded with the tour, we went through this hallway that had a special gallery exhibition. Although still it wasn’t part of the required rooms to be visited, I was intrigued with one special artwork. It was by Arturo Rogelio Cruz and was entitled “Departure” and “Arrival”. It was honestly one of the most unique artworks I’ve seen in the museum because it did not resemble that of a painting. The material used was acrylic on burlap. There was also a story behind it which made the art more interesting. We then visited the GSIS collections in the northwest hall, which showcased most of the artworks made by Vicente S. Manansala. Other artworks were also featured in that collection but the one I loved the most was entitled “Sunset in Intramuros” (1979).

            This art piece was made by Federico Aguilar-Alcuaz, with oil on board used as a material, however, its dimensions weren’t provided. This masterpiece gave me an aesthetic feeling. Although I did not grew up being familiar with the sights of Intramuros, it made me feel one thing, reminiscence. This painting was made a long time ago, if I were given the chance to go back in time and see if Intramuros really did looked that breathtaking, I’d take it. It was beautiful because it was inviting to the audience. The way the sky was painted over the city made it warm. The lights coming from the lamp posts really did made me feel like I wanted to go there and see it for myself. From a distance, the way the colors were shaded at the bottom part of the painting made it look like it had a vignette effect. It was beautiful because the elements were blended really well, it had no purpose or any objective to deliver, it was just there. The view of Intramuros was present and it made me want to appreciate it.

            As we continued on with the tour, it was already around lunchtime, and frankly all I could think of was food. But as we approached the Social and Political Commentary After the 1970s section, I thought this tour will make the wait more worth it. This particular painting literally captured of what I thought was the most emotional message anyone could relate to. This painting called “Bondage” (1993) was made by Papo de Asis who used oil on canvas as material. It’s dimensions also weren’t provided.

            This painting to me kind of features a man, being locked up or enslaved by something much more powerful than him, and to me that was the society and its limitless control over anybody who belongs in it. There’s somehow a death persona who is riding a horse in the left part of the image and a woman on the other. Based on how I understood the image, the woman was the significant other of the man, and death took him away and locked him into this sculpture. Just like what society does to every human being, being limited by rules and powerless over the people who run the system. This gave me an emotive perspective on how I should look at the painting. The artist had the ability to make the audience feel what the man was feeling in the picture, and that is the feeling of being trapped. Maybe the artist was feeling this way when he was making the artwork. Or maybe he was able to imagine how the artwork would influence the audience and make them feel what was expressed in his art. The painting was expressive of the feeling of being locked up, without having the capacity to escape and your only fate was death. That was what I felt in appreciating the painting. Just by looking at the art itself, you forget about anything else and just tend to focus on what was inside the image.

            Near the conclusion of the tour, there’s this one artwork left that truly captivated my attention. It was made by one of the artists who I heard was known for capturing the harshest realities in our country today. It was entitled “Piping Tagulaylay” (1983) by Antipas Delotavo.

            The material used in this painting was oil on canvas as well, unfortunately, the dimensions weren’t also provided. At first I was intrigued of the title because I wasn’t aware of the meaning of the word “Tagulaylay”, so I googled it. It meant monotonous singing. I came upon the conclusion that Piping Tagulaylay meant the silent monotonous singing of the Filipino society. The colors, which were mostly toned down in in terms of hue showed the dullness and how plain living was. To me it meant that the singing meant here was how the lifestyle of the Filipinos, especially those who experience poverty and mediocrity, had no color or excitement. There was no happiness, no sadness, just the neutrality of the image. It made me open my eyes and understand the reality of this image and every day I see it with my own eyes. I was able to formulate my own opinion because of the reality depicted in this artwork. It was cognitive in a helpful way because it made me open my eyes to the real state and situation of the Filipino society.

            As we were leaving the venue, even though most of us were starving already, the thought of missing just one room of the museum made me think of coming back soon. Sure it wasn’t as exciting and as fun as going to the mall or going to the amusement part with my friends, but going to the museum taught me one thing. Being at peace with the silence and just getting the chance and time to explore every artwork in the museum made me appreciate more the simple things in life. Most of the images captured in the paintings were the minimalist scenes depicted in reality, like the traditional bahay kubo or even just the scenery of a big city. These simplest things in life inspired the artists to create and express their feelings and get their imagination to work.

            Hedonistic, emotive, cognitive or even aesthetic, those paintings were able to capture the audience in their own ways. You tend to forget the chaos outside the museum, and just focus on what were in there. We may have different preferences, but any art has a value of its own. I salute the artists who lived through their passion regardless of what the society thought about them. They inspire me to do the same as well.

            All in all the tour was much more than what I was expecting. I thought it was just going to be a plain old field trip but it wasn’t. I learned a lot and was able to apply the lessons I’ve learned in this course. One thing I learned and thought that it would be worth sharing in this narrative is that, different artists have different styles in creating different artworks. Although some artworks still belonged in the same category, they were still diverse and beautiful in their own ways. The ability of the painting to just hang on the walls and capture the attention of the audience is unbelievable, no words, no music, just the painting itself. A single image, along with elements combined in a creative way, can truly tell a thousand words. Most of the artists featured in the museum already passed away, but their legacy lives on through their masterpieces, and that is something you cannot take away from the power of art. 

*this was only a draft of the travelogue I made for my Philosophy class, still pretty raw but I guess it was still worth sharing

Five Day Challege: Young Blood

Seeking Relevance

Joseph Giancarlo C. Agdamag

A couple of years ago, fresh from the laid-back world of college, I started a blog. At first I didn’t know what to write about. My first few posts ranged from mundane rants to highfalutin sentiments (or so I thought). In fact, my WordPress ID was snooty (read: thoughtologist).

Eventually I found my niche, and concentrated on fashion blogging. I decided to critique the new collections of brands and fashion houses and to curate the really good ones according to my taste. To satisfy my readers’ visual appetite, and also to entice new ones, I created a Lookbook account. It helped that I was really into fashion and I liked dressing up.

But law school became more demanding and after actively blogging for almost a year, I stopped posting updates. It was regrettable as things were taking off (or so I thought). I had begun to receive invites to events and product launches, in exchange for spreading the news on my own network.

Fast-forward to the present. I laugh whenever I remember that phase in my life. Truth be told, I tried to pass myself off as some sort of a fashion blogger not really because of my interest in fashion, or even my passion for writing, but because I was trying to be relevant.

In this day and age when one’s influence is measured by the number of “likes” an Instagram post generates, or by the number of one’s Twitter followers, fitting in has become a lot harder. Social media is now regarded as a ticket to success and, in most instances, a key to fame and fortune.

Let’s admit it: You can’t be considered cool unless you have an active online presence. The more invested you are in social media, the cooler you are seen to be. The name of the game is popularity; the rules of the game are limitless. It’s a matter of being in the scene.

Social networking has pervaded our lives to the point that the distinctions between our personal and virtual spaces have so blurred that you can’t make distinctions anymore. The subjects of conversation are now shaped by what’s trending online.

It does not end there. Another confusion—between what’s real and what’s imagined—has been created. Social media takes us to another dimension—a world that may in fact not be grounded in reality. Since we have control over our own accounts, we can choose what to post online and, therefore, dictate what we want others to see and think about us.

Naturally, what we choose to post are enhanced versions of ourselves. Think of it as a digital marketing plan: We decide on what personality we want to project—artsy dude, privileged kid, know-it-all intellectual, carefree party-goer, wannabe hipster, etc.—and through liking, tweeting, or sharing, the grand plan is executed. Our online personas are transformed into virtual résumés. Through social media, we are able to sell ourselves.

Not that this approach is entirely flawed. After all, whether we accept it or not, we do this in order to seek relevance. We try our best to please others, so that we may find ourselves worthy of being accepted into the evolving notion of a person relevant to society.

Ultimately, social media is power. What were once unimaginable can now become great possibilities. This is where we must hold ourselves responsible to utilize its potential for the greater good, and not just our self-serving whims. But that’s easier said than done.

Thus, the real challenge is to live out what we project online in the best way we can, with no pretensions. It should be the other way around—the virtual merely mirroring real life—but the prevailing setup dictates otherwise.

And this is what I propose: that whatever we decide to imbibe virtually, we should strive hard to transform into reality. By doing so, we restore the balance between what is real and what is imagined, and we reach the perfect version of what we want to become.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

Five Day Challenge: Young Blood

Almost

Chlarine M. Gianan

You and I were asymptotes—almost crossing. Almost intersecting. Almost meeting. Almost becoming friends. Almost talking. But we never did.

But one day, those “almost’s” became “did’s.” We did cross paths. Did become friends. Did talk.

I became cautious and wary of you walking into my life because I knew we had never met; I was always remembering you in the back of my mind. You were the constant companion of my first love, my one-time confidant when I liked someone stupidly. You were almost always there for me, but you would get away. You would leave, God knows why.

And then you stayed. You introduced me to a TV show, I introduced you to tea concoctions. It wasn’t hard to relate because you were genuinely kind and we shared this common ground of friends and almost lovers. We belonged to one atmosphere, which made it easier for us to establish a friendship.

It always felt easy to talk to you because I never met you; I was only getting to know you over and over again. I was remembering if you were the same person who, knowing that I had made the—so far—biggest mistake of my life, sent a direct message to me on Twitter to make sure I was okay during my darkest days. I was recalling if you were the same human being who asked me to buy a toy from McDonald’s for his nephew, if you were the almost friend who knew most of my “almost’s” in life.

And yes, you were still that person. But then you became so much more.

There came a time when I almost liked you, and my high school best friend was a witness to that. She told me: “I’m warning you. If your first love’s messy, this one’s messier. Look at the paths you two have gone through. Look at the people you loved. Look at him—he would always almost happen to you. Now he is. But what if one day he stops happening? What if life takes him away?” I tried to listen. I almost wanted to never reply to you anymore, almost wanted to stop talking to you, almost wanted to trash those feelings because I found them stupid.

I almost forgot about the shows, songs, and movies we talked about. The “20 questions” games we never finished. The feeling that at the end of the day, you’d always be the one I wanted to talk to about the food my classmates and I cooked, the jokes my teacher cracked, the books I read, the people I grew fond of, the true friends I made during RSPC.

I almost left you the way my first love trashed me, but I chose not to.

That’s the thing about pain: It may hurt partly because we’re there to experience the aftermath of our decisions and actions, but it does cause a pang in our chest because we choose to feel it. We choose to get hurt along with the choice of risking our heart to love.

I chose you to stay. I chose to like you. I chose you—that’s the bottom line.

You’d almost break my heart every time we wanted to meet up but never did. But then we would.

I almost didn’t feel content during my birthday. I almost believed that my friends deceived me that you’d be there to greet me face to face. But then you actually came.

You, of all people whom I can meet in this world, became mine to be the turner of my “almost’s” into affirmations. You became the “yes” to my “maybe,” the certainty to my doubts. And now we’re friends. Are we almost there? If we are, you ought to know what happens to us and the word “almost”—they can become a resounding “yes.”

Oh, well. Let’s cross the bridge when we’re almost there.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

Fiva Day Challenge: Young Blood

Driven to Succeed

Maria Linnea V. Dimaano

I would have just settled with being an average student whose only aim was to graduate on time, but one experience changed my perception of success.

In February last year, I became part of an exhilarating event—a prestigious international competition where we engineering students were put to the test in terms of skills and ingenuity.

My classmate, who happens to be one of my best buddies, asked me a few months earlier if I wanted to join their team that wished to compete in Shell Eco-marathon Asia. At first, I just laughed at the thought because it felt like a waste of time, energy and money to build something seemingly impossible: a fuel-efficient car of the future.

I really didn’t believe in the project at that time, but my buddy pushed me to join the team. He told me that I should give it a try and that I could leave the group later if I wanted to. I agreed to join the screening, submitted my academic standing, and got accepted.

I finally met the team that I would be working with; I found that the team members really had a passion for making a unique eco-car to represent our university in the competition. This is important because many other schools from all over the world participate in the yearly event, where engineering students are challenged to put the concept of sustainable mobility into practice.

The aim appeared to be something that I related to as well. I found myself catching on to the spirit of the team and not wanting to leave. We started planning and scratching out a lot of ideas in the process. We exchanged thoughts and sometimes found ourselves bursting into laughter over jokes. Most importantly, we were building camaraderie first.

However, lack of financial support was a fundamental problem. We all knew that our school, being a state university, cannot provide us the funding we needed to build our eco-car. Thus, we approached various companies with sponsorship letters, and patiently waited for their responses.

Meanwhile, one of our colleagues brought up the idea of raising funds by selling candies to our schoolmates. I myself went to Divisoria almost every day to buy heavy bags of candies. It was really so tiring that I almost wanted to quit.

Fortunately, one of the companies we had approached finally responded to our letter and gave us the chance to present our sponsorship request. The result was that it gladly agreed to be one of our sponsors and gave us enough money to start our project.

We built our vehicle in the cheapest possible way. We gathered scrap materials so that we could reuse these later. We even bought a surplus engine even though it was a risky decision, in order for us to save money. Instead of sending some parts of our vehicle to a machine shop to be fabricated, we decided to produce them on our own.

I remember the times when our team would deliberate on how to utilize our remaining funds, with tons of things still left to spend on. It was like thinking of how to take a bath without using water. It left us no choice but to contribute some of our own money.

In a way, working on the project pushed our resourcefulness and creativity to the limit. Instead of fiberglass, we thought of an alternative material for the covering of our vehicle: We used banig. It seemed just as fine, and our vehicle caught a lot of attention as well every time we tested it on busy streets.

Just to be able to complete our entry, we stayed overnight on the school grounds for almost two weeks leading into the competition, instead of spending our Christmas break with our families.

All my exhaustion faded when I finally saw our eco-car running for the first time. Relief overcame me and I broke into a huge smile. It was like we had already won the competition when it was only the beginning.

Indeed, even if we eventually failed to set a record in the competition, gratitude defined our loss. The camaraderie that our team had built gave us all the reason to be happy and to be thankful. We did not just complete a project; we also formed a family that I will endlessly treasure.

In fact, our loss did not stop us from setting our sights on joining the competition once more. It encouraged us to improve and enhance our skills to be able to excel even more.

Failure may not be a good start, but we know that it is just a part of learning new things. It will never stop us from passionately doing what we want. We are invigorated to push our limits and to go beyond what we all know we are capable of doing.

And this year, from being a supporting member, I am now the manager of our team, the PUP-Hygears. A year has passed since that fateful day when my friend asked me to join them. It is a major leap for me. And my passionate team mates fuel my desire to set my heart on achieving our common goal.

This new journey makes me feel excited to see how my life and my perception of the world will change once more. I know that someday, I will look back on all these memories and learnings, and I will never regret anything.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

Finding Yourself

One fine day, it will be your turn. You will leave homes, cities and countries to pursue grander ambitions. You will leave friends, lovers and possibilities for the chance to roam the world and make deeper connections. You will defy your fear of change, hold your head high and do what you once thought was unthinkable; walk away. And it will be scary. At first. But what I hope you'll find in the end is that in leaving, you don't find just love, adventure or freedom. More than anything, you find you.

Essay & Photo: Berlin-artparasites

Inspired & Blessed

Women of Inspiration

-Drew Barrymore

-Barbra Streisand

-Angelina Jolie at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards

The Feast: Rock Bottom

"If Christ is all I have, then I have everything I need" -- if there is one thing I learned from The Feast today is that every suffering you encounter in life, every problem you face, and every struggle that kept you from believing in yourself are not meant to be taken as things that make you weaker, instead, you should be thankful of all the battlescars you had from those challenges. Why? God has an incredible and unique way of showing your greater purpose in life. Through your wounds, God will use you to heal many other souls that are undergoing the same experience as yours. 

There are three things you should remember when you are at your rock bottom:

1. The people that can help you the most are the people that had the same suffering as yours.

2. The key to happiness is to KEEP DOING GOOD.

3. No matter how rough the road gets, never forget to talk to Jesus.

Your suffering can be both your comfort and your slavery. Do not settle for safe; Do not settle for less. Because God has something in store for you. He knows what's best for you.

So rise up, because Jesus believes you can. When you are healed, those sufferings become your ministry and message to others. 

"Though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me"

-Psalm 23:4 

Good night Talks

-Angelina Jolie

-Paulo Coehlo

Growing Up

Source: @PoemsPorn

Source: @YourInspiration 

1 down, 4 to go

Source: Spirit Science

God gave me bountiful blessings throughout the academic year. As it approaches the finish line, I'd like to stop and appreciate every bit of love, protection, and guidance He provided not only me but also my family and friends. I'm eternally grateful because despite the mistakes and hindrances I had, the blessings never stopped. 

Let me end this chapter of my life by saying that I have no regrets on letting Him lead my path. He knows what's best for me in the perfect place and perfect time. All I ask is for enough patience and understanding everytime I struggle with my problems. I ask for Him to remind me that I must take those as challenges for them to make me stronger, not to give up. 

As I turn to the next page, I'll never stop believing and having faith to You, Lord.  There's a reason for everything and that reason is God Himself. Thank you Lord! All this is all for You. 

Life Mantra

Source: berlin-artparasites

Source: poems porn

Three Day Challenge: F I N A L S

-What keeps me going