Listen Up

There was one time wherein my two friends who were a couple, were making out at a mall. There were so many people and I felt embarrassed but then I didn't want to interfere their "make-out" scene so I stayed out of it. I noticed people were looking and staring at them, but then again, I didn't want to interfere so I was distracting myself with other things. Out of the blue, Unconsciously, I said "Ang dami ng tao oh!" They took it as something else. They thought what I meant was for them to stop because there were too many people. They said that if I wanted to say something, I should have said it directly to them in the first place. I quote "Hindi yung magpaparinig ka pa." I didn't mean it that way though. I explained myself and fortunately, it got resolved.


Knowing the Speech Act Theory can help us ABCA students learn more on how a person talks and expresses himself/herself. A person can say a phrase (locutionary) and you may know what it meant, but there may be a hidden meaning to it (illocutionary). How a person would take effect on it is the perlocutionary act of the whole thing. Perlocutionary acts are external to the performance.

That moment when...

That moment when you and your guy fight over something and you hate to admit it's your fault (because it really is) and you have to put down every ounce of your pride just to keep him?

YES. I've had that moment. That was a feeling I did not want to experience once more. I felt like losing him and like my world would crash down to bits if I continued on fighting with him.

Situation:
You see, I'm a girl who is sweet and affectionate. Guilty is charged.
I really hate not seeing and hugging him for even a day. His reason? He's busy and tired and has got a whole lot of things to do. When I don't see him, my mood suddenly shifts from being fun, young and loving it to being a rude, not caring, b____. I don't know why I act this way. It's inborn. No hating.


Anyway, I didn't see him for a day so I went all bitchy on him -- telling him I'd leave him, acting like he doesn't matter anymore, wishing we'd never met, hoping my feelings would leave (Yes, i'm a very emotional person. Sorry.) but then my best friend texted all of a sudden and asked if I was doing fine. I opened up to her and she said that I should just understand and make way for his busy schedule. After all, he isn't doing anything stupid and irresponsible.

I apologized and while we were fighting, I realized how important he is to me, and how I don't want to lose him. I also realized that God gave him to me, so leaving him would not be a smart move. At the end of the day -- being the gentleman that he is, he told me he forgot about it and that he loves me still.

Oh how blessed I am to have someone like him.

Science Fiction Short Story: Love Despite Imperfections

So we have to make this project in Science Fiction class. I'm really not good with drawing and editing so I just decided to write a short story. No hating. Let me know what you think. :)

*REVISED VERSION*

I am now in my college years. I currently study at De La Salle University Canlubang -- the largest La Salle Campus in the Philippines and proud of it. The university is at a young age and still in its developing stage. I am new to this school and for the past few weeks , I have been finding it difficult to look for my classes. Apparently, college is way different than high school. I guess it'll take time for me to adjust. It was the 6th out of 14 weeks in a term. It always was my doing in high school to sit at the front row. I brought this habit in college because it's always easier to sit at front plus there are less distractions, but this time, I decided to sit at the back row -- it's as if someone was pulling me away from the front row seat.

Classes were supposed to start at 2:30pm, and alas! The time is now 2:45 PM. 15 minutes of my time wasted, then 20, then 25. Almost everyone in the classroom started to stand and getting ready to leave. I was about to do the same but then our professor, Ms Siriban, finally entered the room 3 minutes before 3 PM. She had her usual things with her -- laptop, projector, course cards, and her bag. Along with her was a new student. She was of average height, she was beautiful, had deep brown eyes, and perfect skin. It was love at first sight. Since we were running out of time, she never got the chance to introduce herself.  Ms Siriban asked her to sit beside me. I didn't mind, in fact. I liked it a lot.

The school bell rang which indicated that 1st period was over. I was about to ask for her name but in less than thirty seconds, she was out of the room. It was like she was uncomfortable and was trying to avoid me.

2nd period came so I went to the university's chemistry laboratory because class would be held there. I saw her sitting alone at the back row. I decided to sit beside her and to just talk. I was nervous but whatever, I had to make a move. "Hey there. Uhhh. I'm the guy you sat beside with, from Biology class and I..." "I know." she said with a firm, uninterested voice. "Oh. Right... Haha. So may I know your name?" but as she was about to talk, our chemistry professor, Ms Santos came in "Alright class..." she said in a perky, lively voice "We'll be having our experiment today. So you better pair up."  I looked around the room and saw that everyone had their lab partners except us. I looked at her in a normal way, to show her that I'm happy that she's my lab partner but inside I was jumping up and down for I was paired up with an angel.

We each were given a Parthenium integrifolium to work on. To show off, I insisted to get what's needed. I left the room for a minute to grab some laboratory materials. I told her "Don't touch anything. It could be toxic or whatever. I'll be back in a short while, okay?" Having her earphones on, I think she didn't hear but then she responded "Whatever." It took me 14 minutes or so to figure out what we needed to accomplish the lab experiment and to get anything we could possibly need for it. After double checking what I already have in the cart, I rushed back to the laboratory. I couldn't believe what I saw and because of what I saw, I accidentally dropped a test tube and my jaw fell right open. I was in shock. A classmate told me what had happened -- while I was gone, a classmate of ours was flirting with her. He was trying to show off how smart he was so he mixed the Parthenium integrifolium with different kinds of toxic chemicals which caused the formula to burst out of the beaker. He was luring himself away from it, but unfortunately, it hit her. I wanted to grab her but it was too late. The formula hit her and caused her to lay on the floor. She was shouting in so much pain and agony. Her skin was burning and she couldn't even talk to us. The formula our moron classmate made landed not only on her arms, but on her face as well. The affected areas were swelling and peeling off. Ms Santos didn't know what to do. She was running around the hallways and looking for the school nurse. She was panicking. My classmates were panicking as well. I wanted to help her but Ms Santos didn't let me. I was in terrible shock that day.

The incident kept repeating in my head. I couldn't sleep because of it. It was haunting me. For the following  weeks, she didn't come to school. I was curious of what might have happened to her. I wonder if she's alright. I wonder if she's dead. I wonder where she lives so I could pay him a little visit. The story of the girl spread throughout the university. I'm sure it was an embarrassment for her. 

Months passed and she still didn't come to school. I had the thought that she had already dropped out.

It was the 3rd term in a year. Specifically, the 7th week out of 14. The end of 5th period arrived. It was time to head home. I passed by the grocery store to buy me some dinner. As I was falling in line, a guy cut in. He bumped me and didn't even apologize. He was wearing a blue baseball cap that covered his face, a long sleeved top plus worn out faded jeans. I decided to ask him politely: "Excuse me, sir. But if you haven't noticed, I was first in line." He turned to my direction but was still hiding his face. He didn't even talk to me. I got pissed so I tried to get a better view. I intentionally flipped his baseball cap so it would fall but I made it look like I accidentally did it. My original plan was to talk to him but then when I saw his face, I didn't even get to say a word. He picked up his baseball cap and ran as fast as a Cheetah for the door. My appetite suddenly left me. I ran after him. He was gaining speed, but two can play at that game. I borrowed a skateboard from a kid from the corner of the street and promised I'd return it. I rode the board and chased after him. I caught a part of his top and pulled him to my direction so he would stop running and eventually, just trip. I brought him to a dark alley near our lot. "Let me go!" the man said. "That... that voice... it sounds so familiar." He kept hiding his face and altering his voice so I wouldn't recognize him. " I took out a small flashlight from my pocket and pointed it at him. It turns out, the man was not a man. He was a she.  specifically, the girl I was in love with -- the girl I was paired up with in Chemistry class. "You're that girl from the chemistry lab!" I couldn't believe my eyes. Something was wrong with her face -- it was cracked and peeling off, like permanently peeling off. What kept her confident of going outdoors was a mask that she wears. It wasn't like a party mask, it was sort of like a real face mask. It could fool anybody that could see her. It was like the mask she wears was actually her real face. She decided to go real on me -- no masks, no faking... just her real altered self. I could recognize her beyond the mask. Her face was as majestic as ever, even with the cracks and permanent peeling.

"Is... is that what happened to you?" I said in teary eyes. "Yes. Unfortunately. My face is now a disgrace to everyone I encounter." "That's not true. I like you...ur face. I like your face... I still do." What I've said brought tears on her eyes and a smile to her face. I could see the happiness in her though people thought of her as a monster. She realized that there are still people like me who like her for who she is.

Years passed and I fell deeply in love with her despite of her imperfections. She turned out to be a great girl. We eventually, got married and currently have two kids and they're beautiful kids.

Love, despite imperfections will remain love, as long as it's true, just, and noble.

Photos:

Parthenium integrifolium

"Her"

Robots & Humans: Where Do We Draw The Line?

Where do we draw the line?


Our SciFi class watched a movie entitled Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

The movie is about a mecha named David. David was built uniquely. Unlike some robots, David had feelings and emotions. He was programmed to act like a child -- a son. He was adopted by Henry and Monica. They had a real son named Martin, but unfortunately he was severely ill, therefore he was frozen to preserve him, so Henry adopted David. At first, Monica did not accept the mecha as a substitute for Martin, but she got used to it eventually. David was a faithful mecha to her "mommy" (Monica). He/It  loved her as if he/it was her own child, but things started to get out of hand. As a result, Monica left him/it in a forest and just asked him/it to stay safe. David searched for Monica once more thinking that if he were a real boy, Monica & Henry would love him/it as equally as their love for Martin. He/It thought that the blue fairy from Pinocchio would do exactly the trick. He found this "fairy" in Manhattan -- underwater. The fairy was just a statue in a carnival by the way -- an old, deserted carnival underwater. He finally made his wish: "Please make me into a real boy." "Please, Please..." His wish did not come true though. 2000 years have passed and aliens have been searching for evidence of human life on Earth. They found David and managed to grant him his wish. David "slept" beside Monica that day, and all was well.

But where do we draw the line? Technology has been advancing each and every year. Who knows what kind of robots humans can make. Yes they can make life easier, but also think that some people would be jobless if this continues.

As of now, there are robots who can cook, robots who can dance, who can clean

and robots who LOOK and ACT LIKE HUMANS.

Pretty soon, they'll be taking over the place.

I've read a story entitled Helen O'Loy, short for Helen Of Alloy, inspired by Helen Of Troy. The characters were Phil, Dave, and Helen. Phil and Dave were engineers and Helen was their creation. Helen loved Dave, but this wasn't the ordinary love where robots are loyal to their masters. No. This kind of love Helen experienced was a love wherein she was in a state of wanting to get married to Dave and having children with him. *pause* Now this is where we draw the line. Although mechas/robots do not have feelings, who says it is not possible for humans to develop such technology? Robots have been developed to make lives easier, not to take place of people's occupations and their places in someone's life. You cannot replace a wife with a mecha, or your son/daughter with a humanoid. That just does not seem reasonable. Although they can be programmed to be perfect. Iba pa rin talaga kapag tao.


Question:  If you have the means to have your own robot..what would it do for you (e.g., a nanny, a surrogate child, a mother, a teacher, etc.) and why? What technologically advanced specifications, abilities and qualities would you want it to have?

Answer: I'd want to have a robot who knows everything about anything. It should be pocket sized and portable so that if I need it, I could just bring it out and it would directly give me answers. It's like Google and Encyclopedias in the palm of my hands, but in the form of a mini human -- not a dwarf, or a midget, just a 5-inch tall form of a person. Why? Sometimes the internet is unreliable. It gives you information that's irrelevant to your question. I want that kind of technology so that I could have the information/answers I want immediately, without going through numerous websites and logging out of the website without finding the answer you look for. It could save me time, effort, and add my sleeping hours. It makes things a whole lot better.

I'm a survivor

Scenario:
You survived a war or natural disaster that wipes out a signficant percentage of the earth's population. The destruction was immense. If you were to make a decision for your co-survivors and yourself, give the TOP THREE (3) things (aspects, etc.) that you would re-establish and develop first to make life sustainable again.

My answer:

I survived a natural disaster. Let's just say this disaster was an earthquake.

The earthquake was intense and it was so strong that it wiped out majority of the population of the Earth. Turns out, I survived it. If I were to choose the TOP 3 things I would re-establish and develop first to make life sustainable again, I'd choose...

1.) Agriculture

Why I'd focus on agriculture because first, it would be the source of our food and livestock. It would be the source of life. Without food, we'd weaken, resulting to our death.

2.) Education

I chose education to be one of the aspects so that people who survived could start a new beginning in their lives. With education, we could learn new things which would eventually lead us into starting businesses, setting up buildings, etc. We could teach each other to propagate food for the survival of each individual. Education is important.

3.) Infrastructure

Why infrastructure? The earthquake must have destroyed almost everything, and to develop life again, we need infrastructure to start businesses, education, families, transportation, etc. It covers almost everything we need to sustain life once more.

The Nine Billion Names Of God (Reaction Paper)

Who knew that God could have nine billion names? The Tibetan monks in Arthur C. Clarke's story did. The Nine Billion Names Of God.

Summary

Basically, the story is about these Tibetan monks who try to find out the nine billionth name of God because if they do so, their belief is that the world would end. No theories of science, no scientific principles and mathematical equations, they just believe it would. The only science I've found in the story is the Mark V. The Mark V is a computer which the monks used to find out God's nine billionth name. to do so, they hired engineers to do the job for them. Eventually it worked, they did find out God's nine billionth name and the world came to an end.

My Insight

I think it's WEAK Science Fiction because the author failed to explain where the Science is in the context. The fact that the world would end without any scientific explanation makes it weak.

The Nine Billion Names Of God (Group Blog)

Members:
1. EJ "Porbs" Lagman
2. Nikka Ramos
3. Patricia Lacap
4. Nikee De Guzman
5. Chinchin Suarez


The powerpoint presentation for our report could be found here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/60782306/scifict

Introduction

Our group reported on the short story of Arthur C. Clarke. The story is basically about these Tibetan monks trying to find out the 9 billionth name of God because they believe that when they do, the world would eventually come to an end. In order to do so, they hired engineers to program the Mark V. Good news is, it worked. Bad news, the end of the world came to be. This blog entry contains the evaluation for the short story -- whether we classify it as good or weak SciFi, our short, individual insights, and our conclusion.
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Individual Insights

Patricia Lacap: I think it's weak SciFi­ ­ because the story is not plausible) and it exaggerated the ending of the story.­ ­

Nikee De Guzman: I say it's weak scifi. The story was good but based on our theme its pretty weak, due to exaggeration of apocalypse (making the story weak) and lack of basis and facts for possible apocalypse.

Nikka Ramos: I too, say it's weak SciFi. It lacks scientific basis on the short story and it lacks detail on the apocalypse.

EJ Lagman: Weak SciFi. I expected more from Arthur C. Clarke. The world won't just end because you found out the 9 billionth name of God. It doesn't make sense.

Chin-Chin Suarez: I see it as weak SciFi because the story was exaggerated on how the monks see the Apocalypse.

Our Take On The Story (Conclusion)

Generally, the group would conclude that the short story is of WEAK SCIFI because as to our theme (Apocalyptic) it falls short on details and we see that how the author ended the story is quite exaggerated. You find out the 9 billionth name of God and *poof* the end of the world happens? It lacks scientific proof and principles which makes it weak for us.