Chapel Notes

I don't know why you're asking for this, but fine... Whatever.


8/23/07

Verses:

• Philippians 4:8-9

Notes:
"What you feed your mind with is what comes out of your mouth and what your actions will be"

Honesty
Obedience
Peace
Excellence
^- endangered virtues


8/30/07

Verses:

• Proverbs 17:20

Notes:

Honesty
"You reap what you sow."


9/13/07

Verses:

• 1 Samuel 15

Notes:

Disobedience - you should obey the Lord's Word and not manipulate it
- if you don't obey a person, that person won't feel respected
"To obey is better than sacrifice."


9/20/07

Verses:

• Philippians 4:6-7
• John 14:27

Notes:

Peace
The Bible presents a different perspective on life.
Peace of God - eternal calm; lies in the trusting soul; unaffected by external disturbances
- center of the hard way
Jesus - author of perfect peace
Eirene - Greek word
- quietness
- rest
Assurance that God will win in the end
Attainable even during turbulence


10/4/07

Verses:

• 1 Samuel 16 & 17

Notes:

Excellence is a habit, not an act. - Aristotle (paraphrased)
David - picture of excellence

1. We must learn how to honor our parents and we will live a long life.
2. We should be able to be willing to do menial tasks
3. Be responsible.

People will misunderstand you.

Study: Deep Voices Equal More Babies

Men with lower voices will have more children than higher-pitched males, according to a new study.

In a study of the Hadza of Tanzania, one of the last hunter-gatherer cultures groups who use no modern birth control, David Feinberg, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and colleague, Coren Apicellam, found that men who have lower pitched voices had more children than men with higher pitched voices.

Feinberg and his colleagues have shown in previous studies that women find deeper male voices to be more attractive, judging them to be more dominant, older, healthier and more masculine while men find higher-pitched women more attractive, subordinate, feminine, healthier and younger sounding.

The study, published in Biology Letters, does not link voice pitch to offspring mortality rates but gives some insight into the evolution of voice, according to Feinberg. “If our ancestors went through a similar process”, said Feinberg, “this could be one reason why men’s and women’s voices sound different.”

Now, doesn't that explain why all the fangirls swarm those deep-pitched bishies. Can't blame them though, I do to. :D

The USTET, Joshua, and My Videos

Dang... I'm so lazy. This is something I should've done last Sunday, yesterday. Then again, I'm playing hookie today, so I had the entire day to myself and Snoopy and my psychic iTunes, not a bad mix if I should say so myself.

First up, the University of Santo Tomas Entrance Test... By far, the EASIEST entrance exam I've encountered. Those people, whoever they are, weren't wrong. A 2nd year student could take it and pass. And at the bottom of the standardized answer sheet "Copyright 2005" was printed. :D

The "Mental Ability" portion was something they didn't expect the students to complete, after all, 80 items in 30 minutes... Doable, as long as you don't dabble around that is. It was a bit of a mix of logic questions, easy math questions (like there's a mother and a father with two sons, and two daughter-in-laws, each of the sons had two kids, how many are there in all?) Really, now.

Next, was the English section, it was more or less divided into three parts, the vocabulary section, the analogy section, and the very, very short reading comprehension one. Now, I think I missed one, but that doesn't matter. The vocab wasn't particularly challenging. It was as if they put semi-difficult words and threw in a bunch of review center sponsored nomenclatures, just for the sake of confusing the students.

Math was 2nd year level. Easy 2nd year level. Like, what is the compliment of 67°? *roll eyes*

Science, same comment for math, except for two Physics questions that weren't really common sense. Actually, one of the questions I'm referring to is about projectiles. And I just learned about projectiles two weeks ago. Same angle of projectile and stuff, but different speed equals the same time to hit the ground.

Anyway... I was actually laughing and dying at the same time during the test. The examiner read her guide all slow and weird. She actually misread part of it as well... But then again, she was cute and I'll never see her again (probably) so it doesn't really matter. And of course, with easy tests, come great boredom.

That should be my new catch phrase. No! It should become this overused quote, like its spoof!

Joshua. No, he's not my crush. Actually, I don't know any guys named Joshua. The Joshua I'm referring to is Joshua, the nine year old boy, from his self-titled movie. You know, the psychological thriller. I swear, the movie's totally creepy. You have this little boy, only three years older than my newphew, with a completely innocent face and I suspect a sky high IQ, killing his family, or at least driving them insane. My goodness gracious gulay... I won't say anything more about it, lest a mark be left on this pretty pink and black blog, whose format I'm thinking of changing...

Now, what was the other thing I was going to talk about... Ah, my videos...

Last week was Math and Science week, I won't post its official name as it's too gross even for me. Last week was so fun. Ok, scratch that. Last Friday was so fun. Games and Goldbergs. Mini-architectural wonders and hyperactive little brats. What a day... I actually joined a game, but it was cancelled (can I hear a collective "aww"?). A Math game. *gasp* For plus points. *ah...* Yeah, me and my Snoopy-dancing persona are talking at once.

I have to remember to post those videos of our sister team's Goldberg! A flamethrower to cut a piece of green yarn. Then again, it was an ugly piece of string, so serves it right. Bleh.

Also, I must upload the beautiful picture of our, ahem, our master engineer's work of art? structural marvel? Whatever you'd like to call it, it's the Burg Al Arab. Coincidentally, the next morning (or was it afternoon by then) I was on National Geographic when the familiar sail shape came up on the show, Frontline of Construction. Oooh... Purdy... Now, we could've used that commentary to stupefy the judges to give us a perfect score...

Ah, and no AS4. *cries*

Pato Actually Saying Something About the ACET (and more AS4)

My new habit: Proclaiming, "I'm still alive!!!"

Yeah, because of all these entrance exams. Damn, they're really killers... Just kidding.

College entrance exams aren't as scary as they're cut out to be. Seriously. I have this theory that they make up all this propaganda up to scare students out of their wits that they end up not performing at their best during the test. That's probably not true, but who cares?

The only really scary part about the ACET was the, you guessed it, the time pressure. Now, setting that little menace aside, it wasn't too bad. Annoying, but completely bearable. I hate abstract reasoning. Simply said, and Neko's quote is applicable, I'm not a spatial girl. All those vague little drawings with claims of patterns just tick me off. Though, at least they weren't blurry, like the NCAE's...

What else... The Math, was blah... So much easier when compared to the UPCAT. No Science section either... (Whee~) Though, there was a trade-off. The English was harder, definitely. The vocab words... Well, I had to guess through some of them just to meet the time limit. Oh! And there was an essay. "Are people of the 21st century over reliant on technology?"

I'm glad Clarissa warned me about this, while I was still lining up. We actually arrived there before 10 AM, so I was just waiting, and waiting, and waiting... Dang... 2 hours left... Anyway, I texted her to ask how she was doing, and voila, revelation.

It was a great deal of fun afterwards too. Yup, all the waiting was a pile of fun. A truckload, actually. And that's partly true. There was this one selection on the ACET about exploring foreign lands without a plan or guide and just jumping in. It kinda inspired me to take a super-mini tour of Ateneo actually. I bet the passengers of the cars passing by thought that the strange girl balancing on the sidewalk was weird. Lol. Yeah, I'm a weirdo, and I know it.

But as after every exam, I make it a point to visit that no longer new smelling machine in G4.

Right now, I don't know what to feel about AS4. I just finished LoTS for the second time without having a horrid time beating them, except Takumi and Bunta (I just treat the old man as I do Iro Reverse, ignored. :P) they're like hell, as always. I don't know what to make my goals right now. I dislike Time Attacks for some reason, but I guess I'll have to give it another chance...

Sweet 16?!

Maybe this post should've been made when I just turned 16, not like 4 months afterwards, but what does it matter anyway? Besides, (and I just noticed that my current favorite transitional word now is "besides") I only thought of this topic this morning on the way to school, enduring the practically never-ending line to MHCS.

When I was younger, I used to believe that when I turned 16, so many doors would open up to me, being able to join more stuff (*cough* all-night pow-wow), do more stuff, and most importantly drive. So far, there haven't been anytime I want to join now, so that sucks. But to tell you the truth, the main issue is the driving one.

Legally, I am allowed to drive on public roads, with the condition that there is an adult with a driving license in the passenger seat.

Now, I've never been the legalism-type, actually, I try to maneuver around the rules in school, and try isn't even the appropriate word for it. Sometimes, I just ignore them. Now, I won't mention what I don't pay attention to, lest a teacher is reading this, or even *OMG gasp* the Prefect of Discipline, but I know that ain't happening. Still, I don't like taking those kind of risks.

Anyway, where was I...

Right. If I knew that my mom would pull a super-freak out on me if I took the CR-V for a little spin, I'd already have done just that. But, unfortunately, that isn't so. Pato-chan just ends up waiting till she's allowed to touch our old Corolla. :(

I guess, being 16 isn't all it's cut out to be...

Why do I get the feeling I'll be saying the same thing when I'm 18...

Pokalicious Poking

My name is Pokalicious, and I like to poke people, objects, and animals. Although I don't suggest you imitate me, at least when it comes to irritating animals. Being Pokalicious is fun, do you know why? Because I say so, therefore it is so.


Yeah, yeah, randomness you may claim, but it isn't. Not completely anyway. The short paragraph was, but the point of making something for Pokalicious to put on her site isn't. We have this school project to make a personal website with Adobe Dreamweaver (which I totally adore), and I'm having loads of fun with it.

To heck with long posts for now, I'm to distracted to make them.

Pato-chan on the ACET

My schedule:
September 15, 2007 (Saturday)
1:00 - 6:00 PM
Ateneo High School
Room # 11

Yeah, so obviously I haven't taken the dreaded exam yet. And I'm not yet terrified out of my wits, hopefully I never will. Because a witless Pato-chan plus one scary exam doesn't mix well.

I don't have much to say (yet). But I would like to express my happiness. For what you may ask? Well, my pretty new books. Yep, my pretty books from Powerbooks.

Boredom

To tell you the truth, I shouldn't be bored. I've got loads to do, but the thing is I really don't want to do it know, setting aside the little known fact that I don't know how to do it as well.

I've got tons of Filipino homework, but I figure that's the norm for Mrs. Caspilo, assign every major, or at least semi-major, work at the beginning of the quarter and leave the small ones till later. Apart from Filipino, we've got English. It's turning into a quarterly thing, having a book report. Now, for Filipino, that was actually announced. We are to review the entire El Filibusterismo ten chapters at a time. But for English, sigh... At least it's a self-help book this time, though that doesn't really mean anything to me as my book is as thick, or a bit less, than an average novel, not to mention the terms the authors use terms that leave my mind wandering the skies, trying to guess the definition. Don't expect me to carry a dictionary around everywhere I go (unless it's one of those tiny electronic ones). I'm not that much of a geek.

Did you know that at one point in the last quarter I worried for my the card grade in History, I mean, Economics? Scary that it came to that since I was a minor history, ahem, social studies, geek last year, and the year before, and the year before. Basically, if it's in English, I can understand it.

Math not included. Besides, our math teachers speak in both English and Filipino. Technically, it's math teacher, since he's responsible for both our Algebra, Advanced Algebra, and Calculus. Surprisingly, this past quarter wasn't so bad. I could actually understand it. It's amazing, isn't it? That goes to show for those out there like me, slightly impaired in the math department, there is hope. Or maybe it was just that our lessons weren't hard... I can't tell anymore.

I won't make a fuss about Science, apart from that my elementary and high school grades can't be compared, because there's that much of a difference. 99! My goodness, how much I've sunk.

Why am I blabbering about school right now? Because the NCAE (National Career Assesment Examination) has left me partially brain dead. Not because it was super-incredibly-extremely difficult, quite the opposite actually. It was easy. The only challenging portions were the ones with cute faded little pictures, meaning non-verbal ability, manipulative skills, and entrepreneurial skills. Would it do any good if I said that I didn't attend the review for the NVA and ES?

Anyway, why I'm brain dead. Because I was that bored.

...

...

Were you expecting that?

The "main" subtests were allotted so much time that right after the reading comprehension bit, I just fell asleep immediately. Take note that as always I was up late.

Where was I? Ah, the pointless, meaningless, rambling.

That kinda ends now...

Pato-chan on the UPCAT and AS4

Well, if you didn’t realize the UPCAT, my schedule at the very least was yesterday, at 12:30 (though it actually started at about 1:30 because the examiner took his sweet, sweet time) in the College of Arts and Letters. Sadly, I didn’t see anyone I knew. Even though I visited the campus the day before and was on the lookout for any Makati Hopians.

I’m alive, therefore I survived.

Yes, the UPCAT has forever scarred me. All the waiting in the hot, hot air, with insects flying around, crawling all over, and swinging from their little threads.

Isn’t that a bit screwed? It probably is.

The actual exam was, well, tough. I guess. Overall, yeah, tough.

The English and Filipino sections were overplayed by the review class I attended. Now, I’d give you a sample of the vocabulary and talasalitaan I can remember, but I can’t remember the unfamiliar Filipino words, so I won’t bother. But, all the words were used in a sentence, at the very least, and the context clues were pretty clear, so it wasn’t too difficult to guess what the words meant. The *cough* most difficult English word used as a vocabulary word I can recall was disheveled. *coughing fit*

Now, the Science subtest was, hm, moderate. I felt that I had wasted my time studying Physics, because they were totally focused on Biology and Chemistry. Which sucks even more, since I can no longer recall most of the stuff we had taken up in those classes, and I don’t believe I was paying much attention in those years in the first place. So, yeah. I guessed my way through 25% of it.

Math. Math was like blah… Here I guessed my way through 50-75% of it. There were a few questions where I was wondering if I’ve ever seen these things before. There was this weird rounded “E” symbol, which I just stared at for a few seconds and moved on. What I’ve got to say about Math to future examinees… Dearies, study your Geometry.

The Reading Comprehension… Hmm, not too hard, but I always imagine myself getting higher scores than I really do. So, oh well. Ah, the thing I hated about it most was that most of it was in Filipino. Most of the essays were centered on Filipino topics. Cory Aquino, the “joke lang” culture of Filipinos, neologism in the Filipino language, the three names of the Philippines, stuff like that.

By the way, did I mention that I only had a tiny breakfast before it? J After the exam, I was whining like hell, “I’m hungry…” And so, I disregarded the fact that I’m on a diet and ate a bowl of rice, Chinese style. Damn, I missed Chinese food.

Now, after that lovely dinner, I had fun. Waiting. There was this short line at the AS4 machine, and the two guys before me were pretty good, I guess, so it was a “learning experience” watching them. The friend of the guy playing kept giving me looks, so I wonder why. Is it A) I’m a girl watching the guy play. B) I’m a girl watching the guy play, and holding an IC card for it. Or C) I’m a girl watching the guy play, holding an IC card for it, and wearing a skirt, a pretty long one, by the way. But, bah, who cares. The two were really loud, too, if I might add.

Also, if anyone from TIDPH is reading this, I heard them talking about you guys. They were saying that, well, the guy with the name ANINO, he though that you guys were kinda mayabang, but fast anyway. This part, I’m not quite sure about, but I think he wanted to see you guys go against CKF, or some other top player. Then they went on about which of the top players went to the forums, and blah…

Ah, and before I forget, there was another guy playing with the name, Manu. Yeah…

Anyway… Previously, though I didn’t make an account of it, I had already beaten Lake Akina, Myogi, and up to Kyoupon on Akagi. Now, Kei-pi wasn’t too hard, I think I beat him on the second try, like yesterday. Then went off to beat Ryoupon on the second attempt, I think. Then Akina. Ryoupon was the challenge here again, three tries, and he was off the chart as well. The FC’s startup is, well, amazing. I had to ram into it just so I could get ahead. Then I just bypassed Takumi.

Now, Irohazaka had been calling out to me for some time now. So, I decided to play Sei-pi then realized that I don’t know how to play Irohazaka. At my third try, in CP3/4, I think I just about got the formula, but just about, since it only worked on some corners, others… well, I just ended up reversing myself. Either that, or ramming hood-first into the guardrail.

Since, I was running out of time, I decided to skip him and move on to Tsukuba and just try out Dai-pi. The first CP, or did it last to the second, was relatively easy to grasp, so I was able to overtake Dai-pi there. Past that point though, he passed me and left me in the dust.

In the end, I have about 60-70K points in my card, with two cars sitting in my garage, the S2000 and the RX8. I’m keeping that third space empty for the time being, since I simply cannot decide what car I’d like to put there. I’ve also heard several suggestions on how to play, like taking the card out after each race, so you could tune it faster, now I’d do that, except that it takes a lot of time putting it in and taking it out, so whatever, I can tune my cars in time and I really don’t have much time to play. And, I don’t even know yet if you can renew it, so I’m not taking any chances and taking my sweet time.

How to Deal with Annoying People (What to Do When You Can't Avoid Them)

How to Deal with Annoying People (What to Do When You Can't Avoid Them)
By: Bob Phillips and Kimberly Alyn

Don't you ever wish that some people could just go away and disappear? Well, you're certainly not alone. Psst... Everyone has moments like these, if you didn't realize that by now. How to Deal with Annoying People (or HTDWAP, as I will be referring to it) helps you realize how different people are, and makes the very old and generally accepted saying "Do onto other, as you would like others to do onto you." not as wise as it sounds.

The book explains why people act and react differently, so treating people how you want to be treated does not always garner the desired result. So, it identifies the general strengths and weakness of each one of the four social styles, and helps you determine the styles of others as well. The purpose? So you can adapt to them and reduce conflict.

That's what the book, this very enjoyable book, is all about. Reducing conflict. Though... HTDWAP does mention the point that conflict isn't all bad. It can build... stuff, stuff you have to read the book to find out about.

- by A Conspiracy Toss