the perils of

      In Cagayan, I had always wanted to go to Manila during vacations. It was, for me, this beautiful place with an amazing cityscape, huge malls and insane theme parks, all that glitz and glamour. It was the City of Lights, and everything to me seemed so magical and wonderful (all this having been established as "fact" the first time I came to Manila; I was about three years old then).     But Manila is definitely NOT all that glamour and glitz. Living in Katipunan (and now, seventeen years old) has made me realize that things aren't as flashy as my three-year-old self had imagined them to be. Katipunan may come across as a fancy shmancy destination to go eat, unwind, and have fun (*ahem* Cantina *ahem*), but it can also be very UN-glamorous: the unbearable heat, the insufferable filth, the risk of getting stolen from, or the dangers, as my Kagay-anon relatives and friends are always warning me about, of indiscreetly being slipped a roofe...

      If you are, or have ever been, a high school student in the Philippines, I'm assuming that you know about the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines, more commonly known as UPD. Because if you are/have ever been in high school, and you  don't  know about this university, then you should be ashamed of yourself. Go curl up in a corner and listen to My Chemical Romance and cry. I am ashamed of you.*      Fortunately, being the good soul that I am, I will provide you a little background about the place. Be grateful that somebody actually had the decency to relieve you of your ignorance and blindness. Yeah, that's right. Just call me The Illuminator.** And, yes, you are forgiven.     UP Diliman is the Holy Grail of universities here in the Philippines. Its entrance exam, the UPCAT, is the hardest to pass (I think it's because of the right-minus-wrong system). Among all the UP campuses in the country, the Di...

ONE MONTH OF LIVING HERE! This calls for an irrelevant picture of a blobfish!  Oh wait, that seems a bit depressing. How bout this: See? It's a smiley face now! With... two dots under its chin. Meh. Have a great July 9th everyone, and happy birthday to my sole high school classmate in Ateneo with me right now: Jason D! Here's a drawing I made for him: Happy July 9th :3