My Dream, My Future

       I always wanted to be an engineer someday like my father. I am always admired by how they are serious with their works. On the other hand, I always dreamed of becoming a great Manga writer. A Manga is about stories that involve daily life, love, happiness, sadness, etc. which involves anime/cartoons as the characters. My dream in the future --- to become an engineer who is great in making Manga!

       Of course, the imagination of a human is always limitless. As a high school student, it is normal for dreaming such impossible things. But if you think about it, we are talking about the future. Because of the towering intelligence of humans, I'm sure that there will be technologies that help me reach my dreams. But we can't only rely on such things, we need to hard work for it too. Becoming one of those great manga writers will take me years of practices, on the other hand, what it takes to become an engineer is to always study hard. I know it will take me years to reach what I am dreaming of. It also makes me think I am can't do it, but if I work hard enough, I'm sure I can.

       Every one of us can reach our goals, make our dreams come true, if we work hard for it. Don't think that it is impossible. You just have to believe in yourself. And believe that you can.

Kannawidan: The Ylocos Festival

       The province of Ilocos Sur has recently celebrated its Kannawidan Ylocos Festival. This year marks the province’s 193rd year based on the Royal Decree dated February 2, 1818 separating Ilocos Sur from Ilocos Norte. Prior to this date, the stretch of Bangui in Ilocos Norte down to Luna La Union is called Ylocos which is a term to refer to the coastal inhabitants. It literally meant “from the lowlands”.

       The Vigan Philippines festival aims to harness Ilocos Sur's rich historical values and products in order to attract foreign and local tourists and investors. There was the tribal performance of the cultural communities of Ilocos Sur which is so fascinating. They displayed their talents as well as their indigenous costumes. Partuat ken Patanor Trade Fair showcased the products of the province such as longanisa, bagnet, garlic, bibingka, tinubong and many other foods including handicrafts. There was even eating contests of these delicacies of Ilocos Sur as well as basi drinking contest. Traditional games were played and bingo as well. There were Sarsuela and Komedya Ilocana which were shown. Choir competition was also held.

       It was a fun-filled week of celebration of the Kannawidan Festival in Ilocos Sur.

Keeping in Mind Our Mother Tongue

Every country in this world has their own language or so called " the Mother Tongue." Since we were born, we started molding ourselves through the use of our own languages especially us Ilocanos that our mother tongue is "Ilocano." Our main language represents what our culture is and at the same time, it tells about what life do we have.

Learning our very own language will be beneficial to everyone because it's the way for us to learn things. It helps to enhance our mental and spiritual capabilities and at the same time, it opens us a way to learn other languages for us to be aware to others cultural lives.

Never take for granted what gifts of God had given us and this includes our own Mother Tongue. We must be proud that our language is Ilocano and definitely showcase it to others.

Differences I Can Make

We all can make a difference. We can bring cheers and happiness in lives of children. We can enlighten their lives. We can make them become a responsible adult. All that is required to decide the ways through which we desire to make such difference.

Something every person needs to know is just how much they have to give to another person. I'm not talking about just physical or monetary gifts. I'm talking about the gift of your unique contribution, of who you are and what you can speak into the life of another person.

I'm passionate about young people - their potential, their needs, and their desires.
As a teenager growing up, I was really blessed by the mentors and older teenagers in my life. They spent time with me, shared their life lessons, and basically just cared for me. I can't imagine what my life would be right now without the value that they shared with me.

That's created a strong desire in me as well to pass on what I received in the past to the next generation of young people. I'm always amazed that with the little that I can share with them, just how much of a difference it makes.

The Essence of Christmas

What Christmas means to me, or what it should mean to us.

Christmas is about love. Caring about another over yourself, spending the time to do the little things to make the holiday special for loved ones.

Christmas is about being together. Being with the people you love, laughing, sharing a meal, sharing happy memories.

Christmas is about giving. Doing things not only for yourself, but also for the people around you.

Christmas is about forgiveness. Forgiveness is like making peace with your enemy. Set aside your problems with each other and try to get along.

Set aside your problems and just forget all things that are negative and think happy thoughts. It's Christmas! Enjoy the day like there's no tomorrow!

Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities

In the past generations, women were not given the right to have an education because according to stories told, women were destined to stay at home, do the household chores and take care of her family’s needs. It is only the men who are allowed to go to school because it was their obligation to look for a job afterwards for then sustenance of his family’s needs.

Today, we are fortunate that women are already allowed to exercise the rights same to those of the men. This is the reason why we already have women political leaders. There are also successful business women who have the opportunity to compete with men with regards to economic progress. Because of the equal rights, men and women have equal opportunities to contribute for the development of the community where they belong. We could therefore say that “Men and women are  created equal” – with equal rights and equal opportunities.

Let us act! Stop Global Warming!

Most of the time, we do things in our own way even though we know that there is a bad benefit for it. Sometimes, we become selfish just to have our own desires. We all know it is hard to resist something you really like, even though it really hurts our mother, Earth.

We all know that we ourselves are responsible for the damages dealt to earth today. The polluted air, polluted rivers, the frying heat of the sun, garbage scattered everywhere, the earth is currently being killed and destroyed. Climate changes because of global warming, and global warming is brought by our own doings. We always abuse the condition of the earth and just do things our way. But when time passes by, if we keep hurting and abusing our planet, little by little, it will soon give up and die.

We do things of our own desires; the earth perishes as we continue to do it. We must stop doing things that hurt mother earth because our lives will be at risk. Let us act now, let’s all join hands and stop global warming.