I Just Hit Twenty and It Feels So...Good? (Text Edition)

Oh no you didn’t read the top line. (evil snickers) 

Anyways, I turned twenty on January 20. But wait, there’s more: this year’s annual birthday week was celebrated from January 19 to January 25. I won’t let you bite your fingernails any longer, so here are the highlights:

1. Birthday lunch with the family at Aristocrat in Banawe - We were supposed to eat at Chinatown; however, the whole restaurant was reserved for a baptism which is why we ended up at Aristocrat. When we got home, they surprised me with a 3 L tub of double dutch and rocky road 2 in 1 ice cream and a chocolate cake. 


2. Lasallian Media Week - Comic Con, Annual Recruitment Week for Student Media Office (SMO) groups, and a role in the central committee. Moreover, Green & White’s recruitment was a success all thanks to the endurance of having our butts glued in the benches of Yuch Lobby for four days. What more could you ask for? 


3. 25th Campus Journalism Awards - Held last Saturday, I was an usherette and photographer all in one day. But hey, the experience was worth it especially since I was with my beloved org from morning to night! 


4. Me, Really? - They say that you have to see it to believe it. Direk Joey returned our essays on the happiest day of our lives on Wednesday last week. To my surprise, my work was announced as one of the top three works for its “honesty and depth”. Celly time! 


5. Coke Floats, Pizzas, and Mocha Frappes - Mona gave me a crafty letter, Jeline gave me a hand-woven pouch, Kevs treated me free lunch at Mang Inasal, and all three chipped in to surprise me with a monster Coke float on my birthday. Four days later (last Friday), we dined and chatted the night away at Papa John’s and Starbucks. Thank you Papa John’s for your family pizza and two free sides promo on weekends. 


6. Org Pictorial - Finally, G&W has its official org photo! Lovin’ the polos by the way. 


7. EB Race - As of January 23, I have sealed the deal on my intention to be part of the org’s editorial board next school year. Regardless of where I’ll land after the race either as literary, marketing, or layout editor,  I shall make the most out of this experience. It never hurts to try, right? 

Shoutout to all the people who greeted me on my birthday for making my entrance to the twenties one to remember! Photos will be up in the next post. 

How does it feel like to be in my twenties? It was awkward at first because I look a bit younger than my actual age. Now I am thrilled to be part of this not-so-exclusive club. 

The Day You Were Born, Whoever You May Be

Link: The Day You Were Born, Whoever You May Be

writingsforwinter:

The day you were born, two planes crashed into the Twin Towers.

A tsunami rolled into a village off the coast of Thailand,

a suicide bomb detonated in Kuwait,

and a woman who thought she had no other options

wrapped her newborn baby in a towel

and threw it in a trashcan outside her apartment…

mysongof-theday:

Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Wait! They don’t love you like I love you
Wait! They don’t love you like I love you

It happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you’ve known forever don’t see things the way you do. So you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.

Nicholas Sparks (via observando)

The Happy List

Inspired by my favorite blogger Camie’s The Happy List Blog Link-Up, I decided to make my own list of ten simple little pleasures as of this moment: 

1. That fantastic moment of finishing something I thought I would never finish (i.e. a term-long project, some graphic, a whole season of a TV series)


2. My newest cheap thrill: McDonald’s Iced Mocha 


3. Sweatshirts with those sassy statements


4. Reading light-hearted stuff / messages


5. Virtual conversations with my parents 


6. Vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and crushed Oreos 


7. Anything good about the Penguins


8. Satisfying myself with good reads such as Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood (which I’m currently reading) 


9. Those bonding moments with family, friends, and orgmates 


10. Sleeping with plush pillows all around me at night

I know there is so much more, but I will save them for next time! In other news, first week just ended and I am seizing my last few days of being nineteen. There is so much excitement in the air surrounding my upcoming special day I even searched online in the wee hours of Saturday morning for ideas on what to treat for my friends and family. 

What are some of the things that make you happy? You can share yours here! 

sayingimages:

Follow Saying images for more great quotes

On Wednesdays We Have CONCEPT

I’m currently taking my CONCEPT class under Jose Javier Reyes aka Direk Joey who happens to be one of the Philippines’ most influential and talented directors and screenwriters. Months before my first encounter with him (which was last Wednesday), I recognized him only through media interviews, the smoke-filled streets of Agno, and from fellow Comm Arts students who were under his elective classes. Imagine my surprise when he first walked into the classroom on our first meeting in his usual outfit: a polo, khaki-colored boardshorts, and a pair of Daddy loafers. He first asked us to fill out our personal information in a green 3x5 index card before calling us one by one by our nicknames. 

When it was my turn to be called, it went like this: 

Direk Joey: Leodarco, Candice? 

Me: (raises hand and grins) Sir, it’s Leocadio!

***The bottomline is: my last name offers the same complexity as  Dostoevsky. 

When the introductions came to a close, he started ranting about how the most recent edition of the Metro Manila Film Festival sucked butt complete with ravenous disses out of his mouth which was complemented by our simultaneous laughter. He also voiced out his displeasure for the upcoming 100000th remake of Dyesebel (*cough* Anne Curtis *cough*), the recurring illegitimate child plots in today’s teleseryes, and the never-ending remakes to signify the lack of originality present today. He then proceeded to present a number of photos then asked us to come up with possible concepts. Right before our class ended, Direk Joey handed out our first assignment - a two-page, double-spaced essay about the happiest day of our life. 

Direk Joey is a terrific professor who combines wit and humor perfectly while teaching us to master the art of conceptualization especially in our degree program. However, like he just said, the class itself requires a lot of creativity, originality, and guts to get a good grade. He also made his two pet peeves known to us: tardiness and online submissions. So to all of his future students: come to his class on the dot or you’ll experience the walk of shame out of the classroom. 

Therefore I conclude that I am now looking forward to CONCEPT class on Wednesdays. 

On the other hand, It’s hard to choose the happiest of my 7000+ days here on Earth, isn’t it? 

Happy new year lovelies!

An introduction to my annual year-end roundup in form of a story submitted to FMyLife.com and is awaiting approval: “Today I was logged in Tumblr where I was typing last year’s escapades. I was about to hit the "Save Draft” button when Google Chrome crashed all of a sudden. When I refreshed my browser, everything I’ve been typing for the past hour had disappeared. FML" 

Before anything else, the year would have sucked without bonding with the top two people in my earthly existence whether through vacations or instant messaging: my mom and dad. Shoutout also to my family, friends, orgmates, coursemates, classmates, professors, and readers for making 2013 one of the best years of my life. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I will not prolong your excitement and agony as I present to you everything that has happened and what I loved in the year that has passed. Promise I will keep them short:

Favorite Moments and Guilty Pleasures of 2013

• The first ever Student Media Congress in DLSU


• Making the Dean’s List twice in a row


• Green & White 2014 Teambuilding


• LEAP 2K13


• University Week 2013 Culminating Night 


• Successfully “taking my talents to South Beach” (James, 2010) and join Communication Arts 


• Summer getaway at Bintan, Indonesia


• 3rd Term of AY 2012-2013


• 1st Term of AY 2013-2014 aka first term of majoring


• LASARE3 


• Animo Night 


• The DLSU Green Archers winning the UAAP Men’s Basketball Championship after an epic finals series with the UST Growling Tigers 


• Getting in Green & White and Green Giant FM 


• Hockey…and I’ll tell you how I got into the sport pretty soon


• Pittsburgh Penguins


• Trip to the ABS-CBN Studio for INTBROD


• Candy Crush Saga


• Pancake Cookies at Perico’s


• McSpicy (my last meal in Manila for the year) 


• Infinitea’s Oreo Milk Tea


• iOS 7 


• My Nikon D3200


• VPRODUC shooting days 

The Year’s Soundbites 

• Ellie Goulding’s Burn


• Lorde’s 400 Lux


• Miley’s We Can’t Stop (minus the twerking video and that VMA performance)


• Daft Punk’s Get Lucky


• Taylor Swift’s 22 and Everything Has Changed


• Fun’s Why Am I The One


• Katy Perry’s Roar


• Icona Pop’s I Love It


• Zedd and Hayley’s Stay The Night


• A Great Big World and Christina’s Say Something


• Capital Cities’ Safe and Sound


• Fall Out Boy’s My Songs Know What You Did in The Dark (although it’s the Flyers goal song right now heh) 

And the list goes on. I am so thankful for everything that came to my life in 2013. Cheers to a majestic 2014!

Right now it’s past midnight, I have been wrestling with my sinuses the past two weeks, and I am so stoked for the weekend before I head back to Manila on Tuesday then school on Wednesday. I’m saving my blogging brain cells and energy for another entry to be posted not later than the end of my holiday vacation. New Year’s resolutions? I don’t have any except to fuel up especially now that I’ll officially be in my graduating year beginning May. Third term may have not yet started but I am very much positive it is about to offer a handful of opportunities in store for me. 

On Christmas Eve, my associate editor Donna posted in the G&W group about looking for five volunteers to be part of the central committee for the upcoming Lasallian Media Week. With stars in my eyes at a chance of a lifetime, I fired away by messaging her to express my interest to participate in either the publicity or events committee. Minutes later, Donna replied to let me know that my slot in either committee has been reserved. This is one thing I’m looking forward once my two size 6 feet lands in NAIA in three days. 

In addition to this brand new endeavor, I have officially sealed my intention to run in G&W’s editorial board race for the next school year. It’s amazing how it has almost been a year ago since I first approached my now-org’s booth during the Lasallian Media Week and a lot of great things have happened since then. The EB race is likely my first shot to the bigger picture dawned upon me: being one of the leaders of an organization. Besides, it never hurts to try right? Who knows, I might end up as the Managing or Literary Editor or even the Marketing Manager in my graduating year which like I said will commence by May.

Buckle up baby! Let’s go PUBLISH, RADIPRO, CONCEPT, and WRITING!