I Found My Happiness in Computers

What does it take to be an ICT student? What does it take, a question that can be answered easily. It's just be who you really are and buy some time to learn.
At the first place, I never thought that computers can become my friends but now it seems like they bring more fun to my life than my friends do, no offense. They help me do my homework and projects. And I've learned how computer works when I met my subject ICT. I have loved it since the very first time. I'd never imagine that I could create my own site but oh, I just did. It's because of ICT.
As an ICT student, we should be thankful that we learned something new and love doing it.

Change: It starts with me

ONE particular saying that has always struck me as unintelligent is, “People don’t change.” I believe that although each individual has deep-rooted personality traits, we are not held captive by them. Believing that we can’t change encourages us to accept our weaknesses. Countless people with substance problems declare they aren’t capable of quitting. But then it is much easier to continue a harmful behavior when accountability is placed on an outside force like genetics or an “addictive personality”.

You can’t let your self hang on to the past. We grow up and we change, a little bit or a lot. It's been quite dreamy in the old days but as far as we all know, it's already time to be more serious. When we say people can't change, it is similar to saying people can't learn. Comparing ourselves from ourselves a few years ago, we can observe that we are the same but more. We ended up more creative and less fragile as we grew strong. It is quite difficult to avoid old habits sometimes just like I do I still have a wide imagination just like the old days but I said to myself, “Wake up!” Yes, I'm not a little girl anymore. Time flies, memories fade and people change. Perhaps this is the time to do things we were not able to do when we were little. In kindergarten, my class was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Crayons danced across sheets of paper to illustrate our dream occupations. Our drawings were hung in the hallway for our parents to see. I remember looking down the line and seeing pictures of ballerinas dancing, firefighters putting out a blaze, and astronauts leaping across the moon, careers that were seen as typical dreams of five-year-olds. Teens are expected to know exactly what we want to be and how we are going to achieve that goal.

Perhaps it would be worthy to contemplate on this quote: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change”. Keep growing, keep learning, and keep advancing.

Kannawidan

Every January 31^st to February 6^th, Ilocanos celebrate the Kannawidan Yloco Festival to give crucial to our culture and to remember our ancestors' attainments and activities of their generation. As Ilocanos we must show that we are proud of our Ilocano ancestry.

There are different activities and celebrations that gather all Ilocanos who are amazed and fascinated in this kind of celebration. 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. We showcase our products as a pride of our own culture. Traditional games were played and bingo as well. There were Sarsuela and Komedya Ilocana which were shown. Choir competition was also held. A battle of brains and beauty was witnessed during the Saniata ti Ilocos Sur pageant. Art exhibitions and competitions were also conducted. “One Town, One Product” was showcased and sold to people. There are a lot of things that we intended to witness. Ilocanos are sociable and hospitable to welcome visitors who were brought by intent from different places.

We must appreciate what we have. And our traditions and cultures are the treasure of Ilocandia. We take pride to show the beauty of Ilocos Sur. This is a very nice event for all the folks of Ilocos Sur, an appreciation of the wonderful things happening in out town. Umay kayo amin nga makiramrambak ditoy Kannawidan. Agbiag ti Ilocos Sur.

EQUAL RIGHTS, EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

Many people not only in our country but the whole world seeks to achieve equal rights. They want families either rich or poor are treated equally under the law. We must respect also the gender of other people. Equality is often defined as treating everyone the same but true equality means treating everyone differently in order to treat them the same.

If you are still wondering which is more aggressive, more powerful and more influential between men and women, ask your self again. There are a lot of things that men can do that women can also do. Equality and diversity means treating everyone equally on their merits, and not treating some unfairly because of their disability, gender, race, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief. It is everybody’s responsibility to implement good practices, no matter what you do within an organization. These are actions to encourage the under-represented into particular areas of activity. For example, females or males into non-traditional work or training. There is no such thing as discrimination when it comes to equality. We give everyone respect for what they deserve. There are still some people who are favoring a party because they want to and they do not care if they hurt somebody's feelings. We must exterminate inequality. We are the same kind and we are not ought to treat other people what they don't deserve. We are who we are. Do not mind life's disabilities if they left you outcast or trashed. We have the same rights and we have the same opportunities.

Promote equality and remove discrimination not only for me but for the entire human race. Don't hide yourself in regret because you are perfect. God is perfect and He didn't committed a mistake of creating us because he made as perfect, just like the way He wanted to.

2012: a Year of Change and Good Life

It's our tradition to celebrate New Year's Eve. It's the time at which a new calendar yaer begins and the calendar's year count is incremented. December 31, the last day of the year. Every year, as the clock nears midnight on 31^st December, the eyes of the world turn to the dazzling fireworks on the sky. And sometimes, what crosses our minds is our plan for the new year. Will I make new life and create new memories? Or just stay the same.

I realized there is no one who loves me, ofcourse not. I wouldn't let them. I pushed them all away. But this year, for goodness' sake, I will try my best to love and to be loved by all the people around me. Obviously, they hate me because of my personality, and one of my teachers often calls me “DEVIL”. I really hate to admit it to myself and to everyone else but I'm not blind and I cannot fool the world, it's true. So this year, I will change my bad attitude and all my doings will vanish in the memory of time. I want change, I just don't know how to start.

At school, everyone hates me and I feel so out of place because when they stare at me, they stare at me like I'm from outer space. I get it. Nobody wants me and they seemed so different from me. They are so young, frolic and jolly, they want to stay this young forever. While me, I'm a different story. Let's just say I have a bad attitude and sometimes I'm being cocky but I'm over it. I want change and it will be just a metter of time.

It's my new life. I had a very great memory of last year but I bet, I'll have another this year. New life, new me and this year, I will make a new memory with a happy heart.

Mother Tounge: Pride of our Native Country

 Some people had already abandoned our mother language because of migration or increase of movement of people from one country to another because of such purposes as education, job, escape from problems or just a vacation. but wherever we are we must always keep in our mother tongue.
Everyone knows that keeping mother tongue in a foreign country does not happen spontaneously. Instead, it is an achievement that requires commitment and determination, especially from the family. Parents must establish a strong home language policy and make consistent efforts to help their children develop good literacy skills in their first language. By using our native language, we show other people our colors, culture and assets. The mother language is certainly one of the most precious treasures in our lives. It’s a duty and responsibility to preserve it and pass it down from generation to generation. Whether we are urged by necessity or because of other reasons, learning another language brings a lot of advantages in our life. Our first language is our soundtrack that we often hear when we were still in our mothers' womb. And we got familiar with it the time we were born. There are some people who are capable of teaching their children foreign language such as English to make other people see them as rich and educated. No one is preventing us to learn another language because it still has an advantage but we must always remember and keep in our hearts our mother language.
A child connects to his parents, family, relatives, culture, history, identity and religion through his mother tongue. Native language links the child with the culture of the society the child comes from and shapes his identity. Parents must establish a strong home language policy and make consistent efforts to help their children develop good literacy skills in their first language. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." Teachers must also teach their students to develop literacy in their mother tongue and to take pride in their culture and the country they originated in.

Unpredictable Weather Patterns

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. The term sometimes is used to refer specifically to climate change caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.
Global warming is the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about 0.8 °C with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades. Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and scientists are more than 90% certain most of it is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human activities such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels. These findings are recognized by the national science academics of all the major industrialized countries.
An increase in global temperature will cause sea levels to rise and will change the amount and pattern of precipitation, and a probable expansion of subtropical deserts. Warming is expected to be strongest in the Arctic and would be associated with continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice. Other likely effects of the warming include more frequent occurrence of extreme weather events including heatwaves, droughts and heavy rainfall events, species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes, and changes in crop yields. Warming and related changes will vary from region to region around the globe, with projections being more robust in some areas than others. In a 4 °C world, the limits for human adaptation are likely to be exceeded in many parts of the world, while the limits for adaptation for natural systems would largely be exceeded throughout the world. Hence, the ecosystem services upon which human livelihoods depend would not be preserved.
Climate change in response to changes in the global energy balance. On the broadest scale, the rate at which it is lost to space determine the equilibrium temperature and climate of Earth. This energy is then distributed around the globe by winds, ocean currents, and other mechanisms to affect the climates of different regions. factors that can shape climate are called climate forcing. 
Climate change may be limited to a specific region or may occur across the whole Earth. Over the course of millions of years, the motion of tectonic plates reconfigures global land and ocean areas and generates topography. This can affect both global and local patterns of climate and atmosphere-ocean. Evidence for climatic change is taken from a variety of sources that can be used to reconstruct past climates. Reasonably complete global records of surface temperature are available beginning from the mid-late 19th century. For earlier periods, most of the evidence is indirect. Climate changes are inferred from changes in proxies, indicators that reflect climate, such as vegetation, ice cores, dendrochronology, sea level change and glacial geology.
The climate might change but we must find a way to prevent or lessen the effects of this unpredictable weather patterns.

KNOW THE ROPES

ENGLISH. It helps us communicate and live life to the fullest. In fact, we used the English language in finding a decent job. It helps us to communicate with people from another countries.
The very first English phrase that I encountered was "good morning." I always hear my teacher say this every time he walks inside the classroom. Don't you find this very interesting? For me it is. In my high school life, speaking in English is important. Teachers want us to have a conversation with them using the international language. It is widely used. At first, I struggled to interact with others using this language because I was afraid to commit wrong grammars but as days passed, I've realized that it can be learned. Imagine if no one knows how to speak English, isn't it communicating would be extremely difficult? That's why we must! English also teaches you to communicate and process things more accurately. If you want to advance in the professional world, you must have proper English and good speech. In order to obtain a good career an advancement as well as respect from your peers you have to be literate and well educated.
Learning English was always an interesting yet tough experience for me. English did attract my attention and I was so excited to learn.

CHEMERGY

What can you take from Chemistry? The benefits it gives us people.
CHEMISTRY. It is a blessing in disguise. It focuses on the problems that humans perform in our society. It helps us in our daily lives. Some people thinks that chemistry also has disadvantages but for me, it doesn't care because it is really a help that we need. The simple fact is that chemistry plays an important role in every person's daily activities from the moment we were born.
First to begin with is that if you haven't notice products of chemistry are used in the morning. Most of us uses alarm clocks that give us wake up calls to start a day. The radios and televisions that we used in gathering news about everything that is taking place. Without chemistry something as simple as scrubbing a toilet without fear of severe burns or small explosions might not be possible. Chemistry is also heavily involved with the manufacturing of things such as soaps that we use in cleaning our body and medicines that we take when we are sick. Each time you bathe you are witnessing chemistry at work. Almost anything you do during the course of a normal day involves chemistry in some way. The gas and tires in cars we drive, the makeup we put on our faces, the soaps and cleaners used everyday, burning wood or other fossil fuels, chemistry is all around you each and every day.
Chemistry is a big help to us but we mustn't abuse its benefits because if in some cases it's over used, it will give a result in a country's tourism's downfall.

I'VE LEARNED THAT...

When I first met our subject ITC, I didn't know what it stands for. It was funny because it was included in our periodical test. My first thoughts about this subject was, it's just facing the computer.

The reason why the first encounter of this subject is so critical is because students learn the base of their education about computers. A subject can be your favorite because of the teacher that is concerned. I'm very thankful that our teacher is Ma'am Evelyn. Teachers are the carriers of either positive or negative behavior toward students like us. Ma'am Evelyn gives us knowledge which has become one of the basic necessities to live life today. She is a very kind and patient teacher. Without any selfishness and hope for a reward, my teacher struggled through her life to enlighten the world. She taught me how to create a blog and she even taught me how to insert tags which I thought was not possible. I've learned so many things in this grading period. I've learned that committing a mistake can be forgiven. I've also learned that not going to school makes my educational life miserable.

Without hesitation, we must learn how to stand tall to face all the problems that can be solved. Remember, God doesn't give us problems that we cannot handle.

Can P-Noy Lead our Country?

“Every Filipinos worth living for,” said the late previous president Cory Aquino. She was the first female president of our country. “Kung walang kurap, walang maghihirap,” said P-Noy. Every leader of a country takes responsibility for the development of a community or a country. Before elections, the candidates for president told us what are their platforms are but SONA is different. The state of the nation address, also known as SONA is a speech or statement of a president about the projects for the country and after a year, it’ll be a speech or address of the current president about the country’s economic status or progress. It is traditionally done by the president.

                P-Noy is our current president and he delivered his SONA on July 25, 2011. His SONA is very long but understandable. What bothered me the most when I read his SONA is the usage of symbolic words, just like the word wang-wang. I do not know what it was referring to but they told me that it is referring to the anomalities. He talked a lot about the productivity of rice grains, decreased percentage of smuggled cars and the ships made or built to use in the lurking for our seas. He is smart but why didn’t he talked about the hottest issues that our government is facing now, like the R.H. Bill or the Reproductive Health Bill? He had heard enough advices about it to make his final decision if he approves it or not. P-Noy thanking the priest and the Archbishops confused me. Does it signify that he agrees with the church? Will P-Noy disapprove the R.H. Bill? There are so many perplexing thoughts in my mind and I felt bad because he didn’t answer one of the questions that conquered me.

                I have read his SONA twice just to look for his decision about the R.H. bill but there was nothing about it. He should be talking a lot because it is the most controversial issue in our country. Is P-Noy a smart president?

MY MODERN DAY HERO

Hero. What comes to your mind when you hear the word hero? Is he a flyer? Is he strong? All of those questions can be answered, of course not. Anyone can be a hero. Even me, even you too.

My modern day hero is powerful but she cannot lift heavy things. She can take me where I want to go but she cannot fly or teleport. She can tell what I feel but she is not a mind reader. Everyone doesn't seem to consider her a hero but for me, she is. She has been here all along, guiding me through the right path where I should go. She told me what's right and what is wrong. She told me things I never knew and what are day. She knows the surface of the sun and the moon but she haven't gone there. She explained why clouds go that way, why the rain falls and why the sun rises and sets. For me, the teachers are heroes. They are not super strong and cannot even fly but they are so smart that they almost knew everything. She can take me where I want to go to the future because she gives me some advice and instructed me in everyday life, she is my inspiration. One day I can go to everywhere I want to go when I'm already professional and successful. Why do we consider other professions to be more professional and more successful than the profession of being a teacher? Is the money that you consider the lawyer's success or the doctor's? Money cannot measure success because a true success is where you had gone farther. I once knew a mother who was very proud of his son because he graduated in college as a Civil engineer and now, he has a job. Her prides are almost drowning her. All the benefits she had from her son is a blessing for her and he thanked him so much with pleasure but she didn't thanked the teacher who mentored her son everyday. Teachers are heroes and if ever I will become successful someday, aside from my parents, I will thank my teachers who supported me and filled my mind with knowledge. The president became a president because of his teacher, the lawyer is a lawyer because of his teacher and the doctor is a doctor because of his teacher. Admit it, teachers are heroes and someday I will become like them.

My hero cannot fly or lift heavy things but she can turn me into a professional someday. Face the truth that there will never be more successful than our teachers. We must be proud that we have them.

IMPORTANCE OF BREAST FEEDING

Breast feeding is a very nutritious and also delicious way of taking care of an infant. It is widely discussed by doctors and some people if it is still traditional or not any more. Mothers are used to breastfeed their babies but now, because of paucity of time, they substitute powdered milk for breast milk. Breast milk is so important for an infant. If they haven't known, powdered milk has negative aspects. It is not as healthy as fresh milks like breast milk and it is high in oxysterols. However, people with a number of diseases like hardened arteries and Multiple Sclerosis have been found to have extremely high level of oxysterols in their bodies.

There are two aspects in which breastfeeding is important, one is the nutritional aspect and the other one is the psychological aspect. The nutritional aspect may be substituted but the psychological bonding which develops between the mother and the infant does not have alternatives. Breastfeeding is already proven nutritional and was also proven to decrease expenses. Instead of buying powdered milk, why don't we use breast milk to feed a baby for it is free? Research shows that breastfeeding has significant health benefits for mothers.

Breastfeeding assists the uterus return to its pre-pregnant state faster, can help women to lose weight after baby’s birth, reduces the risk of ovarian cancer and pre-menopausal breast cancer, reduces the risk of osteoporosis and reduces the risk of mothers with gestational diabetes developing Type 2 diabetes. Babies who are fed using breast milk have lower risk of asthma, obesity and allergies. Breast milk is easy to digest, totally proven. Babies who were breast fed are rarely constipated likely to got diarrhea. Breast milk is the best nutrition for a baby till it is six months old. Breast milk is specifically designed for the immature GI system of the infant and it is easily digested. It has the right proportions of fat, protein and sugars. The sugar present in breast milk, lactose is easily digested and is sufficient for all the requirement of the baby.
So what are you waiting for? Go breastfeed your babies and they will turn out to be healthy for sure.

Dear Mr. President

                First of all, I would like to thank God for letting you sit on the President’s throne, for the last administration didn’t satisfy me. It would be such a privilege to write this letter to you Sir. Your parents are legend.

                Mr. President, I really wish that this administration will be going to make such progress. This time, the country’s finances are almost down the drain because most Filipinos experience poverty. Many women bear many children and this is one of the reasons why they can no longer afford a better life. The R. H. Bill is what they really need. Couples cannot avoid temptation and they might have sexual intercourses some time and as a result, the woman gets pregnant, not knowingly the effect of this I their life. I’m just a 14-year old girl but that doesn’t make me naïve. My eyes are wide open to see all the things happening in my surroundings.

                For the past few years, I realized that my parents are yearning for my future life after I graduate. They want me to finally graduate and find a job so that we can learn how to stand alone in life. My parents are getting old and I wish that my sisters and I will graduate soon. I wish you won’t add more year levels. It will be a big problem for poor families to let their children go to school for so many years.

                And sometimes, what confuses me is the teachers’ salary. How come other professions have higher salaries than our teachers? Why would there be a doctor or an engineer, then, if there is no teacher? I wish that someday, somehow, you will increase the teachers’ salary.

                I hope someday our country will rise and stand proud. We must all aim high, together we’ll stand and raise the Philippine flag for the whole world to see.

                                                                                                                                   Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                                                                 Divimae Joy Quias