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(I’ve never been one to stick with the rules, and when it comes to math, I’m not too keen on making exceptions. So when you asked us to basically write about the end of the semester, I decided to do it the way most things—business deals, relationships, etc.—usually start: with a letter.)

Dear Professor ________,

The University of the Philippines—it’s every student’s dream. And now that the first semester of my first year in college is drawing to an end, I would love to be able to say that I made a mark as a student. I would want nothing more right now than to look back on these past few months and see myself as the ideal student—the kind that always had her hand up in the air, always had insanely high scores, always came to class on time, always brought her Math I module, always raced to find the answers before anyone else. I wanted to be known by name, not just by my student number. I hoped to be the kind of student no teacher could ever forget.

But looking back, I can’t seem to see even a shadow of that ideal student. All I see is a student who, in between taking down notes and listening, paused every so often to a.) Whip out her phone and text nothing of actual importance or b.) Take a bite of whatever it was she bought from the cafeteria before entering the classroom. I remember crossing my fingers and silently praying that my index card would remain hidden in the pile so I wouldn’t have to recite in class. I don’t remember waking up on a certain Monday/Thursday and feeling all psyched and raring to get to math class. You can pretty much say I failed at becoming the student I thought I was destined to become. Despite all the fresh beginnings and resolutions to change, I let my biases against math get to me once again. My entire Math I class passed right through me.

But I guess that just about sums up the most important thing I learned in Math I which, coincidentally, has nothing to do with math—there are no ideal students. There are no factory-made, cookie-cutter-type students, only those who try their best and whose efforts are recognized, encouraged, and pushed further by their teachers. There is no predestination—you become your own “ideal student” by working through it day after day. I can honestly say that this is the first time I’ve ever actually thought of trying harder. I’ve been so used to taking the backseat when it came to math—I always let the others race ahead of me. But for some reason, Math I made me want to try harder. It challenged me to do better. Throughout the whole semester, I did my best to try and keep up with the rest of them. There were times when I felt I was at the top of my game, but there were also times when I was panting like crazy and struggling to keep up. I didn’t finish first, but I got to the finish line.

The truth is I will never love math. I will never look at a page full of numbers and feel thrilled or excited or challenged. I will never jump to my feet and be assertive when it comes to matters involving even the slightest bit of math. The “Oh-no,-math-again?” sigh I’ve perfected over time will never be replaced by a shout of glee. I will never love math, but what I can do is learn to appreciate it. I’d like to think I’m not a lost cause yet. One day, the light bulb in my head will go off with a *ting!*, and I know that that will be the moment when I finally get math. And when that time finally comes, I’m sure I’m going to remember the math professor who once told me that it was okay to fail—making him one that I would never forget.
I’d like to end this letter with nothing but happy thoughts and good wishes to you, Sir, but that would fall under “following the rules,” wouldn’t it? So instead, I’ll extend my greeting to your future students—I hope they realize how lucky they are.

P.S.
You once told us that, if by the end of the semester, we were able to look you in the eyes and tell you we did our best, you would be proud of us, regardless of the grades we’ve earned. Well, I hate to break it to you, Sir, but I’m not exactly sure if I did my absolute best. I can tell you one thing I’m sure of, though: not once during this semester did I think of giving up, because I knew I had a teacher who would not give up on me.

The Backstreet Boys concert was amazing.

At least, that’s what the pictures seem to tell me. You know, the pictures taken by the people who were actually there. I can’t believe I missed their concert—again!

© Pong Castillo

The Backstreet Boys were a huge part of my childhood. They were, literally and figuratively, everything to me back then. Justin who? I didn’t even start to appreciate the uber-hotness that is Justin Timberlake until waaay after N*Sync ended. There were no other boy bands (more like no other boys, period) out there, just AJ, Howie, Brian, Kevin, and Nick. Ahhh, Nick. Recess time circa 1999-2000 with my friends was spent fighting over which BSB to marry and daily allowances were saved up for their latest posters and albums. I swear, one patch of my wall has always been lighter than the rest of it for as long as I can remember.

But eventually, we all took the posters down, stored away our CD collections, and (kind of) stopped believing that Nick Carter would magically appear on our doorsteps and ask us to marry him. All of a sudden, our all-time favourite Backstreet Boys tunes were considered (gasp!) novelty songs. After we snapped out of our BSB funk, different music genres started popping out of nowhere. They’ve probably always been around, we just weren’t interested enough to give other music styles and artists the time of day. We all found something else we were interested in and promptly moved on.

Girl power bands and artists eventually came, emo/rock/punk/heavy metal took on the music scene for a while, and even more boy bands appeared and tried to steal the hearts of many shrieking girls out there (some were successful, some weren’t). But agree with me on this one—there has to be a reason why you have at least the chorus of your favorite Backstreet Boys song memorized by heart. You don’t even need a minute to think about it. Your mouth just opens and the lyrics tumble out almost automatically. Hiatus, a missing member, and 10 years later, it’s almost as if they were never gone in the first place. Now, an arena of people singing their hearts out to all the songs that take them back to their childhood/teenage years while looking at the same people they idolized and hopelessly crushed on for years and years? It must’ve been awesome.

So, any news on whether Nick is single or not? My doorstep hasn’t given up yet!

I love the Stylish Wanderer!

Photos via The Stylish Wanderer on Blogspot.com

She’s 14. Fourteen. She wears everything from designer heels to vintage dresses to shiny American Apparel disco pants. When I was that age, I was still rocking the whole baby tee/flared jeans/chunky rubber shoes/glitter hair look. Don’t ask.

On a totally different note:
“Me? I’m all over the place. I don’t know it’s just, like you know that feeling you get on a Sunday? Where you just had the whole day to yourself and it’s been great, and then you remember you have to go to school the next day, and it ruins the rest of the night. I have to go home tomorrow, and so I’ve got that feeling. It’s like Sunday night.” —Peyton, One Tree Hill

I have to agree with P. Sawyer. I hate that Sunday night feeling. You can’t escape it. At around 7 to 8pm, it starts to creep up on you—the feeling that there wasn’t enough time to do everything you wanted or needed to do this weekend. To top it all off, you suddenly realize that you’re going to have to get up early, too. After all, it’s Monday. Almost everyone wakes up on the wrong side of bed. That being said..

Yay for no classes tomorrow! Enjoy your extended weekend, Candy Girls!

There are so many things I want to say about Valentine’s Day—in fact, I’m afraid this whole entry might turn into a bunch of tittle-tattle if I indulge myself. So instead, I thought of leaving it to the pros. After all, there’s a reason why these movie lines have stuck with us after all these years, right? I think it’s safe to say these quotes sum up everything good about Valentine’s Day and give you one of the best feelings in the world: that giddy, warm, tingly feeling you get when something (a song, a picture, a memory, or in this case, a line from a movie) hits you in a such a special way that makes you feel it was made for you, just you. You feel it all over your body and you never ever want to lose it. These movie quotes are old and new, familiar and unfamiliar, but I’m pretty sure they’ll “hit” you all the same.

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” —Annie

“If I tell you I love you, can I keep you forever?” —Casper

“I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it.” —City of Angels

“It doesn’t matter if the guy is perfect or the girl is perfect, as long as they are perfect for each other.” —Good Will Hunting

“Sometimes in life, there really are bonds formed that can never be broken. Sometimes you really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what. Maybe you’ll find it in a spouse and celebrate it with your dream wedding, but there’s also the chance that the one person you can count on for a lifetime, the one person who knows you sometimes better than you know yourself, is the same person who’s been standing beside you all along.” —Bride Wars

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” —Moulin Rouge

“Remember, I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” —Notting Hill

“I am someone else when I’m with you, someone more like myself.” —Original Sin

“In these dreams I’ve loved you so, that by now I think I know what it’s like to be loved by you. I will love being loved by you.” —The King and I

“I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle in your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” —When Harry Met Sally

“I guarantee there’ll be tough times. I guarantee that at some time, one or both of us is gonna want to get out of this thing. But I also guarantee that if I don’t ask you to be mine, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life, because I know, in my heart, you’re the only one for me.” —Runaway Bride

“Take love, multiply it by infinity and take it to the depths of forever, and you still have only a glimpse of how I feel for you.” —Meet Joe Black

“You are what I never knew I always wanted.” —Fools Rush In

“If you love someone you say it, you say it right then, out loud. Otherwise the moment just… passes you by.” —My Best Friend’s Wedding

“Don’t say we aren’t right for each other. The way I see it is we aren’t right for anyone else.” —The Cutting Edge

“Sometimes I wish I had never met you. Because then I could go to sleep at night not knowing there was someone like you out there.” —Good Will Hunting

“If you’re not willing to sound stupid, then you’re not worthy of falling in love.” —A Lot Like Love

“You know, that moment when you kiss someone and everything around you becomes hazy. And the only thing in focus is you and that person. And you realize that that person is the only person that you’re supposed to kiss for the rest of your life. And for one moment you get this gift. And you want to laugh and you want to cry because you feel so lucky that you found it and so scared that it will go away all at the same time.” —Never Been Kissed

“I love you without knowing how, why, or even from where.” —Patch Adams

“You complete me.” —Jerry Maguire

No matter what your opinion of Valentine’s Day is - underrated, overrated, Single-Awareness Day, too commercialized, corporate money-making scheme, something only lovesick couples celebrate, a sad excuse for torpe people to finally show some affection, the best day of the year - everyone deserves to feel loved on that special day. Don’t forget to spread the love tomorrow! (And every other day of the year, for that matter.)

Wishing you bouquets of roses, boxes of chocolates, and that warm kilig feeling,
Cre

P.S. For all those anti-everything-cheezy girls out there who just have to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a bit of an edge, here’s a list I’m sure you’ll find fascinating: 14 Miserable Facts About St Valentine’s Day. Who says Valentine’s Day is just for lovey-dovey couples?

Love quotes from:
http://www.iloveuquotes.com/movielovequotes.htm
http://www.latestngreatest.net/movielovequotes.htm
http://www.romancestuck.com/quotes/movie-quotes.htm

SAG Awards, Golden Globes, People’s Choice Awards, and the Grammys—things we can officially tick off from the Major Awards Shows of 2010 list (Academy Awards, here we come!). Personally, I think half the fun of watching these shows is seeing the celebrities walk down the red carpet at the pre-show ceremonies. It’s always really fun to scrutinize every single gown and dress on that carpet, whether you end up totally hating or falling in love with it. I’ve also found that the pre-show fashion rituals are best shared with your girlfriends—even if it is just over the phone! Sorry boys, it’s a girl thing.

photo courtesy of Fox/Solar Entertainment

An actress who, for me, passed her first red carpet experiences with flying colors is Glee’s Lea Michele. Who would have known that little goody two-shoes Rachel Berry could work a red carpet that well? Definitely an upgrade from the pastel cardigans, argyle-print sweaters, knee-high socks and penny loafers she wears on the show!

Click on these links for Lea’s looks:

Looking like a modern day princess at the Golden Globe Awards

Working the red hot look at the People’s Choice Awards

I think she looked like an absolute dream at the SAG Awards

Nothing beats her Grammy Awards dress! My personal favorite: I. LOVE. THIS. DRESS.

You know who I’m going to look out for at the next red carpet event I can’t wait!