Kalayaan’s state is deplorable, to be honest. You’re lucky if your locks are broken—at least they’re not missing. The wood on the cabinets is rotting. Vandalism has soiled the walls, although artistically so. All things considered, though, the place is livable, because these days all you really need is electricity, running water, and, most important of all, WiFi. It could be much worse.

Tonight I’m in a hotel in Pasay City. Tomorrow will most likely be spent in MOA, primarily jejebusting but also finishing my pre-school-year shopping. Then in the afternoon or evening, I will go back to Diliman to spend my first night as a Kalayaan dormer.

Above is a picture of everything writing-related that is in my bag. I have many more books at home, and I wanted to bring all of them, but as I was packing I realized that space is scarce and that I’m not keen on the idea of bringing a boxful of dead trees with me to a small dorm room, so this is all I brought:

• Green Apple spiral-bound notebook, where I do most of my writing.
• Moleskine ruled notebook, for journal entries.
• “Basic Journalism” by Estrada and Nem Singh. You’ll have to squint really hard if you want to see it in the picture. I bought this two or three years ago, although I’ve been referring to it since elementary.
• “Feature Writing For Filipinos” by Genove. As an elementary and high school campus journalist I participated in the Feature Writing category.
• A small copy of the 1986 Constitution.
• “Twisted V” and “Twisted 8 1/2″ by Jessica Zafra. I read her blog and just started following her columns on the Star. I’m a firsthand victim of her viciousness, but she is entertaining to read nonetheless.
• “Youngblood” and “Youngblood 2.0″, anthologies of the popular Inquirer column.
• “Killing Time In A Warm Place” by Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. My thoughts on the book.
• “Stainless Longganisa” by Bob Ong.
• Barron’s Book Notes of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man And The Sea.” Perhaps the best book I’ve ever read.
• My small fountain pen collection: a basic Pilot and a big-nibbed Parker. The Pilot is a pump converter; the Parker is one of those newfangled ones that use refill cartridges. My Quink inkwell is not in the picture because I forgot to pack it.
• Canon PowerShot A650 IS. I love this camera. Sadly, months ago it went priapic. Its lens won’t retract. I’m hoping I can have it repaired tomorrow, although from what I’ve read online it can be cheaper to buy a new camera than to send an old one in for fixing.
• Sterling daily planner.
• That little orange guy that keeps the pages in place when I’m reading a book. Given to me by a very good friend.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

* * *

“NSPC 2009: Notes From Naga City“, published here on February 25, 2009; “NSPC 2010: The Tagum Invasion“, published here on February 28, 2010.

I have been a campus journalist since the fifth grade in elementary. Ever since I started I have been a feature writer, and thankfully I’ve won several awards in that category, including two at the national level.

In UP Diliman I will be a student of the Department of Journalism of the College of Mass Communication, working under the tutelage of some of the Philippines’ brightest minds in journalism. For someone who has regarded himself as a “budding journalist” for so long, it’s a great honor to be studying at the CMC.

I often think about how lucky I am to be able to pursue my life’s interest. Opportunities like these don’t come to many people, nor do they come often. I will try my best not to make fortune regret knocking on my door.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

* * *

“Moryo-Moryo: A Ray Of Hope“, a project I took on along with four of my Junior year classmates that focused on the plight of children who lived near our city’s dumpsite. Despite my deplorable HTML and CSS skills, the project won Best In Community Impact for Smart Schools’ first Doon Po Sa Amin Learning Challenge.

Perhaps the most iconic and enduring symbol of the University of the Philippines is the Oblation—a naked man with arms outstretched, offering himself in service to his country. No less than this attitude of self-sacrifice is expected of all UP students.

The Oblation made me think about when I decided to take on the Moryo-Moryo project. The prospect of winning a cash prize enticed me, of course, but much more than that I welcomed the opportunity to help a worthy cause. Every time we visited the school, we got to see the children whose eyes sparkled with hope despite their dire situation. That really hit me in two ways: it reminded me of how lucky I was to have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a house to come home to everyday, and inspired me to do everything I could to help. I cannot justify with words the fulfilling satisfaction I felt in telling the story of Moryo-Moryo, in working for a cause bigger than me.

It feels good to be part of a community that cares so much about service to country at a time when the Philippines is so overridden by greed and selfishness, in city streets and in corridors of power. I hope I prove myself worthy of the tradition of service to country that UP fosters.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

* * *

“Regretting Section One [RANTING/BITCHING]“, published here on July 4, 2008.

When I was a first year high school student, I was part of Section One of the Special Science Curriculum of Agusan National High School. The Special Science Curriculum, or “Science High” as it’s colloquially called, is the most advanced curriculum ANHS offers. To qualify for it, incoming freshmen must pass a rigorous testing process (admittedly, it was easier then compared to now, but it was hard to get through nonetheless). Being in Section One of Science High, therefore, means being part of the crèmè de la crèmè of the school.

Needless to say it was an honor for me, a so-so student who had never gone to public school before, to make it. I felt proud.

At the end of freshman year, I found out that my dismal grades meant that I would probably be demoted to a lower section of Science High. So as a sophomore, I bade goodbye to the glow of Section One and said hello to Section Three. At first, I felt awkward, ashamed even. I had fallen from grace. As the year wore on, however, I found myself having the time of my life in Section Three, feeling no pressure and being able to enjoy high school as a high school student should.

When I qualified for reinstatement to Section One as a Junior student, I hesitantly accepted. Barely a month into the school year, not having recovered from the euphoria of Sophomore year, I wrote the above post, lamenting the seriousness of Section One and wishing for a return to simpler times.

I thought of this as I was preparing for UP and all the pressure it will give me. Admission into UP was one of my biggest dreams, and now that it has come true, I wonder if I should have been careful what I wished for. I know, of course, that for its notoriously rigorous environment, UP is an almost-absolute guarantee of future success for its student. Pressure, they say, forms diamonds after all. But I think it would be more apt to think of UP as a trial by fire for me. If I’m really made of gold, I will come out shining brighter than ever; if I turn out to be anything less than is expected of me, I’m screwed.

It was easy for me to whine about the pressure that comes with being part of the cream of the crop as a high school student, but I resolve to look at the pressure that comes with being a student of the country’s premiere university in a different light. I know it will be anything but easy, and I can’t say I’m confident about my chances, but I’m more than willing to have a go at it.

This is it. Pressure na. Kaya ko ‘to!

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

This is how I remember Artest. That was one fun brawl to watch.

Apparently no one noticed stupid Ron Artest manning the paint. He made the rebound and the game-winning, buzzer-beating shot. Were it not for him the game would have gone to overtime, where the Suns could have won to take the series lead, but stupid Ron Artest had to be the hero of the goddamn day. So the Lakers won 101-103 and now lead the Western Conference Finals series 3-2. Game 6 is on Sunday morning (Saturday evening in the States), in Phoenix’s home turf. Games 3 and 4 showed us just how well the Suns can perform with homecourt advantage, so here’s hoping they force a Game 7.

I actually haven’t followed the NBA for at least five years now. I only started following the playoffs when the Conference Finals began. Back when I still had the time to watch the games, I rooted for the Phoenix Suns—Steve Nash, Amare Stoudamire, Shawn Marion, Rajah Bell, and Leandro Barbosa were their starting five back then, if memory serves. Only Steve and Amare are still on the Phoenix roster today. I actually don’t know why I decided to root for Phoenix when the makeup of the team has changed quite a lot. All things considered, Los Angeles probably has a much more solid lineup. (Blasphemy, I know!) Nevertheless, GO, SUNS, GO! *clap clap clapclapclap*

***

My emo-ness has gotten me published on IndieInk. This is the first time I’ve been published on II, although it’s really the third if you count the two times I was published on IndieBloggers, which was the precursor to IndieInk. Read my piece, “Feeling”, here; submit your essays here and your photos here. Learn more about IndieInk.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

Thankfully I found an easy way to transfer my iTunes library from Windows to Mac OS X over WiFi. All this method needed was an iTunes account, for iTunes to be installed on the transmitting and the receiving computers, and for the computers to be in the same WiFi network. This is all thanks to an iTunes feature called Home Sharing, introduced in iTunes 9.

Here’s how to transfer your iTunes library from Windows to Mac using this method.

1. Go to Advanced → Enable Home Sharing on your menu bar, then click the Home Sharing icon on the iTunes sidebar. Enter your iTunes Store login credentials. Do this on both your Windows and Mac computers.
2. On iTunes on your Mac computer, you should be able to see the library of your Windows computer under Home Sharing in iTunes. Then just click on Music, hit Cmd + A to select all the songs, then drag them over to the Music section of your Mac’s library (at the top of the sidebar). Do the same for Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, and Apps. (Movie rentals can’t be transferred using this method, though.)

Just wait a few minutes for the transfers to complete, and, Bob’s your uncle (heh, British expression), you’ve successfully transferred your iTunes library from Mac to Windows easily through WiFi. For more information and help regarding Home Sharing, visit the pertinent Apple support page.

I hope you found my little tutorial on how to move your iTunes library from Windows to Mac O X useful. I’d be glad to try to answer any of your questions—just post them in the Comments section below or contact me.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

We spent much of our time talking about college—the subjects, the schedules, and the ways of life that we will have to get used to once classes begin. Some of us are going to Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro; others, to MSU in Marawi and Iligan; at least one will attend Silliman University in Dumaguete; I and three of my classmates will go to UP Diliman; two of my classmates, to UP Manila. It’s a full-blown diaspora.

Wherever we will go, we will inevitably change; meeting new people, making new friends, and adapting to new places will definitely do that to you. I wonder what our reunion ten, or five, or maybe even two years from now, will look like. Will we still laugh our asses off to no end, or will we just stare blankly at each other, making small talk and thinking, “I used to go to school with these guys. What happened?”

People change. I know I will. If I took a picture of myself today and looked at it a few years later, I would not be able to recognize myself. What more with my high school friends? Everything stopped at Graduation Day; our latest memory of each other will be the hugs and the youthful smiles we exchanged before we set off our own separate ways. When we see each other again, we will not know what to expect, so we will expect for nothing to have changed. But that won’t be true. Everything will have changed.

The last thing I will remember of some of my friends is an evening spent in our classmate’s house, belting songs from our parents’ heyday. During our reunion, we might hit the karaoke again, or take another afternoon dip in the local swimming pool. Bob Ong said it well: we might be able to revisit the places and sing the songs of our youth, but we will never be able to visit the time again.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

After five years’ worth of afternoons spent playing patintero and hide-and-seek and worrying about absolutely nothing, six years in the protective cocoon of private elementary school, and four years in the blissful turbulence of public high school, I’m finally heading off, living on my own for the first time in my life. It’s scary, in a way, going off on your own, severing yourself from the tether of dependence you’ve worn all your life. I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to get used to having to fend for myself out there in the wilderness they call the real world. I’m going to have fun trying, I’m sure.

But it is as exciting as it is daunting. I don’t know what awaits me in the skyscraper-lined avenues of the Metro, the tree-lined roads of UP, and the book-lined walls of its buildings. I’m yet unsure about what it will feel like to rub elbows with my generation’s future greats. I will be charting the course for my future, studying to become a journalist in the worst place in the world to be one, mulling over going on to pursue law and one day earn the general scorn of my fellowmen. The near future, I realize, is full of uncertainty, but so is life; I’m not fully sure of where I’m going, but I am sure I will enjoy the ride.

My parents will call, email, maybe pay a few visits; reunions with friends and classmates will take place on Facebook walls, in chat windows, and in a few chance encounters in airport lobbies or malls; I will fall in love, climb back out of it, and fall again, and maybe one day fall for the last time. When I return everything will have changed, myself included. Whether for better or for worse, we will find out when we find out.

In June I will take off to a new city and, in many ways, an entirely new life. I will meet new people and learn new things. I’ve often asked myself whether I’m ready, and although I still have no answer to the question, I know it won’t matter. The Universe won’t wait for me to be ready, it’ll just go when it wants to. Sounds like fun.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

A KLM Boeing 747, just after taking off from KJFK in FlightGear.

I’m an avid, if mediocre, user of flight simulation programs, being a bit of an aviation fanatic. So when I got Jamby, one of the first things I did was scout for a good flight simulator for Mac OS X. The problem is, one can say that flight simulators fall at least partly under the “Gaming” category of software, and if there’s one thing Macs do badly, it’s run games.

Windows users are much luckier, as they have a lot of options. Microsoft makes a commercial flight simulator program for Windows called Flight Simulator X, which, from what I’ve read, renders an immersive flight simulation experience. For cheapskates and open source junkies, there’s FlightGear, a free flight simulator, which is developed and maintained by a vibrant open-source community. There’s even a lightweight flight simulator for Windows called YSFlight, for those who don’t care about fancy graphics and just want the unadulterated feeling of flying a plane.

Mac OS X users have a few choices. Flight Simulator X is a Windows-only program, but there’s a rough OS X equivalent developed by Laminar Research called X-Plane. X-Plane is a commercial flight simulator for Mac OS X, as well as for Linux and Windows. X-Plane is so kickass, there’s even an FAA-certified version of it for sale! A license costs $29 plus shipping, which may sound steep, until you find out that it ships with six dual-layer DVDs with installers for Windows, Mac and Linux, and scenery for the entire world. It doesn’t make the price sound more bearable, but it sure does make it more reasonable. (No purchase-and-download option is available, which is too bad since it would be more environmentally friendly.) For those who, like me, do not have $29 to fund their aviation fantasies, there is FlightGear for Mac, a free flight simulator for Mac OS X. This is the one I use, and it works just as well as its Windows counterpart, although I have to say it’s already crashed on me a couple of times.

If you want, though, you can use Flight Simulator X on Mac OS X…well, sort of. Mac OS X has a feature called Boot Camp, which allows you to dual-boot Windows alongside Mac OS X. If you’re really itching to use Flight Simulator X on your Mac, just install Windows via Boot Camp (official Apple instructions here—WARNING, opens a PDF file), then install FSX on your Windows partition. If you’re a real aviation junkie, you can even devote your entire Windows partition to your flight simulators.

You can raise any questions about free and paid flight simulators by leaving a comment on this post. You can also contact me.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

Holy crap, it's Aidan! Later in the movie, Carrie calls big and tells him, "something's happened." Dun-dun-dunnn. {Image from Allmoviephoto.com}

I know my masculinity will have to suffer when I say this, but I’m an avid fan of “Sex and the City”. I know, I know—it’s a girl’s show, and I’m straight (jussayin). But the ideas of frantic life in New York, nights out, apartment walls lined with bookshelves, complicated relationships, and a barely working newspaper columnist just appeal to me.

My first SATC experience actually happened five years after the original series ended, when HBO ran the “Sex and the City” movie. Critics apparently didn’t think it was great, but I found it interesting, my taste in movies being relatively pedestrian. Later on HBO started replaying SATC the series starting from the very first episode, and so I began sleeping later than usual on Wednesday evenings. (Yes, SATC is the reason I started arriving later than usual for Physics class on Thursdays.)

On May 27, “Sex And The City 2″, the aptly named sequel to the SATC movie, opens in New York City, with an opening in the Philippines probably soon afterwards. In SATC2, Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha fly to Morocco for a desert getaway. There Carrie—get this—meets Aidan, her erstwhile boyfriend whom she cheated with Big on. The trailer, which is available on the movie’s website, doesn’t give away much else, save the fact that this movie is bound to click with those who, like me, closely followed the series. (Yes, despite the fact that Miley Cyrus appears in the movie.)

“Sex And The City 2,” playing in a theater near you really soon.

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I watch Entourage, too, so as we Filipinos like to say, quits lang. Haha. Entourage is to men what SATC probably is to women. SATC took place in New York; Entourage has Los Angeles. SATC is about a fashionista writer, her socialite friends, and the way they handle their lovelives with a “chicks before dicks” attitude; Entourage  is about an A-list movie star, his three friends who also make up his entourage, and their romantic exploits, which they pursue with the motto “Bros before hos.”

There’s no hint of an Entourage the Movie yet, but the seventh season of the HBO series is set to premiere on June 27! At the end of Season 6, Eric proposed to Sloan, Turtle went back to school and broke up with Jamie, Drama got a holding deal, and Vince was getting ready to shoot another film following his success in Gatsby. The boys look ready to go their own separate ways so it wouldn’t be wrong to assume we’ll be following more than one storyline come June. Exciting!

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.