#5 Ming-Ming

Last week me and my blockmates watched Ming-Ming: a play of hide and seek at the minitheater in the IDS building. The atmosphere inside the theater is a bit strange. I felt this sensation from the moment i stepped inside the theater. It was like something big is going to happen. The first thing I noticed when I went inside are the two actors, who laugh every time it is quite in the theater and "shhhh" every time it is noisy. They gave me the creeps. The atmosphere suddenly changed when the actors started moving. It is the signal that the play has already begun.
On the start of the play I was shocked because I didn't thought that there is a person below the cloth that covered the stage and as soon as the cloth was removed she started talking to the other characters who, I think, can't see her. Also, I can't understand the plot and the sequence of the events, because the four main characters spoke simultaneously without any abrupt pause and I don't know who they are speaking to. This gave me a blank face and an confused thoughts.
But thankfully soon after this, one by one the characters shared their stories and past. Because of this the play comes to shape. Ming-ming, the girl under the cloth at the beginning of the play, is a "ghost". She came from a royal family of Muslims. Her father was her mother's Christian professor. This kind of relationships, says the Qur'an, is forbidden. Because of this her mother was hiding her from the other family members, except to her mother, Ming-ming's grandmother. Ming-ming's mother remarries a Muslim guy. This made Ming-ming wonder why she doesn't look the same as her "father" and why doesn't he treat her well, without her knowing it's not her father.


This types of issues in the time is very common and rampant. But broken families because of religion is not so common, but this type of things still happens. This results to daughters and sons without a complete family, which can make them vulnerable to bad peers and weak in emotional and psychological aspects of life. Some single-parents remarries but some of their remarriages were not good for the part of the children of their first partner because there new partners might treat abuse or hurt their children in their first partners.


In continuation to the play, the love story of Ming-ming's grandmother and her grandfather's brother. They really are the ones who loved each other, but her grandmother marries her grandfather because of fixed marriage, which is a common custom to Muslims in the past decades and centuries. Because of this their love story ended before it even started. This is one of the problems which can also cause broken families because, maybe the other party might not  love the other and might find the love they want from somebody else. But thankfully in the story the family never break.
In the last parts of the story it was narrated how Ming-ming suffered in a room and how he died. She suffered in a room which she can only see is her bodyguard who brings her food and bcause of this routine slowly Ming-ming fell in love to the guy something happened to them, thats why Ming-ming was released from her cage. This made Ming-ming hungry for adventure and she tried everything her peers told her to do. She do drugs, and one time she overdosed it which caused her death. This is also an issue connected to bad-parenting.
In the end of the play, Ming-ming realized she's dead and know the story of everyone and she returned beneath the fabrics.
In conclusion, I think the Stories main idea is a family in love and God can save the life of the young ones and the future.

#4 A Walk To Remember?

The 7th of November year 2010 was the day this story happened. It was the 15th birthday of my classmate in which the whole class was invited. It was held in their family's private resort, a small place with an ordinary pool.It was not that far from the center of the town but I feel different on my way there with my buddies.

The alley to the place was very narrow that we could only walk by threes side-by-side. We reached the place at exactly 7:30 pm, 30 minutes late and the party has already started but we were just in time for the best part, which is known to be "the feast" because of the different kinds of delicious foods the family is known of in every kind of celebration. After the meal, some of my classmate jumped on the pool and some went to the videoke machine and picked some songs.  It seemed like the fun never stops.

But as soon as the clock ticked 10, one by one my classmates went home. Including some of my girl classmates, who asked me and my buddies to accompany them to the end of the alley, about 20 meters from the venue. Before we go Lyca, the celebrant, asked us how many of us will go home, my classmate answered her, "Just the four of us, Lyc". Lyca asked again, "Then why are there 8 of you who are going?", my classmate replied, " They will just accompany us, because there might be a chance that something nasty will happen." and after the "thank you"s and "you're welcome"s the 8 of us take the narrow, and dark path. In that time the only source of light was the light post on the end of the alley. We walked side by side. I was on the center of the group, in the middle row with two of the girls, in front of me there were 3 persons, 1 girl and 2 of my buddies, and at the back was one of  my buddies and another girl.
On the middle of the alley, I asked my friend in the back some questions and when I looked at him I saw something else, it was not just the two of them walking at my back, but three, i don't know who or what it was, it was hiding in the shadows of the walls and walking beside my female classmate. I was terrify at the time but i just kept walking and never minded it.

Thank God, we reached the end of the alley without harm and there we waited for about 5 minutes for a tricycle for the girls to ride home.

On the way back I was terrified of the fact that there was no doors or gates the man could pass through and if he just kept walking to the end of the alley i should have noticed him, but I saw nobody came out of the alley except us. What was more terrifying was the story of the caretaker of the resort, that the road was haunted by some man killed by his lover's husband on his way to meet his lover.
I don't know if what I saw was the man, or something created by my head. But one thing is for sure it always gives me goosebumps when i recall the story.

#3 Reaction: That Sweet Unforgettable Day

It is pretty rare to read some "supernatural" stories in an English textbook but when you do, it might be fabricated. But I don't care if the story is fabricated or not, because i'm pretty sure if this will happen to me, i might have the same reaction as the author. I would cry and be happy at the same time, because my mother even if she is dead wants to feel her. 

My mother take care of me more than herself in which i was in deep debt for all my life. I know my mother is the woman who loves me most in this world, and if I lost her I know I lost one of the most important part of my life. She provide all my need and even the things I don't even need all i can do to repay her is love and respect, in which sometimes not followed and sometimes taken for granted. My mother taught me the important things in life, and make the dark places clear and easy.

It's also heart breaking to know that that day will come no matter what. But until that day will come, no, but until my last breath I will love her and be thankful that God gave me such Mother, a loving and caring mother. I love you mom.

Our mothers, not just the biological ones, taught us things no one else can, guides us like they will die if we make mistakes, and love us like there is no tomorrow. So, keep calm and love your mother.

No language can express the power, and beauty, and heroism, and majesty of a mother's love.  It shrinks not where man cowers, and grows stronger where man faints, and over wastes of worldly fortunes sends the radiance of its quenchless fidelity like a star. -Edwin Hubbell Chapin 

#2 I am Legen, wait for it, dary!

Being a loner doesn't mean having small circle of friends. Just that, there's a big world inside of me that not everyone can understand. Sprouting from Polomolok South Cotabato, a 12-hour trip from Iligan. I had grown a love for Mathematics which was the reason why I took an engineering course. A product of Leo Lavalle Martinez and Gemma Dipus Martinez' love that reaches infinity and beyond, and born on the faithful day of October 23, 1995.
I am a graduate of a Catholic-private school, namely San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy of Polomolok, unfortunately I graduate without any award other than being an excellent Math contestant. I joined many math contest but rarely won. I am a very lazy person, but if I need to move, I'll move as swiftly and efficient i can be.
I am a person who prefers to be a follower rather than a leader, it is because i don't want to take responsibility when things turn wrong but sometimes I love to be the leader to be responsible. I am a person who take every good opportunity that came along my path because I believe nothing came to those who didn't try.
I love to listen to music specially the genre of religious rock. I don't want to be caught on fights because I want to promote peace in the world but if someone crosses the line I would fight back. I love the color black, and blue, this gives people the impression that I'm "emo" but I'm not.
I hate being left alone but this helps me know to stand alone and be independent. I hate people who call themselves friends but backstabs each other. I also hate the feeling of hating someone because I know sometime in the future we will see each other and because of hate, fights and awkwardness might sprung out.
Well, I wont make this long, but before I end this, yes, i am not in a relationship, but taken.

#1 I Stop to Say "Thank You Mamang & Papang."

At times, I ask myself “Why am I here in this world full of lights and shadows?”. Well, who would even care to answer such a stupid question? In the first place, when people heard my first cry, when I took my first breath in this temporary world, every bit of me doesn’t have any idea what life is. They say it was never easy, it’s short, it’s full of surprises. 
As time goes by, I’m bulging, I’m gigantic, I think I’m turning into a big monster. And yeah, that’s how I describe growing up. I’ve got these two creatures who can always handle my weirdness. They always come to see me, making sure I’m alright. They do silly things in front of me when I was still a little monster just to make me smile. And most of all, they showed me something I never expected to have. Uhh. They call it love. 
Honestly, I’m not that kind of guy who finds time to thank people who do something phenomenal for me. For all those years that I’ve journeyed life, I would like to thank Mr. Leo L. Martinez, a pastor, and Mrs. Gemma Dipus Martinez, a pharmacist for everything they’ve done for me. I can’t guarantee to elaborate that “everything”, I know it would take more than the whole universe to mention every little thing they did, from bringing me to life until what I am today. 
Thank you for teaching me good morals, providing me more than what I need, guiding me in making precise and accurate decisions, for trusting me to go into a University far from home, and especially bringing me nearer to God.
Mom, the sweetest thing you’ve done for me is carrying me for 9 months. I know it was the hardest months of your life, carrying a heavy burden wherever you go. I’m sorry for not being the son you wanted me to be but I know there are a lot of rooms for improvements. Mom, thank you for working all day long even if you can't walk. Thank you for finding time to call me even if you feel the pain every night. Thank you for being my personal tutor Mom. Thank you for enduring the pain walking just to be with me on my graduation. You’re one of a kind. I love you.
Dad, thank you being there in the happiest and saddest times of my life. Because of Mom’s "disability", it is you who is always with me in almost all the firsts in my life, like my first competition, my first day at school, and especially my circumcision, in which I cried. Thank you Dad for bringing me to school every morning for the past 12 years. Thank you for being my personal adviser in decision making. Thank you for everything Dad, especially the non-material ones. I love you.
Mom, Dad, thank you for molding me to a God-fearing person. Thank you for correcting my mistakes and helping me to be a better person. Thank you for the stuffs you sacrificed just to make me happy, even though I'm an ungrateful bastard sometimes. Thank you for loving me with no bounds. Lastly, I would like to thank God for granting me two persons who told me to call them “Mamang and Papang”.