You are currently browsing the Travel Light blog archives for July, 2007


Back to school

It has been quite some time since I last visited Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Main Campus (also known as Mabini Campus) in Sta. Mesa, Manila. I came back this afternoon with my college friend, Olga, to follow up on the release of a school record and visit old teachers as well.

dsc00434.JPGdsc00425.JPG

There have been not so many noticeable changes. Nothing major, unless you would call that newly-constructed brickroad a change that took, let’s say, a decade to see fruition. It buried what used to be a water fountain and a garden of flowering shrubs. The obelisk has been reconstructed in the same fashion as the one in New York (the name escaped me, sorry). Filipino hero Apolinario Mabini, also called the Great Plebeian, now owns that particular space. Apolinario Mabini is PUP’s patron saint. Kidding.

dsc00424.JPGdsc00429.JPG

Apart from those things we saw, everything else remained just as the same as they were in 1999. Poor-ventilated classrooms, smelly and slimy restrooms and the university canteen which apparently turned out to be chain of hamburger stands selling footlong sandwiches and bottled drinks. Students still express their patriotic angst on postings at the catwalk. I still have the fondest memory on the football field where I almost lopped off the pitcher’s head with my flying bat during our softball class.

dsc00430.JPGdsc00431.JPG

It’s not that we were plain critical about these things. The budget for the brickroad and street lamps should have been alloted to the repair of stinky restrooms and dinky classrooms. I think the students need surroundings that are more conducive for learning and not just another replica of the gas chamber. PUP is a state university for crying out loud.

Outside the university, we were met by distressing scenarios. Houses surrounding PUP Sta. Mesa for the longest time have been demolished. It was like entering war-torn Iraq.

Nevertheless, I remain a proud student of PUP – Iskolar ng Bayan as we were called then. Where else can you find tuition fees that were as low as P350 per semester? (I am not sure of the amount now.) I remember someone from the guidance office told me before that out of 40,000+ people taking the PUPCET entrance exam, only 8,000+ students get admitted for one school year. It goes to show that PUP students are persevering pure-bred intellectuals despite their poor economic status. At hindi mga tamad.

I find it really ridiculous whenever I hear horror stories of companies hiring only graduates from UP, La Salle, UST, Ateneo and other expensive schools. I guess they forgot that in the long run a person’s character weighs more than their scholastic affiliation. Believe me.

Sony Ericsson K750i

This is my first time to buy a brand new cellphone after long years of subsisting in hand-me downs and second hand cheap trades my brother would get for me from Greenhills. I never had a brand new unit since Nokia 5110 days.

I am not really particular with new cellphone models. As long as I can send and receive text messages, place calls and have “snake” for amusement, you won’t have a problem pleasing me. That’s how basic I could get. I know – it’s boring.

So what made me break my seemingly endless basic mobile legacy? My battered second-hand Sony-Ericsson T630 recently passed away after 3 years in full service. The battery just died 3 days ago. And it freaked me out to find that a battery replacement costs P2,000. Might as well add a little more to the budget and buy a brand new unit instead.

And I really need a working tri-band mobile phone for my UK trip next week. Yung hindi naman mukhang chaka. Nakakahiya naman sa reyna ng Inglatera.

k750.jpg

I bought a Sony Ericsson K750i yesterday from Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall. It’s relatively cheap compared to its original price 2 years ago. (According to MobileReview.Com, it was a hit model in 2005.) I paid P8,990 for a unit that has a 2-megapixel camera, mp3, FM radio, 64mb memory stick and other usual inclusions in the package. Loved the maroon color, too.

Now that I lost the use of the old phone, my address book died along with it, too, unless I buy a new battery to keep it up and working again. To my friends, do me a favor. Please identify yourselves when texting me.

Filipinos in Hollywood

A partial list of Filipino-Americans who made it bigtime in Hollywood according to Wikipedia.

Phoebe Cates

Cates was born Phoebe Belle Katz in New York City, New York to Lily and director and producer Joseph Cates (born “Joseph Katz”) on July 16, 1963. Her uncle is producer/director Gilbert Cates and her stepfather was Marshall Naify, a horse breeder.[2] Cates’s maternal grandfather was of Chinese/Filipino descent, and her father as well as her maternal grandmother were of Russian Jewish origin. Cates attended the Professional Children’s School and the Juilliard School. She is currently married to actor Kevin Kline.

Lou Diamond Phillips

Phillips was born Lou Diamond Upchurch on February 17, 1962 at the Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines, the son of Lucita and Gerald Upchurch, a naval officer. His father was an American of Scotch-Irish, Hawaiian and Cherokee descent and his mother was a Filipina of Spanish, Chinese and Japanese descent. Phillips was named after Marine legend Lou Diamond and adopted his surname, “Phillips”, from his stepfather.

Tamlyn Naomi Tomita

Tomita was born on January 27, 1966 in Okinawa to Shiro and Asako Tomita. She is of one quarter-Filipino descent (her mother is half Filipina, half Japanese). Before becoming an actress, she won the title of Queen at the Nisei Week Pageant in Los Angeles in 1984, and Miss Nikkei International in 1985. In 1986, Tomita made her acting debut in The Karate Kid, Part II, playing the love interest to Ralph Macchio. She also starred in the movie The Joy Luck Club.

Kirk Hammett

Kirk Lee Hammett (born on November 18, 1962) is the lead guitarist in the thrash metal band Metallica. Hammett is one of the better-known students of guitarist and instructor Joe Satriani. In 2003, he was ranked 11th in the Rolling Stones “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. Born in San Francisco California to a Filipino mother and an Irish Merchant marine father.

Rob Schneider

Robert Michael Schneider (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch-comedy series Saturday Night Live, Schneider went on to a career in feature films, including starring roles in the comedies Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and The Hot Chick. Schneider was born in San Francisco, California and grew up in the nearby suburb of Pacifica. He is the son of Jewish-American real-estate broker Marvin Schneider and Pilar Monroe, a former kindergarten teacher and ex-school board president; his maternal grandfather was a European-American soldier and his maternal grandmother was Filipina.

Jocelyn Enriquez

Jocelyn Enríquez is a dance singer from San Francisco, born in December 28, 1974. She is of Filipino descent: her parents are from the province of Pangasinan. She has recorded a couple of Billboard Top 100 hits.

Paolo Montalban

Paolo Montalbán (born May 21, 1973 in Manila, Philippines) is a Filipino American actor and singer. He most notably played Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat: Conquest along with Daniel Bernhardt and Kristanna Loken. Paolo is best known for his performance in the 1997 version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella as the prince, opposite Brandy as Cinderella. He reprised that role in a 2001 stage version of the musical. Paolo was also cast in the films The Great Raid as Sgt. Valera, and American Adobo, as Raul.

APL

Allan Pineda Lindo, (b. 28 November 1974) better known as apl.de.ap, is a hip hop musician and member of the The Black Eyed Peas. He was born in the Barangay (Barrio) of Sapang Bato, Angeles City, Pampanga, in the Philippines, to a Filipina mother and African-American father.

apl.de.ap is an original member of the hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas where he is the main composer. His father, who was a U.S. serviceman stationed at nearby Clark Air Base, abandoned the family shortly after his birth. His mother, Christina Pineda, raised him and his four brothers and two sisters on her own in their small barrio. Music had always been part of Apl’s life, his early influences having been Stevie Wonder, The Eagles, The Beatles and the popular Filipino rock/folk group, Asin. Hip-hop soon came into the picture via the breakdancing, “I would take the jeepney all the way to Angeles City, and that’s how I got introduced to break dancing,” he said. “I would see kids at the corner break-dancing and I’m like, ‘I wanna do that.’”

Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (born May 8, 1975, in Madrid, Spain) is a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy Award-winning Spanish-born, Miami-based singer and is of Asian and european ancestry.His Asian ancestry comes from his mother’s side of the family. Iglesias is the son of the famous Spanish singer Julio Iglesias and the Filipina socialite Isabel Preysler.

Shannyn Sossamon

Sossamon was born on October 3, 1978 in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Sherry Sossamon and Todd Lindberg, grew up in Reno, Nevada, and attended Galena High School there. She is of French, Hawaiian, Dutch, English, Irish, Filipino and German descent; her maternal grandmother is Hawaiian-Filipino, and her maternal grandfather is English-German. The y in her first name was an adolescent addition in 1995. The day after her high school graduation, Sossamon moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in dance.[1] Sossamon appeared in television commercials and had DJ gigs in local clubs. In 1999, Sossamon was discovered by casting director Francine Maisler, while assisting a friend DJ at Gwyneth Paltrow’s birthday party. She appeared in the movies 40 Days And 40 Nights opposite Josh Hartnett and A Knight’s Tale with Heath Ledger.

Nicole Scherzinger

Nicole Elikolani Prescovia Scherzinger (also known as Nicole Kea) (born June 29, 1978), is an American singer, dancer, songwriter and occasional actress best known for her work as the lead vocalist for the Pussycat Dolls. Scherzinger was born in Hawaii, to a Filipino father and Hawaiian/Russian mother. Her mother, Rosemary, separated from her father and then moved to Louisville, Kentucky with her German American stepfather Gary Scherzinger, and sister Ke’ala.

Victoria Recaño

Victoria Recaño is an Emmy Award-winning American television personality, best known for being a correspondent on such programs as The Insider and Inside Edition. Recaño was born in St. Louis, Missouri, one of six children. Her father was Filipino and Spanish having emigrated to the United States to pursue a career in medicine. Her mother was German-Hungarian. She studied dancing and piano, and attended high school at Cor Jesu Academy.

Vanessa Minnillo

Vanessa Joy Minnillo (born November 9, 1980) is an American television personality. A former Miss Teen USA, she is mostly known for recently hosting Total Request Live on MTV from 2003-2007 as well her past reporting as a New York-based correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. Vanessa Minnillo was born at Clark Air Base in Angeles City, Philippines to Vincent Minnillo, a U.S. Air Force aircrew member, and Helen Berecero. Her father is of Italian and Irish descent and her mother is–according to an October 2006 interview with Maxim magazine–of Polynesian descent, although a past article refers to her as Filipino. Because of her father’s military career, her family moved numerous times and resided in California, Nevada, Florida, Germany and Japan before eventually settling in Charleston, South Carolina.

Vanessa Anne Hudgens

Vanessa Anne Hudgens (born December 14, 1988 in Salinas, California) is an American actress and singer. She made her screen debut in 2003 and appeared in the Hollywood films Thirteen and Thunderbirds, before coming to fame in the 2006 hit Disney Channel film, High School Musical. Hudgens also began a music career and released her debut album, entitled V, in 2006. In 2007, Hudgens is the new spokesperson for Neutrogena. Vanessa Anne Hudgens was born on December 14, 1988; her sister, Stella Hudgens, is also an actress. She has been home-schooled since the seventh grade. Her parents are Greg Hudgens and Gina Guangco[citation needed]. In regards to her ethnic background, Vanessa was quoted: Pretty much I’m Filipino and Caucasian, but within that, I’m Spanish, Chinese, American Indian, Irish.

Brandon Baker

Brandon Baker (born April 28, 1985 in Anaheim, California) is an American actor. He is known for the made-for-tv movies, such as Disney movies Johnny Tsunami and its sequel, Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board as well as for his role on the short lived NBC sitcom One World. In 2002, he appeared in an episode of the Disney Channel original series Even Stevens. He was born in Anaheim, California. He is part English, German, and Filipino.

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Tags

american idol backpacking in europe beauty birthday party blogging Booked Brother Eddie Cebu Christ's Commission Fellowship Christmas Cory Aquino creative writing David Archuleta David Cook drawings earn dollars earthquake exhibit Face painting Filipinos Gibo Halloween harry potter movie holidays Jejemons life in london London make money Manila Manny Pacquiao Maribago Beach Resort marikina valley fault line Marketing warzone movies Music & lyrics New York shuttle service Noynoy Aquino Philippines pinoywriters summer Twilight vacation vacations vampire movie wordpress upgrade