About Parenting

After a couple gets married in a church or someplace else, parenting is usually the next step. We all know that with bearing children comes the responsibility of taking care of them, to make sure that they grow up with proper behavior and disposition in life. Of course, it would be a privilege for a parent to see that his or her children have a greater future someday, and that they would soon help in taking care of the family’s necessities once they become adults and have jobs.

That is what I’ve experienced during the course of my project in Economics class, wherein I have an “egg baby”, a baby made out of uncooked egg, and make sure I take meticulous care of it. It was indeed very important, because once it gets cracked, my project score would be affected greatly. My egg baby was a daughter, named Joanna Alexandria Darkwind, and she was indeed so cute, for her face was like Pucca. I managed to take care of her for 4 days. But unfortunately, yesterday, the worst had happened – she was already cracked, and I couldn’t help but to cry my heart out. I knew how painful it was for a mother to lose a child, and I couldn’t believe that I’ve experienced it. But still, I have to look towards the light, for some of my classmates had pictures of her when she was still alive, and I just have to replace her just for the sake of taking my own pictures with her. Of course, I couldn’t bring her on Monday, for I knew she’s already dead.

The lesson I’ve learned from that experience is this: Parenting is a difficult but rewarding obligation. I could still remember about Alcarcalimo’s role as a father to his children, especially towards his youngest daughter. My sweet time with my daughter Joanna until her death was indeed a worthwhile moment, for I now understood what was like to be a parent.

That’s all for now… Ta – ta! ^^

Looking at two sides of a coin…

By the year 2010, we will be experiencing again one of the most important events happening in every country, especially here in the Philippines: election. Election is when a citizen chooses who will be leading the country to the right path. But before the main event, there will be intense competition going on between political parties, with promises, debates and other issues that will be addressed once the members win and are elected as part of the government.

That is the highlight of the play entitled “Magkaibang Mukha ng Isang Bagol” (Two Sides of a Coin). Written by Filipino playwright Amado V. Hernandez in 1960, its main focus are the two opposing parties, “Partido ng Bayan” and “Partido ng Bansa”, led by Pantog and Bantog respectably. Pantog’s main goal is to crush the graft and corruption of the government, while Bantog’s mission to lead the country towards peace and order by the government’s just ways. After the support program and a heated jousting debate going on between two parties, the election ensues and only the result will decide who shall stay and who shall fall.

The play was presented in my school yesterday, and I can say that it was indeed both entertaining and relevant at the same time. The mood there was serious and intense, especially during the climax wherein the aggressive debate culminated in a series of violent squabbles that alarmed the police, and even when the result of voting at the Election Day ended as a draw. I’m indeed impressed on how the play was presented by our group of actors and actresses known as “Dulaang 108”; the way they speak, the actions they perform, and even the sounds and effects used indeed blend together, making the end result worth the hard work. There was also a discussion about the inspiration behind the play, and it turned out that there was that same heated competition, between Carlos Garcia of Liberal Party and Diosdado Macapagal of Nacionalista Party, on the year the play was written.

“Magkaibang Mukang ng Isang Bagol” has indeed shed light on both political and voting issues. The main lesson is this: We must make a wise choice on voting and we must not always base our decisions with just a simple coin toss. Please take my word on this… ^^

Influenza A H1N1 ruins school life, period!!

It’s been weeks since we first heard of the Influenza A H1N1 outbreak in Mexico, and now, even the Philippines became one of the countries affected by the virus, with over 700 cases being tallied by the Department of Health. Despite having most of them healed, and with new vaccine discovered and soon to be tested, the illness was still considered a hazardous threat to us Filipinos.

Believe me if I say that it ruins our lifestyle, especially when it comes to school. Some of our prestigious colleges & universities have their classes suspended for a maximum of 10 days due to confirmed cases of students being affected by the disease, especially those who were foreigners & even Filipinos who went to other countries for their summer vacation. It was a sad thing to say that the number of schools having suspended classes increased as time passes by.

Due to this quirky phenomenon, certain safety measures were sternly observed, like washing of hands using soap & water, using rubbing alcohol to clean our hands before & after our routine, sick students, teachers & employees wearing face masks & even the stationing of quarantine rooms for those found to be sick with flu. Even school clinics were providing flu vaccine for protection, but the price was so expensive that it may lead people to break their piggy banks just for the sake of being immune to the disease. Even schools have to give way to thorough cleaning, fuming & disinfecting, which was certainly another reason why classes have to be suspended.

So now here I go, as a student, going to endure 3 days of no classes, starting tomorrow until Monday, since my school will undergo thorough disinfection stage in order to be protected against swine flu. Because of this, the National Career Assessment Examination review session, which was supposed to start tomorrow, was postponed to next Saturday. Even I was pissed when DepEd announced that there will be no semestral break and that Christmas vacation will be cut short, just for the sake of completing the required school days. Grrrr!!!! I hate it when my school will be affected by these new guidelines, too.

I therefore conclude that all these happened because of that freaking swine flu outbreak. What a sad, tragic chapter that will be included in the pages of every student’s life, including mine… T_T

Back to both Ether & Nevareth once again

Since I was able to buy iCoins again for my Lineage 2 load last Thursaday, I was able to dust off my characters in Aria after being in hiatus for more than 2 months. By the time I checked what happened to my clan, HeavensOracle, I noticed that the clan had undergone several changes, like Massacres a.k.a. DeMucci being the new clan leader, as well as some members leaving the clan and being replaced by new ones. Good thing I was able to ask him to recruit my Silver Ranger back into the clan, although she’s currently listed now in the 1st order, OrderofHell, unlike my Soul Breaker which was included in the 2nd order, OrderofHeaven.

As for my Paladin, which I haven’t leveled – up for months due to lack of time & potions, my prince had asked me to leave HO so that I could transfer to his current clan, ShadowAngels. But unfortunately, I have to wait for at least a day so that I will be able to join SA, and I’m really disappointed that he decided to sell off his promised gifts for me: the CI Nightmare Heavy Armor Set as well as the CI Dark Legion’s Edge, just because he thought I’m going to quit! How stupid of me! I just wished I could use L2 during vacation, but the PCs there in my parents’ place suck… T_T

About my Force Shielder in Cabal, I couldn’t level it up right now since I only have 1 hour to use the Internet (and I knew my Wizard friend would become so happily air headed to kick my butt with his spells again!), so I decided to use my Force Blader in the meantime. But don’t worry, I’ll still be able to use my FS if I have spare time, since I wanted my friends there to add my FB to their friends list so that I could PM them even though I’m using a different character. I still not in the mood to use my Force Archer since I found out that FAs are like Wizards, for they have low HP like them… :(

Indeed, being strictly controlled by my relatives really sucks, but I have no choice but to follow them, or else I’m dead! Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! T_T

Back to my old life *sigh*…

So here I am now, back to my place in Pasig City. I need to prepare myself for my upcoming 4th year high school life, since classes will start on June 8. Oh well, this means I’ll suffer again the difficulties of a high school student, like lots of assignments, seatworks, and the like; strict teachers who comment every now and then about our attitude; intensive reviewing during quizzes, long tests & periodical exams; etc.

And since I need to focus on my priorities, I’ll be having limited time playing online games again. Because of that, I don’t know if I’ll be able to enjoy the good old days of my Nevareth journeys in Cabal again, or going back to my Etherian adventures in Lineage 2 (I stopped playing there during my summer vacation since the PCs there were not fit for that… >_<) and meet my beloved Kamael prince once more, or having to dust off my characters in Rohan. But anyway, I’ll try to make most of my short time.

And since I have one more year to go before I’ll graduate from high school, more challenges await me as preparation for college life, including NCAE, applying for universities, entrance exams, etc.

I still don’t know if I’ll be able to go over these things, but I hope I’ll overcome them. So wish me luck… Jaa – ne! ^^

Going back to Manila in a few days...

I'll be traveling back to Manila togther with my older sis this coming Tuesday, since school starts for me on June 8. Throughout my vacation, a lot of things have happened, especially when I enjoyed playing Cabal. And believe me, my Force Shielder, Crestfallen, had been evolved lately, from being a lowly, inexperienced soldier, now she's a battle - scared templar who knows how to defend herself and others if necessary.

After 2 months of questing, grinding & leveling - up, Crestfallen was now at lvl 70+, currently wearing the Shadow Titanium Armorset for FS and wielding a Shadow Titanium Blade, as well as an Aqua Crystal for her Astral Shield. A friend of mine in - game suggested that I should reach lvl 75 so that we'll both have fun leveling & grinding in Ruina Station, but I'm afraid that I will not make it, although I will try to reach that level.

Since I'll focus on my priorities, I might not able to play Cabal again as always, so I'll let my friend pilot my FS in the meantime. If I have spare time after my schoolwork, I might log in and play.

Well, that's all for now. Jaa - ne! ^^

"Fail to download server information..." blah blah blah...

I'm currently afraid that the plans that I supposed to accomplish would instead go into a standstill because the Cabal launcher in one of the PCs I've used had suffered the so-called "Fail to download server information. Please restart launcher." error. This is the second day that I held off playing the game because of it. A while ago, I visited the E-Games forum and browsed for for a solution, but unfortunately, it didn't work as expected.

My Force Shielder is currently at lvl 62 now, and I need 3 more levels so that I could gain access to Fort Ruina. I'm also planning to buy a Shadow Titanium Armorset for my FS, as well as a ST blade & Aqua Crystal for her Astral Shield. I also need 7 more levels in order to equip the Epaulette of Fighter +5, as well as to save alz in order to buy the A. Expert skill Storm Crush, one of the best skills for a FS.

I hope I'll accomplish them ASAP, at least before I go back to Manila in a few weeks' time. Wish me luck... ^^

Same old lag, brand-new problem

Recently, I have another enigma that started to plague my Cabal playing sessions. It was that same old glitch which is always one of the most common problems to online gamers like me. That was none other than one word: LAG!

If there's an occurrence of lag, it would usually be described as something that was supposed to happen immediately after a movement was done, like showing damage after attacking or throwing skills to monsters, but instead appeared too late. If you would ask me, I would say that it was not a good sign, for side effects of lagging may occur, like your character's death once the effects were executed after either a short or long period of standstill.

Throughout my life as an online gamer, there's only one thing I could say about lag: it would dampen the flame of determination of a gamer whose usually aim is to make sure his/her toon reaches a high level, perhaps until it's finally extinguished. I already quit playing RAN online PH due to that stupid lag, especially when my DEX Mystic Peak campus archer had died a lot of times while leveling. And also, the worst thing was that my FS in Cabal was inside the middle of the quest dungeon when it happened! Way to go, laggers... show some love by ruining the gamer's experience... puft!!!!

That's enough ranting for now, and don't blame me if anything similar to that happened to you! GRRRRR!!!! *head full of steam*

GlobeLines connection glitch = getting pissed off

Up to now, I’m still frustrated due to the recent GlobeLines broadband connection glitch in both Visayas & Mindanao areas. The problem was that there was connection, but after a short while, it got cut off. Even the connection itself became so slow. Right now, we’re suffering from temporary connection loss. Grrrr… I hate it when it happens… >_<

Due to that strange phenomenon, I couldn’t concentrate on leveling my Cabal Force Shielder, for while I’m currently hunting Perytons in Port Lux for Hidden Helper messages, the servers got lagged after a short while and I got disconnected. Even my younger bro was pissed off by it, especially while his Force Archer was in quest mode, and even when he’s grinding her skills while gradually killing the Dire Boar King, since there was an event going on in the game wherein the aforementioned Dire Boar King & Crag Turtle King will be spawned randomly in different areas.

I know I shouldn’t lose hope, but I’m afraid that if this problem still ensues, I would no longer have fun, especially when one of my guildmates, a male Wizard, would always beat me whenever we’re dueling. I even held off joining the Nation Wars due to it.

But anyway, I have plans that I must accomplish ASAP, like buying Epaulette of Fighter, either +4 or +5, for my FS so that her sword skills would get more damage, and even learning both Shield Harden and Blade of Judgment once her skill rank reaches dual A. Expert. I would even buy an Epaulette of Guardian +6 as well, since the leader of my current guild would soon celebrate his birthday this coming May 11.

That’s enough complaining for now… I’ll tell you more once everything’s ok… ^^

EDIT: The internet connection’s ok now… ^^

My first Cabal Nation War: Not a good start

Yesterday, my Force Shielder in Cabal, Crestfallen, had undergone a series of quests in order to choose a nation to fight with. The gut-wrenching part for me was the "Sacrifice" quest, especially when Yuan had announced that Naain had died, risking her life in order to protect and deliver important documents. Even Arionell had felt the pain, for she fainted after my FS gave her the second Apocalypse card, and Aike clenched his teeth as he promised himself to grow stronger before my FS was tasked to report the grievious news to Captain Mark. Perhaps that might explain the strange phenomenon that my FS wasn't able to retrieve the memorial core of the last knight after reaching the dungeon tombstone in the earlier quests.

So much for solitude. Anyway, after that, my FS went to the Officer in Port Lux so that I would choose a nation. After going through a short lecture about the two nations and the start of the upcoming war, I chose Procyon, for my guildmates were there as well.

In order to experience what's like in a Nation War, I joined the 10 P.M. war after stocking up on potions for survival. By the time I arrived at the Lobby for level 52 - 60, there were less Procyon members attending, and the opposing nation, Capella, had more members. Uh-oh, I guess we have to be more careful, especially if we're going all against one...

...and that was considered a stupid plan, for by the time we arrived at the battleground and charged in to attack one of them, Capella was already pounding at us all into pulps, and unfortunately, my FS was one of the unfortunate victims, for even with buffs and in Shield Master mode, I was still no match for them.

To add insult to injury, can you ever imagine that it would end in just a few minutes after all your nation cohorts got respawn back to the lobby? After my FS died, she received only 10 WExp, but unfortunately, second chances didn't exist there, for once a character bites the dust, it's just that. And with all the Procyon members wiped out, that only means one thing, and only one thing: Procyon has lost the Nation war. Way to go, Capella, give yourselves a pat in the back for kicking our asses. >.<

Oh well, I guess I needed to level up more so that I'll get the buff Shield Harden for my FS... -.-