Different by Vincent Tabatha

How are we so "different"?
If "different" is just a thing.
If we all have certain features,
What does "different" bring?

People filled with hatred,
Can't possibly see,
That there's not really "differences"
Between you and me.

Looks can't show "difference",
If they're just there to be seen.
If you don't look like someone else,
Why are they so mean?

If being "different" is what is wrong,
I'd rather not be right.
And I'd want to finish living,
Doing the "different" fight.

Door to Decision by Robson Grant

We come from a turbulent past
To an info-age moving way to fast
The fate of these lands
Is now placed in our hands

Will we bring destruction to an end
Will we have the power to mend
Save this fragile dreamland
Wash away our footprints in the sand

Global warming is causing weather changes right before our eyes
But we still blacken our skies
Sunrays take less time to burn our faces
But we still destroy our rain forests and just leave empty spaces

The men spill out of the factories everywhere
Punching their time clocks basically unaware
Don't realize what's happening to the big picture
The massive devastation of the atmospheric mixture

Every day go through their daily motions
Waiting it out for measly promotions
Distant stares and silent prayers
Monday to Friday . . . say goodbye

Our oceans are slicked with oil spills
Our waterways full of toxic waste that kills
We build our cities on mountains of pollution
Without an environmental solution

We live our lives in search of wealth
In the process damage our good health
Crime stories are found on every newspaper page
People loosing control in an uncertain age

The victims of greed are getting younger
In a world that still allows their hunger
Our petty problems make us hang down our heads
While million's go unfed

Desire unfolds the light of our day
But we cannot give in to the subtle decay
We must rise above the haze descending
Toward mass action mending

We must take control of our actions today
or the children of tomorrow will be the one's to pay
The new innkeepers shall soon take charge
of the next generation's voyage at large

Trends are patterned and patterns trended
But man's damage must be ended!

If You Have Seen by Thomas Moore

Good reader! if you e'er have seen,
When Phoebus hastens to his pillow
The mermaids, with their tresses green,
Dancing upon the western billow:
If you have seen, at twilight dim,
When the lone spirit's vesper hymn
Floats wild along the winding shore:
If you have seen, through mist of eve,
The fairy train their ringlets weave,
Glancing along the spangled green;--
If you have seen all this and more,
God bless me! what a deal you've seen!

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange suns rays
And dares to claim the sky.

But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.

There is Another Sky by Emily Dickinson

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

Thy Days are Done by Lord Byron

Thy days are done, thy fame begun;
Thy country's strains record
The triumphs of her chosen Son,
The slaughter of his sword!
The deeds he did, the fields he won,
The freedom he restored!

Though thou art fall'n, while we are free
Thou shalt not taste of death!
The generous blood that flow'd from thee
Disdain'd to sink beneath:
Within our veins its currents be,
Thy spirit on our breath!

Thy name, our charging hosts along,
Shall be the battle-word!
Thy fall, the theme of choral song
From virgin voices pour'd!
To weep would do thy glory wrong:
Thou shalt not be deplored.

We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

Odysseus to Telemachus by Joseph Brodsky

My dear Telemachus,
The Trojan War
is over now; I don't recall who won it.
The Greeks, no doubt, for only they would leave
so many dead so far from their own homeland.
But still, my homeward way has proved too long.
While we were wasting time there, old Poseidon,
it almost seems, stretched and extended space.

I don't know where I am or what this place
can be. It would appear some filthy island,
with bushes, buildings, and great grunting pigs.
A garden choked with weeds; some queen or other.
Grass and huge stones . . . Telemachus, my son!
To a wanderer the faces of all islands
resemble one another. And the mind
trips, numbering waves; eyes, sore from sea horizons,
run; and the flesh of water stuffs the ears.
I can't remember how the war came out;
even how old you are--I can't remember.

Grow up, then, my Telemachus, grow strong.
Only the gods know if we'll see each other
again. You've long since ceased to be that babe
before whom I reined in the plowing bullocks.
Had it not been for Palamedes' trick
we two would still be living in one household.
But maybe he was right; away from me
you are quite safe from all Oedipal passions,
and your dreams, my Telemachus, are blameless.

Life by Sir Walter Raleigh

What is our life? A play of passion,
Our mirth the music of division,
Our mother's wombs the tiring-houses be,
Where we are dressed for this short comedy.
Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is,
That sits and marks still who doth act amiss.
Our graves that hide us from the setting sun
Are like drawn curtains when the play is done.
Thus march we, playing, to our latest rest,
Only we die in earnest, that's no jest.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Mountain Climbing

"You climb for the hell of it."

Summer

We have a week to go till this is all over. Adios school, hello summer! School years go by pretty fast, Faster than I expected. If we had fun that is. Well, I'm not sure about my plans for the summer yet, but I hear we might go to the US again. Well, I won't be seeing my friends since we're not going to California this time.

The Internet

Who can't live without the internet? Definitely not me. Okay, the internet is a very viral aspect of an average teenager's daily necessities. People like us, who love surfing the net, find it hard not to use it. It's the easiest way of gaining information on people, and other stuff. Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace have become the sites that most teens open. It is a place where we could socialize.

What to blog about?

Most students, including myself, do not really blog that often, or so to say, we rarely blog. As for me, well, I used to blog a lot during the first two quarters since I had things or ideas that I could write about. But now, I am writing this for the sake that I could fit the required limit of how many blogs I should be posting. And so I thought of this being a topic for me to blog about. A blog post that talks about having no clue what to blog about due to the lack of ideas and the lack of interest in doing so.

The Unexplained

Just recently I lent a book entitled, "The Unexplained" by Dr. Karl P.N. Shuker from a friend. What fascinates me about this book is the explanation of things that majority of the public are not aware of yet, or in other words, it gives information about mysteries or legends explaining whether news such as those are true, or just another hoax by people who would want to gain attention from the public but just ended up to be another disappointment.

Jack Sparrow

Jack Sparrow: Parleley, parlelellyleloooo, par le nee, partner, par... snip, parsley...
Ragetti: Parley?

Jack Sparrow: That's the one. Parley. Parley.

Leadership

It's difficult to be a leader. You need the charisma to make people listen. You need to be the right example for them to follow. You need to be organized. You need to be smart too. Who could follow a leader who doesn't even know what to do? If that does happen, everyone would be lost. That's why a leader should always know what to do. I've tried being a leader in 5th grade and it was difficult. I knew I wasn't leader material. So, I never really wanted to be a leader. But, then that's where sacrifice comes along. Even though, it's hard, be patient. I can't write much about leadership, but I could give you certain examples to show you the good and bad sides of being a leader. Example, being the president of a country. If you're corrupt people will hate you, disobey you, or even follow the mistakes you've made. So, you better be a good president or your people will run you down like a stampede of enraged animals. So, if you want to be a great leader someday, you have to be a great role model that will inspire generations to follow the mark that you've left after you've finished your term. A great leader would think of others not himself. A great leader is not a hypocrite. But, a great leader doesn't just talk about the things people should do, but he should do it himself. He is a leader, and so, he must lead.

Ajuy

A 2-hour drive from where we started. I didn't find the ride that long compared to a 10-hour flight from Narita to LA. We got to see the waterfalls, and I got my left shoe soaked when I tried to cross. Well, that's something that I won't forget. I saw a couple of spiders while I was hiking, it was big, but it wasn't something to really make a big deal out of. It didn't do anyone any harm, so why scream and run? Seriously, spiders are helpful to us, that's just a reality check, for those people who don't know that or for those who got their feminine side ahead of them. Aside from all the fuss about spiders, I want to talk about the mountain climbing. I suppose that it was the highlight of my trip to Ajuy. Not everyone climbed the mountain. I was one of those who did. It was tough, extremely tough. We went farther than those who climbed last year. There were times when I felt like giving up, and going down because of the level of difficulty and my lack of stamina, but then again, I came here to climb the mountain so why stop now? I was almost there. So I continued, even though I was exhausted, and we did make it to the end, I think. Going down was much more exciting than I thought it would be. We had to slide since the pathway is steep. I got my pants dirty, so what? It's more important to have gone down and get my jeans looking like crap than to have stayed up there and starve myself. Well, after that, we went to that Gawad-Kalinga place where they talked about their project and stuff like that and danced to entertain us and they also gave us snacks. It was fun. But, we had to leave. Sad? Yes. It was a great field trip. And I can't wait for next year for another.

Uh..

Okay. I have nothing else to do. So here I am blogging about my boredom. Alright, when I'm bored I look for something interesting to do. I usually check out OMG Facts or for tongue twisters, or watch videos of Shane D., Brittani T., Alyssa B., or Christina G. on Youtube, or watch a movie, or draw. What could I say? I'm bored. :)

Grades

Alright, so first of all, I have not seen my grades until I came home. And honestly, I was frightened with what I could have seen. But that has been proven to be incorrect. Why? Because I have been expecting my grade in mathematics to decrease to an ms, which did not happen. So I am really glad about it. In addition to that, I improved in four other subjects which I honestly did not think was going to happen at all. During the time I was at school, I just watched my mother get my card from a far. She was having a conversation with my teacher. At the end of the day, she told me what my teacher said to her, about me participating more, and the way I talk has a "twang" in it. Okay, thank you. :) And well, that's just about it. The rest of the day, I spent enjoying with my friends Claire, Bea, and Marylle. That sure was fun. So, this is all I have to write. Not too much. But, it's fine with me.