Miah Learns to Write

Photo by Robin Higgins on Pixabay I came home anxious after my first day as a 5th grader. I was hesitant to call my mom on the phone. I didn’t know how to tell her about what happened at school so I decided to just be blunt. Practicing what I had to say in my head, my heart was thumping. I waited for my mom to answer the phone. When she finally picked up, I nervously blurted out and told her, “Ma, we need to speak in English always. I can’t speak in Filipino.” That moment was forever etched in my mind because it changed my life. But I was so scared about the implications of that turning point. I knew it was going to be awkward and I needed to adjust. It felt like I was going to become impaired because of the kind of restraint that I would be subjected to. But I thought I needed to do it. My grades were on the line. When our 5th grade English teacher told us that we had to speak English always, even at home, I thought she must be kidding. In my mind, I was looking for some s...

Credits: Ramen Parados Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san brings me back to my childhood days. In this anime, Nishikata finds himself in a losing battle against Takagi, his seatmate who likes to playfully tease him to see his funny reactions. So he tries to come up with the perfect plan to win against and get back at her. However, time and again, he finds himself being outwitted and outplayed by Takagi causing her to poke fun at him even more. He also often gets in trouble at school because of Takagi’s antics. So will he succeed in his quest? There is something refreshingly nostalgic about Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san. It makes you want to go back to your younger days and relish the sweet moments of youth. I enjoyed watching the anime and I even decided to check out the manga just because it really piqued my interest. I am very much fascinated with how the story would go even though there is a sequel manga that shows an after-story of the original. I think with this kind of manga or...

Photo by Eldon Vince Isidro on Unsplash Joseph de Maistre, a political philosopher, once wrote, “Every country gets the government it deserves,” and “In a democracy, people get the leaders they deserve.” With all that’s happening in the world today, we often turn to our leaders to establish order and guide their people. But in the same breath, we almost always put the blame on our leaders when things go wrong. I think this has been the case for liberal democracies across the board and it makes me wonder, “What is it with people? What in the world are they thinking?” I first heard the quote above from my PI 100 – Rizal professor. Now you might think, “Why were you discussing that in a Rizal class? What does that have to do with Rizal?” It’s actually a long story that involves several crash courses in sociology, political science, philosophy, and history. But to cut the story short, we discussed the revolution that Rizal wanted to launch in the Philippines and how he was going abo...

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash I believe teachers are the backbone of an economy. They form the building blocks that make up the support structure much like the skeletal system or the foundation of any infrastructure. And similar to the bone marrow, they are instrumental in providing new blood to the economy. Teaching is a very noble profession, an ancient craft. There are those with the gift for teaching and those with the passion for it. Whoever has the gift should refine it. While those who have the passion should invest time in learning the craft. I say teaching is a craft as much as it is a skill because I believe teachers create new ways to pass on information to others. One needs to evolve not merely to stay competitive, although it does give them an edge. Rather innovation in teaching should be done for the sake of the changing times and culture that shape the students of today. I have had many credible, reliable, and excellent lecturers and instructors. But I believe th...

Photo by Lindsay Henwood on Unsplash Ever had that thought cross your mind? Or perhaps you find yourself saying that too often? Do you always seem to encounter situations in which you later utter to yourself, “Maybe I should have waited for the right time”? There are numerous opportunities that come our way. And I am one to encourage others to grab them whenever they can. When you want to do something and it’s your passion, I believe there is no better time than the present. As I said before, if you keep waiting for the right time and continue making excuses, the right time will never come. You better be ready to take hold of the chance when it comes your way because it may never happen again. Surely, I would have wanted to take on various opportunities before. But I let them slip away from my fingers and I missed out on some interesting things. For most of my life, I was very safe. I only did things if somebody pushed me to do it and usually if it had any impact on my academ...

Kimi no Nawa, Your Name. It’s probably one of the most popular Japanese animated films in the last five years. Many fans waited eagerly for its release and initially, I heard rave reviews about it. Fast forward to today, the times I brought it up, people were telling me that it is an overrated film. They say the movie didn’t live up to the hype. But what should I think about that? What is it with Kimi no Nawa? So was it overrated as a lot of people say? No, I didn’t think so. For me, it was just right. I wasn’t really all that hyped about it in the first place. However I did grab a copy when it was first released because friends recommended it but I didn’t watch it until two years later. Was it sad or deeply emotional? The idea of the story was, but the execution of it made me feel like it was like a feel-good movie. It did resonate with me though because I understood the feelings that the characters were going through as they had their weird experiences with each other. But ...

Who doesn’t like a good tragedy? In my case, I love beautifully-crafted tragic endings and Your Lie in April does it quite well. What I loved about it Your Lie in April ( Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso ) is an artistic masterpiece. I seriously don’t know how else to express how sophisticated, refined, and beautiful the cinematography was. It’s the kind of feeling that you get when you experience a picture perfect scenery. You just look at it with awe and take in its beauty. That’s how I describe the visual aesthetic of Your Lie in April. In the same way, the music speaks to our hearts and elicits communication through our feelings. The music is just as phenomenal especially the epic openings and endings. This is probably the only time when spoken dialogue didn’t play a big role in touching my emotional side. Rather what tugged at my heartstrings was the emotion evoked by the music. All technical bits are simply amazing. There are simply no words to properly describe how amazing the...

In the first part, I focused solely on Itachi because I felt that he probably had one of the worst fates throughout the story. But he handled it with courage and a lot of heart. So here are some other moments that made me cry in Naruto. Naruto and Gaara Naruto’s relationship with Gaara is probably second only to Naruto’s relationship with Sasuke. There’s a deep bond that connects the two, both being Jinchuuriki until Shukaku was extracted from Gaara. By the way, Gaara is my other favorite character. They understood each other’s pain and loneliness as they were both considered outcasts and monsters by their fellow villagers because of the power that they wielded. What the people around them didn’t understand was that they had feelings too. They were not just weapons of destruction that can be used for political gain. But they were human beings who have the same need for affection, acceptance, and love. Because of the way they were treated, they questioned whether there was e...

Photo by Anna Kolosyuk on Unsplash Finding the right way to end things is very tough. I think that’s why many stories are criticized across all media. Before I go on, when I say ending, I refer to it as the part starting from the climax until the resolution of the story. For example, in Titanic, I would consider the ending from the time Jack died until the end of the movie. There are some beautifully executed endings like Of Mice and Men or Breaking Bad. What makes them brilliant I think would be the impact it left on me. The stories themselves were remarkably written. And being able to end it the way they did was the cherry on top. I think being able to stay true to what the narrative is saying allowed these stories to end beautifully. The writers didn’t compromise. Based on the events that have happened and the journey of the characters, the writers were able to bring about the narrative to its logical conclusion. You would think that if the story was well-written from the...

Photo by Calum MacAulay on Unsplash My friend has this mannerism. Whenever we chat especially about profound things, she would pause and tell me, “I’m trying to construct the right sentence.” She does this in order to express her thoughts as clearly as possible. It’s a running joke between us to just express ourselves through dance or movement. However I found that I’m afflicted with the same syntactic bug. I just don’t blurt it out loud. What It's Like But this is how it’s like. You can picture something perfectly in your mind but when you put it to paper or write it down, it ends up falling short of your expectations. I have found this to be the case when I try to write stories. When I try to picture a scene, it plays out beautifully. In my mind, I know what’s going to happen. I can see the details but once I try to write it down, it’s like I’m blanking out. The feeling is similar to when you are having stage fright. You’ve practiced your lines and blocking countless ...

Photo by Alex Grodkiewicz on Unsplash There’s always a constant nagging feeling inside me that my writing is never good enough and it irks me. Sure, I am a perfectionist. That tendency is innate. But I think writers experience this in varying degrees. From an obsession with perfect grammar to the need for a logical flow in the narrative to having symmetry in form. I would go so far to say that this need for perfection goes beyond the realm of art and literature. Perfection is something that we all long to achieve I think. Not just as writers or artists, but as human beings. I think that is pretty much rooted in our history and identity as humanity. The Root The Bible tells us the story of creation and how God made all things good. When He made man, both male and female, He regarded them as very good. In a nutshell, I think the fact that man was made to be in constant fellowship with God is the reason why we have this deep desire for perfection. And the moment man was separa...

Review Naruto had a lot of epic action-packed fight scenes, light-hearted comedic moments, crazy nonsensical fillers, and an overall great narrative. It had complex, unassuming characters with backstories that added a layer of depth and richness that made the story compelling and gave it more personality. While I was watching it, I paid close attention to the dialogue between the characters because to me, that allowed me to peer into their hearts and minds. Their words along with their actions, body language, and expressions gave me a sense of who these characters were and what they stood for. I became attached to certain characters because of the level of intricacy that came into weaving their story and how they play into the grand scheme of things, the meta-narrative. Especially the main character, Naruto, who was unrelenting and unchanging while transforming those around him. He definitely had this ability of drawing you in toward him and liking him for who he is – the good, t...

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash My biggest weakness is generating ideas. But it’s not just about coming up with something. Rather, it’s about coming up with something relevant, unique, or something that is very important to you. My Situation Ideas don’t naturally come to me. Sometimes, an idea pops up out of the blue as I travel. There are times when my mind is just drifting and I get an idea for an article to write. Other times, ideas are triggered while I’m watching a movie or a series. However, when I feel super inspired, ideas would just keep flowing one after the other. As if there are no shortages of ideas, so I just keep writing them down. Essentially, I’m faced with two problems. One, no ideas are springing to mind a.k.a. writer’s block. And two, there are too many ideas popping up. I can’t readily pluck ideas from a tree. In my case, I come up with ideas at random. So I often need to take note of them so that I don’t forget. I also need ample time to really ponde...