Empress Of Drac, A Cebuana Blogger

Members of the Aboitiz Leaders of Excellence (ALEx) of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. work together to climb the initiative wall during the group’s integration activity last Oct. 2 to 3. The successful climbing of the initiative wall signified their commitment towards responsible youth leadership and active citizenship through ALEx.

Apathy or the young people’s lack of care towards social issues was ranked first among the problems faced by the youth today.

This was identified by youth leaders of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) in an integration activity held last October 2 to 3 at Mountain View Nature Park.

They also identified the need for good governance, better participation, and prioritization of the youth in government. Problems on out-of-school youth and its attendant issues like pre-marital sex, drug addiction, fraternity war, prostitution and unemployment were also recognized.

The integration activity was conducted to strengthen the Aboitiz Leaders of Excellence (ALEx), the youth organization of RAFI established through the Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center (EADSC).  It also served as a venue for new ALEx members to know the organization more and for old members to renew their commitment.

Apart from issues affecting the youth, the participants also identified possible solutions and defined the role of ALEx in addressing such problems.

“There is a need for the youth to have a collective and strong voice in advocating for change, given their (big population),” Dominica B. Chua, Chief Operating Officer of RAFI, told the participants.

This was affirmed by the Philippine Youth Situationer presented by sociologist Aldwin Empaces, one of the ALEx conveners, who pointed out the huge percentage of the youth in the current population, and the call for young people to have a concerted effort towards addressing problems affecting them and the country in general.

EADSC found out that about 30 percent of the country’s population is below 21 years of age, reflecting a fairly young citizenry.

The Islands Group Chairman Jay Aldeguer, one of guest speakers of the event, also shared his belief on the greater capability of today’s youth to make a difference in society through the availability of technology and access to information.

Believing in the principle that real life begins not in any particular age but at the moment one gains consciousness of the world, Aldeguer also challenged the ALEx members to start fulfilling their dreams for the Philippines now.

Other speakers were Cebu Institute of Technology-University Supreme Student Government President Alan Angelo Llevares, Liloan Sangguniang Kabataan Federation President Gianne Sanchez, and Kindernothilfe National Coordinator for the Philippines Jiah Sayson, who shared their experiences in promoting active citizenship as youth leaders in various fields.  Llevares, Sanchez and Sayson are also members of ALEx.

ALEx is composed of graduates from RAFI’s youth programs such as the Young Minds Academy, Young Minds on Xplore, and Kool Adventure Camp.  It serves as a platform for proactive youth leaders to continue enhancing their competence, strengthening their character, and initiating and spearheading efforts towards nation-building.

ALEx was formed in 2009 under the Leadership & Citizenship focus area of RAFI, one of the five key focus areas in RAFI’s comprehensive approach to elevating lives and communities. Its other focus areas are Integrated Development, Culture & Heritage, Micro-finance & Entrepreneurship, and Education.

Sashi Buri! Do you know that your most beloved Facebook was created by a 20 year-old geek in his college dorm (5 years ago), and a movie about it will be released this year starring no other than Justine Timberlake?

Well, if you are reading this post, it’s 99.9 percent that you are a Facebook user and you are somewhat curious with the title above.  The only thing you and I know is that, Facebook is the best social networking site ever existed in this friggin’ universe.  And you know that I’m not making a baseless statement.  I can attest to this and I can personally go into detail why Facebook is the most superior social networking site in the world wide web.

Aside from the usual social networking features (well, they are really not usual but I will go into details about this in my next post), there is this main factor which makes FB superior among other social networking sites.  I’m referring to TOUCH.  Touch is a term in psychology which is parallel to ATTENTION.  From infanthood to adulthood (an even from conception), the human consciousness always craves for this kind of warmth and bliss.  Everyone loves attention.  Well, not necessarily to become the center of it, but attention from the people they treasure like friends, lovers, family members, and the likes.  Most children who lack attention have high probability of becoming rebellious and tend to develop self hate and low confidence when they grow up.

So, what is the physical or rather virtual manifestation of attention in Facebook?  We can start with its “like” feature.  Believe it or not, you can’t find this feature in other social networking sites.  FB pioneered the use of the “like” button that enables users to like theirs or other users’ statuses, photos, notes, posts, quizzes results, and all activities published on their newsfeeds and walls.  This button looks like any other button out there but if you will examine it closely, it is actually one of the reasons why most FB users are active and love to share their online activities with friends.  If your status is being liked by your friends, it’s a positive form of attention and you will surely post another one again and again.

Another feature that triggers the manifestation of attention is the “tag” feature. If you found out that someone tagged you in his/her note (or post, or photo), the very first thing that would come into mind is that, that person remembers you and he/she wanted to share something with you.  Being tagged would give you a feeling of belongingness and can actually hype up your self-esteem.  Being tagged means that the person who tagged you has given an ounce of his time in paying attention to who you are.

The last feature that would make a complete combo to the features I mentioned above, is the “comment” feature.  This is rather a common one, but it is only in FB wherein you can comment in every activity your friends published (on their walls or newsfeeds).  Just like the like button, comments are one of the strongest manifestation of attention you can get after posting your activities on your wall.  But, it could result to positive or negative reinforcement.  Unlike the like button which only gives positive reinforcement, the comment feature can actually affect your temperament especially if the comments are bashful and indifferent, and contain personal attacks.  This is actually the form of attention that most users wanted to avoid.  Uhmn, well, there are actually deviant ones.  These are FB users who would do everything to anger or irritate anyone in their networks just to gather lots of comments.  They are called KSP (Kulang Sa Pansin).

Conclusion: Like button + tag + comment = The FB Attention Combo.

Ja Mata Ne!

Well, if she has, she must be under a really good medication, for she’s kicking  her ass off again in the recently held 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.

In the recently concluded video awards, Brit made a victorious comeback. She just won three Moonmen. These includes Video of the Year, Best Female Video and Best Pop Video. These are all for her hit “Piece of Me“. These are actually her first wins in VMA history.

Aside from that, she had also delivered high ratings to MTV. According to LA Times, Britney Spears worked her magic for the show even without a performance. More than 8.4 million viewers watched the three-hour music event, which is a 19% increase over the last year’s viewership.

Britney has just made her real comeback, and there are no other people who are more delighted, than her fans. She actually dedicates her awards to them. But, some are still wondering if this will be for good. Is she psychologically sound enough to handle her career? How about her rumored mental illness? Is she really a bipolar?

According to John M. Grohol, a psychologist, Britney Spears may have a Bipolar Disorder. A bipolar disorder is a serous mental disorder characterized by mood swings between extreme depression and mania (i.e. from extreme happiness to extreme sadness). When this is left untreated, those people with this disorder can go back and forth between these two extremes.

This rumored mental illness actually appeared after the dispute over Brit’s custody of her sons against her ex-husband, Kevin Federline. I think she’s just being over emotional because her ex-hubby is trying to take her children away from her. Federline took advantage of her ex-wife’s weakness, and may had invented stories that could give him more authority over their children. And he did succeeded. Well, he should do his best to maintain a connection with Britney, since without her, he will lose his status as a celebrity.   And mind you, Brit is filthy rich.   And having her children in his custody means a stable fountain flow of dollars.

I guess people should not believe everything they read or watch in the news right away. Popular people like Britney Spears, is the media’s favorite target of topic exaggeration, for they can attract massive attention, which means higher profits and income. We should be more vigilant on how we process the informations we receive everyday, because not all of them are based from facts.

Bipolar or not, Britney has proved her prowess once and again in the pop music world.

N.B: I wrote this topic due to Maybel’s request.

Photo Credit: oxygenchunks.blogspot.com
You can download Britney’s Piece of Me mp3 here

Nobody in this bloody universe wants to feel sad and lonely.  Everyone likes to be happy.  Human beings NEED to be happy. But, what’s happiness without pains and sacrifices? How can you recognize happiness when you haven’t experienced loneliness or sadness yet?

It is inhibition-activation. Yes! In order for us mortals to experience the pleasure brought to us by happiness we need to inhibit ourselves from sinful pleasures and sacrifice a little so that when activation comes, our senses won’t be jaded. That way, we can ultimately enjoy the good stuffs brought to us by happiness.  Hehehehe! I don’t know if you still get what I want you people to get.

Anyways, according to a famous psychologist, the secret to a happy life is POSITIVITY. Positivity in what way?  Make a Happy Journal. It may be written in old school style like diary, notebook, or you can have the leisure of blogging and online journals. In your journal write only all the happy things, events, occasions that happened in your life or blog about your happy thoughts and musings. YES! All those wacky stuffs you did with your friends, happy moments with your loved ones, sight seeings with your comrades…everything and anything that exudes positivity and happiness.

Honestly, this is what I have been doing for the past few weeks.  And it’s definitely effective! Hehehehe! So, what are you waiting? Fill your life with happiness! Start writing your Happy Journal now!!!

Ta ta,

EOD

I can’t get enough with Basic Instinct 2. If you haven’t watched the movie yet then you should watch it as soon as possible.  It is in that movie I first heard of the word “Risk Addiction“. Sharon Stone played the role of a risk-addict novelist who would do anything to quench her thirst for risky stuff, like finger-fucking while driving her car (risk of getting caught and risk of having a brutal road accident), paying a man-whore for sex and a secret gang-bang or orgy) (risk of having a disease, being caught by people, risk of social isolation ), committing sexual-oriented crimes (risk of getting caught by the police, risk of going to prison), and a lot more.

Sharon Stone’s character in the movie is unstoppable and she has the drive to do anything she wants. She even manages to manipulate her psychoanalyst and make him believe that he’s a psychotic. I think the movie exaggerates a lot in that part. I mean in the real world, the psychoanalyst should not be that attached to his patient. In the story Sharon Stone manages to lure him using her erotic sexual charms.

So, what’s with risk-addicts anyway? They are individuals who have high dopamine and serotonin on their bloody brains. Dopamine and serotonin are neurotransmitters which are responsible of the occurrence of various attitudes which turned out to become the basis of personality development. The level of these brain chemicals can determine if an individual is compulsive or impulsive, easy-going or independent and the likes. Risk-addicts have high level of serotonin, this means their brains need high level of stimulation before they can feel satisfaction or before they can feel anything.

People who are into danger-seeking activities like bungee jumping, mountain climbing, drug abuse, sex abuse, and the likes are risk-addicts. Their lives are defined on how they outwitted risks and winked at death. The common cause of this addiction is the fear of boredom. People who have high levels of dopamine cannot just sit in the corner and wait for someone to come. They are the ones who go out and seek for fun. So, are you a risk-addict?