👻 Operation October: IV (Epilogue)

˗ˏˋ 1 year with strssdstdntsscty! ´ˎ˗

Hear, hear! Studyblr and my fellow narcoleptic, nocturnal, and nerdy owls, we made it through 9th Grade 🎉✨! A toast to victory, 🥂.

The school year 2022-2023 was indeed filled with magic, dreams, and good madness. From tireless mornings to sleepless midnights, we have completed an amazing chapter in our academic life. Ate. Slayed. Served. Left no crumbs! 💗💨

I hope you continue to read fascinating books, write heartfelt stories, draw captivating art, built great innovations, sing wonderful songs, and live how you want to be.

This is Dottie, your not-so-average student who aims to always strive for the best and enjoy learning. See you in the next school year! 🦉

9th Grade, Manila Science High School, "Sustaining the tradition of excellence."

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”

— Neil Gaiman

10th Grade, Manila Science High School, "Sustaining the tradition of excellence."

I think about this quote a lot.

"And yet, despite our resistance to it, I have never found myself feeling worse after the hard work was done. There have been days when it was damn hard to start, but it was always worth finishing. Sometimes, the simple act of showing up and having the courage to do the work, even in an average manner, is a victory worth celebrating."

—James Clear, What I Do When I Feel Like Giving Up

👻 Operation October: II (Achy Breaky Down)

“A little nervous breakdown can work wonders for a girl.”

Last week was so tiring that I can't remember what I did. The group works here and there, with projects and assignments coming out of nowhere, my life was in a total freakout yesterday 🥴! But thank God for so loving the world, I was able to finish every one of them on time. I can recall some of my favorite moments last week.

I got a perfect score on our Trig quiz. This was where I learned again that revision is utterly important. Before I opened the form, I took my notebook and review the lessons covered on the quiz by just literally highlighting the statements of every theorem and applying their formulas. Of course, there is no greater magic in Trigonometry than analyzing the problem. Anyhow, I just got my own scientific calculator which cost almost half of my scholarship (I thank God for giving me this great academic opportunity) my grandmother bought from the National Book Store. I am currently obsessing over the fact that its color freaking matches my stationery supplies! Therefore, I assumed that God never disappointed me despite the unflagging week it was.

It itches me to show the world my presentation for my homemade product from a food preservation technique as a project for Consumer Chemistry 😋! However, I'd also like to forever gatekeep it til' the world knows me and shows it as my legacy when I leave the world. I wish things are always as fun as this but as far as I know, I didn't study here in this school to break myself, but to break records.

Operation October is having a bumpy ride these days but you can't make a mountain climbing record without having to walk its curvy body! We can do this! More record-breaking-not-me-breaking moments to come ✨.

🦉

🎧 : The Pressure - The Cranberries

📖: Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen It's fall (at least in other countries). I can't miss it.

Magical March [1.1] ₊˚ʚ 💙 ₊˚✧ ﾟ.

“Only those with tenacity can march forward in March.” ― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

A 3-month hiatus must never prolong! Hello, studyblr and my fellow narcoleptic, nocturnal, and nerdy owls! ✨

So much has happened, will happen, and will keep happening. Every day is a step towards our dream. Let's fill the year with acknowledgment, appreciation, and achievements.

Stay glad and grounded! 🙆🏼‍♀️

School? Still there! Same goals, improving habits, and inspiring people. I just received my report card for the 2nd Quarter last Friday and my general average just got 1 point higher! Though most of my grades in major subjects are the same, I'm glad that I was able to maintain them and I'm totally driven to take 'em all up! My grade in Arts and Physical Education went a few points down due to having a low score on the test. However, there's nothing to be down in the dumps, I've been raising the stakes higher and the Lord's always here for me. 🙏🏼

❗ Important Event: HS Promenade

Our theme is Midnights: Amidst the Stars (yes, stream Taylor's album here!). The ball will be on the evening of this Saturday at a hotel just near my home!

Dress : ✔

Accessories : ✔

Self : 🙂

I hope this week will mark a great beginning of March and tell me that this month's going to be stark awesome!

I'm also planning to post my first vlog on my YouTube channel this Friday. It's time to welcome you into my videographic life, stay tuned! 🤩

🎃 Nifty November: II (Epilogue)

The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.

The whole month was the most uncommon throughout the whole year 😭. I can't believe I haven't been posting my progress for the past few weeks. No week has ever had a gap for me to fill in with a blog post, an outrageous amount of tasks always gets in the way!

I may not be able to tell what happened during those indescribable days but all I know is that those days were difficult that I learned a lot.

December, please be kind to me 🙏. I wish this Christmas, everyone will be at peace.

Magical March! [1.2] ₊˚ʚ 💙 ₊˚✧ ﾟ.

“What's a girl gonna do? A diamond's gotta shine.” ― Taylor Swift

After a week of pre-prom assignment blitz, the bejeweled day finally happened! Yesterday was full of awaited things which made the night a hundred times better than the event—the promenade was absolutely fun, though!—itself 🥳.

One of those awaited things was the first meetup of my "first" friend in high school for 3 years and counting! Yes, and fortunately, it was not as awkward as I thought when I imagined them in my head every day before the prom 😭. Actually, we had planned—two times, to be exact—for our first hangout yet our introversion (same MBTI!) held us in captivity 🥰. Anyhow, we worthily spent the night talking about shared interests and stuff, tysm bestie!

Furthermore, we also get to hang out with our new friend in the group—our elective classmate and my section classmate—and three introverts, assembled! I also met their friends (my previous classmates and theirs) and all of us looked totally shining, shimmering, and splendid 😩. I finally had my movie character moment in a 2000s teen film!

I wish as we go back to a normal stressful week, we will be able to blithely slay it and stay victorious! 💅🏼💅🏼💅🏼

P.S. I will not be able to post a vlog because I deleted all the videos I took which were taken 3 weeks ago—my phone was nearly giving up, couldn't figure out how I can't send them on my mom's laptop, uploading all of them in Google Drive was gruesomely long, it was 3 weeks ago! (too lazy to edit)—so I'll stay as a blogger for now!

I'm officially off for winter break, caught between wanting to spend the next few weeks indulging in creative projects, but also wanting to learn things I don't have time for usually. A constant struggle.

Magical March! [1.3] ₊˚ʚ 💙 ₊˚✧ ﾟ.

“Even in difficult times, there could be good moments.” ―  J. Aleong, A Most Important Year

Yes, those good moments seemed to have happened to me last week!

˗ˏˋ Monday, March 13 – My otouto's birthday! I felt bad for him as he bawled about something on his special day but I prayed that this should be the start of his journey toward a more difficult adolescent life. I love you, T! I will always do my best to be the best sister and friend to you 🥰.

˗ˏˋ Tuesday, March 14 – Our EsP class was absolutely fun as we talk about our experiences from the promenade while doing a performance task—an ideal weekly schedule that I sure won't follow 😋.

˗ˏˋ Wednesday, March 15 – Finally done discussing the Romantic Period in our Music class, and playing the piano with our teacher was such a hasty yet amazing experience! We are currently practicing sir Frédéric Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2 for the upcoming group performance but since I'm part of our class' chorale, I was exempted in this output and the 3rd Quarter summative test—one of the biggest reasons I should definitely work hard and win the contest! 🏋🏼‍♀️

˗ˏˋ Thursday, March 16 – New economics-related song done! It is a cover of that of sir Rick Astley's song as we plan to rickroll the whole class 😎, and yes, we all did an amazing job! The instrumental we used is from Caitlyn Myers et al. to make the atmosphere of our class youthful when we present it. Check it out here!

˗ˏˋ Friday, March 17 – My mother's-fellow-teacher-in-a-Chinese-school-and-friend-who-is-my-now-favorite-teacher-in-Filipino's birthday! I've known him since I was in elementary and the fact that he's now my teacher in high school makes me realize that life really moves faster if you don't cherish each moment. I pray that he'll always have a healthy and happy life as he becomes better every day. We love you, sir Su! 🥰 I apologize for passing my output late though it won't be in Google Classroom as I have passed a Canva link—the file is editable and new edits will be seen if one just clicks on it 😭.

Speaking of which, though I have the option to use the remaining 40 minutes before the output's due—used most of the nighttime to create a fugly owl clay sculpture for an Arts worksheet 😩—, I chose to use my weekdays to write an original adaptation of an angst legend about the mulberry tree (Pyramus and Thisbe); heavily inspired by Greek Mythology and the "middle child syndrome", "childhood friends", and "star-crossed lovers" trope with a hint of a Biblical theme because I plan to publish most of my written stories someday after the school year 😩✊🏼.

Tbh, every output I've passed in my Filipino subject is a tragedy, my best friend—and my adventurous life—is the main culprit for this 😭. Lav likes to read angsty fanfiction (DSMP-centric as such) and rant about her thoughts in our Discord server 🤕. As a friend, we tend to be influenced by them and so I delved into the realm of AO3 and here I am, traumatized on the first week of usage after reading a Rin Itoshi fanfiction that literally made a deep cut in my heart and made me think of my life for a whole damn week 😞. Check it out here! (prepare your 🫀 and a bunch of 🧻)

Having said that, there are still a lot of things I need to catch up on so let's keep fighting and slaying! Have a great life! 🌻

🍂September Solace: III (Epilogue)

These are the least bad pictures I could take to end this gnarly month.

A typhoon named Karding just made landfall here in our country and our mayor finally suspended our classes on Monday. I am not being ungrateful, but for the past few days that had rained so heavily, I just felt pity and embarrassment for the students who still went on face-to-face classes and for our mayor who was the only one (amongst the cities prone to flood) that we did not hear anything of, except a lovely prayer⁠—which I certainly appreciate still. I pray for everyone's safety and health. 🙏🏻💛

I just found out from my best friend that I am the 7th top student last year in my section. I didn't know we had this arrangement on the virtual ceremony for the top 10 students of every section. Knowing it, I was somehow disappointed as I realized that I am not doing well as how I was in elementary. Even this year, I cannot keep up with everyone. I try to follow those tips on Pinterest, listen to Marina's infamous song for the 'burned out gifted kid' and 'overachiever anthem', and watch study vlogs on YouTube to spark my fuel, yet I didn't even sense a tiny bit of success from doing those. I haven't even taken notes from math and science subjects⁠—I did but I tore them out of impulse. What have I been doing for the past 2 years?

Get up and take off the loafers! I have said these to myself many times, but I need a mark to put my starting point of success. I have a game plan for the next month that I'd call, Operation October: Mid-Autumn Missions. I have come to realize that Rory Gilmore is not my ideal model, but her best friend, the most competent, Paris Geller. I realized that I hated her because of how similar we were⁠—her Chilton Era was my elementary student persona and I regret it so much. Nonetheless, I have come out of my grave and started digging my way out of this torpid trap house. It's time to rev up the gunships and retaliate before the next strike. 🎯🔫

🏆 This is mine to work, mine to win. I want to win and I am going to win.

🦉

🎧 : Rainy Days and Mondays - Carpenters

📖: To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (paused) I have no time for recreational reading until December.