julia aveline

I created this entire thing as a project for Creative Non-Fiction, a subject I took during my 11th grade. After sending my subject teacher the link to this blog, I never considered writing in it ever again. But here I am, sitting lazily in my grandmother’s old plush sofa, my fingers pressing the letters in my laptop’s keyboard, typing words as they run through my mind.

All this time, I’ve been using other social media platforms with very little regard in expressing myself. Here’s why:

My Facebook audience consists of a lot of family members who might get me wrong, people who I know to be judgmental, and people who know me as a happy-go-lucky, shallow person. I wouldn’t risk my written thoughts displayed on the internet for that type of audience. And as we all know, Twitter has a character limit for each tweet. There isn’t much room for expressing yourself.

Only a week remains of the 10 month roller coaster ride that is school. It’s the point where you really start to ponder about how things have changed over the given time.

You start to question your own identity. You ask yourself if you’ve changed or if you’ve always been this way. Because at the moment, with all the noise and all the distractions, you were never able to decipher the transition of the old to the new.

You start to differentiate who you were 10 months ago, and who you are now. I believe that same thing goes around in the minds of the people around you. No one just really talks about it. But you know it, so you sit back in class the next day and you put this thought to use.

The perspective is your own and the subject is your school -- your classmates, friends, teachers, and the very atmosphere of the halls. Your first impression flashes in the back of your mind, and as you zoom in to the present, you see the very evidence of change.

Like a game of “spot the difference”, it’s easy. You look around and you just see it. That girl in class that you used to think would be your best friend barely even talks to you now. The guy who used to seem intimidating, tough, and strong turned out to be the most sensitive. And the people who you used to admire, the ones who once seemed to have their life together have started to breakdown and fall apart. The atmosphere of the class that was once festive is now dry, and the diligence is rare. As the day goes by, the classroom just gradually feels emptier and hollow.

You realize that everything have changed drastically. You start to worry about how you have changed. You know you did. You just cant point out how.

The thing is - we have struggled to keep up with the pace of other people’s lives more than the natural pace of our lives. The unsettling feeling of being left out causes us to try our hardest to keep in touch with other people but in the process, we lost touch with ourselves.

And as we finish off this school year, here’s something we should think about:

All of these happened in only a couple of months.

There are still going to be plenty of times where you’ll feel this way. You’ll keep losing yourself and you’ll keep falling apart.

But as constant as the changes in our lives, these chances are refilled infinitely. 

Maybe tomorrow is the day you’ll find answers. Then, you’ll have a tighter grasp and a clearer perception of yourself.

Maybe tomorrow will be the time where you’ll be lying on your back, watching the stars, completely overwhelmed by the great inconceivable expanse of the universe on the rooftop with your best friends.

(Hi! Above here is a photo of me from the Ateneo De Cebu’s Senior High Valentines Concert.)

I was invited to sing in this concert about a month before the said event, and so I agreed and out of a random, spontaneous spurt of confidence, I thought to myself “why not sing an original?”. 

The next day, I was asked about the title of the song I was performing and told them “Oh, I’m actually singing an original, although I haven't came up with the final title yet!”.

Now, I made it official. The word spread and my friends were excited to hear about this “song” I was working on. It was definitely too late to back out. 

Coincidentally, the following week became studded with homework. I couldn't make time for my songwriting, which was, of course, extremely time consuming. If you wanted to come up with something well thought out and performance-worthy, you would have to spend a lot of time coming up with the perfect words, rhymes, and chord progression.

The entire week before the concert, the organizers of the event kept bugging me about the title of the song so that they can include it on the PowerPoint. Something I am not very proud of is that I kept them waiting because “I haven’t finalized it yet”.

The truth is, I never even worked on it, not until the night before. I wrote “Pebrero” the night before I had to perform it. I finished writing it at 12 midnight, slept, and only had the chance to practice before class started that morning, during recess, during lunch, and 15 minutes before the concert. I kept singing the words in my head over and over in class, and thinking about it now, I feel like such an idiot.

But the result was better than what I expected. Although I was the only one without my title flashed on the screen because of the very fact that I informed the organizers about it LITERALLY last minute, I enjoyed performing my original song in front of an audience and I totally just winged it! 

It felt relieving afterwards and I felt pretty good about myself, No one knows that my entire performance was crammed and not just that, I also received a lot of good comments about it. Another good thing is that since I came up with it last minute, not a single soul knew what I was coming up with so everyone in the audience was definitely clueless and was just surprised when I started performing. 

Bluewater Sumilon Island Resort basically has everything you need to satisfy your hunger for adventure and life in the outdoors. From island hopping to fishing, just name it and they most probably have it.

To travel from the city of Cebu to Sumilon, it takes more than an hour long drive. But the lengthy hours definitely isnt a bore, for Cebu is such a wonderful place to explore with all it’s gorgeous landscapes and sea side views. In fact, the last road you have to take to get there will surely leave you in awe. The glimmering ocean waves with its beautiful variations of blue and green softly crashes against the white sand on the shore.

As you get to the resort, just check in, get your life vests on,  and you’re finally set for your first adventure -- island hopping. The very destination is located on an island in the middle of the sea. As you get there, you will be instructed on the things you can and can’t do and you will be given a map of the island. 

The first thing we did after getting off the boat was, of course, to eat. A lunch buffet was already set on the sand just by the shore. They served a lot seafood, meat, fruits, and dessert. Knowing that I wanted to make the most out of the opportunity of adventure that was given to me, I didn’t want to feel bloated so I didnt eat as much as I usually do. Although I didnt eat that much, I knew the food was incredibly good because it left me wanting for more.

We started with picture taking, then biking, trekking, kayaking, fish feeding, and the thing that I was most excited for -- fishing. I was only excited at first because I thought that we get to keep the fish. But as soon as I found out that it was only recreational fishing and that we have to put the fish back in the water, my heart just broke. The thought of deceiving the fish that they were being fed and for them to just be fished out of the water and get their throats pierced really made me sad. 

But as soon as I got over that, we started refreshing ourselves from all the activities we’ve done with swimming. The water was cold and the weather was perfect. It was really enjoyable especially that we got to snorkel and see schools of colorful fishes underwater.

I can say that this trip was very relieving. It was the perfect escape from the city life to be in an island in the middle of the ocean, with all the fun activities, good food, especially with the right people with you. It was a great privilege to have tried and discovered many things in such a beautiful place, and this trip to Bluewater Sumilon Island Resort will definitely be a trip I will never forget.