The Loophole

The heat is on. No, not the Miami Heat. It’s the Manila heat! The temperature has been crazy as of late. How many times have we re-recorded the hottest day of the year these past few weeks? On Labor Day, however, we had a taste of the other side. We experienced a sudden burst of rain. And that description is not at all an exaggeration. It was the type that didn’t pass through the ‘drizzle stage’. SUDDEN. BURST. It felt like it was delivering a message – summer is still best served hot. Okay, maybe not 36.6˚C hot.

Here’s a list of ten things to do during the summer break. Take note that this is not a list of the TOP ten things to do. It’s just a list of random activities – both lame and awesome.

10 GENERAL CLEANING

For two semesters, your papers, failed exams, manuscript drafts have piled up in your apartment. The shirt you wore to that party where you got wasted is still under your bed, all covered in dust. Maybe its about time you clean up a bit. Plus, there are a lot of golden items found during general cleaning, and you know it!

9 SUMMER CLASSES

It’s vacation time and you’re gonna enroll again, you ask? Well, there are two major explanations to that. Number one, you get allowance. Number two, kailan mo pa ba balak grumaduate? Wag ka na magreklamo. Mag-summer ka na!

8 MOVIE MARATHON/SERIES CATCH-UP

Everyone’s talking about that blockbuster movie and you can’t relate, just cause you haven’t seen it yet. Well, now’s your time! Time for you to see One More Chance! I swear it’s a good movie. And go catch up with How I Met Your Mother so your friends can stop not talking about it when you’re around.

7 SUMMER JOBS

Ahh, summer job. You need this. That flight to Boracay ain’t free, buddy.

6 SPORTS

Summer is the home of sports clinics and inter-barangay tournaments. Suddenly, there’s a ‘cup’ named after everyone and everything – Governor’s Cup, Batong Malake Cup, Ddfnhwdfd Cup, Hpsdirjes Cup…           

5 SLEEP

Sleeping for summer is a great idea. Why? Well it’s multi-purpose. For one, it gets you much needed rest after all the all-nighters, and late nights that you say you spent studying or writing your manuscript. Sure, if that’s what you say. And sleeping also recharges you for another full year of crazy ‘academic’ adventure!

4 PARTY

During this season, parties are everywhere! And since you have time on your hands, why not go to as much as you can? The vacation itself calls for a celebration. There might not be a better way to celebrate it than to party like crazy!

3 NOTHING

This has to be the most underrated thing to do during the summer break! People always ask what you’re gonna do or where are you going this summer. There’s nothing wrong with sitting at home. Doing nothing. Oh my, just thinking about it makes me wanna do it right now.

2 HIT THE BEACH

Can we call it a tradition? I think so. Summertime is beach time. Enough said.

And last but not the least…

1 TRAVEL

To travel doesn’t mean to fly. You can go on a roadtrip, take a bike to Bicol, hike, or what have you. Also remember that there are indeed beautiful countries all around the globe. But we also have breathtaking sights and places here in the country. Make sure you get around the Philippines just as much as you do other countries!

-Blake

It’s that time of the year again when WE HOLD THE POWER to PUT IN POWER the people who we believe should lead us for the next academic year.

The power to vote is a privilege and not a giveaway. Let us all dare to care. It’s time we let our voices be heard. Let’s vote, and vote wisely!

VOTING PERIOD IS UNTIL FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24. 5PM. PRECINTS ARE LOCATED AT YOUR RESPECTIVE COLLEGES. 

        All this time, after four years in college, you always thought that this is the real life. You always thought that this is how it’s going to be like when you graduate. You took it for granted. You thought you would always have it. What you didn’t know is that, in college, it is all just an illusion. An illusion made especially for an aloof student such as you. What you didn’t know, is that it will be taken from you soon. Sooner than you think. And sooner than you wish.              

       You never really begin to fully appreciate it till you’re closer to graduating from college:

 student-friendly priced meals.

       Yep. The meal you’re enjoying now because it’s cheap and yet of good quality? You better start enjoying and appreciating every morsel of it. Because by the time you leave college, not only would you have to earn your lunch money with sweat and blood, but you would also have to buy crappy small value non-student meals.

       I know. It’s inhumane.

       That is why as early as now, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior (it is never too late!), whatever year you may be, from whatever college you are, taking whatever course there is,

YOU HAVE TO APPRECIATE STUDENT-FRIENDLY PRICED MEALS.

       For all that is good in this earth, please, please, please. Appreciate student-friendly priced meals.

Here are a few tips to help you maximize being a student living in student meals country:

1. Always choose small time establishments over big name fast food restaurants.

                The price difference between menus is oftentimes very ridiculous. You would often find yourself scratching your head and wondering where your money went because you sure as hell can’t see its value in the food you traded it in for. The only reason it is advised to go to fast food restaurants is for when there is a need to answer a craving. Have you been dreaming about eating a cheeseburger or downing a float? Then treat yourself to big name fastfood! Other than that, on just a routine meal with no special occasion, your buck is better spent on small time establishments. These eateries have VERY seducing prices. I find their prices alone to be very appetizing…    

2. Know your “extra rice” hotspots.

                Once you leave student meals country one of the first changes in the eating scene  that you will notice is the shameless pricing of one of man’s most brilliant inventions: the “extra rice”. The way that it is priced is pure highway robbery. Most restaurants in the city would price their “extra rice” at 15pesos a pop. The price alone would drive you to diet. That is why it is very important to know your “extra rice” hotspots, so that you will always have cheap access for whenever you find the need to consume an extra cup of rice. Yeah sure, smuggle it in the restaurant. I’ve done it before.

3. The free soup is more ulam than you think.

                Most students ignore the free soup that eateries usually give their customers. In the same note, most students don’t take advantage of the fact that they can ask for the soup or sauce of a viand that they ordered or didn’t order even. This is a sad waste. Because the more soup you put into your rice, the less ulam you’d need. It’s simple mathematics! There was a time when I could only afford a stick of barbecue where the pork was really thin, I had the usual two cups of rice (because eating only a cup of rice just feels so wrong) and a bowl of soup that could be refilled. Needless to say, that was still one satisfying meal.    

4. Eat to please your stomach.

                Have this sole objective when looking for a place to eat. Because a lot of small time establishments usually have low quality facilities. It’s the biggest downside of eating in small time establishments. They usually just don’t have the proper ambience. But hey, the less they spend on their joint, the less they would have to charge you right? What they lack in air conditioning, fancy tables and chairs, and good china, they make up for affordable tasty meals. Seems like a good deal right? Because when you’re paying to eat, food is all you want the value of your money to go into. So when you’re looking for a cheap place to eat, have only one objective: eat to please your stomach.

5. Bring your own bottle.

                In the matters of maximizing access to sustenance we are not limited to solid nourishments. As much as we should be cheap about food, we should also be cheap about water. You know all those rumors you heard as a kid where in the future we’d have to pay through the nose just for a bottle of water? Well we’re getting there. So as early as now be thrifty even when it comes to drinking water. Because you know when it’s not pleasant to have to pay for drinking water when convenience stores start to charge 16pesos for a bottle. Be thrifty by bringing your own bottle. A bottle that you can refill during meal times at your favorite eateries. Small time establishments have their own water stations and allow access to free drinking water (and no, I’m not talking about establishments that give you water in super small plastic cups). Take advantage of this since it’s free. And the only good thing to do to free stuff is to get more of it. So bring a bottle, learn to refill, and bring it with you when you go out of the restaurant. Because thirst is not exclusive only to meal times.

-Calvin