Each and every one of us is a gold mine; but like any other of its kind, you have to dig out the good substance.

The Gold Mine Theory – this is what stuck to me upon finishing last Saturday’s PETA Tour. This principle states that every person has this infinite potential to excel on any activity as long as they get the proper education and have the very determination to do so.




With this thought I just realized, I can be whoever I want to be. Just like playing a character in a play, you can be anyone if you just put your mind to it. You can be Juliet, Plato, or even Rizal if you only internalize that character – which requires not only knowledge of the material but also the passion to believe that you can be.

So just like what Mrs. Cecille Garrucho explained, anybody can do theater. And from a similar point of view of Pepe, from PETA’s “Batang Rizal”, anybody can be a hero too.

“Kung walang pinagbago ang panahon mo sa panahon ko, bakit kailangan ko pang mamatay?” A daunting question made by our young national hero. I almost teared up that moment when he left the stage leaving everybody wondering the same thing. Did he indeed die for nothing? Does our present condition reflect what he was fighting against?

Silence waved through the place as Pepe’s question kept lingering in my mind. Honestly, as I was sitting there, dumbfounded by the query, I didn’t really know the answer. And I was scared to believe that it was, in reality, all for nothing.

But as the play neared its end, I got to realize that it was not really about what he died for, but how he lived his life. And if one boy had this one great vision for our country and brought it to realization, then what stops today’s youth of achieving the same greatness? With enough will and persistence, you and I can be a hero in our own right. And with that in mind, we can be our nation’s gold mine.

I've been vlogging for 4 months now and you might have noticed a constant face in all of my videos and photos. He's got more exposure than I do in most of my episodes. I've featured my Mom and Dad here in CokskiBlue; it's about time to give (part of) the spotlight to the fourth and last member of the family. Yup. He's Jet - my (not so) little brother. He'll kill me once he sees this. Ha!

It's not really hard to have fun with this guy. He thinks of the corniest jokes and belches out very funny stories every now and then about his friends, misadventures and UP. He's a very shy and laid-back person but he comes up with the quirkiest comments that everybody loves.

Kids (?) our age usually bond over basketball or over bottles of beer and pulutan. We bond over this:

Someone had asked me this week if my english-dominant script on my last vidcast, The Hit List, was intentional. Well, yeah, kinda. Because I'm about to drown you in serious Tagalog this week. Haha.

Ehem.

Ayan. Narinig niyo na ba ang balita tungkol kay Malu Fernandez - ang manunulat mula sa Manila Standard Today at People Asia Magazine na sumulat ng mga pagmamatang salita laban sa ating mga OFWs? Alay ko sa kanya ang bidyo na inyong mapapanood sa ibaba. At sapagkat hindi ko pa kayang gumawa ng sanaysay ukol sa Wika at Sex dahil sa aking inaalagaang imahe (ano kamo?), narito muna ang aking inihandang talumpati para sa Wika 2007 ng PinoyBlogosphere.com. At hulaan ninyo kung anong taon ko ito sinimulan (Clue: Hindi 2007) :

Apparently, The Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs of 2007 writing project is still making quite a buzz and waves of stories across our very own Pinoy Blogosphere Blogging Community - but for very different reasons and from very different perspectives.

Oh well, let's all take a break from that guys. Chill. And remember the good times that was August 1, 2007. Come on, just spare this ten minutes. For peace.

Yeah right. Haha.

I always liked to become a disk/video jockey. Tell me if I should stop trying. Haha.

The Vlinks:

The Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs of 2007
FOBCAST - Third World Tech Talk and a lot of dicking around ("Top 10..." Podcast)
Ethical Blogging
Yuga Meets the Kid Blogger
A Month of Blog Scandals and Wars

The blog personalities: Ma'am Janette, Gibbs, Dine, Rick, Ederic, Benj, Jeff, Poytee, Tess, Jake, Shari, Alan, Kevin, Jhed, Rens, Carl, Allen, Elmo, Karlo, Arbet, Marcelle.

Pictures by: Shari, Alan, Dine, Poytee, Rick, Ederic, Gibbs, Yes Payment, Digital Filipino

Videos by: Coy

Music by: Arkarna, Number One Gun, Session Road

**UPDATED! New After Dark Video!

The problem with video blogging (in my case anyway) is that I can't update as fast as I'd want to. When we went home last August 1 (or 2) from the Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs of 2007 eyeball, I was amazed how a number of bloggers got to post their accounts of the event just after a couple of hours the party wrapped up. Talk about speed-blogging. Then before the week ended, just about everyone, including the ones who weren't even present, have already been blogging and posting pictures about it. I felt like a grade school kid being left behind by the school bus. I was like, "Hey, wait for me!" Thank goodness for Tanggera's vid which motivated me to push for the vlog although it's too late.

Ok, I'm rambling now.

And now it's been a week already yet I haven't even started my vlog draft(I do drafts?) of the bloggers' meet-up. I've been meaning to upload this after dark (raw) video days ago but didn't because of two main reasons: 1) School stuff - thesis deadlines, org parties & grad pictorials and 2) I've been waiting for this site to review CokskiBlue (this blog's first formal one) and I didn't wanna add some unedited, unfurnished vid on top of the stack. But after being late for 6 days, this is what came up:

Blog Being Reviewed: CokSki Blue
Reviewed By: Diva Dee

Why am I being subjected to this shit? We got a little behind on our reviews, and so I was trying to catch up. I didn't want y'all stuck on our waiting list forever, because we can't pull our heads out of our asses! Now I know why we got behind... my poor cohorts just didn't want to review sites like this one.

I can sum up this blog in two words:

YouTube videos.

'nuff said.

Rating: 0 for the number of times I'll be returning. (Am I seeing a trend here?)

I delayed an update for this review. Make sure you give them credit.

UPDATE!: After getting mobbed (or ganged up, they said) by other Pinoy bloggers, they actually gave in and made a "review"! And man, they really hate me. And my blog.

Thanks for all the comments here and on the other site. I submitted my blog for review way back summer when I just started vlogging (May, I think) just for fun, you know, curiosity as well. Wasn't really expecting to get "traffic" from them; I didn't even know someone actually reads review blogs. Well, I won't be doing THAT again, that's for sure.

Jigs and Juice are right, the feedback so far from everyone is enough for me to know that I must be doing something right. Thank you all! :)

And now for THE review. Check it out. Well, let's just say it's not all smiles and sunshine (duh) but I've noted and looked into each criticism. If they've done this the first time, wouldn't have been a big deal.

Oh right, this is a video blog:

NEW VIDEO! (Aug. 9)

Limited Edition: I'll be posting new After Dark videos until I come up with THE vlog itself. Thanks to all bloggers that voted and congratulations to all the winners!

More blogger personalities: Rick, Ederic, Benj, Jeff, Poytee, Tess, Jake

Bloggers in the vids: Shari, Alan, Kevin, Jhed, Rens, Carl, Allen, Elmo, Karlo, Arbet. It was a pleasure meeting you guys!