Vol. 13, No. 7, September 14, 2009

LCHS once more made it through the top ranks in the circle of international math and science competitions care of her consistent and dependable students who reaped awards for their outstanding performances in the following contest programs:

Annamitz A. Repliza (Grade 6), Bronze Medalist, 2009 Singapore International Math Competition; and Credit Award, 2009 Science – International Competitions & Assessment for Schools, University of New South Wales; Elisse Mikhaela G. Uy (Grace 4), Credit Award, 2009 Science – International Competitions & Assessment for Schools, University of New South Wales; and Kenn Carlson M. Dy (4th Year), Distinction Award, 2009 Rio Tinto Big Science Competition, Australian Science Innovations. In photo, from left: Annamitz Repliza, Kenn Carlson Dy, and Elisse Mikhaela Uy.

Elisse is the second daughter of Ernest Oliver Uy. Kenn is the second son of Kelly Dy while Annamitz is the eldest child of our Grade school Math teacher, Mrs. Annabelle Rapliza who has been teaching advanced and regular Math in LCHS for 20 years. Annamitz and Kenn Carlson are the only students from Iligan who successfully bagged the aforementioned awards. The administration and academe are very elated and grateful of this turn-out. May the vision for excellence continue to thrive in Lanao Chung Hua School for years to come!

New alumni nurses

LCHS is pleased to announce that four former high school students belonging to Batch 2005 successfully hurdled the June 2009 Nursing board examination. This year's batch will be an additional listing into the increasing roster of alumni nurses. Our congratulations to (in photo, left to right): Kay Harriet S. Kuan (daughter of Henry Kuan); Giselle Mae S. Letigio (eldest daughter of Gloria Samson); Marianne Jo-Ann Y. Longcob; and Ashley L. Uy (daughter of Allan Uy). Photos courtesy of Jing Uy.

Last call for Spectrum subscribers

This is the Spectrum's last issue to be posted on its web site at GeoCities.com.  As earlier announced, our host server GeoCities will end its web hosting services by October 26, 2009.  With that, the Spectrum will also terminate and dismantle its web page. But that doesn't mean the end of this newsletter.  The Spectrum will continue to be distributed free to its subscribers by email. Non-subscribers who wish to continue reading the Spectrum are enjoined to subscribe now. To subscribe, simply email the following info to: [email protected]

1.  Subject: Subscription
2.  Name of subscriber
3.  Email address
4. Batch Year
5.  Place of work or residence

Note: Current subscribers need not reapply.

Antonio Benolerao, 64

Antonio D. Benolerao (Batch '64) passed away on Aug. 27, 2009 in Iligan City.  He was 64.  He died of kidney failure with complications on his pancreas and other internal organs.   He is the 6th member of Class of 1964 who have passed away. The others were Santiago Chan, Wilson Lao, Alberto Rodriguez, Yolando Siao, and Sy Hong Kiau.  We request our pious readers to pray for the eternal repose of his soul.

CONTINENTAL AWARDEE.  Following her award as one of the year's top ten travel agents in Cebu City from the Northwest/Delta Airlines, Aida Lim-Uy (Batch '61) was a recipient of another airline award.  This time, Aida's Cebu Fortune Travel, Inc. was adjudged one of the Top Ten Continental Stars by the Continental Airlines.  The award was given during the Continental Awards Night at the Marriott Hotel, Cebu City, last Aug. 6. Handing out the awards were Continental Airline General Manager Mon Magno and other airline executives.  Guest of honor was Cebu City Vice Mayor Mike Rama  who joined Aida Uy in a special duet in the evening's karaoke singing.  Continental Airlines, a U.S. airline, was named by Forune Magazine as the No. 1 Most Admired Company from the year 2004-2009.

CEBU'S GLITTERATI.  Another alumna who is very much on the go among Cebu's glitterati is Dr. Vivina Chiu Yrastorza, a batch mate of Aida Lim-Uy of Class '61.  Vivina was visibly in the spotlight in the opening night of the year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Arts Council of Cebu.  Vivina is vice president of the Arts Council of Cebu.  The council celebrated the occasion with a Gala Filipina affair were all the members and guests came dressed in elegant Filipiniana ternos and kimona-inspired gowns among the ladies, and barong Tagalog for the men. Among those who graced the affair were members of the Cebu chapter of the Consular Corps of the Philippines headed by Spanish Honorary Consul Jaime Picornell and Honorary French Consul Michel Lhuillier.

BIRTHDAY BASH.  Gloricita Racines-Kinnan (Batch '66) breezed into town to celebrate her birthday in Iligan last Aug. 17. It was an intimate birthday bash celebrated among family members. Gloricita flew over to Manila the following day before returning home to Keno, Oregon, U.S.A. Another recent birthday celebrant was Jimmy Kepte.  He marked his 80th birthday with a dinner party last Sept. 9 at his residence complete with a dragon dance performed by selected students of LCHS.  Relatives, friends, and some LCHS faculty members graced the occasion.

USC HOMECOMING.  Alumni of the University of San Carlos (USC) got together last Aug. 30 on the occasion of the USC Grand Alumni Homecoming starting at 3 p.m. at the Cebu Grand Convention Center.  The homecoming was timed with the week-long celebration of the founding anniversary of USC.

Congratulations
From Alex Rodriguez (Batch '65), Miramar, Florida, U.S.A.; email: [email protected]
Sun, 16 Aug 2009 5:24:56 PM

To Henry Yu and family: Congratulations to your daughter for hurdling the nursing board. I say half way done because she is pursuing Medicine. I'm sure it's just a matter of time rather than anything else for your daughter to be become like you ... an M.D.

Men are like ...
From James Booc (Batch '82), Iligan, Philippines; email: [email protected]
Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:49:33 PM

(1) Men are like laxatives. They irritate the crap out of you. (2) Men are like bananas. The older they get, the less firm they are. (3) Men are like the weather. Nothing can be done to change them. (4) Men are like blenders. You need one but you're not quite sure why. (5) Men are like chocolate bars. Sweet, smooth, and they usually head right for your hips. (6) Men are like commercials. You can't believe a word they say. (7) Men are like department stores. Their clothes are always 1/2 off.  (8) Men are like government bonds. They take soooo long to mature. (9) Men are like mascara. They usually run at the first sign of emotion. (10) Men are like popcorn. They satisfy you but only for a little while. (11) Men are like lava lamps. Fun to look at but not very bright. (13) Men are like parking spots. All the good ones are taken, the rest are handicapped.

Our hearts go to the Benolarao family on the early demise of Antonio. May he rest in peace.

Our deepest sympathy to Bro Anton Benolerao family. --Bro Peter & Sister Tita.

Greetings! I would really like to help out the LCHS Spectrum.  I have a couple of articles in store but I believe the best way I can help out for the time being is to help you port to blogger since Geocities will be shutting down soon. I manage the sites Keeping On The Firing Line and Singapore Bible Baptist Church Filipino Fellowship. Thanks for all the issues!

[Thank you for your offer to help transfer the Spectrum to another web site. It's a good option worth exploring. For now, however, we've decided to leave it to the alumni association or any alumni volunteer to set up a new web site for our LCHS community.  We stand ready to coordinate with any alumni interested to start a new web site where we can transfer our data files to. We're likewise pleased to know you have some articles in store.  We shall be glad if you can share them with the Spectrum, especially if the articles concern matters of general interest to our LCHS community. --Editor]
 

Common SMS shortcuts and smileys

The following are some of the commonly used text message acronyms and smileys. These shortcuts originally started in Internet chatrooms before the advent of SMS, voice chats and webcams.  Participants in chatrooms needed to key in their chat messages fast by using the least possible number of keystrokes.  In time, these abbreviated texts and smileys (or ASCII smiley icons) became a universal lingo and were later adapted for cell phone text messages (SMS).

AFAIK:  As far as I know
B2W:  Back to work
BTW:  By the way
CU:  See you
CYA:  See you
CUL:  See you later
EZ:  Easy
FYI:  For Your information
GBU:  God bless you
ILBL8:  I'll be late
IMO:  In my opinion
K:  Okay
LOL:  Laughing out loud
OMG:  Oh my God
TC:  Take care
Thnx:  Thanks
TY:  Thank you
TLK2UL8R:  Talk to you later
ROFL:  Rolling on the floor laughing
URW:  You are welcome
WRU@:  Where are you at?
Y?:  Why?

|-I    [Asleep]
^5    [high five]
:-#   [Lip are sealed]
:-0   [Shocked, surprised]
:-)    [Smiling]
:-(    [Sad, frowning]
;-(    [Crying]
>:-(  [Angry]
:-r    [Sticking tongue out]
,-)    [Winking]
:-]    [Pouting]
:/)    [Not funny]
o:-)  [Angelic]
:-{}  [Blowing a kiss]

All of us, young or old, rich or poor, have one thing in common which we are equal with everybody. And this is the GIFT OF TIME - a time to be born, to grow, to go to school, to make friends, to be happy, to get hurt, to love, to give life, to serve, to have a family, to be old and sickly, and a time to come back home to our Creator one day. Someday.

As one author would put it, "To live is to go on a journey, to die is to come back home." In our lifetime, we travel through life's many journeys, either alone or in the company of friends and loved ones. Some may be smooth sailing, with less air pocket as we fly high, while other roads may be too rough thus making us stumble and fall. As human beings, we have our own stories to tell and our personal histories to share - our past and our present. We know our past because we have lived it. We know our present because we are living in it. But the future is something we are not familiar with as it is yet to come. What it will bring, we don't know exactly. Only God has the key and the answers. In His Time.

Yesterday - everybody was rejoicing and welcoming a newborn baby that was us. We were given a name. We went to school and made friends out of the many classmates we have. We learned our lessons. We graduated. Then we applied for work and got employed. We worked, earned, and saved. We got married and have a family of our own.

Today - We have become parents who have to work, earn, and save for our children's food, clothing, shelter, education, among others, the same things our very own parents went through when we were young. Today, we have friends who readily stand for and by us through thick and thin. We have neighbors who share with us life's agony and ecstasy so much so that they have become like family to us.

But what about tomorrow? The future still has to come. Will it be as wonderful as yesterday or as beautiful as today? Will tomorrow be filled with sorrow? Will it be raining in our hearts?

Life goes on. Yesterday was a time. Today is. Tomorrow will be. All these are God's gifts to us. Let us rejoice and be glad for the GIFT OF TIME.

Charles O. Sy, Batch '67

Statistics show that 50% of married men cheat on their wives in the U.S.A.  The other 50% cheat in Europe.

Roderick Ngo uses a Blackberry 8900 cell phone. He says it has Berry good WiFi functionality.

James So recently wrote to tell me that Siquijor is an ideal haven for retirees.  I too think So.

If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, and dry cleaners depressed?

Shortly after our announcement in our June issue about shutting down the Spectrum web site, we received some reactions from our readers.  Most of them wanted us to maintain our web site by transferring it instead from GeoCities, which is closing its services next month, to another host server.

We appreciate their concern. Indeed there are several other host servers to which we can move our web site. But we feel it's also time for us to take our leave. We've been at it since 1997. We are getting rusty; our creative juices are running dry. The web site, under our watch, may have outlived its purpose. It was created to serve as an accessible archive of the Spectrum with a guestbook for readers to post comments. It was set up using what little we know about web authoring programs, which, to say the least, are already outdated. It's time for our LCHS community to have a new web page. One that will serve as a comprehensive showcase of information about LCHS and our alumni association.

The time has come for us to pass the torch to a new generation of alumni techies to fill the void.  Our alumni community, led by the likes of James Booc and Johnny Chen, is peopled with young dynamic talents, many of whom are better skilled than we are in tinkering with newer and more advanced computer programs.  On them we pin our hopes for a new website that will continue to establish our presence on the Internet.

Let it not be misunderstood, however, that the Spectrum is folding up.  The Spectrum as a newsletter will continue.  We are only closing down our web site.  The Spectrum will no longer be posted on the Internet.  But Spectrum subscribers will continue to receive their free copies on their emails.

For those who are relying on the web site to browse each issue, this is the right time for them to enlist with us for their free subscription. For now, this appears to be the only option left for our alumni here and abroad to keep themselves abreast of news from home.

Is "computer" male or female?
From Susan Lim-De la Cruz, Iloilo, Philippines

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. "House," for instance, is feminine: la casa. "Pencil," however, is masculine: el lapiz."

A student asked, "What gender is computer?"

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that computers should definitely be of the feminine gender (la computadora) because: (1) No one but their creator understands their internal logic; (2) The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else; (3) Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and (4) As soon as you make a commitment to one, you  find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine (el computador) because: (1) In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on; (2) They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves; (3) They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they are the problem; and (4) As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won.

Igdono U. Caracho, Batch '66

Giant Mango of Iligan