Dispatches by Adrian Conoza

Another year will close, and so another one opens. One of the few things I could highlight in this year is that despite my flair for retro music and almost-dislike for pop music, I still find good songs from today's music, be it a chart-topper or not. In no particular order, let me share some (if not only this 15) songs from 2015 that I like. The songs, by the way, are not in a particular order.  1. Into Your Arms | Capital Kings 2. Beautiful Now | Zedd feat. Jon Bellion 3. Verge | Owl City feat. Aloe Blacc 4. Desire (Gryffin Remix) | Years & Years 5. Run Away With Me | Carly Rae Jepsen 6. Confident | Demi Lovato 7. How Deep Is Your Love | Calvin Harris & Disciples 8. Drag Me Down | One Direction 9. Run | AWOLNATION 10. Shots | Imagine Dragons 11. Where The Sky Hangs | Passion Pit 12. Orphan | Toto 13. Stockholm Syndrome | One Direction 14. Style | Taylor Swift 15. Unbelievable | Owl City feat. Hanson How about you? What songs do you like from 2015? And which from this list...

I'm done with another first semester, and it left papers as a remembrance now filed into their respective envelopes. Not only does first sem's end mean I can finally give myself much rest. For me, it also means cleaning my small room, its shelves, and books.  It's been a usual thing to do during free time, and I'd been waiting to clean my room and revisit my books. It was another time for me to decide which to keep, and which to "phase out". Yet, what seems to be a once-a-day job before extended to at least three days! I started late in the morning with cleaning the dust off the shelves, but I found it difficult to accomplish attending to my books for a day. But at least, I started! I cleared the shelves, taking the books out of their nooks one by one. These books stayed stacked in the different corners and spaces of the almost-skimpy home: at the living room, at my desk (on top and under), and at my room. After I cleaned my shelves, I started cleaning the boo...

In the efforts of UST’s National Service Training Program to raise the youth’s awareness about national issues involving disasters and to empower them to be part of the solution, a Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) seminar was held, which I attended l ast October 25, 2015 . Very timely and relevant for us to learn from, the seminar has been an orientation not only to the natural disasters our nation faces and how we should respond to them, but also to the issues they raise and what we should learn from them.  Understanding DRRM and its related concepts A big part of this seminar focused on the concepts surrounding disaster risk reduction and management (such as disaster, hazards, and risk) and how each differs from the others.  Here I understood that disasters are not necessarily all about the events; they may be a result of human activities as well. While hazard brings the potential to cause disruption or damage (whether natural, human-induced, or environmental), r...