The Selfie Shoot-out! :)

What is your DEEPEST FEAR?

When this question is asked, many might think of the movie Coach Carter. This was the question Coach Carter kept asking Timo Cruz, one of the players in Richmond high school. Timo Cruz didn't know the answer, so did the rest of the team. In the end of the movie, Timo Cruz finally knew his answer. He answered this:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Is it truly our light that frightens us? I do think so. God has given us a potential that is ever growing! There is no limits to the things that we can achieve! How awesome is that? But what hinders us? What limits our desire to succeed? What holds us down into the level of mediocrity?

As Timo Cruz said, everyone is meant to shine. No one is an exception, but because of society, we choose playing small over excelling. Shrinking ourselves shouldn't be a choice for us so that others wouldn't feel insecure. If we conform to this idea, we are not only denying of ourselves what we can truly achieve, but we are also denying others of theirs.

Let us shine then as children of God! Why hinder what truly is ours? Why leave behind all the wonderful things we can achieve? Rather than accepting mediocrity, let us pull ourselves away from it. Let us then be excellent in all that we do for that is who we are and that is what we made to be. We are excellent.

The Oh-So-Awesome Patty Laurel!

In our most recent club meeting, we, as a whole class, were fortunate enough to meet and learn from the one and only Mrs. Patty Laurel! To those of you who don't know her, she is a well-respected professional blogger and a professor in the Ateneo de Manila University. In my opinion, our club, Blogger's Hub, was really blessed to have her as our guest speaker. She was able to talk about many things on blogging and honestly, she delivered it in such a fun manner!

Mrs. Patty Laurel shared about Blog Lovin' 101. There were many aspects that she was able to tackle like what a blog is, who your audience is, what your blog should be about, and why one makes a blog. What lingered in my mind was what Mrs. Patty she said, "No mater how serious you are regarding something (blogging). Without loving it, you'll grow tired of it." 

I thought to myself, do I really love what I do or do I just do it for the sake of accomplishing something? 

After the meeting, all of the students went back to our classrooms and classes were continued, however, what Mrs. Patty said ran through my mind like an olympic runner who doesn't want to stop training. It really bothered me because I couldn't answer the question! I couldn't make up my mind if I love blogging or I just considered blogging a task waiting for me to accomplish it.

And then I got it. Blogging was far from being what I love to do. Yes, I want to be successful in blogging, but I don't love it! After I realized this, I prayed to God that He may give me a heart that loves to blog that I may use it to glorify His Name. At that moment, I had the urge to blog my heart out! 

Before I end this blog post, let me tell everyone that love really makes a difference. :) 

Thank you Mrs. Patty Laurel for teaching me how to love blogging! You really are awesome! Please do continue what you do for you inspire aspiring bloggers like me to dream big. :)

"JOHN PETER FOR 3!"

++Before I start this blogpost, I want to inform everyone that this will not be a blogpost about me boasting or bragging about my achievements and all that egotistical stuff, but rather, it is about how God can use one ordinary guy (that's me) to do extraordinary things for His greater glory. :)++

I guess you're wondering now if this "3" I'm talking about is a shot I took in a basketball game. NEEEH. You're wrong. :)) This "3" I'm pertaining to is three different competitions I was lucky enough to join. Hmm.. let's change that, "blessed to join." Now that's better! Moving on, I want to share all these three events to inspire others to work hard and bring back the glory to God! :)


My first competition took place in Brent International School. September 23 was the date when it all happened. It's 5:30 in the morning. Each member of the table tennis varsity is already in school waiting for the shuttle. Hearts were pumping so hard that our chests were already prepared to burst!  The moment we got there, we immediately saw how good our competition was. We felt so weak! Doubts were already running in our minds even before our first game! Coach talked with all of us and because of this, a small amount hope of shined in our hearts. I guess this small hope was enough to push us to winning most of the matches that we encountered. In the end, JCA table tennis team boys was able to win the 2nd place and table tennis team girls won 3rd! Three Jubileans were also able to shine in the competition. Edric Carlos was named "Best Singles" for singles number 2 and Jerson Tecson and Matthew Lui were named "Best Doubles." Truly, I feel so blessed to be part of this team!

The second one took place in PIQC. That was a saturday, October 5, 2013 to be exact. I had the chance of once again representing our school in this year's Chinese Story-Telling Contest! Thank God! After 2 long months of training, I was able to get the 3rd place! Cool, right? :) When I actually got there, I immediately got intimidated with my competition. Many of them spoke Chinese fluently! Like "你好！今天特别热是吗？” “是啊！真热！明天我会去中国了！”啊！那好啊！你会跟谁去啊？” “我会跟我的弟弟啊！” They had the accent and the look! My gosh, if my teacher wasn't with me, I would have already melted to the ground. It was sooooooooo scary. I'm so thankful to the Lord that despite this adversity, He was with me and He held on to me and made me strong! 

Lastly, I was able to join the business camp in Laguna. It took place on October 12, 2013. There were 15 of us and we were accompanied by none other than Mrs. Nabur. We really enjoyed our time there! Each night, we were able to spend time with one another and know more about each other. I really think that our time there together helped us become more responsible as individuals and help us appreciate other people more. Sadly, because of lack of chemistry, we weren't able to do well as a group. Fortunately, we still received 3rd place in the category of business plan! I thank God for all the opportunities He has given me and I hope I was able to glory His name with my hard work. :)

I hope this has brought an urge in your hearts to attain and achieve more! Truly, I've been very blessed to participate in all of these competitions! Let this be a testimony to His power and glory. :)

Hebrew 6:10
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

Top 7 WEirD ThinGs in My August

You're might be wondering it's the TOP 7 list, not a top 10, or a top 5 list. Well, check the title blog again? Yes. 'Cause I'm weird. Before I start this list, however, let me tell you why I thought of making this list. Whenever we think back about the recent events in our lives, we feel a certain joy or even a certain sadness, but all in al, it shows us how blessed we are to have gone through those things. :) In this list, I decided it would be about weird stuff that's happened recently. I guess, weird things make me laugh and I want others to feel happy to! :)Now, let's start!


TOP 7 - Meeting this awesome person
It's not weird, right? The weird thing here is that I thought she was so taray! Fortunately, when I got to know her more, I found out that she's really a nice person. :) CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD OF SOMEONE KEWL.

TOP 6 - LOW EFFORT, high grade??
This quarter, I was really lazy, and I knew it. Seriously. I thought I'd be removed from the honors list actually :'( Thankfully, I still got in, too awesome :P

TOP 5 - Mastor Yoda Galor
One day, I decided to talk to all of my friends with the use of the "yoda way."

for example: "Hungry I am." "Fart I smell!" "Hard it was!" Cool, I am ;)

TOP 4 - Split-Hooray!
There was a time in which I tried to do a full-split... well, something did split, however.... it wasn't me.... well, you get it :P

TOP 3 - POOP ON THE WALL O.o
In the restroom of our school, there were letters written all over the wall... the ink was poop... I'll stop... that's self-explanatory. o.o

TOP 2 - Miley Cyrus Twerking
Come on, let's all admit it. We didn't see this one coming. Cutting her hair was already a surprise, but now she's gone even wildah! Let's just hope she won't break her daddy's heart that much.

TOP 1 - HORSE SONG!!
JUST CHECK IT YOURSELF.

Awkward to the HIGHEST LEVEL

Many of us had a stage in life where we really liked weird. Big cheeks. Sweaty hair. Flabby arms. You name it! BLAH! I have shivers every time I think of my awkward years, but let's think about this for a moment. Are these years really that important? Did this time help me to become who I am today? Well, of course it is important and yes, it did help you become who you are! Never be ashamed of your past and if you are, then let me tell you a little story about little JP.

HARRY FETER

That's what I was called. In my opinion, everything about me in this picture is just really awkward. I was a lot fatter here, and I had those round eye glasses which made me look like a fat Harry. When I was younger, I didn't think much of it. I thought how I looked before was pretty ok. I even thought I was cool! -.- This was way back when I was still 9-10 years old. I never realized back then how weird I looked, and how chubby I was. Honestly, I'm just glad that I'm past that stage of my life. Still, I'm really thankful to God that He gave me a chance to be Mr. Fat Harry. He gave me a chance to be that person when I was younger, because I really think that if I was different back then, I wouldn't be who I am now. Through that stage of my life, I learn that best is really yet to come and tomorrow would be better than yesterday. :)

Why "That Weird Thing" Exists

This was taken by my brother, Gershom Chua, when we were in Ateneo. I was there for my table tennis training session. Despite being a student from Jubilee Christian Academy, I was given a chance to play with those who were in Ateneo's team. Enough about me. Let's go to the real reason why I showed you guys this picture. In my opinion, this picture captures the essence of hope. Basically, this is me dreaming that one day I could finally join the Blue Paddlers when i reach college. Day in and day out, I work my butt out so that I could be better in ping pong hoping that someday, I'd reach my dream. Sadly, people nowadays lose their hope. They lose their hope in tomorrow, in success, and in life. My goal is to inspire people through weird and fun ways using this blog as my tool for doing so. I hope I can become an instrument that will place smiles on people's faces and set a fire in people's hearts that will make them yearn for success.

-That Weird Thing

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Some of you might know where this quote came from. It's from the movie "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."

A little background about this film-- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a 2012 British comedy-drama  film, directed by John Madden. The screenplay was based on the 2004 novel These Foolish Things, by Deborah Moggach. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Penelope Wilton, as a group of British pensioners moving to a retirement hotel in India, run by the young and eager Sonny, played by Dev Patel. (reference: Wikipedia)

 This quote was from Sonny, the young and eager manager of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Despite his lack of experience and desperate situation, he still had hope within him. He still believed that the best is yet to come. Why shouldn't we as well? Rather than crying all day and wining about our misfortune, why not work even harder and make failure our teacher? This would be what "That Weird Thing" would be about. This blog's main purpose would be to encourage and to give hope to those who are in desperate need of it, so sit back and enjoy the posts coming soon!

Dear Non-existing Viewers

Many of you (even if you guys don't exist) may wonder what or who "that weird thing" is. Well, it's me. I'm THAT weird thing. I'm really a spoiler, ain't I? Well, this blog would be about me. As you read through the words written with the melody of my life, you would realize my life isn't that boring. It's actually quite special! My goal in making this blog isn't about bragging how awesome my life is and how wonderful things are going for me. Of course that's not the reason. -.- That would make me such a jerk. :)) The reason why I made this blog is for people to find hope in this dark, dark world. I'd like to remind people that there IS hope. Hope you guys would enjoys my posts in the near future!

-That Weird Thing