22 February 2018

An Open Letter To A High School Crush


Someday you will find out about me: the President of the Booklover’s Club, the girl who keeps the class record, the girl who accidentally run into the boy’s room during retreat, the girl who overslept in the school clinic, the girl who spilled a chocolate syrup, the girl who preferred to stay at the Jail Booth during Intramurals, and the girl who writes poems about you in the school paper.

10 February 2018

A Valentine Story


As I write this paragraph, there are only six days until Valentine’s Day. I’m curious how Valentine is to some people so I asked my friends to share their Valentine story. Majority of them responded that they have no story to tell but I was fortunate that I never stop asking until I received a confirmation that a story will be sent to me.

Here are the stories of pancakes, black valentine, and an almost accident. May these inspire you to live life in the moment, especially on important occasions. 


PANCAKES by Hazel Asoy

Valentine's day, though not an official holiday, is still celebrated by many. I love Valentine's day because it's the day when most of our high school teachers will task us to create Valentine's cards we can give to our friends. I do love receiving Valentine's cards and reading mushy messages from my friends and classmates.

However, it all changed when I experienced being in a relationship. Valentine's day became a not-so-good day for me because I always end up being single before Valentine's.

So, when I had an (ex) boyfriend whom I can celebrate Valentine's day with, I got pretty excited. Maybe, too excited I stressed myself thinking what should I do or prepare for my (ex) boyfriend. But the day before Valentine's, I settled for a pancake.

That day, I saved my allowance so I can buy pancake ingredients. It's my first time to make pancakes and I'm not good when it comes to following directions. In the midst of cooking, I end up burning a piece while the other pancakes end up crumbled. Knowing that I only have a few hours before my next class and to give it to him, panic starts to sink in. It' a total disaster but I have to carry on and prepare something for him.

Instead of whining over a pancake of failure, I got a small plastic tub and arranged the crumbled pancakes at the bottom, drizzled with chocolate syrup and top it with the perfectly shaped yet burned pancake. At the end, it looks like a mango graham cake.

Prepping the pancake isn't really the highlight of that day. The taste test with the unlucky subject is. When we met in my favorite tambayan, I hesitantly offered the pancake. I know that it's not an Instagram-worthy pancake but I hoped that, at the very least, he would appreciate the effort I exerted. Well, he's nice enough to act that he liked it. He ends up eating everything and telling me that it tastes good though he looks like he will puke everything he ate that day.


Hazel is a Registered Criminologist, working as a full – time Technical Support Associate. She also runs a blog called Wannderzel.

© Jhecel Ogtip
Maira Gall