WE WON 1ST PLACE!

Hi to whoever is reading this hehe. Welcome to The G Journal! Since this will be my first post on here I only thought It'd be fitting to talk about one of my biggest challenge during the summer and the very reason I am motivated to start my very own little social media world!

FEBRUARY. Less than a month before the opening of the 102nd charter celebration of Manolo Fortich I heard of an Inter-Barangay Blogging Contest to be hosted by the LGU through the Manolo Fortich Bloggers Association and I volunteered myself thinking this would be a fun way to spend my summer. I became the head vlogger of Brgy. Tankulan's team but I had to find 9 other members first. Even just building the team, it was already hard as it is. There are so many people I know that were capable in our barangay but were too shy or didn't have any equipment or just didn't want to join. Luckily, after much conversation of persuasion I was able to gather a team of 8! We were 2 members short but we tried to push through.

MARCH. The events were starting to build up one by one and along with it the challenges of being able to write, edit, and submit our outputs on time. First of all, we STRUGGLED with dividing the events equally amongst ourselves due to conflicting schedules and commitments that we had outside of the contest and seeing as some of the events that needed coverage paralleled with the last weeks of school. We had to manage our time up to the seconds. The blogging contents required every bit of strength that we had mentally and physically but I was extremely motivated to help our team make the best outputs and vlogs that we can create.

Now, to the good stuff! Blogging isn't all struggle of course. This event has given me an opportunity to leave my comfort zone and go outside of the box. For someone who was not really much of a talker and being so used to writing, vlogging was extremely new to me. Editing my own videos was an absolute pain! I would be cringing at how awkward I was but because of this, I was able to improve myself and with every vlog that I made I was able to become more comfortable talking in front of the camera. It honestly felt so silly since I was basically talking to myself but hey, sometimes you just have to roll with it! It also helped that we were surrounded by people who inspired and motivated us and were willing to teach us how its done. I'm sure there were a lot of times that we were a pain in the ass but still our facilitators were kind and patient with us all throughout and that is something that I'm so grateful for.

Throughout the entire contest I didn't actually feel like we were competing with the bloggers from other barangays because we've always helped each other out without question. From asking for editing software and borrowing laptops and cameras to helping shoot each other and sharing laughs during lunch break, it just really felt like I was with this big and (extremely loud) family. Among us were also a lot of beginners and first-timers like me so it was nice to not be awkward by myself haha.

Events during the charter celebration were wild! It was so fun to be able to cover those events up-close. From the sports events, talent shows, outreach programs, variety shows to the Bb. Manolo Fortich pageant and the Banog-Banog Aeril, Arts, and Music Festival which celebrates a very important part of our municipality, the events also celebrated the people, who are the very reason why Manolo Fortich continues to prosper day by day and it is such an honor for me to be able to witness and be an instrument of social awareness and communication for the people.

APRIL. We are inching closer towards the end of sleepless nights spent on editing articles and vlogs. Everyone is relieved but dejected upon the fact that we would no longer be eating our snacks and packed lunches almost everyday. Kidding aside, I'm sure everyone misses the hustle and the bustle of the blogging contest ( I definitely do) because even then when we were challenged, at least we faced those challenges and overcame them together as a whole team.

MAY 2, 2019. It's the awarding ceremony! Unfortunately not everyone on my team was able to come *cute sad face* but still, this is a very exciting day for everyone as we would finally be able to know whether we made it to the cut of the top performing teams. I wanted us to win of course because I know that we've worked so hard to complete all of the events and we also wanted our barangay to be proud of us. When it finally came to the announcement of winners my hands were fidgeting, I was nervous. After the announcement of the 2nd place winner and we still weren't called, I honestly felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest (oa but tunay) because it was either we win first place or we didn't win at all. When Brgy. Tankulan was finally announced as this year's blogging contest winner I jumped out of my seat because of pure joy. My team and I have endured so much and I remember Jannah and Gabby spending the night at my house editing for the special sports coverage because I also had to leave in the morning but the deadline of all the compilations were on that very same morning. The sleepless nights were worth it! If you got this far you're awesome and thank you for reading this long ass post! :)

TEAM TANKULAN

Gwendoyn Dairo

Hazel Bien Arellano - BLOGGER OF THE YEAR

JV Lague

Jeffrey Arancon

Gabriel Angelo Bacol

Jannah Rae Ferrer

Francis Fellippe Amor Gumahin

Lennox J Tabaco