Photo Biography Update (12-31-23)

   Some notable photos taken during the period of August 27, 2023 to December 31, 2023...

Photo Biography Update (08-26-2023)

 Some notable photos taken during the period of January 1, 2023 to August 26, 2023...

Photo Biography Update (12-31-2022)

Some notable photos taken during the period of January 2, 2022 to December 31, 2022...

GTWFSL Christmas Caroling 2022

GTWFSL had another Christmas caroling video for this year.

Virtual Numbers During GTWFSL's SY 2021-22 Awards Banquet

Just like last year, our school's year-end Awards Banquet had to go virtual.  Here are the special numbers that we did in it.

First, selected JHS students (with me) performed "There Is a Higher Throne" by Keith & Kristyn Getty, a stirring song that evokes longing for the future glory that we believers should look forward to.

Virtual Numbers During GTWFSL's SY 2021-22 Speech Contest

After a hiatus in 2021, the GTWFSL Annual Speech Contest was once again conducted last May 10, 2022, but virtually.  Here are the two intermission numbers that some students and I prepared for the event.

GTWFSL Resurrection Sunday 2022 Special Number

In celebration of this year’s Resurrection Sunday, my GTWFSL fam and I made virtual covers of three meaningful songs that have themes relevant to the Holy Week.  Unlike last year’s Holy Week special numbers, in which three videos were spread out across three days, the three virtual covers for this year are put together into one Special Number video.

The first song is “Behold the Lamb (Communion Hymn)” by Keith & Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend.  As the title suggests, it’s a hymn that comprehensively examines the full picture of the communion, which Christ himself instituted for believers on the night before his crucifixion.  This is followed by “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” by Stuart Townend, a worship song that will evoke a personal and profound reflection on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.  Finally, wrapping everything up is “Christ Is Risen, He Is Risen Indeed” by Keith & Kristyn Getty and Ed Cash – a jubilant song about Christ’s resurrection, and how, as a result, we are compelled to worship and to share the Gospel boldly and joyfully, just as the disciples were after witnessing His resurrection.

Virtual Jam with My GTWFSL Fam Part 9

Our cover this time is "Fix My Eyes" by for KING & COUNTRY, a zestful and pithy pop-rock anthem that urges us to focus on Christ and his eternal things above all.  Two of my former students, two of my co-teachers, and all members of my current advisory class helped me with this one.

2021 Recap in Pictures

Memorable happenings of the past year...

Photo Biography Update (01-01-2022)

Some notable photos taken during the period of April 24, 2021 to January 1, 2022...

GTWFSL Virtual Christmas Caroling 2021

This was tougher and more challenging to make than the last time, but it also turned out being a lovelier and more rewarding production.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Virtual Jam with My GTWFSL Fam Part 8

I’m titling this post “Virtual Jam with My GTWFSL Fam” (nice rhyming going on there) instead of just “Virtual Jam with My Students”, since it wasn’t only my GTWFSL students (current and past) and I who collaborated on this project, but my co-teachers as well.

The song we covered this time is “By Faith” by Keith & Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend.  Based largely on Hebrews 11, this stirring modern hymn is meant, per Townend’s description, “[to chart] the role of faith throughout history, from the faith of the earliest Old Testament characters, which cause them to do extraordinary things, to the faith of the prophets who prophesied the coming of Christ, to the faith of the early church who went to the nations, to the call for us, too, to trust in the power of Christ in our own lives, and in the power of the gospel to bring people to Christ.”

Anime of Spring 2021, Ranked

Spring 2021 ended two months ago already.  But even though it’s now very late, I still decided to make my usual end-of-season rankings for its anime, especially since I failed to do a “first impressions” post.  Besides, this isn’t the first time I was this late with my seasonal ranking.  Lol.

Anyway, just like Winter 2021, Spring 2021 was an excellent and jam-packed season.  Sadly, I haven’t gotten around to watching some of the most popular titles of the season – namely Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro, Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song-, and Odd Taxi.  But I really want to catch up with them, especially the last two, which garnered “Anime of the Year” buzz.

But for those I got to watch, here’s how I ranked them from least to best.

Wonder Egg Priority

Note: This ranking concerns only the disappointing finale, the only part of the show that aired within Spring 2021.  Here is my review for the series as a whole. 

'Fruits Basket' Is a Melodrama Masterwork

I didn’t expect to love Fruits Basket.   A shojo about a homeless, orphaned, working-student teenage girl who meets and befriends a clan that’s cursed to temporarily turn into animals when weak, stressed, or embraced by the opposite sex isn’t exactly an instantly intriguing hook for me.  But I gave it a chance when it debuted two years ago, and the 63 episodes it brought about since then turned out being some of the most investing anime I saw during that span.  Wrapping up its run with its third and final season last Spring 2021, Fruits Basket has proven itself to be a melodrama anime masterpiece.

In ‘Record of Ragnarok’, Historical Figures Go Mano-a-Mano With Mythological Deities in One, Giant Tournament Arc

If Record of Ragnarok is to be described in a nutshell, it’s Mortal Kombat between historical figures and mythological deities to determine the fate of mankind – whether they will be allowed to go on existing or should be wiped out.  That’s a pretty cool premise, and if that doesn’t sell you on the show, I don’t know what will.