My Personal Journey to the Stars Entitled, "Starry Road"

     When did my journey to the stars begin? I don’t know, nor am I cognizant of where or how did it exactly happen. It’s exactly the same way that from one minute to another I shifted from one parallel universe to another, bringing nothing but my thirst for more knowledge regarding astronomy. I don’t know whether I should be grateful of this transition because believe me when I say that my life is harder this time when I am trying to elucidate and give explanation to the various enigmas of the universe than my pretty straightforward life before where I am just singing to the beat of the music until dawn breaks its way through the darkness and I will finally succumb to sleep. Even though my life before I ventured the intriguing world of astronomy was way uncomplicated, I never regretted anything about this. Will I ever been given the chance to return to my previous world where I am passionate about music, I will never do it. Going after music is easier and could let me earn a lot more money than pursuing astronomy, but I chose to go after the road less taken because astronomy is more fulfilling and it is my real passion, which is something that is undeniable.

     Since I have no vestige knowledge of how my passion for astronomy came to existence, I’ll just probably reminisce the day when I first saw the wonders of astronomy came to play right before my eyes.

     I remember that day lucidly. It is that documentation about the universe in Discovery Channel that had captivated my eyes for astronomy when they showed the diverse aspects of astronomy such as the way galaxies interact with one another which produced the most eccentric objects in the universe from the bizarre looking galaxy directly translated by the world renowned Disney character tinker bell and the rose shaped galaxy Arp 273, some peculiar asteroids containing worlds of their own which seem to deny the laws of nature by having their own moon like Ida and its moon Dactyl, and the most phenomenal thing? I finally have a glimpse of the universe even though the land I am stepping at is separated with space by thousands of kilometers.

     Truth be told, I love astronomy not because of these jewels but of a greater course. The mysteries of astronomy are just so baffling to the point that it left me breathless waiting for more. In astronomy, there are more questions than answers that gradually, all of the queries I have accumulated at the back of my mind detonated which paves way for me to seek answers on my own. However, I am mistaken, because the more I learned about the universe the more everything seems to be inexplicable. I perceptibly grasped the concept that astronomy has always and will always be a mystery. I mean if we could fancily explain the nature of dark matter and dark energy why is there still a reason for astronomy to exist? Even though most people will just stay on stargazing and astrophotography, most of the instance, questions are surfacing that we have no conscious knowledge of. So I decided that it’s about time for me to probe in the world of astronomy so that my questions in astronomy will finally have an explanations.

     As you probably know, my heart didn’t belong to astronomy first. I am a musician and so is my family. My father finished his degree in engineering from the top university here in the Philippines and can speak in eloquent Chinese. I followed the footsteps of my parents in music because mainly, I don’t want to be a disgrace to my family not because I am passionately inclined to it. The result is, it didn’t end well. During that time, I am just like the solitary proof of a living ghost, those who drifts around without knowing where to go next and those who doesn’t know their purpose in there. Eventually, I grew tired of my life that I decided it’s time for me to change so I told my parents about it. My parents weren’t thrilled with the fact that I decided to quit music for nothing. I understand them, with the way on how they gauge their reaction because of course they are a musician and for them, music is everything but unfortunately, that is not the case for everyone. We all have our own separate lives, and your purpose in life doesn’t necessarily mean it's someone else’s purpose. My revelation resulted in a long lasting feud between me and my parents although it became less severe as the passing days. Since I know that my family will not be cooperative of my journey towards astronomy, I resolved to walk on the road less taken and here am I right now – striving my best to motivate other aspiring astronauts and astronomers like me to never give up on their dreams, no matter how impossible it might be.

     I first started my journey to the stars on my training ground – my institution. I strive to achieve a really exceptional grades in science, math, and English so that I could join off campus competitions in science which could give a colossal boost to my career in astronomy in the future. Hard works do payed off because after some time, I managed to get a gold medal in a science competition for our batch in a science quiz bee. This is just the start of it.

     I realized that joining in science quiz bees and sweeping gold medals are not enough for me to be an astronaut in the future so I decided now to join local amateur astronomy groups in my community. 

     I first incorporated myself with the "Astronomical League of the Philippines," wherein at the age of 13, I managed to be the first amateur astronomer accepted ever since in their history which immediately grant me an appreciable fame on the astronomical communities in the Philippines. In ALP, we focus more on the practical side of astronomy such as the telescope operations and astrophotographies that is why I was able to know the positioning of the basic planets and I was able to name a few stars on the night sky. 

     Since my science grades are pretty remarkable on my institution, I was given the chance to compete on some of the local astronomy quiz bees such as the UP Astronomical Society's Big Bang and Philippine Astronomical Society's quiz bee. I was able to garner 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal on two consecutive years of competing in these quiz bees,

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      I then joined the Philippine Astronomical Society which is the largest astronomical community in the Philippines. In PAS, we propel the astronomical education on the Philippines towards the success of the Filipino youths. Also in last year, I became a full-fledged member of the Astronomers Without Borders wherein we have a theme of "One sky, one people." 

     Due to my flourishing astronomical achievements here in the Philippines, the Philippine Journal of Astronomy (Vol 7 No 1) interviewed me with the theme of "Of Stars, Searches and Suitabilities."
Link of my interview is published here http://www.astroleaguephils.org/pja_mar2015.pdf

     At the onset of 2016, I was nominated by the Eduzine Global for the ACE (Achieve, Celebrate, and Educate) Young Achievers Award, which is a competition featuring the top 50 young achievers across the globe with the aim of "one better world." Albeit I didn't earn my way to emerge as the Champion, I am a finalist (top 8) of the said competition which I am wholeheartedly grateful for already. This is probably the toughest competition I've participated to ever since. The second thing I'm grateful of, I've been given the chance to be an Eduzine Global Young Ambassador where I am to promote the good values of Eduzine.
Article of my submitted story in Eduzine http://www.eduzineglobal.com/162/854/sobinas-universal-appeal Article of my nomination http://www.eduzineglobal.com/70/865/eduzine-global-young-achiever-awards-2016 Article of me being a finalist http://www.eduzineglobal.com/70/871/and-the-winner-is

     When I've initially joined the Twitter community, what I immediately realize is that I am not the only aspiring astronauts/astronomers in the world. I am 15 years old now when I decided to create an organization which supports and promotes aspiring astronauts and astronomers nationwide by sharing their stories and the product is no other than the Cosmic Wonderer and you are currently at the official website of the said organization if ever you are reading this.

     I joined the Mars Generation to be a Student Space Ambassador only these past couple of days in which we are building a stronger tomorrow by exciting our youth today about STEM and space.

     Looking back at the days when I've first started out my career in astronomy, I am bewildered that for once, I was able to achieve something significant even though it is just minuscule. Every time I'm thinking of my achievements, it is not the number of medals that is usually giving me an atmosphere of complacence and tranquil but it is the fact that I am able to inspire other kids in my community to go after their dreams no matter how insurmountable it might seem.

     Dawn is about to settle in and the moon is making its final descent across the sky. As I view this choreographic movements of the cosmos, I lay pondering below the dim glow of the moonlight why or how I even came not to only love, but to be able to live the life of studying astronomy. I am now enlightened that everyone is innately ardent in astronomy because it is instilled in us the moment we came into existence because we are made up of star stuffs. The reason why other people ended up having a life outside of astronomy is that star stuffs will manifest its image in a lot of ways and most often or not, human desires will overcome the unconscious side of the universe. However, I am not totally convinced of this revelation.

     I love astronomy because I just love it. If you really love someone you will not ask "why" or demand reasons why is that so in the very first place. The day we realize that we truly love something or someone, we will acknowledge that words are not capable of explaining such feelings so complex that even though thousands of passages are written about it nothing will ever came across to explaining the right context about it.

    If I am to disclose the reasons why I love astronomy, maybe it's the fact that I learned how to be contented because I learned that the even though the day will come that everything about me will dissipate, the stars will be there - still - to witness my life and death so I am not totally unattended. Likewise, Astronomy has taught me a lot of life lessons which include to be humble all of the time because as much as we want too, we will never be capable of reaching the stars physically. In addition, Astronomy has always intrigue my curiosity in a way no other fields of study is capable of and what is the meaning of life but not to wonder and wander which is two simultaneously different things. With this, I labeled my personal journey to the stars as the "Starry Road" because I know that I will be always guided by the stars along the way.