Floods and CDs

It was raining hard one Sunday morning. It could have been one ordinary rainy morning, except that flood was rising fast that moment. At 1:00am, it was just an ordinary outpouring of rain. But by 2am, water was already rising fast, first outside our house, but minutes later, it has already entered our sala, and a few moments later, it has entered our bedrooms! It has produced panic among us: we lifted mattresses, cabinets, pillows, everything! We had to stay in one room so that none of us gets isolated which could lead to accidents. It stayed like that for 3 hours.

When morning came, we surveyed the house and looked for things which got wet and which we can still save. I found old cassette tapes, VHS tapes, CDs and DVDs. I found my old copies of La Salle's championships: from 1998 to 2004! I also found old music compilations and family videos. I have forgotten about these things! I hope I can find time to watch and listen to these.

Events like rains and floods sometimes make us remember forgotten memories. Hopefully, I can still save these old copies so that I, together with my friends and family, can reminisce these memories.

Goodbye 2008.... Hello 2009!!!!

So it's that time of the year again hen we usually look back at the year that was 2008, and make new year's resolution for the coming year 2009. I certainly hope I can be faithful to my resolutions although I seriously doubt I can do them (hahaha!).

So here are the things I can be thankful for in 2008:

1. bought this new PC - faster than m good ol' 8-year old PC
2. celebrated our 2nd year anniversary - and still getting stronger!
3. finished my action research
4. found new friends in grace a., anne, ruthie, karen g., dee
5. strong friendships like france, judy, chini, alex, matess, rj, anthony, arvin
6. good health
7. very satisfying work

And here are my new year's resolution (tan-tanan-an!!!!):

1. pray more
2. get angry less
3. lose more weight
4. learn how to cook
5. study the German language (Sprechen Sie Deutsche?)
6. save more (for the wedding? )
7. clean my closet and throw away those stuffs I don't need

So hopefully, I'll be able to do these new year's resolution. Pray for me!

Finally!!!! A Masters Degree!!!!

Woohooo!!! I have finally submitted the CD copy of my research paper! That means that I only need to get the Approval Sheet from my mentor and department head, and I can submit my application to graduate! It only seems like yesterday when I decided to take up my master's degree so that I can prepare myself for a career shift from the corporate world to the academe. It as only a "test drive" for me, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. :-) And no, I have finished it!

So what's next? I hope to become a full-time faculty in San Beda. I have been teaching there for almost three years, and I cannot imagine myself teaching in another school. I hope also that through this, I can help my family more and save more for our wedding next ear (hopefully!). I'll also have to submit a cop of my CD to our college dean and to our coordinator.

I'm now excited to attend the graduation ceremony in June! What a great 2009 it will be!

Change has come in America

It was an historic night in America as Democratic candidate Barack Obama was elected to become the 44th and the first black President of the most powerful country on earth. It as a night of revelry, of euphoria, of pure delight. People, whether black or white, men or women, Latinos, African-Americans, Asians were hugging each other and celebrating a very special night. It was indeed a proud moment for the American people.

So now, what lies ahead? What are the implications of Obama's victory? I hope that change for the better will happen, not just for the US, but to the whole world. I hope the war in Iraq will soon be resolved, that terrorism will be minimized, if not eradicated, that peace will finally be achieved. Obama's charisma reminds me so much of JFK or even Abraham Lincoln. That being said, I pray that Obama will always be safe wherever he goes -- we cannot rule out a possible assassination attempt by some deranged racist or a bitter opponent's supporter.

Looking ahead, we can always be hopeful that change will start to come. The picture of people from different walks of life having a unified voice gives us the vision that even our own country can experience change and unity in the future.

Disney Comedy.... :-D

I had the chance to watch the Disney Silly Symphony by our org the Order of Scarlet Thespians (OST), the theater group of San Beda where I am moderator (yihee!). One thing that I can say is: Good Job!!!! I know the talent is already there... most of them, especially the "veterans" already have what it takes to perform onstage. There are still some inhibitions, though. There are instances when they could have shown more emotion, especially from the neophytes. In short, they still feel shy.

While watching, I was joking with Arvin, Biboy, and Toni (RENT alumni! hehehe) that I should have auditioned. They performed my favorite Disney song, Colors of the Wind, from Pocahontas. I should have sung that, joke! But of course, it was performed magnificently by my "children", hehehe.....

The adlibs were funny! We liked especially the Reflections performance! They really practiced the synchronized movements of the girl and her "reflection", ahahahaha!!!!

On the downside, the technical aspect needs to be improved. Lights need to be maximized, especially during instrumentals. Wearing a "theme" costume could have made some members of the audience appreciate the performances more, especially with those Disney songs that are not very familiar to them. And why were there no lapels??!! They were able to use some during the first day.

I was really pleased that they included Circle of Life and placed it in the finale. A fitting end to a wonderful show! Also, a tribute to one of the best Disney movies ever made, The Lion King. They had a strong start which caught the audience's attention. The part where the background chants were being sung concerned me because I thought they might not sustain the energy while singing. But it came out satisfactorily and I'm proud of them! By the way, I uploaded the Circle of Life version by the Madrigal Singers; of course, being Madz, their version is a lot better, but considering the youth and relative inexperience of my "children", their version is very satisfactorily done.

What Major is Best for You?

You scored as History/Anthropology/LiberalArts. You should strongly consider majoring (or minoring) in History, Anthropology, or related majors (e.g., African and African-American Studies, Chinese, Classics, Cultural Studies, Economics, English, French, Geography, German, Greek, Hebrew, International Studies, Philosophy, Sociology, Women's Studies, or other Liberal Arts majors).

It is possible that the best major for you is your 2nd, 3rd, or even 5th listed category, so be sure to consider ALL majors in your OTHER high scoring categories (below). You may score high in a category you didnt think you would--it is possible that a great major for you is something you once dismissed as not for you. The right major for you will be something 1) you love and enjoy and 2) are really great at it.

Consider adding a minor or double majoring to make yourself standout and to combine your interests. Please post your results in your myspace/blog/journal.

History/Anthropology/LiberalArts 100%
Mathematics/Statistics 94%
French/Spanish/OtherLanguage 81%
Biology/Chemistry/Geology 81%
Religion/Theology 81%
English/Journalism/Comm 75%
Physics/Engineering/Computer 75%
Psychology/Sociology 75%
Education/Counseling 63%
Visual&PerformingArts 63%
HR/BusinessManagement 50%
PoliticalScience/Philosophy 50%
Accounting/Finance/Marketing 44%
Nursing/AthleticTraining/Health 44%

WHAT MAJOR IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
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Faber Castell Art Exhibit

Well, we recently went to the art exhibit/contest sponsored by Faber Castell (sp?). The work of my friend Arvin was supposed to be displayed but unfortunately, he was not one of the finalists, and his work as not among those randomly selected from the non-finalists. So sad. And to think that we went there one, to see his magnificent work (you're my friend, so there. ;-)), and because of the free food! -- uh oh, no luck there either, as the cocktail food was already wiped out when we arrived.

Anyway, we saw some of the most beautiful art work done by today's artists. There were two categories: oil painting and water-based painting. I took pictures of some of the best pictures that I saw.

After the exhibit, we met some artists and art enthusiasts. We went out for dinner. We would have wanted to eat in some fast foods like Mc Donald's, but our new acquaintances invited us to a grill restaurant called J-Jay's (Chicken Inasal) in Macapagal Boulevard. I guess you can call it a bit of misadventure, because we were short of funds so we only had to order desserts (tee hee). Anyway, that's water under the bridge now. :-)

I'm Back!!!!!!

Hello!!!!I'm back again here!!! I concentrated on my other blogs, but no, I will TRY my best to post here. Well, what's new? It's sem break and it as just a good timing that my sister got operated on. She had her gall bladder removed. Lucky, because she had me and my sister as her assistants (er, slaves) and it as our sem break. So, we had all the time in the world to stay in the hospital to do... NOTHING!!!! As in we were just lying around, move only when the nurse or doctor arrives, or if she asks us to assist her. I'll try to upload photos of her gall stones.... it wasn't as yucky as I expected. It looks like that -- stone, or more like a jockfruit's seed. Hahaha!!!!

Asta La Vista, 2006!!!!

Well, what can I say about the year 2006? At the start of this year, all I was praying for was for me to have the courage to obey God's will. For years, I have been praying whether I should stay in company A or to leave and shift to another career. Through the guidance of friends, I was able to take that leap of faith. So starting January, I started to distribute my resumes to different schools. Interviews started left and right; rejections and considerations also started left and right. The adventure began.

Little did I know that God had more plans for me. During the course of my job hunting, Allan started to send me emails inquiring if I could send his friend's resume to our HR office. I willingly obliged and forwarded the resume to to our HR officer. But it didn't end there. Allan started to email greetings and short messages.. e even started to exchange pictures! Then came the time when he got my number and started calling/texting me. The rest. as they say, is history (see previous blog).

2006 has been a year where my faith in the Lord was tested. It has taught me that obedience really opens us up to God's blessings. It has made me realize that when you have the courage to explore things beyond your horizon, you will discover a lot of things about yourself and you will be able to do more good things which you never realized you are able to do. I was able to participate in a play, I was able to sing in concerts, and most of all, I was able to love people like I've never loved before.

At the beginning of this year, all I was expecting was for me to have a new career and mission in life. Now, as the year ends, God has given me more... a wonderful love, lots of new friends, and loads of new rich experiences and memories. To all of you who were responsible for these, THANK YOU!!!! I would like to welcome 2007 with the hope that more new experiences will come my way.