writing calls

if there's anything that recent events have brought back is the passion for writing. it's the essential answer to why i blog. i blog because i have my narratives to weave. i blog because every waking second is an opportunity to scream to the world my gratitude for being alive and being able to experience another day on earth. i blog because there are stories of other people which have to be recorded. experience makes sense only if we allow it to make sense. thus, your narrative should seeks a point where it weaves with mine. if it hasn't, then there might still be other narratives needed to be woven for us to connect.

over the weekend, i have developed the first signs of a cold and that explains my impatience during the practices. then, it became clearer, the virus has chosen to target my throat. that is, of course, brought about by my recent fondness for cold drinks. last friday, i gobbled a melon drink and topped it with scrammble. that latter drink was so gooood. ice was crushed correctly, froth was enough, flavor and milk poweder matched but the killer was the sweetness, that syrupy witness! without any semblance of discipline, i could've bought the biggest for the second round. then, i was back to drinking cold water - a practice i stopped for the past years as my throat was so sensitive to the changes in the temperature.

so, habits have to be reverted.

yes, i am glad school will be over in about 30.240 minutes/504hours/21days/3weeks/3/4of a month/ yadah yadah yadah yadah....

consoling

how do you console someone whose talents and character are impeccable that she's always on the top two or three students trusted by teachers? seeing her in tears earlier was disturbing as i knew this was bound to happen. it was funny because the tears weren't tears of defeat but tears of there-were-just-so-many-things she had to do and literally, if she could divide herself, she might. ah, the challenge of the talented multitasker.

anyhow, after i put the thumbs down on what she wrote, that happened. what she did after was something i liked and admired. this was a show of humility. she asked her other talented pals to help her out with the writing while she attended another meeting. (i think any other student would have just kept it and not let others help).

so, the task was done in an hour and her other friends were very much encouraged to help her.

what did i learn from this? it's the humility to face the reality that if one cannot finish the task, there are others who can help. all one can do is to ask and humble oneself.

law of karma and the japanese tsunami

more than a week ago, japan was hit by an earthquake which was then followed by a tsunami in its hardest hit areas, sendai and fukushima.

what triggered the devastation, ie, totally devastating a city, is the tsunami. the waters torrentially went inland and flowed with its might. nothing stopped the salt water from finding its level. it just swept through every nook and the tiniest areas of the town.

in the videos, cars seemed so light as the waters carried a fleet of cars and piled them on top of each other, houses floated and crashed, creating mountains of debris. i thought of whether people were saved or were they in their cars. what were they thinking at the point when at first, their cars floated and eventually, got swallowed into the whirpools or the rising waters.

this evening, over the radio, a resource person mentioned that he read somewhere that this event was payback time. it was karma for the japanese who are the number one murderers of whales and dolphins. the tsunami was the way of the creatures' revenge.

so, this made me think that perhaps, there might be wisdom in this. after all, it is a fact that the japanese have killed tons of whales and dolphins despite the protests of the world. now, whales and dolphins are the oceans' healers and perhaps, higher forms of beings. in the bible, jonah was swallowed by a whale but got out unscathed. there are other myths that tell of lessons of humanity's experience with such creatures.

well, whatever we call it, whether it is a mere natural phenomenon or nature's wrath, at least, the japanese are now turning to prayer and its traditions as in this article from usa today.

all we need is to generate as much positive energy to help heal the environment and we should start with prayers.

di ko na 'to ma-take!

nakakastress ito!

si utoy si boylet ni mara. si amante, hihiwalayan na ni elvira. si gary at cristina, galit na galit sa isa't isa. nagpapacute na sila utoy and mara! grabe.

ay eto ang stressful - the actors like bobby andrews and cherrylou are playing parent roles! grabe. they're just my age. bobby andrews never grows old, though.

on a happy note: commercial loads are different now for the baker king and mara clara. ay, kakastress din si jacob and si eula.

stressful pa! five days lang ako di nanuod - nabaril na si george wong! eh, si freddie webb lang ang gusto kong panoorin. ayun. still choppy editing, sequences are too short as they're too chopped up.

on a happier note - the wooden acting of machete is ending this week. one of the network's failed soaps, this was. viewers want escapist stuff - the usual drama or shallow comedy. i like regine in iheart you pare! machete is too contrite.

vivian velez is back! yipee. gina pareno is also such a good actress. bata pa ako i've always loved her movies.


waiting for updates? click here.

this blog is being tracked. someone's retwitting, someone's linking. someone has linked anonymously (or so they think). someone is wasting time.

print, show and tell time again?

pray for forgiveness and healing instead of starting senseless issues and creating situations to seek sympathy and attention.

history and literature tell us: this too will pass - ozymandias (allusion from egyptian king ramses)

relief and recovery

i came from the wake of my student today. i cried a bit but seeing the people in the chapel, i felt the family was much loved by people who have crossed paths with them. it was a relief to have seen that. yes, there she was in the bronze urn. peaceful. untimely, but she is free from the mundane world. i'm glad she lived a life of happiness while i am left with having to deal with the trivial...

dear reader: thank you for dropping by. i'm sure you're reading this because you're waiting for --

* deleted * you're too late. i decided not to share what i wrote earlier. rather, it would help if you read:

dear god, thank you for giving me the gift to write, for knowing when to hold my tongue, and for discerning immediately. please grant the readers with wisdom that blogs should be respected and further, help them understand the message of what i have written. help the readers use their time praying rather than looking for further topics they can retweet, reblog, and converse.

it's not that it matters to me but i feel their negative energy is adding to mother earth's uneasiness. please lead the undiscerning to the right path, to apologize when needed, and to not start arguments. do grant the rude and disrespectful with enlightenment that they should change their ways now. please bless the dear reader with patience for he/she might be disappointed in not finding an entry that can be printed out and shown to colleagues.

amen.













































scrolling down? stop. what you're looking for is here.

this what we need now.

soap opera watching again

i only started to watch mara clara a week ago. this abs-cbn soap opera got my attention only because my students were watching it and my co-teachers seemed to be into it as well. so, i caught the episode whereby mara and clara got kidnapped.

so, what makes it work? abs-cbn once again has hit a goldmine because the dialogue is witty and natural. it's also quite honest in a sense that the characters articulate thoughts that the viewers might actually be thinking. i am hoping that abs-cbn will do a very good ending to this. over the years, my experience in watching soaps from abs-cbn has led to the disappointment in how they end it.

now, over at abc5 there is another remake, babaeng hampaslupa. now, i started watching this because a batchmate repeated some of its lines and she was so into it. i've realized why i can't seem to really get into it. babaeng hampaslupa suffers from choppy editing. because there are too many characters and big stars, sequences are cut into scenes involving each one. this, sadly, has resulted to short scenes whereby these characters and actors are not given a highlight at all. then, there are stereotypes far worse than mara clara.

mara clara works because most of the actors are new and not exactly good looking except for bobby andrews and desiree del valle, among others. babaeng hampaslupa has all the big stars from susan roces to alice dixson so this must be tough for the director because of the pressure to make sure all the stars get ample exposure.

it is still infuriating

hmmmm... i'm slowly withdrawing from socializing with the people i'm working with. i hope no one notices as i've been eating alone and hibernating in the library these past few days and just yesterday, i had to speak up over having activities that will take away checking time.

it is such a pretense that teachers advocate the no cramming policy yet looking at it closely, it is indeed how people live. so, if you're cramming, do your best.

case in point, after the SY is over, i am going to put up a photo with a note saying how the test items for my subject were very good. of course, we did it together (i don't work alone) and i won't claim sole credit for any periodical exam that my year level has administered. of course, my elective class is mine and mine alone. all exams are original.

back to the point, as usual, that exam was submitted a day after the deadline and that was my fault. since i've been having a hard time exorcising my internal demon of being late, i've become conscious of the quality of work tha goes with it. the least one can do with alte submission is to show that work was put into it.

what's infuriating? oh, i just saw a reposting in one of my homeroom students taken from a tmblr account of how great that ---- (understatement) is as a teacher by coming in costume, charming his way into students. mali po ang costume niya, btw.

i wonder how they'd react if they find out the truth that he tremendously lacks good manners and right conduct towards older women faculty. yes, i'm the latest victim so i have all the right to rant. he had to reason and are there moves for an apology? hahha. none.

to quote a commercial: ang tunay na lalaki, hindi nagsusuot ng skinny jeans... ang tunay na lalaki walang pambili ng skinny jeans.

but then again, ang tunay na lalaki, nagsosorry.

it was time to say goodbye

when asked why i had decided to leave, i said it was like adam and eve taking a bite of the forbidden fruit. the thing is, not only did i taste one fruit, i now have a basket of fruits and i can't wait for the next basket.

hmmmm... okay. i'm not a good role model and i don't want to be. perhaps for manners and keeping cool, i'm good. har.