my lil bookworm

Well, for sure she will get angry when she sees this, but look at her.. She just loves to read. I think at this time, she was reading a comics about Tinkerbell.

Anybody who would want to surprise her on special occasions, just grab a Tinkerbell, or a Princess mag in a magazine stand, that will do the trick! She will be so happy and enthralled!

sweetness :-)

This picture was drawn by my daughter a few days ago. She loves to draw, and that is one medium where she assures me that she loves me. She has been doing this ever since.... Soo sweet of her.

never too late

Since I started working and earning my own money, I never entertained the idea of going back to school again to take up higher studies. There was a point when I did go back, but I stopped just the same. I got married at 29 and the more that I detest such an idea. I was more engrossed with raising my own family, saving for the future and pondered much on how can I get to bear a child. When I got pregnant three years after, motherhood became a priority and despite the clamor of my colleagues to pursue my higher studies, I just snobbed them. I told them my satisfaction of being a teacher I.

Then, an opportunity came along in 2010--- something that was hard to resist. A scholarship was being offered by the Civil Service Commission to all government employees and the best part of the offer was, the status of the a qualified grantee would be "study on official time", which meant, he doesn't need to go to work while under contract with the CSC. This was the most tempting part!

When I got all the necessary information from our administrative officer, I called my husband in his office (also a government office), and told him of my intention to try it out. He said he wanted it too.

So off we went, and processed all the needed documents to be able to qualify for the competitive exam on March 28, 2010 in San Fernando, La Union. We had, like a month to prepare for the test and we did review together. I must admit, we pushed it really hard. This was something that I had to be serious about particularly in Math. The examination covered Management, English, Math, Constitution, and a lot of RAs. I was just grateful that I had 3 semesters in UP Baguio on a Management course.

Then the big day came. Looking back, there were a lot of adversities along the way which made me think- Oh my something's tryin' to block us off. Imagine, the car wouldn't start, then when it did, the car air- con failed! But still we went on and took the exam, the most difficult exam I ever had-- probably next to UPCAT.

Three months after, to our surprise,  our names were on the CSC Website. Oh, I cried. Both of us passing that exam was a such a blessing. However, that was just 50% of the exam; we still had to undergo the panel interview in San Fernando, La Union in October. And so we did. But it wasn't as easy as that. There was a typhoon at that time, and the entire Dagupan was flooded. So we were thinking: Should we head off? Yes, we did.

DURING MY ORAL DEFENSE UNDER DR. SICAT'S CLASS @ TSU

It was my husband who was interviewed first and it was an agony to be waiting for my turn. I just wanted this to end because it was really killing me. My turn came and thank God, I think I did pretty good.

When letters came informing us that my husband and I made it, I was just so happy! To be honest, what really made me happy was the fact that I can get to take care of my daughter for the next two years and be a full-fledged wife to my husband.  I was really excited. What was more surprising was that, the desire to go back to school was on at me again; well, never too late I guess..
 

Mass Media- What Have You Done?

I had an ordinary childhood. Most of the time, I spent it with my friends in our neighborhood playing piko, hide and seek and football to name a few. Come night time, my siblings and I were glued in front of the tv watching cartoons like Voltes V, Daimos, Astroboy and others, But there is one vivid detail that I will never forget and that is, all those tv programs that we watched were spoken in English.  News on tv was said in English, and imagine, anybody can understand it regardless of his educational status!

The people I knew when I was a little girl were so adept in speaking the language. They were not native speakers mind you, and they occasionally used it but, oh boy, when they speak, it was with such an ease! I suddenly remember my grandfather. When the balikbayans would come over and visit our family, he would impress them by conversing with them in English.

As I grew older, I became so engrossed with Macgyver, Airwolf and Knight Rider, then eventually, with Doggie Howser  M.D. and Beverly Hills 90210. I still remember that the first Princess Sarah, the cartoon, was spoken in English! So you see, any kid at that time who loved her character will be forced to learn English to understand her story. It was a good motivation.

Gradually, networks started tagalizing cartoons and soap operas became so popular; before we knew it, the primetime slot was flocked with soap operas of different genres and the English TV programs were moved to cable channels. Take note, not everyone can have access to cable channels and so, the masa are left without a choice.  They now have a lesser exposure of the English language.

Could this be one major reason why English fluency is slowly deteriorating among our student populace?

Where is the Writer in Me?

In 1998, I was asked to teach Creative Writing to a bunch of fourth year kids in Ednas School Dagupan. I knew  I had no inkling in writing, but I accepted the challenge. I thought, hey this could be a learning experience for me!

And so the ordeal started when I was asked to make a syllabus. Whew, it was just good that my board mate was a graduate of Creative Writing  in UP, and that was how I pretty much started. She handed me a prospectus on Creative Writing and gathered all the books that I needed. And lo and behold, I was able to finish it in a jiffy.

But the problem did not end there- teaching it was the most difficult part in the process. As days passed, to my disbelief, I started loving the subject. I discovered that I could be one hell of a writer too. What really inspired me was the article  written by Salvador P. Lopez entitled "The Making of a Writer."  He said "Good writers are not born; they are made." As a result, I became the coach of feature writing during press conferences (inside ESD and outside jeje), and out of my four- year stay in Dagupan City, one emerged as a national winner. What could be more gratifying than this? 

It also provided me an extra income because other schools would come to me for speech making and other writing tutorials. So for the whole time that I stayed in ESD, that subject was not taken away from me.

Eventually, I became interested on pursuing my MA in the year 2001. So, I together with a friend, went to UP Baguio to take up Master of Management. This experience exposed me to another kind of writing- a more formal and business type like, of which I was not familiar of. The first paper that I submitted was graded 2.25, and I was so broken-hearted! I poured my heart out to my late brother- Jeffrey (a graduate of MBA at ADMU- Rockwell) and taught me the secret of Management Case Studies--SPADE! After that, the next paper that I submitted was already a 1.0, and the rest was history......

Those were the days. They were like ten years ago, and I hadn't done so much writing since 2004. When I browsed all my articles before especially those that I submitted in UP, I would ask myself- DID I REALLY DO ALL THESE? Before, it will only take me a day or two  to finish one case study, but now, having a case study is one major problem. This realization made so much impact on me last Saturday when we had our midterms in Discourse Analysis. I had difficulty starting a composition. It was like a point blank and I didn't know where to start. I couldn't even answer directly on the bond paper because I wasn't confident with my first set of answers. I got scared. This is really something to be worried about considering that I have a grade requirement to meet and a contract to fulfill.

When my husband and I were heading home that day, I told myself  I have to bring back the writer in me again. What ever the cost, I am determined to relive it and rediscover that part of myself-- one more time.