It has been

Mataas din ang expectation sa akin ng mga guro.

-      Sa buong buhay ko ng pag eeskwela (mula elementarya hanggang kolehiyo) dito lang ako nagkaroon ng kinatatakutang teacher. Hindi ko na maalala ang kanyang pangalan pero sya ang guro namin sa kasaysayan. Pagnarinig na namin ang yabag ng kanyang mga sapatos - sit straight, quiet at hanggat maari eh minimal lang ang paghinga haha. Nakakatawang balikan.

-      Sa Filipino, nalaman ko na meron palang 50 paraan para magreport ng paksa. Nung elementarya kasi magsusulat ka lang sa manila paper at ayun na. Grabe ang stage fright ko, nangangatog talaga ako sa harap ng klase. Pero ng lumaon, nasanay na din ako. Dito nahasa ang pagsasalita ko at pagiging artistic. Halos every week kasi magrereport ka at kasama sa grado ang visual aids. Pagandahan ng props.

-      Hindi ako marunong gumamit ng pentel pen at magsulat sa manila paper kaya lagi ako humihingi ng tulong sa kuya ko. Pero isang araw sabi nya, ikaw na gumawa nyan para matuto ka. At dahil nga doon natuto ako. Syempre noong una mukhang kayod ng manok pero ng lumaon eh naging legible naman. (kita nyo naman diba haha)

-      Isa sa pinaka gusto kong activity sa school ang labanan ng sabayang pagbigkas. Laging sumasali ang section namin at lagi ding talo. Kung merong section 1,2,3 and so on sa elementary; sa Ramon Magsaysay ang section mula sa pinakamataas ay Einstein, Edison, Amity, Benevolence, Bravery, Charity, Courage, Diligence, and so on hanggang letrang Z ata. Nasa Edison ako pero napakagaling ng Amity, Charity at Diligence.

-      Dumating ang panahon na kailangan na naming lumipat ng Cainta. Ang tirahan namin sa M. Dela Fuente ay balak irenovate ng may ari. Kinailangan ko din lumipat ng paaralan. Noong una, ayoko talaga pero nakakapagod. Gigising ako ng 5am para hindi malate. Lalabas ng 6pm sa school at makakarating sa bahay ng 12am or 1am sa sobrang traffic sa maynila at cubao. Sa sobrang pagod, di ko na nararamdaman ang takot sa mga multo. Minsan may magtataas ng unan ko sa ulo at minsan may nagdridrible ng bola. Hindi lang pala ako nakakarinig ng basketball pati Ate ko. Halos sabay kame lumuluwas ng maaga. Nagtratrabaho sya sa pager, ano na nga ba tawag doon, ah Easy Call. After nya maligo, tinanong nya ako kung ano ang nagdridrible ng bola. Ang style ng pagdridrible nila parang nang aasar pa – hihina lalakas, hihina lalakas. Pagnandyan ang mga multo, wala akong pakialam. Sabi ko lang sa kanila, TSE! magtakutan kayo dyan at matutulog ako at halos hindi ko na mamulat ang mga mata ko sa sobrang antok at pagod.

-      NOOOOO!!! Wala na ako sa MonSay, ang isa sa pinakamahusay na paaralan sa Maynila. Napunta ako sa Francisco P. Felix Memorial National High School, kung saan dalawang kanto lang ang layo sa aming bahay.

-       Akala ko magsisi ako na nagtransfer ako – ang sabi nila High School Life ang isa sa pinakamasayang yugto ng buhay – dito ko naranasan iyon. Marami akong naging kaibigan na hanggang ngayon kaibigan ko pa din. Bukod sa kanila, kasama ko din ang pinakamalapit kong pinsan – si Roma – na crush ng bayan at nahawaan ako ng kanyang pagiging popular sa school. Halos every week nagswiswimming kame kung saan saan, magkakasama nagmamall, nanonood ng sine, kumakain. Nakakapanibago dahil relax lang – hindi katulad sa MonSay na araw araw may quiz, assignments, exams, projects at lahat ng pahirap na maiisip mo. Dito, nagkaroon ako ng time na maenjoy ang kabataan ko.

-        AYOSS! Natanggap ako sa SoundStage, ang pinakauna kong trabaho. Syempre ayaw ng pamilya ko. Sabi nila – bakit kailangan mo pang magtrabaho, binibigay naman namin lahat. Pero matigas ang ulo ko at ako pa rin ang nasunod. Masaya lalo na noong natanggap si Ryan at Ethel ang dalawa sa aking bestfriend. Ako ay 16 palang noon at ang trabaho ay kunin at iserve ang order. Enjoy kasi nakakapanood ng libreng live bands. Naapreciate ko ang 80’s music. Na-adik ako sa Glady’s and the Boxers pag Tuesdays. WILD CATS naman pag Wednesday. Dito ko din nasubukan ang uminom, malasing at manigarilyo (at buti nalang hindi naging bisyo). Daming magagaling na banda at ang sarap makinig ng live music. After ng trabaho, sabay sabay sa gotohan o sa tapsihan. Kamusta na kaya sina Sir John, Tina, Mike ang mga kawork ko na close sa akin. At leche ang team leader na inassign ako maglinis ng restroom ng dalawang beses – dahil sa kanya kaya ako nagresign lol.

-      Dahil gabi at puyatan ang work, madami akong namiss na klase. Akala ko nga hindi na ako makakagraduate pero nakahabol pa din. Nung graduation day, ako lang mag isa. Ako lang ang walang magulang. Hindi ko alam kung nasa ibang bansa sila o hindi ko sinabi dahil gusto kong patunayan sa sarili ko na matanda na ako at kaya ko na yun mag isa. Pero nagkamali ako, sana nandoon sila. Napansin ata ng adviser ko na wala akong kasama – bumili sya ng bulaklak at sinabit sa akin (parang santo lang) – at nangilid ang aking mga luha.

-      It has been 10 years ng grumaduate ako sa AMA University. Dahil naranasan ko na ang pagod ng malayong pagbyahe (wala pang tren noon sa Marikina) pinili ko na mag aral sa malapit. At dahil Computer Science ang band wagon noon, sa AMA ako nag aral.

-      Nagustuhan ko naman ang programming. PASCAL ang unang programming language na dapat naming matutunan at si Vivian Torres ang naging guro ko. Una ko syang naging teacher sa computer basic at asar na asar ako sa kanya. Pero sa PASCAL iba sya, ang galling ng teacher na eto at nakaka-enganyo. Kung dito sa America eh sa online mo ma-access ang grades mo, sa AMA iba – index card. Magpapasa ka ng ¾ index card at guguhitan mo ng table na may label na quiz 1, quiz 2, quiz3, exam 1, exam 2, midterms, finals, etc. Sayang nawala ko na yung index card ko na balak ko sanang ipalaminate – 99.99% pa naman ang nakalagay (TSE lol) Si Miss Torres din kinuha kong thesis adviser at di ako nagkamali sa pagpili sa kanya.

-      ROTC ang pinakaaasaran kong subject. Nonsense. Bibiyahe kame ng villamor airbase para umupo at ibilad sa araw. Ilang beses ako bumagsak. Ilang beses din ako nagdonate ng dugo para mawala ang absences ko.

-      Lumabas noon ang Playstation at sa kagustuhan kong makabili, nagtrabaho ako sa Greenwich Pizza. Masyado akong nag enjoy sa trabaho at hindi alam ng mga magulang ko na hindi na pala ako pumapasok sa eskwela. Nawala ako sa President’s list dahil dito. Nagtataka si mama kung bakit ang tagal ko makagraduate – ang sabi ko – binago kasi yung curriculum kaya kailangan ko mag extend ng isa pang sem. Noong graduation – ska ko lang inamin na may isang buong sem ako binagsak. Hindi naman nagalit si Mama dahil nakagraduate naman ako. Ang sabi lang nya – Ikaw talaga!

-      It has been 7 years since I’ve been here in USA and working in the same company.

-      It has been 2 years of going to school so I can step up in the ladder and pursue my dreams.  

-      It has been almost 6 months of waiting

-      It will be 5.5 more months until I get my awaited 3-month vacation in the Philippines

-      It will be 2.5 more months until my birthday. 

-      It will be 2.5 more weeks before a new chapter in my life unfolds. Ang biruan nga naming dito sa work eh -  Ang Bahay ni Ate: Ang Teleserye ng Totoong Buhay (halaw sa Pinoy Big Brother). Ano kaya ang magiging title ng susunod na chapter ng buhay ko.

-      After 10, 20, 30 years? Ano ano kaya ang maidadagdag ko sa aking mga it has been?

-      Isa lang ang alam ko – ang palong palo at panalong sagot ni Miss Philippines-Universe 2012 Janine Tugonon – “just have a child-like faith and matured obedience and everything will go smooth”

Got my exams back and a note from the teacher...

(i may sound cocky on my blog today. forgive me. im just proud of what i've achieved after all the hard work huhuhu rofl)

Last week was our exam week for both History A and History B. Cors exam week is always stressful for me coz I have to study the whole day and night reading and researching.

History A - a week ago, our teacher announced that we'll have a quiz on Thursday. It will be based on that days lecture and it will be an essay. The class starts at 7:45am and ends at 9:15am. The professor started to lecture and I was kinda wondering what time that test will start. It was already 9am and i thought we are not gonna have the exams anymore when she said to prepare a blank sheet of paper. She gave us three choices and 5 MINUTES to write an essay pertaining to the question we chose. DAMN! 5 minutes o_O.

i chose number 2 question : Discuss life in English colonies by the 1760's and 1770's.
do i have time to think...OF COURSE NOT! lolz it takes me at least 2 hours to compose an intro. but with the time pressure, i just abruptly answered and just wrote whatever hahah

Result: Handed today, if you got a CHECK, it means you got perfect score, if you got a DASH, it means your essay is not sufficient, however if you get a CHECK and a PLUS mark, then it means you did better than perfect...(huh, made me think...is there any better than perfect? oh yeah there is PURRRRRRfect like a BIGCAT ahehe)

surprisingly i got a check and a plus mark (im not being cocky hahaha)

History B - essay questions were already given 1 week before the actual test. i originally chose number 1 which is about reconstruction period. then i realized, it is too complicated plus all those extra research and readings ugh!. so i decided to do number 3 which is about western expansion of the Union and how these changes affected Chinese Americans and Mexican Americans politically, socially and economically. Ms. Nava has graded our exams but she did not handed the blue books till the end of the class.

Result: I was kinda nervous, when i got my blue book and i thought i messed it up coz there was a note written on front page that says "RE: Read #3". i didnt know what it meant. did i just misinterpreted the question and all my answers were wrong. damnit! until i got to the last page and found this

(Excellent Work A+ 99, One of the best in class. May I have a copy?) whoa! w00t w00t w00t


Funny thing is, I composed this essay from 12nn to 10pm, I was so hungry and I was craving for QUICKLY's teriyaki chicken...so i hurriedly shut down my pc...which was a STUPID STUPID STUPID thing to do IF YOU DID NOT SAVE YOUR WORK! i almost wanted to cry coz 75% was lost. (whats wrong with the auto save feature? now i turned it on every 3 minutes or should not be using computer at all when doing your exams and projects..paper and pen is much better haha). The beauty of it, if you wrote something and understood, youll be able to rewrite it again...which i did while eating at quickly's but it didnt take me hours or an hour to recover the 75% loss. wohoo!

Note: You can prewrite your essay but when you come on the examination, everything should be in yer head. I think what happened was a blessing in disguise, coz rewriting the whole thing is like a practice exam.

oh btw, and Ms. Nava said, with her 15 years of academic teaching at Evergreen Valley College, our class was the first class that got bunches of A's. damn, a lot of smart asses ahaha....if thats the case then im glad that im a part of that class. im not saying im one of them (o_O :D) but at least im sorrounded with smart people and its kinda contagious...first midterms finish (xcept for math) so mi gander for a while...w00t w00t w00t!

Back to School

February 2, 2009 10:42am
Monday

- started the day early coz i have lots of things to do. i dont know how to balance my time between having two jobs and full time student. its been a long while since i've updated my Blog and Rudy, my friend, told me earlier to update. so, whats up with me? im BACK TO SCHOOL! this is our second week and im still excited. School system here in America is totally different where i attended school in the Philippines. As of now, im taking general subjects and hopefully pre requisites for ASN program.

- this are the books i carry to school everyday (most of them are used, i cant believe how expensive books are. they cost more than my tuition. haha)
History A
Professor Barley
7:45am - 9:15am

- this class is okay. i thought, id be sleepy at my first subject but surprisingly im mostly awake. is it because i just sipped my coffee or because...hahah nevermind.

Math 11R
Professor Bronson
9:20am - 10:40am

- i love math specially ALGEBRA but i wish i have a better professor. i cant understand what he is saying. I can hardly hear coz its either he whispers or mumbles. Good thing, the book is VERY THoROugh.

History B
Professor Nava
10:45am - 12:10pm

- most intimidating subject i have and i guess the most stressful and hectic. I like Miss Nava, she knows how to perk your senses most specially when you feel sleepy. she knows the subject very well and very opinionated with the current events. 3 major exams all essay. requires BOOK REVIEW, TERM PAPER and ORAL Presentation.

Book Review: America is in the Heart
She gave us choices which book to read, quickly i chosed America is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan. I wasnt sure if the author is Filipino until Ms. Nava said, it is a story about a filipino-american and his struggles here in America. She also remarked that this is one of her favorite novel.

TERM Paper: I chose, the Presidential Election. It's a MILESTONE! so i've started to collect clippings about Pres. Barack Obama

Reading Assignments for WEEK Two (Feb 3 and Feb 5)

History A - 87 pages
Math 11R - 90 pages
History B - 124 pages

Total of 301 pages, that i have to finish reading today.

Going back to school gave me an Excuse to buy a New Mac Book hah. I love the new mac book!

Xcited to Go to School!

So I've decided to go back to school and take Associates Degree in Nursing (haha joining the bandwagon am i) I attended nursing school in the Philippines for one year and unfortunately they cannot be credited here in the US coz of the number of units.

I already sent my foreign transcript to IERF for the equivalent USA grade. I just received an email from them yesterday and ill be receiving the completed evaluation in the next 3-4 weeks. Hopefully in time before Spring semester registration

I'll be attending one of our community college which is
and they have a good passing NCLEX rate compared to most school
Spring Semester Starts on January 26 and i really didnt expect it to start early hehe. I thought it starts on June like in the Philippines hehehe.oh well...but i really hope i get it and take my nursing pre-requisites. and hopefully all my classmates are friendly