Congratulations to the VPAC and the CoSC for working hard yesterday for the initial rehearsals for the july 16 event. Congratulations for your commitment and passion kept me amazed this weekend. i hope that it will continue to “eternity”. we are dreaming to finally set a college spirit in CICT to make our stay in the university as exciting as we want it to be. it doesn’t matter even if OTHER colleges don’t want to build this college spirit thing, but we are dam serious about it. it’s a good thing we are starting to see the fruits of the CoSC’s labor to engage students. we have proven that thru the establishment of VPAC and PSITE. hoping for more students to step-up and CHANGE THE WORLD into a better place!

KUDOS CICT STUDENTS! KEEP IT UP! The spotlight is starting to focus on US! THINK. CREATE. INNOVATE!

DON’T STOP BELIEVEING! here’s a song from GLEE.

For the first time in three years, i did not feel any excitement with class openings. Before, i used to be the most excited person in planet Earth for classes to begin; now, i’m one of the most resilient to pray for the delaying of school opening for another month! The Congress should consider for a three month vacation period for teachers, (with pay) hehehehe!

Talking about classrooms, the perennial problem on exaggeratedly overheated lecture rooms have started us to think of killing each other for a more comfortable one. There is no greater Love than to lay down your life in exchange of a heavenly air-conditioned classroom, or at least a tree. So here are choices: (1) a classroom turned oven on a sunny day; or (2) a classroom turned grinding machine on rainy days. Choose one. Please don’t leave without an answer, or start looking for another job.

So what is this all about?

The thing is, I’M NOT YET READY.

C’mon, any chances of escaping into the beach for at least an hour? Every hardworking man deserves a break.

[Written shortly before Ninoy was gunned down at the Manila International Airport on Aug. 21, 1983. This is now making the rounds online, and was also made into a song by a local artist.]

My Dearest Cory,

In a few hours I shall be embarking on an uncertain fate, which may well be the end of a long struggle. I slept well last night for the first time since I left Boston — maybe because I’m just plain tired or I’m really at peace with myself. I want to tell you many things but time is running out and I do not have any machine. After a few more paragraphs, my penmanship will be illegible.

All the things I want to tell you may be capsulized in one line – - I love you! You’ve stood by me in my most trying moments and there were times I was very hard on you. But if anyone will ever understand me, it is you, and I know you will always find it in your heart to forgive — and unfair and ironic as it is — it is because of this thought and belief that I often took you for granted.

Early on I knew I was not meant to make money — so I won’t be able to leave anything to the children. I did what I thought I could do best, which is public service, and I hope our people in time will appreciate my sacrifices. This would be my legacy to the children. I may not bequeath them material wealth but I leave them a tradition which can be priceless.

I realize I’ve been very stingy with praise and appreciation for all your efforts — but though unsaid — you know that as far I’m concerned, you are the best. That’s why we’ve lasted this long. There will only be one thing in the world I will never accept — that you love me more than I love you — because my love for you though unarticulated will never be equaled.

If all goes well I should be back in my cell before sundown. Should I be detained do not rush to get home. Take your time and enjoy a side trip to Europe with the girls.

I’ll try to call you tonight if the authorities will allow me. Otherwise just remember me in your dreams.

Love,
Ninoy

P.S. I offered a special rosary for Papa and I asked for his intercession. You know he never failed me. (Ninoy here is referring to Cory’s father, Jose Cojuangco, who died on August 21, 1976)

it has been quite a while since the last post. this is because yours truly is currently experiencing the incurable workaholism that has been creating chaos in my social and personal realms (nevertheless, the spiritual side is getting a healthy dose of church attendance consistently for five weeks now).

many things happened during the last five weeks. the unplanned travel back to my hometown tarlac to attend to a family funeral, the preparations for the midterm exams alongside the preparations for the college acquaintance party, juggling up also family matters and interim fatherly role, everything has just got twisted that i finally retired from the human race for 48 hours (to get enough sleep, and some time alone,hehehehe!).

congratulations to the cict college student council for a job well done. almost every single student enjoyed the event held at the la vista inland resort  (well, i said “almost” because there will always be “those” people who would always be very hard to please, or have shut up their appreciation senses so that whatever you do for them to make the event exciting,  you would just end up frustrated!) way to go to faculty members of cict and the very supportive and understanding dean engr. aida t. solomon, whom had protected us from the friday wrath that could have arisen because of the council’s forgetfulness to supposedly important things. salamat at na-plantsa naman, hahahahayy… (hahahahaha!!!)

as for me, i envied everyone for honestly, i did not had the opportunity to enjoy the acquaintance. sometimes, being part of the organizing committee really sucks!!! you tire yourself to the bone, and when you collapse physically (and hmmmm emotionally…), you’ve got nothing to do but to go home and sleep (well, as for me, hahahha!!!) after the Battle of the band event, pufff! i was suddenly gone to the sight of everyone in the resort! hahahaha!!! i went home immediately because of over-fatigue  and well, “umapaw na ang salop, kaya dapat nang kalusin” (thank you fpj!)

got to go! i’m just stealing time with my rest period. just came back from afternoon church at Balanga baptist church (the church of mam bangco) near PWU. i’m so glad i’m going back to church. God was, is, and will forever be faithful! (guilty ako, wala akong silbi sa church…)

don't wait to tell them how much you love them...

A Time for Everything

¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

Ecclesiastes 3

i am guilty, for i did not include him in my prayers…

this is the first time. and i think i don’t want to have a second time. it was 12 noon of Friday, July 3, 2009, when i received a text from my sister. our grandfather has just died…

it has been a long time since we’ve met him. probably three or four years since the last time we saw him. he was strong back then, though old, he can still till the land that they have rented for so many years to raise their family, including my mom. he has been one of the discriminated farmers back in tarlac, tilling someone else’s land, and getting a small share out of doing all the work from cultivating the soil to getting the palays in sacks.

he was a strong person, never yielding to poverty, nor feeling its predetermined effect to the working class. he has spent the rest of his life tilling land and supporting his children and grandchildren.

at his deathbed, he had only wish for his children to be beside him before his last breath. it never happened. i am guilty of not even being able to help him get through with what he had wished for, for the last time. i am guilty for not being able to give back what most of his children failed to give back to him. i am guilty for during my triumphs and victories, he never saw me go on stage and receive my recognitions. i am guilty for not giving them time to enjoy their moment with their first grandchild.  i am guilty for not being able to show him that i love him the way i love my other grandfather. i am guilty, for i did not include him in my prayers… and ultimately, i am guilty for i never made him feel that i value him as my grandfather…

eventually and inevitably, we will lost a loved one. little by little, as time goes by. i always tell other people that we don’t have to wait for our loved one to die before we can tell them how much we loved them. now, my words are bouncing back at me…

to my grandfather, who have showed to me that the most important thing in this world is not possessing wealth but having your family around, we will see you soon and you will always be part of our prayers..

Everything I Own lyrics

You sheltered me from harm, kept me warm, kept me warm
You gave my life to me, set me free, set me free
The finest years I ever knew, were all the years I had with you
Chorus:
I would give anything I own, give up my life, my heart, my home
I would give everything I own, just to have you back again
You taught me how to laugh, what it solved, what it solved
You never said too much, but still you showed the way
And I knew from watching you
Nobody else could ever know, the part of me that can’t let go
(chorus)
Is there someone you know, you’re loving them so
But taking them all for granted
You may lose them one day, someone takes them away
And they don’t hear the words you long to say
(chorus)
Just to touch you once again

at edlyn’s dad wake at saint peter last night, funny and crazy stories during our colege were told. tital mel and edz, amazingly, clearly remember every single detail of the story they shared; contrary to them, I CANT REMEMBER THE STORIES THEY TOLD, so i just ended up listening at laughing with them. it was a realization that after almost three years, i found out that i indeed missed to participate in the crazy antics of my classmates during college.

i was the busy bee in my batch during college, balancing academics and a long list of extracurriculars (ehem) – - –  like being the student council president, writing for the student publication, working for my course organazation, attending seminars and contests outside bataan… it was always a hectic schedule, and then it was already graduation, which gradually shutted me down from busy school and org work.

we want home at past 11pm with good memories renewed. aside from that, even at eds’ dad wake, she showed a very strong woman (as what we’ve always known her!). ican see in her the acceptance and being strong despite of her dad returning too soon to our Creator…

1 Message Received

30-June-09 2:54 PM

From: Edlyn Fabian

Wla n c tatay.

yesterday, i received a text from my friend edz (edlyn fabian). the text message read “wala na si tatay”….

i never met eds’ dad but the text messge gave me that feeling of having lost someone (probably because of  my friendship with eds).

edz’s father had been suffering from lung cancer for quite a time. he was gone too soon.

i never experienced death in my family (at least on the first degree). yeah, there were deaths from relatives but not within my first degree family members. although a few years ago, four of my family members could have dieid in a tragic vehicular accident that left lifetime scar (literally) to my parents. the could have died. but Thank God He has been so gracious to us.

i never know how it feels like experiencing death in the family. and i think i would never want to. i know death is inevitable  and sooner or later, each of us will be facing that.

my condolences to eds and her family….

who says there is no hope for writers to bud in cict? we will prove them wrong.

first, kudos to all my students in English 106 for coming up with great initial posts in their blogsites! last sunday’s blog reading was a great relief:  i had a great feeling that the disastrous semester the movie part 2 will not happen again.

entries are good but most of my student bloggers have this little problem in color combination and font choice and font colors. so this morning, i ended up giving them a crash course on typography and color principle (hehehehe! ehem!). well, comsci students have valid excuse for totally disregarding readability guidelines on the web, but for InfoTech?! that would be a very unacceptable offense (ok fine they are still sophomore, reason accepted…)

nevertheless, this semester could probably be a great one (i am still keeping my fingers crossed though) considering the vast and enormous potentials of these students on writing. i hope and i pray that this semester will be the signal for me to finally push through with my essay anthology of cict stduents! hehehehe! who can tell, the future de quiros or future nick joaquin could just be roaming around the corner…

i think these blog thing works! thanks for technology; it could have have been much harder.

a teacher's life could be disastrous sometimes...

this semester would probably mean disaster (again!).

for the nth time, I’ve been pushing myself to keep up with all my commitments. guess what, i am personally declaring excommunication from the social world.

paper works and school have been crunching much of my personal time (to the point of ignoring friends’ invitations for a night out, absence from a baby christening, a cuddle with our youngest, and keeping up with the latest from friends up there in tarlac, not to mention having a romantic life at all (awwww! how pitiful!).

paper works seem endless. the life of a teacher could be boring sometimes. i just hope someone could invent a robot who can do the checking and the reading for us!

and the most disastrous of all, night outs have been very impossible to attend to, no STF sessions, no DFS walks, no Razz! and papers keep on coming on the days ahead!

one more month and i think I’ll end up down south!