My Socially Constructed Reality

Today is my birthday. And my mom handed me a copy of the FORECAST FOR SEPT. 2007 TO SEPT. 2008. I find it so interesting. I can feel that it's going to happen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Work takes on definite shape this year, and you can see resu lts from your efforts, or at least foresee success down the road... ... this is a good year for teaching and writing. You present your ideas with authority, aiding you on a professional level. . . . . . travel, particularly work-related, may be in the offing. Relationships with younger people may be especially rewarding. You are likely to enjoy less mental "clutter" and a more organized approach to life. . . The ability to express yourself more efficiently and meaningfully is with you this year. Mental pursuits thrive, and an organized approach to life takes you places. Getting your finances and your love life inorder plays a big role. Ups and downs and a few disappointments in these areas of life are...

I'm posting this dahil baka hindi na maulit...

Charles was among the honor students for the first quarter. Charles didn't actually tell us that there'll be a program. We only found out when we unintentionally saw the letter in his bag. The program was held the following day. If we did not inspect his school things, we won't know that there was a program and that he'd be receiving an award. This is another reason for me to feel so blessed with my dear kids! Congrats to Cha!

Tomorrow is our final exam in O rganizational Development and Management of Administrative Culture. As I reviewed for the exam, I had several thoughts. I shall be writing them down in random: * I realized that MANAGEMENT encompasses several disciplines: Psychology , Communication , Economics , and Anthropology . A manager needs to know how to read minds and how to transform thoughts into actions . A manager has to be proficient in sending and receiving messages of any form in order to make the company develop a culture that he desires. A manager must be aware of the financial implications of every decision he makes . Finally, a manager should have s trong background of the culture of each of his staff . Knowing their backgrounds can help him design motivational activities to get the staff into work. * O rganizational D evelopment's success depends not on the activities conducted but on the employees' willingness to cooperate and on their openness on the organi...

the human resources story ( new starter induction, ironic reference to human resources management, keeping promises, employment standards ) A highly successful Human Resources Manager was tragically knocked down by a bus and killed. Her soul arrived at the Pearly Gates, where St. Peter welcomed her: "Before you get settled in," he said, "We have a little problem... you see, we've never had a Human Resources Manager make it this far before and we're not really sure what to do with you." "Oh, I see," said the woman. "Can't you just let me in?" "Well, I'd like to," said St Peter, "But I have higher orders. We're instructed to let you have a day in hell and a day in heaven, and then you are to choose where you'd like to go for all eternity." "Actually, I think I'd prefer heaven", said the woman. "Sorry, we have rules..." at which St. Peter put the HR Manager into the downward bound ...

Charles. John. Daniel. These are the names of the students I would never forget. I see them every week for less than five hours. They are Koreans, yet they speak in English. They have different culture, yet they understand my culture-- the Filipino culture. They are full-time university students in the Philippines who attend classes from morning till late afternoon, yet they have time to meet with me from 7:30 till 9 in the evening, three times a week. Yes, they are my ESL (English as SEcond Language) students who came to the Philippines a few years ago to study English. I started teaching them in January 15 of this year -- I have just given birth then; my baby was only 19-day-old. I honestly thought things would be complicated with them. On our first day, they didn't really show any enthusiasm to have me as their tutor. My boss was watching us while I was teaching them then. However, on the next days, I felt so rewarded with the kind of response I got from all my three wonderful s...

My first encounter with SUDOKU was when my daughter, Steffi, asked for my help in answering that math puzzle. Of course, I was, needless to say, useless to Steffi then. I did nothing to help her. I tried but there's just no way for me to answer such a mind-boggling math puzzle. That was how strange SUDOKU was to me so I was amazed to find out that my Kuya can do a program that allows him to generate countless SUDOKU puzzles. What's good was that he earned thousands of pesos for publishing some of the puzzles from his program. And I think he can still generate more SUDOKU puzzles if the publisher requests for more... Amazing! Kaya nga I told him, sana iyong sinusulat namin ni Nanay can also be programmed and reproduced when we want to -- in different formats and variants! To KUYA : Galing mo! Magpa-pizza ka naman ...

I went to NSO in San Fernando this morning with my husband, his sister and her hubby. I requested for authenticated copies of my birth certificate and marriage contract. My sister-in-law requested for her and her sister's birth certificate. She also asked for her own authenticated marriage contract. We all need those documents to request for our passports. Both of them are in the process of "making plans" on how they could go to London as quickly as possible with P200,000.00 each. I, on the other hand, am planning to go to Singapore for a study tour. Well, it's not sure yet and I don't want to think I'm going there. I'd rather stay here, actually, if I'm leaving the country for that purpose. But I have a feeling I can go outside the country -- to work -- before my prospect passport expires. Anyway, my sister just mailed necessary documents to her husband, James -- a British citizen. She's about to leave the Philippines to finally settle in the UK. ...

" nami-miss mo ba ang timba mong nahulog ng tuluyan sa balon? natikman mo ba ang masarap na chicken with mashed potato nila manang? kaninong panty na naman ang nawala sa sampayan? sino ang mahilig dumaan sa short cut? tumatambay ka ba sa sacred heart community? crush mo ba si isagani calderon? naturuan ka bang maggitara ni weng, sacha, candy atbp? nagsisimba ka ba sa home sweet home? may "mumu" experience ka rin ba? kung gets mo to, tara na, suot na ng padyama!.... dahil prayer meeting na!!!" *UP-KIKO is my first organization in UP. It stands for UP- K ilusan tungo sa I kauunlad ng mga K abataan ni O ble This message brings back the memories from my good old KIKO days at St. Francis Dorm in Baguio City

'I must recognize that man achieves the highest degree of efficiency when he plays. If someone says he works out of loyalty to the company, he is a damned liar.' ----Soichiro Honda Founder-millionaire Honda Motor Co., Ltd. When a company fails, who should take the blame? When the workers complain, who should do some reflections, the management or the workers themselves? Hunt Stevenson, in the movie GUNG HO (means to WORK TOGETHER) , needed to do some reflections before it was too late. His failure to do some actions would result in closure of Assan Motors, thereby leaving hundreds of American laborers unemployed. According to Robert Heller, the author of the article EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT: TAKING RESPONSIBILITY, "How the boss behaves has a profound effect on how other managers perform - and thus on the performance of the entire outfit. That's a self-evident truth, acknowledged by most people. But few bosses acknowledge the corollary: that inferior performance is partl...

The first Philippine president to be criminally convicted: ERAP. The result came as a surprise to me. But before I heard that Erap was found "guilty beyond reasonable doubt," I already made a prediction that whatever the result would be, there would definitely be different reactions from the people of this nation. If he gets acquitted, things will be more complicated for the people. The court will lose its credibility. If he's found guilty (and he was), the mass would definitely react and go out the streets and march again for any reason they don't understand. It's so sad that a 70-year-old former president has to spend the rest of his life with no freedom. NOw, I think his fate depends on Pres. Arroyo who could grant him presidential pardon. I just hope that those people whom Erap shared his money with would support him -- emotionally and in whatever way they can, even to the point of lobbying for his pardon. After all, I believe that Erap is not the only preside...

Bakit madalas ay kulang ang oras para gawin ang lahat ng dapat gawin? Bakit kailangan kong gumising ng alas-dos ng madaling-araw para gumawa ng trabahong hindi ko maasikaso sa school? (buti na lang online din si kuya, kahit paano ay may ka-IM habang nagko-computer ako). Bakit kailangan kong mag-make-up classes kahit alam kong dapat sana ay nagche-check na lang ako ng papel ? Bakit di ko maiwasan mag-blog kahit alam kong marami akong nakapilang trabaho? Bakit hinihintay ko ang bawat entry na pina-publish sa MD1 blog ? Bakit ako nagbibigay ng exam na mahirap i-check?

8:30 Finish materials for my E-newsroom 1 class 10-11 Make-up class in Comm. Research 1-2 Midterm exam of my BSN 2 students (Speech & Oral Comm.) 2-3 Midterm exam of my BSA 4 students 3 pm Meet with SAMASKOM president to talk about the workshop on Avoiding Plagiarism 4 pm Make-up class again in Comm. Research 5 Prepare materials for my ESL classes 5:30 Time to swipe out (Thank God!) 6-7:30 pm ESL Speech class 7:30-9 ESL Writing class I wish I have MORE time so I could still do the following: * continue writing ENGLISH GRAMMAR Plus! booklet * finish the three research proposals that I want to submit to the Center for Research * continue checking E-newsroom exams * start checking News writing exams * meet with some students re Avoiding Plagiarism workshop * write papers for my post grad studies (Deadline of all the requirements is on S...

Congratulations to the AUF SAMASKOM debating team for winning in the semi-final round! The debating team is composed of: Melford Cunanan, Edwin De Leon and Cherry Anne Mungcal. Of course, I need to mention the SAMASKOM president who's really supportive of the group: Timothy Joseph Mallari "We're a step away from the trophy that we all want to grab!" GOOD LUCK on the final round!

Another life is wasted -- and it's because of hazing in UP. Frat neophyte Cris Mendez is a graduating Public Administration student. He was supposed to march to get his diploma in a few months. But he wasn't lucky enough to reach the end of his four years in college. Instead, he reached the end of his life. He was declared `dead on arrival' at Veterans Memorial Medical Center on August 27. Mendez, definitely, wasn't the first victim of hazing. What is not clear to me is why hazing happens despite the fact that all frat members, including the "lady" and the "master," know that hazing is not permitted. I don't want to think that the UP administration is deaf and blind not to know that hazing happens in the campus. Sayang ang buhay. Ito ba ang kapalit ng freedom -- freedom to "belong," freedom to choose, freedom to express -- na siyang pinagmamalaki ng UP?

Dani's been sick for three days now. She wouldn't eat and have milk. She had fever (good thing it's gone now) but she still has loose bowel movement till now. This is all because of teething. We bought her oral gel to help her with the discomfort that she feels with her gums. Until the first tooth has erupted, I think she will continue feeling so irritable and uncomfortable. She's feeling better now. Thank God! But she still needs a lot of rest and sleep. She deprived herself of sleep for the past three nights.

BEFORE NOW

The PDI has a new comics segment which is written by Carlo J. Caparas. It's called Diario Novela. I've actually read PDI's publicity articles about this but it is only yesterday that I have seen the comics. I think this comics idea by CJC is a lousy one. There are very few frames published in a day. I wonder if the PDI readers would care reading a Diario Novela that giv es stories on installment basis. Does PDI expect its readers to read the paper regularly just for this comics? If not, who's going to read this? What I know is that comics, supposedly targets the mass. However, the PDI, as suggested by its format and language, is not really for the same readers. What was the PDI publisher thinking when they signed contract with CJC? Do they want to make the mass read the PDI or convince the PDI readers to patronize CJC's story? I don't think PDI readers would like CJC-type comics in a national broadsheet. I personally don't like it for several reason...

Grabe. Hindi ko maintindihan kung ano ang una kong babasahin at itatama sa mga thesis proposal na hawak ko ngayon. Kung marami lang sana akong oras para ayusin ang lahat ng ito. Hindi ko maintindihan kung bakit ang mga estudyante ngayon, kahit nasa huling taon na sa kolehiyo ay hirap pa rin sa pagsusulat. Ang iba nga, subject-verb agreement lang, hindi pa alam. Nakakalungkot isipin na karamihan ng mga estudyanteng nagsusulat ng thesis ay magaling lang sa pagkopya. Tapos, kahit tinuro na sa kanila ang tamang paraan ng pagsulat halimbawa ng in-text citation, wala pa rin. Marami pa ring hindi sumusunod sa pinag-aralan nila. Sayang ang effort ng nagtuturo, kung puro ganoon ang mga estudyante. Ang akala ko, tagaturo lang ako ng Research Methodology. Hindi pala. Marami akong dapat gampanan -- bilang adviser, editor, motivator, liason between students and panelist (sorry, ang hirap ng Filipino language). Gusto ko naman silang tulungan lahat dahil siyempre, gusto ko ring makapagtapos na sila...

I only have three words to write here on my 300th post. But these three words have been lingering in my mind for more than 300 hours now. SOME TIME. SOMEWHERE. MAYBE. Whatever .

" The more I learn, the more I get frustrated with reality. Books tell the ideal situations, the theories. The reality shows the exact opposite. Now I wonder: What's the point of studying when the world turns the other way around? I end up concluding that a degree doesn't change the world. Power does. Nobody questions power and money, after all. " *** I am in a couple of dilemmas these days. Can't talk about it. I'll write about them when I'm ready. *** On a happy note, my daughter, Steffi, won in STORYTELLING contest yesterday in their school. She was declared champion storyteller. I'm happy , very happy that kids are free to "tell a story." I hope that "storytelling" won't soon be taken away by a powerful hand in the future. Sana, ang mga tao, laging may boses at kuwento. Sana may nakikinig sa mga kwento . Sana kahit ang kwento makapagpabago ng ikot ng mundo. ***

Maraming bagay ang mahirap ipaliwanag. Maraming bagay din na hindi na dapat pag-usapan. Gusto ko nang umalis. Bakit ang hirap? Isang sign na lang ang hinihintay ko. Sana dumating na. Sana.