My Socially Constructed Reality

Parents train kids to follow rules. Teachers teach children to be obedient. Priests remind young people to do only what is good. And time has taught us that not following rules has consequences -- or punishment. But still, even when we grew old, we still don't know how to follow rules. Married spouses philander. Disloyal friends betray each other. Grown-up students cheat. Adults lie every minute. Kids break the rules. Adults ignore the rules. Oh, well, maybe rules, after all, are made to be broken . The Desperate Housewives know this.

When you look at strangers, you can tell if they're happy or sad . Sad strangers tend to have that serious look,or that lonely face, or even such a blank stare. Happy strangers, on the other hand, tend to smile at you even without any reason. Yes, it's true. It's easy to spot happy strangers. But it is never easy to know what exactly makes them happy. Some are happy because they just got a promotion. Some are glad because they made it in a competition. Still, many are simply happy because they finally got what their hearts desire. The thing is, sometimes, what makes other people happy can actually make others sad . What may bring glory to one may inflict pain to another. This is the sad fact. **********************

Are the housewives in the DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES series really desperate? Desperate Housewives Season 6 shows the lives of 6 housewives who all have strengths to keep them going , weaknesses to overcome , and secrets, lots of secrets, to reveal . Susan Delfino , Mike's wife, has a daughter who was a victim of a violent attack. Susan wants to find out who did it. She suspects that Danny, Angie's teenage son, is the perpetrator but no evidence would point at him. What's more alarming is not that Julie, Susan's daughter, was attacked but that she is doing a lot of things that Susan has no idea about. In one episode, Susan read Julie's diary and commented that Julie seems to be a stranger because she (Susan) has no idea what's going on in her own daughter's life. Lynette Scavo is pregnant (twin) in this episode. The problem is that she just got promoted. She accepted the promotion and decided not to reveal her secret -- that she's pregnant. She is thi...

I’ve been checking exams and computing for grades the whole day. I need a break. Let me see. I have a lot of things in my mind at the moment – actually, since last night. I slept at about 3 am but I was not doing anything but staring on the ceiling. A lot of thoughts were in my mind last night. I wondered how and when I could go over this health concern. I’ve been processing papers and it’s taking me long making a decision. I was supposed to visit a doctor of ENT today but I still couldn’t make up my mind so I didn’t go. I was also thinking about the movie THE FIVE PEOP LE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN. I’ve read the book by Mitch Albom and I love it, the same way that I love his other books, e.g. Tuesdays with Morrie and For One More Day . When I watched the movie, it made me wonder what I am here on Earth for. I imagined who I want to meet in heaven when I die – ha ha – as if I am sure to go to heaven or as if there is indeed heave...

Ondoy, the worst typhoon that ever hit the Philippines has gone out of the country. The floods that caused lives of almost 300 should serve as a lesson to the Philippine government. If no one will learn from the tragedy, then everything would just be wasted: the lives which were lost, the houses buried with mud, the cars which were damaged, etc. I hope there would be no such typhoon which will hit the country again. I hope the local government had learned that drainage and sanitation systems are critical issues to be dealt with seriously. Floods are not new to me. I have experienced such floods that reached up to the second floor of the house when I lived in Malabon. It was a normal occurrence in Malabon almost every year. This time, the floods brought about by Ondoy took the lives of almost 300 Filipinos. It's really a sad thing for Filipinos to experience this. Ondoy didn't spare my friends in Manila. They were also affected but survived :-) ---------------------------...

A series of dental c-rays. CT Scans. Regular visits at a dental clinic. A few months after undergoing operation for missed abortion, I'm now having another minor operation -- a minor dental surgery. The CT Scans revealed that I have, on the left part of my face and on top of my front teeth, a nasoalveolar cyst (non-malignant, at least). I have been taking medications for months but the medicines are no longer effective so the dentist (Doc Dennis) referred me to a dental surgeon who advised me to have x-rays and CT Scans for accurate diagnosis. The surgeon said that prior to the operation, I need to undergo root canal which is set on Oct. 9. After that, the operation will be scheduled. Sometimes, it frightens me to know that I have to undergo this operation. For me, there's nothing more disturbing than being a regular visitor of a surgeon. I'm not used to being sick. It's because I haven't been really ill. Right now, I don't feel sick at all . In fact, when I...

Some things are good . Some better . Only one is always the best . Some things look bad . Some worse . One could be the worst . I realized that the only thing that matters in this world is how we see things . Good things may sometimes appear bad. On the other hand, all the bad things may be seen as blessings in disguise. ************************

It's been a while since I last posted an entry here. I feel guilty for not being able to update this blog. I have been busy, yes, although I had less jobs. I requested for a leave from ILI on the first week of this month and I also stopped writing for EW because of summer season -- not much order. However, a lot of things are happening so I didn't have time to sit down to blog. Hopefully I can regularly update again....

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Last Saturday, August 8, I participated in an International Convention on Media Communication at UP Film Institute with 99 Comm. students and three faculty from the same department. That wasn't the first time that I've attended an international conference with my students. The first one was during the 17th AMIC Annual conference which was held at the Manila Hotel I attended that event with Manuel, MJ, Lucy, Jaimee, Charles and Ma'am Tina. The second one was when I went to New Delhi with Charles and MJ for the paper presentation of Charles' thesis during the 18th AMIC Conference. The convention last Saturday was sponsored by ICCS, and was titled 1 ST INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON MEDIA COMMUNICATION: TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT THE DIFFERENT AREAS OF BROADCAST JOURNALISM . Among the speakers were Karen Davila (ABS-CBN), Mark Francis (The Discovery Channel), Ric o Hiz on (BBC World News), Rolly Ng , Boy Abunda (ABS-CBN), and Kara David (ABS-CBN). Here are some of ...

18th AMIC Annual conference programme

LIVING IN THE WORLD OF WARCRAFT: Construction of Virtual Identities among Online Gamers

My kids love to have massage with this anti-stress massage oil . This has therapeutic smell -- enough to relieve stress. I bought it for 85 rupees. i-pill (Emergency Contraceptive Pill) I was curious; I just saw it in an advertisement while we were in a fast food; I knew this thing exists but never knew it is available in India; In my search at the Internet, I found out it was made available in India over the counter since 2007. Each packet contains only one pill. It costs 100 rupees.

Meet MJ and Charles , my roommates in New Delhi for 5 days Charles with the Filipino delegates to the AMIC conference: Ivy Alcantara (based in Singapore), Elaine Llarena (based in Malaysia), Ms Chi-chi Robles (past president of PACE and member of the Executive committee of AMIC), MJ and of course myself beside Charles my Korean student who made me really proud: Jung, Dea-woung ( Charles). It was his thesis that we submitted to the AMIC call for paper; it was accepted so we met in India to present the paper (Congrats Charles!) I'm with some of the Filipino delegates break time is coffee time! MJ and Charles Charles and I while we were rehearsing before the presentation started

Minister Tharoor with AMIC outgoing Secretary-General Indrajit Banerjee (left)

I had a four-day trip to New Delhi, India for an International Conference from July 13 till 16. It was my first time to leave my home country, the Philippines, to visit another part of Asia. As a first-timer travelling in another part of the world, I literally activated my five senses to accommodate all that I would see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. And here's what I sensed for one week… What I Saw The most remarkable thing I saw in Delhi was that almost all the cars and rickshaws have dents. I won't wonder why. The drivers at Delhi really drive so fast that a rickshaw ride was like a roller-coaster ride. Aside from the dents, they were really dirty. I've seen muddy cars roaming around the city. I couldn't imagine how the car owners can afford to buy cars, which are not really cheap, but cannot afford some time and water to clean their cars. It's none of my business, but well, I am just wondering, anyway. The buildings or most structures are dirty and old. The stre...

Itinerary: Manila - Hong Kong - New Delhi JULY 12; 12:35 noon (Philippine time) I'm currently on board Cathay Pacific flight number CX 906 . This is my first time to get on board the plane. Ha ha. I was excited with the takeoff. It took the plane several minutes to get ready for takeoff. It felt good seeing the clouds "down there." Although the cabin crew told me to keep my camera, I still took a few photos of the clouds. Fascinating to see clouds -- different types of clouds right outside the window. Hmmm….ok, time for breakfast. I haven't eaten anything this day though I had coffee before I got on board. The cabin crew handed me a sandwich and I asked for coffee. Sandwich is good-- still hot and really fresh. And I'm so thankful there's coffee to complete my breakfast. This laptop is very helpful. I can type on my notes and entertain myself with my kind of music. I left the house at 6 am. By 8 am, I was already in the airport. My husband accompanied me t...

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