Thursday, October 29, 2009

Booklet for spd 501


Call me ilog-ilogan, but post ko man akon ya ah... That's just the cover as well. Hehe...

Zoom, blag, done.

A reflection on our camping in SPD 506

Some things were just too wonderful that we not allowed to experience it in a pleasurably slow way. Rather, these things happen in agonizing brevity. Like falling in love, for example. But this is not about falling in love. I’m talking about the camping that we had for SPD 506 last September 24-26.

The camping that we did for SPD 506 was something unexpected. It came when I was really feeling dorky about work and home and school. Lots of things had been going on in all those areas that I feel like I really have to do something about it. I was high-strung and I just needed something to slacken my too taut nerves. The camping served as that badly needed break. The process of going there was not exactly that relaxing, however, as I am about to tell you.

The weekdays before that were too busy with a lot of things to do in school, including the overseeing of the third year contestants in declamation and oration for the Literary Contest. As fate would have it, the Lit-Mus fell on the first day of our camping, of course. So, I wasn’t able to go with the bus with the whole gang of my groupmates and classmates and schoolmates on it. Because the boss said so.

Let me elaborate.

September 24-26, 2009 are the days set for our camping.

September 24, Lit-Mus at school and left for camping at 12 noon with Fr. Noli and Atty. And Mrs. Teodosio and Ma’am Regie Saison.

Rewind to one day before.

September 23, 2009.

The morning of September 23, 2009 was spent training two kids for the Lit-Mus. Note, only one of them is technically my charge. The other one’s abandoned. The afternoon was spent trying to ask Peace on Earth to let me go the following day. Can’t, the Lit-Mus is tomorrow, she said. O-kay. And oh, I also had to convince Miss Cash Division to please let me have a cash advance because I have nothing to spend for the weekend’s activity. Thank goodness she allowed me to have one. Late evening I spent trying to contact Fr. Noli at San Jose Catholic Church. I even went there when I couldn’t contact him and was received by a too-condescending security guard. Haay. Left Father a note (he’s calling it a love letter) saying in essence “Pads, please do text me, here’s my number; or else, I’ll be feeling really sorry for myself if I’m left here in Iloilo City. Huhuhu.”

God is indeed kind and merciful. So is Father. He let carpool with them (Atty. Wence and Ma’am Amy Teodosio and Ma’am Regie) to Jamindan. It was a nice drive. They were all very nice people although the conversation on the way was mostly griping on how this camping would be relevant to teaching children with special needs. I couldn’t exactly agree, since I still didn’t know what would happen.

So anyway, after taking a break (coffee break for the others, lunch break for Ma’am Amy and me) in Capiz (Dao or Dumarao I’m not so sure anymore), we continued to Jamindan and finally, there we were, in Camp Peralta. At first, I thought I was in Baguio for my first impression of the place was that it looked and felt like the Philippine Military Academy, what with its vastness and the military air about it. The terrain, however, reminds me of the hills of Davao City –crisscrossing roads here and there, much like the way up to Jack’s Ridge.

Now that I’m actually writing about it, I’m recalling a lot of things about the camping – the zip-lining experience was the most unforgettable although the zip from the tower to those mattresses (ugh, buttresses!) only felt like .00005 seconds.

I was being harnessed, I was forced to say “Mae Sheilou Conserva, ready to die,” I was shouting, I was stepping off the wooden platform and ZOOM, green and blue blur, and then BLAG, I smacked into the blue and white striped mattresses. That’s it! It’s done. As much as my groupmates was saying that I looked fascinating, that my form was gorgeous (this is an actual quote, okay? I just forgot who said it), I wasn’t really that ready to jump up and down in excitement. I mean, that was it? Perhaps this is one of those moments you would wish to playback in slow motion. Haay, if only.

Aside from that, the nature trek was also the most challenging of all the nature treks that I have done since I was a girl scout in elementary up to my Silak adventures in college. I’m so proud of myself because I didn’t have asthma during, immediately after, and long after the camping was done and I was already home and comfortable. Thank you, Lord!

The whole thing was just like my zip-lining gig. Everything was wonderful, yet it all zooms by in a flash that you really would wish it to be like watching a DVD with adjustable playback speed settings. If it were so, I’d play it real nice and slow.

Friday, October 16, 2009

God's word in L1: Gamhanan!

"Ang bisan sin-o nga mangin kabangdanan sang pagbiya sining magagmay nga mga kabataan nga nagatuo sa akon, maayo pa nga ihigot ang galingan nga bato sa ila liog kag itagbong sa dagat.

Gani kon ang imo kamot amo ang mangin kabangdanan sang imo pagbiya sa Akon, utda ini!"

Ini nga pulong nag gikan sa Marcos 9:42 - 43.

Just something to share and to prove God's words can double in impact when spoken in our own language... ;)

Sunday, October 4, 2009

I'm baaaack!!!

Ha! So much for a quiet return!

Anyway, here I am after being separated from the blogging world which I really haven't spent much time on. I'm back. And may I be more devoted to this endeavor from now on.

Today, as you can see, is a Sunday. A very hot and lazy Sunday afternoon. And technically, according to my blog name, I should hate every moment of it. I do, just a bit. But on the other hand, I couldn't ignore the many blessings that has recently and unexpectedly crept into my predictable and boring life.

I am thankful for many things:

First, I am grateful that I can breathe, that I have food to eat, that I have somewhere to live in, that I have a job and a paycheck every fifteenth (although it's always delayed), that I have my family behind me every step of the effing way, that they are there as motivation for me to keep on working hard despite those late paychecks, that I have lots of friends who care for me, that I am studying for my master's degree and not quite bored about it yet, that I am healthy and feel good about myself than I ever had in years.

Even though it's already Monday morning a few hours from now, these little victories keeps me from hating this day too much. Besides, it's funny, but I don't hate Sunday afternoons now as much as I did a year or two before! That's true, really. Why is that?

Apart from these and other things that I have been thanking God for, I am also happy to be back. I hope that this will be the start of my serious take on writing even if just on the Internet. I have been inactive in this aspect of my life, and it makes me so, so guilty that I have time to be active in other things which does not hone any of the more important skills that God had given me. I think one's art is one's way to reconnect to the Creator, and I am not using that lifeline at all. Sorry, Lord for being DC for a while.

So that's it anay. Time to log out and go home to the BH and prepare to attend the 6PM mass at Don Benito.