Balance, Sincerity, Life.

Don’t just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced,successful life. I use the word balanced before successful.Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order. There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

"Life is one of those races in nursery school where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same is with life where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die. 

One thing about nurturing the spark – don’t take life seriously. Life is not meant to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up?

It’s ok, bunk a few classes, scoring low in couple of papers, goof up a few interviews, take leave from work, fall in love, little fights with your spouse. We are people, not programmed device.." 

"Don’t be serious, be sincere."

-Chetan Bhagat

The planet we call home, seen from 240 miles up

From Yahoo News:

Two-hundred-forty miles above the Earth, it turns out, is a stunningly beautiful place to be. In the video above you can view Michael König's five-minute HD video montage of 18 time-lapse sequences of photographs shot from the International Space Station.

The photos were taken with a "special low-light 4K-camera" by the Expedition crews 28 & 29 aboard the ISS from August through October this year. NASA's Image Science and Analysis Laboratory developed the shots, which include the Aurora Borealis Pass, an "Evening Pass" over the Sahara Desert and the Aurora Australis, which covers the sky from Madagascar to the southwest of Australia.

Along the way, you'll see giant lightning storms, massive cloud formations, webs of city lights and the constantly evolving stream of lights reflecting off of the Earth's atmosphere. It's an amazing and surreal view; all while the edges of the ISS hover at the edges of your computer screen.

The first two sequences traverse over the United States at night and feature a soundtrack composed by Jan Jelinek. For an even larger version of the video and a full list of the 18 locations, follow this link over to Vimeo, where you can watch the sequence in full-screen HD. And you can find more of NASA's "Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth" here.

Second Semester

Today was our first day of class in the second semester. The schedule for my first class for today (Performance Management, every Saturday) is from 1:00-4:00 PM and the second class is Human Resource Development from 6-9 PM. Well, today is basically a no-class day (but some professors had started their lectures as early as the first day) since some students had yet to enroll and pay their tuition fees. Some were still working on the conflicts in their schedules while some had just started to process their INC's. I also had to arrange my class schedule since I was enrolled in a class where first year students (like me) aren't suppose to be enrolled at. I don't have a choice but to find another subject that could fit in my schedule without conflict. I had to filled up the revision form that really brought hassle to my part. It wasn't the worst of days, it was neither the best. I don't have my Certificate of Registration since I wasn't able to validate it due to the Sports Fest of the MSU employees. So I don't really have any idea about my room schedules but fortunately, Mich (Chuchai) had her COR and texted me our rooms (we're classmates, again). I was a bit ashamed that we came in an hour late on our first class since our class really starts at 1pm and ends at 4 in the afternoon. It  wasn't really our fault since the COR says that it's 2-4 and we weren't informed about the change of schedule.  During the first week until the second week of class, changes are inevitable. The classrooms, subjects, professors, as well as the classmates are still subjected to change. We were already used to it so our heads stays cooler this time. 

As I've said, we were an hour late in our Performance Management class but we're still fortunate to found out that our professor is Sir Henry Franial, the OIC of the Central Bank in Misamis and the former Branch Manager of Central Bank here in Gensan. He conducts his class just twice a month so we're not supposed to be so pressure in his class (oh, let me add that he won't give a final exam, perfect!). We didn't do much as he only explained the requirements of his class. He even gave us a commemorative People Power Ten-Peso coin, two coins every individual. There wasn't really that much fuzz with the coin but we appreciate it. It feels good to hold a coin that was only released for a special occasion and wasn't part of the circulation. I took 5 coins since I collected what he previously promised that he'll give us that coin last sem but he wasn't able to distribute due to the lack of time. 

The next class featured the same Job Analysis class with the addition of a few new classmates. Funny was that our professor for the HRD class (the same professor in our Job Analysis class) jokingly said "you again?" and we were exchanging smiles for what she said. 

Dr. Verana, our Job Analysis and now our HRD professor

Again, not much was said and done as she only asked us to fill out our class cards and wrote our assignment for the next meeting. After that, she called it a night. It was pretty much a nice evening and I'm sure I'm in for an interesting semester. I just hope to perform better with my studies and to stop procrastinating, once and for all. Haha, we'll see. As for now, I'll call this a night cause I'm getting sleepy right now. Good night world!! =)

You Must Not Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must but Don't You Quit!

Life is strange with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up through the pace seems slow
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup
And he learned too late when the night came down
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things seem the worst
That You Mustn't Quit!


By Edgar A. Guest

Hanging Around MSU

This morning, I went to my college alma mater, Mindanao State University-Gensan Campus, to clarify my class schedules in my graduate studies as well as to pay for my payments. When I arrived at the Registrar Office, I was puzzled to found out that the Registrar Office was deserted. It was already nine in the morning and the office is usually busy with students and employees in that hour. I decided to walk around the school and visit the old places where we (my friends) used to hang-out before back when we were still college students. I forgot to bring  my camera so the photos in this post are from the collection of my college photos.

Our school has a very large land area so the buildings are a bit far from each other. MSUans are fast walkers since we are used to walking a lot around the campus. As I walk the pathways, I noticed the tarpaulin hanging on the roof of the Office of the Students' Affairs (OSA) building and I couldn't helped but smile as I reminisce the summer of 2009 where I took up my summer classes in Math and where I used to help my two classmates in assisting the freshmen in their enrollment. Passing the OSA office, I caught sight of the infamous freedom wall  where students write all they want to say about the administration. Many questioned the building of the wall since they believe it was useless and they would just waste the money of the studentry because the wall costs a mere 25,000 pesos that would have been used in more relevant projects. At the end of the pathway, on the other side of the road, I found the some students sitting quietly, some were scanning their notes, and some were just hanging around with their friends. They were all sitting on our hang-out place. It was a small roofed sitting area for the students who waits for their next class. Most of the students who sits there were AB English (my course) since our room G39 is the nearest room from it. I was flooded again with the memories of the past. How time really flies that fast. Here are some of the photos of my time in MSU:

Freedom Wall

Fly away

Our hang-out place

At the flagpole, in front of MSU

Front road of MSU overlooking the bay

Charm and Ate Liz near the terminal of jeeps

I ♥ MSU and the open field

A penny for a thought?

It was nostalgic to come back to the place where I had my happiest, saddest, anxious, greatest failures, and most pressured moments. It felt like I'm home. A lot of students from other schools may shun our school because of the extreme weather (when it rains, it pours, when it's hot, it boils) and the large area of our school where the neighboring buildings are far from each other in addition that the school is also 10km from the city proper but most importantly, it's due to the higher standard of education. Not all students of MSU are over-achiever and intelligent but we are all hard-working in order to achieve quality education. That made me go on during my time there despite my personal failures. Well, enough of it. I just want to enjoy driving down the memory lane. I was already back at the Y-building (where the Registrar Office sits) when I overheard three strangers looking out the front road entering the school buildings. They were talking about how beautiful MSU is and how scenic the views are. They appreciate the majestic view over looking the bay of the administration building. In that moment, I felt very lucky. MSUans are very lucky despite all the hardships. We are offered quality education, cheaper tuition fees and a very nice (though others thought its challenging) school environment. Education is met by nature. I'll write more on this and since my back is aching now so let me finish this with a photo: 

The Entrance Gate and road, the flagpole and the admin buiding overlooking the Sarangani Bay
 and the Mountains of Sarangani Province

One of the lessons I learned was to be silent when angry and don't let our emotions get the better of us. When we are angry, we tend to do a lot of foolishness that we'll later regret. I learned this the hard way.

Three is Not Enough.

Yesterday was the third fight of Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez and it ended in a controversial manner. I actually didn't watched the fight live in cable even though MP and I lived in a same city (General Santos City) and most of the people here watched the fight in their television sets or queued to the city gym to catch it live. In fact, I never watched the fight yet so I can't really comment on the fight itself. I'm not really a big fan of boxing though I'm proud to have a town mate whose an eight-time boxing champ and was hailed as the pound-for-pound king. On the other hand, it seemed MP wasn't in his usual boxing self yesterday. Flooding in the local and national news are the negative and mixed views of the people about the result and who should be the real winner. Fortunately, MP won the fight by majority decision but it seems like not all Filipinos are impressed with this win. Some were saying Marquez won the fight. Again, I can't pass my judgment on that simply for the fact that I hadn't seen it. However, reliable boxing analysts states that Marquez should have won the fight, MP was lethargic, MP's hand speed and power wasn't there, Marquez was much aggressive than Pacquiao, MP shouldn't be proud of his performance, some said MP himself wasn't much convinced that he won the fight, that he was already cramping up that's why he was a little bit slow in reacting towards Marquez' punches. Well, that's for them to say, they are the authority in boxing so maybe they're right, or maybe they could be wrong too, who knows? 

Marquez landing some punches on Pacquiao's face

The Mexicans who watched the fight were very dismayed by the judges' decision and they were booing MP and even harassing some Filipinos who watched the fight. I feel for my fellow Filipinos who just went to Las Vegas just to witness the anticipated fight of our people's champ MP, it wasn't their fault if the decision turned out to be in our favor and not with the Mexicans. On the other hand, Top Rank honcho Bob Arum told the media that a Pacquiao-Marquez IV would be possible on May 2012 so that the Mexicans won't kill him (they will if he won't work out on the possible fourth fight). 

Back here in the Philippines, the trending topic here was the controversial results of the Pacquiao-Marquez III and some where saying that we shouldn't be proud of MP's win because Marquez was obviously the better fighter in their third bout. I found it quite ironic that everyone suddenly becomes boxing analysts and experts (hehe) that expressed their views and opinions either positive or negative. I heard some saying we Filipinos should be ashamed of MP's victory cause the judges might be bought by money from a member of Team Pacquiao or even Arum paid them to make their decision in favor of MP. I don't know where these allegations come from there's a possibility that the judges committed some mistake in scoring the bout. Pacquiao is a great fighter so I think he might have fought decently and that these negative comments from some of our countrymen were just a sense of bitterness from the fact that Pacquiao didn't knocked Marquez down furthermore the shade of brilliance of Manny Pacquiao was not very visible. You know, we might be spoiled from watching MP beat the hell out of his previous opponents and that we were having so much expectations from him that he can shut down Marquez easily and make the Mexican eat his words.  

The flashes of brilliance

I think a fourth fight is a necessary so the question of who's the best fighter between Pacquiao and Marquez will finally be put to rest. But reports says that Marquez is hesitant on fighting Pacquiao again not because he's afraid of him but he was sure he won the third fight and that he was obviously upset and discouraged with the fight's outcome that a fourth one won't still settle the score because he believes no matter how better his performance is that Pacquiao, they will still declare Pacquaio as the winner (when Marquez went here in the Philippines, he wore a printed shirt with the words "Pacquiao robbed me twice" pointing out that he should have won that first fight which resulted into a draw and the second fight which was a split decision). One analyst even said that until Marquez went to his grave, he will always believe and declare that he is better than Pacquiao, that he's the real winner of the three fights. Maybe Marquez showed that he can still fight despite him gaining more weight to challenge Pacquiao in the welterweight division but I will always believe Pacquaio is the better fighter whether he really wins or lose the fight. His contributions to our nation is indispensable and he's our champ. By the way, he's a Congressman of our adjacent province (Sarangani). He might have committed mistakes but he surely does give pride to our country. Never mind the amount of money he earns from these fight, he deserves it and he even use his own purse to help his constituents. Again, back in boxing, the phrase "damned if you do, damned if you not" is really applicable. If Manny Pacquiao dominated Marquez  in that fight and score a convincing win, we Filipinos would be "very proud" to be Filipino because Pacquiao showed his Filipino pride and we would also brag that Filipinos are great athletes (I mean, we really have great athletes but we don't usually capitalize on these athletes in some international sporting competition like the Olympics were the athletes are really fighting for the flag and as we know, Olympics is the barometer of a nation's excellence in sports and Philippines had yet to win an Olympic gold medal even in boxing where we produced so many professional champions). Well, only God knows whose the real boxer between the two but kudos to Marquez, he really give Pacquiao a run for his money. And for Manny Pacquaio, Sir, you really need to sort out your team, it's getting a bit crowded and they bring distractions, next time you have an upcoming fight, focus on your training as what you used before, I've noticed you've gotten so many distractions this days and I don't wanna enumerate them. Your a great fighter and you'll undoubtedly be a boxing hall of famer but until then, show us the Manny Pacquiao we used to watch fighting relentlessly with the hand speed and power punches. Your still my idol and you will forever be our people's champ. But, a fourth bout will not be a bad idea..just saying. Well, congratulations for the win Cong. Manny Pacquiao!! 

"I clearly won this fight"-Pacquiao

*****

 The agony of  defeat in Marquez' face 

These.

Photo Collage

I was browsing the internet for some interesting photo collage editor site (coz I still don't know how to make one in photoshop -_-..) and I bump into this site and chose a nice template and uploaded the photos I wanted to be made in a collage. Yeah, I think the result really looked nice. I even made one for my cousin (it was wedding-themed) which I planned to print and put into a frame for my wedding and Christmas gift for her and her husband. I will framed this soon when I have enough resources again. So, Chuchai, I hope you like this.. =)

Tonight exactly one year ago..

I was in a hospital room, watching some boring shows in cable while my father was sitting on a chair, staring blankly at the walls of the hospital room. And the patient, my mother, has been sleeping for hours. The nurse come and go while checking the bottle where the excess liquid that was extracted from my mother's bloated stomach was still pouring on. My mother was not so responsive when the nurse or my father would talk to her. She would just mum something we couldn't understand whenever we ask something or if does she feel okay and comfortable with her senses. She would just fall asleep instantly. Little did we know it would be the last night we would ever see her alive. It would be the last night of her life. And I felt bad I never saw it coming. I mean, I know since she admitted in the ICU that God might take her sooner than we ever imagined in our life, because of her chronic illness but I was always hopeful that she will get better later on, that I will see the day that she will get up, on her feet, and walk by herself, that she will breath the fresh air and not the air from the oxygen tank.

I was hopeful that I will see my mother to have that same energy and vigor she used to have back when she was still much healthier. Back then, I was always hopeful. I always prayed to God to make her health better and to improve her health conditions and to finally heal. But I know God has a plan of his own. A better plan for all of us. That night, as I watch my mother sleeping, I could sense her suffering and the weariness in her face due to the battle she had been bravely fighting. I could here her breathing hard and I know its the discomfort from not being able to breath properly. A part of me was blaming myself for all that she had been through. My aunt told me that my mother was already giving up because we were already giving up on her. That night, I realized that she was indeed giving up. She is a mother and a mother doesn't want to be the cause of burden to her children. I know she was thinking that she is the mother, she should be the one taking care of us and not the other way around. I know she felt really bad for herself. And because of that, I blame myself. I am ashamed of myself. What kind of a child I am to give up on my ailing mother who brought me into this world and provided me everything I need and tirelessly taught me about the everything I never knew. If I could just take the time back, a year ago..I would have done a lot of things to brighten up her spirits and to tell her never give up. But a part of me says she's now in a better place. No more suffering, no more monthly hospital admissions, no more extraction of liquids from her tummy, no more respirator, no more oxygen tanks, no more fighting. She bravely fought the battle. She didn't lost it. She had lived a good life and that makes her a winner. She left a legacy her on earth. She will forever have a major place in my heart and I will never ever forget her. Her memories still lingers with us even if it was already a year since she was gone. She may be physically gone from us but I still believe she will always be with us forever. No one can take her place and replace her in my life. She will forever be my mother. The mother I may have not tell how much I love her everyday but I know she knows that I love her even though I wasn't always a good daughter. In that fateful day on the ICU, I finally said I love her so much that it hurts to thinks that God might take her away from us anytime, and also that she's the best mom in the world and If I had a chance to choose my mother, I would definitely still choose her cause she is the definition of what a mother is. She was a perfect mother despite her imperfections as a human. I pray to God that you're in heaven now and that he give you peace. Ma, wherever you are, I LOVE YOU AND I MISS YOU SO MUCH. A year may have gone, but I will never ever forget you..