that is my interviewer’s reaction when he was asking about my current situation. he wanted to know my income status. i told him i am staying at a neighbor’s house. eat, sleep and play there. together with my neighbor’s family. sort of adopted. what’s is confusing about this? or i just simply got used to it.

he was trying to determine my income because i applied for a slot in the van-aralan which is conducting trainings on computers. but will my neighbor’s income qualify as mine? confusing.

anyways, i should be grateful these people are not kicking me out of their house.

by the way, my subject is seminar in administration & management.

the discussion moved to the problem of overcrowded classrooms in the philippines. typical. sir dipad mentioned the best solution is geographical division of places. only students from adjacent barangays are to be admitted in every school. i guess, this is already a policy. the problem is implementation.

according to sir dipad no student is to be refused from being admitted to enroll. then how can this geographical separation be applied?

on the part of school administration – the bigger the student population, the bigger the school’s budget allowance (MOOA). this leads me to think negatively. for the sake of money.

another is the parent factor. those who live in the rural areas thinks central (urban) schools are better than the schools in their area. they also esteem the teachers in the central schools far better than those who are serving in their places. but why not? they maybe teaching the same curriculum but in terms of facilities, which is well furnished? how about teachers attitude and conduct? rural folks can observe when teachers assigned in their posts arrived late on Monday mornings and scurry every Friday afternoon to return back home (not everyone is guilty of this). of course the localization hiring policy is DepEd’s solution to this. but why is this situation still prevalent today?

then our discussion jumped to k+12. i will be selfish here. i need a job and this is one of the possible means i will get hired. if this is a failure, abolish it after i got hired. the premise to this is the longer a child stays in school, the more learning he will acquire. definitely, this is true. first and foremost, why are we having a problem of a no-read, no-write graduates? because we are keep on doing what we are doing. my apology to my friends who are telling this is an additional financial burden. but don’t we have a free basic education for all? when con people raises the argument of more drop-outs in this additional years, i say, there is no royal road to learning. education is hard. it’s meant to be. i heard ma’m gabelo during my college days saying “if education is expensive, try ignorance”.

our discussion again changed to the qualification of teachers. sir dipad raised his concern that at present there are educators teaching subjects not in line with their majors. very true. let us take for example TLE. lessons in this subject will lead to the students skills’ certification. but are their mentors certified as well? sir dipad mentioned the tragic abolition of the tertiary course industrial education and vocational high schools in region v. these would had equipped us better in implementing today’s curriculum. i can’t be sure but i want to verify if indeed there are no more vocational school in region v. because when i attended a seminar in UbD, some teachers mentioned a different curriculum being implemented in their school. talking about developing skilled worker as a result of this new curriculum sir dipad asked, “what is the government’s true intention? the student’s future or increase of migrant worker?” i think, whatever it be, i can see nothing bad about it.

we talked about budget. unavoidably, it lead to the lawmakers’ CDF. could it be true? for the budget to be approved, lawmakers has to safeguard their own cuts first. how sad? could it be also true, that among the lawmakers, only Senator Lacson is not getting his CDF. his reason – they are lawmakers, not executive officials.

sir dipad also illustrated a scheme where a congressman uses his CDF which is, according to sir now amounts to Php100 million. a congressman might opt to create five congressional item. on the first year, the salary of the five teachers will be taken from his CDF. but on the next year, the salary of these teachers will be moved to the general appropriations fund. and so, the congressman may again choose to create 5 more teaching posts. and the cycle continues.

STRONGLIFT

of all the sites i had visited this one is the best. he offers insights on everything about muscles. the best thing – he knows what he is talking about. simple but will definitely yield result. just do what he says.

this time – it isn’t hard for me to gain weight.

but because i am not yet fit to do heavy exercises, here’s the substitute which i do from jim saret.

I can’t find the reasons why I stopped writing. Sort of regret.

But now that I have the opportunity (internet connection), why not make the most out of it?

Chain of Love

He was driving home one evening, on a two-lane country road. Work in this small mid-western community was almost as slow as his beat-up Pontiac. But he never quit looking. Ever since the factory closed, he’d been unemployed, and with winter raging on, the chill had finally hit home. It was a lonely road. Not very many people had a reason to be on it, unless they were leaving. Most of his friends had already left. They had families to feed and dreams to fulfill. But he stayed on. After all, this was where he buried his mother and father. He was born here and he knew the country. He could go down this road blind and tell you what was on either side, and with his lights not working, that came in handy. It was starting to get dark and light snow flurries were coming down. He’d better get a move on. He almost didn’t see the old lady, stranded on the side of the road. But even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her. Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe, he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill which only fear can put in you. He said, “I’m here to help you, Ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan.” Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt. As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through.

She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid. Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. She asked him how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She had already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped.

Bryan never thought twice about the money. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way. He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance that they needed, and Bryan added “… think of me.” He waited until she started her car and drove off.

It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight. A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The cash register was like the telephone of an out of work actor – it didn’t ring much. Her waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet the whole day couldn’t erase. The lady noticed that the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.

After the lady finished her meal, and the waitress went to get change for her hundred-dollar bill, the lady slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. She wondered where the lady could be, and then she noticed something written on the napkin under which was four $100 bills. There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote. It said:

“You don’t owe me anything, I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: Do not let this chain of love end with you.”

Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written.

How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard. She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a kiss and whispered soft and low, “Everything’s gonna be all right, I love you, Bryan.”

Life Is What We Make It

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests, coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups-porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, some exquisite looking – telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other’s cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and do not change the quality of life. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided.”

So don’t let the cup drive you, enjoy the coffee instead.

1 – Too many candidates.

If I am working, I will not have enough time to know them well to be able to decide who’s the best bet. Since we are the great imitator of American Democracy, why not copy everything? Have the Senate be elected by regions. That way I’ll have fewer choices.

It is the reason why politicians crave to be at the top of the list. The first name has the best chance of being read and thereby receive a vote.

2 – Party List.

I think the real purpose for its creation is already set aside. I read a group of one profession and thought why not all sort of professionals be represented. Sari-saring grupo just to secure a seat in Congress.

3 – Women.

A lot of them. I am amazed by the irony of things. I’m hearing so much about not being well represented when many women at this point of time are filling up key positions in the government hierarchy. I do think the rightful place of women are in the homes. Our thinking is so twisted that we now believe that greatness for women can be found outside the house. When, at the very heart of this is actually selfishness. A lot of kids are growing up disobedient, rebellious and a liability to society because they are receiving no proper guidance in their homes which only mothers can provide.

RALPH RECTO

The nation needs leaders who have a sense of direction.

JUAN PONCE ENRILE

We need someone to guide us. Old age has wisdom which the young can never offer.

This book made me think.

Though a few situations may not apply anymore. Ex: African-American as a minority.

I have to disagree with some of her ideas. Ex: Critical Voice.

But a wonderful read. An eye-opener for me.