For me one of the factors that could contribute to one’s happiness at work is the people you work with. And I am one of the most fortunate people in the world because I am always given the opportunity to work with some of the most wonderful and talented people. 
My MSU-GenSan family
Active Rail Technology Solutions
OSM Team (Accenture)
Portal Team (Accenture)
Thank you for blessing my life.
Last night, I stayed up so late because I mistakenly started to watch the movie 3 Idiots at 10pm. At first I thought I just wanted to relax after spending my Saturday at the office, take a peek into the movie, and see if it’s really worth watching (it was highly recommended by one of my teammates and almost all the DVD vendors at the bangketa where I bought it). And yeah, obviously, I could no longer stop watching it until the end.
I loved the movie because it was so beautifully told and the lessons about life and learning are really great and so easy to relate to. Maybe it has touched me more because I have been both a student and an educator myself.
“Life is a race”
At an early age, so much has been expected from me as a student. Especially when I entered a high school full of “supposedly nerds” – I mean, really gifted kids – the “creme of the crop”, as they say. At first I was really scared because I thought I had to “compete” with all the other students to prove that I was good enough to belong. Luckily, a wise person told me that you really don’t have to compete with anyone, you only have to keep on striving to become a better you, to continuously improve, to outdo yourself, and seek your maximum potential. And while you’re at it, just have FUN, break some rules, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. “Life is NOT a race.”
“Suicide”
I really had goosebumps when I saw one of the students, “Joy Lobo” hanging inside his dorm room. I remembered an incident when I was still on my second year of teaching, I was busy computing grades because it was time to submit the final grades of the students when I felt there was some commotion in the neighborhood. My brother went out to investigate and came back with a very disturbing news. An engineering student who was supposed to graduate in a few weeks hanged himself in his room. Apparently, he didn’t pass his project defense and he can’t tell his parents that he can’t graduate because his family are already so excited for his graduation and are coming over in a few days. Instead of seeing him get his diploma on stage, they saw him lifeless, hanging inside his room.
“Be what you want to be, follow your heart”
Don’t try to be what other people (not even your parents/family) want you to be. Do what you want to do with your life. As what one of the characters said, “you may earn less, live in a simpler house, drive a smaller car…, but you will be happy.” Maybe I am fortunate enough to have been given the chance to live my dream, to follow my heart and do what I love to do. Once upon a time, fear kept me from doing what I wanted to do with my life. Good thing, before it was too late, I had the courage to step out of my comfort zone and try to follow my heart, to be in the industry and be a software engineer. I may not be good enough or an expert in this field yet but I am happily learning… and right now, this is all that matters.
2011, the year when:
For all the changes, achievements, trials surpassed, people met, triumphs, ups and downs… thank you dear Lord!
I miss having someone to call my Nanay (lola/grandma) or Tatay (lolo/grandpa). Now that they’re gone, all I have are precious memories of the times I spent with each of them.
Three years ago, I wrote about how much I missed my three grandparents but I still felt happy because I still had Tatay Primo. Now I feel sadder because I lost him early this year.
He died on the day I was supposed to leave for Manila. I cancelled my trip and went home with a heavy heart. But I’m thankful that I was still given a chance to see him for the last time. I miss him a lot and it would feel strange when I’d go home and he’s no longer around.
Oh, I miss my grandparents. I miss being an “apo”. But I know that they are happy now. And I’m glad that I was able to spend precious moments with them while they were still with me here on earth. We really have to make the most out of our short time here with our loved ones coz life is too short.
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
This movie caught my attention when I turned on the TV. I forgot about my dance exercise and cooking lessons altogether. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet were a strange couple. The movie was very intriguing and it would keep you thinking and guessing. Clementine (Kate Winslet) brought color and excitement to Joel (Jim CarreyUntil)’s dark and boring life. Until one day, Clementine didn’t seem to recognize Joel anymore – which left Joel broken and hurt.
Apparently, Clementine has erased Joel from her memory through a medical procedure. She requested that the procedure be done to her because she was no longer happy with her relationship with Joel and she wanted to move on. I instantly remembered the time when I so wanted for someone to invent a “memory pill” so that I could forget everything about my past, delete them all from my memory and just stop hurting. It’s like that when we experience so much pain, we could make permanent decisions based on temporary feelings.
Back to the movie.. Joel decided to have the same operation so he could also forget all about Clementine and just move on with his life. Meanwhile, an interesting twist happened in the story. The doctor’s wife caught him and his secretary making out. The younger girl asked for forgiveness and admitted that it was her mistake for having a silly crush on the doctor and told the wife that there was really nothing going on with the two of them. Surprisingly, the wife pitied the young girl and told the doctor to tell the truth to her.
The doctor’s secretary (Kirsten Dunst) discovered that the doctor performed the procedure on her because they had an affair and they both agreed that it would be best if she’d forget about the two of them because the doctor was married and had kids. Later, the secretary discovered that she was happier before the operation and now she was miserable. She wanted all the other patients who had the procedure performed on them to remember their past and she sent all the recorded tapes to them – including Clementine and Joel – who were, at the meantime, getting to know each other again (without knowing that they had a past).
Both Clementine and Joel (who were starting to get romantically involved with each other again) were shocked to receive their respective recordings with the doctor – detailing why they wanted the procedure to be done on them. They realized that they were already a couple before and they wanted to erase each other from their lives.
Did they end up together – again? Hmmm..maybe. Sometimes in our lives, we could come to a point when we just want to delete people from our lives. Deleting them from our contact list on our phones or friends list on Friendster/Facebook can be really therapeutic and can help us in our process of healing. But that doesn’t mean that we are able to completely delete them from our lives – and the reality is, we really CAN’T.
We all have our own ways of healing and moving forward. And later, when the pain is gone, we will be able to see how and why that person became a part of our lives.
No Other Woman
Why did I relate this movie with the previous one? Because the former also had an interesting story of how a married man wanted to correct his mistakes by erasing himself from the memory of his mistress.
With No Other Woman, if you are a wife, you’d feel triumphant and proud. And if you are a mistress, it makes you realize that you are fighting a losing battle – except if the married man is really in love with you and is willing to leave his family for you. Tough luck.
It’s really a nice movie – really worth my time and money. Aside from being a huge fan of Anne Curtis and Derek Ramsay is like, my super crush, the movie was well written. Thumbs up to Philippine Cinema.
Now women have an idea on how to be a cool, “palaban”, and smart wife – you have to fight for your right, for your love, and for your man! And keep them away from hot, seductive, temptations a.k.a. mistresses. Haha.
I had a fulfilling Saturday afternoon yesterday. I spent it with some of the street children in Manila. Instead of just staying at home, watching TV and wasting my time away, I went out and met these kids.
I signed up for my company’s volunteer program for teaching street children, partnering with ChildHope Asia Philippines and now I have a wonderful chance to reach out to these often neglected and misunderstood members of our society.
Prior to our immersion in the field, the staff of ChildHope Asia Philippines oriented us about the organization, their advocacy, and their activities.
Christian, one of CHAP’s staff, is asking the children to illustrate their “pangarap” (dreams) on a piece of paper.
One of the children shares that he wants to be a football player or a policeman someday so that he can help his family. He said that he will only be able to achieve his dreams if he can finish his studies.
Kuya Christian tells them a story of a man who was able to achieve his dream because he had confidence in himself. And he shared to them inspiring stories of Henry Sy, Isko Moreno, and Manny Pacquiao. Simple, poor men who believed in their dreams, worked hard, and are now successful. He encouraged them that someday, they can also be like them.
We also went to another site, a park in Manila to observe another group of street children. When we arrived, kuya PeeWee, one of CHAP’s teachers, introduced as to the children and they all flocked to us para mag mano. On the picture below, the children are watching a short film on the mobile classroom of CHAP – a part of their values formation.
I really admire the people behind ChildHope Asia Philippines. Its organizers, staff, and volunteers are all working together to help make a difference in these children’s lives. Some of us may get easily irritated by these kids begging on the streets or in jeepneys and consider them as eye sores but if you really try to see beyond what your eyes could see, you’d discover that these are just children, hungry for the society’s love and acceptance. As the song goes, “I believe that the children are our future, teach them well, and let them lead the way… Show them all the beauty they possess inside, give them a sense of pride…”
