Sunday, March 23, 2008

A Confession


My very long vacation was not very productive and I am not very proud to admit it. It is just that it makes me feel better to confess.

I was hooked by the book In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner. I have seen the film but I was very curious to find out if the film did the book justice. I am glad (though not immediately) that I read the book because as always, the movie obscured so many important details. Though, being fair to the screenplay, these were things a bit hard to convey on the big screen without the overly used voice-over thinking-aloud style. Nonetheless, the idea of reading a book of a movie adaptation is always a good idea, it's like seeing the behind the scenes of the movie itself.

I liked the book, the ending left me teary-eyed and wanting to cry. I am such a sucker for sibling stories. The books is about two sisters whose mom died when they were young. Seems like another one of those stories but Weiner was able to introduce other twists like the little sister having a learning disability and their mom's death not being an accident at all etc. It's a nice read, if you do not have much to do.

Which brings me to my confession. I have tons of things to do. I have got to stop reading! I borrowed In Her Shoes from the library. When my feet lead me to the library, I tend to shop for books. I thought it was a great idea since I have been buying books the past few weeks (I used GC's or I bought when the books were on sale but even so...). I got myself a John Grisham, Rainmaker and Hannibal Rising... Tsk... Movie adaptations again. I was going to get Romeo and Juliet but the library had a terrible copy all worn out and yellow and part of the book was cut-off so the last word in every line was truncated.

Tomorrow is back-to-work day and I have to face the list of things I must do again.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Declamation Pieces

For a while now, people have been asking for declamation pieces. I havea tried searching on the net for possible declamation pieces and found none. This afternoon, I found myself some time to spare so I headed to the library and got a book on declamation pieces. After reading some of the pieces, I feel compelled to post some of them because they have been used during my grade school days. No luck finding Vendetta and Birthday Gift though but I shall search again when I find the time.

In the meantime...

I think this is a nice piece that can slightly be modified as performed so that it is more dramatic.


Guilty or Not Guilty
Anonymous


Saturday, March 15, 2008

Logistics Nightmare!

I have just had a nightmare of a week!

I had not one, not two but eight foreigners come to my university. I was the only one who arranged everything and they are from not one, not two but five countries! I had a professor from France, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan!

If there is anything that I have learned from this experience, it is that, logistics is not really my thing. I had eight foreign visitors from my research group this week but of course, preparation started a week before as well. They had to change booking arrangements so the hotel booking drove me crazy. They were coming from different countries and different flights so transfers from the airport to the hotel also drove me mad. Then, I also had to take care of the logistics of the talk I asked as a favor from them for our students. I was thinking having foreigners from different universities abroad at the same time in one place, our university, no less, was a great opportunity for students. I requested networking students to attend as the field of the professors were mainly wireless technologies.

For the past few days, and I have reason to believe this is due to stress, I have been involuntarily waking up at three in the morning.

The talk was alright, I really did not expect much participation from the students but hopefully they got something out of the talks. They were also presented opportunities to study in Korea, France and Taiwan which I think is pretty good. There are also attractive PhD scholarships in Singapore. Internships are available as well.

I have been asked to go on an internship program in Singapore but because I am getting married soon, I declined for now. I might go next year before we aim to have a baby. The professor said there's no hurry since the project is going to span two years.

If it is any consolation, the foreigners loved the food here. On their first night, I brought them to dampa and on the second night I brought them to Gerry's grill. I mean even the French guy loved the food! Now that is flattering! The Korean was crazy about our fruits here as there is none in Korea. The weather also cooperated.

The second night that they were here also happened to be my birthday which meant that I was very stressed on my 28th birthday and I was brought to tears by the logistical nightmare I had to face! I had a car that can take four people but I had seven (one went to Subic) people to transport. No one was willing to drive for them and so I had to ask my mom! Fortunately, my mom was more than happy to help me and so she drove them to MOA.

My sweet fiance, with a chocolate cake in tow followed us to Gerry's so he can have dinner with us but mainly to help me drive the foreigners back. I love my mom and Vince! They truly are the wind beneath my wings!

To make this long story short, everything worked out thanks to the two people I love.

It's nice to know that there are people who, no matter what the circumstance can be counted upon.

I love you.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Cynic Child

What has become of the world?

People steal and deny it without batting an eyelash. I hate not being able to trust anybody. Trust and you pay dearly for it. It's terrible.

I remember a time when I was in kindergarten. It was dismissal time and my mom already got my bag and lunchbox in our car. I was still in school for a reason I can no longer recall. Then I saw a man and a child. The man had with him a screwdriver for who knows what reason in one hand and a bright yellow lunchbox in the other. Upon seeing that, a scene started playing in my five year old mind where the man opens the lock of our car with his screw driver and takes out my bright yellow lunchbox. I began wailing and screaming saying that the man has stolen my lunchbox.

I must have embarrassed my mom greatly because I sure got a nice scolding after. As young as that age, I knew trusting someone comes with a price, betrayal.

While I was probably one of the most cynical five year olds there ever was... even that cynicism did not prepare me for what the world has become.