Isang Ordinaryong Araw

Sinimulan ang unang oras ng araw ng napakaraming pagbati mula sa aking FB wall.  Laking pasasalamat ko na lamang dahil nariyan ang FB upang paalalahanan ang mga kaibigan ko.  Ngunit nagpapasalamat pa rin naman ako dahil kung wala ang FB, hindi ako mapapaalalahanan ng mga kaarawan nila.  Kaya ayun, quits lang.

Sumunod ang isang tawag na hindi pumapalya sa loob halos ng sampung taon.  Meron nga lang mga pagkakataon na delayed ngunit hindi pa rin nakakalimot.

Natulog ng alas kwatro ng umaga.

Nagising ng pasado alas otso.  Hindi pa man buhay na buhay ang diwa ay may isang tawag na naman.  Hindi ko nakilala ang boses.  Dahil ilang beses niyang nasambit ang “leche ka!” tiyak akong close ko ito.  Ngunit sino? Bakit? Paano?  Sigurado nga akong close ko ito ngunit hindi ko talaga mahuli kung kaninong boses ito.  Clue.  Magkababata daw kami.  Ayun, naisip ko rin!  Paano ba naman ay siguro magtatatlong taon na rin nang huli kong narinig ang boses niya sa telepono. 

Nag-ayos.  Pumasok sa trabaho.

Umupo sa isang pagpupulong.  Isang tawag na naman.

Bumili ng tanghalian sa labas.  Inilibre ang sarili ng zagu dahil isang linggo nang nag-cacrave sa halo-halo.  Salamat nga pala sa nagbigay ng tirahang ito kay Chewy.  Tutal, sa inyo din naman galing si Chewy!

May nag-text. 

Kung sakaling mabasa mo man ito, bahala ka na kung magrereak ka.  Judge me kahit hindi ako book.  Pero tandaan mo, birthday ko.  Kahapon.

Hayaan mo ng kiligin ang mga makakabasa nito.  Kahit punong-puno ng charantia ang supposedly reply ko.

P.S.  Inaantay ko na ang imbitasyon para sa kasal mo.

Inantok matapos kumain ng tanghalian.  Tinulugan ang isa pang pagpupulong.  Pagkagising ay panibagong pagpupulong na naman.

Pumunta sa dentista.  Umupo halos dalawang oras para sa pagpapatuloy ng root canal.  Ikalawang linggo ko na ito.  Alas otso na ng gabi yata nang makauwi ako.  Masakit pero rock.

Pagkatapos maghapunan, sinimulang tingnan ang libo-libong larawan na nakaimbak kay Macky.  Nagnilay-nilay.  Nagmuni-muni.

Natapos na naman pala ang isang taon.  Sabi ko ilang taon na rin yata ang nakakalipas, dapat bago ako umabot sa tatlumpo, tapos na ako ng masterado.  Nagawa ko ito labing-anim na araw bago ako nag-dalawampu’t siyam.

Ngayong nadagdagan na naman ng isang numero ang mga guhit sa aking palad, may mga bagong tahakin na naman.  Dalangin ko ay matagumpayan ang matagal nang sinimulang mga kasulatan.  Dapat bago umabot ng tatlumpu ay naisakatuparan na ang lahat ng ito.

Hindi ko alam kung ano pa man ang idudulot ng bukas.  Nakakatakot.  Walang kasiguraduhan.  Ngunit isa lang ang nasisigurado ko, gagabayan Niya ako sa lahat ng oras.  Salamat po sa dalawampu’t-siyam na taon! 

Salamat sa mga luha, tawanan, pagkabigo at muling pagbangon.  Salamat sa mga talento, pagpapala, at pag-gabay.  Salamat sa panibagong taon.

Summer gurU

It's official, cyberhybernation is over!

After almost a month long of blogging hiatus, 25 days to be exact, the Urban gurU is back!

However, since am melting because of this scourging heat, am back as the Summer gurU! Yey! o.O


So what happened to the Urban, I mean, Summer gurU for the past 25 days?

*flashback*

• March 23-24 - finals! I have to finish the last 4 exams I'm supposed to give for this school year.
• March 26 - honors deliberation. Have to finish the graduating class' grades and finalize the honors lists.
  
• March 27 - Candlelight Ceremonies of the graduating class at Loyola Grand Villas. I have to shop my attire an hour before the event. Bwahaha!
• March 31 - Graduation Rites. Have to finalize the audio-visual presentation needed that day and that took me an entire day to finish! Praise God it went well!
  
• April 3 - Graduating Class' Retreat at Camp Explore, Antipolo, Rizal. Went home exhausted. And just like any other retreat, no one wanted to go home... *sigh*
  
• April 4 - Departure for Balanga City, Bataan for PSYSC's National Science Camp
• April 5-9 - Camp Bataan. For the record, this is my 7th Camp! Whew!
• April 10-12 - rested at home for the Holy Week.
  

Am not that busy, right?

But no, here's the deal, got more things happening this summer:

• April 13-24 - Log_on. It's a refresher course am giving at school for those who are taking high school entrance exams next school year.
• April 27-30 - Curriculum Refresher Course. I'll be giving a workshop for teachers about integrating Science in the elementary level. (details will follow soon)
• May 9 - iBlog5. I'll be riding an Ikot jeep and head to Malcolm Hall for the 5th Philippine Blogging Summit.
• May 11-29 - School Workshops. We will be preparing this time for the next school year!

Whew! What a jam-packed summer! Is this what they call vacation?

I don't think so...

Let's just enjoy the heat of the sun!!!

Credits go to 12 years old Just for the new Urban gurU graphics!

Soon...

Want to know why the Urban gurU is very busy lately?


First of all, he's still enjoying his golden tan from...




Second, it's because of...

soon...

Sembreak Day Three

This entry was written last October 28, 2008, 12:27AM while the Urban gurU was at Sariaya, Quezon. It just so happened it got lost in translation just like Scarlett Johansson...

naalala kita pag umuulan SEMBREAK
naalala kita pag giniginaw SEMBREAK
naalala kita ilang bukas pa ba
bago tayo ay magkita

I really hate it when my phone receives an SMS early in the morning. Since I always place it near my pillow, I would wake up easily even just by a single SMS alert.

Past 7 AM, AJ’s SMS woke me up saying:

This is Ms. AJ of PSYSC blah blah blah… I just want to confirm Sir that we’re supposed to meet at McDonalds Philcoa at 2pm this afternoon for our trip to Sariaya?

Good thing I woke up on the right side of the bed. So I replied:

Really? Oh that’s why no one from PSYSC showed up last night! Wadapak! I thought it was 2am?!

I’d better go home now and catch some sleep. See you this afternoon!

After a few minutes, my phone rang.

After her call I went back to sleep for another hour or two. Past 9am I fixed my bed and tried to catch some Pokemon.

Oh, by the way. I always watch Pokemon before going to work. Like this one ryan_h caught for me:


Lunchtime I went to SM North to pay some bills and to deposit a check; passed by National Bookstore to look for the latest Reader’s Digest but ended buying a Discovery Channel Magazine.


Thou it is almost a hundred pesos more expensive than RD, the free CD of exclusive Discovery Channel ringtones, clips and wallpaper convinced me a lot to buy the mag —stuff that I can use in classroom instruction.

1:15 pm but am still on a jeepney headed back to UP Campus. Car accident along CP Garcia stranded me in an Ikot jeep that made me decide not to go anymore to the National Institute of Geological Science (NIGS). I’m supposed to give an HSBC form to Enj at her lab coz she’s about to leave for Kidapawan that night and am about to leave for Sariaya AT 2PM!!!

1:40 pm. Alas! Am home coz I decided not to give the form to her anymore. I still have 20 minutes to pack my things for an overnight stay at Sariaya, Quezon to visit PSYSC’s 2008 Children’s Science Interactive Workshop, as a member of its Board of Trustees.

I arrived at McDOA (McDo + philcOA) 15 minutes past 2 o’clock but AJ wasn’t there yet. She arrived after I’ve finished my fries and then we left to fetched another speaker at the College of Engineering.

Around 3 o’clock pm, our five-hour journey began. We had a pitstop at Sta. Rosa, Laguna to fetch another speaker. By the way, Chico Garcia has really nice pix of some EK-EK at Enchanted Kingdom. I highly suggest that you visit his site for the said pix.

It was not a boring trip with an Archeologist from the National Museum, a Chemical Engineer, an Environmental Engineer, and a Grade School Science Teacher. I guess you already have an idea of what topics transpired in our conversations. Nevertheless, since Science is already a part of our lives, I assure you that we still have other things to talk about. Examples were: the mechanics of why Filipino motorbike riders are very prone to accidents, Petron and Shell’s monopoly over the country’s oil economy, Coast Guard trainees diving over Manila Bay, an engineer’s bridal shower, and the THES-QS results and other politics inside the University, to name a few.

See! I told you, they are purely not geek talk!

8 pm we arrived at Villa Del Prado. The sumptuous dinner waited for us as early as 7pm. Am telling you, any dinner would be very sumptuous for anyone who just came from a 5-hour drive.

Past 9 o’clock we transferred to a nearby resort where we will be housed.

So now, here I am writing this entry in a beach resort somewhere in Sariaya, Quezon.

It’s drizzling outside.
It’s cold.
And I’m excited to see YOU.

And oh, by the way, I just missed again another deadline for the Blog Awards Challenge. And that really…

When the Urban gurU returned to Quezon City last November 1, he found out that the Blog Awards Challenge's deadline was extended. Unfortunately, work piled up on his desktop causing him to cram in computing his students' grades and not be able to write for the BAC.

Urban gurU hibernates

ATTENTION NETIZENS!

The Urban gurU will be undergoing hibernation from July 8-10, 2008. This is in relation to the 2008 ASEAN Youth Science Summit to be held at the Traders Hotel, Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines.
Quoting the 8th ASEAN Science and Technology Week website:

The ASEAN Youth Science Summit (AYSS) is a complementary activity of the ASEAN Science and Technology Week Celebration in Manila that will involve the science-inclined youth of other nations, specifically those coming from the ASEAN-member nations and eight dialogue partner countries.

The AYSS is a gathering of the youth from the said countries for the purpose of providing a venue for the next leaders of regional S&T development to discuss relevant scientific and global issues, with the end view of promoting peaceful agreements among Southeast Asian nations.

The Urban gurU had been invited by the Department of Science and Technology - Science Education Institute to facilitate the teacher's sessions of the said event.

Included in the country paper presentations in science education are:

• Best Practices in Teaching Science Research to Students
• Gifted Education in Science and Mathematics

The 8th ASEAN Science and Technology Week will be done simultaneously with the 2008 National Science and Technology Week .


Hence, the first ever ASEAN Youth Science Summit is an offshoot of the 2007 National Youth Science Summit (NYSS) which was co-presented by the Philippine Society of Youth Science Clubs (PSYSC).

So, I'm off to another week of blogging hibernation...


See you at the Traders Hotel!

OVER: the week that was!

I know. And I am very sorry. I know that I do owe you all a lot.

So let me start my soliloquy by accounting all my eustress for the last week of June 2008...

23^rd of June, Mesmerized Monday

‘Frank’ spared me from lecturing in the laboratory this day. However, he didn’t spare the lives of hundreds of people aboard MV Princess of the Stars, nor the ill-fated citizens of Western Visayas.

I guess my friend is right, Sulpicio Lines should start changing their line of business into Sulpicio Funeral Homes after all of those maritime mishaps.

I do remember boarding Princess of the Stars three years ago. It was a trip to Cebu for the 2005 National Youth Science, Technology, and Environment Summer Camp. It was only tonight when I finally decided to look up for my remembrance of that trip. Here it is:

I vividly remember how huge that ship was. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the largest vessel I’ve boarded. Who would believe that it would succumb to ‘Frank’ that easily?

24^th of June, Thrilling Tuesday

While those living in Manila were enjoying their very long weekend holiday, I myself was indeed exuberant upon receiving my very first credit card. Many thanks to my orgmate’s blockmate in college who is also my co-teacher’s schoolmate in high school and grade school. Oh never mind the intertwined relationships!

In exactly 21 days, I received my HSBC credit card with a credit limit of Php*****.00. (I’ll keep it to myself coz you might be able to figure out how underpaid my profession is).

Nevertheless, just as an ‘old’ friend warned me not so long time ago, I swear from this day on that I wont use my card that much every time I pay a visit to the mall.

Using it twice in every visit is a good idea…right? What do you think?

25^th of June, Wednesday Workout

One thing that made me very excited this day is the fact that it’s the first day of classes for my Photoshop class. Yippee! I’m glad to be a student once again. Teacher Niño, the school’s Art teacher, opened his graphic arts class for the school’s grown ups. So, who are my classmates? Teacher Lilia (the Filipino teacher), Teacher Ana (the School Registrar), and ultimately, Teacher Gracel (the School Principal).

At least now, I can edit already the pictures I’m posting here in my site (without using Paint!). Hehe.

See for yourself!

26^th of June, Thursday Tautness

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”

1 Corinthians 12:4-6

This is what the Lord impressed to me upon waking up from a dream before 3 in the morning. Thou I know that I had a hard time the whole day figuring out what am I supposed to do with my vision, the Lord assured to me my actions at the end of the day. "Mission accomplished," I would say. Thus, just as a colleague remarked the following day, this is just the beginning for me, I know that there are still a lot more things He prepared for me.

27^th of June, Friday Fiasco

Even without enough sleep the other night, I still accompanied my class to their field trip to the Quezon City Central Post Office. It was also my first time inside a big post office. Despite my fascination on how they were able to sort and deliver all of those snail mails in the biggest city in Metro Manila, I was disgruntled at the same time by the actual condition of the post offices in the country. It seems that everything was a makeshift in that post office, from the packets where they sort the mails, to the used sacks of rice they use in delivering the mails to the other central post offices. Ridiculous, I may say.

Good thing my students still enjoyed the entire trip to the dilapidated post office. (Taken for granted that it was their first time to actually mail a ‘real mail’).

28^th of June, Saturated Saturday

Work doesn’t end for me on a Saturday. By 7:15 am, I was at the school already 'coz we’re headed to Grace Christian High School for the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools – Science (ICASS). Two of my students joined the said competition. But since I have angst about this competition, I’ll be posting soon another entry about it.

After the contest, we returned to our school 'coz by 3 o’clock pm, we had the first Parent Interaction Hour (PIH). It’s an orientation for our student’s parents for the new school year (some sort of a PTA meeting).

At 8 pm, I had an organic dinner with a girl friend in a nearby vegetarian resto. But since I was not happy with my tall glass of homemade mango yogurt, I insisted to her that we should drink a bottle of –OH. Good thing she was not happy either with her cute mug of hot chocolate drink. And so we both drink a bottle of –OH.

And the rest is history...

29^th of June, Shopping Sunday

What is the best way to formally end an entire week of eustress other than shopping? Answer: more shopping.

Today is the first time I used my credit card. And the first thing I bought with it are my…

Then I also bought a…

…and I lived happily ever after…

THE END

The Nature of Zorro

In an email my student sent me today, she forwarded some things that I really need to ponder upon. Here's an example:

Three things in life that are never certain:

1. Fortune
2. Success
3. Dreams

But anyway, this blog has nothing to do with that email...


An online friend finally allowed me to post her pictures here in my site. I met Chutte in Multiply. Here are some of her pix at the Bromo Crater in Indonesia two years ago:

Bromoarea

Mountain View at the National Park

Beautiful, aren't they?


I just love nature. And traveling is my addiction.

I decided also to feature pictures in my sidebar. (Well actually, I've been doing that since I started this blog). The only difference now is that I'll be featuring shots regularly. Every two weeks maybe... =D


Oh, one more reason why I blogged this late is that I'm waiting for I-Witness.

Howie Severino documented "three teens from public schools, all headed for college at UP Diliman. These youngsters carry the weight of their families and communities' expectations as well as their branding as part of UP's centennial batch."

Not to mention their first encounter with the home-grown rallyists who are always there everytime there's a Freshmen Orientation at the University Theatre.


And who can forget Zorro! I love this guy. He's always up to date with what is happening in his society. I always catch him reading newspapers in Nadasha (a 24-hour eatery here in our place).

Anyway, the commercials are over, I need to go back in front of the TV...

'Til next time!

Mabuhay ang mga bagong iskolar ng bayan!

Mole in My Sole

I was born with a mole in my sole. (Wow! It rhymes!) My feet had taken me to several places around the country. Beaches, mountains, waterfalls, springs, estuaries, mangrove forests, name it!

The northernmost part of the country I've been to is Baguio City, the easternmost, so far, is Tagum City, the southernmost is General Santos City, and the westernmost, of course, is Puerto Princesa City, my birthplace.

I remember a week ago when a student asked me what are the places in the country I've been to, well, here's the answer to his question.

I'm a certified C+ traveler!

I love traveling around the country. My next destination: Zambales. I hope to be there before my birthday. Ha!

You, how much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

(Thanks to Em for the link. Lakbayan created by Eugene Villar.)