Updates! January 31, 2009

I have been a bad blogger! There are so many things I could have blogged about this past 2 weeks but I just haven’t had the energy or the motivation to do so. Add to that the fact that we didn’t have Internet at work also for 2 weeks now, and by the time I get home from work, I find myself being too exhausted to think of what to blog about. But since today is Saturday, I thought I’d just go and bloga about all the things that have been happening to me for the last 2 weeks. 

• TFCA’s E.P.A.L. ( Employees Play and Leisure) Fest ‘09   > at the school where I work, we usually have a Sportsfest during exam days for the teachers, sort of like a stress reliever for all the deadlines we all had to meet before the exam. For the past years we would usually play games like volleyball, and basketball (yes, even for girls, although the usual rules don’t apply to us). This school year we didn’t have one for the 1st and 2nd quarter but this 3rd quarter we did something different. We called it the “Fractured Sportsfest”. We played volleyball but with the big exercise ball, Patintero, Agawan Panyo, Day and Night(my first time to play this game) and Touch Ball ( I won this game – yay). It was the best sportsfest yet because we all got to participate, especially for people like me who only like watching games and not playing it. Unfortunately also  for people like me, waking up for the next 2 days was harder than usual, becaule of all the bodyache that resulted from all the jumping and stretching and running. Man was I exhausted especially after the second day, I played in all the games! But I won in Touch Ball! Iwas the only one who didn’t get hit by the ball! ven I was surprised by that, but grabe ha after that game I couldn’t breathe. I crawled from the center of the court to the side because I thought I was going to collapse, haha. But it was all good though…that was probably the most exercise I’ve had in a year…hehe, it was a good way to start my goal of losing weight this year. Here are some pictures of the games.
   

Agawan Panyo with Team Galapong!

Pastor Sunday and Pastor Bong
 

Day and Night – this game was confusing!

 

• Teachers’ Day ‘09 – we celebrated late because there was not enough time for preparations. But it was fun. Yash and I were announced King and Queen (Male and Female Teacher of the Year for the High School). Unfortunately, we had to dance like we were the Prom King and Queen, it would have been fine except we were on stage and in front of the  whole school =). But still the Student Council did a good job.
  

  Happy Teacher's Day!

   

   

 

I ♥ the full moon! January 12, 2009

   
 

The moon looked beautiful last night! I’ve always loved looking at the moon when it was at its biggest. I was waiting for it all day because the news said that it would be the biggest moon for the whole year.
Too bad I couldn’t take a better photo, between cooking dinner last night and preparing for my lesson the next day, I only had a few minutes to take pictures.
I’ll just wait and prepare for the next full moon!

Goals for 2009 January 6, 2009

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Happy New Year everyone! I can’t believe it’s 2009! When I was a kid, I always thought that the world would end by the year 2000, you know that Jesus would come and everyone I know would go to heaven, well anyway, that didn’t happen. 

I didn’t post my goals for 2009 right away because I had to  think hard about what I really want to achieve this year. I didn’t want to make goals just for the sake of making them. When I met with my lifegroup last Sunday, we had  time to write down our dreams for this year, we plan to make a dream board for the whole group so that we could track other’s progress, and give each other a push when we slack off. There’s no motivation like having close friends aiming to do the same thing you are doing.

• Be consistent with my devotion and Bible reading. This is my priority for the year. I need to reconnect with God this year. I felt misplaced last year, used up, even though I barely did anything, but this year, I know that God has so much in store for me, I just need to let go and let God.
• Pray and fast. This has always been my waterloo in my spiritual life. But this year, I’ll make up for all those mini-meals I used to sneak in (shhh) during our scheduled fastings at church. 
• LOSE WEIGHT. I’m not the only one who wants this to happen. My dad is so determined to make us lose weight that he bought us an exercise machine, and telling my mom to plan our menu for the whole week so that we can have balanced meals. I basically need to lose about 40 pounds (yes 40!!!) to have normal weight. This needs a complete lifestyle change for me!! Less rice (ugh), less French Fries (double ugh), less of all the food I like eating. But then, as the Witwicky motto says, “No sacrifice, No victory.”
• Read 40 new books this year. If you know me, I really read a lot. So this year, I’m challenging myself to read 40 new books, and make reviews of all them! New meaning I’ve never read them before, meaning I can’t include all the novels I read about thrice a year (like Pride and Prejudice and This Present Darkness).
• Bring my small camera with me all the time. I’ve missed so many opportunities to take photographs (like when Y and I eat at a new restaurant), so when I blog about them, I have no proof of all that I’ve done. 
• Take photography lessons. My dad bought a new Nikon D80.  I haven’t had the time to really maximize its features but this year, I’ll be taking photography seriously, I’ve been looking at a couple of classes but so far I can’t fit them into my schedule, so I’ll self-study for awhile and maybe take classes this summer.
• Go back to graduate school. Now this I really have to do. I’ve been putting it off for too long. But this year, I’ll just go for it! But first I have to decide if i’ll continue my MA in Literature or transfer to Educational Management…
• Satisfy my wanderlust. Basically I want to travel again. I was planning to go to Pagudpud this coming April for Y’s bday. I’ve already contacted different resorts, but this afternoon, my mom said she didn’t want us to go, so scratch that,  I still have 3 months to convince her to change her mind though.It’s also been 10 years since I went out of the country. That’s too long don’t you think??? So this year, I’m planning to go with my parents to Singapore for the G12 conference. I just need to renew my passport first so we can book our flights right away. And as a bonus, I thought I would be missing the Delirious? concert here at the Philippines, but as it turns out, they’re a special guest at the conference!!! How cool is that?
• Finally, finally learn to drive. So I need to get my student’s license again…
• Expand what I know about cooking and baking. My goal for this year is to learn all my mom’s recipes. 
• Be consistent in meeting my lifegroup. I handle a bunch of really amazing, passionate girls, but I haven’t been able to meet them so much last year. That will change this year.
• Reconnect with old friends. I haven’t seen my college barkada in a really long time, hopefully we can schedule a day out this year. Plus, it’s been 10 years since my high school graduation! It’s time for a batch reunion!

Okay, that’s it, I think, if I think of more, I’ll probably just edit it. So Happy New Year again everyone! Oh and check out what my dad bought me when the family went out last week! I have the best dad in the world!

 

My first pair of Nine West Shoes

 

Where the Echoes Stop January 6, 2009

Where the Echoes Stop

by Erwin Raphael McManus

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Far past where sound has abandoned thought.
Where silence reigns over redundancy.
Where once well said is more than enough.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Where words must be born to be heard.
Where speech is a gift and not a curse.
Where there is more of the unique and less of the mundane.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Where meaning is rescued from noise…
Where conviction replaces thoughtless repetition…
Where what everyone is saying surrenders to what needs to be said.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Where the shouting of the masses falls silent to the whisper of the one…
Where the voice of the majority submits to the voice of reason…
Where “they” do not exist; but “we” do.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Where substance overthrows the superficial…
Where courage conquers compliance and conformity…
Where words do not travel farther than the person who speaks them.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.
Where I only say what I believe.
Where I only repeat what changes me.
Where empty words finally rest in peace.

I want to stand where the echoes stop.

“Be still and know that I am God…” -Psalm 46:10a