Time for Upgrade

September 2005 marked the start of my review for the MCSD path (which requires a total of 5 exams). I took my 1st exam on October 13, 2005 and became an MCP. I was so elated because as per my research that time, there were less than a million MCPs so I was one in a million. :D Isn’t that cool? :) But then I slacked off haha so I did not take the next exam until March 30, 2006 and the next on April 5, 2006 for MCAD. Whew. That was a long battle! I was so tired of all the studying so I decided to delay my 4th and 5th exams. Besides, there were no ongoing promos at the time so I waited for the next promo which came in June, thus forcing me to take my 4th exam on June 28, 2006. I was reviewing for this exam during the 2006 Sykes picnic haha. I did not want to prolong the agony any longer and so on July 24, 2006, I became an MCSD. Whew. Finally! My scores were: 70-315 (810/1000), 70-320 (968/1000), 70-316 (920/1000), 70-229 (816/1000), 70-300 (868/1000).

In November 2005, Micrsoft launched Visual Studio 2005 and a year later, there were already new certification paths. For MCSDs, we can just take an exam for upgrade. So now, it’s time to hit the ebooks and reviewers again huhu. Good luck to me! Sniff.

Literary Piece: Filipinism and Globalization…A Challenge to Filipino Youth

We are now in the era wherein worldwide communication is established. We are free to interact with other countries, exchange products with them and adopt their system of living. The main idea behind globalization as they say is actually for the economic growth and development of any country who is part of it.

But going deeper, this can also be a threat to our own identity since we are free to do and act the way we want to. Definitely, if this happens, we are already presenting a new image of the Filipino, the Filipino who is a breed of different identities due to open communications.

As youths and future leaders of our country, we are given the choice either to let this go on further until Filipinos at heart and mind become extinct or to salvage and bring back the old Filipino we, as well as other countries have come to know. We are challenged therefore to act now and do something about this issue. Of course, as always, the change should come first within us before we force others to change too. We can always become the eye-opener for other Filipinos who want to change their identity and totally forget the race where they really belong. The time challenges us to bring home the Filipino…

Written on: February 1, 1997
For: English 1B
Score: 10/10 :)

Literary pieces

While I was going through my stuff in Baguio, I saw some of my compositions (usually essays) that were part of the requirements in some of the subjects in school. Reading through them was like travelling back through time. Once again, I was the high school/college student, with my principles and beliefs evident in those compositions.

All through elementary and high school, I attended schools, whose one of its mission is to mold students to become God-fearing, humane, nationalist, and environmentalist. To practice these things, we were encouraged to always write about relevant topics like current events, hsitory, current issues in the community and the like. It was different in college though because we had the freedom to write about anything under the sun, no matter how irrelevant or shallow our topic was. But having been used to the high school way, I still took writing in college very seriously. I’m glad I did because that gave me good grades and sometimes praises from instructors hihi.

I’ll then be sharing some of those compostitions in this blog. The first one (in random order) comes right after this post.

Warning: These are not a professional writer’s works so expect many flaws. :)

How do you deal with death?

I just received news from my friend that her dad already passed away. It was all so sudden huhu. I cannot imagine the pain that they’re going through right now. I mean that must really really be painful, especially that it was all so unexpected. Imagine having someone present all your life then all of a sudden, he’s gone forever. I don’t even know how to comfort her. All I can offer her are my prayers.

Every time I hear of these kinds of news, I cannot help but think about my parents as well. I know they are not getting any younger and I know in time, it will be their time too. I wouldn’t know how to react by then. All I know is that I need to be strong when the time comes.

On the lighter side, this also makes me appreciate my parents more. I’m very lucky because my dad, who’s already 69 and my mom at 59, is still with us. My friends’ parents are gone now to think that they are way younger than my parents.

This is life, and this is one of life’s ironies maybe. You nurture a close relationship with someone, and then all of a sudden, that person leaves you forever. You, on the other hand, need to move on.

But how is the best way to deal with death? I know people will have varieties of answers to this question and people who have gone through losing someone in the form of death have different ways of coping up. But to me (as of this writing), I guess it’s by simply going through all the pain, even though it hurts a lot. It helps in a way because I believe there will be an end to this. Next to it would be acceptance. Acceptance of the fact that that person is gone and anything unmended between you and that person should not be a source of guilt on your part. But if you really feel guilty, then you need to release it in some other ways. Then there’s healing, by standing strong and learning to smile again and keeping the memories of that person in your heart to serve as an inspiration for you to continue. Avoding the pain will just lead you to other negative feelings like anger, resentment, and sometimes guilt. So now instead of dealing with just pain, you are likely to deal with more emotions. But then again, this is so much easier said than done. Sniff.

To my friend, just be strong and know that I will be here.

To Mama and Daddy, I love you!

Wish list

"People making list buying special gifts

Taking time to be kind to one and all..."

When I opened the radio this morning, the station was playing a Christmas song. Immediately, it dawned on me that there are only less than a hundred days before Christmas! This is a time of making wish lists because this is the season where people are so generous for gift-giving :). Since it’s free to wish for anything we want, I am also free to list down big wishes hihi. And so, here goes my list.

• 4-bedroom house on top of a hill, with a front and backyard, with a bathtub, a walk-in closet and a reading corner in the master’s bedroom, a library where I can fill it up with books to my heart’s content, a prayer room for those quiet moments, and a big enough living room fit for big gatherings. Oh yeah, I want my own house! Haha.
• A light blue or tangerine Isuzu Crosswind, or bluish silver Honda Civic 2007 or a pink Honda jazz hekhekhek.
• A personal laptop with a developer specification. No idea on what brand yet.
• Climb Mt. Pulag. Shame on me. That’s in my province but I haven’t even thought of visiting it when I was still in Baguio. When I came to Manila, I met people who really want and who really have plans of climbing the mountain.
• Travel, travel, travel and more travel. I’m already old and have been working for a while but until now, I haven’t even ridden an airplane. That’s so pathetic. :( But still, I wanna go around the world.
• Learn a new language. Spanish it is! Hehe. Hola! For starters, I want those CDs they sell which you can listen to and learn!
• Books, books and more books! I want my own library remember?
• Finish my cross stitch projects and unread books.
• Start a business at home to be managed not by me but the income must go to me hihihi.
• Learn to ride the bike hehe. Yeah, when I was a kid, I did not have any bike. Budget was tight so our parents can’t afford to spend for wants.
• Be the best in my field and in my role as SSE. Hay, this is quite hard. But no pain, no gain hehe.
• Bond with old friends, meet new friends.
• And…WORLD PEACE. No kidding.

Well, that’s about it. But that’s just the first part hehe. It’s a pretty long list whew! Some are hard to have because it involves lots n lots of moolah but what the heck, it’s just but a wish list wehehe. (A list that maybe the start of a reality :))