my first alumni homecoming

Not really big about alumni homecoming, I attended my first ever anyway mid of this month because I was tasked to do the emceeing. Otherwise I would have skipped that too like I'd been skipping them for the past.....hmmmm.....many years. It was a high school alumni homecoming and I've finally seen once again my former batchmates no longer firm and trim but more like "mature" men and women who now know the secrets of life and living. Photos of us back in high school were flashed on screen and there we were, taut, young, all thin, and oh so innocent. We looked so unknowing and so sweet. Suddenly there's this feeling of sadness that overwhelms one when you think about how good those days were and how you wish you could have stopped time so you could have remained so young and beautiful.

Now, 35 years after that happy stage of our lives we can only pretend to smile and be happy to be able to make it to that reunion. Many are no longer able to join because they had left the world and are now situated somewhere.

Will I attend another homecoming next year or the years to come? It depends.:)

on writing the term paper

The schoolyear is almost ending and majority of our fourth year high school students in the country are now facing what they dread-----writing the term paper.

I too wrote my first and last term paper in college, not in high school. Unfortunately, I did not learn it the right way. I mean, we weren't taught the nitty-gritty steps of truly making one so I admit that there was a lot of plagiarism that went into the completion of the paper. It is embarrassing to admit but about 95% of it was plagiarized because our teacher did not exactly show us the proper way of making an honest paper.

I learned how to make one when I started teaching the subject. Of course, I had to study and master the subject to be able to teach and make my own students understand the whole procedure. I devised a way of making my students write their own term paper in the easiest and most honest fashion. I had developed a procedure that will ensure that no plagiarizing happened. I did this for a number of years and later on I noticed that teachers from other schools have adopted the same method. Of course, I am happy about it.

What are the easy steps in making your own honest paper? That will be the subject of discussion on my next blog.

provincialism

People vary in the ways they deal with things. For instance, people in smaller and slower paced cities have the tendency to take appointments for granted. The value of time never exists here. They just cancel out appointments for not much of a valid reason. This is the best example of unprofessionalism or provincialism. Even finishing a college degree does not help. The habit acquired since birth will always surface and so they break commitments and not push through with appointments.

Huh? Can you just tell someone after you've made an agreement that you are cancelling out because of this and that reason which you failed to see beforehand? No matter how you look at it your provincial mentality is the root of it all because if not because of that you would have had the decency or common sense to see to it that everything is clear before entering into any agreement with someone or anyone.

It's annoying, you know.

COSCA & YEHS Outsourcing

Don't miss to watch our show tomorrow, Sunday, Dec.9 in my country, because it will be featuring one of the premier Catholic schools in the province.

Next week's feature will be a call center situated in a neighboring city. YEHS outsourcing will be bringing to your homes a peek into the call center industry. That's for next Sunday. You don't wanna miss that one too.

off to another town to judge

My son will be going to another city to judge and of course, we intend to do some footages there and have them shown on our show. It's a literary-musical sort of affair and I am sure it's going to take like forever.LOL. Anyway, if you want to view snap shots of the affair, just tune in to our show every Sunday, 8:00 p.m., Channel 6, Filproducts Cable TV.

On the 8th of this month he will have to go back to the place to judge another idol search competition, and on the 22nd it will be another city for a big event in which he will be judging again.

It seems like December is a season of competitions.

got shadowed

During last week's interview with the Project Manager of Firm Builders, my son who is co-hosting "at random" told me earlier to do the interview with the guest. However, when it was time for the interview he changed his mind and said that he'll do it with me. So of course I was happy about it because he is really the one in charge of interviews. I did a brief intro of the guest, an Assumptionista, and I thought I'd throw the first question as well. But just when I was about to open my mouth to ask the first question my son Mark rattled off and did it and I was like gaping 'til the whole interview came to a conclusion which was the only thing I did during the entire segment.

I got shadowed. Oh well, it is said that our children are improvements of ourselves. I cannot disagree with this.

setting the standard

People in media are actually setting the standards for us, what ought and what ain't done. Without us knowing it, viewers are bombarded with a lot of trash everyday, trash in the sense that instead of developing or improving our way of life, some shows just pull us all down into the gutter. so what's the standard? Is it locally based? Do we have our own little standard in our own little corner of this world? What characterizes quality? Do we even know it when we see one?

I think local media should exert all its efforts in raising their standards whether morally, aesthetically, or intellectually. It is part of their duty to do this because they play a huge role in shaping the minds of the young. Whether they like it or not, their programs tell the viewers that "this is it", "this is how things ought to be done". Ouch. No wonder the next generation carries on the same blunders and the same level of mediocrity. Please. Let us see improvement in this area---not just a speck of it but tons of it NOW.

discipline ain't savagery

I am all for discipline in school and at home because it is only through this that we can enjoy life and enjoy peace in our community. Without this as an important component of education, our community will soon be full of rascals and criminals. But please, discipline has nothing to do with violence or other forms of physical assault that lead to physical injuries. That is no longer discipline but savagery.

Discipline is done for the good of the person being disciplined. It has limits and its purpose is always for the betterment of the human being. If it leads to violence or worse, death, then it is not discipline anymore but murder.

A stepfather of a two-year-old kid recently killed the kid by throwing her against the wall resulting to head injuries that killed the child. The stepfather reasoned out and used the term "discipline" to explain what he did. Discipline? That's murder.

earth-shaking questions in pageants are passe

Gone are the days when beauty candidates had to memorize formulas in response to earth-shaking questions like "How do you describe the woman of the new Millennium?"

Candidates are more appreciated and better judged based on their spontaneous answers to spontaneous questions. We want to hear and see spontaneity in our contestants but how can we do this when we ask such boring questions as:

1. What is the best career for a woman?

2. What is the biggest role of women in our society?

3. What challenges do our women of today have to deal with? (I mean, this one could be better)

But questions that require big answers are just laying the ground for memorized and formulated answers.

If you have observed in international pageants, final questions now lean towards casual questions that need quick and brilliant answers. A question like "What makes you blush?" could send the woman who gives the smartest answer to the throne.

There is no need to memorize answers when questions are upbeat.

no internet

Would I ever consider living in a place where internet is inaccessible? Never. And I don't think anyone who knows the benefits of having internet access would want that either.

It might sound unbelievable but a lot of people in our place, college graduates at that, do not have internet in their homes. These people just don't know what they are missing. Or are they really missing anything?

Back in the olden times, our parents and even great grandparents would tell us of how simple and uncomplicated life was then. They didn't even have the television back then but they're fine. I can very well see many reasons why life then would prove to be better than life today.

But given the fast technological breakthroughs at present, and having no opportunity of knowing what these changes are would be like living in the dark ages. Since we belong to this generation of various technological developments, I deem it necessary for each and every one to cope or keep abreast with what's new in this world today.

Not having internet at home would be like being deprived of a lot of things.

blogging as self-expression

Blogging is the best way to express one's innermost thoughts and feelings. The blogger can even opt to choose who he or she wants to access her blog. She can make it accessible to everyone at the risk of baring her soul and personal trash or choose to make it a private thing.

I think this is one of the best features of the internet. One only needs words to empty all those heavy thoughts and feelings, pour them out the way the heavens do when the clouds get so heavy.

You can be at your best or at your worst. You can dress it up or make it simple. Your blog is basically an extension of yourself so you can do anything with it.

Haven't done any blog yet? Try www.blogger.com for your free blog and get started now.

why I'm not going to the David Pomeranz concert

It's not that I don't know the singer. In fact, many years ago when I was partly working at an FM station I used to play his albums early in the morning while everybody's having breakfast. It's just that when I heard that he was coming over to Dumaguete, my initial reaction was like, "Why only now?" I think he just came too late, that his popularity has waned and that his concert no longer sparks any interest in me. I thought I'd rather stay home and listen to more popular songs if I want to.

I have a different idea of concerts. I want to go to a concert where I can clap my hands and do some dancing in my seat. I do not want to go to a concert where I only sit to listen coz I can always do that at home. I want a concert with lots of dancing in it and where I can openly scream and laugh.

Call me a killjoy but a David Pomeranz concert isn't exactly my type of concert.

what ever happened to the word "please"?

It seems like young ones today have already forgotten manners. They ask you to do things without using courtesy words like "please" or "could you please". They give commands instead the way they do it in the military.

When do we use the word "please"? Whenever we request someone to do something for us it is important that we say "please" like "Please close the door" or "Please give me that". Requests, in contrast to a command, almost always yield positive results.

an invitation

If you're from Oriental Negros Philippines you will be able to watch our weekly show called "at random". It is aired 8 to 9 in the evening of Sundays and replays Mondays 12 to 1:00 p.m. (around lunchtime)

Advertisers are welcome, just call this number 4225823. We have very friendly rates so it is one great way of giving visibility to your business with the right market.

a click and you got money

You can actually make some extra money doing nothing. Just click and you get paid for doing so. Curious? Here's the link http://www.clixsense.com/?2144411 When you get to the site, don't waste time and start earning by signing up. It's so easy.

hosting is in the blood

There are people who are really cut and made to become the perfect hosts. They live and breathe the craft and feel like fish is into water whenever given a microphone on stage. Hosting is fun and challenging. Some people are gifted with the talent to host. Words just seem to tumble out from their mouths with ease and smoothness. It is really amazing to watch and listen to these gifted hosts and I am talking about the caliber of someone like Oprah or Ellen. Of course, there are other capable ones but so far I consider them the most natural and the most ideal.

On their plus side is the fact that both use their own native language so this by itself accounts for much of the ease and expertise these two people exhibit.

Above all, hosting is in the blood. One can never find it when it's not there.

shifts and changes

We have recorded the 2nd episode of our show and it went on smoothly. This is our halloween edition so we had a huge spider's web on the set, a giant black spider, and masks that served as props. Guests were from some of the gimmick places in the city and they got to talk about their different gigs.

Incidentally, I am really tired of teaching. I had proven this when I was asked to tutor some Koreans and after a day, I did not want to go back there anymore. It's just that I am too fed up with teaching, having done that for 26 years, and I don't think I will ever want to do it again.

I am happy with how our TV show is moving---slowly, but surely. This is my new career and I think I am loving it. Thinking of all those years I've wasted, I think I should have done the shift much, much earlier. But anyway, better late than never.

a crude beginning

We know and are aware of our limitations right now, but we are confident that things will look better in the long run. Our set is far from what we imagine to be ideal, but we are getting there. There has got to be a start somewhere and our first episode is going to play a big role in the history of this program. Hmmmm.......so far, so good.

more or less

We're just getting started, as you can see. Everything is still temporary, the set, maybe format, etc. We are confident that things will improve in the long run. When we recorded yesterday our Oct. 21 debut edition, God, you should see and hear the blunders and bloopers. But there is always a first time, right? So this is more or less how we started as shown on photo.

age factor

I am launching my own talk and variety show middle of this month and this will be one place where young people will have the chance to develop their talents and potentials for this show is going to be primarily about students and schools.

Update will be done here as to what programs will be started, etc. My only drawback here is my age. I am not really very keen about seeing myself on TV with all my spectacles and wrinkles but I just have to do this for the benefit of all young people who badly need an avenue to showcase their gifts.

There isn't really much that I could do about the age thing but I just have to get things moving now or the rest of the talented young people will wrinkle and turn grey without being recognized.