"...the real adventure of life is the relationship we have with other people..."

This seems to be a year of losing people who mean much to me or to society...

Anabel Bosch (musician), January 2009
Mike Francis (musician), February 2009
Francis M (musician), March 2009
Bea Arthur (actress), April 2009
Auntie Lalen (my mom's sister), June 2009
Michael Jackson (musician), June 2009
Tara Santelices (musician), July 2009
Cory Aquino (former president and icon of democracy), August 2009
Shella Paz (co-teacher and friend), August 2009

Here's something I recently posted on my other music-related Multiply:

One too many icons have passed away in recent months. With each passing comes the end of an era. And yet, life must go on for the living.

And here's a beautiful quote from the director of Disney/Pixar's animated film, "Up" (emphasis mine):

"Basically, the message of ["Up"] is that the real adventure of life is the relationship we have with other people, and it's so easy to lose sight of the things we have and the people that are around us until they're gone. More often than not I don't really realize how lucky I was to have known someone until they're either moved or passed away. So if you can kind of wake up a little bit and go, Wow, I've got some really cool stuff around me every day, then that's what the movie's about." - Pete Docter, in an interview about his movie "Up"

"Spongebob is the most influential thing in my life..."

Me: Why, what did he influence you to do?


Miguel, my 11-year-old nephew: To have fun and to live life to the fullest.


Naks :)


In other news, this same nephew of mine recently wrote an essay for his homework, declaring his lolo (my dad) as his best friend, who always gives him good advice and is always loving and caring.

Awww :)


Darn it, the kids are growing up on us. By next year, Miguel's eligible to take the PSHS NCE! It'll be weird having someone in school calling me "Tita Mariel" :P

Goals, hopes, wishes - what's the difference?

One of the things that I wish I can teach my children to have is SELF-DISCIPLINE. Though I admit I myself am having an awful hard time making it a virtue of mine But I really want my kids (my students, my biological children) to learn to discipline themselves, because it really does form the basis of one's success.

Here's something I got from my regular emails from SimpleTruths.com:

An excerpt from The Power of Discipline
by Brian Tracy

Your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals, and then to work toward them everyday, will do more to guarantee your success than any other single factor.

You've heard it said that, "You can't hit a target you can't see."

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."

Wayne Gretsky said, "You miss every shot you don't take."

It seems that only 3% of adults have written goals and plans, and they earn more than the other 97% put together.

Why is this? The simplest answer is that, if you have a clear goal and a plan to achieve it, your focus is fixed on a set course of action. Instead of becoming sidetracked by distractions and diversions, your time is focused on a straight line from start to finish. This is why people with goals accomplish so much more than people without them.

The tragedy is that everyone thinks they already have goals. But what they really have are hopes and wishes.

A wish has been defined as a "goal with no energy behind it." Hope is not a strategy.

Goals that are not written down and developed into plans are like bullets without powder in the cartridge. People with unwritten goals go through life shooting blanks. Because they think they already have goals, they never engage in the hard, disciplined effort of goal setting, the master skill of success.

USA Today reported on a study a couple of years ago. First, researchers selected people who made New Year's resolutions. Then they divided these people into two categories: those who made New Year's resolutions and wrote them down, and those who made New Year's resolutions, but neglected to write them down.

Twelve months later, they followed up on the respondents in this study. What they found was astonishing! Of the people who made New Year's resolutions but neglected to write them down, only 4% actually followed through on their resolutions.

However, among the group that took a few minutes to record their New Year's resolutions, 44% followed through on them. This difference of more than 1100% proves the simple act of crystallizing resolutions or goals on paper increases likelihood of success.

In my experience of working with several million people over the past twenty-five years, the disciplined act of setting goals, making plans for their accomplishments, and then working on them daily, increases the likelihood of achieving your goals by ten times, or 1000%.

This does not mean that goal setting guarantees success, only that it increases the probabilities of success by ten times. These are very good odds to have working in your favor.

Life is fleeting. Don't you dare waste yours. (Please scroll to the end)

It's always during the week of submission of grades that the thought crosses my mind: "Sana naman walang masamang mangyari sa akin; hindi ko pa tapos ang grades!"

Seriously, I really pray that don't get into an accident or other whatnot whenever the deadline for grades looms around the corner. Or whenever I have any business that needs to get done. I guess to stop me from being a worrywart like that is to never let any unfinished business lie at my doorstep for too long - whether it's a duty you must attend to, or something you've always wanted to do but never had the guts to. Like Robin Williams' character John Keating says in my favorite movie, 1989's "Dead Poets Society": "Carpe diem. Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary."

- - - - -

These days, whenever I am confronted by the fragileness of life, the thought that comes to mind is: "Lord, may I not leave this world without letting the people I love the most know how much they mean to me." Don't ever hold back on showing people how much you love them, because you may never have the chance to do so again.

- - - - -

A CALL FOR HELP
Anabel Bosch, vocalist for Analog/Electrikoolaid/Tropical Depression, suffered an aneurysm last January 1. Brain surgery was performed to address the massive hemorrhage that resulted from the aneurysm. Surgery is said to have gone well, though she is still unconscious at the Makati Med ICU.

Rock Ed Philippines has organized several gigs to raise funds for Anabel's escalating medical expenses. Please support these gigs.


To know more details about Anabel's condition and especially to find out how you can help, please read her friend's post at http://lagkat.multiply.com/journal/item/26.

Please offer your help and prayers for Anabel Bosch and her family.

"Breaking a habit starts with courage, ends with discipline, and is fueled by desire."

For someone who just committed herself to the love of her life earlier this year, I must admit I'm actually pretty afraid of commitment - at least as far as new year's resolutions go. I've never made new year's resolutions, because I was always sure that I'd be breaking them anyway. My mindset was always, "If I do better this year, then good. If I don't, then I'll just try again." There wasn't any real, solid resolve to be a better person once the new year kicked in.

But now, I realize I am slowly changing. I am coming to terms with this new phase in my life - pretty soon, I will be someone's wife, and a bit later on, a mother to my very own children. It's not like my job at Pisay wherein if I fail at my job of teaching the Philippines' best, I can try to do better next school year (if I get another chance at the job), or I can just look for somewhere else to teach.

By the end of this year, I'll be accountable not just to my superiors or students, but to my husband, to my very own family. Much will be expected of me, and, truth be told, it scares me a whole lot. This new life that awaits me is not like some job I can keep or change at will or by force. I realize now that this new life demands a new me.

I know there is a lot about me that I need to change if I am soon to be a wife and mother. Making a list would probably help, but I'm pretty sure it'll scare me more than encourage me...at least at first. So I'll keep that list in my head in the meantime; maybe soon I'll find the courage to put down in black and white (whether it'll see itself in print here, though, isn't a sure shot). All I know is that if I want to better myself, there are some bad habits I've got to let go of.

I guess this whole post was set off by this tidbit from my subscription to www.simpletruths.com:

Breaking bad habits is [hard work]. The physical and mental pain can be grueling, whether you're trying to exercise more, smoke less, drink less, eat healthier, or work less...it's never easy. But the benefits to your health and to your attitude can be priceless. Breaking a habit starts with courage, ends with discipline, and is fueled by desire.

If you make good habits, they in turn will make you. But like the weeds in the garden, bad habits can take over your life. Make a decision today to pull those weeds.

Here's something to kickstart your 2009: a 3-minute inspirational video about "The Power of Attitude" Let's throw in some Robbie Williams too.

This is "Better Man", from the 2000 album "Sing When You're Winning".

Once you've found that lover you're homeward bound. Love is all around. ...Lord I'm doing all I can to be a better man.

If employees can get fired because of Facebook...

...then maybe students can also get into trouble because of their blogs and social networking sites...?

Wala lang, naisip ko lang. It has been at times a dilemma what to do about inappropriate behavior of our students outside of school - in the malls, on the Internet - places where supposedly we do not have jurisdiction over them anymore.

I've seen kids in uniform (not necessarily Pisay) in the malls, smoking, very publicly displaying affection, cursing...and it always bothers me - if I were there teacher, could I tell them off even if we weren't in school anymore? Or if I read a particularly rude or even offensive blog entry, do I have the right to scold the auther if he/she were a student of my school?

People can get really defensive about this, always subscribing to the "freedom of speech" idea. But I believe that freedom comes with responsibility, and what you do outside of school or outside of your home is still a reflection of the values that your teachers and your family are trying hard to instill in you.

Andrew, who teaches in a Catholic school (and you know how Catholic schools place a premium on forming morally upright children of God), believes that we still do have to be vigilant about our students' behavior outside the campus, especially if they are in uniform or obviously displaying that they belong to a particular school. He says that wherever they go, our students carry the good name of our school, and they must take care not to do anything to smear that good name. Besides, as a person, you should always be a respectable and responsible individual, whether or not a teacher or parent is watching your every move.

Oh my, I'm turning into an adult. I'm one of THEM now. Hehehe.

Hindi, wala lang, it's just that sometimes when I read updates on Multiply, the blog entries of some kids make me flinch (don't worry kids, I'm not filing IRs or anything; I just flinch). Of course, they're emo, and high school's got them angsty and stuff. Sure, I went through the same thing 10+ years ago. But there are some words, ideas, and behaviors that the kids have today that I never would've even touched when I was a teen. I don't wanna sound old-fashioned or anything, but still nothing beats just being a good person, right? :)

Impromptu adult blog entry, inspired by today's headlines, hehehe.

Virgin Atlantic sacks 13 staff after Facebook criticism

Some rules kids won't learn in school.

Here's something I came across in Multiply:

Unfortunately, there are some things that children should be learning in school, but don't. Not all of them have to do with academics. As a modest
back-to-school offering, here are some basic rules that may not have found their way into the standard curriculum.

Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses the phrase, "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who
said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule
No. 1.

Rule No. 2: The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you
feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule No. 3: Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even
have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.

Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he's
not going to ask you how you feel about it.

Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grand-parents had a different word of burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They
weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule No. 6: It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the
boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like a
baby boomer.

Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and
listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents'
generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn't. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get
the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone's feelings be hurt. Effort is as
important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4)

Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight
hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we're at it, very few jobs are interesting in fostering your
self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to self-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)

Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials.
In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.

Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.

Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his
mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is
romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it
was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now.

You're welcome.

Text By Charles J. Sykes

Printed in San Diego Union Tribune
September 19, 1996