When My Heart is Filled With So Much Gratitude, My 2016 Yearender

I felt frustrated, unmotivated, uninspired, uncreative, or just plain exhausted in updating this blog. The outcome, my blogging journey took a rest for some time. I had a hard time maintaining it as my mind didn't produce enough creative juices worth sharing with everyone.

However, this month of December I was just surprised, I was getting some energy and enthusiasm to get back to it. My blogging is now moving once more. Maybe it is this season of the year I felt I already have enough materials, stories, and experiences to share with the world.

Before 2016 ends, it's like I am obliged to tell everyone how much I have grown and improved as a person since the last time I wrote about my life. This blog post is also my expression of gratefulness to people who journeyed with in good times and bad. It is an admirable habit to count the blessings instead of our inadequacies and misfortunes. I learned in life that it is not happiness that makes us truly thankful, but rather our ability to be thankful makes us happy.

In the previous years, I detailed on my Facebook post my great adventures as my year-ender event. This time, it is quite different as I'm going to speak more about individuals I met and who made a huge impact on my life. I am forever grateful to these people for making my 2016 an awesome year for me. So let's begin.

1. My Boss

 First up, I am very grateful to have the most astoundingly dependable and caring School Principal whom I worked with in my 10 years of teaching. His name is Dr. Roger Lozada. He is organized as he is nice and friendly. I like his reassuring, patient, and welcoming personality. He is truly a diligent public servant. He doesn't lecture us what a hard-working teacher is; instead, he embodies it so others may just follow him. At faculty meetings, he always motivates teachers and leads successfully in his own particular manners. And mind you, he is extremely shrewd and great at what he does, whether it is overseeing our school or outlining other educational programs. With that, he earned respect quietly.Every time he expresses appreciation, it fills our hearts with joy because we know it is true and meaningful. He gives everyone a space in the academe to act naturally and to use potentialities rather than demanding to imitate him. He doesn't insult or abuse his power as our boss. Rather, he approaches everybody with respect and dignity. For me, he is a good leader, our great inspiration and I am very thankful for him as my role model.

2. Co-Workers

 

There is so much joy working with people in a place that encourages cooperation and mutual respect. These people affect my day, my disposition and my workload. I like my colleagues because they are open-minded and really sincere in their assessment of me. They share thoughts when needed and they listen because they are also willing to learn from me. When you make lapses, they provide you constructive criticisms for your own benefit. They also assume liability whenever there are shortcomings along the way. I am thankful to them for being such a great help at work.

3. The Grade Niners Group

I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to my Grade 9 co-teachers for the amazing involvement with each other this year 2016. Going with them is always fun and memorable. I can simply act naturally when I am with them without fear of being segregated and stereotyped by other individuals from the other departments. I am truly thankful to be surrounded by these wonderful people who are not only creative and proficient but also passionate about their work. With them, I experience honesty in the workplace and genuine love for one another. I wish to spend more time with them as I already consider them my family.

4. Companions / Buddies

This year, I have met a few wonderful companions from different walks of life. I thank my gym buddies, research collaborators for the best time we shared. It was an amazing experience to have known you, folks. Trust me, we will have more opportunities to crack jokes and bond next year.

5. Positive Peeps

To Bebe Mayang, Bebe Haziel, and my other duckling friends (bebes) who refused to be called swans- you're one of the best circles of friends I've had. A few circumstances you prowl in into my private life like you need to make dynamic participation in the majority of my love affairs. It is as though you're the ones who would tell me if the person is ideal for me or not. This year I have great conversations with you and I felt I had the most honest and longest laughter with you all.

I have traveled with you. I never thought you will be one of the best buds I will ever have. You are my travel partners as well as one of my dearest friends. At whatever point I have issues like love issues you're there to listen to my stories. I thank you for the many encouraging words and suggestions on how to handle them.

6. Team Awesome / Friends for Keeps

They are the people who are dependably there to chuckle with and to perk me up when I am down. I thank you all for the most marvelous circumstances, the food trips, the laugh trips. Special thanks to my Friendship Alma Arrubio, To Maam Onie, and to Bestie Mae. You are part of my growing up years in the academe.

 You see? My year 2016 has been a nice and gentle year for me. It's a year of exciting travel, meeting new acquaintances, and learning from the smooth and rough relationships with family, colleagues, and friends. I traveled a lot of beautiful places I never imagined would be possible and I met a lot of astonishing people who became my great friends and mentors. The highlight for this year was discovering places and learning valuable lessons from the bizarre experiences of these people.

  

To be honest, I'm one of those individuals who are difficult to love yet I give an abundance of thanks to people who have cared for and loved me. Even though at the time I feel they wasted their time for nothing, I have come to realize that they did not. I now love with an open heart and walk with a positive outlook. So I give many thanks to the individuals who show at least a bit of kindness and love to people like myself. I wish you nothing but the best of health and happiness in this yuletide season. Together let's welcome 2017 with a bang!

                                                   

Reasons to Say Goodbye to 2016

These beautiful birds do not belong in this cage. I don't like to see them as prisoners and pets. I'm now letting them go so they can be totally free and do whatever they want to do to enjoy life. In like manner, I am also liberating myself from the bondage of this life and the toxic things that occurred. I want to say goodbye to 2016 and say hello to 2017. But before it can totally happen, I need to say goodbye and resolve some of the important concerns in this current year.

I say goodbye to the voices in my mind that say I don't have the talent to prove my worth or I am someone who is unequipped for accomplishing something. They lie a great deal, and I ought to realize that at this point in my life.

I say goodbye to the need for others' approval or validation. We need approval or validation from time to time but I don't need to continually seek after it. For whatever length of time that I see I am most extremely potential or how far I have become, I do not have to look for anybody to affirm that for me.

I say goodbye to the times I was not proud of myself. I now leave that negative thought behind me because I am not leading a perfect life. I am an individual who is as yet figuring out how to live.

I say goodbye to the promises I didn't keep and realize that planning is everything and great things in life require some serious energy and thinking.

I say goodbye to the instances I questioned myself and my relationship with God and all the pessimism  I had last year. It might not be the cheerful closure I needed, but rather it could be a happy beginning I didn't see coming.

I say goodbye to the circumstances I cried and the circumstances I was suffering because of pain, and give myself a gesture of congratulations for overcoming yet another hurdle of life. Fingers crossed, I will be able to complete the maze.

I say goodbye to the individuals who just dumped me for nothing. They are not intended to be a major part of my life for some reason anyway. I now concentrate on the ones who do and the ones who love me for who I am.

I say goodbye to the memory that keeps repeating in my mind whether great or terrible, the one that is keeping me up around evening time pondering where it went and regardless of whether it will happen once more. I twisted them and delayed them far too often. Now the time has come to discover another thing to watch.

I say goodbye to the dependence I had for my gadgets and social media, or anything I was fixated on. I will invest more energy with nature and educate myself that a lot of anything unproductive will choke me out.

I say goodbye to the expectations I had for myself that at this point I ought to have done this or done that. Life can be chaotic and the exact opposite thing I need is getting connected to its disarray.

I say goodbye to the degrading words people used to describe me which made me love myself a little less. Consider how little these individuals know about me and my story. Consider how a few people jump at the chance to disparage others just to gain attention and favor. I should forever say goodbye to these individuals.

I say goodbye to the circumstances I was childish, out of balance, or had no judgment skills. These are the times that remind me of my earthly nature and that I am still learning like a child does. I should be more mature now and know where I better position myself. I say goodbye to the instances I missed somebody who didn't miss me back. In the long run, I won't miss them any longer, and I will discover that other individuals miss me more than I know.

I say goodbye to the travels I didn't take, or the places I never went to, or the fun I missed out, or the chances that passed me by. Not all things will go as arranged and I do not need to convey the blame with me wherever I go. It is a simple reminder that regardless of how hard we attempt, we won't generally be in control. I say goodbye to every imperfection I saw in the mirror and the times I didn't like who I was looking at. I now have a new mirror that changes the way how I look at my reflections.

At long last, I say goodbye to the thought that one year from now will be the same and that nothing will ever change. I will be free as the birds and choose to embrace all the beautiful opportunities ahead, the wonderful dreams I am about to realize, and the hopes that are so bright waiting for me in the year 2017.

My Ultimate Bucket List

Everywhere, I continue catching wind of the significance of responsibility. In the event that you make an objective open and have individuals to consider you responsible, you are substantially more prone to finish your objectives. So this bucket list is the means by which I am considering myself responsible.

But for those who don't know I need to answer the question, what is a bucket list? Simply, it means a list of things you might want to do before you die. It is a considerable number of goals you need to accomplish, dreams you need to satisfy and educational goals you are longing to understand. It was made well known from the film called “The Bucket List” where two terminally ill men (Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson) meet in a doctor’s facility and after that set out a plan to attempt to accomplish everything on their bucket list.

Why did I begin a bucket list? My bucket list was originally posted in 2015 on my Facebook wall. So by publishing them, it urged me to do not so much imagining about them but rather more doing or accomplishing what’s on my list. Throughout the years I have written a lot of substance about my bucket list, since I have faith in the force of them to such an extent.

Ever feel your days are passing you by with no substantial yield to discuss? What did you finish in the previous 3 months? What are your goals for the following 3 months? Having a bucket list helps you to remember what is truly essential so you can follow up on them.

The target of making this bucket list isn't to impart some sort of a race against time or to make abhorrence toward death. I don't see our reality to be constrained to only our physical years on earth – I don't see our reality to be restricted to only our physical years on earth – our physical life expectancy is yet a short bit of our reality in the universe.

The general purpose of making bucket list is to boost each snapshot of our reality and carry on with our life minus all potential limitations. It's an indication of the considerable number of things we need to accomplish in our time here, so that as opposed to pandering our time in pointless exercises, we are guiding it completely toward what makes a difference to us.

The following are my ultimate bucket list:

1. Go back to Japan to study
2. Study Ph.D. in USA
3. Travel around the world
4. . Record my own music album
5. Enroll in Film course
6. Direct short films
7.Invent gadgets/ make innovations
8. Develop a drug/treatment method for Cancer
9. Publish my own book/ literary folio
10. Drive a chopper/airplane
11. Make friends with UN and ASEAN people
12. Go to NASA
13. Explore the Philippine Islands
14. Maintain my blog
15. Read 20 books in a month

16. Go scuba diving / snorkeling and experience marine life up close

17. Go skiing

18. Go horseback riding

19. Do an extreme sport

20. Climb a mountain

21.  Perform a kind deed without expecting anything in return

22. Make a difference in someone’s life

23. Fly in a hot-air balloon

24. Do volunteer work

25. Get Married

26. Send a Message in a bottle

Writing a bucket list gives you significant clarity and focus on what you want from your life. It’s an invaluable exchange. If you already have your list, take this opportunity to review it. If you will create your own list, answer the questions below.

1.      What if you were to die tomorrow?

2.      What would you wish you could do before you die?

3.      What would you do if you had unlimited time, money and resources?

4.      What have you always wanted to do but have not done yet?

5.      Any countries, places or locations you want to visit?

6.      What are your biggest goals and dreams?

7.      What do you want to see in person?

8.      What achievements do you want to have?

9.      What experiences do you want to have / feel?

10.  Are there any special moments you want to witness?

11.  What activities or skills do you want to learn or try out?

12.  What are the most important things you can ever do?

13.  What would you like to say/do together with other people? People you love? Family? Friends?

14.  Are there any specific people you want to meet in person?

15.  What do you want to achieve in the different areas: Social, Love, Family, Career, Finance, Health (Your weight, Fitness level), Spiritual?

16.  What do you need to do to lead a life of the greatest meaning?

Just Because Somebody Is.

I made a lot of thinking lately. And a few thoughts crossed my mind which boosted my self-confidence and eliminated completely those negative vibes. I wish to share here on my blog my positive mindset.

Just because somebody is more gifted than I am, doesn't decrease my own particular talent. I should step forward and find my own spot under the sun.

Just because somebody is more grounded than I am, doesn't markdown my own particular versatility. Now that I am older and a lot wiser, I have more “deskartes” in life than I can think.

Just because somebody is better ready to bolster a friend in the way that other people require at times, doesn't mean I am not helping them or that I am not as great of a friend. The truth is I am generous most of the time.

Just because somebody is preferred at our occupation over me, doesn't mean I am not adding to my working environment especially at school where I teach.

This is my belief: I should work hard in silence and let success be my noise. I should not stop attempting to ever enhance or work on myself. It's a reminder that what each of us brings to the table the world values ​​is intrinsic in its reality. What any other individual brings to the table, the world is random. I don't have to put somebody down to bring myself up. Moreover, someone else going up does not demonstrate that I am going down. There is no world quota on goodness. I know I can be great in my own chosen expertise because I know what I am capable of. Now it's time for me to encourage others to do the same and inspire them to make a difference.

Robotics: A Main Stay in the Lives of the Youth Today

It was just my simple dream to see our Special Science Curriculum (SSC) students in Jacinto P. Elpa National High School (JPENHS) participate in the National Robotics Competition.  I became excited when I saw that dream coming  as I received an email cordially inviting us to take part in the 2016 National Robotics Competition at Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Calamba, Laguna on January 13-18, 2016.

This National Robotics Competition is an annual event participated in by most premier high schools, colleges and universities in the Philippines to showcase and compete in their robot innovations and humanoids. This event is conducted by Data Science Technology Corp. and it has consistently sponsored the National Robotics Competition in the past 10 years. Joining this big event was our first try in Robotics and also a first ever participation of a high school from Mindanao.

Wens Zaren P. Duron and Rean Ian M. Marapao who are both Grade 9 SSC students represented JPENHS in the Line Tracing Category. Around 400 participants from different schools from Luzon and Visayas competed in this category. Other robot categories competed were Sumobot, Humanoid Challenge, Mission Challenge and Robot Soccer-Humaniod.

Though Wenz and Ian experienced a robotic event as champion from Engineering Science Challenge (PET Bottle Robot) at the 2015 PSYSC National Science Clubs Summit in Cantilan National High School, this National Robotics Competition was an entirely different level because you need design an autonomous robot.

The objective of this Line Tracing Category was for autonomous robot to complete the course in the shortest period of time while accurately tracking the line from START to FINISH. A game was played by one robot per team having 2 members. Only one team member could approach the playing field. Playing field consisted of different obstacles with corresponding points. The aim was to surpass the obstacle while moving on the line. The team who approached the finish line in the shortest period of time would win the game.

We only got a 30^th place in the overall result among the 400 contenders. Not really that bad for first timer! Now, we have a lot of time to prepare for the next competition. Nothing really is impossible for us who have strong will. As a coach of this event, I learned a lot from the experience and I am very grateful to the many teachers and parents who strongly supported me and my contestants. The efforts of training Wenz and Ian to invent their own robot caused them to believe in themselves.  It raised their self- confidence, creativity and motivation to achieve the goal. 

I believe that DepEd Tandag City Division has a lot to help in institutionalizing Robotics as a new scientific field to our pupils and students to engage in. This will create an avenue for them to showcase their inventions that make use of robotics technology for relevant issues our society face today.  Imagine a day each year where young people gather in a large parking lot to showcase and explain their inventions and how its production will make an impact in society. 
I am positive that through our participation in the National Robotics Competition, other Science teachers and robotic enthusiasts will rise up to join us in this effort. As of today, we have created a special team of robotics and linkages to help us develop and prototype climate change respond robots and provide us training materials to make robotics simple enough for everyone.  We encourage our science teachers, parents, pupils and students to join us in our efforts of making robotics a main stay in the lives of the youth today.

   

I Lost My Friend To Breast Cancer

It's been a long day without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
We've come a long way from where we began
Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
When I see you again.

This is hard. Honestly, I don’t know how to begin. I know I should begin by saying that we are here not only to remember, but to honor the life of Ma'am Lorita Derigay. But where do I begin to tell you all about the woman that she was? There was so much to her life, and so much that I want everyone to know about her. Her life was so full. She had two beautiful daughters and a loving husband that made her life so complete and friends and family who love her. 

Ma'am Derigay was my mother I never had. She was my closest friend in the work place, someone who was always there when I was in trouble. She was like my cheer leader and a big sister at the same time.  I want to share every story about mine and how I met her.

 I first met her during our regular Science Department meeting held at Chemistry lab in Jacinto P. Elpa National High School sometime on August 2010. She was introduced to us among the other new teachers in the Science Dept. I right away noticed her unique charisma to people. Ang gaan-gaan niyang kasama at laging naka-smile. I had a nice impression of her since then because of her friendly nature.

She was a very religious woman. If she were not a teacher she would probably be a nun. I never met a woman as selfless as she was. As I know her, she was never harsh or overbearing, but quite the opposite. She was sweet and generous with a strong love for life. Warm and caring, with a great sense of humor, she had a deep sort of intelligence that transcended her education. Duon na nag-start ang closeness namin. It helped that she had an insatiable love for both reading and writing that inspires me to this day. Observant and thoughtful, she was one of the easiest people to talk to about anything.

She was a seeker of knowledge. In fact when she learned I enrolled in TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) for Bartending NC 11 and Housekeeping she also excitedly joined in.

She was a woman who lived for life and lived for others. She was never afraid and she was brave enough to be the woman she felt she should be.  She even participated in the JPSEMCO (Credit Cooperative in our school) Tour  in Palawan and we had so much fun to remember about her in that entire trip to Palawan, Manila, Ilocos, Vigan and to Baguio.

I believe the things that made her as she was are what we all loved about her. Justice, honor, compassion, integrity, determination, love, respect, and heart are words that describe the woman Ma'am Lorits was. 

Even then, she began to teach me about life like the first time we participated in the National Science competitions together in Laguna. She was full of heart and never afraid to go after what she wanted, no matter how hard she had to work for it. 

 She found out she had breast cancer long before she entered public school and it was malignant. She tried radiation therapy and chemotherapy but the tumors kept growing. She battled the disease for long long time, before it started to overtake her. After all the time that had passed since her initial diagnosis, she started to look like she had cancer. Our hearts broke for her but she was always in high spirit.

Knowing how bad her situation, she was assigned as Values Education  teacher to lessen her workload in teaching Science. The Science Department has lots of activities and stress was tailing on her. This was not good for her health. Mas na-stress siya lalo because she became emotionally involved with students’ personal and family problems. However, her concerns for her students made them loved her the more.

I was amazed and impressed by her optimistic attitude and did my best to emulate it. “Let us be positive” she would always say. With the spirit of a true warrior, she wanted to fight and she wanted to win. Relentlessly, she began studying everything she could about cancer and its various treatments and success stories. I learned to be health conscious and started learning about organic foods and natural health remedies because of her. I even went to University of the Philippines  Diliman to study cancer and eventually had collaboration with renown scientist in cancer research.
She filed a leaved for her medication in Davao Regional Hospital. I don't know how any woman could stay in such a horrible situation for so long, but I think I understand why. She spent years dedicating her life to teaching, to her family, relatives and helping other people without expecting something in return.

When my father had an unexplained illness, she told me to send him to Davao Regional Hospital right away. I listened to her. In Davao I saw how she had helped other cancer patients. Naging instant teacher siya sa ibang mga patients. She jokingly told me, "once a teacher always a teacher."  She was always giving, even if she didn’t have it to give. This is why I am proud of her in life and in death. Two months later my father died of lung cancer. And she felt sad and she grieved with me. Most of the times she kept in touched to uplift my downcast spirit. 

Another life lesson she taught me was simply to enjoy life. After the fall she told me to stand tall. And did she ever enjoy life, up until her final hours. She taught me how to be a friend.  She was a good friend to everyone she loved, even those who at times she found impossible to like. She was friends to some simply because she felt that they needed her to be. She would give you money if you’re broke, buy you lunch, give you a place to stay if you had nowhere else to go. She was a Good Samaritan, she was like Mother Teresa.

Her cancer advanced. She fought hard, and usually kept her sense of humor and love for life. When her hair fell out, she bought wigs of all different styles and colors and acted comically glamorous. When she lost a third of her body-weight she told us it was because her new diet was working. "The cancer diet," she'd call it. I'm sure she had plenty of private moments where she came undone, but her spirit was strong, and I was in awe of her. 

I thought about the great strength that I knew she possessed. She was stronger than anyone I know suffering from a dreadful disease.  Her life touched me deeply and reminded me how loved she was by all who were lucky enough to know her. Like so many, who have lost loved ones, I have learned to focus on how my father lived, as opposed to how he died. This has been a key element in finding closure to a tragic loss. I have let go of the pain, enabling me to finally, fully, embrace the strength of his memory. When I think of him now, it's with a smile on my face, rather than a tear in my eyes. The same goes for Ma'am Lorits. 

As we reflect on our time with Ma'am Lorits, we remember what it was we loved about her and what we will miss the most about her. Even in death she has taught me about life. Her final lesson was to show the people you love that you love them now, because life is too short for regrets. 

 People often speak of happiness in tragedy. I never understood this until I witnessed the blessing that came from her slow but graceful end. She taught me this lesson while I watched her family reunited again. I owe her so much for what she brought to my life. Love is God’s greatest gift, and for me that love is Ma'am Lorits. So don’t leave here today empty or sad, but with a heart full of love, forever and always. I also leave you with a challenge to find a way to do what she did for me today- to try and live for her, because she lived for all of us.


(A eulogy I delivered during the JPENHS Faculty and Staff necrological service of Ma'am Lorita B. Derigay.)