The Ocean of My Being

Weeee!!! Christmas break is here! Thus, I have time to write. Thank God for vacations and breaks! :) I am actually in Manila right now. It's nice to be back again. Seeing friends and visiting places that bring back fun and wonderful moments always make me feel good and re-charged after an exhausting year. Manila may not be my favorite place, but it sure is a place that means a lot to me. The place helped me become who and what I am. I learned a lot of things from staying/living in Manila for a few years. Whenever I come to Manila, the moment the airplane touches ground, I always have this feeling of excitement. Manila also gives me a feeling of strength and freedom, probably because it was only in Manila that I lived away from the eyes of my whole family and my people. Being in Manila makes me feel more adult than I ever feel at home. I get to decide what to do and where to go or stay most of the time, you see. Manila makes me feel independent and free. And, who doesn't like th...

Does love always come with heartache? When you fall in love with another person, is heartache inevitable? People say that it's not true love unless it hurts you. Is this really true? What about "I love you so much that it hurts?" Is true love really like that? In my experience, "love equals heartache" holds true. I have loved and lost, I have fallen and, yes, I fell really hard. It broke me to a million pieces and, up until today, I can't say that I am mended. I guess I'm still picking my pieces up and carefully putting them back together. I'm getting there, slowly. The thing is there was a time when I swore love off and I started to hate (or probably even curse) men just because of my experience. But, now, I'm okay with men. I no longer see them as evil. But, I don't exactly know if I'm ready to fall in love again just yet. A student asked me the question: " Does love always hurt? " I had to pause and think before...

Salaam! (Peace!) A lot of things have been happening in some of our neighbor municipalities and cities. Things that have caused panic and paranoia all over Mindanao. The past few days, we've been waking up to the sound of helicopters flying around us. Of course, everyone knows how, in some parts of Mindanao , the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have been killing one another off (a lot of deaths are not reported). As a result, thousands of innocent civilians are driven out of their homes. The sad thing about this is that for the Muslim civilians, they're fasting and doing all sorts of sacrifice in observance of the Holy Month of Ramadhan . Ramadhan is supposed to be a month of peace, reconciliation and forgiveness. But, what's happening in some parts of Mindanao is the total opposite. It's such a sad, sad plight these civilians- Muslims, Christians and Lumads alike- have. I cannot imagine being in the same situation, especially ...

Assalaamu alaikum. Hello, Blog World! It's been a long time. This has been my longest hiatus ever! I can't even believe that it's been 6 months since I was here last. Our internet connection at home got screwed so I didn't really have a choice. I didn't (still don't) have the luxury of time to go visit our Net Centers here. But, now, thanks to my mobile phone, I am able to blog. This is my first time to try it. I really miss writing and reading. My busy schedule doesn't allow me to do much writing and/or reading outside of the things I need for my classes. That's just the thing about teaching, you have to always be updated and you also continue to learn more and more as your students learn, too. Teachers need to work so much more than their students. Students may think otherwise, but that is the truth. What's good about all this is the fact that it's fun. We, teachers, may be loaded with so much work, but we enjoy our work. Well, at least, I do. ...

I am tired. I am just so tired that, save for a few things, I've lost interest in many things that have always interested me. I haven't had 8 straight hours of sleep in the past two weeks. No, I'm not exactly complaining, I'm just saying. What I want most right now is one work-free, stress-free week in some place that's relaxing and where I can just read the whole day. Sometimes, when I'm just about to sleep, I think of this "vacation" and I feel a little less tired and stressed out. But, that also makes me realize how badly I want that. Oh well, I guess, everything will just have to wait until the semester ends. I just hope that our Department Chairperson allows me to take some rest in the summer. Some people at the College are saying that contractual faculty members will be "forced to teach" this summer what with the new administration and all. I think I've expressed time and again how much I love teaching, but I just really nee...

I have blogged about MSU a lot and everyone who's been reading my blog for some time knows how much I love MSU. Like I've said before, MSU is more than just a place for me, it's more than a home, it's actually a state of being. MSU, for me, means happiness and peace of mind. A few days before we left Manila two weeks ago, we found out that Pres. Arroyo had appointed a new MSU President. It came as a shock because we didn't expect that the present Acting President would be replaced that soon. The acting president, Dr. Ricardo de Leon, assumed the position exactly 2 years and 4 months ago. Coming from the Philippine National Police, Dr. de Leon was met with different reactions by the MSU constituents when he first came to MSU. He was a stranger, an outsider. I, for one, couldn't imagine having a military man (a PMA-er) as president of an academic institution. I even blogged about it then. I was anxious, at that time, because I thought he was really wrong f...

We're back home from a week-long stay in Manila. It's always nice to come home to MSU and be welcomed by the cold, foggy weather that the campus is famous for. My Manila trip was nice. I got to meet up with many of my friends; I got to dine in restos I really missed; I got to buy stuff that I've always wanted to buy; and, of course, I got to see my dad and my aunt, whom I haven't seen in quite a while. And, now, I'm back home and full of energy. Classes start tomorrow and I'm excited to see my students. I'm psyched up for work. I know I've complained about not getting enough rest and all, but, after a two-week break, I can't wait to start working my butt off again! I truly missed being neck-deep in work. 2007 was a busy year for me and it was a good year. I hope that this year will be better in all aspects. And, as the year opens, I would like to wish everyone a peaceful and fruitful 2008! :) HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Smile big. Dream big. Do m...