Past Few Days...

It's has been a long time! And because I miss my blog so much, I've decided to post another entry regarding the activities that occurred in my life.

Nov. 16 - had a seminar about winners and losers.
Guest speaker - my favorite author, Mr. Francis Kong
Afternoon - went to Dasmariñas, Cavite; sponsored Mass Baptism (class outreach
Birthday celebrants: Cheryl, Meryl, Rufino... Happy Birthday!

Nov. 17 - Hwa Wen Test

Nov. 18 - classes (Doh)

Nov. 19 - sportsfest of the teachers so...

Nov. 20 - NO CLASSES TODAY!!!!!

Nov. 21 - English Program. Speech choir competition. We WON... third place. :D

Nov. 22 - classes

Nov. 23 - Outreach program at Gawad Kalinga Baseco. Met new heroes like Kuya Greg, Kuya Coach (not sure about the spelling), etc. They've dedicated their lives doing charity works. Baseco turned out to be a cool place after all. No crimes, no killings, NOTHING BAD!!! Mas matino pa nga ito kaysa sa Recto Ave...

Nov. 24 - classes pa rin...
Birthday celebrants - Angela Viar, Czarine... Happy Birthday!!!

Nov. 25 - half day. We had a Gospel Concert. At first, we thought the concert was boring, but it turned out to be FUN!!! Cool priest, cool band, cool singers, cool songs!

Nov. 26 - SUNDAY!!!

Nov. 27 - classes...; First Pep Practice (Go Red Hot Juniors!!!); auditions for the Romeo and Juliet. I hope that I got the part of Friar Lawrence (asa ka pa boy!!!)

These are some events that occurred these past few days. Long post coming! (I think...) :D

Scarred Hands

A small orphaned boy lived with his grandmother. One night their house caught fire. While trying to rescue the little boy who was sleeping upstairs, the grandmother died in the smoke and flames.

A crowd gathered around the burning house, where the boy's cries for help could be heard above the blaze. No one knew what to do.

Suddenly, a man rushed from the crowd and circled to the back where he spotted an iron pipe that reached the upstairs window. He disappeared for a minute, then reappeared with the boy in his arms. Amid the cheers of the crowd, he climbed down the hot pipe as the boy held on his neck.

Weeks after, a public hearing was held in the town hall to determine in whose custody the boy would be placed. Since no relative was left to take care of the boy, city legislation requires that the boy be given up for adoption only to highly qualified persons. Each person interested in adopting the boy was allowed to speak briefly.

One man said, "I have a big farm. Everybody needs the out-of-doors." Another boasted of his work: "I'm a teacher. I have a large library. He would get a good education." The richest man in the community spoke last and topped it all with, "I could give the boy everything mentioned tonight. The farm, education and more, including money and travel. I'd like him in my home."

When the chairman asked if anyone else wanted to say anything before he closed the session, a stranger rose from the back. As he walked toward the front, deep suffering showed on his face. Once in front, he stood directly in front of the little boy. Slowly the stranger removed his hands from his pockets. The crowd gasped and when he looked up, so did the little boy.

The man's hands were terribly scarred. Suddenly the boy gave out a cry of recognition - this was the man who had saved his life. His hands were scarred from climbing up and down the hot pipe. The boy leaped up, threw himself around the stranger, and held on for life. The farmer rose and left. So did the teacher. Then the rich man. The stranger had won the boy without a word. His hands spoke more efficiently than any words could have.

Now think about this. If you would apply this story to your work, you just have to ask yourself these questions:

Have I scarred my hands with work so that when the next round of promotions come, the scars on my hands would speak louder that the voice from my lips? Have I done my job and did it well?

Have I the scars to show a heroic attempt to do my job well, unmindful of the pains and the difficulties associated with the job, but accomplishing with fervor and excellence?

If you have, then you will not need words to win that position. You can win that promotion with scarred hands.

Today's mighty Japan can proudly show scars of hard work, scars from two atomic bombs, and scars of selfless dedication to their work and to their country. Japan is what it is today because it can show the scars in the hardworking hands of its history and of its people.

Friends, we need scars, too. We need to do our part wherever we are, to live a life of total dedication and to give selflessly for the benefit of your company and our country. We should work for scars of merit, scars of honor.

Jesus Christ took on the greatest scar when he gave His life for us. The sinless one became sin as He took upon Himself all our sins. By his scars we are healed. That's what salvation is all about.
- Francis J. Kong
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lessons learned:

1. Utang na loob.
2. Actions speak loudly than words.

And Then There Was Light

The moment I get home from work, I change into comfortable clothes and begin striking the keys of my desktop computer. I have in front of me, neatly arranged within the slots of my portable workstation, an assortment of electronic equipment designed to make life and work easier.

I use a Pentium 233 MMX computer. I have a flatbed scanner and a set of very good speakers. Recently, I also got a zip drive that stores all my important data. Of course, there is also my reliable colored inkjet printer.

One day, I looked at all these gadgets in front of me and I realized that despite their astounding capabilities, the one I like most is still my old and faithful table lamp. I may have all those adcanced machines, but without that table lamp providing light, I wouldn't be able to work at all.

The world may not realize how significant Thomas Edison is to our lives. As the inventor of the incandescent lamp, he provided the world with light needed to carry on life and progress. Let me tell you something about him.

On October 18. 1879, the young inventor Edison sat in his laboratory after 13 months of repeated failures in his search for a filament that would stand the stress of electric current. To add to his problems, the men who had been giving him financial aid now refused to put up any additional funds.

Having tried every known metal in his experiment, Edison was baffled. Casually picking up a bit of lampback, he mixed it with tar and rolled it into a thin thread. Suddenly the thought struck him - why not try a carbonized cotton fiber? For five hours he worked on the first filament, bit it broke before he could remove the mold. Edison used two entire spools of thread in similar fruitless efforts. At last a perfect strand emerged, only to be ruined when he tried to place it inside the glass tube.

Still Edison refused to admit defeat. He continued to work without sleep for two more days and nights. Eventually he managed to insert one to the crude carbonized threads into a vacuum-sealed bulb. "When we turned on the current," he said, "the sight we had so long desired finally met our eyes!"

Thomas Edison had endured failure after failure, and his finances were in jeopardy. He was under tremendous stress. But his persistence in the face of the most discouraging circumstances gave the world one of its greatest inventions - the electric light.

A great American, Booker T. Washington, had this to say about stress: "No man should be pitied because every day of his life he faces a hard, stubborn problem. It is the man who has no problems to solve, no hardships to face, who is to be pitied. he has nothing in his life which will strengthen and form his character, nothing to call out his latent powers and deepen and widen his hold to life."

Rich McLawhorn sats something encouraging, too: "In the midst of stress and tension, direct your trust toward heaven. The wind of God is always blowing. THat wind can bring you countless blessings, including peace. But one's sail must be raised to catch the wind. Hoist your sail, and catch God's wind."

And the Word of God comforts us in saiah 26:3: "He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord!"

When you encounter stress, keep these words and Edison's example in mind. They will help you keep your equilibrium. As stress exerts its force on you, seek true peace. And what is true peace? Not the absence of conflict, but rather, the absence of inner turmoil.
- Francis J. Kong
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lessons learned:
1. Quitters don't win.
2. Whiners, together with the quitters, DON'T WIN.
3. Failure is delayed success.

First Kota Kinabalu, Then Hong Kong... Where's My Rest Time???

Oct. 27

Last day of the second quarter. Time for some relaxation!!!

Today's the birthday of Denzel. Happy Birthday to You Denzel!

Oct. 28

First day of the semestral break. This day was our scheduled flight to Kota Kinabalu. We had our speech practice at Alfred's house. I stayed up to 11:30 am, because I have to rush home and do some final packing. At around 12:30nn, the driver picked us up and we headed to our grandmother's residence. After having a quick lunch, we went to the airport... Wait. Where's the airport? Haha. It's in Clark, Angeles, Pampanga. Imagine. We have to drive for about 45 mins to reach the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport. It's a long way... My tired cousins slept on the way there.

We reached the airport too early. The guards didn't let us in. He thinks that we might crowd the airport. So we waited for about an hour... Tick tock tick tock... Finally. After the long adn exhausting hour, we entered the gates, checked in, settle all taxes, and we were all ready to go. But, there was a small problem. Our flight is at 6pm, and it's only 3!!! Another 3 hours...

After 3 decades... I mean, 3 hours and 30 minutes (the plane was delayed for another 30 mins...), we boarded the plane. I made some last minute texting before leaving the Philippines.

8pm. We arrived KK (Kota Kinabalu). Yeesh. The airport was under renovation. We took the airport taxi to go to the Kinabalu Daya Hotel. After leaving our stuffs there, dad took the 12 of us (granma, mama ester, dichie himhim, dihia jeff, kowa, paopao, shoti, bebe, mum, me, fritz and frenz) to a nearby restaurant for dinner. We returned to the hotel bloated.

Oct. 29

Start of the city tour. We went to many places, so many that I forgot them. :D i think I have to make a research of those places. I'll try to relate the tourists spots some other time in my future posts.

Oct. 30

We didn't do anything, but stayed on a beach. I had a lot of first times there. It was my first time to ride a banana boat, my first time to para-sail and also my first time to sea underwater creatures by snorkeling. I returned with a darker skin color.

Oct. 31

Returned from KK. We headed straight to Puregold Duty Free. We had dinner at Lok Foo, at Dau, Pampanga.

Today's also Jasmine's birthday. REAL birthday. Haha. Party niya yun noong 23. Hehehe. Happy Birthday to You Jasmine!!!

Nov. 1

All Saints' Day. I did some of my homework and unpacked my stuffs. Nothing much.

Nov. 2

All Souls' Day. We had our Speech practice in Alfred's house. Grabe. After a few days away from home, a lot has been changed. Changes happen here and there... EVERYWHERE!!! Hahaha. After practices, we headed to Tasty's Dumplings to eat merienda. I went home, and packed for my following Hong Kong trip.

Nov. 3

Left Manila. Arrived Hong Kong. Two things I hate about Philippine Airports is that they are so slow and so "over maingat". The lines are kilometer-long and the people there makes you remove your "clothing" (belts, shoes, watches, etc.). Every inspection you go through. RAWR!!! It's a waste of time. In HK, all you have to do is to pass through the metal sensors and hand your Hong Kong ID (if you have one), then you're done. In less than 15 mins, we've passed through the immigration section and have claimed our baggages. We were ready to go to the Hong Kong Islands. We took CityFlyer bus, route A11 to North Point. Our hotel this time is none other than South China Hotel, located at Java Street, North Point. This is where we stay everytime we went to HK. It's like our "resthouse". Hehehe. Suki tatay ko dun. :D

We went to HK to settle some business. My aunt had her house under renovation, so we had to move dad's books, clothes and other stuffs to somewhere else. All these banging and drilling makes my head spinning again. We finished all the moving in the whole afternoon. Soooo tired... I am starting to hate my aunt for wasting my vacation.

Nov. 4
Dad had some business appointments with someone in Shenzhen. We took the KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway). We had lunch there, and returned to Hong Kong.

Dad knew that we were on the waiting list on the next day's flights. He told me that we'll have to wait for available seats from the first to the last flight of the day.

Oh yeah. My cousins returned from HK today. They had a grat time there, esp. in Disneyland. :D

Nov. 5

Woke up at 7am. Hotelink (buses that connects the airport to the hotels throughout the city) picked us at 8am. Arrived in airport at 9am, tried to check in but can't. The airport was packed with people. Still no available seats...

Buddha answered dad's prayers. There were two available seats (lucky us!!!) on the first flight to Manila. We had to ran all the way to reach the boarding gates.

Arrived Philippines. Long lines again!!! Something funny occured in the arrival halls. There were no available pushcarts. Beat that!

Mum and my two brothers came to fetch us. We had a little snack, then we did our Sunday routine... visiting some Chinese temples. Reached home. Did assignments. Classes starts tomorrow.

Nov. 6

Third Quarter officially starts today. Same school schedule... I handed the pasalubongs to my friends. 3B managed to swallow 2 big packs to fish fillet in just one day. The classroom smells like fish. Not my problem. You guys wanted to eat!!! hahahahahahahahahaha!!!

I have posted my pictures of our KK tour at www.francolim1990.multiply.com . Feel free to browse and to comment. Comment my posts too!

Still don't know how to include a tag board. Steph, help me!!! hahaha