Lack of Something

The distance from my entries is very alarming... Was I really this quiet for the last four years or so?

 

I couldn't imagine I was able to get by without writing (Oh well, writing my thoughts fall under a different category than writing my Lesson Guides, Progress Checks and Assessments. IEP reports included.)!!!

 

From the time I learned how to write, no matter how unintelligible my musings are, I write them down. Because Mama said, it's the only way I could improve on my hand-writing, which makes my prose even more -- let's be more apt, muddled.

 

Is it lack of inspiration?

 

Nah! I guess not. Because other than writing, teaching is my passion. And as an educator, I could find any topic at every nook in the room to write about. Including a broken pencil.

 

Is it lack of something smart to say?

 

I don't think so. My class is filled with witty kids. Asking me why pages of a book are non-living things, yet they get brittle and die.

 

Is it lack of time?

 

Oh well...

A Mug of Water and A Quake Enhances Memory

From: Quintos, Mary Catherine
02/09/2008
10:21 AM

“Congrats, Jo! Galing, ah!” ;-)



That was Kate’s text message which I was able to read by half passed eleven.

The first word… I felt numbness.

Then my toes got some tingles.

Then my fingers came fidgeting.

Then I started jumping and shouting and laughing and crying all at once.



Arleen came from the other cubicle… shocked with how I was acting.

Students passing by were staring questioningly, too… but they kept their smiles to themselves. Or just maybe, they were too polite to tell me how crazy-looking I was.

But what the heck! I don’t care. Don’t care a bit.



Exactly a month ago, I had a pile of books, photocopied notes, course syllabus and anything I could get from my cabinet, from friends, from the bookstore and from my supportive MAGAC adviser on my table… table in my cubicle, table in my study, table in the dining, divan near the kitchen, on my bed, and even under my bed.

Two weeks before that, I passed my application for the board examination at PRC Baguio.

But two weeks thereafter, I haven’t read a single line of any introduction of any of the materials under my perusal.

Then, I only had three weeks…

God knows how I squeezed in all the words in my mentally-challenged brain in a weeks time. (Yeah, God gave me just a week to realize I have to do something, or else…)



August 21-22, 2008.

Judgment Day.

Then there was “Luker”.




Then restless nights came as I wait for the result. During those times I was able to get some sleep, I had nightmares. (Picture the suffering!??)

Then today came.

And Kate’s text message.

Ahhhhhhh!!! Sweet success!




I have come to conclude that the following leads you somewhere:

1. tons of prayer,
2. a lot of guts,
3. a little pressure to make it tolerable,
4. some procrastination (I did this through sleep),
5. a good deal of common sense for unexpected and inevitable circumstances,
6. a que-sera-sera attitude (Got it from my beloved Mom’s lullaby… sure she’s one happy and 7. proud Mom as she looks down on me now!)
7. blank stares over a pile of reading materials,
8. a mug of water before squeezing in some info,
9. a wrap of Quake, a chocolate-coated muffin everyday or make it twice a day to become more effective, and
10. blogging!!!!!!


Believe me, this list works. It gave me two professional licenses in a year! You can disarrange it according to how it suits you.

Now these I say are my OFFICIAL MEMORY ENHANCERS!!!

Bea's Artwork

Two days after Bea's closing program, I noticed she was all bored with watching the same Barney, Blue's Clues and Dora cds.

That same day, a brother from my "Youth for Christ" days dropped by my office and was holding pamphlets on a summer enhancement program. And so the story began of sleepless nights that Ronald and I was deciding what program should Bea be in this summer.

We never agreed on something, until we decided to ask Bea herself.

Without blinking an eye, Bea said, "I want an arts class."

And so she did. Eighteen hours to complete and these are her work of art or should I say, where she spent her energy this summer aside from swimming -- the fruit of her labor and passion:

shading exercises

placing shadows

color combination

coloring with oil pastel

"Fruits" using colored pencil

"Clown Fish" using oil pastel on felt paper

"I am" using oil pastel

"My Day" using oil pastel and water color

"Just Me" using oil pastel

"Little Mermaid" using oil pastel in felt paper

"Day at the Beach" using oil pastel in felt paper

"Walrus" using oil pastel in felt paper

Bea's love for arts indeed was shown in how she has spent her summer just holding her kit. Her love for water manifested itself, too (aside from arts class, she was also enrolled in a swimming class in the morning) through her outputs. Most of her drawings are sea-based -- sea creatures, mermaid, ocean, seashore, the beach and all.

For Moms who might accidentally drop by my site, hope you'll learn from my experience, too. "Never decide for your children all the time!"

You might think you know what's best for them (like I always feel), but sometimes, it is also best for our children to grow and be the person that God planned them to be by making a little step farther and just let them be.

Bea's discovery of her talent might not have been possible if my being "MOM" got in the way.

Waterlily

floating, freedom to be
loving the water that cleanses what is physical
purifying it in return
symbiosis
the science of co-existing
and the essence of living

More of Life's Simple Pleasures @ Life in Stanzas