On Your Mark

Befriending a person is easy. One can just crack a silly joke, share a heartfelt story, compliment another’s outfit and yes, you get the idea. Being close to them? That is a different story. It is not something that can be done overnight. It takes a long time and investment of mutually earned trust. It may involve some fights, or years of misunderstanding before eventually realizing that you’re starting to really like the person. But difficult as it may be, I may have insights that can help you pull a friend closer to you. Of course, it involves a lot of coercion and torture conversation exchange—preferably a face-to-face one, where you could directly feel their emotions on the manner of how they speak, where there couldn’t be any barriers of communication and you can actually understand the tone of their message. A hearty conversation is essential in keeping your bonds strong. It’s like the more you share the more seeds you plant in them that will grow and eventually...

Even though I resigned as a teacher months ago, hindi ko pa rin maitatangging nami-miss kong magturo. ‘Yung turo lang ha? Hindi kasama ‘yung other things na nakakabit sa work na ito, *cough* paperworks, *cough* lab manuals. There were moments na bigla ko na lang maiisip na, “Ay, ito, magandang pa-activity ito sa mga students ko next time,” when I know I shouldn’t even stress myself about it dahil iba na rin naman ang sakop ng new work ko. Madalas ay nanghihinayang ako kung bakit hindi ko nagawa ang ilan sa mga iyon. Kaya kung teacher ka at nagkataong naghahanap ka rin ng way para gawing masigla ang inyong klase, I may have some valuable information for you. Admit it, boring ang pure lecture lang. No one wants to hear a teacher drone on and on about a subject topic. Well sure, I can’t blame you for doing that dahil papa’no mo nga naman maipapasa ang information sa klase kung hindi ka magsasalita sa harap? But please naman, do it in a fun way! Let your students be enga...

Ever since I’ve read an article na nag-8 minute standing ovation ang audience sa Venice Film Festival nang mapanood ito, iyon na, na-curious na ako rito. I mean, why? Gano’n ba talaga kaganda? At nang mapanood ko na nga kagabi, napatunayan ko nga. It really didn’t disappoint. It’s totally different than the earlier versions of Joker we’ve seen. And it’s way above sa performance na ginawa ung Joker sa Suicide Squad. Thank God for this, makakalimutan ko na rin ‘yung Joker na may damaged na tattoo sa noo. It’s like Joaquin Phoenix was born for the role. Hindi na nakapagtataka kung makahakot award ito sa next Academy Awards. And if not—better they reconsider, because there will be riot and blood will shed. Compared to Heath Ledger’s Joker, I like Joaquin’s character more. But that’s not saying na dapat na ring kalimutan ‘yung kay Heath Ledger. He’s a legend. And always will be. I mean, their characters were way different. Ledger’s Joker was introduced as a mob leader a...

I bet you thought I'm already involving myself with the software development process of the company, with sweaty hands, sleep-deprived eyes, and over-caffeinated blood — but no, I'm not there yet. My first week in my new job was focused only on my training, on getting me familiarized with their workflow process and in their environment. Since I'm new, no one in their right mind would allow me to tinker with their high-quality product. They must first evaluate where my skills stand and whether I'm really ready to be assigned those work-related tasks. But that's not saying I'm just sitting there idling in front of my laptop. The complete silence and shame of doing nothing would surely kill me. So I immersed myself in intensive training in order to catch up to them. On my first day, our team lead programmer tasked me to read a few books. Some of which were about cleaning codes and effective java programming. I was actually hoping that I would only get to r...

Choosing the programming career was one of the huge steps I made—since I came from the academe world. So when the software company called to invite me for an on-site exam, it racked me, I wasn’t able to sleep well for straight days as the idea of me coding in front of them terrified me. What if I wouldn’t be able to answer it? What if it’s something I am completely unaware of? And then that day came and I was right. It was totally something I wasn’t expecting. Please note that I am only trying to get an entry-level kind of java programming job, so when they asked me to write a REST API documentation for the scenario they made, I was like, “Shit, I’m in danger.” Nail-biting was never included in my mannerisms, but in that moment, you could imagine me doing that. I was expecting more of coding problems involved in hackerrank.com, where it mostly tests your logical thinking skills, utilizing the basic java utilities existing, such as rotating the contents of an array or recur...

Sure, there are lots of convoluted material from its 1000+ novel counterpart to showcase in the big screen, but that’s not saying that this continuation is trash overall. It’s not. The cast did well on playing their part, Pennywise still had proven that he’s a worthy villain, and there were enough scenes that made me close my mouth in case a shout escapes me. The major thing that killed this movie for me was its ending. It’s even funny because it was even referenced in the movie: how Bill Denbrough, the main protagonist (who grew up as a writer) was hated because of how shitty his book endings were. That’s what made me so pissed by the time I left the cinema. I didn’t even bother how long the movie was. I get it. Actually, kulang pa nga ang 2 hours and 55 minutes runtime nito sa sobrang daming naganap sa novel nito. But as it approached its climax, I happened to have this thought: Iyon na ‘yon? Two hours at mahigit na paghihintay para lang doon? Doon pa lang sira na ang...

Excelling in school isn’t always defined by sheer intelligence only. What sets the smartest kid in your class from others is his study habits. So if you wanted your name to be included in the top 10 in your class, don’t just study hard, develop smart habits, and you’ll surely find yourself crawling or even skyrocketing towards success. Listed below are some habits I’ve researched or even implemented during my school days: 1. Studying when you’re mostly focused Don’t force yourself to study when you don’t feel like it, but that’s not saying you should only study when your heart is set on it. What I mean is, identify the time when your concentration is at its peak. For me, it’s always set around 9PM-12MN. For others, it might be earlier like from 6PM-8PM or in the early morning, from 3AM-5AM when everyone is still asleep yet. This way, you’re upping the chances of remembering every term you read in your reviewer. 2. Avoid cramming During my college days, I ten...