From 32 third graders and one class bunny - by Philip Done

"The Main reason I became a teacher is that I like being the first one to introduce kids to words and music and books and people and numbers and concepts and ideas that they have never heard about or thought about before. I like being the first one to tell them about Long John Silver and negative numbers and Beethoven and alliteration and "Oh What a beautiful Morning" and similes and right angles and Ebenezer Scrooge... Just think about what you know today, You read. You write. You work with numbers, You solve problems. We take all these things for granted. But of course you haven't always read. You haven't always known how to write. You weren't born knowing how to subtract 199 from 600. Someone showed you. There was a moment when you moved from not knowing to knowing, from not understanding to understanding. That's why I became a teacher."

Excerpted from 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny: Life lessons from teaching, by Philip Done

Thoughts #3

"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken."

-James Dent

______________________________

What about if one's summer days are exactly the opposite of the above? I am experiencing the opposite right now...

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;  Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,  And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.  I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.       -- Robert Frost

Thoughts #2

There is gigantic difference between earning a great deal of money and being rich.

-Marlene Dietrich

I wear a thousand Masks - Annonymous

I wear a thousand masks
I hope you won’t be fooled by me for I wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks – masks that I’m afraid to take off, and one of them is me.
I am likely to give you the impression that I’m secure, that confidence is my name, and coolness is my game – that the water’s calm and I’m in command, and that I need no one. But I hope you won’t believe me.
My surface may seem smooth…beneath I dwell in confusion, in fear, in aloneness. But I hide this. I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear of being exposed. That’s why I frantically create a mood to hide behind, a nonchalant, sophisticated façade to shield me from your understanding. But such understanding is my salvation. My only salvation and I know it.
If I don’t keep the mask in front of myself, I’m afraid you’ll think less of me, that you’ll laugh and your laugh would kill me.
So I play the game, my desperate pretending game, with the façade of assurance without, and trembling feeling within, and so my life becomes a front, I idly chatter to you in suave surface tones… I tell you everything that is nothing and nothing of what is everything, of what’s crying within me, So when I go into my routine, I hope you won’t be fooled but what I’m saying, I hope you listen carefully to hear what I’m not saying.
I dislike the superficial, phony game I’m playing. I’d really like to be even, genuine, and spontaneous. I want your help in doing this I want you to risk approaching me even when that’s the last thing I seem to want or need. I want this from you so I can be alive, each time you’re kind and gentle and encouraging, each time you try to understand because you really care, my courage to risk sharing myself with you increases.
I wan to you to know how important you are to me, how you can be a creator of the person that is me if you choose, But it will not be easy for you. A long conviction of worthlessness leads me to maintain distance.
The nearer you approach me the blinder I may strike back. It is self-defeating but at the time, iit seems the safest thing to do. I fight against the very things that I cry out for. But I am told that empathy is stronger that the walls and there in lies my hope. I desperately want you to understand me in spite of my distancing tactics.
Who I am you may wonder, I am someone you know very well. I am every man and every woman you meet.

Set Up by Maru Peter

Set-up (Reposted from 04-05)
Itangan mo sakin ang iyong mga kamay
At sa bisig ko giliw ika'y humimlay
O, lilikas na tayo sa tunay na mundo...

Ang tadhana'y pinagbuklod tayo
Wala nang makapagbabago
Habang ikaw ay nariyan sa aking tabi
Hindi sasayangin ang kahit saglit...

Kalimutan ang sakit mula sa kahapon
Sa bawat bagyo giliw sakin sumilong
Ako ang iyong kalasag...

Wala nang aawat...
Walang sisikil...
Damdaming nagaalab...
Sinong pipigil?
________________________
English Translation of “Set Up”

lay down your hands on me
And on my arms darling, rest
O we will be free from the real world

Faith has binded us together
Nothing will change
As long as you are right there by my side
We will not waste even a moment

Forget about the pain from yesterday
To every storm seek shelter from me
I am your shield

Nothing can stop
No one will stifle
Ardent feelings
Who will fetter?

Thoughts #1

"As we grow older and realize more clearly the limitations of human hapiness, we come to see that the only real and abiding pleasure in life is to give pleasure to other people"

- P.G. Wodehouse

Real Life (from Real Simple)

I read this magazine called Real Simple and they have a section at the back where a reader would answer these questions that only celebrities are asked. So I thought I'd answer the questions, feel like a celebrity or atleast a middle-aged woman:-)

Gladys Fernandez

Age: 27 / grad student San Bruno, CA / Single

Q: What is your favorite feature?

A: My teeth. I was fortunate to have a Dentist for an Auntie and she took care of my teeth for free for like 15 years.

Q: What was your most embarassing moment?

A: There is too many to mention and hard to chose just one:-) But I am always embarrassed whenever my friends who've known me since childhood would recount those embarrassing moments.

Q: What are you most proud of?

A: That I have a great relationship with my parents. We all put in extra effort to improve our communications and I have outmost respect for them. Not a lot of people know this but my father and I are close and we can talk about almost anything.

Q: What is something no one knows about you?

A: I can cook and sew by hand.

Q: What's the one thing you'll never understand?

A: Men. Enough said.

Q: What's the perfect age?

A: Probably the 40's because one would have had accomplishments worth talking about. At that age the akwardness of one's teen years would have be shed compeletely, or so we hope. I'm not liking my 20's right now, it is proving to be a mixed bag.

Q: The big decision I'm currently wrestling with is...

A: What I will do in the fall semester. I'm not student teaching until Spring of 2009 and I need to work on getting a credential and getting a job to pay bills etc, etc.

Q: Cats or Dogs?

A: Cats. But please don't tell my dog.

Ang Kawal at Kondessa - Huling Yugto

Bigla na lang tumunog ang trumpeta ng digmaan. Nagmadaling bumalik sa Palasyo ang Kondessa at ang Kawal. Malungkot na inihatid ng Kawal ang Kondessa sa isang Barko na pabalik sa Bayang Mahamog. Nagpaalaman ang dalawa na puno ng lunkot ang kanilang mga mata.
"Mapanganib ang manatili ka dito sa Isla, Kondessa" Ang sabi ng Kawal. "Yumaon ka na sa iyong bayan at mas ligtas ka doon."
Tumango na lang ang Kondessa. HIndi nya malaman kung bakit hindi tumutulo ang kanyang luha kahit na nag-uumapaw ang kalungkutan sa kanyang dibdib.
Lumipas ang ilang araw, linggo at buwan na walang sulat ni balita sa Kawal. Unti unting nagbago ang Kondessa.Umalis sya sa kanyang katungkulan sa Bayang Mahamog dahil sa nawala na ang kanyang magandang boses na kailanggan sa pagbiigay enerhiya sa buong syudad. Nagpunta sya sa mga dekampanilyang doktor sa bayang Mahamog (malakas kasi sila sa Hari) upang malaman ang lunas sa kanyang sakit ngunit ni isa sa kanila ay walang nakatulong.
Sa kanyang desperasyon, pumunta sya sa albularyo ng bayang Mahamog.
"Malubha ang kalagayan mo Kondesa. Wala na ang iyong puso." sabi ng albularyo.
"Imposible!" ang halos pasigaw na sagot ng Kondessa. "Kung wala akong puso'y di na ako mabubuhay!"

"Yon ang paniniwala ng mga doktor. Sa katunayan ay maari kang mabuhay ng hanggang isang taon nang walang puso. Kung ano man ang ipinakita sa iyo ng mga doktor, hindi iyon ang puso mo. Isang pumipintig na lalagyan na lang iyon. Wala ka nang puso. Kung hindi mo ito makukuha muli, unti unti kang mamatay sa loob ng isang linggo."
At pinaharap ng Albularyo ang Kondessa sa isang salamin. Doon nakita ng kondessa ang kanyang sarili: maputla at nangingitim na mga labi.
"Anong dapat kong gawin? Saan ako makakabili ng bagong puso?"
"Hindi nabibili ang puso.Kailanggang maglakbay kang muli at kunin mo ang iyong puso at patayin ang magnankaw. Ikaw lamang ang makakagawa nito. Kailanggan mo itong gawin sa lalong madaling panahon, habang may lakas ka pa."Kinabuhasan ay bumalik ang mga agila sa bayang mahamog na may malungkot na balita: Hindi pa rin tapos ang Digmaan sa Disyerto at ang Kawal ay nawawala. Hindi maiulat ng mga opsiyal na patay na ang Kawal dahil sa hindi pa rin nakikita ang kanyang bankay.
May isang luhang tumulo sa kanang mata ng naghihingalong Kondessa. At isa pang luha sa kaliwa hanggang sa marining ang mahina nyang pag-iyak.Naghanda sya para sa mahabang paglalakbay.
"Alam ko kung ano talaga ang nangyari," ang sabi ng albularyo nang bumalik ang Kondessa."Ibinigay mo ang puso mo ng walang naging kapalit."
Hindi kumibo ang Kondessa. Pinagpatuloy nya ang paghahanda ng mga kakailangganin nya. Totoo ang sinabi ng Albularyo. I binigay nga nya ang kanyang puso sa Kawal.
Bumalik sa kanyang alala ang huli nilang pagsasama ng Kawal.

"Alaala mo lang ang pwede kong dalhin sa digmaan" Ang nasabi ng Kawal bago umuwi ang Kondessa
Nagtitigan sila ng matagal. Walang tinig na lumabas sa kanilang mga labi. Ibinigay ng Kondessa sa Kawal ang isang kwintas na may kristal na bato. Iyon ang kanyang puso.

"Dalhin mo ito." ang sabi ng albularyo habang iniaabot ang isang kriss na gawa sa lantay na pilak. "Kakailangganin mo sa iyong paglalakbay".

Sa Isla nagpunta ang Kondessa at hindi sa Disyerto. May nagsasabi sa kanyang isip na masmalapit ang kanyang puso sa Isla. Dinala sya ng kanyang mga paa sa isang gubat na madawag at madilim. Halos isang buong araw din syang naglakad hanggang sa nakita nya ang isang dampa.
Pumasok sya sa loob ng dampa. At doon nakita nya ang Kawal na sugatan.
"Nagbalik ka." Ang pabulong na sabi ng Kawal.
HIndi sumagot ang Kondessa. Lumapit pa sya ng kaunti para makita ng lubusan ang Kawal.
"Binalak mo bang kunin ang puso ko?"
Napangiti ang kawal. Bumalik sa alala ng Kondessa ang Pigiging mga isang taon na ang nakalilipas...

"Pagbalik ko, dito na tayo maninirahan sa Isla." Ang sabi ng Kawal habang sumasayaw sila ng Kondessa. Napagiti sa saya ang Kondessa. Ngunit sa likod ng kanyang isip aya alam nyang hindi na sya maaring mabuhay na wala ang hamog, at isang daang taon na ang nakalipas ng huling magkaroon ng hamog sa Isla.
"At paano ka nakaksisigurong makababalik ka? " Ang tanong ng Kondessa.
"Habang nasa akin ang puso mo, hindi ako mamatay". Ang sabi ng nakangiting Kawal.

At ang ngiting iyon ay hindi naalis sa isipan ng Kondessa, hanggang sa sumadaling iyon, sa kabila ng mga sugat ay hindi pa rin nagbabago ang ngiti ng Kawal.
"Oo." At tumawa ng nmahina ang kawal. "Pwede mo na ring sabihing natatakot akong mamatay, at kailanggan ko ng isa pang puso para makaligtas sa Digmaan."
"Minahal kita!" Ang sabi ng Kondessa na lumuluha.
"At minahal din kita!" Ang sabi ng Kawal. "Pero hindi mo sinabi sa akin na ikaw pala ang tagapagmana ng Reyna ng Nieve!"
Ang reyna ng nieve ay may kapangyarihang magpaulan o magpaaraw. Sya ang may-ari ng panahon...

Nanumbalik ang kulay sa mukha ng Kodessa at makalipas ang isa pang araw at tuluyan na syang gumaling.

Makalipas ang ilang taon ay nakabalik na rin sa kanyang trabaho ang Kondessa. Sya pa rin ang pinagtitiwalaan ng Reyna.

Unang Sulat

Mabuhay!