Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Bottom Line

Your confidence will help you connect with people who can offer you opportunities.

In Detail

You know you're smart, and your confidence and intellectual strengths will come in very useful today. They'll help you get noticed and connect with people who can offer you the opportunity you have been waiting for. So don't shy away from innovative ideas that make you feel strange or confused. You're at your best when you're forced to figure stuff out -- and it will be your ability to solve a puzzle that will show important people that you are a force to be reckoned with.

 
posted by tinny at 10:13 PM | 0 comments
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Quarter life crisis

25.. quarter of a century.. Gosh, Im getting old! Feel like Im experiencing the so-called quarter life crisis...

Characteristics of quarter-life crisis may include:

  • feeling "not good enough" because one can't find a job that is at one's academic/intellectual level
  • frustration with relationships, the working world, and finding a suitable job or career
  • confusion of identity
  • insecurity regarding the near future
  • insecurity regarding present accomplishments
  • re-evaluation of close interpersonal relationships
  • disappointment with one's job
  • nostalgia for university, college, high school or elementary school life
  • tendency to hold stronger opinions
  • boredom with social interactions
  • financially-rooted stress
  • loneliness
  • desire to have children
  • a sense that everyone is, somehow, doing better than you

[http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6701654755835369131]
 
posted by tinny at 1:30 AM | 0 comments
Thursday, August 9, 2007
tinamaan ako!

Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21)[?]

Sagittarius

The Bottom Line

Questioning where you are going is always a healthy thing to do. Check yourself.

In Detail

When did you get the idea that having doubt in your life was a bad thing? Sure, it might cause you to pause your progress right in the middle of a nice groove, but questioning where you are going is always a healthy thing to do. So don't hesitate to check yourself today. Even if you're happier than you have ever been, just do a bit of a review of how you're feeling about things. Take your emotional pulse and confirm that you know what you're doing -- and want more.

 
posted by tinny at 1:10 AM | 0 comments
Thursday, July 12, 2007
...
it hurts to see you soaring high knowing i can't join you as you explore ethereal skies.. but no matter how high you might fly and wherever the wind may take you, i'll keep watching you from the ground with admiration and hope that at end of day when you're tired and in need of a place to rest your weary wings, there's no other nest you'd want to come home to but my heart.
 
posted by tinny at 11:51 PM | 1 comments
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Just thinking aloud…
I’ve tken this from my reaction paper re Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It’s a good read, you’d find there very profound thoughts by Freire himself, but I don’t totally agree with him.. well, here’s what I think..

* * *

Paulo Freire’s ideas about the effectiveness of a problem-posing method of education are for me undoubtedly true. He has clearly explained why such method is far more effective than the banking concept of education wherein the teacher deposits and the students collect and store. I believe that the Freire’s problem-posing method is mutually beneficial on the part of the teacher and the students, as there is an exchange of ideas and an opportunity for the students to inquire, clear their doubts and misconceptions, express their thoughts or opinions, and share their added knowledge. A classroom setting wherein the teacher and the students engage in enriching, lively and critical discourse is indeed very ideal for learning.

However, I do not necessarily acknowledge Paulo Freire’s theses and arguments that emphasize the banking education’s futility and oppressive characteristic. While I agree that using problem-posing method “from the outset” and not just as an “interim measure” is more beneficial or more favorable for learning of both parties, I don’t agree that banking education instead of Freire’s method is totally useless.

I believe that learning is a continuous process and going to school or particularly, listening to the teacher’s lecture or engaging in classroom discussion is just a part of that whole learning process. To say that banking method is useless or the problem-probing method is the only or the most effective means of educating students is too presumptuous because learning is subjective or is a personal experience.

Even when there is a very lively dialogue between a teacher and a student or among the teacher and all his students, one cannot be totally sure learning actually takes place. This is because the student, although very participative in class, may not apply what he has learned when goes out of the classroom. In the same manner, even when the teacher is the only one speaking (as in the banking method) while student merely listens, one cannot conclusively say there is no learning on the part of the student.

As what has been discussed in the modules, we may not be conscious that the process of learning or acquiring culture takes place, but we learn and acquire culture in one way or another. The transfer or culture from one person to another or from one group to another need not be verbally, tangibly, visibly or explicitly recognized in order for it to actually happen.

In the same way, a student may not be conscious that he is actually learning but he may have absorbed something from what the teacher “banks” in him or what he learns in the classroom discussions—or he might be conscious but preferred to just listen (and hence, not just to store it as Freire argues). If he shares it to his friend, classmate, or family later on, he still becomes a re-inventor (Freire says knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvention). Moreover, if he is able to make necessary or significant realizations in his life through that knowledge given to him by his teacher, the very purpose of teaching is achieved—learning. In this scenario, the banking method may appear to be just an “interim method,” but it actually made a difference on the life of the student.

Specifically, Freire attacked narration and memorization describing these as “mechanical” way of teaching. I also believe that these are less effective methods but then again, they may not be completely useless. Facts such as dates, numbers, names, places, etc may have some “sense” to a student, particularly to someone or those with special interest on the subject. It is again not good to assume that they do not mean anything to the student or to assume that the students, in the absence of discourse, dialogue or exchange of ideas, did not come into a realization or did not critically think about those facts.

Looking at it closely, Paulo Freire is in fact the one “projecting absolute ignorance onto others (the students)” as he assumes that the students do not learn anything or do not engage in any critical thinking. The fact that the student listens is a proof that he acknowledges what the teacher says. As he acknowledges that knowledge given to him, he actually thinks because one cannot agree to something without knowing what it is that you agree to or without understanding it. To agree with someone or to something is not necessarily the same as saying “yes.” Agreeing involves is cognition.

About the dichotomy of teacher and students, I believe that it is impossible to completely disregard it, even in the very ideal classroom setting where the teacher does not only teach but learn from his students as well and the students do not merely learn but teach the teacher as well. The reciprocal teaching and learning, although very ideal, should not necessarily destroy teacher-student relationship. The teacher still needs to be looked upon by students as an authority (although his authority is not absolute) so that they may give him due respect. I believe that having such an authority doesn’t make the students oppressed or the teacher himself an oppressor.

The teacher-student relationship can be likened to a parent and child relationship. In the latter, reciprocal teaching and learning may also take place; however, the “dichotomy” of parent-child is still necessary. The parent remains to be the parent and the child remains to be the child.

Based on the dictionary, oppression means “to keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority.” In a situation wherein the teacher lectures and the students willfully listens, I don’t think that there is an unjust use of force or authority on the part of the teacher. I believe that the student, as a human being, has instincts. Verbally questioning or silently pondering in response to a thought, information or idea given by the teacher is one of those instincts. For sure, a student would react (whether through a dialogue or through personal reflection) when he hears something disagreeable or agreeable. And in that process of reacting, learning takes place.

With regard to the prevailing culture among teachers, I observe that the banking method is generally practiced in teaching students in the elementary years as those very young students still need to be guided as to what kind of information they should take in. Since they are still in their formative years, in a way, they still need to be “spoon-fed” to ensure they are learning what they ought to learn. They have not yet gained enough wisdom to engage in critical thinking on their own; hence, they need guidance.

But I don’t think that banking method is purely practiced. Although grade school and even some high school students are more into memorizing facts and figures, I believe that recitations and classroom discussions are always encouraged; hence, what Freire calls as “oppression” doesn’t take place.
 
posted by tinny at 10:46 PM | 0 comments
Thursday, July 27, 2006
My horoscope says…
I don’t know if horoscopes are real, I don’t really believe in them but I find them entertaining, so I regularly check my horoscope at Friendster.com. It’s weird and somewhat funny that most of the time I can relate with my daily horoscope. Not that I completely rely on them but I always read them now so I can get some insights and some sort of encouragement, which they often give. Well, they make sense.

Here’s my horoscope for today.. It talks about BIG changes.. wow, what could they be?! I’m not anticipating, but I’d love to welcome those BIG changes.. well, as you can see from the horoscope, those changes sound so positive.. i hope so.. ‘been very busy lately, but still bored.. There’s something… something… just something… yeah, there’s something missing… i don’t know what it is. maybe it could bring a whole new meaning to everything.

The Bottom Line

Big changes are afoot, so get ready for physical and emotional transformations.

In Detail

There’s a lot of activity flying around today — everyone’s moving a mile a minute (including you), and this fast pace is leaving you feeling invigorated. You also feel inspired by the changes that are starting to reveal themselves. Things are happening so quickly right now that you’re skipping over the boring stuff and getting right into the heart of the matter. Get ready for an intense physical, as well as emotional, transformation to take place over the next few weeks. Big changes are afoot.
 
posted by tinny at 11:00 PM | 0 comments
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Deal or no deal?
Life is about making choices…

There’s one Supreme Being who permits us to do things and make decisions - good and bad - for reasons we may not know. Yes, He creates our destiny, but we still have choices. Living our life is simply making choices each day. To live each day is in itself a choice we make.
 
posted by tinny at 9:00 PM | 0 comments
Our Song
at the beginning

we were strangers starting out on our journey
never dreaming what we’d have to go through
now here we are and I’m suddenly standing
at the beginning with you

no one told me I was going to find you
unexpected what you did to my heart
when I lost hope you were there to remind me
this is the start

(chorus)
and Life is a road and I want to keep going
love is a river I want to keep flowing
life is a road now and forever
a Wonderful journey

i’ll be there when the world stops turning
i’ll be there whenthe storm is through
in the end I wanna be standing
at the beginning with you

we were strangers on a crazy adventure
never dreaming how our dreams would come true
now here we stand unafraid of the future
at the beginning with you

(chorus)

i knew there was somebody somewhere
ike me alone in the dark
i know that my dream will live on
i’ve been waiting so long
nothing’s gonna tear us apart

(chorus)

in the end I wanna be standing at the beginning with you
 
posted by tinny at 8:30 PM | 0 comments
Thursday, May 26, 2005
A LOVE once LOST..and a LOVE that will RISE again..
A friend has forwarded this to me.. I just thought you'd like it the way i did.. or perhaps it'll strike you the way it hit me. Not that I've been through the same pain of loving and losing before but the writer's idea about falling and rising again is generally touching. I bet we all have went through the feeling of despair.. like it's the end of everything.. it's not something we feel only in love. But anyway, i'll share to you my thoughts next time. For now, I invite you take delight on this simple treasure that I have found..

Anyone who has gone through the agony of loosing someone he/she loves so much will still wish against all odds to have that love back again. But sometimes a love lost is a love gone forever. No amount of hope can bring back to life a relationship that just died a natural death. Set yourself free, let your heart spread its wings and fly. Remember, it may rain for 40 days and 40 nights, but still it will not rain forever. One day the pouring will stop and there will be plenty of branches where you can find rest. One of these is where you will build your nest and star all over again. It's never too late.

You may not find love and lose it but, WHEN LOVE DIES YOU NEVER DIE WITH IT. You cannot be a redeemer all your life. The best way to weigh a relationship is through the test of fire. You cannot be a sober with your mistake forever. We all fall and make wrong decisions but our blunders are meant to bury us deep in misery but to teach us the valued lessons of life. Loving is always a learning process. With love we learn how to CARE AND SACRIFICE. We learn to SHARE AND REACH OUT. We learn to be UNSELFISH AND GIVE MORE THAN WE CAN. Then, when everything doesn't end well, we learn how it feels like to fall and get hurt.

But learning doesn't have to end there. After our fall, we strive to get back on our feet and move on. This is where we learn that LIFE DOESN'T END WHERE OUR HEARTACHES BEGIN. THERE'S NO FUTURE FOR A RELATIONSHIP OF LIES AND SELFISHNESS. It's true, there is life in love. But, THERE CAN STILL BE LIFE EVEN AFTER LOSING LOVE, IF YOU LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND AND LET YOUR HEART HEAL AND GIVE YOU THE CHANCE TO FIND YOURSELF AGAIN.

The success of a relationship lies not only in the beauty of its beginning but in its consistency. Make a choice not on impulse but decision based on a healthy balance of mind and heart. Let us always remember that HAPPINESS IS NOT A MATTER OF DESTINY BUT A MATTER OF CHOICE. There comes a time in our lives when we chance upon someone so nice and beautiful and we just find ourselves getting so intensely attracted to that person. This feeling soon becomes a part of our everyday lives and eventually consumes our thoughts and actions. The sad part of it is when we begin to realize that this person feels nothing more for us than friendship. We star our desperate attempt to get noticed and be closer but in the end our efforts are still unrewarded and we end up being sorry for ourselves. YOU DON'T HAVE TO FORGET SOMEONE YOU LOVE, WHAT YOU NEED TO LEARN IS HOW TO ACCEPT THE VERDICT OF REALITY WITHOUT BEING BITTER OR SORRY FOR YOURSELF. YOU WOULD BE BETTER OFF GIVING THAT DEDICATION AND LOVE TO SOMEONE MORE DESRVING.

Don't let your heart run your life, be sensible and let your mind speak for itself. Listen not only to your feelings but to reason as well. Always remember that IF YOU LOSE SOMEONE TODAY, IT MEANS THAT SOMEONE BETTER IS COMING TOMORROW. IF YOU LOSE LOVE, IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU HAVE FAILED IN LOVE. CRY IF YOU HAVE TO BUT MAKE SURE THAT TEARS WASH AWAY THE HURT AND BITTERNESS THAT THE PAST LEFT YOU WITH. LET GO OF YOUR YESTERDAY AND LOVE WILL FIND ITS WAY BACK TO YOU. And when it does, pray that it may be the love that will stay and last a lifetime. A woman on the rebound could easily fall for sweeping emotions and be made falsely believe that she finally stumbled upon the right person, when what she just found is only someone to cover up for the love she lost. A man who makes a promise with words and not with actions may never live up to fulfill them.

IT'S TRUE THAT LOVE CAN WAIT FOREVER BUT IT IS CRAZY TO STUBBORNLY HOPE FOR SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T EVEN CARE OR UNDERSTAND HOW YOU FEEL. Love makes us see the things through rose-colored glasses. Most of the time, we fail to recognize the danger sign that lights up along our way. This feeling you have nurtured for so long isn't healthy anymore. You must realize that you have to go now before it consumes you and your sanity. There is always a time to think and stop, a time to be sensible and not allow your hearts to rule over our heads. YOU DESERVE TO BE HAPPY NOT IN THE ARMS OF A PERSON WHO KEEPS YOU WAITING BUT IN THE ARMS OF SOMEONE WHO WILL TAKE YOU NOW AND LOVE YOU FOREVER.

If loving a person who is attached to someone else is a crime, then, maybe, many of us would have been jailed long before we realize what its consequences could have been. Loving someone is never a sin.. It's what people do out of love that sometimes makes it all wrong. The selfish desire to want that person is what makes it a sin. DON'T THINK ONLY OF YOUR FEELINGS FOR REAL LOVE DOESN'T HAVE A PLACE FOR SELFISH PEOPLE. When there is love, there are always sacrifices. When we love someone, we never easily give up on that person. Even if we get hurt badly, we always try to find a way to ease the pain and learn to understand and forgive. Loving too much doesn't hurt.. its when we expect this love to be reciprocated that we begin to seek approval and acceptance of the things we have done and when we are taken for granted and rejected, we curse the very same love that we once freely and happily offered. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME WAITING FOR SOMEONE WHO NEVER REALLY CARED ABOUT HOW YOU WOULD HAVE FELT. OPEN YOUR HEART AGAIN AND GIVE YOURSELF A CHANCE TO FIND THE MAN WHO WOULD MAKE LOVING WORTH THE PAIN AND THE SACRIFICE. Just like anything else, our love grows weak and dies, if not taken cared of. It can keep up with pain only to a certain extent. Beyond that, it withers without any hope of recovery and soon dies.

GOD WAKES US IN THE MIDST OF A STORM TO TEACHES US A LESSON. HE TAKES AWAY PEOPLE WE LOVE SO WE CAN LEARN TO VALUE LOVE ITSELF. HE MAKES US CRY SO HARD SO WE CAN SEE CLEARLY WHEN WE OPEN OUR EYES. HE MAKES US BITTER SO WE CAN REALIZE THAT THERE IS NO GENUINE HAPPINESS IF WE THINK ONLY OF OUR OWN NEEDS AND NOT OF OTHERS.

Relationships built on jealousy and selfishness are doomed from the very beginning. THE HARDEST PART OF LOSING LOVE IS LETTING GO AND MOVING ON. Most of us cry endlessly over things that could have been but never will be. GOD ALLOWS US TO EXPERIENCE PAIN TO MAKE US STRONGER AND BETTER PERSONS. He will see us through the most trying and difficult times in our lives and only if we put our trust in Him can we learn to find joy in our tears and happiness in our sorrows. In many failed relationships, SEPARATION COMES AS INEVITABLE BUT MOVING ON ALWAYS PROVES TO BE TWICE AS DIFFICULT AS LETTING GO. Sometimes, our choice to hold on is beyond the control of circumstances. LETTING GO IS A DECISION THAT CAN NEVER BE DICTATED TO US. It is a resolution we make to ourselves. ACCEPTANCE IS THE KEY TO A NEW BEGINNING AND TIME IS THE HEALER OF ALL WOUNDS. Even if storm casts its fearful shadow, there will always be light after our darkness and loneliest moments. There is always hope for those who believe. There is always a chance for those who try.

LOSING SOMEONE WE LOVE MAY NOT BE A LOSS AT ALL BUT BLESSING BECAUSE SOMEONE EVEN MORE DESERVING IS YET TO COME. There is nothing wrong in expressing our feelings to someone we love, but WE MUST ALWAYS BE SENSITIVE TO THE SIGNALS THAT TELL US WHEN TO RATIONALIZE AND BE SENSIBLE. There comes a time in our lives when we would fall for someone who wouldn't be as interested as we are because his attention is focused on someone else. There are many times when we love but don't get love in return. THERE ARE TIMES WHEN THE SIGN AHEAD SAYS STOP BUT WE STILL STUBBORNLY HEAD ON. We would say our love is unconditional. But if it really is, then we should never feel bad. But why do we get frustrated when love turns sour? Because we still subconsciously seek acceptance and assurance from the people we care about. BEING IN LOVE CAN BE THE MOST WONDERFUL THING WE COULD EXPERIENCE BUT IF THE FEELING BEGINS TO CONSUME OUR WHOLE BEING, THEN WE HAVE TO STOP AND LET OUR MINDS AND NOT OUR HEARTS DICTATE OUR ACTIONS. ONLY WHEN WE LEARN TO ACCEPT OUR FATE AND UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF OUR FAILURES CAN WE TRULY GO ON WITH LIFE. WITHOUT HAVING TO LOOK BACK AND CRY OVER THE THINGS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN BUT WILL NEVER BE...
 
posted by tinny at 3:41 PM | 0 comments
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Crossroads: Fate or Just a Phase?
HAVE you been in a crossroad or at least have felt like being in this kind of crucial, confusing, life-and-death and oh well, yes, depressing state? It’s hard being in this phase. It feels like the whole world is on your shoulders. The problem is not just choosing which road to take and where to go but what is it that you really like in life—in deeper sense, what your purpose is.

PURPOSE. That word seems to be very difficult to understand or shall I say, to discriminate from other things that your heart desires—my heart desires. I have always been a dreamer. Since I was young (well, I’m still young. I mean back in the days when I can still go around the house just wearing my undies ;p), I have always found myself daydreaming. I imagined myself as an astronaut, a gymnast, a pilot, an architect, an engineer, a marine biologist, a novelist, lawyer, a writer-researcher, a traveler, a musician or composer and a dentist. And why not, of having my own family, a good husband and kids who are like my best friends, too (before, I used to dream of having just a son or daughter and no husband… I was man-hater then but that’s a different story). So anyway...BIG dreams they were! That’s one thing why kids are better of than grown ups. They’ve got lots of dreams and yes, confidence to dream BIG. They have FAITH.

FAITH. As I journeyed on and turned away from the colorful world of childhood, this just grew faint as well. Perhaps it’s because of other’s comments and insults. Though most of them were not meant to hurt me, they left a seemingly perpetual anguish inside. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why I’m always scared to try, to take the challenge, to go for the win, though deep inside, an innate voice of a fighter, a dreamer and an idealist entreats to be heard.

TO BE HEARD. Which voice? That’s the hardest part of it. Which voice should I follow? I’ve got lots of interests. I feel like I’m a jack of all trades, a master of none. I can do a lot of things—but I just know how to do them, never know how to do them expertly—not even one of them. Each interest just brings me to a wild fantasy and drives me to a near-perfect aspiration. There were times I was successful in realizing them; but many times, I failed—especially in things about my would-be career or profession, my future.

FUTURE. That is so hard to picture out. Only He knows exactly what it is. But I believe He gave us Free Will to do what we want, to shape our life the way we want to. His Will, though, shall be the Ultimate verdict. “It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone’s life is in his power.” (Job 12:10) But He is Good. He let us do what we want so we must act. And what we do now will determine what we will become in the future. I know it’s not about being “someone” or being able to do “something” so praise-worthy that we ought to aim for, but rather, it’s about LIVING LIFE by doing that something He had made us capable of. And in that way, we can serve Him and ultimately when time comes, we can say to Him, “I HAVE LIVED MY LIFE.”

LIFE. It’s so big for a dreamer and so small for a quitter. Where am I right now? I’m in between and have since then been constantly hurled to and fro both ends. It’s miserable being at the middle, just wondering and thinking again and again what to do next so I can move forward. Although I feel so down many times, definitely I don’t want to quit. But when do I move on and which road shall I take? Will I forever be in this state or will I be able to get over this and finally get there. How I wish I know the answer. I hope.

HOPE. If I need to wander off to find the right way, then I would. If I need to take different roads to discover where I’m supposed to go, then I would. If takes TIME, then I’ll pay the price. But I certainly cannot afford to lose that thing keeps me going right now, hope.
 
posted by tinny at 6:48 PM | 0 comments