Monday, August 31, 2009

Bad Trip

Excuse me for the title but I really am feeling that way. I was expecting that the maid would come today as she PROMISED, but she's a no-show and not even a text message to me.

My boss is expecting me today to be at the office but I have not left the house because of the no-show maid. It is pretty bad because I don't have any salary for the whole month if I don't work in the office. Where will I get my daily allowance? Or money to spend for my son's birthday this coming September 15?

I feel so fuming mad already. I have been so kind to her and understood her situation with her live-in partner and now, this? Honestly, if she doesn't want to work anymore, she should just tell me straight to my face or through text even. But I didn't receive any of those. Who wouldn't feel so fuming mad, huh?

If only I could leave my three-year-old to someone I can really trust like a relative or something, that would have been ideal. I couldn't leave her to anyone because I feel that she's not their responsibility. She's my responsibility.

Oh, well, I have to give up on this. It's hard to find a reliable, trustworthy maid these days. I want someone who doesn't use the cellphone, who doesn't have a boyfriend nor a husband and kids and someone who is into the job she's doing. Because if she isn't all of those, she's not dependable.

What a day, huh?

I'll write another blog a little later.

Geez... Guys, have a nice day!

Creative Writing 2

Well, I'm not really an expert in blogging but I'm trying my best to write something interesting or something worthwhile.

Being a writer isn't really that easy. Before, I wanted to join the Palanca awards to prove to myself that I could write well. I know people won't believe me if I didn't have any award up in my sleeve. I mean if I'm not an award-winning writer, I feel that I don't have any authority to teach other people to write. That's what stopped me from teaching creative writing to younger people.

I had plans to teach younger people about creative writing. I even had modules prepared for them. I have prepared all the activities, games or lecture. But I stopped to think: "Am I an authority? Do I have enough credentials to teach creative writing?" Yes, it's true, I graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in communication arts from DLSU Manila but I don't have the MA degree yet. Nor have I been practicing writing for several years now. Nor have I a book to show to people that I am an accomplished writer licensed to teach.

I had to think things over before I jumped into it. And at one point, I just dropped everything and found another niche that I was good in.

I still am a writer although I set that career aside because I found a job as a transcriptionist and this is full time.

I can still manage to write in my blog but not write for any magazine at the moment. But that's okay. I know there are a lot of good writers around who have established themselves in the particular industry they're comfortable writing about.

I was kind of the all-around writer back then. I tried writing about the construction industry, call center industry, badminton, golf, or anything that was available for me to write about. I was basically dependent on editors to give me an assignment. This assignment would usually entail me to interview a person who is an authority on the topic I was assigned to. It's either I would prepare the questions or the editor would give me the questionnaire for the interview. Sometimes, the questions would be sent before the interview so the interviewee could review and prepare the answers. There are times that the interviewee would just be interviewed on the spot.

Those were my writing days. I sure enjoyed that. I wish I could still do that.

More on Creative Writing on the next blog. Keep reading!

Thank you.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Parenting 101

I just read an article today in the Sunday Inquirer about College 101. It was written by Cate De Leon. I agree with her 100% that as parents, we should not expect our kids to be copycats of ourselves. We were born in different times, dates, situations, et cetera. It's like forcing yourself to eat something you hate so much. Or doing something that is out of your league. Geez. I just don't understand why some parents still insist that their kids take up the course they took up that made them successful. That doesn't mean that those kids will also succeed in that endeavor, unless they really want that same thing, definitely for different reasons.

There was one time I had this liking to become part of the Cadette Officers Candidate Course, just like my sister. I told myself back then, "If she could do it, why couldn't I?" That stuck in my head for several years until my time came and it was in a totally different scenario.

I was not the top 10 in class nor was I one of the intelligent students. I was just an average kid living a simple life. My sister was more intelligent and she handled a whole battalion as the Battalion Adjutant in her haydays. I became the Delta 2 Platoon Leader during my time. There's really such a big difference.

In other words, I am not my sister. I AM ME. Not my DAD, not my Mom, nor my Brother. I AM ME. I will always be me. I will always think differently than my sister. And that's the way it will always be.

That's why I was lucky to have chosen my career path without people breathing down my neck. I listened to other people then. I wanted photography as a subject so I took up communication arts in De La Salle University Manila and got my wish. And part of the course was writing, which was one of my first loves. So, I knew I was in the right course.

After I graduated, I applied as an account executive, photographer, writer, translator, transcriber and got those jobs that I wanted and I am proud to say that in every job that I was in, I was happy and proud that it was something that I really wanted to do.

I hope you could do the same to your kids too. You want your kids to be happy, right? Make them do the choosing and deciding for themselves and that will make them proud of you as a parent. Believe me, I've been there.

Thank you for reading.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Facebook

Yes, I have a Facebook account. I like Facebook better than Friendster. That's because I have more friends in Facebook I haven't seen in a long time since high school and college, imagine that? And that's been like 20++ years already.

As I see it, Friendster is for the younger generation who would like to connect with younger people. Facebook is for a little bit older people who want to connect with their long-lost friends/classmates/relatives, et cetera.

I was actually quite lazy to start my Facebook account back then because I wasn't sure how to go about it. Or how it would turn out. When I started searching for friends and seeing more people are there, I got hooked on it. Even my daughter is into it. That's probably because of the games in Facebook.

And if you want to write something, you can just type it in your wall and it will be published in a few seconds. You will see people commenting on what you wrote after a few minutes. You could easily react to it too.

There's also the chat feature of Facebook. You can chat with your friends who's also online. That way, it's as if you're in Yahoo Messenger or MSN or Skype or what-have-you, and you get connected with that person wherever he/she may be.

The wonders of technology, huh?

But there's a warning there though. I saw in an article previously that people should be wary of what they say or post or include in their albums. Employers are now checking into Facebook accounts and sometimes see some unpleasant things about the applicant and decide not to hire that particular person. If I were you, I'd put my best foot forward even in Facebook so that even if I'm not looking for a job, I might be considered as an applicant and they won't find anything against me since I didn't post anything that would harm another person's reputation or ruin my own.

Let's just be on the safe side, shall we?

Thanks again for reading.

Have a good day, people!

Learning How to Type

Hi, bloggers! It's Milay again. Today, I want to encourage people how to type. Not necessarily type fast but at least, know how to type. First things first. You have to be acquainted with the keyboard. Or if you're using an old squeaky typewriter, you must know the keys. There are different types of keyboards. There's the QWERTY type or the Dvorak type.

What we use is the QWERTY type. When we used the typewriter back then, the logic behind the QWERTY is that the keys wouldn't get entangled with each other unlike if it was the ABC style. I'm not much of a historian but that's how I understand this type of keyboard we are using. The Dvorak isn't that much used and a lot of people even haven't heard of this type of keyboard. To find out what it is, you can just use Google and type in the word Dvorak and there are a lot of things about it and you will know what it's really like.

So, now you know what type of keyboard we use. Learning to type isn't really that hard. You just have to know where the letters are placed. Like typing ASDF, that's on the left hand. Then, JKL; is on the right hand. And there are these two lines that indicate F and J as the point where you have to go back to after reaching out for the upper and lower letters on the keyboard.

The way to learn how to type is, or my secret to learning to type is what my sister taught me - type the sentence THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOGS. Why? Because all the letters are in that sentence and you will get to memorize the placing of the letters if you keep typing that sentence over and over.

Then when I got to high school, we got to practice all the right letters using the proper finger for each letter. I was lucky enough to get to learn typing back then. It really helped me a lot. Just imagine, I used a manual typewriter to type reports and articles and I had to bring the article to the editor. Or I had to fax the article to the magazine. And to make copies of these, I would have to have it photocopied. It was tedious but it was very helpful.


Times have changed, obviously. Now, I use a laptop computer to send emails and compose articles or type in transcripts and just attach it to my email and send it to the recipient and, voila, the email, article or transcript reaches my recipient in a few minutes.

And typing is a breeze. The laptop keyboard or any computer keyboard was tailored after the manual typewriter, which is basically the same principle. Knowing this, it was easy for me to adjust. My fingers wouldn't have to get inserted in between the keys and stop typing. Now, I just have to press the keys on the keyboard and the letters pop up instantly.

So, if I were you, I'd practice typing on the typewriter, if you have one, and when you transfer to the computer, typing is easier. That I can assure you.

Just keep practicing typing and you'll reach the 100 words per minute record and be proud of yourself. Wait til you hear your friends tell you, "You're a monster in typing!"

Haha. Well, that's just how it is. Start typing. Now.

Thanks.

Just Bumming Around

Right now, life has been just waking up late, taking care of my 3-year-old daughter, did the laundry a few days ago, staying home, tinkering with the computer usually checking emails and chat messages, or watching television.

I am thinking of a business regarding transcription training. I still don't know where to start and how to start it. I have to write them all down. I just don't have the ballpen to start jotting the ideas down. Maybe I could do it here. List down the necessary actions I have to do.

This business is in line with a computer shop owner who wants to earn a few more bucks for his shop. I want to help him with that. I just have to figure out how to begin.

Well, as they say, a journey begins with a single step. I have to start somewhere because the scope of this business is wide that I don't know how to trim it down and do it.

But I know I'll get there some day. And when I do, I'll let you know right away.

Thanks for reading.

I'll write again something soon.

Have a nice day!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Photography

The previous entry was about creative writing. I'll get into that topic a little later on. I want to share my experience in another favorite topic of mine which is photography.

Well, I must say I'm not the type of person who would play around with the computer and tinker with the photos using Photoshop or something. I just take photos period. I mean I am an artist and photography and writing are two ways in which I can show my talents in the arts department.

Although I'm not much of that techie person but I know how to take pictures, that's for sure. I can prove it to you through my Facebook account or my Friendster account, take your pick. In Facebook, I took most of the pictures in THE E.J. FILE. And of course, the profile photos too. But there's one favorite subject of mine that I am very proud of - the sunrise in Taguig that's found in my Friends album. I knew I was at the right place at the right time then. And I had a camera with me so I took that majestic skyline, it was more like the dawning of a new day, the hands of God was really showing through the sky or something like that.

If you're a photographer, you would know the right timing and the right moment to take a picture. So, voila, I took the picture and you can see that it's really so beautiful. I knew that that moment would fade away in a few minutes so I had to capture it in my camera quickly. And, success! It's there in my Facebook and I can just stare at it in awe.

That's why I like being a photographer, not a subject or anything else, but THE photographer. I like to capture the moment and seize the excitement and share it with the world.

Well, right now, I don't get to practice photography that much that's why I must be rusty. But if you do get the chance to be in the right place at the right time, at the right moment, capture it because you'll only get it once. As they say, opportunity only knocks once. So better grab it before it goes away.

That's my photography story. Share yours with me. You're welcome to do so. I'll be waiting for them.

Thank you.

Creative Writing

I don't know if I was able to tell you the story of how I got into writing in the early 90s. Well, I guess it's time to tell you about it.

I don't want to bore you with the gore and other stuff but I just want to let you know how I discovered my hidden talent in writing.

It started with my writing in a diary. Yes, I have my notebook that had Francis Magalona on the cover. Imagine that? I even put the date on it. It was 1985. Geez. O, oh. My age is going to show. Oh, well, that's fine. Let it show. What have I got to lose, huh?

My writing stint was supposed to have started during my high school, fourth year to be exact. I wanted to see my name in print back then. It was sort of the 'in' thing for me. Okay, so I asked a friend who was writing for the paper how to get in and she told me I just had to take an exam and pass it. So I did.

After like a day or two, I was told that my work wasn't accepted or it was rejected. I really felt bad and depressed. So I just thought i wasn't cut out to be a writer.

Then when I got to college, I thought it would be my break to write for the college paper. I felt it would be prestigious to write for them. I would be able to practice my journalism skills if I get into it.

Then, again, I had to take an exam. I think the topic was about politics. I took the exam. I thought I knew something about it and passed it. To my dismay, I didn't get accepted again.

I thought it's the second time around so I think it was a sign for me to stop wishing for the stars. I gave up on that dream of becoming a writer.

After graduating from college, I applied in an office as an editorial assistant. I was sort of an account executive selling air time to clients for the television show, "PinPin," a Chinese-English program that caters to children so that they would learn the lingua franca of the Chinese. It was shown on channel 4 at that time and it was being aired in a non-primetime slot. It was not rating at all so I was having a hard time booking a client to advertise in it.

An idea came to me. At that time, I was already married and had my 3-month-old son. I wanted to write about having a family at a young age. I suggested that to my editor-in-chief, Teresita Ang See. You probably heard of her. She's one of the leaders who would protest against Filipino-Chinese abductions, kidnappings back in those days because it was very rampant.

She then encouraged me to write my personal experience about having a baby at 22. You're probably guessing how old I must be. Well, just add two and two and you get my age, though, not the real age. Haha.

To make the story short, I wrote my article and the next week, I saw my byline and photo along with it in the Tulay Weekly, a supplementary of the World News Newspaper then. Wow, it was really something. Imagine, I just wrote a personal experience article and I got it printed! That meant I could be a writer! Hah! I just proved to myself and to the rest of the world that I CAN be a writer.

That other people who turned me down didn't believe in my capabilities. I thought that when you get into the real world, you would get more rejections and depressions. I was wrong. I even got encouraged to write more.

Well, that's my writing story. How about yours? Do you have a story to tell? I'm sure you do. You can share it with me. I'll wait for your stories.

Thank you and do have a great writing life!