Just When I Got My Bearings (3rd Week of Internship)

Its already half time of my stay here in ASOG, and just when I thought I could settle down and be comfortable around the people here, its almost time to leave! I sit here thinking what I can do more to make these moments more memorable, but its all that and nothing more. For how can you make something special when it could be as mundane and banal as paper work?

But I digress. There have been moments when I was happy that I chose working with ASOG. The opportunity to work with so many knowledgeable, mature and calm individuals as well as experts made me feel that I belong here. Call me an adult already, but that's just the way I roll when its all about business. Business during the third week here at the office was all good; I pondered more on how to figure out the best way to teach top level executives in high functioning government bodies the values of team work, working together as a cohesive unit and general work-ethic-hard work. For me, it almost sounds juvenile. Imagine, teaching the leaders of our land simple things that you could learn from your grade school counselor! Call me arrogant, but isn't that how the world should work? Petty jealousy and laziness has never been so mortifying.

The best part of the week was probably getting to meet the Dean of ASOG. Dean "Tony" La Vina is a great mentor for everyone here and the things they talked about him were validated in my eyes after listening to one of his talks. From the point of view of someone who takes faith with a grain of salt, he explained almost seamlessly how our beliefs in God could benefit being stewards of the environment. Because of his background in Environmental law as well as his international experience tackling climate change, it may seem awkward at first to combine topics regarding how we should scientifically save the Earth with how we should view the world God gave us, into a stream of enlightening thought. It was a great attempt and I enjoyed the experience.

Work shouldn't be this bad at all. Its just that staring into my laptop for hours that kills the fun.

PS. I got a lot of free food today! Dean Tony fed us with pasta and HELL lots of flannel cake and oreos. We also had food from Mama Corra's birthday!

Rain on the Pavement (Second Week of Internship)

I'm stuck, like a brain drain.

I haven't been stuck in a very long time on something. Sometimes, I try to remember events in my life wherein I was perplexed on a problem that needed a solution, a question that needed a answer, a dumb predicament that needed a smart fix. The assignment Mam Aurma gave me for my 2nd week here fits along those lines.

I trust myself to know how to figure this out. Just give my brain some time... and sooner or later the answers will pop out like bubbles in my bath tub. Its a simple thought as I wallowed through the office hours, staring at helpful remedies that could help me find the words to write down. The training program I'm currently stuck on seems to mock me every time I try to be clever with it. No, I tell myself, this is only a span of time that I have to deal with in poise and precision. Instead, what I have are jitters of nervousness and the dread of not being able to finish this program on time!

So what do I do now that, after promising myself I would do some work over the weekend (which I didn't do. Happy Mother's Day), I am still stuck on the work I began since Wednesday? Maybe, I'll just wash, rinse and repeat. There's nothing really wrong with reworking the brain, to jolt it again into repeating a process that has little chance at success.

Yet, I'll leave this blog, knowing that I must keep trudging on, work, eat, work, drink. The life of an office worker can get any better than this right? Talk about a brain drain.

PS. On a side note, I had lunch with my associates and Mam over a meeting last Thursday. It was nice to get to know a bit more of them over lunch (KFC!). Chicken and conversation never tasted good in the same sentence.

Summer Blues (First Week of Internship)

The computers hummed along like no-nonsense bees, too perturbed with their work, just as so their users are pre-occupied with whatever documents they are working with. I was stuck there myself looking dazed and feeling rather sleepy. There I was in the office, for my first summer internship.

I actually started with my practicum at a later time as compared to my classmates. I was worried I wouldn't make the cut in the organization I was planning to join and get accepted in, let alone remember that I have a definite 200-hour requirement to finish. It was the only thing that boggled my mind, so much so I had to count backwards how many days, from the finals week (on May 23-25) up to the actual day I started counting on, on more than one occasion. I wouldn't say looking for a place to intern was a hassle in itself; it was more of an opportunity to experience "job hunting" and anticipating the fact that this could happen in my future, for a better situation or for worse. Experiencing everything I went through this month therefore was all a way to learn for me.

At the Executive Education Program at ASOG, Mam Aurma asked me for the things that I would expect or want out of the program she was handling. I replied that I didn't expect much really, I just wanted to gain experience like any other student. As if to keep me interested, she told me that she had a lot of projects lined up for the summer and that she was willing to give me the opportunity to relish in this endeavors. I said that I'll do my best, not knowing if I was sure of myself with that answer or if I was giving myself the benefit of the doubt.

Given my background as an Editor in an organization, Mam gave me my first assignment of editing a Research on a Training Assessment in 4 provinces for LED (Local Economic Development). The paper itself was interesting and really a down-to-Earth approach for LGUs to initiate their own plans of helping their constituents. The plan dictates that all available offices be "on the same page" in attaining the goal of developing their own offices in leadership and economics, as well as to make sure their offices function for true development. I can say that with all the time I used in editing the documents, including the Recommendations part and the Training Plan to be implemented after the study, that I lost time to orient myself in the office. I've been trying to work too hard, the eager-beaver mentality, if you will.

Its been a time that I am on edge, always ready to accept the next assignment. Last Thursday, after finally finishing the Training Plan portion of the document, I was waiting on Mam for my next assignment. Since Friday, I haven't received any word from her, and my office mates are also waiting on her too.

With the free time I have now, am hoping I can get something to do for this second week. But I might as well bond and feel "at home" here at ASOG. After all, it is the summer.

reposted, from http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150171593398512

Got 'Em Phil

THE WOLF

Phil Jackson’s long-time team philosophy:

Now is the law of the jungle, as old and true as the sky;
And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the Law runneth forward and back,
For the strength of the pack is the wolf.
And the strength of the wolf is the pack.

-Rudyard Kipling

taken from Got 'Em Coach.com. (http://gotemcoach.com/). We'll miss ya Phil.

There's a Cheesus for All Of Us

This was an answer I made for our e-discussion thread in Th131 class. Its about the "Grilled Cheesus" episode of the hit show "Glee".

God works in so many ways, in so many angles that we cannot comprehend them all at the same time, not in our lifetimes. Glee's "Grilled Cheesus" episode is a good example of this and its good that they were able to show an episode depicting our religion (in this case Christianity) affects people, particularly the many characters in the show.

Finn had an epiphany when he thought God revealed Himself to him through a grilled cheese sandwich. He thought of revering and praying to God through the sandwich and asked for several "graces", such as winning the first football game of the season, getting to "second base" with Rachel and getting the quarterback job back again. There's really nothing wrong with asking God graces. but we don't have to rely too much and to wait for these prayers to happen. As Christians in faith and action, God, in accepting our prayers, could also ask us to act upon them and to look out for the good that we can see around us. Winning the football game didn't just mean that God willed it; Artie and the rest of the team also had something to do with it, along with a value called teamwork. Rachel wanted it to happen because she wanted to gain Finn's trust and she believed that their love was getting deeper and getting stronger. Finn's sudden surge of belief also had something to do with it too and in this way, maybe God wanted to work it all out in this way. Unfortunately, what happened to Sam by getting tackled by an illegal opposing player and in the process, Finn gets his original job back, demonstrates that some events do not happen as expected or as we want them to be and examples of events such as these involve certain sacrifices, directly towards us or involving others. Emma explained well how God throughout His work with Finn was unpredictable in setting out His plan and that all we can do is pray and believe that whatever plans He may have for us are for the best.

However, Finn couldn't take this revelation because He believed that He had a direct line to God and that every single prayer He would offer could be answered. We are all special indeed in the eyes of God, and He will certainly give answers to our prayers at a specific point in our lives. Yet, it doesn't mean that God is an exclusive hotline one can speed dial for an order of Double Downs from KFC. As we learned in class, God's call is a vocation not involving a chosen few but involves all of us Christians. This calling is not also a one way dial, but a shared exchange between us and God. If God listens to our prayers, then we must be prepared also to answer his calls as well. I personally hope that Finn did not 'lose his religion' in its entirety as he showed with his rendition towards the end of the episode. This is actually a nice plot to follow up in later episodes if the producers wish to do so. This probably also means we may have another e-discussion about Glee as well.

Pertaining to being exclusive with God, Kurt believed through most of the episode he was personally being "picked upon" by God. Yet, man was given freedom by God to love and serve one another and to be stewards of His creation, and sad to say, this is not always the case. With so much freedom, some people just let go of what God wants for us and bully and abuse the weak, the downtrodden, those who are noticeably different from us. Kurt, yes, did not choose himself to be gay or the way he is, yet it doesn't mean that we can already marginalize him. God, again, always has a plan for everything and sooner or later, Kurt may be able to find his place in the world. His disagreements with the other Glee members regarding praying for his dad and for him are understandable in that he does not believe in God for the above reasons. This cannot be the sole reason why he's pushing away his friends who really care for his plight. His friends have a strong faith in God and so dedicate prayers to his family. It is somewhat ironic then, that he denies God's existence because of his circumstances and yet God works through his friends who show compassion and love through His healing spirit. Only through careful prodding and more through Mercedes' great concern for him that he realizes that he can believe in something that doesn't have to be the God he imagines is torturing him. Because after all, in times of crises and loss, we all have something to hold on to and believe in. Again, God works in mysterious ways and probably, this is one of his plans to make us answer His call.

Semestral Break!

I'm too lazy now to blog everything down, so do allow me to write all my thoughts for the past 2 weeks in bullet form. :)

- Last week's ACLC silent retreat was a breath of fresh air. It gave me a chance to refocus, gain new perspective and think about my social life (which reminds me that I have to restart it...) Kudos to the retreat directors, quartermasters and everyone at ACLC!

-We just bought a new copy of NBA 2K11, our first basketball game since Live '08! New controls, new graphics, HD goodness and a hell-of-a-time My Player mode. Hands down, this may be the most challenging and satisfying sports titles of ALL TIME. That's serious.

-Chinoy is soon rolling out its first issue for the first week of the next Semester! I'm pretty excited on how my layout crew will be glossing everything out and how the cover should get some eyes on it. There's still some work to do, including editing a certain article and publishing, but its all good and somehow we'll find a way to steam ahead.

-I'm still looking for a chance to go out with some of my friends. Miss them loads since mid-sem, what with all the hell's been going on. My grades were well worth all the sleepless nights I took to read through papers, write articles etc!

What else.... hmmm.. I think that's all for now! Pretty short for my tastes and I'm not really in a blogging mood right now (it's Sembreak! what do you expect?). Will update this all soon when the new semester kicks in!

Concluding Statements

I'm glad that finally, this odyssey of a semester is coming to a close! There are still a lot of questions in mind that need answers, like if I really like this course, if I truly enjoy what I'm going through daily and what possible options I can still take up in the future. I still have some organization work to polish up, mainly the Chinoy issue and its publishing. So many problems and issues came up with its production, so I hope we can address them and improve as we move on to the next.

Just coming from finishing the 2nd major paper for PoS 60, it felt more gratifying to finish it ahead of time and still having some time to rest. I had a finals for Hi 165 today and I guess am lucky that the questions were easy. I did not have enough time to study last night as I finished the paper and it made me feel better that the class with RR felt like a great compendium of the lessons we took up in his class. We still have an oral exam this coming Saturday, and so I have a long night ahead of me to prepare for it. PoS 130 finals will push through tomorrow and here I am still not preparing anything :P Chalk it up to being overconfident that I can answer the test questions, but am suffering from a bout of head and eye aches again after glaring at this Mac's screen for hours.

Glee episode and Gundam videos aside, this day was also great because I got to go on a mini-adventure with my driver in UP. We tried looking for my friend's college to see her class exhibit of chair concepts. I must say, recyclable materials seem in vogue with students. Her group used a steel frame incorporated with used tire rubber to form the cushion for the chair. They named the concept "BoinQ" and I thought it was all cute and fuzzy. I really, really thank the Lord for giving me the time to meet up with my friend again after what seemed like ages. Am really looking forward to seeing her again at UP and hopefully, I can 'smuggle' her inside Ateneo. Hmm, I wonder what's the best way to go about it?

Well, its time to wrap up this sem and can it in the bag. It was great while it lasted and am looking forward on what kind of icing i'll be using to top of this 'huge' cake of an experience.