What's So Great About College Anyway?

Nothing.


People on Twitter who have just graduated from high school are so excited to enter into college. They want to get to know their professors already. They want to get the best grades and tell everyone. They want to get to know new people. They want to have a blast. But in reality, as soon as they get into college, they realize that they are a wreck! They do not know what to do. They do not know how to act or behave. And because of that, they end up getting used. They let the students in the higher years bully them into doing things they do not want to do. They end up failing because they did not listen when the professor explained how grades were computed. And then everyone who is older than them is telling them what to do and what not to do in college. But let me tell you what will make you survive college. 


Attendance is not everything! Most frosh think that by not missing any class, they will automatically pass the subject. While that is true and attendance does make up for a percentage of the grade, it does not mean that you will fail just because you used up all your cuts. You know what matters? How well you use your freaking brain! You can use up all your cuts and still get the highest possible grade. 


Do not keep saying YES. You know when they ask for someone who could volunteer to do something and you do not want to do it, but you say yes anyway? You know those times when you are still frosh and someone from a higher year asks you to do this or that? You know when it is not graded, but they make you feel that you just have to do it? You know when all you want to do is not join a certain club or organization, but they force you to? Say no. You are stressing yourself out! 
Unless of course you really want to do that thing, say yes. The point is, if you do not like what you are doing, you will hate it and regret that you said yes. So if you do not want to say yes, just say no. People will respect you for it. Why say yes and then blame other people? When you say yes and hate what you are doing, blame yourself.


Professors are humans not robots. Use this to your advantage! People are flawed. My teacher in grade school who taught Biology, Ecology and Geology said this, 'Teachers are humans. Not robots. If the dumbest kid in my class gave me food every day, I would give that person a higher grade than the smartest person in my class. There is no teacher or professor who gives a grade based on the student's performance only. Grades can change based on student teacher interaction or relationship. ' No, do not bribe your professors. But if you see them in the hallways, say hi to them. You see them carrying so many bags, offer to carry their things. If you see them sitting alone in the canteen, ask if you could sit with them and make small talk. Doing these things may make or break your grade.

Writing is nothing. Listening is everything. I am not saying that you should not take notes. But there is a reason why your professors give handouts, pdf files and put their lectures on a site. There is a reason why they e-mail the lesson to you and sometimes tell you to please stop writing down everything they are saying. There is a reason the professor told you to buy that textbook. The problem with writing down what the professor says is that you are so focused on getting your notes right. If you listen first, you kinda remember most of the lesson and then when you check the handout later on, you totally understand everything. Listen to the lecture to remember things not to get it right so you can have clean notes.


Get the contact information of people and professors. This has saved me so many times! Uhm, this does not mean that you have to be their friend on Facebook or their follower on Twitter. But you need to know how to get in touch with them. You may be thinking, 'I will not need to contact my professor or that weird person in my class.' You never know. Trust me. For English class, we had to do a play and one of the members of my group was not doing anything. He said that he would just pay for the props. Well, when the time came for him to pay for the props, he did not show up. What did we do? We text messaged the professor and she was the one who got things fixed.


Know the grading system of your school or professor. When I was in La Salle College, we had prelims, midterms and finals. It was something like 30%-30%-40%. I found out that as long as I got high grades for prelims and midterms, I did not have to worry too much about finals. I cannot remember the exact grading system, but I recall that quizzes there were more important than exams. So I figured that if I got high on all my quizzes, but did not get that high on my exams, I would still pass the subject. For example for History, I totally failed (or did not get high grades) my prelim, midterms and final exam. But since my quizzes were of a certain grade, I passed that subject good marks. 


In the college that I am in now, we do not have prelims. It's just midterms and finals. That would be 40%-60%. When I found that out, I totally freaked! The thing is, if you did not do so well for midterms, you can still pass if you straighten out for finals. For midterms, I got an 80 for Theology. But come finals, my grade for the whole semester was 93. So, you can mess around for midterms but do not mess around for finals. Quizzes, assignments, projects, reporting and other blahs are more important than exams. Remember that.


Now, there are some annoying professors who have their own way of computing grades. When they tell you that they have their own system, listen well! For some professors, assignments are more important than quizzes. Other professors think that class participation is more important than anything else. If the professor has his own way of grading, use your brain to get a high grade. The professor likes assignments? Do all the assignments. The professor loves reporting? Report as many times as you can! The professor gives high grades to students who watch Community? Watch Community!



Delegate responsibility. So let us say that you are the leader of some group for reporting. Do not do everything. Let someone do the research. Let another person find the pictures. Let someone reserve the necessary equipment. Just assign people to do certain tasks. And then bug them to do it! Do not say that people do not cooperate well in groups. You bug each other do the assigned task well. If the person fails, tell the professor that so and so did not do his or her job. 


. . . but have a plan B. Learn how to function when things fail. Do not let one person determine the success or the downfall of the whole group.


Use common sense. The instructions are on the board. Why do keep asking questions? Seriously. You do not know the meaning of the word? Look it up in the dictionary instead of wasting the time of the professor. You have a brain. Use it!

Have a life outside your school.  You wanna survive college? Do not limit your world to your school. Have people you can talk to who you can vent to about your annoying classmate who copies your notes. You will die if the only people you know are from your school. 


Value relationships. I learned this from my brother. Manong Simon said, 'When it comes to relationships, there is no tomorrow. There is just today. There is only now.'  If it is a choice between doing my assignments and taking my nieces and nephew to the park, I will take the kids to the park. If it is a choice between studying for a final exam and comforting my depressed friend, I will comfort my depressed friend. (Who knows? She might commit suicide if I do not see her.) If it is a choice between going to a family reunion and finalizing a report, I will spend time with family. It is easier to fix a messed up grade than to fix a failing relationship. This does not mean that I do not find grades or school important. It is important. But know when to say, 'I can do this later. This person is more important.' Grades will fade. But you will need your family, your friends and random people along the way. Value them.

Leo Calls It Priceless

I'm still on an Anna-Jani-Leo-visited-the-orphanage-to-make-kids-happy high.


The day before we visited Father's House, I was freaking out. Originally, Jani and I had invited Leo and two other people. At the last minute, the two other people we invited to help us backed out. Leo and I weren't on excellent terms and I was too full of myself to ask help from him. Jani tried calming me down by saying that we would be able to handle the kids and that we would make it through. I shut up and decided not to tell her what I was thinking. What was I thinking? How on earth would we handle thirty little human beings? Sure, Jani and I have taught Sunday School since we were ten years old or maybe twelve years old. Yes, we (or I) have lived among poor children for a week or two during one summer. And yeah, we  have done summer camps almost all my life. But Jani and I have done all those things with the help of a team which normally consisted of three or more people. So in the wee hours of April 14, which was like a few hours before the orphanage visit, I was telling God to send Leo to help us. I guess God thought that my prayer was so amusing for he showed up.

The first thing I told Leo was, 'You are in charge of the games. And take pictures.' Later on, whenever I would see him not doing anything, I would yell at him to take more pictures! There's always this little voice I hear in my brain which tells me to take pictures, but another louder voice always tells me to just enjoy the moment. So I end up passing on the responsibility of taking pictures to other people. To enjoy the moment, I had to answer the kids' questions about my funny looking hair. A kid asked me if I was a boy. Another wanted to know why it was green. Jani also had her share of funny questions. The kids thought that she and Leo were siblings and when we said they were not, the kids thought that they were together. I almost gave the kid a high five for asking that question! (No, they are not together!) I do not really know what the kids were asking or telling Leo. In my opinion, they just loved him too much. Haha.

We played games! Leo calls it charades, but it really was like paint me a picture of something. So using our bodies, we had to form different scenes from the Bible. Yes, we're holy like that!  Jani and I split up to handle two groups. At first, the kids did not get the instructions at all so I was carrying the kids to their places and telling them what to do. Well, even when they understood the game, we still had to tell them what to do. It was fun because they were all into the game. Sure, they had no idea who was winning and who was losing (we were), but they were laughing and smiling. Even the smallest kid joined and the older kids would make sure that they did not fall down or they did not get left out.

Jani's group was more organized than mine. That's why they won! But really, they would plan and plan while we would just do and do anything. It was so cute because I recall hearing that little kid standing on Jani's shoulders telling another kid, 'Dapat manalo tayo!' ('We should be the ones to win!)  And they did win because my group messed up in the end when we had to make a pyramid. A tall pyramid. When they won, the kids were like, 'What's the prize?' That was when I realized that I had totally forgotten to buy prizes for the games! Good thing the kids did not really mind when I told them that the prizes would come later for dessert. I was racking my brain thinking of what I could give them when Jani's called her mom to please get us some lollipops to give the children. There was some pandemonium as we transitioned from one activity, the games, to the next activity which was arts and crafts. Duh. You cannot do anything with kids without them yelling, laughing, singing, running and doing all sorts of naughty but cute things.

There were two arts and crafts activities. I put Leo in charge of the easy one while Jani and I handled the more complicated one. The kids stayed with their game groupings. One group went to Leo's table and the other group joined me and Jani. For Leo's table, all the kids had to do was dunk a small marble into a tub of paint and then roll the marble around the tray. It's a pretty easy activity that I learned years ago. Usually, the kids enjoy doing this and want to make more than one work of art because they never know how it will look like until it is finished. I was outside with my group of children when I went to Leo to tell him that we had to switch groups already. I took one look at the kids in his table and I was like, 'I totally forgot that kids love paint!' They had paint everywhere! They were dunking their fingers in the tubs of paint. They were wiping their hands on their clothes. The floor had paint. The chair had paint. And I forgot to bring aprons. But they looked happy! I went to one of the staff of Father's House and apologized for not using my brain. And she was like, 'Don't worry! The people who wash their clothes are good at taking out stains!'

So what did the table of me and Jani have to offer? More paint! If Leo's activity required the kids to dunk the marbles in paint, our activity called for tissue paper to be dunked in paint. The hard part was that the kids had to fold up their tissue, dunk it in paint and give it to us to unfold. Oh boy did they have fun doing this one! We had to remind them that the way they folded their tissue affected their design. It was always fun to unfold the tissue to see what came out. When we ran out of tissue, they used paper instead. I found it hilarious that while we were helping the kids, the kids were asking us all sorts of questions about our life. They wanted to know about school, our families, what we watch, what songs we sing and dozens of other things. I had to make a conscious effort to listen to them and at the same time unfold their tissue without breaking it.

We did not have any more paint. There was no more tissue. There was still tons of paper. So I sent the kids to wash their hands. It was around 11:30am. I went to Jani and asked, 'So where's the food?' I think since my brain was running on three cups of coffee and tons of faith, I did not understand her when she told me earlier that the food was being cooked somewhere and that we would have to be the ones to get it. So when she told me again that we had to get the food, I looked at her and said, 'How?' I answered my own question by pointing to Leo and sending him out to get the food from Jani's mom. So while waiting for the food to come, we played more games! The boys and some of the girls played basketball and tried to get me to play. I ended up cheering for them with Jani. The little girls got some chalk that I found in my bag and went on to draw lovely scenes on the driveway. The older girls sat in their little bahay kubo talking and singing. 

Leo came back with the food at noon. It was rather quick! And then the kids helped us set the table by bringing out forks and cups. Since they did not seem to need help, I called Jani to accompany me to the kitchen. I told her that I had paint on my face and washed it off. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Leo doing something to the spaghetti. We went out of the kitchen, said a prayer for the food and then sat down with a group of kids outside. My body was so tired that I could not bring myself to eat lunch. I just drank some water and sat there trying to relax after carrying kids on my back and shoulders. I was starting to feel really sad that I would have to leave the kids for they started asking all of us when we would return. I just told them that we would return soon. We will. In fact, this visit was a super late fulfilled promise. Last September, I told these children that Jani and I would come back. And we did.

We had to leave. I was trying to avoid their thank yous and their hugs and their lovely parting words. Actually, I cannot remember if they gathered the children and sang to us or if they just said thank you to us as we packed up and prepared to leave. I usually try to stay away from getting a thank you from the kids because that just breaks my heart for so many reasons. I am not being modest and I am not trying to look good when I say that they should not thank me or Jani or Leo. But I should be the one to thank them for showing me that it is possible to be happy, to have hope and to show Christ's love to others even when they are without parents or family. I should be the one thanking them for making me realize that in Christ we are secure, we find our identity and we have a future. It's funny how much I learn about Christ every time my friends and I spend a few hours with the kids. And somehow when it's kids who teach you something or make you realize something new, that new thing stays with you forever.

That night, I had a messed up chat with Leo where he asked why I was crying earlier in the kitchen. And I was like, 'I was not crying! I was washing my face! I have an allergy which makes me look like I am crying.' I later admitted that I was crying. I realized that I did not cry because I was sad, but I was crying because it was overwhelming. You go spend three or four hours with kids and they change your life forever. How can that not make you cry? How can you not cry when your friends share that same love you have for kids? How can you not cry when the kids smile and thank you for your efforts when all you actually did was so little? How can you ignore Christ's call to feed, to clothe, to love those who have been abandoned? How can that not move you?

And yes, we decided to hang out with the kids on a regular basis. 



 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink?  Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,  you were doing it to me!' - Matthew 25:37-40 


{Oh yeah. I don't own the picture. Just grabbed them from Leo without permission. ^_^}

The Resurrection

Jani and I went to Church Simplified's stations of the cross.

I must have looked like an idiot while doing the stations of the cross. In one station, I fell to the ground laughing at my choice. In another station, I was staring at my reflection counting the many scars that the chicken pox virus had left on my face. And since the cross was too heavy for my to carry, I walked around with my arms stretched out. It looked like I was playing patintero with an imaginary friend.  I could almost hear the whispers of people who must have been saying, 'Why is she not taking this seriously?' Heck, I took it seriously. I took it so seriously that while we were eating lunch, I gave a mini sermon about what really struck me. 

For about a few minutes or so, I took the liberty to go on and on about what I had just realized that day. I guess that's what happens when something new is revealed to you. You just cannot shut up about it! My mom must have been so happy that finally some words of Christ were making their way into my head. What she doesn't know is that it has always been there and I just never knew it.  


So what moved me? I was in awe that Christ did not really focus on sin, but he wanted to focus on his resurrection. Sure, there are many passages in the scripture where Christ tells us not to sin, to live a pure life, to repent from our sin and to just stop sinning. He warns us about the effects of sin. He tried to prevent us from sinning by showing the consequences. Yet if we still sin, he does not say, 'I told you! Now go to hell!' He still gives us a second chance, a third chance and so many more chances. 


That's a far cry from how a human deals with another human who is also a sinner. A human would berate the other person. The human would bring shame to the sinner. A human would make the sinner feel like there is no way out of sinning. The ironic thing is that the one telling the sinner off is also another sinner. Yes, sinners judge sinners. Hilarious, isn't it? It's like they rub it in your face that you're a sinner and tell the whole world that you cannot stop sinning! That is just the dumbest thing that happens every single day.


The resurrection means hope and new life. By living again, it was as if Christ said, 'You sinned. I died for it. Now, you have hope that one day you will never sin.' He gave us hope because he is hope. If he just stayed dead then than that would mean that sin was more powerful than he is. But he lived. And because of that I can rub it in that I have sinned, I will sin, but my sin in Christ's eyes is already gone. While I am still wondering how to repent for my sin, Christ has already forgiven me. While my sin makes me ugly and unholy, Christ sees me as pure and perfect. 


The thing is, most people stop at the sin part. They forget that there's more after that. They get so caught up in doing good to cover up their sin that they forget that their sin has already been paid for. They forget that there is hope and that hope is Christ. No, it's not bad repent for your sin and start doing good after. But what makes it pretty annoying is that some people cannot get over it. He is risen! He gave hope! He is hope! Repent and live out the hope that he has given you. Do not let sin weaken you or stop you from believing in hope. 


Christ sees us as the finished product which is perfect and whole. We see ourselves as ugly, too fat, too thin, too short, too unholy, too angry, too sad and blah blah blah. Just remember that all sins have been paid for. All sins means sins in our past, sins in our present and sins in our future. So, instead of living in that never ending cycle of feeling guilty for all those sins, it's time to start living as Christ sees us. If you knew you were perfect, how would you live? If you knew Christ saw you as whole, what would you stop doing? And what would you start doing?

Random Thoughts While Walking

Had to stare at ourselves while thanking Christ that we can come as we are.

Me: 'Isn't it hilarious how Christ tells us not to judge others, but that is exactly what we do?'
Jani: 'When they're being real we judge them. When they're being fake we judge them.'
Me: 'Actually, God doesn't judge us. He won't judge us until the very end.'
Jani: 'He gives us so much time to learn, grown and make mistakes.'

I forgot the instructions to this one!

Jani: *puts coin into Ambition.*
Me: 'I already put one!'
Jani: 'It's not the same. You put in Security. I put in Ambition.'
Me: 'There's one for Intimacy! Gimme another coin!'
Jani: *laughs* 'Ohmygawd.' 
Me: *falls to the ground laughing* 
People stare.
Me: 'What? Even Jesus need people around him!'

                
               We were made to carry a small pebble and to another station as it symbolized those people we did not like.

Jani: 'I don't really know why I hated her, but I did.'
Me: 'I know exactly why I hated her, but I didn't forgive.'
Jani: 'I said sorry.'
Me: 'I shall forgive.

 

                   
                Supposed to carry the cross, but it was SO FREAKING HEAVY!

Me: 'Imagine, Jesus was bleeding and his body was aching when he had to carry the cross!'
Jani: 'That's so ouch, man.'
Me: 'When your body aches, it's so hard to stand straight.'
Jani: 'And he had to carry the cross!'
Me: 'Exactly! Plus the sin of the entire human race!'
Jani: 'Physically that would be so ouch.'
Me: 'Plus the emotional burden. Such a humbling thought.'

                Write down your own prayer request, pick out a request from a stranger and then pray for the person.

Me: 'This is so cool! This is so cool! This is so cool!'
Jani: 'The table is hot. Cannot right!'
Me: 'I want a short prayer request!'
Jani: 'The table is hot!'
Me: 'I wonder who will pray for me.'
Jani: 'A stranger!'

                Had to hammer our 'sin' to a cross.

Me: 'I don't know how to hammer stuff.'
Jani: 'You can do it!'
Me: 'My sin put Christ on the cross.'
Jani: 'He paid for us, but we put him there.'
Me: 'But it's great to know that past, present and future sin has been paid for by Christ.'
Jani: 'We don't have to do anything to get rid of the sin except repent!'

               Say stuff you wanna say to your moms.

Me: 'My mom is at Fully Booked.'
Jani: 'My mom is at home.'
Me: 'I rarely have mushy talks with my mom or my parents.'
Jani: 'Me too! It's just too hard!'
Me: 'They might think I'm faking.'
Jani: 'It's just too hard!' 

              Write the names of the people you want to thank Christ for.

Me: 'Do I write your name?'
Jani: 'Duh.'
Me: 'This is too easy!'
Jani: 'There are too many people to thank.'
Me: 'I just have a few.'
Jani: 'Do I write Leo's name?'
Me: 'I didn't.'
Jani: 'Bad girl!'

                Have some communion!

Me: 'Yesterday, I had communion wine that had alcohol.'
Jani: 'You're drunk!'
Me: 'I mean, I had communion juice, but they put real wine in it!'
Jani: 'No wonder you're so weird now.' 

A Little Suffering

The malls are closed. Cannot buy wax. Will have to wear pants.

Everyone else is thinking about how to be holy and I am here thinking about why I forgot to buy wax. I woke up so early this morning to check if the malls were open. I ran down and asked my parents. And they were like, 'They're closed. Go back to sleep.' Not satisfied with their answer, I turned on the Mac and checked it out on Google. Sure enough ALL THE MALLS ARE CLOSED! 


The malls are closed. Cannot buy wax. Will have to wear pants.


On Saturday, Jani and I are supposed to go to Taguig to check out that thingamajig of Church Simplified. We have this thing where we tell each other what we are going to be wearing. It must be a girl thing. Or it must be a we-are-not-best-friends-but-we-are-more-than-close-friends kind of thing. Most of the time, we try to get our outfits to match. And I was so wanting to wear shorts because of the heat. Unfair!


The malls are closed. Cannot buy wax. Will have to wear pants.

Actually, I could have gotten wax yesterday. I was at the gym yesterday and the mall next to the gym had what I needed. I had so much time to run to the mall and buy what I wanted. I had the money to do it and the time. But what happened? Someone forgot. Someone wanted to go home right away. And someone else had to rush to the bank. That happened. 


The malls are closed. Cannot buy wax. Will have to wear pants.


I look like Gusto now. I am busy stuffing Oreos into my mouth while praying that an asthma attack does not take place in the next twenty four hours or so. My eyes look like they are going to overflow with tears. And my heart is trying to tell my brain that things will be okay. Of course, my brain keeps telling me that I am so dumb for forgetting and that wearing pants would be the dumbest thing to do considering how humid and warm it has been lately. 


The malls are closed. Cannot buy wax. Will have to wear pants.


Holy Week has always been an unlucky time for me and my whole family. One time, my dad was down with kidney stones. Another time, my mom forgot to buy food. I tried calling McDo to deliver, but they were closed. I starved for two days. And yes, this year I will remember Holy Week as that time I forgot to buy wax and had to have ugly legs which would hide behind very hot pants.


The malls are closed. Cannot buy wax. Will have to wear pants.


To heck with wax! It's Holy Week and we're all supposed to suffer or give up something. Mom stopped eating French fries. Papa stopped taking rice. One of my brothers gave up eating meat. I dunno what the other one gave up for Lent. While they all gave something up, I just said, 'I had chicken pox and I do not take rice. Surely, that would be enough 'giving up' already!' 

The malls are closed. Cannot buy wax. Will have to wear pants.

I am on forced 'giving up' mode. I feel so ugly. And yucky. So even though I am really annoyed at myself, I shall just pretend that this is my Creator's way of telling me to sacrifice something this Lent. Somehow giving it meaning makes it easier to bear.  Duh. It's just a million little hairs on my leg and my Creator had tons of nails on his head. It looks a little yucky, but at least no one's disgusted enough with me to crucify me to a cross.


The malls are closed. Cannot buy wax. Will have to wear pants. 

So to my Creator, while your other children here on earth are offering up their wonderful I-have-given-this-up-for-you this Lent thingamajigs, I am offering up to you my unwaxed legs. Yeah, my offering is a little bit late and I didn't really want to do it. But it seems that giving up something is your idea of fun. I know my offering seems dumb and your other children on earth have given up better things, but this is really hard for me to do. So please accept it!


It's just a little suffering.

And What Have I Done?

Holy Week is messing up my brain.

I was at the gym this morning. I had bugged my parents to take me there since I wanted to sweat and get rid of my cold. My stupid phone did not have enough battery to play my gym playlist. So I was left to stare at one of the twenty television screens in front of me as I was on the bike. The dumb thing was that most of the televisions were set to the local channels which all dealt with Holy Week. And I was sitting there thinking to myself, 'Does it get any better than this?' Oh yeah! On one television, a man was being crucified to the cross. No, the man was not Jesus. On another television, some guys from Church Simplified were talking about their stations of the cross. And then there was like a subtitle or whatever you wanna call it that appeared on the screen. It said something like 'Jesus' ministry was three years.'


When I got home, I got hold of my Mac and searched Google like crazy. Some sources say that Jesus' ministry was for three years and others say that his ministry was for three and a half years. That's like one term for a US president. Jesus had like one term to do his magic. And that thought really got me thinking. Jesus had only three years or three and a half years yet he gave us our whole life to live for him and all we're doing is wasting it. I did not know if I was supposed to be happy that Christ gave me my whole life to do his work. Or maybe I should feel bad because I have already wasted most of my life doing dumb things that do not bring him glory.


What the heck have I done in my nineteen years of existence? Well, I have danced in church for around six years. I taught little kids how to dance and maybe also taught them to love Christ. I have taught in Sunday School since I was nine years old. I sang songs with the kids, fed them, clothe them and even gave the poor children a bath when needed. I have gone on mission trips to places where Christ is already known and to places where knowing Christ may land you in jail. I have gone on many camps and even led some youth groups. I have prayed. I have read my Bible. I have done all that they teach in church just to make sure that I land a spot in heaven.


And yet I have also lied, cheated, cursed and killed people in my mind. I have been lazy. There are Sundays when I end up sleeping while the pastor is preaching because I have stayed up so late the day before. I end up not really praying because I am too tired, too sleepy and not in the mood. Reading the Bible has become an option due to too much school work, late nights with friends and so many TV shows that I watch. Going to church became a chore for me some time ago. It became my only ticket to heaven. It was my way out from all the other things that I did not do because I was too lazy.

If someone were to look at my life from a human perspective, the person would say, 'Anna is doing well in school. She is trying hard to be a good daughter and aunt. She has some sort of faith. She's beating the odds.' If that person were to describe my life from a religious perspective, the person would say, 'She's a goner!' But I am thankful that Christ has shown me mercy for he would say,  'Have not done much yet. There is still some time to do something about that.' And when I realized that Christ is so merciful, I was moved. Sure, I haven't done much yet for him, but there still is some time to do something.

Holy Week has messed up my brain. 

Veggies and Other Things

Conscience: 'How was the trip to Batangas?'
Me: 'The trip or the stay?'
Conscience: 'You know what I mean. Make my life easier.'
Me: 'HA HA HA.'

Going to my brothers' farm in Batangas was my mom's idea. See, my brothers have this farm and they plant vegetables. Of course, mom wanted to visit the farm and see what was going on. Aren't all moms like that? They like checking out on their kids to see what they're up to. But the farm was great! The workers were harvesting and we were there to pick up the lettuce to bring back to the city. Am not sure how many kilos of lettuce we brought back, but it was a lot. The stay in the farm was pleasant because we just stayed for about two or three hours, had lunch at the restaurant there and we were supposed to swim. But I guess I'll just go back to the farm another day just to swim. Yes, there are two swimming pools there. I think mom just dragged me there to try and convince me to be a farmer like my older brother. LOL.

 

Conscience: 'You never really wanted to be a farmer.'

Me: 'But I wanted to be an environmental scientist.'

Conscience: 'Why didn't you take that up?'

Me: 'I thought the school was boring.'

Yes, I did want to be an environmentalist. And I still do actually. What happened was I took the exam and wrote down mass communication as my course. But when my mom paid the reservation fee, I changed my course to environmental science. At the last minute, I decided not to go to that school and so I ended up taking communication arts. And then I switched school for second year and took up media production. But you know, if they had an honors course and put environmental science and media production together, I would totally take it! I think if I could extend my life a little more and slow things down, I would go back to that school to take that course. Or if there was a real time turner, I'd use it to take more classes. I'm a nerd like that.