Class Week Fourteen: Intrigues

Quite an interesting turn of events prompted me to write this rather short and taunting blog entry to my AC81 students. It's already past 1 in the morning and after humoring my students in the Yahoo! Messenger conference rooms (courtesy of a good friend of mine who played his role quite exceptionally well), the thought has sunk deeper into my brains compared to the shallowness I've given it.

It all started with a simple note on paper. I never even expected why I would be writing that on their assignments. I just figured that aside from the assignment comments that I regularly give out, I would be giving a little of myself as well to the class and thus turn a somewhat simple and useless sheet of paper into a collector's item (LOL). Then again I wrote some good trivias and not-so-known facts about myself, until my pen slipped and let loose one provocative tidbit: *insert what I wrote on that paper here*.

Now the thought incited quite a lot of remarks and comments when the papers reached their hands, especially that piece of tidbit I just tactlessly let loose without much thought. Now I am faced with nearly the entire class's eagerness, all waiting for the answer to that lovely little question - So who is it?

I won't tell. HAHAHA!

Point taken, I've already had my fair share of bitterness before when it comes to falling in love. Sure, I may tend to get emotional every now and then, but eventually there comes a time in my life that I lose it (pardon the bluntness). I do not know why I lose it, but the moment it comes back, it's already too late. It has somehow traumatized me in the arts of falling into a relationship.

Yes, it's been almost a year since my last fated day when cupid struck me with his enchanted arrows. But the darkness took me in months later until my life ended up in a maelstrom of misery and sorrow, twisting and turning along with the stress that is schoolwork, then emerging into the calm before the storm. By that time, I've already made a mess of my life, and it's already irreparable. It's something I'll live to regret for the rest of my life.

Maybe that's why I don't want to say it. I don't want to make a mess of my life and of someone else's again, especially in this situation where a known barrier separates me and that particular someone. This one's not gonna be easy, I know, but I really do not think I'm ready to be expressive of my feelings yet. Or maybe just a little.

But then again, it's quite satisfying to see my students persisting to know the answer to the mysterious question, despite my adamant resolve. I wonder if come tomorrow someone could dare try to break open a little hole in my shell and peek inside to get a glimpse of what runs in my mind? *winks*

~Sir Dave~
Once a gamer, always will be a gamer

Class Week Thirteen: Field Trips and Farewells

It is with great heaviness that I now prepare this blog post I have - probably the last I'll ever have with my current students for this trimester. I still do not know what the future holds for all of us, for we have been advised in our faculty meets that the new instructors might not get any teaching load next term despite our requested schedules and subjects. I am still being optimistic on the matter that at least one or two subjects of my request would be granted to me and my fallback plans of getting a teaching load this term become a reality.

But enough of the gloomy moment (I pray it won't be as gloomy as it seems in the coming days) , let me share what has transpired in my little brother's field trip down Laguna and Tagaytay - sure it was an exhilirating experience, one that even costed me a trip to what is supposed to be my regular Table-Top RPG session (hurray for my very first absence ~_~). We trekked through two production factories - one of Gardenia's factory-spanning bakery and Lucky Me's Noodle Factory. Both are quite exciting places and they showed the process of how most of their flag products were done.

Gardenia's bakery - or giant bakery, rather - housed a very exquisite production line that is completely automated - computers are powering the whole process and the bread-making is completely managed by automated machines with little to no human intervention. Their motto is that the bread is untouched by human hands, as demonstrated by the mixing machines, the conveyor belts, automated placement to fermentation and baking, and the only human interactions I seem to see where when the bakers are poking / turning the baked loaves of bread (which are surprisingly equal in size, all of them) with spatulas. That's as close to human touch as those bread will get! LOL

Lucky Me's noodle factory was another exciting experience in production, as I am amazed at the pace by which my favorite pancit canton delight is being produced from the mixture of egg and flour all the way down to the stringing of the noodles themselves and packaging in their familiar-looking packets with the seasonings. The tour wasn't as comprehensive as the one in Gardenia but at least the experience was interesting - although I cannot seem to get over the fact that the produced noodles there seemed smaller than what I am accustomed to seeing whenever I cook them. Either it's just the fact that we're observing from a far point or that they really have cut down on noodle size. LOL

After the two megafactory tours we went to a trek in Taal Vista in Tagaytay - an open space that offers a breathtaking view of the Taal Lake and its Volcanic craters. It's quite amazing to see Tagaytay once again since it was already almost twelve years since I last came here, and the memories were starting to get hazy, even unrecognizable. I was fortunate to see it again and I intend to loot my mother's pictures that she had taken of the exquisite view of the lake and the volcano. It might be a little foggy in view but at least the view was extremely classic!

The latter part of the trip was spent in buying souvenirs in Tagaytay (I opted to get a dagger keychain with an intricately shaped hilt that I failed to recognize was starting to fall off - need to do some mighty bonding with that) and then spent the rest of the day in the Mall of Asia and on a rolling cruise tour around the CCP Complex and Luneta Park. Overall the trip was fantastic!

~Sir Dave~
Once a gamer, always will be a gamer

Class Week Twelve: A Return to the Past?

It has been quite a tremendous week for me, what with work and all, but in addition there were several thoughts that raced across my mind as the eleventh week of class closed down upon me, opening a new vista of experiences with the coming of the twelfth week. Good Evening to all of my patrons in the great great blogosphere (and the plurk-verse too!), I hope you find my lamentations tonight of interest or even of meager relevance to my interactions with you guys.

During the fifth or sixth week or so of class, as I entered the classroom I was struck by a rather large and thick, hardbound black book that depicted a pair of pale hands holding out a vivid red apple. The apple's redness was quite vivid since it stood out quite a lot in the pale white of the hands and the rich blackness of the background. Then the title struck next, giving me several relationships as to my current life now. Yes, those familiar with my descriptions might have already gotten what I'm driving into now: It's Stephenie Meyer's Twilight.

Enthralled by the fact that not only my fangirl-like ladies of the ABMA class are hooked into the seemingly romantic plotline of the book, but also my AC students were into the story as well! Both classes have claimed that it's something to read for romantics, and out of curiosity (and boredom from lack of anything to do), I then opted to drop by at the local bookstore today after watching a movie and decided to buy a paperback copy of it. Hardbounds would be nice if it weren't for the steep price. Maybe I'd just request from my aunt in Canada to send me a hardbound copy. Hahaha!

It appeared to be a story about love, but crosses an almost parallel line with a story I have long abandoned... from what I had heard, it is about a vampire's love. Yes, among my viewers now one or two might get what I am driving into... but enough of that. To delve too deeply in those aspects is to unearth a past that I wished better to be forgotten.

Sometimes I wonder if the path I've forged from the past was a decision well-made... or a decision well-thought of. While I do not want it revived anymore out of fear of what may happen - fear of making the same mistake and causing even graver damage, I just can't help but contemplate sometimes that somewhere along the way there are things that I could've done better to avert it. Well I guess it was all in the past now...

I'm now looking into the option of continuing the story as a fully-fledged novel by itself (for those who do not follow my train of thought, I'm referring to the Vampiric Chronicles of John), but then again I need to set my priorities since I'm also looking into the really serious option of releasing my Fantasy novel Terra Nova in the local publishing world. First I'll need a really good-quality publisher to carry out such a task. Even if it will cost dearly, it's a risk I'll need to take.

But before all that, I need inspiration. I need to revive the dead writer inside me that I've long unused and abandoned. Perhaps with my new experiences I can reforge a sword long rusted by age and abandon and show it to the rest of the world as a pristine weapon that will take the literary world by storm!

~Sir Dave~
Once a gamer, always will be a gamer

Class Week Eleven: THUNDAGA!

Sure, sure, many might wonder at the queer blog post title, but it just so happens that it strikes a very interesting point of discussion by which we will be drifting off to for tonight. But before that, I greet my patrons in the blogosphere a very warm and rainy evening! It's quite comfortable to sleep tonight with the cool winds and the refreshing aura surrounding the city now.

But rainy days are not complete without a light show or two gracing the skies and creating magnificent arches of light in queer zigzag patterns that seem to split the dark sky in two - of course, I speak of no less than the stars of the show - thunder and lightning!

The post title actually refers to a Final Fantasy trademark spell, Thundaga, which is a third-degree thunder magic considered as one of the most powerful in the tiers of Black Magic (its predecessors being Thunder and Thundara). The strength of this spell is already comparable to what I and some of my ABMA students experienced as we were headed to a local mall.

There was lightning and thunder (yes, these things come in pairs, and lightning always comes first since light is faster than sound) along with a heavy downpour of rain and we were quite soaked to the clothes. Not even the umbrellas were able to protect us and sad to say, in my efforts to protect my own belongings from being destroyed by the rain I ended up being soaked myself. As it is, we were fortunate to have reached the mall still partly dry.

As we travelled, the light shows grew more and more intense we thought it was going to hit close anytime soon. Not that it would really happen in the first place, but the intensity of some ranged to rumbling noises like a roof being rippled up to the point of breaking noise that just seems to make your ears ring and make your hair stand up on end (static electricity effects? LOL)

But now that we're home and refreshed, it is time to get ready for tomorrow's back to back campaigns with my two classes! I have decided to return the wargames to my ABMA class (after depriving them of it for quite some time) and my AC class will resume our usual clash of armies as they both integrate quizzes within the entertainment! Now that's what I call edutainment.

With that I bid everyone goodnight, and I pray none of you get scared badly by the lightning and thunder tonight... if ever it will rain hard *giggles*

~Sir Dave~
Once a gamer, always will be a gamer

Class Week Eleven: Plurk and Legos

Greetings to the Blogosphere! My apologies for my sudden loss of contact with the blog world, as I suddenly got myself tangled into a very interesting social networking site... the online timeline of life called PLURK!

What is plurk, you say? Well I may have been one of the most backward / delayed people to tell this now (as the rest of my friends and blog mates have already blogged about it more or less), but it is an online timeline of your activities (and quotes) and through a vast social network you can also see what your friends and mates are up to (thinking, doing, wanting, whatever!), and all in real-time at that! That means you can actually relate to most of what they are doing or thinking and enjoy a healthy conversation.

It actually does a lot of miracles and transcends social networking and discussions as people know it. It's a unique design and I will honestly admit I have been hooked into it!

For a sample of how the system of Plurk works, you may visit the Gamer at Heart plurk at http://www.plurk.com/user/terranova18

Moving on to my next interest for this week, I recently procured a small Lego Train that I bought as a Lego Creator brand - one of those designs made by someone then submitted it to the Lego world as a formal design. Well I started out with the train since I found it interesting to revive my old likes for the Lego System, and guess what? After several more purchases my little collection has started to expand with three additional racer cars from the Lego Racers brand!

I really can't figure why I suddenly got engrossed to Legos again after all these years - maybe it's a second childhood bursting inside me, I suppose. Or maybe it's the wanting to build a personal collection - you know that typical thing people do that involved collecting something as a part of a "collection" per se - coins, stamps, etc. Maybe this is what I am eventually destined to devoutly collect and showcase like a display or an exhibit. LOL

That ends this rather hurried post I suppose. The Plurk-verse is demanding its attention as I am getting unread replies from other plurkers. Later!

~Sir Dave~
Once a gamer, always will be a gamer

Class Week Ten: All Dolled Up!

Wow! What a night! It has been quite an eventful evening for us instructors as we joined quite a thick number of students last night in the school auditorium to watch one of the grandest fashion events that has traditionally graced our school for years - the search for Mr and Ms APJMA 2008!

As I mentioned, the auditorium was packed tight with students, guests, instructors, and even alumni graduates as we all watched a spectacular display of fashion and beauty in its finest with the program theme "Barbie and Ken: All Dolled Up!". It's quite a catchy theme to have as well, given the fact that those two names had been the most popular among the throngs of children and girls all over the world who are into dolls (although it was mentioned there that they had broken up after a 48-year long relationship. LOL)

With such a theme in mind, the contestants - two of whom were my students in class - paraded with a showcase of dolly outfits that made the audience howl and cheer with delight and support. I must say that they were all quite lovely last night and as the host says, it was fortunate that no one among them nor the audience was made to judge such an event, and I'll have to agree - with the way the program went, it would be quite hard for just anyone to judge who the winner would be!

Moving the discussion to my two student entrants, I was glad and proud to say that both of them made it into the final three in the Ms APJMA competition - 2nd runner up and 1st runner up! You don't get that much students in your life so I was quite fortunate to have them in my classes :D - there's the Barbie Princess and the Million-Dollar Barbie. Quite interesting names, no?

The Barbie Princess dressed up rather fashionably (after half-dragging me and my friend down Gloriettas 1 and 4 just to look for a suitable dress and asking us for opinions at that) and also won the award for Ms Congeniality, meaning to say that she is one person that can easily be approached or befriended. Well I can say the same - she even strikes a friendly relations with us instructors! - well that part may be because we had been friends with her since our last year at the same school as students LOL. It's too bad she didn't get the best in theme wear though. I guess our fashion opinions really sucked! XD

Now the Million-Dollar Barbie, as I now fondly call her and will continue doing so until Monday's class next week, got the award for Best in Formal Wear, as proven by the pearly-white sheen of her formal gown that seemed to radiate across the half-darkened auditorium like a beacon of light. No, really the white gown took me with awe since it was quite well-made for a person of her posture (and she carried it quite well too!). Match a similar white choker on her neck, and it completely accentuates the title I gave her - had she been a true barbie, she'd be worth a million dollars! XD

I guess that's what culminates this week's post! If there's one thing I'm sure of by the end of this week, it's this: I am going to enjoy having my classes next week. >:D

~Sir Dave~
Once a gamer, always will be a gamer

Class Week Ten: The Haunting of Tomorrow

Weeks pass on and quite a long time has already elapsed since the first day of term. Everything seems like a long and distant memory as I now recall everything I had done on those early days - meeting my students for the first time, conducting my first lessons, handing out my first activities, and giving my first exams. And now we're on the tenth week, with barely four last weeks remaining until the first trimester rears its ugly head and the college shifts tides to the next term.

As my students progress to doing their pre-registration of courses for the next term, we Instructors have also taken to noting what subjects we want to take for the next term - from schedules to subjects as per our availability and capacity to teach. It's actually a convenient thing to let us choose since it enables us to select subjects that are suitable for our working schedule (especially for part time ones) and at the same time perform some... erm... hidden agendas.

Next term, I've noted what subjects I desire to take up, and most of them are IT-related subjects as expected. Although I've tried my best to avoid subjects that are situated at the 8:00 range (seeing that I very nearly end up LATE whenever I attend those subjects, even as a student LOL), sometimes it cannot be helped when the subjects you want to teach are at those times. I am also waiting myself if my request to another department would be approved so I can also handle subjects that are from that area of education. Oh, how I will love teaching next term!

I call this post a haunting, since the future holds quite a lot of interesting surprises for me. Not that it's THAT surprising anymore, since I already have a vague notion of it happening. Hahaha!

~Sir Dave~
Once a gamer, always will be a gamer