Electoral Monday: My first local election voting experience

                This post is way overdue but I will not miss the opportunity of sharing this scrapbook-worthy experience.

                Let me start with my expectations. In my mind, my first legit voting experience would start like those Nescafe commercials where bird tweets wake me up. I stretch, smile and have breakfast. Then, I get ready to head out to the precinct. When I get there, I would be warmly greeted by an old lady in her late 40s, sitting behind the Comelec helpdesk and she would be directing me to the voting room. At the voting room, I would stand in line to receive my ballot. Then I vote. After which, I would submit my ballot to the PCOS machine, have my index finger marked with indelible ink and leave the precinct feeling fulfilled and a contributing citizen to the country.

                That was just my expectations.

                This was what really happened.

                After dinner at Makati, I spent the remaining hours of Sunday researching on the people running for office. It was like Facebook stalking only this time, I was entitled to do it so as to know if these people I had the intention of voting for deserved my vote. Wikipedia was quite helpful in my last minute research. I ended up sleeping late and waking up with bloodshot eyes on Monday morning. And as much as I wanted to wake up to bird tweets, I woke up to my alarm clock and my mom knocking on the door.

                She told me to wake up, get dressed and go down to have breakfast. At the moment, I was groggy and puzzled. ‘Am I not supposed to take a bath?’ I asked. ‘No. We’re going straight to the precinct.’ Ma replied. So I did what mom told me – I sprayed some deodorant and got dressed, went down and ate. Then we went to the precinct. It was dad, mom, yaya and I. It was our first time to vote – yaya and me, so it was still kind of exciting – when you push the thought of not having showered to the back of your head.

                We arrived at the precinct, well it was a public school turned voting station. It looked like a mess! It was a mess of people, flyers and cars. We arrived a little after 7 am and there were so many people inside. It felt like I was entering a club but in daytime. People kept pushing and there was so much body contact that I felt icky. And there weren’t welcoming old ladies behind helpdesks at the entrance. I was met with a blackboard with the precinct floor plan drawn on manila paper stuck to it.

                It took us a while to figure out which classroom we were supposed to proceed to. I was sweating so much and navigating through the campus felt like I was on the Amazing Race without the cameras. After a while, I found my name at the precinct where yaya’s name was expected to be. So I fell in line. Yaya went wandering around the campus until she made the conclusion that her name couldn’t be found so she proceeded to the help desk.

                In the meantime, I was still in line and this woman in front of me kept asking me to save her spot while she wandered off. Well, seeing that I had no choice and it felt really hot and humid I kept nodding my ‘okay’. When she came back, I think she took pity on the state I was in – beads of sweat trickling from my temple down to my neck, me trying to save myself by fanning myself with my handkerchief – because she asked me if I wanted a fan. I said I did and *poof* she produced a fan from her bag. It had the face of Cynthia Villar – one of the senatorial candidate. I thanked the lady and took the sign that I should really vote for this woman on the fan.

                It felt like a million years and a whole lot of patience to wait in line especially if the woman behind you cannot seem to stop moving and hitting you in process. When I got inside the room, I was asked of my details which I gave right away because I wanted this entire thing over with. I got my ballot and I took a seat to start shading. It was funny because it felt like I was taking a test. Shade the best candidate. Front page was easy – senators and partylist. Back page was a challenge – the local officials. When I reached the ‘Councilors’ portion, voting really felt like a test. I had no clue who these people were and I haven’t heard of them. So I did what I was ready to do. Shotgun the damn thing. I voted for the candidate whose name sounded pleasant to the ear. I know. It’s humiliating. But it made the entire event really seem like it was my first time.

                So far, the candidates that I voted for and really wanted to win are far from the ‘Magic 12’. I find it disappointing and annoying that the political butterfly and the 20-year OJT made it to the list. It’s probably worse than having me shotgun my votes for city councilors. But this is another story to tell.

A   

                 

Social Sunday: The Importance of having a Sense of Humor among other things

                 We had lunch at the Flores’ last Sunday. As any family gathering dictates, lunch, dinner or any feast is followed by conversation – to shred off the excess carbs we’ve been consuming during the meal as well as enjoy each other’s company. So, between the time that I was contemplating how I managed to eat all that Kilawin (it’s fish cooked in vinegar, no heating involved) despite my general distate for fish and vinegar dish combinations, the conversation shifted from the adults reminiscing their college days to the importance of having exceptional social skills.

                At that moment, I was almost certain that the turn of conversation topic was a coincidence. You see, during breakfast, Ma was saying how she was excited about having lunch at the Flores’ and dinner at the Luz’s and that she was set on spending Sunday ‘socializing.’ Then she went on saying that it would be good for my brother and I to practice our social skills. Well, I wasn’t complaining – anything to get me out of the house for a while after spending the entire week cooped up and tinkering with VB and DAO.

                But then, I watched too many episodes of Castle the past week and in Richard Castle’s words, ‘There is no such thing as coincidence.’ Anyway, when I finally snapped back into reality, Tito Nelson was saying that we, kids, should practice our communication skills – that in work, what sets an individual apart is not the intelligence or the grades but on how well he communicates with his co-workers. And then he jumps into telling us that successful people become successful because they have a sense of humour. Well, I’d like to think that having a sense of humour will be great to get a crowd or even ill-mannered co-workers to listen to you and that was what Tito was leaning toward but he didn’t continue much because he jumped onto the next story he remembered.

                After a few more laughs, the conversation became quite serious again when the topic was about worker-efficiency and how drive was affected by compensation and benefits. I remember fragments of the conversation but the gist is still fresh. Apparently, from what the adults have experienced, when benefits are scarce and taxes are incredibly high, people tend to slack off probably to match their effort with what they earn – more so when they aren’t frequently evaluated. The conversation drifted off to the case of public school teachers who made the effort of studying hard during college to graduate and pass the teachers board and is then faced with the task of teaching a class of 90 (if not more) with such little compensation. In the long run, these teachers tend to clock in, sell ice candy to the students and then clock out just in time to go home for dinner.

                After which, Tito Nelson pointed out the huge difference in character if said board-passing teacher taught in a public school. Given the better (but sometimes still not enough) salary and benefits, plus the frequent evaluations (to maintain the institution’s standards) these teachers perform what is expected of them and more.  

                I wasn’t expecting that the events that transpired earlier that day would be fitting during dinner. Yes, well I was in the middle of enjoying my share of carbonara, fried chicken and fish when everybody was deep in conversation about the elections the next day. As much as I would love to relay every single praise and comment of every senatorial candidate because I had to laugh more than a few times to that, I’d be straying from my topic.

                So one of my cousins was talking about how one of the senatorial candidates, during a debate, said that the reason why the education system in the Philippines is bad is because the Teachers don’t care. I’ll assume that this candidate was pertaining to the public school system. Anyway, so my cousin goes on about how the statement made her blood boil and how the education system (not limited to the public) has its absurd flaws – like this well-known university that requires its foreign (US) students to take the TOEFL. Or some other institution that require its employees of Literature and Language graduates to take the TOEFL. The situation was laughable but unlike what happened next.

                Dear cousin was caught in her rant of the absurdity of the situation that she misused a word. I was concerned with my food so I let it slide. Well, I thought everybody was going to make it slide but her dad didn’t. Tito just had to point it out and poke fun. Well, I thought the entire situation was funny – the irony of it all. But seeing the reaction of my cousin, silently fuming, I became nervous for the next half-minute. I was expecting that a father-daughter fight would ensue. If you were there, you would think too. Everybody practically froze and became quiet. I was holding my breath. And the awkward silence became more awkward.

                Thankfully, Tito caught on and changed the subject. I almost heard myself exhale. But if it were me in my cousin’s place, I would have laughed at the situation seeing that the irony of the conversation was rubbing off on my grammar. We still had cake after. And a doggy bag of leftovers. The night ended well and I took my laughing at the car on the way home. At this time, I didn’t believe that the conversation topics came up on coincidence. It somehow felt planned or the world just wanted me to feel the importance of having good social skills and a better sense of humour. Personally, I’d pick the latter because it just had to make that awkward silence during dinner a screaming example.

A

Tinkering with VB, DAO and SQL

                When I told myself that I would be spending my term break in a more productive light, I thought I would be spending my days surfing the internet reading journals, articles and theses papers for our thesis project. Well, as it turns out, I have spent the past week having a Castle marathon while studying the basics of Visual Basic, Data Access Objects and Structured Query Language.

                A few weeks ago we found some nifty equipment at the station and I ended up taking home the bar code scanner – to tinker with. I did manage to figure out how it works and I found some open ware Barcode generators to practice with. Now, I my problem is to make a database with a search function. So far, I have accomplished Adding Records. I have yet to make the Delete and Search Record functions.

                Hopefully, I want this done next week better yet the end of this week.

A

Book Review: The Design of Future Things

It has been a while since I’ve read a good paperback book. And this is so worth the Powerbooks gift check my uncle gave to me for my birthday. My mom found this book lying on one of the shelves when we were looking for books that would possibly be of great help in jump starting my group’s thesis project. I am glad to say that judging this book by its cover and the blurbs at the back has been the best thing I’ve done last Sunday because it made me buy it and read it from cover to cover.

And where were my manners?! Donald Norman’s book, “The Design of Future Things,” discusses the gaps between man and machine and offers rules that designers must take to mind in order for them to design consumer friendly systems. Yes, I finally managed to write a one sentence summary! The author gives importance to the symbiosis that must exist between every man using a machine and sheds light on the impact of communication systems between machine and user.

Yes, I think that’s enough of a sneak peek because I want you to read it too! I finished reading Donald Norman’s 200+ page book in three days and I am not ashamed of my incredibly slow pace because I wanted every word to seep into my brain. Well, not really. But I did manage to take to heart the design rules that Norman graciously outlined a few times in the book.

Other than that, I enjoyed the humor that the author managed to inject while emphasizing on the critical points of the topic. There was a hint of sarcasm, irony and plain funny in the book which removes the dull and makes you keep reading it. The wonderful thing about this book is that the words are incredibly light to the eyes and practically anybody can read it. The technical jargon are used to a minimum and if there are, the author explains them in the simplest way possible. I love readings books like that, easy on the eyes. It provides a wider reader market and it does not cut the reading momentum. It keeps me focused in the thought and not on that eyesore of a jargon that I would have to look up in the Appendix or on Merriam-Webster.

I am looking forward to reading more of Norman’s books and referring to some of his references for our thesis project. So if you’re like me looking for a thesis topic with relation to electronics, automation, design, ergonomics, or the like, OR if you just want a good read this summer, I suggest you get a copy of this book, too.

A

Moving forward and bringing the good

     I am happy to announce that my summer break officially begins today and I am dead set on recharging for the incoming term. After feeling the results of the lack of effort in my academic performance, I am not letting what happened this term happen again.

Grade Consultation Day

Yesterday was a rut. After so long, I realized that ‘Grade Consultation’ days don’t do much good to any of us students or our grades. It usually ends up with either an aggravated professor leaving the room with determined students following – persuading the professor to pass them, or students left crying over that 0.5% gap that dear professor won’t grant them so they’d pass. In both occasions, the grades are rarely revised. Nobody really goes home happy on this day – even the overachiever who has already passed with honours and would still grovel even to the last 0.001 just to get their grade up by another 0.5.

In my experience, grade consultation days haven’t affected my grades in my favour. Never has my grade been lifted even to a +0.5 and it’s always because my grade percentile is always between the brackets. And I never pull out the ‘I’m almost there to being an honor student’ card. If there was a time that my grades were changed, it was in high school. I thought that I was going to get my first 79 when it turned out that my professor forgot to encode my final exams grade. That was an experience that I do not want to experience ever again.

But Kudos to those who managed to persuade their professors to lower the passing grade so they could pass and to those who managed to have their grades increased because they deserved it.

As far as I should be concerned, I am glad that I passed all my subjects and I am sure as hell that I will never forget the professor who gave my first 1.0. I didn’t enjoy that subject and my quiz scores were pretty miserable. If that professor would be reading this, I think that he would agree that I did not deserve to pass his class. But I did and thank you sir. If I weren’t scared of you and if I wasn’t late in going to your scheduled consultation hour, I would have personally thanked you. I will be always grateful.

 

Summer Activities

     Now that summer has officially started, I am entitled to balancing my time with relaxing and starting research for our thesis. And of course, I have so much time to update this blog. I missed writing. So watch out for frequent updates!

     By the way, a few weeks ago, I bought three pots of Marigold flowers and a pot of roses to grow just because. I’ll try to post some pictures once the Marigold fully blooms for the second time and the roses grow flowers again. I am very excited!

     I also have to get back to working out (with Zumba). I have to be in top shape and ready to face the next term. I have to turn all that negative and unused energy into positive and productive energy. Tiwala!

XO         

I write to be forgiven

We were out doing the Way of the Cross last Wednesday night and along with that Lenten tradition, we took turns reading the gospel passage and reflection for every station. It so happened that whenever it was my turn to read, the message of the station fit my current life situation so well that I thought the booklet was talking to me. If I weren’t Catholic, I’d say it was coincidence -or fate. But since I am, I’d say it was God’s way of telling me how much I’ve been missing out since this year started.

As much as I want to go to confession and spill my guts to the priest so I’d be forgiven, I don’t think things will change unless I do something else about it. And besides, whenever I do go to confession they always say that I should straighten things out. So I decided that I’d write something about it both as a reminder and a way of forgiving myself.

 

From my previous posts, it’s pretty clear that I have not been my best. I’ve been frustrated lately and it has made me less patient than I already am and more crass in my everyday social interactions. My insensitivity has affected and offended many of the people who are close to me. I have been out of focus with myself. I lost my bearing – like a ship travelling with no compass. To make myself feel better for my second-rate performance, I compared myself with others. I found security in the shortcomings of others. Then, at some point, my optimism just vanished. Every day seemed like night and I could not wait to get home whenever I was in school. I didn’t enjoy conversations (which is so unlike me). And every waking minute seemed like a time bomb ticking into explosion.

There are a lot more things that happened that I cannot remember. Like the days just went by and I did not notice. It does seem like I’ve been living like a dead man these past few months. As much as I want to take the mean things that I have said, I cannot. As much as I want to go back in time and re-answer those quizzes, I cannot.

A few nights ago, I was researching on the quality of sleep and insomnia for our Methods of Research class. All that surfing the net brought me to a web page that discussed depression. As much as I would like to dismiss that I’ve ever been depressed, I think I was. The site even listed the ‘signs.’ And the words that popped out were ‘a sense of hopelessness,’ ’self-loathing,’ ‘fatigue, ’ ‘difficulty falling asleep.’

I think that was the first wake-up call. I don’t want to be depressed and sad. That’s not me. It dawned on me that my little pity-party isn’t going to get me anywhere but down. And it just clicked. I have to make-up for everything in such a short time but it’s doable. And this week-long vacation is my avenue to make up for it.

Now that I’ve realized these, the next few days are going to be reflection and action for me. Pray that I get through this.

XO

4 Years of blogging and a few more weeks of intense stress

I was surprised with an alert from WordPress greeting me a ‘Happy Anniversary.’ Apparently, I’ve been a WordPress blogger for 4 years now. I’d like to thank all my followers, friends, and all those who like, comment, read and simply visit the site even if I’ve been really poor in updating. You see, I’m in a poor state.

If you’ve been an avid reader (Haha, I’d like to assume I have avid readers), you’d remember one of my previous posts about my ‘less than mediocre performance.’ Well, less than mediocre has quite been the theme for me this term. Something has gone wrong with me and I’m still trying to figure out what it is. I’ve practically cut down on Facebook and Twitter. Actually, I’m avoiding it. The only time I open it is when I have to upload our written reports or check for news on our projects. I’ve learned that staying online stresses me to the point that I become unproductive at all. But that’s not all, after cutting down on online social networking, my performance hasn’t gone back to its usual.

My grades have not been good that I need to do extremely well in my finals (especially that subject) to pass. I can’t believe that I’ve allowed it to happen. As much as I would love to blame it on the lack of sleep and always coming home late, I can’t. All I’ve been trying to tell myself is do better do better and then that tiny twinge of doubt ruins everything. I’ve been doubting myself (and even other people) alot nowadays. I’ve been very temperamental. I’ve been avoiding my friends (na nagtatampo na sakin ngayon). I laugh less. I cry before I sleep. I even find it hard to fall asleep. It’s in those moments when my mind is at peace when the weight of all the awaiting workload comes crashing and my mind starts racing, my heart pounds and rest escapes through the window.

Just a few more weeks. Few more. I need to pass, I have to pass all my subjects. The earlier I finish school, the better.