A Learner Forever:

This Quarter Life

2011-12-14T18:09:00.001-08:00

Please visit my new blog http://quarterlifecrisisneverends.blogspot.com

FIRST ENTRY: Journey ends when lovers meet

My Wishlist and things that got checked off the list =)

2011-07-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

check!

cool toy for the i-device :( remote control helicopter with spy camera

i want!

I HAVE AND I LOVE IT

need this for 220v in the Philippines. Got an open box item for half the price. GOOD BUY!

fun game with friends! I want em all!

for my U-DRAW. I want!!

SEE WEEDS I LOVE

Can't wait to go back to LA and put this on my New Ipad

I WANT!!!

Finally new Ipod SpeakerS!

To be continued ... =)

I'm going back to manila in a few weeks..

So many things to buy, so little time....

Personalized Font :)

2011-07-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

click to visit

Day 31 - A Picture Of Yourself

2011-07-22T01:30:00.000-07:00

I realized I haven't concluded my 30 Day Photo Challenge (this case i think it should be called 31 Day Photo Challenge)

So here are recent Photos of Myself in San Francisco.

With Marcus Using PopBooth

With Iggy Using PopBooth

HERE'S A SUMMARY OF THE REST OF MY PHOTO CHALLENGES

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with ten facts

Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show

Day 04 - A picture of your night

Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory

Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day

Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item

Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh

Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most screwed up things with

Day 11 - A picture of something you hate

Day 12 - A picture of something you love

Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist

Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without

Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die

Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you

Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently

Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity

Day 19 - A picture and a letter

Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel

Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget

Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at

Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book

Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change

Day 25 - A picture of your day

Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you

Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member

Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of

Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile

Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss

BALIKBAYAN WISHLIST

2011-07-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

I'm coming home in a few weeks and I just want a recap of the wish list I've prepared whether or not I have them already.

I have the primer and the bronzer and the blush on already...
But I'm thinking of getting another primer and another blush on.
Simply because I like it and it's cute. (If I have extra money that is!)

Maybeline Eye Studio Eye Shadows. I already got the colors I want and even more.
This is exclusively sold in CVS Pharmacy. (As the label sticker says so)

the Dairy Milk Cadbury is for my mom, even though it's available in Manila as well. That's the only thing she requested me to bring home anyway (that is available at least).

The Kisses? I want to bring home ALL KINDS. lol, plus that's the only homecoming gift/giveaway (i.e. pasalubong) that I can bring home this time that is both: 1) easy to purchase and 2) easy on the wallet.

Unlike last year I was able to give un-edible items to my friends, this year I've used all my budget. I had to buy things for MYSELF right? :))

Besides, everyone loves hershey kisses.. especially the ones that they can't see that's available in Manila.
It's foreign and un-common back there... plus, Chocolates from "the" United States are always appreciated!

I already have, "Fresh n Clean" , "Pretty n Pure" and the limited edition that I SUPER love, "Fresh n Fierce"

I forgot I wanted "Fruity n Bright" too, that's the first scent I had when my bf gave me my first Victoria's Secret Pink item. Smelling that scent brings back wonderful memories. But the Pink editions from Victoria's secret is 3 for $30, so it's cheaper if I buy three which is already too much for me (I'll have six if I buy again)... I might be good without it since I already bought the lotion counterpart of the said scent already.

Don't you find it amazing that whenever you smell a certain scent it brings back certain memories attached to it? I've read that research before while I was still studying psychology.

I love to drink tea from the perspective that it's healthy for me. I feel that my body is cleansed. And what kind of tea is more refreshing than Peppermint tea? ... I first tried Bigelow Mint Medley during the time that we had breakfast at Embassy Suites, SF. A Hilton Hotel and they had this tea which I fell in love with right there and then. I took home a couple of bags and when I ran out I just HAD to look for it. Walmart didn't have them, neither did target. But I found them at this one store that I forgot already. The point is, I found them and I have two boxes. Next time I see it again, I'll probably bring home a box of two more.

My friend showed me this photo and I fell in love with it too! ...
It may be just because of how the girl poses a shot showing off her ballet shoes...
But i still WANT IT! I NEED IT! (just as I said on my previous post)

I think this will be my most favorite shoe because I went through a lot of research just to know where I can get a hold of this. I searched google using "ballet flats ankle ribbon straps" keywords and found other kind of shoes that cost much around $200+! which are actually ugly.

But eventually I found the source of the photo. I jumped for joy.

I found out that it was under bridal shoes, but I didn't care. From that category I searched more shoes and Colorful creations seemed to be the perfect kind of brand that offered the same design.

I had to go look for the "resellers" but the GPS lead us to houses which made me doubt. I tried calling one of them, and she did sell shoes of different kinds and confirmed that she sold them in her house. That explains it.

I will love this shoe because unlike other shoes you end up liking it when you see it on the rack, and most of the time you woke up that day, not thinking that you will end up buying that shoe, or any shoe at all for that matter.

This case, I have to go out the normal shopping ways.

Ofcourse my U-Draw .. I have this one and I even posted my U-Draw masterpieces before, during the time my old laptop crashed.

Last but not the least...

of course my iPad. and check that off the wish list!

The list is final but not limited to. which means I can add more things and last minute "must buy" things before I go home. This is going to be crunch time!

Yours Truly,

Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss

2011-07-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

This would normally be a photo of my boyfriend because we are in a Long Distance Relationship.

But currently I'm not missing him, simple because I'm spending time with him right now.

(it was his birthday by the way :))

And more that that I actually miss a group of people.

My Friends =)

ONE MORE MONTH BEYBEH. and I'll be coming home.

Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile

2011-07-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of

2011-07-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

I made a post about this here.

But I'm not JUST afraid of this one, but I'm afraid of ANY natural disasters that will come ahead. I just have this bad feeling that mother nature will really get back at us. Somehow. Someday.

Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member

2011-07-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

My Nephew. And Mind you, he WILL be spoiled by his aunt... =D

Even though at times, we usually quarrel at each other because of his brattiness...

In 2005 during my 18th Birthday Party.

I CAN SHOW YOU THE WORLD

This was us, on the night he arrived from the Philippines to visit me here in L.A. (2010)

Photo Above: In Disneyland

Photo Below: In California Adventure

I'm the one who accompanies him in all the rides.

And this was us, on the day he was about to go on a flight back home to manila :(

I miss him and imma see him in 2 months soon!

Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you

2011-07-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Day 25 - A picture of your day

2011-07-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

Consistent with the picture of my night in the previous post, below is a photo of my day.

I rarely go out really, and its usually only when I've ran out of groceries, when my grandmother forces me to go accompany my grandfather to do some errands (i'm very unwilling) and Sundays for Church.

And oh, in this photo you'll also see a Spider. This was the same spider that suddenly webbed itself down in front of me while I was lying on my back and in my bed and surfing the internet.

Yep, that's my kind of day.

I felt like Little Miss Muppet... "and along came a spider who sat down beside her..." only this time, we had a face to face encounter with each other. It's a damn good thing it didn't start talking.

I really freaked me out that time.. He disappeared and that made me worry because what if he decides to crawl when I'm asleep... After a few days, I saw him in my window. And I left him there ever since.

Basically... I'm on a house arrest. This is my vacation.

Not that I really hate it. I actually prefer if people will just leave me alone in my room.

Not that I'm anti-social.... I just DON'T HAVE FRIENDS HERE.

And, aside from that.. It's because I'm pretty lazy =))

Which reminds me, you guys better listen to this song:

Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change

2011-07-01T13:04:00.001-07:00

The quote says it all... I wish to change myself. My bad habits, attitude, personality, perspective or whatever in me that needs some changing. =))
Thus, I will post a picture of myself.

Me and some classmates hanging out at the faculty room...

Even though we are education majors, this ain't our office though. lol ...
We just decided to give our professors some suprise visit :)

Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book

2011-06-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

I don't really read books, so I only have a few choices to choose from.

But I think even though if I encounter more books in the future,

The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery still deserves to be my favorite one.

It's a short story. It has drawings. It looks like its a book only meant to target little children.

But it teaches the mature mind a lot of lessons about life, love and reality.

Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at

2011-06-29T19:54:00.000-07:00

I drew these...

Awesome right? ... but I really wish I was better at drawing. Not that because it is career related, but I love drawing and doodling. It was the closest "talent" I could declare I even have. I wish I could draw better than merely just following step by step tutorials of how to draw Disney Characters in 2D. =))

Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget

2011-06-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

funny...

there's nothing i could simply think right now that I wish I had forgotten...

I seriously can't wish of something to forget because my body has this defense mechanism tendency that whenever I encounter an undesirable experience, my mind quickly brushes the thought away. And it goes along with forgetting every person or any stimuli that reminds me of it.

Yep that's me. I'm an "avoidant"

Not that I diagnose myself having such disorder.

Avoidant personality disorder (or anxious personality disorder)[2] is a personality disorder recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders handbook in a person characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation, and avoidance of social interaction.

People with Avoidant personality disorder often consider themselves to be socially inept or personally unappealing, and avoid social interaction for fear of being ridiculed, humiliated, rejected, or disliked. (source)

I just like to avoid things or people when I feel that I did something stupid like embarrassing myself or something. That's me. My body rejects it and I need time to heal before I can go back to the arena again and have a "face" to show.

It's also funny because most of the time it's just me making myself feeling queasy. It's possible that other people don't mind what I just did or say but deep inside I feel so stupid. Thus I avoid.

In short, my mind tries to forget it quickly.

Which leads me to the point that right now, there isn't something that I wish to forget. Because if there was even something I want to forget, chances are I already forgot it.

That's why I can't think of anything to put here, because.. well.. It's been forgotten.

Makes sense? :))

Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel

2011-06-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

European Continent

Day 19 - A picture and a letter

2011-06-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Babe,

We will survive this =)

Sorry for the moodiness...

I miss you! and I love you so much.

Love,

Toni

P.S. See you in a little while!!! =)
Drive safely, it's almost 8pm and I know you are around here in LA already.
I hope you had a good 6-hour drive. mwah!

Academic Procrastination: A Bad Habit or Desirable Skill?

2011-06-26T03:45:00.000-07:00

This was once a thesis proposal that my friend and I submitted but was not approved simply because they did not want students to start thinking that it's good to procrastinate. LOL. Fine.. Accepted that we might just probably contribute to students giving valid excuses of being late on submission of papers. But I still believe that Procrastination can be a desirable skill, and one day in the future maybe year 3000... The negative notion that procrastination is a bad habit would eventually change. YES TO PROCRASTINATION! LOL

An excerpt from our thesis proposal to support my belief that procrastination can be viewed as positive:

According to Chase (2003), the negative assumption that procrastination is a “bad habit” is no longer relevant in today’s world. Before technology became a huge part of people’s businesses and lifestyles, the world lived in a much slower pace. Therefore, tasks did not accumulate at the same rate as today. Quoting Chase (2003, p. 60), “There is a difference between putting off doing something because one does not want to do it, and putting it off because it is not important right now”. The key to be successful in the modern world is to possess a very effective and efficient time management skill. He refers that the act of procrastination can be a “desirable time management skill” (p. 60). With this new modern realization, procrastination should now be explored in a new perspective and that the popular assumption that procrastination is a negative trait should be re-examined.

An excerpt from our thesis proposal that differentiates positive and negative academic procrastination:

Schraw, Wadkins, & Olafson (2007) introduced six different types of academic procrastination behaviors and referred to them as: cognitive efficiency, peak experience, flow, laziness, no fear of failure, and postponement.

The first three academic procrastination behaviors are collectively known as the adaptive behaviors of academic procrastination because students procrastinate this way if they are able to adapt or adjust well with the task needed to be done. [that is, procrastination as being positive]

1) Students who procrastinate to allot time in preparing themselves and making an assessment on how they shall proceed with the task are said to practice their cognitive efficiency.
2) Students, who procrastinate to reach their peak experience, prefer working under pressure because it forces them to work efficiently.
3) While students, who have a hard time starting a task, procrastinate until they become totally engaged in doing the task so that they get into the flow.

The other three academic procrastination behaviors, on the other hand, are collectively known as the maladaptive behaviors of academic procrastination because students procrastinate this way if they have difficulty coping up or adjusting with the task that needs to be done. [that is procrastination as negative]

4) Laziness pertains to students who procrastinate because they perceive the task as “boring, irrelevant & useless”.
5) No fear of failure refers to students who feel lenient about the class or the teacher therefore ending up intentionally delaying the required school task.
6) And lastly, postponement, as a means of procrastination, happens when the student has a stronger preference of wanting to have time for leisure or other social and recreational activities.

SO.. WHAT KIND OF PROCRASTINATOR ARE YOU? =)

Please ANSWER MY 10 QUESTIONS SURVEY !

Help me in my fight to prove (or justify) that our procrastination is just some excuse to produce better quality output! :)

SURVEY LINK

Reference:
Chase L. (2003). Procrastination: the new master skill of time management. Agency Sales
Magazine, 33, 60-62.

Schraw G., Wadkins, T. & Olafson, L. (2007). Doing the things we do: A grounded theory
of academic procrastination. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), 12-25.

Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity

2011-06-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this should be considered as an insecurity...

But sometimes I wish I knew how to really use these things....

You know...... like how normal girls are naturally born to use it. x_x

Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently

2011-06-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

I couldn't find a photo, but this is the best scenario that could explain it. It was the moment the I came back from my first hiatus for 2010. I was 6 months away from the Philippines. And when I went back, everything felt different. I saw the world in a different perspective.

This is me at the airport, in my first flight alone. I was going home.

Fill in The Blank Friday!

2011-06-24T00:35:00.000-07:00

Friday again???? omg, few more days and boyfriend is here! <3

1. The last thing I ate was steamed CRABS O_O and I'm craving for some more. I just had 2 =( .

2. The next thing I'd like to eat is steamed lobsters or crabs, just like the dinner I had for my birthday last year =( wish my dad was here to buy some .

3. The best things in life are free. --- totally agree with Lauren!!!! I have the best of friends, and best boyfriend. Life can't get any better! .

4. Something that makes me supremely and utterly happy is laughing with my friends until our stomach hurts and every time I meet my boyfriend after being apart for a long time! .

5. Sports are Nice. LOL I'm not much of a sporty person since I'm lazy, but I do love Wii Sports .

6. I miss My boyfriend in San Francisco and my family and friends in Manila! I WILL SEE YOU SOON!! wooohooo!! 2 more months!! .

7. Right now I am lonely! soooo lonely huhuhuhu.. its actually 12:35 and I don't wanna sleep yet, and because I am nocturnal X_X .

Happy Friday Everyone!!

Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you

2011-06-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty hard question.

I can't think of anyone who inspires me.

Probably the reason that I'm path-less.

LOL

I think I inspire myself, instead.

My way of contributing to the society is through education.

and one day, I will...

Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die

2011-06-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I'm brave enough though....

Ironically, if I want to do this before I die then this might be the cause of my death. lol

Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without

2011-06-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist

2011-06-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

Alanis Morisette - specifically her album Jagged Little Pill

I love her songs and my top favorite one would be Ironic :))

I didn't realize it was my favorite until a friend self-declared it to me, because they said I kept singing Ironic whenever we were doing Karaoke.

Then I realized, yeah... that is my favorite song. It's a theme song of my life :))

And then the rest of the songs followed...

"Hand in My Pocket"
"Head over Feet"

Day 12 - A picture of something you love

2011-06-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

I love airplanes.

But more than that, I love riding them..

And I always take the Window Seat!

Nothing excites me than knowing that I'll be in a different place in a few hours...

Day 11 - A picture of something you hate

2011-06-18T19:41:00.000-07:00

(image source)

I hate people who try to pull other people down in order for them to be on the higher place.

It's commonly referred to as the crab mentality.

A professor once told me that the idiom is unfair to crabs. Because crabs do not pull down each other, but rather they are helping each other create a pyramid or a ladder so they can escape.

Makes sense.

But unfortunately we are not crabs.

We are people and there are really those people who are pure of jealousy and envy in their hearts that instead of making a person their inspiration, they want that person to go down with them.

If not to go down with them, they just want that person to go down so they can take his place on top.

Does the world really run this way??

or better question, Is this the ONLY way that we can run the world??

(image source)

What even frustrates me more, is that when those people who are pulling you down are also the same people who has the same blood running in your veins.

It is true and it is already a fact and sadly very common.

That most of the time, "blood is thicker than water" .. is no longer applicable 100% anymore.

I have heard many cases, where siblings, cousins, relatives or any blood relations have fought with each other due to disputations about finances and status quo.

My dad once told me, "money is the root of evil ------- to those who doesn't have them"

It makes me think that I'd rather favor socialites who love to stick to high people in order for their name to be carried on a pedestal as well... At the least these socialites do not pull down other people, but they instead leech to people on top with the hope that they are being pulled up as well.

Indeed, highschool never ends.

(image edited with the cool halftone application)

Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most screwed up things with

2011-06-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

These are my sex and the city girls.

Viv, Acela and Kash. (I don't have a copy of a photo which shows the 4 of us together in a picture, because I left my hard drive back in Manila)

My high school friends.

Each with a different outrageous and screwed up experiences both individually or altogether.

We used to hang out every day after school at this coffee shop outside our school's village. We were waiting for my ride, and I would drop them all to their homes... I loved offering rides, just to spend the company with them :)

And now they return the favor because they're always pick me up whenever we have gimmicks! :) *coz I don't have a driver anymore... and I suck at driving, like I said in my previous post I have no sense of direction :))

I LOVE YOU GIRLS I MISS YOU!

Fill in The Blank Friday

2011-06-16T21:56:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the week is over again! What happened to my days?!?!

Lauren's Fill in the Blank Friday always helps me to keep up with the date. :)

1. The last movie I saw was Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger on Tides. and the mermaids were awesome.

2. I want to eat japanese rolls!!!!! .

3. Surprises are fun if they benefit you

4. The best accessory is a white simple hair band on my head, makes me look younger and simple.

5. My favorite warm drink is right now, my favorite discovery is melting nutella chocolate spread with hot water... YUM!! nutella hot choco! .

6. My favorite cold drink is minute maid berry punch, i could just finish a whole gallon in one day .

7. Currently loving the Animo Lasalle school spirit on Facebook, due to it's recent Centennial Celebration. Go LASALLE! ;) .

Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

2011-06-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

Kash is my bestfriend who I met during Junior High School...

We became bestfriends when were classmates in Senior High.

SHE HAS BEEN WITH ME THROUGH THE BEST AND WORST EXTREME SITUATIONS OF OUR LIVES. I so totally love her! Check out her blog and look book here

I love you kashing! And I miss you!

I will see you VERY SOON!

Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh

2011-06-15T00:27:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm posting this... but this photo REALLY makes me laugh.

I really felt like I wanted to cry and shout "mommmmmy!!!!!!!!!!"

LMAO :))

"what will our neighbors say?"

2011-06-13T03:11:00.000-07:00

*This is filed under Cultural Psychology & Filipino Culture*

This post was inspired by one of my college friends while we were talking about other people (that is sooooo Filipino, LOL).
But we weren't talking about anything negative. In fact, we were actually talking about Filipino attitudes in general,
totally not attacking a person in particular.

WHAT WILL OUR NEIGHBORS SAY?

This is a translation of "Ano na sasabihin ng Kapitbahay natin?"
usually a common meme in a Filipino household regarding a family's reputation.

This is very common.

If you are a Filipino (or probably also true to other Asians or other countries that have a collectivistic culture)
then you know exactly what I am talking about.

Filipinos always want to have bragging rights. And most often than not, they put the responsibility of gaining that right to their kids. Thus, they enroll their kids to ballet school, piano lessons, taekwondo, kumon (math and science advance tutorials), basketball, violin lessons and whatever classes either the kid likes, or a parent's childhood dream that never happened.

In every Filipino household, you will see diplomas displayed on the wall...
If not diplomas or graduation photos, it would be certificates of recognition, medals or trophies.

So that when the neighbor comes for a visit, the owner of the house will hear the ooooohs, the ahhhhhs and the woowwwws of the neighbors, like as if your house was a national museum.

Funny isn't it?

But it ain't funny when it's the otherwise. By that I mean when the child fails.

"What will our neighbors say?"

Sometimes, it's like this... "What will your Auntie Baby say????".... "What will your Uncle Jun say???".
(every Filipino just has to have an Auntie Baby or Tito Jun.. lol)

Whoever they are.... It matters.

And it is a big deal.

Im not saying that I hate living in a collectivistic culture, I love the family orientation and the warm helpful attitude of Asians, and especially the hospitable attitude of Filipinos to any stranger. It's just that it's funny that most of the time... Even when you are no longer living in Asia "What will our neighbors in the Philippines will say" still matters.

Since I took up psychology, I cannot avoid that I always observe the behavior of other people. And as I interact with my friends of both Western and Asian cultures, I cannot help but compare.

It seems that, the famous line of our parents "what will our neighbors say" has instilled in the minds of the child with their own similar version of "what will my friends say".

When I say similar stories to two friends of my friends with opposite cultural background I also get two different reactions:

I have to admit though, that I also sometimes become that "Asian friend".

That shouldn't surprise me at all, because... well... I'm Asian.

And I can't avoid not to think about

"what our neighbors will say".

Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item

2011-06-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

My Rosary with 6 decades.

Only a Lasallian has this kind of special rosary.

The sixth Decade, is meant for Special intentions.

2011-06-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

YEY MY FIRST BLOG AWARD!!

Thank you Karen !!! from Lost to Gain

To accept this award, you have to post 7 facts about yourself and then pass it on to 7 more bloggers who deserve it!

There's really nothing harder than assessing yourself. But I think it's a good exercise because we get to enhance our assessment skills and we get to reflect things about ourselves, which we don't usually realize at first.

I don't want to be repetitive since I already made a post in my Day 1 photo challenge with 10 facts of myself.
So head over there if you want to know my background.

And now to NEW SEVEN FACTS.

1) I do not have a social life... (well at least that's what I feel already... lol) just read along for the rest of the facts to find out why.

2) I am a Filipino and yet I feel foreign to my country because since last year, I was barely in the Philippines. Although I went home in December 2010, I left again in February 2011 to come back here in the states.

3) My hiatus has nothing to do with career relations, nor does it have to do with my boyfriend being in the states. It has to do something with just bumming around. Doing nothing. and being in front of the computer 24/7.

4) If it weren't for the neighbor's wifi, sharing it to me... I ALREADY HAVE DIED MONTHS AGO.

5) I have become so lazy... That most of the time, (well everyday) ...I don't eat anymore... I could blame it to sleep. but it's mostly because I am lazy.

6) I have a bad case of insomnia...I sleep at 3 o'clock in the morning.

It's 10pm and I feel that it's still 6pm. Right now its 4pm but I feel its just lunch time.. (maybe I feel like it's lunch because I'm just eating my first meal of the day now) I don't know, maybe at night I'm all up because my friends in Manila are just starting to wake up and go online. And if I still want to maintain my sanity and have friends to go back to, I MUST catch them up online....

So I wait..... the whole day... everyday...

7) I would hate my life right now, but I don't ... Bumming is actually a privilege.. it gets REALLY boring... but I don't want to end up one day regretting that I did not "appreciate" my nonsense life right now. I know one day that I will go back to the working world and the routines and the pressure and the financial problems. My peers might be already making names and putting up businesses right now, I am happy for them.. but I don't put any pressure on me... my day will come. But for now, I will enjoy wasting my life.. (common, doing nothing and having no commitments and eating all the groceries you want, that's awesome right?)

Now I grant this award to seven awesome bloggers. (click read more)

1) V from Animate your world - V is a personal friend who I met back in college. Not much of my friends still blog. She's new to blogging and she's awesome that's why she definitely deserved this recognition!

Since last year she has been sponsoring a child for his studies, and it's not difficult because it'll only take you around $12 a month... Not only that, she and a couple of other friends already started up a small company recently, and since we took up education, their business is something related to educational tours (in other words, field trips) ... AWESOME RIGHT? totally not like her friend who hasn't been working for more than a year now (that's me)

Just check her out and follow her blog, even if she's just starting, I bet she'll be posting more awesome stuff about her.

2) Ms. Annie from Oliver Juice - Annie is a co-blogger friend I met just recently. I think I found her from 20somethingbloggers community. Another awesome person with an awesome blog and she caught my attention not just because of her cute photos and cute blog layout and cute everything, but because she's a pre-school teacher. And it just reminds me everything about how related our career is, if only I was working. lol

She also owns this awesome accessory store "Darling You Boutique" ..
It's awesome, you should definitely like.

3) MaryAnn from Roof Above my Head - Another new blogger friend I met through 20sb (if you are 20 something you definitely should join that community) MaryAnn also lives in the Philippines, and because of that of course we have something big in common. It's rare for me to meet a blogger friend who lives in the Philippines and who is the same age (or atleast i know you are 20something) AND someone who I won't doubt would be some weird pervert. The Philippines is a small country, and we want to refrain from creepy people discovering your life and whereabouts.. lol ...

So there, I assure you that MaryAnn's blog is definitely pervert free and it would be awesome to follow her as well. :)

4) Nyx from Notions - she was my first friend in 20something bloggers on my first attempt to butt in the chat room. Thank you Nyx for feeling me so welcome and now I don't feel so much like a loner or a left out... lol ... Since I can rarely contribute to the current topic. Hoping to get to know more about you and gaining more friends in 20sb community!

5) Keigh from Delishoes Servings - Keigh is another new blogger friend of mine, whom I found from jumping to one fashion blog to another. So yes, her blog is a fashion blog! But NO, apparently that's not something what caught us in common with. But because of my previous post on 10 facts about myself , she found out that we came from the same highschool! yeyyy go CSA =) And thats something much more we have in common.

Okay, now the remaining 2 bloggers are the best Filipino bloggers I have met in the whole blogging world. These two are the bloggers I actually met through bravenet. I used to blog using bravenet when I was in college. I have graduated and I have worked and I have enrolled back to grad school and I have stopped and I have made a couple of blogs I have left hanging... but every time I do go back to blogging, they were still there and well, still blogging!

I am so amazed that I have jumped to different blogs for the past years and yet their sites are still existing. Not only that, they are still blogging up to date. As you can see this blog doesn't have any post in 2010. I went on wandering. lol

So here are the best blogger friends ever. Thanks for still remembering me and coming back to my blog even if I haven't met you personally and I have been gone missing for a long while ... :)) Good thing I still have your sites listed.

6) Clarisse from WonderWifey
7) Abby from Three Little Feats

SO THESE ARE SEVEN OF MY BLOGGING FRIENDS
WHICH I RECOMMEND TO ALL MY READERS :)
(and by readers, i mean... the same seven bloggers I just mentioned... lol)

Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day

2011-06-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

PARIS HILTON

Just for a day I want to live her life of an heiress and I wouldn't care about my haters.

Heck, it's just going to be a day...

On Evening Dresses & Handbags

2011-06-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

I was never a fan of online shopping.. I was very cynical when it came to doing purchases online.

Not until.. I made my first purchase.

My first online shopping experience, gave me a belief that online shopping ain't that bad after all.

In fact, I was overwhelmed how easy and convenient it could be.

Moving on, I opened myself to possibilities that online shopping can reap some benefits by discovering good finds. I then came across this website Bluefly which showcased a wide variety of designer products, such as evening dresses, accessories, designer handbags, and even shoes. Don't get me wrong, I am not in anyway, an heiress of a multi billionaire company like the Hilton sisters, Ivanka Trump or Tamara Ecclestone. I am just a 20 something year old girl, dependent on daddy, who by the way.. would cut my credit cards if I spend over the budget.

That's why as much as possible, I try to be as thrifty as possible... so I try to search for really good deals.

However, Bluefly is by far, the leading retailer on the web that offers a wide variety of designer choices which also allow you to save A LOT OF MONEY. They always have a lot of designer stuff that are on sale!!!

I must warn you though.. online shopping is TWICE as addicting as in-store shopping! ...
It's easy, convenient, and not very tiring! ... NOT AT ALL

Going back, I've been searching for elegant evening dresses that I can use when I go clubbing back in Manila. Bluefly has awesome designer dresses such as BCBG, Calvin Klein, D&G, Juicy Couture, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang and I could go on even more! The best part of this, is the percentages off they offer compared to retail prices!

Here are some of the choices I've decided while browsing on bluefly.com.

You HAVE to BELIEVE me that these evening dresses are BELOW $90.

WAhhhhhh!! awwwwesome right??

These evening dresses are designed by BCBG

I'm a big fan of BCBG and I must say that these are just MY selections, everyone has different tastes :)

But I assure you Bluefly has a wide variety of selections for evening dresses and you might as well just see it for yourself.

You might also want to check out their designer handbags! There are A LOT of good finds below a hundred bucks, I'm telling you!

These are my personal favorites!

Designer Handbag by Romeo and Juliet Couture

Designer Handbag by Matt & Nat

Designer Handbag by Marc Jacobs

The Marc Jacobs totebag is actually my favorite :D

And these Designer Handbags are BELOW $100!!!

You have to hurry now and sign up for an account at BlueFly.com because their stocks are always limited :)

PLUS, you get to have a $30 off on ANY ORDER when you first sign up!

Hurry, stocks run out very quickly!

Happy Shopping!

*images are from bluefly.com*

Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory

2011-06-07T00:50:00.000-07:00

This is a hard task because we have a lot of memories.

But I will never doubt that these photos mark one of my favorite milestones:)

The photos speak of three years of memories in one moment... and memories of my life after it.

I LABYAAA FRIENDS! :)

Day 04 - A picture of your night

2011-06-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

This is my night.

It's not very appealing :(

It's dark... secluded.... and lonely....

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show

2011-06-05T06:08:00.000-07:00

Two shows I recently got super addicted to...

Imortal starring Angel Locsin, John Lloyd and Maricar Reyes.

Vampire (John Lloyd) versus Wolves (Angel Locsin)

And just because I love John Lloyd =))

And I shouldn't deny that I got addicted to the Mara Clara remake. Obviously with my posts.

Two babies from opposite status quo intentionally switched at birth. The rich kid grows up in the slum area, and vice versa.

Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

2011-06-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

This is Elaine, my bestfriend who I first met in 2nd Grade while I was still studying at St. Scholastica's College Manila.

I have more friends who I have known since pre-school years, but nob0dy beats Elaine when it comes to every day update of my life.

Even though we barely saw each other, nor we barely had chances to chitchat ever since I transfered to Colegio San Agustin in Highschool, we still managed to update ourselves with personal happenings through rare occasions of text messaging, friendster and a few emails.

And she practically knows every person I encountered with since the day I left St. Scholastica's College, Manila.

Literally from new friends, new lovers, new crushes, new issues and what-nots.

I just find it funny at times... because it feels that she knows the people I'm talking about.

But she really hasn't met them nor does she even personally know them.

During College, our schools were already closer to each other. But I find it ironic that we still didn't see each other regularly. Nor did we see each other at all. (I don't remember any instance that we did hang out) ...

Probably because of school.

Because after college... that's where we started to hang out again.

We even ended up being colleagues at Tutoring Club.

Working everyday never felt like work at all!

I smile when I remember our days there.... we talked about a lot of stuff and talked about a lot of people... which we usually do :)) We are easily entertained.

And even during my hiatus of going to the states for long periods of time, we still managed to update ourselves with almost everything about our life in full detail. Thanks to Facebook.

AND thanks to Text Free application that we installed in our Ipods... we can text each other even we're overseas apart.

The only thing that's probably hindering us from talking to each other is the differences of timezone.

Elaine & I, even share our Apple Itunes account :))

aside from the part the we save more money by sharing it....

I love you Elaine!

Thanks for everything! :)

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with ten facts

2011-06-03T05:36:00.000-07:00

1) I'm Saggitarius

2) I spent my elementary years in St. Scholastica's College Manila, an exclusive school for girls.

3) I transferred to Colegio San Agustin Makati for my highschool studies, a school for boys and girls. - talk about relief of getting to know more people, and by more people I meant boys. lol

*yippee*

4) I talk too much. (well at least, that's what EVERYBODY says... *heehee*)

5) I hate routines - and I'm easily bored. (zzzzZzzz)

6) I take part in a Long Distance Relationship, which by the way... I already got a hang, thanks to modern technology.

7) I took up Educational Psychology

8) I have poor sense of direction. - I drive but rely too much on people telling me where to go next

9) I have a sweet tooth - despite my family having a history of being diabetic.

10) I'm thin, but I have an appetite bigger than my boyfriend. *lucky me*

30 Day Photo Challenge

2011-06-02T17:15:00.001-07:00

Updates and a New Blog

2011-06-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

What have I been doing since I made this blog? click here

Don't forget to check out my new blog "Unsent Letters" =)

http://chickbud101.blogspot.com/

Yours Truly,

Idle mind is the devil's workshop

2011-05-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

Today is my one year anniversary since I left my work at Tutoring Club.

Which means... I have been doing nothing for a year now!

And, I have been out-of-school for a year and FIVE MONTHS already.

gaaaaaaah!!!!!!!

And because of that, I realized I need to catch up with self reading and refreshing myself with school related stuff if I ever still want to go back to graduate school (or if I ever want to still finish it!)

No need to panic, I will do this one day at a time.

To start it with... APA STYLE BASICS!!! (i.e. American Psychological Association)

every psychologist or researcher needs that...

Ayayayayyy Toni, what has happened to you!!!! lol

Okay, better late than never, I don't want to go back to graduate school with a tabularasa mind...

And maybe refreshing myself with these informations may motivate me to actually go back to school and finish what I have started :))

Back to work!

*APA Style Tutorial*

Comfort Zone

2011-05-03T00:11:00.000-07:00

‎"Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone." -Robert Allen

How to Analyze People on Sight - Which Type Am I?

2011-04-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

Reference: Benedict, E.L. & Benedict, R.P. (2004). How to analyze people on sight: Through the science of human analysis. Roycrofters, New York.

How to Analyze People on Sight

The Alimentive Type
The Thoracic Type
The Muscular Type
The Osseous Type
The Cerebral Type

I think I am more inclined to be a Cerebral Type of person.

While reading the description of a cerebral, there were some points that I was hesitant to admit that suits me but then I realized I am actually practicing those habits.

To start of with the physical attributes, a lot of people say that I have a big forehead. My dad said that people with big forehead are usually smart people. He told me that during my elementary years........ when I usually had a line of 7 in my report cards..(equivalent to a letter D or E) neither was I in the "star" section. lol

But as I grew up, my brain was probably already developing. A late bloomer maybe.

Especially when I was in college, I became so conscious of my grades that I just had to be in the Dean's list every term.

So yeah.. maybe I'm smart.... (LOL)

A late bloomer....

So anyway, why do I say that I am more of a Cerebral type? Let me discuss the characteristics of the cerebral that best suits me.

fond of doing head work - you may call me lazy, especially when in comes to physical activities. But I can observe myself by the types of Apple Applications I download on my Ipod. I usually more often than not, prefer games that challenge my head... Usually trivia games, puzzles such as sudoku, cut the rope and many more...

sometimes forgetting to eat because he is more interested in food for the brain than food for the body - people say that I'm thin and yet I eat a lot... I would have said that this characteristic is not me. But then I realize it is TOTALLY ME... I usually don't have a specific time for eating... Actually I skip meals most of the time... either because I'm too lazy to get out of my bed, and because I'm doing something that I am much engrossed to rather than eating... Eating is usually last on my list unless I get really really hungry and my stomach is complaining already.. a bad habit.. I know...

likes to think, contemplate, reflect or meditate - there is a downside for being an avid thinker... sometimes I think about the littlest nonesense things really! ... and most of my complaints when I cannot sleep at night is because even if I close my eyes, my head is still working and wandering around. I just wish we could have a switch button for our brains... most of the things I really think about are COMPLETE NONSENSE.

loves to plan, day dream, imagine, visualize in his mind which are sometimes done in the extremes without thinking about how practical or realistic the dreams may be. - LOL this one is so much like me... I just recently told my friends that there was this one day that I did nothing but day dream about winning the Lotto. I told them that I had treated them all to Hawaii... I had to admit that even while in the movie theater my mind was thinking about what I will do when I win the lotto... the funny thing is, I don't even buy a lotto ticket.

will sit for hours just thinking of endless possibilities - Like I said... HAWAII!

sometimes this type just keeps on dreaming without doing the necessary actions to make his dream come true. - Hmm maybe I should start buying a lotto ticket... eh??? lol

often called "a visionary"

"he is born ahead of his time" being able to visualize things that hasn't even existed yet. - When I was young... even before the invention of colored cellphones, I was imagining myself to having invented a colored cellphone and that I was the only person in the world to have one.. (YEAH RIGHT lol)

dislikes social life and makes few friends - I don't know... according to my chinese horoscope characteristic a saggitarian person loves to socialize and makes a lot of friends... but maybe sometimes I really can be such an anti-social person.. what can I say.. I'm moody.. and very choosy :))

enjoys people who are intellectual - I like to learn new things from wiser people... as long as I have the capabilities to understand what the heck they are talking about! :)

ignores people who are ignorant - why waste time to people who don't care

avoids the limelight - when I was a kid I always want to perform on stage, but then... I wasn't so smart back then.... which means I wasn't much of a cerebral person yet.. But when I grew up I realized that I was just making a fool of myself. :)) I now prefer to keep the low profile.

cares little for money thus very often is poor - Oh but I CARE SO MUCH FOR THE MONEY!!! haha lol .. but yeah.. I am very often poor :( but on the serious note, yeah probably I care little for the money for the fact that I have turned down a lot of job opportunites and have decided to be a bum for more than a year now...

does not think much about what he wears and thinks that anything will do - I usually prefer things that are really easy to wear, similar tank tops, shorts or jeans, sneakers or sandals :))

often absent minded because their minds are often concentrating on greater things which is of better interest to him other than the current topic. - OMG, so maybe THAT'S the explanation why I AM ALWAYS absent minded.. It all makes sense now, and yes.. I do think a lot of things that are of the topic... usually when the current situation is really boring me at that time... hahaha.. and i AM easily bored!

is a better writer than a talker - I agree, I write better than if you put me on an extemporaneous conversation... so many things pop up on my mind when I start writing... probably the reason why I have blogs in the first place :))

usually the teacher's pet - do I have to comment on this??? NO I AM NOT. lol, but you might say who would admit he is right? ... my boyfriend always teases me that I'm the teacher's pet... just because I am close to a few of them (heck, ALL my classmates are close with them!) hmm probably... but there's no use to suck up to the teacher because my teachers in college were all objective.

has little sense of time - if we are talking about deadlines, I DO have a sense of time... but if we are talking about the now... I can't even distinguish the weekends from the weekdays anymore :))

inclined to be unorthodox - unorthodox meaning something that is not the usual right? ... I guess I can call myself I prefer the unusual... I don't want to be average at the least, I don't want to be living a life "like everyone else"

a political reformer - I try to be, with the help of my college org in DLSU - Alyansang Tapat sa Lasalista. Even after I have graduated they keep me informed of the national and international issues of the world (which I used to be so ignorant of)

a social nonconformist - it's similar to being unorthodox, and yes.. most probably... it takes a while for me before I join the bandwagon of any kind... but I have to admit too, that eventually I join at some point... but it really depends on what band wagon we are talking about :))

indifference to surroundings because he doesn't really live in his house but on his head thus he doesn't really focus much on decorating - if you call a messy room, undecorated then count me in.. lol ... I don't know... I'm a girl.. I think I'd want to decorate my own house someday :))

often die young because he is prone to neglect the nutritive needs of his body by, example skipping meals or forgetting to eat at all - OH NO. okay I'll try to eat on time and 3 meals a day this time.. I'll TRY.

prefers entertainment which are serious drama or educational - is Filipino Soap considered as serious drama? because I'm so totally addicted to them right now... or for the past year... or okay... since ever... LOL ... And when it comes to educational, I find crime shows really entertaining, but I rarely watch historical channels or national geographic though.

are not sporty but prefer mental games - gaming entertainment, like I said, I enjoy games that require logic and puzzle. I usually get tired of games after a few days of playing them... but I always go back to games that require thinking. If you call WII Sports or WII Sports resort a kind of sport, then you can call me a sporty person :)) .. but if not, then yes.. I am not sporty at all.

How to Analyze People on Sight - The Cerebral Type

2011-04-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

Reference: Benedict, E.L. & Benedict, R.P. (2004). How to analyze people on sight: Through the science of human analysis. Roycrofters, New York.

The Cerebral Type of Person is also called - "The Thinker"

A pure cerebral type of person usually looks like this:

The main distinguishing marks of the Cerebral are:

High Forehead
Proportionately Large Head for the Body

Additional characteristics of a Cerebral type are:

a triangular head and face (the widest part of his head which is on top, which the head standing on a small neck and a large forehead on top)
thin and delicate hand with smooth fingers (there are no fat or babyish fingers compared to the alimentive type)

The personalities of a Cerebral type are:

fond of doing head work
sometimes forgetting to eat because he is more interested in food for the brain than food for the body
likes to think, contemplate, reflect or medidate
loves to plan, day dream, imagine, visualize in his mind which are sometimes done in the extremes without thinking about how practical or realistic the dreams may be.
will sit for hours just thinking of endless possibilities
sometimes this type just keeps on dreaming without doing the necessary actions to make his dream come true.
often called "a visionary"
"he is born ahead of his time" being able to visualize things that hasn't even existed yet.
dislikes social life and makes few friends
enjoys people who are intellectual
ignores people who are ignorant
avoids the limelight
cares little for money thus very often is poor
does not think much about what he wears and thinks that anything will do
often absent minded because their minds are often concentrating on greater things which is of better interest to him other than the current topic.
is a better writer than a talker
usually the teacher's pet
has little sense of time
inclined to be unorthodox
a political reformer
a social nonconformist
indifference to surroundings because he doesn't really live in his house but on his head thus he doesn't really focus much on decorating
often die young because he is prone to neglect the nutritive needs of his body by, example skipping meals or forgetting to eat at all
prefers entertainment which are serious drama or educational
are not sporty but prefer mental games

How to Analyze People on Sight - The Osseous Type

2011-04-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

Reference: Benedict, E.L. & Benedict, R.P. (2004). How to analyze people on sight: Through the science of human analysis. Roycrofters, New York.

The Osseous Type of Person is also called - "The Stayer"

A pure osseous type of person usually looks like this:

How to Analyze People on Sight - The Muscular Type

2011-04-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

Reference: Benedict, E.L. & Benedict, R.P. (2004). How to analyze people on sight: Through the science of human analysis. Roycrofters, New York.

The Muscular Type of Person is also called - "The Worker"

A pure muscular type of person usually looks like this:

How to Analyze People on Sight - The Thoracic Type

2011-03-31T11:35:00.000-07:00

Reference: Benedict, E.L. & Benedict, R.P. (2004). How to analyze people on sight: Through the science of human analysis. Roycrofters, New York.

The Thoracic Type of Person is also called - "The Thriller"

A pure thoracic type of person usually looks like this:

How to Analyze People on Sight - The Alimentive Type

2011-03-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Reference: Benedict, E.L. & Benedict, R.P. (2004). How to analyze people on sight: Through the science of human analysis. Roycrofters, New York.

The Alimentive Type of Person is also called - "The Enjoyer"

A pure alimentive type of person usually looks like this:

How to Analyze People on Sight

2011-03-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

Reference: Benedict, E.L. & Benedict, R.P. (2004). How to analyze people on sight: Through the science of human analysis. Roycrofters, New York.

I'm reading this book, that I swear to myself that I'm going to finish (eventually).

It's about how to analyze people on sight, by the way how their body is built.

To motivate myself on continue reading... I will make a post about it.

One person type at a time.

Basically this book says that the person's size, shape and structure can help us analyze a person's personality. Like as how we can analyze the personality of one breed of a dog, to another.

Although as human beings we know that there are certainly a lot of factors that can contribute to a person's personality, the book explains that the types of people it describes are assumed to be the extreme or the pure person.. i.e. exclude the other factors that make us unique.

When you are able to master the basic types of people, then you will find it easier to at least be able to read people by just analyzing their physiology.

Okay, enough with the introduction.I'll go directly to explaining the five biological types of people according to the book.

1) The Alimentive Type - or "The Enjoyer"

2) The Thoracic Type - of "The Thriller"

3) The Muscular Type - or "The Worker"

4) The Osseous Type - or "The Stayer"

5) The Cerebral Type - or "The Thinker"

According to the book, it is important to know which type of person you are in order to be successful in your life. We should be able to maximize our body in what it was best built for.

Hmm, makes sense right?

Well anyway... I will update you on the following days for future details about each type.
I can't promise you when I will finish though, I have to admit... I'm a slow reader :))

But I promise I will finish this book!

It's a kind of Movie Review

2011-02-25T12:27:00.000-08:00

As I was browsing the movies available on the aircraft during my flight back to Los Angeles, I chose a movie that I thought that was some sort of a comedy romantic chick flick. Entitled "its kind of a funny story", I expected to have some happy good thoughts considering I'm flying alone.

Who would have expected (definitely not me) that this movie turned out to be a sorta clinical psychology related movie wherein a boy who feels clinically "depressed" (as he claims to be) despite the fact that he got accepted to this school who only the brightest students get accepted. "I got in" as he would repeatedly tell himself. Ironically he's not happy or some sort, but rather, for lack of a better term... Confused. If he would make a yearbook writeup of himself, he'd have no credentials. Well thats what he would think of himself.

To cut things short, so this boy calls the "suicidal hotline" and claims himself suicidal. Or rather claims that he "thinks" about it, but not really act upon it.

his Friends would say... "just chill, you gotta learn how to chill" (omg now why does that advice sound soooo familiar? LOL)

So anyway, why am I making this post. I just find the movie so cool when psychiatrists, psychologists and other doctors try to "assess" him. And then there would be group counseling, art therapy, music therapy interviews etc and the "facilitator" was just so awesome. Maybe I'm exaggerating and I'm just overwhelmed.

Working at that hospital and becoming one of those facilitators just sound like a really cool job. Unfortunately I don't think I'd end up leaning toward that career path for the fact that I might just end up suggesting that I should be the patient than the other way around. Lol. But hey, I think I have gained improvements during my "gap" year of doing no work nor school, just traveling and meeting all sorts of people.

Anyway, where am I getting at? I just remembered all of my college friends and teachers :)

And I wanted to share this awesome movie, where I can totally relate! Whether undergoing self-proclaimed "depression" or understanding psychological terms and psychologists behavior. And most importantly how people would "think" of you when they find out you're seeing a therapist.

Wish I could go back to undergrad and make pretend therapies that we used to treat like just as playing games in class. No, I don't think graduate school would be a nice suggestion since ive already decided before, that the "teaching" field would be better suitable for my "personality". Don't try to confuse me now with career changes. Lol.

Besides, it wouldnt be the same if I didn't have my "team". I wouldnt trade the people I was with in college for any other. It was the second best years of my life (highschool being the first. Haha) anyway I'm saying that graduate school is different because my old classmates won't be there.

Okay so I suck at doing movie reviews because I barely talked about the movie.

I just want you guys to watch it for yourselves and you'll know what I'm talking about...

FLASH BACK PLEASE!!!!!

Online Streaming: (copy paste the link below if you want to see the movie for yourself)

http://www.movie2k.to/movie-425193-It-s-Kind-Of-A-Funny-Story-film.html

Educational Psychology is the best! ...weh... sentimental. (some things will never change!) HEHE

*This is an attempt to make a movie review which ends up being more like a reaction paper.

What Happened To Me

2011-02-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I just thought that I should update myself.

What happened to me when I first attempted to create this blog in 2009?

Well, it's 2011 already ain't that ridiculous. And I've stopped school (temporarily I hope so)

I would blame stress because my grades got low which demotivated me to continue studying.

But, that wasn't really the top reason why.

I only enrolled for the first (May09-August09) and second term (September09-December09),

but on the third term I had to save my money. (Since I was just using my savings to enroll myself for graduate school)

I had plans to go to the states that year (2010) and so that year I then just focused on Tutoring club wherein I resigned on May 2010.

Then on June 2010, there.. I went to the states for a vacation, for 6 months.

I went home to Manila on December 2010, and I was debating myself whether or not I should enroll for the third term which was going to start January 2011, OR start looking for a job first to sustain my studies.

Hard decision but none of them ever happened because my dad sent me here in the states again... [Dating February 2011]

So there.... I'm unemployed and I'm un-enrolled.

But I'm back to updating my blog even if I have stopped graduate school...

Simply because, Learning doesn't have to be inside the four walls of the classroom right?

=) will update you soon, I have so much to say.

counting days...

2009-07-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

I just came home from a family dinner with my future-in-laws because it was the birthday of my boyfriend's grandmother's sister. Without my boyfriend there, (LOL) And it got me thinking about a lot of things.

I came home and...

Looking at these pictures I got from my sweetie's aunt and sister... made me realize why I'm so lucky with my position in life right now, ever than I have ever been through before...

ILOCOS NORTE FAMOUS WINDMILL
*traveling the northest north of the Philippine Island with everybody*

FAMOUS PALAISDAAN IN TARLAC
*the four most important women in his world*
=)

posting this thought, cause im damn proud of it!
can hardly wait for him to come back :)

p-i-s-s-e-d

2009-07-22T22:56:00.000-07:00

i don't want to explain. but im just so pissed right now. and i have deleted my facebook account.

soooooooooo...

the good news is, im not deleting my new blogs. then i can concentrate on studying more now! :)

*study study study***

Even High Achievers Are Affected by the Classroom Structure

2009-07-22T22:52:00.001-07:00

Reference: Ames, C. & Archer, J. (1988) Achievement goals in the classroom: Students' learning strategies and motivation processes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(3), 260-267.

What is the article about? The article studied how student's learning strategies and motivational processes are affected by how they perceive the goal structure of the classroom is.

All students in the study were high achievers and the following information was gathered:

*students identified goal orientation of a classroom on a specific subject matter whether Mastery or Performance goal is salient.

The following summary of Master vs Performance taken from Table 1 of the said article (page 261)

	MASTERY GOAL	PERFORMANCE GOAL
Success defined as...	Improvement, progress	High grades, high normative performance

Value placed on...	Effort/learning	Normatively high ability

Reasons for satisfaction.. .	Working hard, challenge	Doing better than others

Teacher oriented toward...	How students are learning	How students are performing

View of errors/mistakes...	Part of learning	Anxiety eliciting

Focus of attention...	Process of learning	Own performance relative to others'

Reasons for effort...	Learning something new	High grades, performing better than others

Evaluation criteria...	Absolute, progress	Normative

*students reported on their use of learning strategies in the subject for:

info processing
self planning
self monitoring

*students chose on task preference whether a) learning more and being challenged or b) giving little effort and sure to do well

*student's attitude was done by asking the student about their likeness for the class

*students were assessed where they attributed success and failure

*students identified their perceived ability for the subject

Results: Students varied on their reports for goal orientation classroom structure, learning strategies, attitude, task preference and perceived ability, showing that high achievers vary in their causes of their achievement and even high achievers, have wide range of learning strategies used.

GOAL ORIENTATION versus LEARNING STRATEGIES. - in classrooms perceived to be mastery goal oriented, students were more likely to use effective learning strategies

GOAL ORIENTATION versus ATTITUDE - in classrooms perceived to be mastery goal oriented, students liked the class more

GOAL ORIENTATION versus TASK CHOICES - in classrooms perceived to be mastery goal oriented, students were more likely to prefer challenging tasks

GOAL ORIENTATION versus CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS. - in classrooms perceived to be mastery goal oriented, students believe that success and effort are connected

Further analysis of the factors by dividing the goal orientation to 4 groups.

High Mastery - High Performance
High Mastery - Low Performance
Low Mastery - High Performance
Low Mastery - Low Performance

A pattern revealed that there was a significant difference between the high and low mastery goal orientation regardless of the level for perfomance goal. In other words, there were no difference within high mastery or within low mastery groups.

What are the implications for practice? The study shows that although high achievers are already expected to practice effective learning strategies and motivational practices which are assumed to influence their achievement, these factors are still dependent on how the students percieve the goal structure of the classroom may be.

More specifically, these learning strategies and motivational processes are dependent on the degree of the saliency of mastery goal orientation regardless of the presence of performance goals. It means that decreasing the presence of performance goals in our classrooms is not the solution for better classroom learning but rather we should emphasize more on making our classrooms percieved by students to be Mastery Goal Oriented.

*A reminder for students who come across my post, I am flattered for whatever purpose my reviews might help you in your research or studies, but please always keep in mind to observe Anti-Plagiarism.
*This review was intended for my personal benefit to keep track of the new information I gather from an article I have read. As I am open to some queries about the research (as much as my capacity can offer), reading the original article is highly recommended. Open discussions about the topic is also encouraged from others who can contribute to the ideas.

Question of the day: What Goal Orientation Do You Possess?

Lesson of the day: Make your learning environment, away from distractions. i.e. "DELETE ZE FACEBOOK ACCOUNT!" haha

UNHEALTHY HABIT >(

2009-07-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging about school for quite awhile
which is vvveeeerrryy verrryyy BA-DDDDD

(the new room for our son)

this yoville thing has got me hooked almost 24/7, if it weren't for work and classes i'd be online all day. luckily i come from a psychological perspective with a background on metacognition (thinking about thinking) and I am aware about my addiction which is not very healthy anymore LOL. that's why i have to control and stop myself

BUT. the good news is. I ALREADY BOUGHT A HOUSE! WORTH 15K! *phew* ...
there was a 5k and 10k house but too small for me. lol.

where did i get the money? - my real world FRIENDS. hahahaha...

if i had to earn it it will take a month of addiction. ..
thank goodness for great friends in facebook. (since ofcourse i cannot ask anyone in yoville world to give me money because apparently the fact that they are there means they are addicted too)

OLIVER ON THE OTHER HAND. wants to stop playing because he is envious of my house. and sweet of me, i will buy him his own house. lol... not as big as mine though, no money anymore. but atleast it will highten up the motivation to keep him playing yoville.

YOVILLE JUST MAKES ME NOT TO DWELL ON TIME SO MUCH THAT THE NEXT THING I'D REALIZE IS THAT IT IS ALREADY MID AUGUST - then my sweetheart's back in manila! *weeee*

i redecorated my apartment by the way... it welcomes visitors and customers, and for the parteehhh... :P

*** okay reality check now... gotta read those articles! *** =)

ADDICTED TO YOVILLE =P

2009-07-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

my sweetie and i have been so hooked recently with Zynga's Yoville through Facebook.
we even get into fights because my place is better than his because i have more money. haha

this is my place (redecorating)

but it makes time fly fast, the faster my hub-hubby gets home

he's been in california since MAY.

this is our son's room

i feel like we're just together ... feeling the virtual world much LOL

this is hubby's room (improved already, i gave him the gym equip.)

bikini party at my place... and he's hitting other girls! *RAR*
lol, look for bey :)

LOVING YOVILLE...

research proposal

2009-07-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday (July 9, 2009). I posted a note on my Facebook account to my college blockmates and friends who were taking up graduate school too. I informed them that I need to create a research proposal already within the span of a week for my research class.

Talk about the pressure.

BUT!

Just for the record, 5 days after (which is today) I AM ALMOST FINISHED WITH MY RESEARCH PROPOSALLLLL!!!
I'm just going to need to polish it tomorrow with some citing, and proof reading. WHOOOHOoOOOOO

Talk about inspired.

Workaholic life, here I gooooo again!!!

Research is .

Mood: ecstatic
Thought for the day: I wrote this post on July 14 but I'm publishing it dating July 15. Talk about insomia! GO TO SLEEP TONI!

all the things i had in my undergrad has retired!

2009-07-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

got me self a handy dandy laptop i can now bring to school without the lower batches asking

"Toni, that's still your laptop?"

Observing Improvements

2009-07-11T02:11:00.000-07:00

Amike (math)
What happened today? I was surprised with Amike today, compared with my last Math hours with him. His previous hours I found him to be quite slow in addition and subtraction that it sounded to me he needed to go back to training in basic addition. However today, when I saw he already had answered a few excercises I made him continue on parts 2 of the worksheets and I can already leave him doing it on his own.

What did I learn? I think I shouldn't underestimate him so much. Maybe just like Jessie he has learned her own way of computing and making them unlearn these things will be much harder for them. Just give the worksheet and let them do their work, observe and check on them once in a while, then guide them if they get stuck somewhere while answering it.

What improvements do I need to make? Try to give what the assigned worksheets regardless if he has a hard time doing the math facts (basic addition excercise like 1+1, 2+2, 3+3, usually to serve as a warm up for the student). Let him answer the worksheet/lesson, and just guide him on recalling the procedures to answer the math problems. Leave the basic computations to him. Just check on him once in a while if he is already taking too much time on the worksheet.

What outcomes do I expect to happen? I expect that Amike will gain much more improvements and learn more quickly about higher addition. Maybe in order for him to master the basic addition faster and more accurately he will need to do more higher additions exercises since if he finally masters the higher additions, the basics will already become easy for him.

Amike (reading)
What happened today? The first task Amike did was on vocabulary, since there were already boxes which indicated the number of letters and all he had to do left was read the story and identify which word fits the description. He had a lot of mistakes which I then discovered he didn't had an idea on what "Ballet" was in the first place, nor the word "Pretty". Then for the following directions part he found that easy, he was good with directions. Lastly, we turn to reading comprehension. I wanted to test and try just giving him the booklet without assistance. I asked him what the book was about he was able to give a little feedback but not good enough. When he answered the questions, there were only 2 choices per number and surprisingly he got them all incorrect. But I didn't tell him that, I just erased everything and then we tried reading the book together. When he answered the excercise he got them ALL correct. How weird is that?

What I learned today? I realized that to students, most especially those with low reading comprehension, guiding them to read is of big help for them to understand the material. I try not to give help at first to test their ability of self-reading and then the difference when I start reading for them or helping. Reading Comprehension will be the focus of my research study for my Action Research.

What improvements do I need to make? I will continue to monitor Amike's reading progress and will start on my Action Research once I have finalized my Instrument with my professor.

What outcomes do I expect to happen? I still expect to see the explicit differences of the effects on students whether with or without the reading intervention.

*Tutoring Club is a tutorial center which offers a program to students wherein worksheets and activities are already provided according to which is appropriate for the student's current cognitive level. Subjects available for enhancements are: Beginning Reading, Reading, Writing, Math. For more details visit Tutoring Club
*Tutor Up is the traditional tutoring, helping students with their current lesson in school.
*Student names in this blog are not the real names of the students for confidential purposes

Mood: I'm loving that it's the weekend again!

graduate school orientation

2009-07-10T06:19:00.000-07:00

amidst the older adults
and with a nauseous feeling
that I didn't belong there...

I led the invocation, on a podium! on the stage! LOL

too bad they weren't able to capture a picture of me *rar*

but it's okay, it definitely won't be the last of my exposure. haha.

BONDING WITH MISS LARA (MY PRACTICUM TEACH),
WHO IS ALSO THE NEW VICE CHAIR AND FIRST VICE CHAIR OF
COUNSELING AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT*ARGH! SO STUPID! MY PHONE WAS IN THUMBNAIL OPTIONS! HAHA*

hmmmm...

2009-07-09T09:30:00.001-07:00

Practicum
January 28, 2008

APA Style Online Tutorial

2009-07-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

Research class made us take a pre-test on some basic rules in using the APA format. Even though it was just a pre-test and it's purpose is just a measure to identify what and how much you already know, I felt the pressure of not making any mistakes since we were using APA our whole life in undergrad .

After answering the pre-test we were to take the APA Style Online Tutorial, read and answer a few excercise. It was fun and if only we already new about this during our undergraduate years then we wouldn't have to go through the stress on following the wrong way to reference or cite.

I got 100% scores on all the online quiz and excercises. *weepee!*

*claps* for me.

oooh. btw, another part of our homework is to start writing a concept paper about what we plan on doing for our Action Research. and so *the stress begins*

* *

i.e. Only a few days to come up with a research proposal!! why oh so why so fast.

Mood: Getting Ready to Rumble!
Question for the Day: Haven't I gotten used to the tri-mestral system?
Lesson of the day: APA format!

Identifying Gaps II

2009-07-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

Selena (Tutor Up)
What happened today? Today's tutor up we were able to do it inside the director's office with the internet guiding us through the lesson. However, at this same hour I also have a beginning reading student. It was really not a good combination because both tutees needed effort to tutor. Today Selena was a bit emotional but she enjoyed being paired up with Trisham at the same time with her because it became the kid sort of became a reliever for her. It was a a good thing though Selena now knows what her lesson is all about and I was able to research it easily on the net. But as I said I had a hard time focusing on the Tutor Up because in beginning reading all your attention is needed to guide the student. Selena volunteered to help out while I search on the net and I allowed her. It also served as a therapy for her to drive away those bad emotions from a having a rough day today in school.The day still ended with Selena not doing her homework during Tutor-Up but I was able to help her on the lesson itself.

What did I learn? We only have an hour to do so many things so might as well not encourage the student to dwell to much on her problems. But knowing that a student of course will have a hard time concentrating if her mind is too preoccupied, try to make up a way and make her do something that she will both enjoy and helps her clear her mind for a while.

What improvements do I need to make? I still need to manage the time well because I think we can still do better in maximizing what we could learn in an hour. The example on her notes are very helpful and most of the time similar to her homeworks. I just need to help her identify it because it's still gibberish for her since she just copies them on the blackboard and mostly not understanding what those numbers mean.

What new outcomes do I expect to happen? Being more productive and helpful with her current lesson, especially being able to guide her in tests and homeworks.

Jhorgie (Reading)
What happened today? Jhorgie arrived and I reminded him of his promise yesterday. And I guess he didn’t have much of a choice. But I told him to choose any 3 texts he wants to read without following the priority boxes at least giving him a little motivation and feeling of autonomy. But then when I checked, most of his answers were incorrect so I asked him to do it all over again. I didn’t count the score on the vocabulary part because I observed that it was really too hard for him and will take too much time of what’s left so we skipped to comprehension. But when I re-check his answers he got everything correct except just one. It only means he can do it, he just doesn’t want to give too much effort probably because he doesn’t know that what’s the purpose of him doing there in the first place.

What did I learn? I learned that aside of giving him motivation, he should also feel the purpose of what he is doing. Tokens doesn’t matter to him anymore since he is already in 3rd yr high school too so I need to make another way to make him more motivated and involved himself with learning knew information through the things he reads. The program would be no use if he just keeps on guessing or writing answers that he didn’t think about.

What improvements do I need to make? Next time try to give him a purpose on why he needs to do this or make specific goals so that he would try to make efforts since those goals would seem just easy for him to achieve. Make Tutoring Club not like a prisoner for them but a source or place where they could de-stress or relax while making there time very useful and productive. Make him focus that quality of answers is more important than quantity. A technique I can adapt is making a good compromise for him to do better is to make a scale that the higher scores he gets the lesser texts he needs to read that hour.

What new outcomes do I expect to happen? Improvements on the motivation of Jhorgie to self initiate reading and maximize the hour as well as improvements on the quality of his answers.

Make Your Students Read

2009-07-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

Reference: Guthrie, J., Wigfield, A., Barbosa, P., Perencevich, K., Tabaoada, A., Davis, M., Scafiddi N. & Tonks, S. (2004). Increasing reading comprehension and engagement through Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 403-424

What is the article about? It’s about which instructional practice would have the best results in increasing student’s reading comprehension (including reading motivation and application of cognitive strategies).

a) Instructional practices which has a combination of both cognitive comprehension & motivational support
b) Instructional Practices which directs to cognitive comprehension without the motivational support.
c) Instructional Practices with no intervention.

Results: Findings showed that classes which were under the instructional approach of having merged cognitive comprehension strategies and motivational practices had the most improvements in reading comprehension, reading motivation and cognitive strategy knowledge/application.

What are the implications for practice? The article highlights that most of the previous studies talk about cognitive strategies and increasing reading comprehension or motivation and increasing reading comprehension. It gave a background that cognitive strategies or motivation indeed have an effect on improving reading comprehension however literature seems not to focus much on combining both. That is what the article tried to observe and it turns out that instructions that had a combination of cognitive strategies and motivational practices maximizes reading comprehension better than just cognitive strategies alone.

These are the strategies that were used in the research
which you may find useful for practice:
6 Cognitive Strategies
1) Activate Background Knowledge - identify previous knowledge with similar information with the text
2) Questioning - student generates their own questions about the topic
3) Summarizing - providing a summary of the text and students also summarizing
4) Information Searching - after reading, students searches the material while answering certain questions
5) Graphic Organizing - using keywords to improve understanding
6) Story Structuring - identifying story structure or themes of the text

5 Motivational Practices
1) Use content goals - the focus here is giving meaning to the text, gaining knowledge and understanding the topic in depth, compared to performance goals which focuses on skill mastery and getting rewards.
2) Give hands-on activities - students interact with the text through observations, explorations and etc.
3) Provide students a choice - allow the students to have a choice in which task to make or text to read
4) Use texts that are interesting - these texts catches student's attention and effort in reading
5) Promote student collaboration - allow students to share their knowledge, new information learned, interesting texts they've read and questions they want to raise

Quote for the day: There’s always room for improvement.
Lesson of the day: If we can find ways which we could maximize students’ improvement then why not?

Identifying Gaps

2009-07-07T05:51:00.000-07:00

Ablitz (Writing)
What happened today? Ablitz had composition today, although he already had his "story" done in draft. He was supposed to rewrite his draft to another paper and then that would be already for assessment. Thinking that he can already do this on his own, I attended to the 2 students I had for that hour. I felt that it was already too late to intervene in his composition progress since he had his paper already drafted for final checking. I could have shown him the rubric first prior to story composition so he would alteast have an idea what was expected of him instead of just writing exactly the words that was going on his mind. I was already eager to attend to the other student because I had a Tutor Up for Trigonometry and I needed more than my 100% concentration if I wanted to help the student in her current lesson. After about 30 minutes, I went to check Ablitz and how he was doing, he was barely finished writing half of his paper. I asked him if he wanted me just to check the draft without rewriting it anyway but he insisted he just rewrite it even though he found it "boring". Then after I realized it was taking him too much time to rewrite the draft he finally said just to check his draft paper. We attended to it. I wanted to give more feedback but he was already eager to go. We just wasted the whole hour rewriting the draft and I feel like he didn't learn anything today. Just going home with tired hands. So I let him go and I checked his paper.

What did I learn? Since this was my first time to handle the composition part in Writing. I learned that, maybe we don't need to rush everything in 1 hour. If he can't finish it today then let's continue it tomorrow. Only the setting in Tutoring Club, you don't always get to have the same tutor everyday. So there will be conflict like I felt today. I didnt know where he was already in terms of his writing progress or where the previous tutor left off unlike in other subjects you could easily identify what activity you would give to the student. Just as I said that I could have shown him the rubric prior to his compo, I learned that I myself should have read the rubric first and then checked the draft so that he already knows what corrections to make on his final draft. *shoot* my bad. I feel really bad for someone who took education subjects and be guided by a principle [the program is there to help the students, but it is the duty of the tutor to deliver the program well]. I feel that I wasn't able to deliver the program well to Ablitz. I wasn't able to maximize what he could have gained in an hour.

What improvements do I need to make? Better to ask the previous tutor or other tutors on where the student stopped on the previous hour. Ask the student what he wrote about so you have a background about the composition before reading it. Set a goal you want to have accomplished before the hour ends and then set a goal what he needs to do the next time he comes back. Write a note for the next tutor about that goal.

What new outcomes do I expect to happen? Well hopefully next time is more organized. By setting goals, we are able to maximize what we could do with so little time. Beneficial for both the tutor and the tutee so that we are able to avoid idling to much because we are both aware what we need to accomplish. Assessments are just not used after the activity but also before, they could serve as an example of a goal.

Selena (Tutor Up)
What happened today? Tutoring Selena has always been a challenge for me ever since she was more often than not, assigned to me for Tutor Up. Challenge because her current lessons right now was on Trigonomety & Geometry. Talk about *struggle*. She was having a quiz tomorrow on quadrants and reference angles. All I could think about was "I remember this, this is easy". LOL Feeling? With just her notes to rely on, it took us quite a long while to figure out how and why the answer was this and that. I could remember some, but the main idea of it I had a hard time. Since I also had a student that hour who was in the same level, I ended up opting to ask him if he already encountered the lesson. It was like "group studying" which was one of the strategies I got used to when I was in highschool. Talk about learner-centered teaching. But before she left I couldn't help but be proud because I was eventually able to figure out the formula and the pattern. Atleast the hour did not end without her gaining something from me.

What did I learn? We need to excercise the brain every now and then. It's a good thing I didn't have a bad history with math or else I would have developed an anxiety for it. I learned that it doesn't hurt to ask other students and make it somewhat "collaborative" type of learning. Again, I opt not the program restrict me on doing other things. Just because tutoring was meant for individual work, it doesn't mean collaborative work is forbidden.

What improvements do I need to make? I told Selena that whenever they have a new lesson she should ask her teacher what's the name of the lesson so next time we have our tutor up again we wouldn't put too much time identifying where to start. I also told her that when we get that chance could discuss over YM about her lesson so I can prepare myself prior to Tutor Up hour itself. Learning Trigo and Geom again wouldn't be a waste anyway since it could also benefit me one way or another. I also told the director if I could ask for the internet password so next time I could use my laptop and use the internet to guide our Tutor Up. That was what we did during my first Tutor Up with Selena (but in the director's office), however this time I had to tutor 2 students at the same time as hers so we weren't able to use the office's computer.

What new outcomes do I expect to happen? Next Tutor Up, hopefully I don't have any other students at the same time as her so we could have access to the office's computer and internet. Alternatively, Selena already knows specifically what topic we are to encounter for easier tracking and identification. That would definitely give us a good headstart.

Jhorgie (Reading)
What happened today? Jhorgie was not very productive today and seeing he was very tired from school that day I decided to give him a break because no use of pushing him to do more work if the brain is already tired. I allowed him to lax every now and then and read a just few texts. When checking his work, I didn’t bother to give him second chances and just scored it anyway. I made a bargain that the next day, he would promise to do his work already.

What did I learn? Sometimes give the child a break if you know his mind wouldn’t even function anymore even if you try. It would be less effective anyway since he is already out of focus. Compromise is not always bad at least next time the students meet up with you he already has some expectations that he will do his work this time. His mind is already somewhat prepared.

What improvements do I need to make? Give the student time to relax but monitor the time so that he wouldn’t end up using most of his hour there getting away with everything. At least one or two quality output works will do if he is really tired and cannot focus very well.

What new outcomes do I expect to happen? Quality reading over quantity.

Amike (Reading)
What happened today? Amike just started in a few days. On his first day he had reading and math, however we only had reading hour for today. I gave him an SRA material and I realized that was the same story we encountered on his first day. His first time to read it I read it for him, but this time I asked him to do silent reading. We were working on answering vocabulary section. I noticed he was kinda slow in picking up even if you tell him the answers and then ask him again, he cannot answer. On the other hand when we went into reading another story tackling “how well did you read”, I observed that he could answer the questions very well anyway. Prior to reading the story we first analyzed the picture and the title on what the story we expected it to be about. I was impressed that he understood the story because he was able to answer the questions correctly although when I asked him to tell me what the story was about he wasn’t very responsive.

What did I learn? I realized that to tutor Amike you need to have a little more patience. As well as realizing that probably that’s why he was enrolled in TC in the first place, to improve and enhance his skills. Having Amike as a student symbolized as once of those challenges in teaching profession. You don’t always get to have the gifted ones or the high average ones. There’s always that same chance you encounter at risks or below the average kids and it should always feel like as a teacher it is your responsibility for that child to gain those improvements.

What improvements do I need to make? Challenge myself that if I am able to make Amike gain positive changes then it is an accomplishment indeed. We don’t always have chances who and what kind of students we get, and one thing a teacher should be very good at is being flexible and adapting to different environments. Use this opportunity to apply the concepts and theories I have learned in school days.

What new outcomes do I expect to happen? Hopefully I can apply and get observations on Amike’s weaknesses and strengths and eventually he would be able to interact with the stories he has been reading. By the end of my next tutor hour with him, I should have at least identified a few strategies would help me elicit responses from him.

Quote for the day: If our salaries depended on how effective people's performance were, then what a wonderful country we would be living in.
Lesson of the Day: Assessment of Learning. Assessment for Learning. Assessment as Learning

A Learner Forever

2009-07-07T00:34:00.000-07:00

Hi My name is Toni and I'm 21 years old, and I used to have the blog “Music to My Ears: Life as an undergrad waiting for graduation” which used to be filled with my rants and emotions of my college life since I love writing and I found it to be very therapeutic. My ultimate goal there was to graduate with honors which I did and roughly after a few months from graduation, I ended up deciding to delete the blog (and not to keep it as a souvenir) as a sign of moving on.

I used to work at Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Company, an international company having a more so good paying job and a great head start for a fresh graduate. However after a few months, I felt that I was destined to do such more (yes at a very early stage in my fresh grad life) so I resigned. I took a rest which I have never done before after graduation (just for a month), applied for graduate school as a part-time student and took a part-time job as a tutor in Tutoring Club.

And because I really love writing I am blogging once again, inspired by my Principles in Learning Class (lesson in metacognition – thinking about thinking), Research Class (lesson in action research – doing, reflecting and documenting), and work in Tutoring Club (making tutoring achieve long term goals). But this time, I am viewing my blog in a whole new perspective. It’s learning how to be a learner forever. The purpose of this blog is also for scientific research purposes. By tracking down my reflections on how I teach in work, what I’ve learned in my graduate classes, and how I can apply it in real life situations and observing the changes and my improvements as a tutor/teacher. My discipline is to be able to reflect on each of my class meetings which happens to be twice a week, and to reflect on each of my tutoring days which happens on days I don’t have classes.

Hopefully I wouldn’t decide on deleting this blog in the future as it will eventually be a source of information for other learners, pre-service teachers and current teachers as well.

Besides, there’s no end to learning… each day we learn in all sorts of different contexts… we just don’t put in into writing… and my blog’s ultimate goal is to be: A Learning Forever. So I guess there will be no goodbyes for this blog –

School: De La Salle University - Manila
Bachelor Degree: Bachelor in Science Major in Educational Psychology 2005-2008
School: De La Salle University - Manila
Masteral Degree: Masters of Art Major in Learning and Teaching 2009 – Present