Time waits for no one...and indeed it goes on and on even if we want it to or not. It seems only yesterday when I greeted the year 2007 wondering what it will be like... Here I am now, having lived through that year, wishing I had more time to make something more out of that year but at the same time still positive that whatever it was I wasn't able to do last year, I will be able to accomplish hopefully this year.
Last year, I wrote in my 43things.com list that one of the things I wanted to do was to "survive...simply survive the year", with "survive" meaning that I will be able to go through the year with the same, if not more, faith and steadfastness as before, especially since the end of the year 2006 brought an unexpected predicament to the family. Well, here's my 2007 in review. Let's see if I did well...
December 2006
- took JLPT Level 4 Exam
- went home for the holidays, wanted to buy a new CPU
- found out about family predicament from a stranger who visited us on the day after Christmas
- postponed buying a new CPU because of said family predicament :(
January 2007
- began planning about how to help solve family predicament
- break after Japanese lessons began
- end of project that started in December
February
- can't remember any significant event about this month
March
- business trip in Manila... my first trip to the national capital... first time to see Makati... first time to ice-skate
April~May
- can't remember any significant event about these months
June
- helped fix once and for all the family predicament... finally!
- enrolled in MCS classes :D
- enrolled in second half of the Japanese elementary course for JLPT Level 3
- planned to take PhilNITS in October
July
- went home because I missed our house... haha! as the saying goes... however humble, there's no place like home :)
August~September
- lots of OT... not enough time to review for PhilNITS... plan to take PhilNITS in October postponed to next year :(
October
- took final exams for MCS first sem subjects... didn't do really well, but hey I passed all my subjects! :p not really good grades, though. i just passed.
- turned a year older... still living by the saying "growing old is mandatory... growing up is optional" :D
November
- OT... OT... more OT
- continued to skip Japanese classes
December
- took JLPT Level 3 exam... no doubt I will fail... grrr... OT... @%&$^%$#!!!
- went home for the holidays, finally bought a new CPU! hehehe.
Hmmm... most goals that I have set out for myself in 2007 have not been met. The important thing though that I was able to help my family get through our "predicament". Plus, I was able to buy a new CPU, something that I had wanted to do ever since I graduated from college. :) So, even though 2007 wasn't such a great year for me, it wasn't so bad.
Hopefully, with God's help, I will be able to make 2008 a much better year. :)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Friday, December 7, 2007
the morning after... the JLPT
last december 2, the part of me that wanted to get things over with as soon as possible won over the other part of me that was kicking and screaming "don't take the exam because you're not prepared!!! (darned OT!)".
resigned to my fate of sure failure, i woke up at around 4:30am to do my morning rituals. at nearly 6am, my housemates and i headed for University of San Carlos (USC) - main campus, where we would be taking the exam.
there were three of us. one was going to take JLPT Level 4, while the other one just decided to go with us since she also would hear mass at the USC chapel.
we attended the 6am mass at the chapel, as planned, then ate breakfast at Jollibee. while we were eating there, the butterflies in my stomach doubled when i saw the other examinees who were also there, scanning their notes in between spoonfuls of food or sips of beverage.
i tried to console myself that even if i would fail the exam, at least i won't be reimbursing the company with the exam registration fee since i did take the exam anyway. somehow, it still didn't make me feel right about taking the exam. it was a good thing, though, that the housemates that i was with were the kind of people who could still find something funny even in the worst situations. they made me feel that it was not the end of the world. hehehe. :)
when we finished breakfast, the housemate who would not be taking the JLPT decided to go home. with only the two of us left, my JLPT-examinee-housemate and i went to USC to locate our designated rooms.
everything went downhill from that point on. i went to my designated room while my housemate went to hers. there were still a few minutes before we were allowed to actually enter the room so i scanned my notes. it was very futile really since the din made by everyone made it impossible for me to even understand what i was reading.
the vocabulary part was the first part of the exam. i think there was only one Kanji character i recognized. hehehehehe. no need to say that most of my answers for this part were purely guesswork.
the listening part came in second. unlike my JLPT 4 experience last year when we could hear traffic from the outside as we listened to the CD, the room where we took the JLPT 3 exam this year was very quiet. which was great if i understood the conversation. unfortunately, i did not. hehe. this time, all of my answers were guesswork.
the grammar and reading comprehension part came last. since i was only familiar with the Level 4 use of the particles and since my vocabulary was poor, i resorted to making up the meanings of the sentences and proceeded to answer the questions of this part in the same way i did in the previous two parts.
a day after the JLPT, lines of this song by Gary V. was running in my head again and again:
in another lifetime...
in another set of chances
i'll take the ones i'd missed
and make them mine...
it took a lot of restraint for me not to launch into a full-length regret-filled monologue everytime i was asked "kumusta ang exam?" or "shiken wa dou datta?" (translation: how was the exam?).
now it's five days after the exam and the same lines of the song still repeats in my head in an endless loop. grrrrrrr...
someday, i'll pass JLPT Level 3. if not this year or the next, maybe in another lifetime. :P
resigned to my fate of sure failure, i woke up at around 4:30am to do my morning rituals. at nearly 6am, my housemates and i headed for University of San Carlos (USC) - main campus, where we would be taking the exam.
there were three of us. one was going to take JLPT Level 4, while the other one just decided to go with us since she also would hear mass at the USC chapel.
we attended the 6am mass at the chapel, as planned, then ate breakfast at Jollibee. while we were eating there, the butterflies in my stomach doubled when i saw the other examinees who were also there, scanning their notes in between spoonfuls of food or sips of beverage.
i tried to console myself that even if i would fail the exam, at least i won't be reimbursing the company with the exam registration fee since i did take the exam anyway. somehow, it still didn't make me feel right about taking the exam. it was a good thing, though, that the housemates that i was with were the kind of people who could still find something funny even in the worst situations. they made me feel that it was not the end of the world. hehehe. :)
when we finished breakfast, the housemate who would not be taking the JLPT decided to go home. with only the two of us left, my JLPT-examinee-housemate and i went to USC to locate our designated rooms.
everything went downhill from that point on. i went to my designated room while my housemate went to hers. there were still a few minutes before we were allowed to actually enter the room so i scanned my notes. it was very futile really since the din made by everyone made it impossible for me to even understand what i was reading.
the vocabulary part was the first part of the exam. i think there was only one Kanji character i recognized. hehehehehe. no need to say that most of my answers for this part were purely guesswork.
the listening part came in second. unlike my JLPT 4 experience last year when we could hear traffic from the outside as we listened to the CD, the room where we took the JLPT 3 exam this year was very quiet. which was great if i understood the conversation. unfortunately, i did not. hehe. this time, all of my answers were guesswork.
the grammar and reading comprehension part came last. since i was only familiar with the Level 4 use of the particles and since my vocabulary was poor, i resorted to making up the meanings of the sentences and proceeded to answer the questions of this part in the same way i did in the previous two parts.
a day after the JLPT, lines of this song by Gary V. was running in my head again and again:
in another lifetime...
in another set of chances
i'll take the ones i'd missed
and make them mine...
it took a lot of restraint for me not to launch into a full-length regret-filled monologue everytime i was asked "kumusta ang exam?" or "shiken wa dou datta?" (translation: how was the exam?).
now it's five days after the exam and the same lines of the song still repeats in my head in an endless loop. grrrrrrr...
someday, i'll pass JLPT Level 3. if not this year or the next, maybe in another lifetime. :P
Thursday, December 6, 2007
welcome to my new blog! :D
yeah, i know, i know. this is my third blog (not counting those whose usernames or passwords i've forgotten. heheh. *guilty grin*) . but hey, i don't think they were more than five. or so i think. :D
anyway, i thought that my other blog was a bit limited in terms of features, that's why i'm switching to blogspot.
notice the name of my blog? OT princess. for about two years now, i've been in denial about how i'm spending most of my life coding or documenting away in the office. but about a second ago, while i was thinking about what would be an appropriate name of my blog. something that would describe me. hmmm, bookworm? nah, i'm reading less books lately compared to when i was in college or high school. couch potato? i don't watch much TV now. and why is that? it's because i don't just spend eight hours in the office. more often than not, i spend more than eight hours in the office because of overtime (OT). so i thought what a more appropriate name could there be than OT princess? hehe. please excuse the reference to royalty. i don't have any illusion that i'm of royal blood. OT princess just sounds nice. hehehe. :D
just a side note: one of my housemates can stake a claim to being the OT queen, as she renders more OT than me. hehehhehe. :)
so, to anyone who happens to stumble on this side of the net, welcome to the rants, daydreams, comments, opinions and reactions of the self-proclaimed OT princess. :)
i welcome comments, if you have any, even those expressing disagreement to my views and opinions. a disclaimer: comments using language that is rated PG-13 and above may or may not be edited. :)
anyway, i thought that my other blog was a bit limited in terms of features, that's why i'm switching to blogspot.
notice the name of my blog? OT princess. for about two years now, i've been in denial about how i'm spending most of my life coding or documenting away in the office. but about a second ago, while i was thinking about what would be an appropriate name of my blog. something that would describe me. hmmm, bookworm? nah, i'm reading less books lately compared to when i was in college or high school. couch potato? i don't watch much TV now. and why is that? it's because i don't just spend eight hours in the office. more often than not, i spend more than eight hours in the office because of overtime (OT). so i thought what a more appropriate name could there be than OT princess? hehe. please excuse the reference to royalty. i don't have any illusion that i'm of royal blood. OT princess just sounds nice. hehehe. :D
just a side note: one of my housemates can stake a claim to being the OT queen, as she renders more OT than me. hehehhehe. :)
so, to anyone who happens to stumble on this side of the net, welcome to the rants, daydreams, comments, opinions and reactions of the self-proclaimed OT princess. :)
i welcome comments, if you have any, even those expressing disagreement to my views and opinions. a disclaimer: comments using language that is rated PG-13 and above may or may not be edited. :)
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