PMA! Oh Hail to Thee!

It’s that time of the year again when young adults take the next step in their formal education: college entrance exams. You might have heard of self-made millionaires and ask yourselves why formal education is important. If some people are able to do it, maybe I can do it too? For most of us, that's not always the case. In fact, they are rare. Several students who are already enrolled in reputable schools, after finishing their third year in High School, enroll in summer programs specifically designed to help them conquer college entrance exams such as UPCAT, ACET and DLSUCET. For most people who want to land a decent-paying job, going to college (or University, as others may call it) is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

This year, I am tasked to be the recruitment officer of our unit for the Philippine Military Academy Entrance Examination (PMAEE). I have been conducting information drives to schools in our area to enlighten them about the PMAEE. Nothing so special, actually. However,  I am very excited and driven because this is my first time to conduct information drive about my Alma Mater. I didn’t get to be part of the info drive team when I was a cadet (because of some silly reasons I am not proud of) so I just feel like now is my time to shine! Ha! Shampoo ad?

So what make the PMA experience different from other universities? The most significant difference is the Honor System. Each cadet is covered by a code which states:

"We, the cadets, do not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate among us those who do so."

Accept the challenge, be a PMA cadet!

P.S. Cheaters are not welcome. As the honor code says, we do not tolerate cheaters - whether it is cheating in academics or in cheating in relationships.

P.P.S. Pets aren't allowed in PMA but now that I can have one, I am considering getting a pup. I hope I'll be able to take good care of it so it wont have to eat its own poop!

Kindness of a Raven

The title of this post doesn't really have a connection to the topic. I was thinking of "the kindness of senior officers" but then i am reminded of the now defunct TV series One Tree Hill which tells of the story of teenagers who started as enemies then later became the best of friends. One of the main characters, Lucas Scott, wrote a novel entitled "the unkindness of ravens". That's my only explanation and i know it doesn't explain anything.

Anyway, being the most junior officer in our camp means two things. Work and Perks. 

As expected the most junior gets most of the workload. Good thing though that I'm a girl so the boss won't send me to war. Yes, there's a war, soldier! Everything is referred to me which makes me wonder if they see superwoman in me.

I am the front liner in the positive sense of the title. I deal with the media, the VIP and everyone else who needs something from our organization. Doing such is very tiring. Travel upsets me and the stress of meeting and smiling to people I do not actually know drives me nuts!

But, on the perks side is a whole different story. Being the most junior and the youngest in the group is full of simple joys. Food which is my favorite of all favorites is my consolation. whenever the the senior officers would go out for a break, they always come back with a "pasalubong" for me hence my continuous weight gain. errrr

milk and chocolate cookies from my favorite officer. hi there!

from the same officer. hi again!

chocolateeeey! i had to look for this in the fridge

thanks for supporting my tea craze

looks so different 

jobee happy!

So you see, I am a very shallow person. I get so excited easily and I find happiness in the simplest things. And this is just one of the many reasons why I love my job.:)

How about you? do you get along with the people around you?

Getting Paid at oDesk

It's has been a month since I started setting up my oDesk account. I have taken a couple of exams to support my cv and everything about the account is ok. I have submitted applications to various job postings but the more crucial part is where I have to wait for the clients to hire me and for them to approve the articles that I wrote.

oDesk is the first where I really exerted some effort to be hired. My regular job didn't require me to apply since I was employed the moment I graduated from the school. Another thing that I am so happy about is that in oDesk, I get to choose what job I want. Of course I only applied to jobs where I know I have the capacity to attend to.

So there, more oDesk stories to share in some other post but today, i am just so happy that I had my first pay. I wrote four four-hundred-word (4x 400 word) articles last Friday and I was paid one dollar for each article. The pay is not that big but it's what my client and I have agreed upon and I am fine with that considering that I'm still new to oDesk and that I am still on the process of creating my reputation.

Getting paid for my 1st successful oDesk job

Four dollars for the eight to ten hours I spent writing (while multitasking) the articles is not much, but for now I am just so happy to know that somebody likes the way I write. And I got paid too! As one energy drink would say, "great things start from small beginnings!".

Looking forward to more writing jobs!

Boodling Boys and Girl

This post is a follow up to my previous post. Last week was a blast when I tried my luck with golf (found out later that it's not for me). The rest of the story, you can read in sunday golf but the more enjoyable part of our trip is of course the boodling (eating) part! wohoooooooo!

We left the camp around eleven noon. No time for rally lunch so we opted to have lunch along the way. Q said we can eat at the clubhouse but B said that food there is sobrang expensive so our first stop is at a random lomihan. From clubhouse to lomihan. K!

Batangas Special Goto and Lomi

nomnomnom

Im trying to eat healthy lately so this bowl didn't appeal much to me. Tasty, yes but not healthy. It's thick but maybe because of the cornstarch added. i've heard that they're making their own noodles so that's a big check but still. this bowl is a 7.0 when i'm asked to rate.

One bowl costs Php40.00. Good price considering how yummy it was! No wonder B recommended the place. He has a thing for places with good food at cheap price!

Next stop for early dinner is Luca Cucina Italiana. The resto by the beach is at the end of the North Oriental Mindoro road. Literal. Yeah, you got me right. It is where the road ends.hahah

easy acoustic band as early as 5pm 

Food will be served fifteen minutes after ordering so i ordered for this relaxing cup of coffee to prepare myself for a heavy dinner.

pizza! the resto's best seller

Forgive me friends for not taking a shot. i was so excited to get my first slice that i forgot about the picture! This pizza gave justice to our 3-hour drive.omnomnomnom

seafood spaghetti

Forgot the name again. Sorry again!

already consumed, sir!

B and Q after the hearty meal 

There you go, you might have noticed that we went to Puerto Galera but we didn't get into beach related fun. This just goes to show that there is more to Puerto Galera than its white sand and blaring lights during night parties! 

Pitak Turismo: It's more fun in Mindoro!

Sunday Golf

hihihi

Because I was half sad because my Saturday plan was ruined, I was also half happy because of my (uber) cheap find. Half plus half equates one regular (size?) me. Yay! I'm fine with that!

Sunday is my lazy day. I always look forward to waking up around eight in the morning. Hanging by the moment. Thinking if I should get up or just wait if somebody would care and call me or invite me for brekky. Aaaahhhhhhhh…. Sunday is love!

After minutes of thinking about nothing, I decided to take a bath and started watching The Firm on my phone. The power of having a smart phone!:) I was annoyed when my viewing was cut when somebody called. Errrrr It was a senior officer and he invited me to go to Puerto Galera to play golf and later dive.

golf course overlooking verde island

this what became of the grass after so many attempts to swoosh the ball

my first shot? shot ba talaga?

I love Puerto Galera and I have shared some of our happy times here. But this time, the invitation was to play golf and I haven’t even held a golf club in my entire life and they’re expecting me to play? K! Hugutan yan.

To cut the story short , we played golf. It first I thought it was just like playing billiards with super huge table and I was surprised that I enjoyed it at first. But when the club became heavy, I could see how my fellow officers look so disgusted with my body forms when I tried my luck swinging the club like a baseball bat. Poor me. Note to self: golf is not for me.

 

after so many attempts, this is where my balls landed. or ponded.

pose na lang

dried leaf

refreshment after playing

Tired. Hungry. Walking some not-so-short distance is not funny. I used to think golf is nothing but a game of fools. Hit the ball, look for it, then hit it agan. But now that I’ve tried playing, I could say that golf is no joke. It’s a game of precision and not everybody can play it (count me in!).

How about you, how was your weekend?

Commuter's Notebook: Cabanatuan Edition

after everything that's been said and done, i finally found my way to joining the Engineer Officer's Course (EOBC). the reporting date was last tuesday, 30 Aug 2011 and the course will be handled by the CSS, TRADOC located at Camp Tinio, Cabanatuan City.

will be scouring this place for the next three months

cabanatuan city is a 3 hour drive from manila but what believed to be just a short drive became a long, tiring and challenging five-hour adventure because of:

1. im supposed to be picked up at eight o'clock but our ride arrived at nine o'clock

2. there were only five of us but our luggage was enough for ten people. maybe this is just normal for a three-month long course.

3. we were apprehended by a police enforcer for violating a certain regulation which i do not have any idea about. i don't want to further elaborate because it's very humiliating and embarassing.hahahahah

4. the barracks where we were supposed to be billeted are still occupied so we didn't have a place where we can leave our stuff.

5. our sundo back to manila will be back after 2 hours pa so we're stuck in an unfamiliar place.

after registering, we had a three-hour lull time. dull moments. the problem is we do not the place and we were all tired up from waking up early to waiting for so loooooooooooooooooooong and of course the energy draining travel from manila to cabanatuan.

after our very late lunch (four thirty in the afternoon) we decided to just check in in the nearest hotel that we can find. so funny that we were apprehended in front of the one and only hotel that we saw in cabanatuan. that hotel is no less than:

hahahahaha

despite its reputation, the hotel was really true to it's claim that it is "so clean...so good" and that it has good air conditioning and strong wifi connection. lei and I shared in one of it's rooms so that we could freshen up while waiting for our sundo. i was able to take a nap and lei enjoyed the wifi connection with her new ipaaad1. good for you bonkie.:)

here are our photos:

ang sarap ng smile ni ate

 this shot was taken in a carinderia just outside camp tinio. we had our super late lunch there

our ride was a trisikel and we were dropped off at the hotel's parking 

istudyante blues

my shoes are so kyuuuuuuuuuuuuuutt

bonkichoinx: partners in crime

dapat daw nakaganito na ang kamay mo sa mukha pagkalabas mo ng hotel. in our case, papasok pa lang, nakaganito na.

one last thing , the only good thing about our commute was that after registering for the course, we were told  that we can go back home  and "kanya kanya muna  kme" until  sep 7, 2011. yahoooo! that's one whole week of relaxation and .... boodling.hahhahahah life, oooooooooooohhhh life!