Well it took me one year to finish this so why not watch the entire 16 minutes and tell me what you think about the video.
Here's the full screen (highly recommended):
Watch the Video
Here's the mini screen:
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Claret MTV
Our school principal and assistant principal asked me to come up with a presentation for our Orientation day with parents. The theme is that what are the Claretians doing in and out of the campus. This is what I came up with. It was presented during the past four consecutive Saturdays. On the first Saturday, I just came-up with a 5 minute presentation for the Freshmen, then I came up with a 7 minute presentation on the second Saturday and on the last and final day I ended up with a 16 minute presentation. During the weekdays I kept on digging up more photos and video clips that I have taken this last school year. So actually you can say that this whole video took 1 year to finish it. When it was done well I guess the best payment that i got was when a parent went to the microphone during the open forum and thank the teachers for a very entertaining presentation.
Well it took me one year to finish this so why not watch the entire 16 minutes and tell me what you think about the video.
Here's the full screen (highly recommended):
Watch the Video
Here's the mini screen:
Well it took me one year to finish this so why not watch the entire 16 minutes and tell me what you think about the video.
Here's the full screen (highly recommended):
Watch the Video
Here's the mini screen:
Friday, July 14, 2006
PTN E-PALS Project
I was about to post this last July 12, unfortunately we had problems with our internet connection. Well here it is:
It's a rainy day today. There's a typhoon and a humungous traffic along Commonwealth Ave. and it took me a long time to get to school only to find out that there’s even a bigger traffic in U.P. Village. All cars and school buses going to our school were entangled due to some streets with knee deep water. Hey give me a break it’s my birthday! I have to go around several blocks just to get through and avoid the traffic mess.
The rain must be a blessing, the good news is that a new baby is born today also. It’s the PTN E-PALS Project http://www.epalsproject.blog-city.com an. electronic collaboration through a shared writing space (blog) for students and teachers around the world initiated by the Pinoy Teachers Network. Kudos should go to MARISOL CRIBE ANGALA, PTN Director, Washington DC for implementing the project so fast.
Yehey!!! these were the shouts from my students. I was just about to finish writing this and the announcement just came in. Classes are now suspended this afternoon due to rising flood water and heavy rains in Quezon City. Our fun was short-lived when we opened the television in our faculty room, we saw rescuers digging in at which looks like a scene from the Leyte mudslide but this time its along Magsaysay Road a busy major street in Baguio City. Cars and houses buried underneath the mud. Let’s pray that no one was hurt.
It's a rainy day today. There's a typhoon and a humungous traffic along Commonwealth Ave. and it took me a long time to get to school only to find out that there’s even a bigger traffic in U.P. Village. All cars and school buses going to our school were entangled due to some streets with knee deep water. Hey give me a break it’s my birthday! I have to go around several blocks just to get through and avoid the traffic mess.
The rain must be a blessing, the good news is that a new baby is born today also. It’s the PTN E-PALS Project http://www.epalsproject.blog-city.com an. electronic collaboration through a shared writing space (blog) for students and teachers around the world initiated by the Pinoy Teachers Network. Kudos should go to MARISOL CRIBE ANGALA, PTN Director, Washington DC for implementing the project so fast.
Yehey!!! these were the shouts from my students. I was just about to finish writing this and the announcement just came in. Classes are now suspended this afternoon due to rising flood water and heavy rains in Quezon City. Our fun was short-lived when we opened the television in our faculty room, we saw rescuers digging in at which looks like a scene from the Leyte mudslide but this time its along Magsaysay Road a busy major street in Baguio City. Cars and houses buried underneath the mud. Let’s pray that no one was hurt.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Happy 1st Anniversary PTN!
Where have many of our best teachers went? In the United States of course! However, these group of teachers abroad (including me, although I'm still sticking it out here) wants to make a difference. We only want the best for our children's future. These children are not just our real children but as well as our hundreds and thousands of children in our classrooms. Whether that would mean working abroad or staying in the Philippines, Pinoy Teacher's Network was organized a year ago to come up with an on-line teachers' community support group. Sharing not only their expertise in their field of work but most especially in comforting and helping one another.I could just imagine how it is to be lonely and feeling at a lost in a foreign land for our Filipino teachers. Here comes PTN with open arms with their generous projects among them; the giving of winter clothes to newly arrived teachers who have just sold just about everything that they own or borrowed lots of money just to get to America. This simple act of kindness perhaps could never be seen in any other culture except among Filipinos would be long cherished by these teachers. "Nagtutulungan kahit saan ka man" We just hope and pray that all of you will succeed in the path that you have chosen and that one day, you will share whatever blessings that you have back here in the Philippines not only to your own relatives but as well as to the millions of Filipino children all over the country who are underfed, who had no classrooms, no books, no chairs and now not even enough good teachers because they are now in America.
I pray for the leaders of PTN to always have the energy and determination to continue what they have started and I hope more teachers will join and actively participate in the months and years to come.
I am proud that I was among the first to have signed-up to join this group and have a chance to interact with Filipino overseas as well as local teachers. They have become my friends and will remain a part of my life.
I pray for the leaders of PTN to always have the energy and determination to continue what they have started and I hope more teachers will join and actively participate in the months and years to come.
I am proud that I was among the first to have signed-up to join this group and have a chance to interact with Filipino overseas as well as local teachers. They have become my friends and will remain a part of my life.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Claret MTV2005-2006-Gradeschool
This was presented during the recognition day last March. I guess most of my video works here are retros. It's not easy to create these videos. It requires a lot of time and effort. I have lots of effort only if I have the time! This one is a collaborative work. It is only now that I appreciate the reason why at the end of every movie that I get to see, there are a lot of people mentioned in the credits not just the main characters but more so behind the scenes. I love the song that was used here, its from a Vaseline commercial.
Friday, July 07, 2006
A letter from Nathalie
Here's a very nice letter from a mom.
Dear Rox,
I rarely am able to visit blogs these days, but I was drawn to
yours. Despite words of consolation, for me, death is always a
saddening experience. More so when the death involves a child. I am
a teacher, but am a mother first, and old fashioned as it may sound,
I've always hoped that parents will never have to bury their own
child. Just the thought of losing one's own child is just too heart
wrenching and I can't even begin to imagine actually losing one.
For a very long time now, I have never cried as much as I did when I
viewed your powerpoint presentation for Andrew. I couldn't help but
run to my own children and held them tight in my arms. Andrew
reminded me again of my own mortality.. of how easily my loved ones,
my children, my family can be taken away from me.. of how I should
never take things, and more importantly, people, for granted.
For months on end, I have been working like there is no tomorrow,
when what I should be doing is spending time with my children, like
there is no tomorrow. Though I am lucky to be able to work from
home, I have been spending most of the day, and night, and day, and
night again, working on my computer-- barely managing to check my
son's homeworks and nursing my 3month old baby. Andrew made me think
hard..If I lose my job, I'd just get another or concentrate on my
business, and the company will likewise get a replacement. But if my
children loses their mother, that would be a tragedy, and a greater
tragedy it would be if I lost any of my sons. There simply cannot be
any replacement.
Rox, Andrew will be a part of our family's prayers, may he find
peace in the arms of his maker. I will also pray for the miracle of
healing,this time, for his family, for you, and for everyone else
that Andrew has left behind.
Sincerely,
Nathalie
Dear Nathalie,
Your letter was one of the most touching that I have ever received. Indeed all of us parents work so hard for the future of our kids. We worry so much for the future that we sometimes forget that there is something more that our children need and that is our most precious time. When I try to look at the faces of my two kids when I arrived home at night (I have two boys, Blaise is eight and Vint is two) I just wish that they remain as kids forever.
But I guess that is impossible. I’m just enjoying them while they are young. As if nothing is more important to them than a “pasalubong”, even if its just choknut, or a piece of donut, they don’t care! Children are not brand conscious you know. It’s only the adults who do that. You can just see their faces light up when I arrive. I guess it’s the idea that I remember them while I was away from home and what little surprises I will bring that excites them. I treasure every minute of it that I spend my time with them. I can also see the gloom on their faces when I tell them I am too tired to play with them or read them a story. What more if they become teenagers and I ignore them when they need me.
Don’t you ever believe in the saying that it is the quality of time and not the quantity of time that you spend with your children. That is so wrong! It should be both, if you have a teenage son or daughter and you just see each other eye to eye on weekends, then better check their friendster account and chances are, you are not counted as one of their friends. Proof: I just made an instant survey to my second year students just now. In a class of 42 students only one have his mother’s account. That’s understandable since most parents I guess don’t have a friendster account. A follow up question was: Do you ever write something about your family’s regular activities in your friendster journal? Only 2 said yes. What I’m trying to say is that teens nowadays have their own lives and parents are being alienated from their lives even in these day of modern communications. And if we bury ourselves further with our work we are the ones who are shutting the door to our children and we will regret it sooner or later.
Let me just end my reply to your letter with these words from Veronica Shoffstall:
“After awhile you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand & chaining a soul & you learn that love doesn't mean possession & company doesn't mean security. And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts & presents aren't promises & you begin to accept your defeats with your head up & your eyes ahead with the grace of an adult not the grief of a child. And you learn to build your roads today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans & futures have ways of falling down in mid-flight. After awhile you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much so you plant your own garden & decorate your own soil instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure that you really are strong & you really do have worth & you learn & you learn..."
Thank you very much for your prayers. I wish you and your family the best of health.
p.s. Don’t worry so much about the future, the future will take care of itself. Let’s just kiss and hug our children today and say we love them. By the way I’m going to post your letter on my blog , I love it! And I want to treasure it. I have another video clip. Please try not to cry on this one. Its about courage and fighting against all odds. Well I hope after this one I’ll make people laugh instead of feeling sad. This is the link: http://roxclaret.blogspot.com
Yours truly,
Rox
Dear Rox,
I rarely am able to visit blogs these days, but I was drawn to
yours. Despite words of consolation, for me, death is always a
saddening experience. More so when the death involves a child. I am
a teacher, but am a mother first, and old fashioned as it may sound,
I've always hoped that parents will never have to bury their own
child. Just the thought of losing one's own child is just too heart
wrenching and I can't even begin to imagine actually losing one.
For a very long time now, I have never cried as much as I did when I
viewed your powerpoint presentation for Andrew. I couldn't help but
run to my own children and held them tight in my arms. Andrew
reminded me again of my own mortality.. of how easily my loved ones,
my children, my family can be taken away from me.. of how I should
never take things, and more importantly, people, for granted.
For months on end, I have been working like there is no tomorrow,
when what I should be doing is spending time with my children, like
there is no tomorrow. Though I am lucky to be able to work from
home, I have been spending most of the day, and night, and day, and
night again, working on my computer-- barely managing to check my
son's homeworks and nursing my 3month old baby. Andrew made me think
hard..If I lose my job, I'd just get another or concentrate on my
business, and the company will likewise get a replacement. But if my
children loses their mother, that would be a tragedy, and a greater
tragedy it would be if I lost any of my sons. There simply cannot be
any replacement.
Rox, Andrew will be a part of our family's prayers, may he find
peace in the arms of his maker. I will also pray for the miracle of
healing,this time, for his family, for you, and for everyone else
that Andrew has left behind.
Sincerely,
Nathalie
Dear Nathalie,
Your letter was one of the most touching that I have ever received. Indeed all of us parents work so hard for the future of our kids. We worry so much for the future that we sometimes forget that there is something more that our children need and that is our most precious time. When I try to look at the faces of my two kids when I arrived home at night (I have two boys, Blaise is eight and Vint is two) I just wish that they remain as kids forever.
But I guess that is impossible. I’m just enjoying them while they are young. As if nothing is more important to them than a “pasalubong”, even if its just choknut, or a piece of donut, they don’t care! Children are not brand conscious you know. It’s only the adults who do that. You can just see their faces light up when I arrive. I guess it’s the idea that I remember them while I was away from home and what little surprises I will bring that excites them. I treasure every minute of it that I spend my time with them. I can also see the gloom on their faces when I tell them I am too tired to play with them or read them a story. What more if they become teenagers and I ignore them when they need me.
Don’t you ever believe in the saying that it is the quality of time and not the quantity of time that you spend with your children. That is so wrong! It should be both, if you have a teenage son or daughter and you just see each other eye to eye on weekends, then better check their friendster account and chances are, you are not counted as one of their friends. Proof: I just made an instant survey to my second year students just now. In a class of 42 students only one have his mother’s account. That’s understandable since most parents I guess don’t have a friendster account. A follow up question was: Do you ever write something about your family’s regular activities in your friendster journal? Only 2 said yes. What I’m trying to say is that teens nowadays have their own lives and parents are being alienated from their lives even in these day of modern communications. And if we bury ourselves further with our work we are the ones who are shutting the door to our children and we will regret it sooner or later.
Let me just end my reply to your letter with these words from Veronica Shoffstall:
“After awhile you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand & chaining a soul & you learn that love doesn't mean possession & company doesn't mean security. And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts & presents aren't promises & you begin to accept your defeats with your head up & your eyes ahead with the grace of an adult not the grief of a child. And you learn to build your roads today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans & futures have ways of falling down in mid-flight. After awhile you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much so you plant your own garden & decorate your own soil instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure that you really are strong & you really do have worth & you learn & you learn..."
Thank you very much for your prayers. I wish you and your family the best of health.
p.s. Don’t worry so much about the future, the future will take care of itself. Let’s just kiss and hug our children today and say we love them. By the way I’m going to post your letter on my blog , I love it! And I want to treasure it. I have another video clip. Please try not to cry on this one. Its about courage and fighting against all odds. Well I hope after this one I’ll make people laugh instead of feeling sad. This is the link: http://roxclaret.blogspot.com
Yours truly,
Rox
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
True Faith
Christian Ilao graduated at the top of his high school class of 309 students. It was a difficult and near impossible climb to the top. He was in and out of the hospital due to his kidney problems and when he was released from the hospital a week later he got afflicted by the deadly dengue virus. With nothing left but his determination and faith in the Lord he overcome all his challenges.
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