Nice!

 Received my digital certificate a few minutes ago! I feel like my grade year old excited for school medals  haha! It's a nice to feel that again though - be enthusiastic about something again. I hope this will lead to somewhere. It depends on me I know.

Transition

Today made me clearly see how my nephew is entering his angsty teenage years now after how I see him react after he got reprimanded by his mother. I found it cute at first but then I realized I should take it more seriously since he is confiding his frustrations to me. I should definitely listen to him and guide him as good as possible. This is  very important period in his life as he gets to know himself. I should be glad he chose to open his heart to me, that's a good thing! Anyway, by the end of the day whatever tampo he had with my sister largely disappeared as my sister's foul mood subsided already but I will definitely be on the lookout with my nephew. Time flies, the little kid who loves to watch cartoons on TV and play with his blocks is no longer there a Roblox-loving preteen is here now and about to enter the precious teen years which will have an unusual beginning with no face-to-face classes yet. May God bless my nephew always and keep him on the right track. 

Smile

 "Congratulations, Jec, for finishing the course! I went through your remaining exercises. I enjoyed seeing the development of your plot outline on the travails of multi-level marketing. I personally liked the unsuccessful but happy ending."

"I hope that you enjoyed the course and that it gave you the needed respite from the daily grind of work during this pandemic. Cheers!"

Messages I received a while ago from the workshop admin. She was just probably patronizing or massaging my ego so I'll enroll in another  class soon enough but maybe I stop with the cynicism and I appreciate the kinds words I've read. It did gave me a smile.

Push

Done doing the writing exercises for the online writing workshop I joined before the grace period ends tonight at 11:59PM. I'm eligible for a digital certificate! Yay! Although to be honest I'm not really after it but I'm for the experience and glad I pursued this one because I love the learning experience I had here. The Google Classroom setup was perfect, the teacher explained the course so coherently and I feel like it was done in person. The online video conference Q&A was also insightful. The exercises while quite lengthy actually helped to collect my thoughts and ideas in a gradual process. I'm planning to sign up for another basic writing workshop which is scheduled in September so I still have time to save up for the fee!

Once again thanks to my friend JP who gave a contribution so I can pursue this workshop after reading it here on my blog! While I'm a little embarrassed that he had to read my rants here, I'm so grateful for the kindness. What he did really gave me the push to do something that my heart wants. 

MBTC

 Nanay was moody yesterday so I was worried that her birthday will be spoiled thankfully it wasn't the case! Although early in the morning she was still testy like she was saying that we should not post on Facebook that it's her birthday (my older brother who's not living with us already did but I didn't tell her) but later on her mood suddenly got better. I spent the morning buying her handa while she and tatay wait on our vehicle. We bought dishes from Fish to Go, Chooks to Go, Chowking, a panciteria and the local bakery for puto. My brother in law bought the cake. All in all, it was a good day. As always, my birthday wish for my mother is good health.. I can tolerate her mood swings even if it's quite hard at times as long as she is healthy. Oh Dear Lord please guide and protect my parents at all times. 

SPAM

 So I received a text message earlier from an unknown number and the content basically connecting the availability of vaccines to next year's elections. Oh my goodness, they really have a team set up for this, eh? I'm afraid of what will happen next year. I'm scared that my worst fears will happen yet again. I'm praying for a sign of hope. Please, this can't last longer than it should have right?

Hectic

 I worked at the office today which was unplanned but I decided to take care of task earlier on because I won't go to the office on Thursday because it's Nanay's birthday so will give her a treat. I did a lot of things today and time wasn't even enough so I took home some work and will also go to the office again tomorrow to finish more stuff. But no complaints, glad to have work and love to be in the office really. As always, I just feel more productive there! I had so many things to do and yet I didn't feel that stressed. Maybe because it's a taste of normalcy. Oh how I miss the old life.

With Reservations

 So a loved one is trying a new business venture and to be honest I'm not confident with it but I don't want to give out negative energy so I didn't speak up about it. It's still starting though and I could be wrong so I don't want to discourage her as she's so enthusiastic about it. And who am I to speak against it considering I would never dare take a big risk in my life? But I worry as always that this will not yield favorable results but I really hope and pray I am wrong, oh God please let me be wrong. 

Worth It

One tip about concentration I got yesterday actually worked and my progressed with the writing activities improved so much today. I've been quite productive doing the writing exercises today. I do really need heart pumping music when I write! It helps set the mood when I type! I'm really liking the writing exercises because it's so step by step and the written explanation is great too! It really is helping me organized my thoughts. I can happily say the money I paid for this is worth it! Anyway, halfway done with the exercises and my target is to finish everything by Thursday a day before the deadline. Wish me luck

Notes

 Just finished the Q&A session with the workshop facilitator and it was done via Google Meet. It's actually my first time to do an online group video conference although I turned my video and audio off because I'm comfortable just listening and just posting my thoughts/queries on the chat box. I posted a question about tips on improving concentration when writing because God knows I need one and learned some insightful tips. I jot down notes via notepad because when I was a student this helped me process information. I'm gonna post the notes I took as it is as reminder to myself:

Ideas can not be copyrighted

Tangible things only can be copyrighted

Authenticity over originality

same premise but not necessarily same beats/ending

Motive will give to potential

Action give you trajectory

Look 4 elements work in the logline, must exciting

if it doesn't push you to write, then rewrite the logline

nuances make the difference

if you are concrete, you avoid being a clone

not being about the best, but be good with the writing

if you are not good enough, start by drawing inspiration

allow influences to guide your writing

Pace

 I've been slow in handling the writing exercises on the online workshop I'm in right now. It is self-paced though so there's no really time pressure but there is reward if you finished early like if I finished all the writing exercises by tonight I would have an-eBook about Creative Writing from the workshop lecturer who is a Palanca winning writer! But I'm not even halfway yet! I did attempt to cram but I took a step back because this isn't the right way to handle this and it's a bad habit I want to free myself from. This is not the end result I want when I signed up for this. The online lectures and writing exercises are great. Forget the rewards and focus on your creative progress - that's what I've been telling myself. Tomorrow, there's an online Q&A session and looking forward to it. I sent in a question about tips about concentrating when writing. I hope to get a good insight because I badly need it. 

Racing

 Quite a hectic day  as I finished a couple of work tasks and I really feel more productive at the office. The energy is just different when I'm there. Currently, I work from home Mondays to Wednesday and at the office Thursdays and Friday. It's working out for me but I wish I could be in the office more but of course safety first and also financial reasons as well. I still feel so sad about my financial situation but I felt happy earlier because after 2 months I was finally able to deposit in my savings account again. Of course, not gonna lie whenever I see my passbook  I wish there were more but hey I worked hard for it and maybe in time I'll feel very satisfied whenever I look at my bank account but for now I'm just glad I'm getting by.

Apprehensions

 Vaccination drive started already here in our barangay and ours is AstraZeneca but sadly both my senior citizen parents are no comfortable getting vaccinated due to side effects fear. I tried to convince them that it is safe and recommended for their age and not a health risk at all but I could see their apprehension and didn't want to push them into doing something they are so anxious about that could raise their blood pressure. Hopefully in time when they see more people they know vaccinated with no side effects they'll be more comfortable to do so.

Lanes

The past 3 days have been quite hectic as I balance my fulltime work, my part-time gig and activities catering to areas of interests and family duties. I also admit I have been distracted too that led to me wasting some precious time. The Internet speed at night lately haven't been kind as well! My connection right now is so intermittent and slow it's really frustrating. All day the connection was good then turned to crap tonight. Whenever I face stressful situations like this it also leads me to thinking frustrations beyond what I'm currently facing. It does not help that person in authority had another stunt last night that's really maddening and yet powerless. 

Introduction

 Today there was  thread on the Google Classroom of my writing workshop where we were ask to introduce ourselves and state our goals why we signed for the workshop  and just like back in my student days, I was the first one to raise my hand and posted away. Last I checked the responses was just 6 and I am the oldest at 33! It made me conscious to be honest but hey learning has no age limit! But it does kinda reflect how I am so late in so many things. No point pondering about these useless things anymore but I can't help it.  Carry on, that's all I can do.

Stimulated!

Just finished the first lesson on my writing workshop and I really like how this virtual workshop is set up! At first I got confused how to work around Google Classroom but thankfully I figured it out. I had trouble concentrating at first but I kept rereading the first to get in the groove and I did! And the explanations really are so good, it does feel like something a teacher would say in front of a class. It's so professionally done and really worth the money! I finished the first two short prep exercises and I honestly feel thrilled to a student again!. I still have a lot of things to do for this but glad my first day on this was good. The setup of doing it at your own pace is so convenient to me and the Google Classroom is a great platform for virtual learning!

First line

 My Storywriting Basics: Story Design online workshop started today with the lectures and writing exercises now uploaded on Google Classroom. The administrator also contacted to schedule a 30-minute live session and my preference of just phone call and not video call was accommodated too. What I read so far is very detailed and educational but I have to admit I have trouble concentrating but hey I remind myself I paid for this (plus a friend helped out) so I need to persevere to make it all worth it.

Cash Out

 My family finally received that financial aid from the government aka ayuda. We will use it to buy groceries and pay the water bill for this month. My parents are really happy about it, they've been waiting for so long. I have mixed feelings. This is very needed of course in a time like this but I'm not really comfortable with the way people have been reacting based on what I read on the mayor's FB page. Some feel too entitled, some are too judgmental, some are too accusatory, some are totally twisting this to favor a political flavor and most of all I feel a lot of sadness behind this. There's something off even if ultimately this is a good thing. 

Slow

So annoying that the past three days our Internet is so slow. My other family members can do their video streaming and zoom stuff but on my end it takes longer than usual. It's so frustrating but good thing our Internet is just prepaid and on an affordable because if this is postpaid and we get this kind of service while paying a high monthly fee it will be so stressful. I was a postpaid Internet user via Smart Bro canopy and the earlier years but turned crap when they merged it to PLDT Home Bro and I had a stressful time with customer service even until the disconnection request! I really got traumatized since then, I hate dealing with CSR and template replies! 

I really hate having third world Internet!

Manageable

I'm currently being challenged financially yet again. I hate that I feel a little resentful that I'm getting the lion's share of the burden but I need to be the one to understand everyone's situation. I hate that I feel I'm being tricked. Perhaps that thought is something of an excuse I made because I'm so frustrated. I wish my financial situation was better so I won't feel bad for feeling this way. Still, I just think that in the grand scheme of things this is not that big of a problem and I'm just stressing myself out for something that is manageable anyway. I just need to tighten my belt even further and be more patient. Also, I better control myself so it won't show that I feel a little resentful because I know I'm in the wrong here. I don't want to ignite anything that would just add more to my anxiety. Hey, that's why I write it even if I do vaguely because it helps process what I feel and feel a little better. Or as better as one I could hope for.