#In terms of my personal life I graduated from school successfully passed my exams and got to the uni I wanted | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kaaaarl-blog1 · 4 years

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PRE TEST:

Multiple Choice:

1.) This is the highest point in the story, usually the most exciting.

a. Finale

b. Climax

c. Pinnacle

d. Beginning

2.) The problem in a short story that needs to be resolved is called:

a. Conflict

b. Drama

c. Climax

d. Tension

3.) If you read this sentence in a short story, "I will become a navy soldier and we can rise up from our hard situation of poverty and destitution." you would be able to know that the story was being told in _________ _________ point of view?

a. Third person

b. First person

c. Second person

d. None of the above

4.) What do you call the speaker or character who tells the story?

a. Protagonist

b. Teacher

c. Narrator

d. Biologist

5.) These are examples of elements of a short story EXCEPT:

a. Theme

b. Point of view

c. Fiction

d. Settings

Once, in a small rural town, there was a young boy who dreamt to be a soldier someday. Born in a family of farmers, the young boy aided in the land his family owns, often under the scorching heat of the sun. He witnesses his father digging the soil with sweat dripping on the forehead. On the other side, is his mother planting a lot of vegetables to sell on the market to garner money for food. Then one day, the younger boy imparted his dream of becoming a soldier to his parents. His mother responded with protest, because she is afraid and she thinks that the life span of a soldier is short. She does not want to lose her son. A soldier’s life is perilous, and that's why his mother is against his decision. But his father thought differently, and said to him, "Son, it's easier to handle a gun than to handle a shovel and digging soil". His father is happy for this path his son decided to take. He is always there to support and motivate his son, especially on his dreams. However, their family does not have a lot in financial terms. Because the money that they got from selling vegetables from their harvests in the market are just enough and sufficient for their daily needs. But the young boy is not giving up on his dreams. The young boy embarked in a journey of hardship and diligence for reaching his dream. He applied for a part time job to support and save money for his dream. Every morning, the young boy is at school, while in the evening he is on the biggest bar in their province for work.

A year passed, and the young boy graduated high school. He is blissful when he discovered that the qualifications to get a slot in Philippine navy is being a high school graduate. Thereafter, the boy set off to Manila and applied to take an entrance exam to enter the Philippine Navy. After a month of waiting, the Philippine navy released the list of entrance exam passers, and with utmost shock and gratefulness, the young boy and his father received the news of his qualifying. The young boy truly felt he was one big step closer to his aspirations. But his mother felt worried and even devastated. However, after passing all the exams like psychological exam (neuro), physical exam and IQ exam, he finally convinced his mother to support his dreams and not to worry about him. After preparing all he needed, the young boy feels ecstatic and hopeful about his journey as a soldier. His mother and father borrowed some money to buy what the boy needed for his training. They promised that the money they borrowed will be given back after the young boy finish the military training. This day is his last night for being a civilian person. He promised heartily to his parents that "I will become a navy soldier and we can rise up from our hard situation of poverty and destitution." That night became very emotional, because the following day, the young boy is leaving his family to go to training center held in Zambales and transform his life into military behavior.

The next day came, it is the day the life of the young boy would completely change from then on. It is the reception rites of the all qualified trainees on the Philippine Navy. The boy gave a tight and gratifying hugs and bid goodbye to his parents. Then, he went on his trip to Zambales. He travelled for few hours and with a feeling of both unbelief and excitement, arrived at the training area. That will be the start of all the hard works and sacrifices. He admitted that the training was not really easy and painless but he gave all his best efforts for his dreams. After the 6 months of training, the young boy graduated. His parents were so proud of him. Because after the many and seemingly uncountable months of training their son finally got his dream. Then, when he got the money that he earned from his hard work, he started building a simple house for his family. He also started to pay all the debts and borrowed money of his parents he used for his training. After imparting his care of his family in these months, he still had to be apart from his family for more training to become powerful, strong and ready for his missions as a soldier. He then go back to the training are for a month. Then one day, the young boy was given an opportunity to be off-duty, and without a single hesitation went back in their province where his family was living. His heart could not encompass the excitement to see his family again because of being apart for a long time. After successfully arriving on their home, he hastily ran towards his family and greeted them with very tight hugs and sweet kisses. He really missed his family and could not be any happier to see them again. The family told each others of the happenings in their lives after going inside their home. Then all of a sudden, the young boy was queried by his father about his experiences while he is on his training. “Tatay, I admit that the training was not easy of course because there were a lot of challenges, so many things that were new and I had to be used to. I need to be accustomed to wake up at 3:00 in the morning be completely ready, like cleaning and shining our respective shoes that will be used during the training. There were times that I feel disheartened of these difficult challenges, but both of you Tatay and Nanay are my inspirations to keep going, and I take account all my sacrifices in the training. Everyday us cadets are running 20 kilometers with a 15-kilogram backpack filled of rifles. We need to build our teamwork for us to be all successful”, he answered. “I really feel like my life has changed completely beyond what I imagined but I keep coming back to when I started this dream and how you both supported me.” And then they continued talking about a lot of things.

After a few months of staying and bonding with his family, the militaries of Mindanao called a backed up because of the terrorists named Abu Sayyaf. And the young boy was one of the navy designated to be deployed and go there. His family felt so nervous and fretful for his safety. His mother said “This is what I am always saying from the beginning. That being a soldier is not easy. They are always one foot on the grave because they can be die in just one click.” That statement made them realize why his mother was in much opposition on his dream in the first place. But he knew his responsibility, so with a brave front went to Mindanao to fight alongside his fellow soldiers, and for the love and protection of his country. He bequeathed hugs and kisses to his family before leaving. He travelled for few hours before touching down the Mindanao using a helicopter. The next day after arriving in Mindanao, the young boy called his family, reminded and reassuring them not to worry because he is fine and safe. However, the young boy was actually lying because he’s been struck with a bullet of a gun on his shoulder and he was resting and treated on a safe area.

After sacrificing for a month, the war fortunately ended, and all the soldiers could go back to their families. He was beyond happy that he was still alive after that grievous and deadly war. The young boy went home and his family was surprised when they saw him. They have him very tight and you can see in their eyes that they were very happy. They were still talking and bonding in the middle of the night. When the young boy and his mother was the only ones left awake, he said to his mother that “If I will die in a war, I want you drape a Philippines flag on me as I’ve known that I died for the country and for my fellow countrymen.” His mother felt so emotional on hearing his son’s words, and decided to be fervent and hopeful for her son as well. They hugged and felt the love of each other.

After a few days with his family, the young boy is going back to naval station at Fort Santiago. During his trip, his father called him and said that his mother had passed away. He felt shocked and broken when he heard the news from his father. He rushed to the bus driver and asked to stop the bus and drop him down. He rode a bus again to go back to their home, in hopes to see his mother for the last time. When he arrived to their home, he rushed to his mother and he hugged her very tight. His tears seemed to be boundless when he saw his lifeless mother lying in a bed. He cannot imagine that his mother will die that easy, remembering they were just talking to each other the last night before that happened.

While on his mother’s funeral, his father gave him a letter that his mother left before she passed away. It says that “I’m sorry son, but I lied to you, I did not want to give you problems and I don’t want you to get worried. I had a stage 5 cancer. I already knew and endured it for a long time. But, I didn’t tell you because I don’t want you to get worried. We don’t want you to get worried. Your father and I already knew from the start. I hope you understand, and don’t hold remorse to your father for not telling you the truth. I am the one who disagreed to reveal it to you. I love you always, my son, I love you both always.” The young boy’s body became numb and he cried and cried after reading the letter. He can’t imagine that his mother was already suffering and anguishing with cancer. After a week, he went back to their training area. His father is the only person left in their house. Even if he does not want to leave his father alone, he doesn’t have any choice but to continue fulfilling his dreams for himself and for his parents. He was just going home twice a month because of his service for the country.

One day, all the soldiers have been assigned and deployed to Mindanao because of the terrorists named Abu Sayyaf threatening the country once again. They were all assigned to create a letter for their families because they don’t know if they can still survive to the war. The young boy made a letter for his father that says, “Tatay, if I died during this war, please do not worry about me so much. I don’t want you to be sad. Please take care of yourself always. Please be strong for Nanay and for me. If I die on this war, I will be together with Nanay and I will tell her how good father you were to me when she left. I will tell her how am I proud to have you as my father. We will be angels who will take care and look after you as always. I love you so much Tatay.” Then, they took a rest in preparation for tomorrow. The next day, all the soldiers who have been deployed to Mindanao fought dauntlessly against Abu Sayyaf. Then suddenly, the young boy has been shot on his knee that made him fall on the ground. But fortuitously, his buddy/partner was there to help him to get up and send him to the medical station to get his wound treated. Then, his buddy went back to the war and continued their fight against the terrorists. Their fight doesn’t end that day.

After many days of resting, the young boy’s commander asked him if he still wanted and if he can still fight to the ground zero. For some soldiers that have been assigned there are dying, and they are not enough to handle and fight with the terrorists. “Sir, permission to go back to the ground zero sir”, the young boy answered. His commander had misgivings that he could and asked him again if he really could go back to the war. He assured his commander that he already can and he assured he really want to go there to help his fellow soldiers. Proving his persevering and brave demeanor, his commander allowed him to go back to ground zero.

The next 1200 hours, the young boy and his team dropped at the ground zero. They wrought to their respective positions to get ready for fight. After finishing some terrorists, they continue replacing their positions and kept exchanging bullets from the terrorists. Until they have been marooned in a two buildings. They were in the sandwiched in the middle of the two buildings because there were a lot of snipers that could easily strike them. On the next building where they were placed, a slightly tilted wall is the only shield that are covering them from the lethal bullets of the enemy. The young boy’s commander needs a gunner near the terrorists. So, the commander asked the young boy to move on the other wall that is near to the enemy or to the terrorists. The young boy made a small hole on the wall to place his sniper and prepared with tremendous concentration to shoot the terrorists they were fighting with. After shooting a lot, the young boy needed to reload his magazine because there were not enough bullets on it. While reloading his magazine, a terrorist saw him and with alacrity, shot him with a sniper. The young boy has been shot in his head. He fell down while he still holding his gun. His team felt so worried for him but they still continued to fight against the terrorists. The young boy was carried in a safe place and to take a rest because his wound was excruciatingly painful. After scary survival battle, the soldiers successfully ended the war. They are beyond happy and emotional, with a tinge of bitterness for all the soldiers that sacrifice. Because after of all the hard times fighting with the Abu Sayyaf, their sufferings finally ended. Then, they looked for the young boy who sacrificed himself to save his fellow soldiers. They saw him hiding and suffering on his wound in a safe place. So, they carried the young boy and brought him to the medical station. But, the medical team informed them that he needs to be brought at hospital because he is in critical condition. Using the ambulance, they brought him to the hospital. The young boy is already out of his consciousness which makes the situation even direr. After waiting a while, the doctor came out and announced that the young boy is in critical status and he is in a comatose. The soldiers that are in the hospital especially his commander felt so worried for the young boy.

Going back to the battlefield wherein the war happened, all the soldiers are gathering all the dead bodies of their fellow fallen soldiers. They called all the family of those to discreetly say the bad news, the unfortunate but heroic stories of these soldiers. Then, the young boy’s father was called by the Philippine navy. His father suddenly felt nervous because he has a presumption about the news that the caller was supposed to say. Nevertheless, he bravely asked the caller what happened. And the Philippine navy announced that his son has been shot on the head by a sniper while on the battle – that the young boy was in a critical stage and in a coma. His father still felt shocked but rushed to get his things and went to the hospital where his son was admitted. After arriving at the hospital, He scurried towards the ICU to see his son. The young boy’s father was so emotional when he saw his son with full of all kinds of apparatusin ICU. He held his son’s hand and he said, in hoping that he will hear him, that “Son, I am now here my son. Please be strong. Don’t leave me okay? We are going to fight this together. I love you always.” He took care of his son and he dutifully never left his son in the ICU. He is always talking his son even if he’s not answering, because his father knows that his son could hear him. One week after the young boy was surrendered to the hospital, his status was still the same in the first place. He is still in coma and still in critical status. But after a while, the condition of the young boy became worse. The doctors rushed to check him. His vital signs became lower, so it became indispensable that the doctor performed the CPR. They pumped the chest of the young boy repeatedly. But, it still became lower. Therefore, they used a defibrillator and applied it to the chest to allow an electric current to pass through the heart to reset the normal electric current. But, it doesn’t help to bring back the life of the young boy - he was declared dead at 11:32 am. His father can’t accept the truth that his son was dead. He cried out loud and keep awaking his son but to no avail. He hugged his son very tight for the last time. He was the only one left in their family. The nurses cleaned the dead body of the young boy and brought it to the morgue.

There were a lot of people and soldiers who came on his burial. All his fellow soldiers and team leaders came to give their compassionate condolences.After one week of burial, is the day when the young boy’s funeral. His father is still emotional and cannot let him go. While on the funeral, the commander came closer to the young boy’s father and gave a letter that his son created during the war. His father became more emotional and cried a lot. Then, the commander got the attention of all people and all the soldiers that are in the funeral because he was to give an award to the young boy. “I would like to have this opportunity to commemorate and give this award to Sergeant Christian Paquit who was bravest person we have. He is the one who sacrificed to go near the terrorist just to save his fellow soldiers. He is always ready to give and sacrifice his life for his fellow soldiers and for the love of his country. He was a real hero of the Philippine navy. That’s why we are very proud of him and to have him. And he really deserves this award for his sacrifices”, the commander said. They covered the casket of Sgt. Villanueva with a Philippine flag and brought it down the ground. His father bid goodbye to his son and cried because of the pain.

Sgt. Paquit was a person with a big dreams and dedication. A person who had a big dreams and love for his family. A person who will give everything for his family and to his fellow countrymen. A person who can’t be forgotten. Sgt. Christian Villanueva is a hero.

POST TEST:

Match the Column A to Column B.

Column A

1.) What does bequeathed means according to the story?

2.) What is the occupation of the Sgt. Paquit’s parents?

3.) Who are his inspirations?

4.) Remorse means:

5.) What was the cause of his mother’s death?

6.) Sgt. is the short term for:

7.) “Fervent” is also similar to:

8.) Where does the training happened?

9.) Did Sgt. Paquit succeed?

10.) Scorching means:

Column B

a.) deep regret or guilt for a wrong committed

b.) parents

c.) Zambales

d.) cancer

e.) farmers

f.) extremely happy: overjoyed

g.) leave something to a person or other beneficiary by a will.

h.) Sergeant

i.) Passionate

j.) heart attack

k.) Yes

l.) very hot

m.) No

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firmanep · 6 years

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28/28 Vision: Retrace

28/28 vision, life’s been hit me with precision. I’ve seen both ways, mourn and defeat at the bottom in one side, glory and prosper in the other. I choose to live on and keep 27 years back on my head. At 28 I begin to realize that everyone walk their own path, with their own pace. All of sudden, the meaning of success, settle, stand-on-your-feet, etc dissolve into thin air.

Nor, this doesn’t mean those words and its meaning is nothing but perception. Yet it’s a word of progress, everything in life is on process not an unchanged or fix terms. To make it clearer, I simply put it on my case. I wouldn’t say that I’m a success or failure person if I see this on my own perspective not others. What I trying to do is put those terms not in binary opposition. But in a life line terms. Life line is a sum of all variable in life. They are time, space, body, mind, money, social, career, relationship, sex, etc. So let’s put it in practice, I using “age” as metric. In example, at 27 YO I get a job promotion, start a mortgage, not in a relationship, feeling numb, stretching my financial belt, 58.000 hours listening music, etc.

Looking back farther than a year, I see myself rolling in a rollercoaster adventurous life. At 5 my parents enroll me to primary school in assume I “a slight smarter” than my counterparts. So I’m 1-2 year younger than my primary school friend age average. Yet instead accelerated in academics, my passion in football is stronger. So, it swiped the whole 6 years in primary. I won several trophy, even my profile been written on local newspaper as “bintang cilik”.

My career in football stop when I get into junior HS. Some shit happened at that time, my sister passed, family breakup, I move to my granny house, join a motorcycle gang, and drunk for the first time. That’s all more than enough to put a stamp in my face as “a broken home little shit”. But fortunately I found another passion, music. I start collecting cassette since at class 5 primary school. For local act i listened to Sheila on 7 generation band. Then I start a band, which then I ditched by because my “musical taste”.

Fuck, thanks to MTV After School Rock, so I bit move from locals and see global. At JHS I listened to hipmetal acts like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park for a brief of time. Till I really struck on Warped Tour bands like Blink 182, Sum 41, New Found Glory, etc. Because of the rarity of the cassette, I start digging music at 2nd hand cassette dweller. From which I got more recommendation, so I begin listen to more “edgy” bands like MXPX, NOFX, No Use For a Name, and local indie bands like Nudist Island and Buckskin Bugle. So almost all my “pocket money” at JHS went off to buy cassette. Oh wait! I get my first and second girlfriends on JHS. LMAO.

So, half of my JHS I spent as a member of “packed gang” (in motorcycle gang and in a band), and the last half I spent by myself, walking around finding cassette. My last year in JHS been so frustrating, I don’t have much friends because they left me/or in opposite, so i don’t see any reason to took a same school with them. Then I get into HS, speaking spatially, it’s really far from my JHS. But it’s a “throwing stone” away from my granny house. Surprisingly it’s really easy to make friends then.

Though, talking about “cultural taste”, they’re a level under my JHS friends. But I see a genuine quality in them. Like most of HS kiddos allover Bandung, we’re maniacally love occupy a Warung and make it our base camp. I can say that “nongkrong” is in par with curriculum. Everyday, after school we ambush that Warung, then we called “TeronX”(wtf!). Playing cards, or in my case I watching people playing cards then getting drunk. While in the other time I still digging music, it’s easier then because the CD & MP3 era came. And I start come to indie gigs twice a week, and I make friends from a fuckin pit! there. Local bands growth fast then, gigs and indie music start to intervere the mainstream. Their music starts play at MTV and Radio.

In HS, i live in 2 social spheres, at school and at gigs. They feed my certain personal dimension. School friends give me a kind of family-ish feeling, we eat together, we talking about life and girl together, we’re wasted together (6 hours before final exam we’re still wasted as fuck!). While gigs friends gave me a cultural experience and influence. It constructs my cultural taste, ie: I decide to being an Emo Kid as fuck. I listened to Emo bands, I dress like Emo bands, I scream at every Alone At Last shows, heartbreak like Emo kid, I writing devastated poems like Emo kid, and I start an Emo band. Yet, the most important is the 2 social spheres successfully distracting me from home, which I no longer knew with.

After finish HS I decided to take a moment to think about my future, so I not in hurry get into college. Like most of school-bonded HS alumni I pretty often still come to school. Thanks to our occupied Warung, so I always know where I should take shelter. 2 life changing things happened then. First, I met my first long last girlfriend. Second, I join a look-kinda-gonnabe-rockstar band. Not at once the two different interest got head-to-head!. Yet they’re still got along hand by hand. The girl is a freshman in my HS. So we’re separated generation. I met her at the first time when I have a meeting with my band near school. It’s a cliché that I have bigger guts as fuckin alumni to come to her, greeting and ask her phone number. Since then, a full week I spend my time with her and ask her to be my GF, and voila she accepted me. Soon I knew the reason she want to be my GF is because of the spreading news about me and my band. Our band is like HS hero then. Again, it’s a fuckin cliché. But, in fact even a cheesy reason could lead into a 7 years relationship. Strange huh!.

The band is another story. Lovely Lolita, we’re named it after a single of local shoegaze band The Milo, although our music is not a dot like them. So it all starts when I invited to featuring with one of my HS band at one single, which then listed into an indie compilation. Me and one of its guitar player thought we’re should making Emo project together. So we’re looking for another player, then we’re met a drummer who still a HS kiddos in my HS then. Then our band started with only 3 players. I took a role as Vocal and Bass then. We’re recorded a single demo and spread it on MySpace. Surprisingly, the acceptance is huge. So we’re playing from gigs to gigs. Our music evolving as our influences richen. So we’re thinking to have a bass player and I just focus on vocal. Then we’re being 4 player Metalcore/Post-Hardcore band. We’re record 3 more songs plus 1 song at the brink of our breakup. Our fans base growing bigger, we’re lined up in a big league gigs, and one of major Radio enlisted us as one of must watch indie band. So, it was a really fuckin 4 years of awesome time.

I took on college a year after I graduate from HS. I get a diploma program in state university in Bandung. I took Broadcasting major. It’s clear then I get on that major because of my “serious passion” in music industry. I thought, if I work in broadcasting company it’ll easier to “spot lighting” my band. But it’s not going well academically. My grade is average. It’s because soon I realize that I actually not into Broadcasting. At 20 I started to blown by books and thoughts. So that’s when the pseudo-criticize dimension of me started. One of my lecturer said that I suppose to took Political Science major. That’s be my battery to get off. Luckily my mom accepted it and get me into PolSci related Bachelor program in one of mediocre university. Although then financially we’re kind of broke. But that’s my mom, she push herself and eagerly sacrifice her life just to ensure her son not fail.

I start my second Uni almost 21. In contrary with what happened in primary, there my age are 2-3 years above average. So I always think it’s a setback. I try not to waste it since this is my second chance. Then I accelerating everything, my time overly consumed by reading books, writing paper, seminars, and other academic things. It’s obvious I left almost other thing behind. That’s moment I no longer dealt with music and band stuff. The path that seems like been written, the other player focus chasing their own project. So that left me with 1 thing, my girlfriend whom struggling enter a new life phase, college. At that point of life we’re destined to get along, our life line walk side by side. Struggling to graduate from school and find a decent job. We’re also financially not sufficient, so we take any after school job. I work for my Uncle as tour guide to pay my semester. From 21 to 24 my old social life melt into thin air, instead I make new friends with people in academic and activism circle. Which then I realize has huge contribution to shape my thought and mental.

Entering new social sphere shocked me mentally that time. I really change into someone I don’t even know. A skeptical and over-thought pseudo-academic person. You know, that asshole kind of person who ultra assuming their thought being original and super right. At that time I don’t feel comfortable hanging out with my music circle friends. So I totally left them. As a replacement, I’m diving deep into books and activism. Which I believe they are my “true” passion and moronically my life path. I really mean it that time, my writing published at prominent activism web site, presenting my thought at seminars and discussion, being part of mass demonstration, etc. With that load of activity I still finish college just in 3,5 years. And rightaway I don’t thinking about get a “formal” job anymore, so I decide to get a Master degree at the best state Uni in Indonesia. With my saving from part time job as tour guide I pay the administration. My mom doesn’t know that I already accepted at Master degree. Till when the school calendar is coming I tell mom that I going to Jogja for 2 years. My mom shocked. Not only by the fact that I choose to extend my school year, but also by the fact that I’m going to live away from home for a quite long time. So I say sayonara. I leave mom in confusion.

The Master year been super well for me, I got almost Suma Cumlaude at my first semester. My paper presented at Bangkok and Rangoon. Though, unfortunately I don’t get there to present them by myself. The problem is classic. I broke. My saving run out fast. Thanks to unplanned budgeting and excessive drunk habit. Plus I only got a little amount of money from writing project. So in the brink of the second semester I don’t have any money on my pocket. So that was my first experience being financially broke.

Somehow although with my academic achievements I don’t get any of scholarship. Even I mail my Rector then to ask tuition fee postponed, and no answer. So with that condition, at that time I don’t see any reason to stay in Jogja. So I back to Bandung with head facing down like the losing army march back from devastating battlefield. I already knew what I’m going to face, thousand mock. And that come from my own family. But I knew, I was wrong been took some huge decision spontaneously without any plan ahead. So I swallow the pills.

It’s been quite a time to stand on my feet once more. This is the second time I fail at college, the different is this time I fail not by my academic issue, but a god damn run out of cash. My heart break and I fall so deep haunted by my failure. But whatever it takes I should rerun my life. Fortunately one of my friend recommend me to his boss. He just built a research institution, so he hire people to work with him. And I got the job which is suits me. Not only the job, but also the office location, it’s in Bandung. So I work like a year there, until some shit happened again. The company declare bankruptcy!. For brief of time I still can live by some cash I save. But it doesn’t take long till I got broke, once more. So in such devastated time I randomly throw my CV to any open vacancy. I visit every job fair, I sent bunch of mail. What I get is nothing. It’s understandable now why it is happened. I am 26 then. While I wait for job interview, I took any work that I able to do. In example, I’ve been working as part time primary school teacher in my mom office. I teach Social. Then I begin to accept my condition. Yet I know I can do better. So I still connected with activist and academic circle. From the same circle, I met with the second girl I declare as a “serious” relationship. Actually she is not from that circle, but more like friend of my friend. We’re accidentally met at one café when I have a meeting about an event we’re going to run.

Friend of mine greets me with her, who eventually is one of that café share holder. I don’t know, but somehow we’re so easily connected. Our conversation last till the café close. And that is the start. From then we’re regularly meet and somehow our relationship up a level to “a relationship”. We’re thru a great days together. It is possible that our life line slightly different. She just graduate from college that time and I am a jobseeker cum part timer guy. That’s preconditioned us to can spend a lot of time together. But then I got the job in Jakarta and she work in Bandung. Even though we’re still regularly meet when she back her home in Jakarta, but our relationship start to tumble. It’s partly because I’m in adaptation phase with Jakarta and she just starting work in Jakarta. So our communication start dismissed. We’re lost in translation. And at 6 month of our relationship we’re decide to breaking up.

I get a quite decent and suit job in media industry. Since the break up I decide to focus on how to struggling in Jakarta, build my career Monday to Friday and have some reboot in Saturday and Sunday. At the same time I begin to fix my relationship with my family, one of the reason I start a worker life. But it’s not until the 6th month I work then I rethink about what am I wanted to achieve in Jakarta. So I start to redirect my life. And I thought I should save some cash to prepare my future. Yet I still don’t know what am I going to do with that cash. Then I remember one of line in an Indian clan movie, if I not mistaken it is Appache. At the closing, the main actor had a convo with his counterparts. They’re talking about land property ownership.

The whole movie highlighted the conflict between Indians and the invader to claim a land. One of the line got stuck in my head ever since, the chief Appache tell a young brave warrior that “ain’t a men without a land”. Thus when it comes to saving, I always thought that I should save my cash in property not a mere virtual digit in Bank Account. So I tell my mom and she support my idea. Then I went to developer and bank, they accepted my mortgage proposal. At 27 I mark a monumental decision to pay credit to bank for long years. So I start my 28 with years of credit on my back but property on my feet.

Now I’m 28. What does it means by being a 28?. That question keep buzzing me days before I turn a year older till now when I officially 28. Honestly I still don’t know the answer. But I just knew that it is the time that I should continue step my feet to the next phase of life. I should be more stabile, mentally and materially. So when the time to settle comes, I’ll be ready or at least prepared. How to do that?. Simply by fix a once broken thing back then and set timeline goals. So I set it up. Now I got my 2 year plan. If that realize, and it should, it would be another monumental life decision. I wish. May the lord open.*** Bandung 26 January 2018 Ps: Sorry if my grammar sucks. It’s unedited and I don’t give a fuck, tho!

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damsoulindistress · 5 years

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Best St_dent goes to U

Blog Entry: How to be an Achiever in school

Being a college student, we can never really deny the competition that is steadily growing and knowing that education is a highly important part of an individual’s life, the lessons and attitudes a person learns and develops from an educational institution shapes up a person’s life. The job and career we will develop truly depends on how well we do in our studies. In order to get good grades and develop useful skills, we have to be a good student. So far, these are the tips I have researched that I know will help me big time in being on top of my game:

1. Setting up Goals

Set long-term and short-term goals and measure our progress through them. Goals will help us keep motivated to strive and achieve success. These short-term goals will work as a ladder, which will lead us towards our long-term goal. Although it is good to challenge ourselves to do better, we must ensure that the goals we are setting are realistic.

2. Time Management

Time management is crucial for all the aspects of our lives. When we are aiming to become a better student, the most important thing to keep us on track is manage your time properly. We should also make study schedules and stick to them, this will create a balanced study time which will help us in concentrating properly on all our activities.

3. Proper Rest

Getting proper rest is very important. Our brain needs sleep in order to synthesize newly learned information. If a student is well rested, he or she will stay alert and active during class activities. We will be able to concentrate more on your studies and other activities if we are well rested.

3. Attend All Classes

Attendance is extremely important to help enrich the educational experience. We must attend classes in order to pass the courses we have successfully. Students learn more when they attend the classes and listen to the lectures. It helps us in remembering and understanding lessons more clearly.

4. Take Notes

Concentrating on the lecture and jotting down important details ensures that we understand the course material. Taking notes also helps us remember the lesson more clearly. Make sure you rewrite them after the class to keep them fresh in your mind and to ensure that you will understand them properly when you look at them after a few days or weeks. Taking good notes will help you in reviewing and revising for exams.

Cum LaudATE of Dasma, Ate Lyka

There are a lot of students who showcased exceptional brillance in studying at Inang Pamantasan, and of course, having their futures brighter than the sun, these people are considered role models that we all look up to as PNUans. One of which I have known since I was in Senior High School, ate Lyka Balanac. She was my best friend's sister who also studied in PNU. She graduated Cum Laude in 2014 finish the course Bachelor in Elementary Education (BEED). And currently, she is teaching in Sta. Cruz Elementary School. She was not just a good student but also a responsible sister and daughter as well being the eldest of four children.

Ate Lyka's dream did not just stop in being a Cum Laude in this prestige University, she envisioned to provide education in all forms. So as we did our online chat, I asked her, 'what is the best advice you could give to college students like me to be best at what we do? " and so she answered,

''Be more. Being a top student is not as fulfilling as sharing whatever knowledge you have acquired in your college journey, so for me, I start the change I wanted to see when I was a student, and that's exactly what I'm doing right now as a teacher. But being a student never really stopped me to be more." ~Lyka Balanac

REFERENCE:

https://www.floridacareercollege.edu/blog/how-to-become-a-better-student

(PHOTO CRDITS: Lyka Balanac, Pinterest)

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saxllp · 5 years

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April Sax Spotlight: Omar Nasif and Stuart Berger

Omar Nasif

Please join Sax as we shine our Employee Spotlight on Tax Associate, Omar Nasif. Omar joined the team at Sax in October of 2018 and has already accomplished so much in his professional and personal life. His biggest achievement has been graduating college with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree. Omar’s strong work ethic and determination to the firm has been a great asset to have at Sax. He strives to learn something new every day and his long-term goal is to become a Partner in Sax’s Not-for-Profit Practice.

Since starting his career as an Accountant, Omar has developed a passion for the field and is creating a Tax Newsletter blog for people to utilize for a clearer understanding of the industry and its policies. Be on the look-out for Omar’s blog, coming soon!

Read our Q&A to learn more about Omar:

What college did you attend? What was your major?

I attended the City College of New York, where I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and my Master’s Degree in Economics. After graduating from CCNY, I decided to go back to school at Queens College where I studied Accounting and received my second Bachelor’s Degree.

Do you have any credentials?

After obtaining my Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, I received my Enrolled Agent Certification and I am currently studying for the CPA exam and taking the first part this summer.

When did you start working at Sax?

I started working at Sax in October of 2018 as a Tax Associate.

What are your day-to-day responsibilities at Sax? What do you specialize in?

As a Tax Associate, I mainly prepare tax returns for all size businesses and individuals. I had a lot of individual 1040 experience under my belt before I came to Sax, so I have been specializing in that, which has been a great fit for me.

What are a few things you have learned at Sax?

The most important thing I have learned at Sax is how to perfect my business return skillset. The knowledge and support I have received from the employees at the firm have helped me strengthen my expertise.

Explain some of your biggest achievements in your career.

I’ve achieved a lot throughout my professional career so far, but I would say some of my biggest accomplishments have been learning from my mistakes and accepting constructive criticism from my peers. By being able to learn and grow from my mistakes, I have been able to develop a higher skillset and continue to do so every day.

Explain some of your biggest achievements in life.

My biggest life achievement is my academic career and being able to obtain two Bachelor’s Degrees and a Master’s Degree, all in six years. It definitely was not easy, but I learned so much throughout my college experience and I’m proud I was able to accomplish those goals at a young age.

Do you have a vision or goal for your career?

Throughout the next few years, I see myself advancing my career at Sax and hopefully becoming a Partner in the firm’s Not-for-Profit Practice. I’ve always wanted to work with the Not-for-Profit industry because I want to be able to help organizations achieve their mission as their trusted advisor.

What volunteer work and/or charities do you participate in?

I have been making annual contributions to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and Feed the Children since 2007. I always knew I wanted to give back to the community, so when I started to research different organizations I could get involved with, St. Jude’s and Feed the Children stuck out to me because of their mission to help children in need.

Are there any other interesting facts about you outside of your work life?

I am currently working on launching a Tax Newsletter blog, aimed towards people who are not in the accounting field. My goal with the blog is to give people a better understanding of the industry and it’s changing policies. Aside from my work life, I have a passion for photography and try to travel and take pictures as much as I can. More recently, I’ve been interested in becoming a life coach and give my family and friends life advice in my free time.

Stuart Berger, CPA

Sax is proud to shine our Employee Spotlight on Real Estate Partner, Stuart Berger, who has been with the firm for nearly 40 years. Stuart has come a long way since being hired at Sax in 1982. Some of his career milestones include becoming a Partner at the firm, founding the firm’s Real Estate Practice, and being named Managing Partner from 2008-2011. Stuart has prided himself on being his clients’ most trusted advisor and continues to instill the same values in the generations that follow him.

Throughout his time at Sax, Stuart has remained dedicated to the firm and his responsibilities and is proud of the career he has built. He has enjoyed his time at the firm and is glad Sax is where he chose to spend his career. Not only has he been very successful in his role at the firm, but he has made life-long relationships with his clients and the people he has worked with at Sax.

Read our Q&A to learn more about Stuart:

What college did you attend? What was your major?

I attended Syracuse University, where I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. Going into college, I was unsure of what I wanted to do with my future, so I declared undecided for my first year. During my sophomore year I had to take an accounting course, and it was then I realized I could see myself doing this for the rest of my life.

Do you have any credentials?

I received my CPA License right after I graduated college. It was not an easy exam to study for, but I stayed extremely focused on the end goal and was able to pass all four parts of the exam pretty quickly. I try to encourage the younger staff at the firm to study for it right after college, so they can get it over with.

When did you start working at Sax?

I started working at Sax in 1982 in the Audit Department.

What is your current title?

I am a Partner in the firm’s Real Estate Practice.

What are your day-to-day responsibilities at Sax?

My day-to-day responsibilities include creating and shaping a service team that serves our real estate clients. As a Partner, I oversee the team and make sure each individual client is getting the best service that we can provide. At Sax, we pride ourselves on being our clients’ #1 advisor, so my responsibilities also include building long-lasting and trustworthy relationships with my clients.

What are a few things you have learned here?

The most valuable thing I have learned throughout my career at Sax is that you must face business as an entrepreneur. In this field, you have to be willing to take risks and make difficult decisions. As an advisor, our clients come to us for advice daily and we must be able to think fast and strategically.

Explain some of your biggest achievements while working at Sax.

My entire career has been one big achievement for me. My most memorable accomplishments while at Sax were becoming a Partner and being promoted to Managing Partner for 4 years. Looking back, everything that has happened throughout my career has impacted my life in some way or another and I truly have enjoyed growing through my experiences and building life-long relationships with my clients and the people at the firm.

Explain some of your biggest achievements in life.

I am very proud of my family and everything my children have accomplished in their own lives. Another big achievement of mine has been being able to give back to my community in various ways and remain active in my synagogue.

Do you have a vision or goal for the rest of your career?

When the time comes to retire, I would like to leave behind a team that can continue to successfully service our clients and be their most trusted advisor. Over the next few years, my goal is to educate the younger staff on as much as possible so they can also lead successful careers.

What volunteer work and/or charities do you participate in?

Eight years ago, I developed and helped bring to life Sax’s Annual 4 Miler at Garret Mountain, which benefits St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. Since beginning the race in 2012, we have raised over $400,000 for the children’s hospital and I am excited to see what’s to come for the future of the event.

Are there any other interesting facts about you outside of your work life?

Outside of work, I enjoy traveling with my wife and have visited 24 countries within the past 5 years, Israel and Jordan being the most recent ones. When I am not traveling, I like to collect model trains and try to golf as much as I can.

The post April Sax Spotlight: Omar Nasif and Stuart Berger appeared first on SAX.

from SAX https://www.saxllp.com/april-sax-spotlight-omar-nasif-and-stuart-berger/

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namelessblacksheep · 5 years

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LESSONS IN THE GAME OF LIFE

Let’s face it, the one universal truth that anyone who has been on the planet can agree on: life is hard. If you are currently sat there shaking your head vehemently denying this then congratulations you have made it, or alternatively, you haven’t and just avoid anything and everything in your life.

The thing is no one ever said life was meant to be easy. If you look at what the point of life is, you may come up with a thousand answers from a thousand different people.

Everyone’s unique take on the purpose of life will be nuanced by the idiosyncratic conceptualisation of their own life and associated hopes, dreams, challenges and so forth. However, if we bring it back to a basic process, life is simply changing through the ages and stages we pass through. The more successfully we navigate these challenges and experiences the more likely we will report having a ‘good life’.

For me at least, life is about problem-solving my way through every day, week, month and year. The rinse cycle and repeat until the day comes when my time is up. Not very romantic or eloquent I know, but having been here long enough to see a few cycles come and go, that’s the way I see it.

Life is going to throw stuff at you every day and how you deal with it is ultimately going to decide your own evolution and experience. If you avoid problems, they may go away for a bit, but the chances are until you address and master them, there’s only so far your evolution can go.

If you imagine life is a video game, with various levels and end bosses to defeat to progress to the next one, the only way you can win the game is to get through all the stages and master all the challenges.

Sometimes you learn something at one stage that is essential to be mastered to even be able to navigate one later. What if you had to learn to swim in stage one because in stage three the whole level was under water? If you were to somehow find a way to cheat your way through, you’re eventually going to get stuck later on and in all likelihood go back and graduate from stage one anyway. If you want to progress that is.

To extend the metaphor a little further, when we consider ourselves as a player in this game, our character will have various strengths and weaknesses that will help or hinder them along the way. Throughout that process we utilise our respective strengths and address our weaknesses to successfully navigate the stage, but so can other characters with different skill sets.

I guess the point I am making is that there is no definitive way to achieve something, you have to problem solve with what you have and you don’t have it, seek to find a way to obtain it.

The end of level boss is the equivalent of a test or examination to check that you have learned all you need to. This is basically giving you the license to say that whatever shit you encountered down there on level one, you cleaned it up real good. Or to invoke the spirit of the Ghostbusters, ‘you ain’t afraid of no ghost’, so give me my £200 and let me pass go. You get the point.

The thing is like any game or exam until you learn the required knowledge to proceed and successfully apply it to defeat the boss, you will keep repeating the challenge until it’s done. Should the same challenge ever appear at a later stage, and it will, you should assuming you did the work, be able to vanquish it with relative ease next time around.

Not everyone will win the game of life. Some will get stuck on a level and choose to replay it over and over again and sometimes go back a couple of levels just because they are happy to be masters of levels one through three. Some will plough through and find themselves unable to get past one bit and just give up playing at all and go seek some other game to play instead. Others might come back one day and try again with renewed vigour.

Those that cheat their way through the levels, might get to the victory stage pretty easily, but in reality, what did they learn? Chances are that when life changes the game unexpectedly, they won’t do well on level 1, whilst the true gamers will zip through the preliminaries with ease.

Okay, so enough with the video game metaphor. The point of this article is to summarise some key lessons that I have learned that may or may not be of use to people. I don’t really believe in ‘how to’ approaches to life, people that seek these out are often looking to find the shortcut to success, or to go back to the game metaphor ‘the cheat codes’. Instead, the approach is more to give some considerations, approaches and values to embrace.

The work always has to be done, but knowing where to start or reminding yourself to get back to the basics is always useful. So, the only promise here is that what is shared is to the best of my knowledge and will only be of any use if you put in the work and application to your own approach to the game.

So here’s a reservoir of knowledge and experience for you. It’s up to you whether you take a sip or wade in and the application of it is for you to tailor and adapt to your own experience.

There are no shortcuts to success

Let’s start this off the right way. The best shortcut to anything is doing it the right way as soon as possible and to keep doing it consistently over time.

Anyone who has been on a named fad diet will tell you that whilst they may have lost a lot of weight in a short time, chances are it came at a price or with consequences. Maybe they lost a bunch of weight, but didn’t lose all the fat they wanted to and therefore were just a skinner version of their fat selves. They didn’t achieve their goal and when they started eating normally again, they not only regained the weight, but they gained even more than they started. Because of the way they went about it, they got saggy skin and harmed their health because they were effectively starving themselves or not engaging in good nutrition.

The above is obviously a worst-case scenario, but you can apply it to anything. Shortcuts are just short-term solutions that in the long run can often turn out to be diversions from your original course. It can often mean taking longer to reach your actual goal. Don’t avoid the hard work required to get to where you want to be. In the end, it will probably be the shortest journey with the longest lasting impact.

If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know you have arrived?

Too often people set off on a course without really having any goal or destination in mind. They plough all of their energy and effort into something because they think they’ll just figure it out along the way. Two years down the road when their brain engages, they start to look around and think ‘what am I doing, why am I not fulfilled?’

Whilst we cannot always map out every part of our lives to the specific details, it is good to have an idea of what it is you actually want to achieve even if it’s only in the short term. Giving endless amounts of time and effort to something that isn’t fully formed as a goal or destination can mean incorrectly preparing for the journey and potentially being very dissatisfied at some later point when you realise that you have in fact just been going around in circles so long that you now find yourself in a bit of ditch of your own making.

Setting a few goals for a defined period gives a sense of control and structure for your life. If you don’t like committing to something you can’t get out (mobile contract anyone?) then just commit to something for a week or a month and see how it pans out. If you feel it’s leading you in the right direction then you can plan a bit further ahead, if not, you haven’t lost much ground.

Ultimately though, if you don’t really know what you want then maybe the first thing you should commit to is finding out what that is and then plan the steps to get there.

If you want to get fit and then just turn up to a gym and sign up for a year, but don’t really consider what you are going to do when you are there means a lot of wasted time, money and effort with no results. Don’t just follow the crowd, be purposeful and deliberate.

If you find yourself doing something just because everyone else is doing it, congratulations you are now back at school desperately trying to fit in with shit you probably don’t care about.

Your life should be as meaningful and enjoyable as possible. Given the trials and tribulations you are going to go through, you have to safeguard some ‘me’ time to do as you please.

The more you can make all aspects of your life true to who you are the better your own existence and experience will be. If you are compromising who you are just to get a job or be with someone, then chances are that isn’t going to stand the test of time.

You are who you are and you should embrace that and seek to become the best version of you that you can. By doing so you will attract the people and opportunities you want into your life.

Embrace the unique person you are and don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. the crowd or group that alienate you for being yourself are just a bunch of people too scared to level up and they are just recruiting to make themselves feel safer about their own lack of courage to stand out.

The only group you should ever aspire to be part of is one that looks to grow and develop and is accepting of difference. Fitting in and conforming to the loudest and scariest voice is not that dissimilar to signing up to be a Nazi, and we all know how that ended.

Challenge your bad habits and replace them with better ones

We are an aggregation of our habits. Therefore, our lives are a product of all of our habits combined. A bit of simple maths will tell you how good your life is and how far it can go. If you have a series of bad habits, they are likely to breed new bad habits in response to the effects of said habits and before you know it you are drowning in a pool of bad habits.

It’s not easy to address habits, but figuring out the cues and triggers is the key to trying to change the associated responses. Habits don’t have to be limited to behaviours, they can be thought processes. The thing about habits is they can be changed and when you start to address one, pretty soon you will find that you are addressing others at the same time because of the interdependencies between them.

Even you don’t eliminate all of your bad habits, the aggregation over time will mean a better life than had you continued down the road of collecting new bad ones.

You are responsible for your own happiness

It was a friend of mine who said this to me one day and it really stuck with me. I think in a world full of so many other people and so many distractions it is very easy to constantly be looking outside of ourselves for things that make us feel a particular way.

Some people will go looking for that perfect partner that will validate their place in the game of life and others, having found this person, may desire a family because that too gives their life some form of meaning.

Other people will seek out a career or vocation that resonates with who they are and others will pursue material things and life experiences because these will provide tangible evidence of their time on the planet and thus through some fucked up mathematics that is beyond comprehension, this means they should be happy.

Your happiness is probably best found by looking inwards and being the best person you can be. Learning to accept and care for yourself means that all of the above will be shaped by being true to who you are.

Someone or something else cannot make you happy, perhaps they can accentuate that happiness and enhance your life in some way, but ultimately if you are not content with who you are and what you have to offer the world then you won’t be happy in the long run.

For anyone, vehemently rejecting this concept because their partner makes them so very happy indeed, ask yourself this: do you make them happy back? You might be constantly taking from them just to be happy and if they aren’t getting anything in return then the situation may not last forever.

You have to take responsibility for your own life because if you are relying on someone else all the time, life will find a way to make you realise this. Plus, if you truly love that person who makes you happy, make sure you’re giving as good as you get.

If you must have expectations, only have them for yourself

The game of expectations can be a perilous lesson for us all. How many times do we allow ourselves to be let down and disappointed by people and situations that fail to meet our expectations? Too often. Also, when you are the one who is subject to other people’s unrealistic expectations that can be pretty galling too. Fuck everyone else, focus on you.

If you think you should be doing something because it’s for your own good, then do it and leave it at that. Don’t start putting your own expectations out there for people to be aware of, because those fuckers will hold you to it. You know what I mean, you’re just about to destroy a triple chocolate slab of cake and some asshole says ‘but I thought you were on a diet’. Now that sumptuous cake is going to taste like a concoction of shit and guilt that is going to turn your stomach. That’s not what cake is supposed to taste like.

Likewise, don’t place your bullshit expectations on someone else’s shoulders either. If your partner is not conforming to the Photoshopped body image that is out there each day and you think they should be hitting the gym, well fuck you, basically.

If you want to look like a gym model then crack on and if you want your partner to look like that, pick someone who already does look like that. Chances are someone who meets your expectations is out of your league anyway (and that works both ways ladies and gents).

From a situational perspective, if you are committing hours of toil and effort towards your work in the hope that it might lead to a promotion, don’t get disappointed if it never happens.

Nothing in this life is guaranteed, and we have a habit, we humans of creating carrots to chase that was never going to be there anyway. If you do all that extra stuff because it may one day pay off, it probably will, but just maybe at a different company or in ways, you can’t yet fathom.

Bottom line if you are going to do something because you think that’s the way it should be, all power to you, but not everyone has to agree with you or follow you for that matter. Do it for you and do it because you see the value in it and sod everyone else.

Commit to positive self-talk

A little self-deprecation doesn’t hurt anyone right? Well, that ultimately depends on the audience and how long you beat a dead horse narrative. If you are one of those people who is terrified of being thought of by others in a bad way, so in order to neutralise uncomfortable situations you resort to putting yourself down, to appear non-threatening, then stop.

Being able to laugh at yourself is an admirable trait, but either do it when alone or in trusted company. There are plenty of Clint and Cynthia’s out there (basically the C word applied to respective genders) who will capitalise on this and start to use it for their own fun. Pretty soon you have put yourself in a position where you have inadvertently created a narrative about yourself that others now feel they can wade in on. These people tend to lack the ability to laugh at themselves, but they are grandmasters in piling misery on others.

If you are giving them the bullets, pretty soon those fuckers are firing at will like a crazy person with a Gatling gun. Don’t arm them. Instead, start to commit to speaking about your more admirable traits and you don’t even have to talk about yourself, act in accordance with the things that make you fun and interesting. Own like a boss and feel good about yourself.

At the end of the day, haters are going to hate anyway, at least this way you are not giving someone the power to slap you in the face. In all likelihood, the less desirables will talk behind your back or try to tear you down. See it as a chance to become more resilient and applaud yourself for not welcoming assholes into your life. Kill them with kindness and smiles, they fucking hate that. Stay in your own lane and ignore the bullshit billboards

With the rise of technology and social media, we are constantly bombarded by an array of blatant and subliminal marketing messages. These don’t just come from companies anymore, they have somehow co-opted ‘Celebrities’ and even some of your ‘friends’ into perpetuating these mythical fantasies.

If you were to believe everything that is thrown at you every day, you would be excused for thinking you’re in some Twelve Monkeys re-run or stuck on some level in Inception. It’s so very confusing you’re just like, what the actual fuck is going on here. The way a lot of people counter this is to pick a persona to conform to and follow and like all the shit everyone else in that particular echo chamber follows mindlessly. This is where you should revisit the part about following the crowd.

Bullshit billboards are the fake presentations of a great life, or more accurately a depiction of a life that appears to be better than yours. It can be quite enticing to think ‘holy cow, everyone is doing so much better than me’ and then to dive in and join them for fear of missing out. This would be a monumental mistake.

Have confidence in yourself and be true to yourself and just keep driving in your own lane. Eventually, when you get to your destination like a rock star, those billboards will likely have been replaced with a new bullshit narrative or be a dilapidated effigy to something that was never real in the first place.

If you are too busy being bothered by what is going on in the ‘real world’, which is basically code for the Matrix of bullshit we want you to be terrified of, you won’t be focused on the task at hand. Your journey is for you to travel along, if you’re busy looking up at other people’s bullshit billboards then you may crash, or if you are putting up billboards of your own then you aren’t really moving along with the times.

If you are truly happy and content with your lot, you won’t give two shits about anyone else’s. You also wouldn’t need to be seeking validation from others. If you post stuff on social media because you are looking for likes and comments, do the right thing and have a word with yourself.

If you must believe in anything, believe in yourself

If it is meaningful to you to believe in God, or Angels or the fucking Cookie Monster, that’s entirely your choice. However, if you allow these things to have power over you because of some superstitions or old wives tales that you have internalised, you need to address that.

Not taking action because ‘it’s not God’s way’, or signing a work contract because oh shit Mercury is in retrograde and that means my legs will fall off, or some other nonsensical justification to do or not do something is ultimately to your detriment. The most powerful being when it comes to your life and day-to-day experience is you numb-nuts.

I cannot prove or disprove God or anything else beyond the realms of normal human experience, but I’m fairly confident that the almighty powers above are not sat there waiting on your call. You have to crack on and do what needs to be done in this world. If believing that some higher power is backing you brings you comfort then cool, but ultimately, the person (or God) that makes real shit happen in your world is you.

There are plenty of folk on this ball of land and water who would quite happily play the role of God in your life if you let them. They tend to be a bunch of self-serving ‘Clints’ and ‘Cynthias’, who couldn’t give a shit about you. The only person who really does is you.

Never underestimate the power you have at your disposal to do good in this world, and you don’t even have to do anything for someone else. Be a selfish bastard and make yourself a better person, a stronger, healthier and more educated person than you are now. Then whoops, by focusing on yourself so much it turns out the world immediately becomes a better place and perhaps you feel up to extending your knowledge to help others. What a horrible selfish individual you are!

Imagine a world where everyone was so selfish and self-centred that they all became better people and just started to project more positive stuff from within themselves out into the world. That sounds like a truly horrible place, or does it?

For the ardent and fanatical believers, I’m not questioning your beliefs. If you want to believe in some beardy dude on a cloud that is absolutely your right, if you want to be offended by my attempt at humour just then, that too is your right. But consider this: in the vast expanse of the Universe, each human is but a mere grain of sand on a random beach of many.

Do you really believe the Almighty gives a crap whether a tidal wave washes you away? There is a certain amount of free will involved in life even for the most zealous supporter of Big G, so crack on and do something good.

Be grateful for shit, even if it sucks

The key here is to look around your life and be grateful for the good things in amongst the things you could change. In an alternate reality where all your stuff is replaced and you now only have all the things you craved, it’s highly likely that there is a bunch of stuff that you wish had come along for the ride. Perhaps you could imagine your perfect vision of your life and see what the old stuff that is part of that picture. That is the shit you really should be grateful for. It’s easy to forget sometimes the things that matter that we take for granted.

The more grateful you are for the things that matter, the more chance there is for you to work towards completing that picture in the future. If you are starting from a point of view that you have nothing worthy of a life or to be grateful for then you aren’t looking hard enough.

Life is like a giant puzzle, each of us has our own picture to complete, but there are often pieces missing. The key is: hold on to that outline that you have built to date and then start to add to it one step at a time. Over time you will achieve your puzzle box image and you will have ensured that none of the other foundational pieces went missing along the way.

Not everything we should be grateful for though has to be good for us. We should learn to be grateful for life’s challenges. I know that’s a stretch, but the truth is life is an endless struggle and once we master one thing we are almost immediately faced with another, but the joy should be moving on to the next challenge because that means you passed the other test.

What if you got stuck at one juncture and could never move forwards? Be grateful when one challenge leaves your life and no one comes along, it means you are ready for the next step in your training.

I think one thing I have learned over the years is to be grateful for the wisdom and knowledge people are willing to share with you for free. Sometimes, we hear it at a point when we are not ready and dismiss it or put it down in some way. ‘That sucks’. However, one day that free gift may become that tiny puzzle piece that joins the major parts together and you will be grateful for it then.

They say, nothing in life is free. But every day when someone offers you words of wisdom or you go online to do some research remember there is no requirement for people to put those words out there or for you to take it, but it ultimately costs you nothing. If it doesn’t ring true for you then move on and if it does then great.

Sometimes it takes many different bits of information from a variety of places to meet the need that we have. If someone doesn’t have the exact answer for you but moves you in the right direction be grateful, they just provided you with the equivalent of a shortcut and it’s your responsibility to figure out stuff for yourself.

Whilst I have just given an example of something in life that is free, I’d go so far to say that if you are getting something for nothing, maybe when the opportunity presents itself you should pay it forward to someone else. As if you are repaying a debt or kindness. It might change someone’s life.

Conclusions

The above list is far from exhaustive and I imagine at some point I will conduct a similar exercise focusing on a raft of other approaches or mantras that could make a difference. If life is a journey and we are all on different ones that would mean that there are countless roads to travel along. That would also mean many skills and experiences needed to successful ascend to the next level.

At the foundation of all of these for me are a few fundamentals. You have to take responsibility for your own life. You have to accept that shit is going to happen even if you lock yourself in a rubber room in a padded suit. You are going to get beaten up one way or another and if you don’t like it, start training yourself as a Ninja for life. Commit to doing things that build you and make you better than you were yesterday, no matter how small.

Don’t expect others to do stuff for you or to show you the way. But if they do, don’t be an ungrateful little shit about it, be thankful and when you are able to pass it on to the next person.

If you are waiting around to see if you are one of the chosen ones, let me save you time: the chosen ones are those who chose to believe that they are not. They are the ones who get up and go because they believe they deserve better, whatever that is, and they don’t rely on anyone or anything else to elicit change. All these illusions about something bigger being in control only serves to mean that those who bow to it will be controlled.

If you allow yourself to give in to your fears, or to give away your power to someone else just to fit in. You are effectively locking yourself in cell and giving a Clint or Cynthia the key. They will collect you and others like you and feed off of your power like a bunch of energy Vampires to serve their own cause. They don’t mind not getting to the higher levels when they can become the boss on the one you are stuck on.

Be you and strive for a better version. You’ll attract people who are more like you and going to prove useful for the journey ahead, then you don’t need to worry so much about fitting in. Just being you will be enough for these fellow travellers and you may teach others a thing or two. You don’t know everything, fuck, you probably don’t know shit and that’s okay because most of us are in the same boat. The ones who look like they have it all figured out are just erecting bullshit billboards at the end of the day. Or on occasion, they have successfully navigated the path you are on and are all too willing to impart a thing or two.

The more you embrace your power, the quicker your inbuilt bullshit detection system will kick in.

Where there is knowledge to be gained, don’t immediately assume the 'monkey see, monkey do' approach. The game of life doesn’t gift wrap anything. Sometimes within a package is a nugget of insight to help you along your way, but you have to apply it or break into it in a way that makes it useful. If someone handed you a toilet roll, you wouldn’t expect them to wipe your arse for you too now, would you?

There’s no reason that knowledge and its application should be any different. Now, if you can’t wipe your own arse, metaphorically speaking, perhaps that’s where the focus of your efforts should be.

“I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.” - Carl Jung.

#habits #lifestyle #life #yolo #positivevibes #positivethinking #change

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foodoliplife · 5 years

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Why Everyone Is Wrong Regarding Polar Biology and Why You Must Read This Report

Polar Biology – the Conspiracy

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Polar Biology for Dummies

If it’s the molecule is polar or non-polar may make a difference in lots of ways. Linear molecules have a tendency to be non-polar. The amino acids that should be eaten are called the crucial amino acids’ because they’re a critical portion of a nutritious diet.

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Qualities like self-motivation, teamwork ability and leadership might also be gained through non-academic pursuits and work experience and prepare you for a array of careers. Finally, this approach will realize an immense impact for a great number of patients world-wide. Both parties receive a benefit.

Intermolecular interactions can happen between polar molecules on account of the dipole shifts and slight charges connected with each end. Ionic bonds are most frequently found in salts, and they form an extremely strong bond, even though it can be broken by water. Each atom has a particular electronegativity.

I want to set this up with a homey analogy. A better comprehension of how light modulates emotion and cognition will bring about novel preventive and therapeutic strategies for mood disorders along with cognitive decline related to aging and dementia. It expresses your purpose via your passion. But unfortunately they don’t realize how these thoughts can shape their lives. Nonetheless, there’s no ambiguity about the mouse success. I don’t think there’s any difference between the meaning of both of these sentences.

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Dad was a journalist, thus we moved around a good deal. To date, nearly all of my scholarship activities have involved getting my lab ready to go. This last level may provide you some helpful ideas about possible options following your course or a course you’re contemplating.

The Polar Biology Pitfall

Peer mentors can help you in your very first year. Moreover, the University organises an yearly careers fair so that you’re able to meet prospective employers and find an insight into the variety of marine-related careers. Since they are positions which are off campus, the Biology Department utilizes the term Externships.

If you are worried about preventing the flu there are a lot of things you can do in order to lower your risk. The most important risk factor for type two diabetes is obesity. Other people can produce insulin.

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The New Angle On Polar Biology Just Released

Students can select the PDF files of study materials they want to see or can download all the course materials at the same time. At school, there are plenty of subjects. When studying biology you need never have to worry you will be unable to apply your education in a useful and fulfilling way. In some instances, though, a biology professor may look for the assistance of graduate students in grading his undergraduate students. Fall and Spring and annually.

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What’s Really Happening with Polar Biology

Thus CO2 isn’t a polar molecule, although it has polar bonds. In the event the electrons aren’t shared equally, then there is going to be a partial ionic charge. Each atom has a particular electronegativity.

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The speed at which the components descend through the column is dependent on many factors. And they don’t suddenly lose their accuracy once I cite their results. Salinities are higher in the tropics as a result of high evaporation prices. As a consequence the warmest air doesn’t reach the poles. The studies reveal that sea ice may have a large effect on the international carbon cycle, and that chemical processes have a much greater effect on the sea ice’s capability to eliminate CO2 than biological processes. Massive amounts of auxin are made by senescent leaves.

I believe he would be very happy to be aware that the special insights he provided continue to get passed on each individual spring, and will continue to get passed on as long as I’m involved in the training course. I used to not care where it was, I only wanted to go somewhere and experience biological research in the area. Many times, data is collected in the area and analyzed on campus. Specific emphasis will be put on topics in geometry and trigonometry. The carboxyl group is extremely versatile. Just take a look at the latest data available for our graduates.

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It bears need our help and protection to ensure a long, healthy future for the species. In general, the findings indicate that the Arctic Ocean archipelagos could function as a refuge for bees now on the brink of extinction due to climate warming. Sperm whales aren’t the only whales to adopt.

Applications received after the deadline might not be considered. Biology papers can become very technical very fast. The offspring is going to be born any moment from November to February. But additionally, it is woefully inaccurate. It might help you feel much better. Yes, but not all them.

Students are going to have an chance to get experience, to raise knowledge in various functional locations, and establish important contacts with an organization. Whenever you have diabetes, for a single reason or other, this approach isn’t working right. MA 340 is highly advisable.

God has at all times pulled my butt from the fire, and put me in the very best of situations. It appears a pity, but I don’t think I can write more. But a small tan is sufficient to shield mothers against that issue. And the form of a grizzly head.

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#food #recipe #Why Everyone Is Wrong Regarding Polar Biology and Why You Must Read This Report

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sa21-group6-theskinnylegend-blog · 6 years

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I Proceed With Honor by Chesca Brito

“To “know thyself” in mature adulthood, then, is to do three things: (a) to apprehend and to perform with social approval my self-ascribed traits and roles, (b) to pursue with vigor and (ideally) success my most valued goals and plans, and (c) to construct a story about life that conveys, with vividness and cultural resonance, how I became the person I am becoming, integrating my past as I remember it, my present as I am experiencing it, and my future as I hope it to be.” (McAdams, p. 7)

My journey of coming to terms with myself, is of course rooted in my childhood experiences. As I may have shared in previous blog posts, I was raised by my grandmother whom I call “mama,” being born out of wedlock. Ever since, I was trained to excel in everything I do, especially academics. Mama would strictly review me during my exam weeks in pre-school to grade school, and would punish me whenever I did not get answers correctly. She also grounded me when I did not get the highest grades as results came out. At first, I saw this as something I needed to escape from; I thought to myself, why was it not okay for me to make the mistakes my classmates did? Why was my life set out like this? Later on, when I grew more mature in grade school, I realized that mama did this for two reasons: (1) she wanted me to be on top of everyone else so I wouldn’t be stepped on by my biological mother and her new family, (2) she wanted to ensure a bright future for me so that when I grow old and by the time she is gone, I could protect myself and be successfully independent not needing anyone else’s help.

As a child, it seemed like it took a while for me to realize these things, but observing my peers then, I knew I matured earlier. It wasn’t long until I felt the rewarding feeling of my hard work. It was nice knowing that I was ahead of my batchmates both in academics and maturity. The warmth of being able to help them with their school work and their personal lives was even more fulfilling. Until it became a mindset, that as long as I am seeking for the best there is, I would do just fine and I would be satisfied.

Fast forward to the first few months of my senior year in high school when we were all stressfully preparing our college entrance test applications and carefully picking out the courses we would take for each of those schools. Coming into that rat race of preparations, I had one goal in mind: I wanted to get the best. I did not let our financial situation get in the way, as I knew in myself that I could always find a way if I wanted it. Although I most surely wanted to see myself studying in either UP or Ateneo, I took the exams in DLSU, UST, and UA&P for assurance, since I would still have to apply for scholarships. I thought as well that it would be my pride to tell the world, or perhaps my kids in the future that I passed all five exams. Luckily for me, I did and achieved more than that. I ranked 13th out of the 1545 in my course for UST and was awarded a 100% Merit Scholarship in UA&P. I passed my first choice in UP Diliman which was BS Business Administration (BS BA) as well as my first choice in Ateneo, BS Management-Honors. At this point, I had half a heart at being contented because I was already beyond grateful that my college education was assured with my slot in UP; but half of me was just crushed when I wasn’t granted the scholarship I applied for in Ateneo as it really was my dream school. It took me several appeals while I was deciding between the two. Among the factors I considered were the courses I got for both schools. I thought that if I were to study in UP, there was still a course higher than what I got which was BS Business Administration and Accountancy (BS BAA), and I didn’t exactly want to shift to this since I wasn’t really fond of accounting. If I studied in Ateneo, as what was shared to us passers in the Open House, BS MGT-H/BS MH was the greatest course in Ateneo’s JGSOM, even better than BS ME since they had a lower retention grade. It was tough deciding since I wasn’t given all the resources in the world. I can choose to study in UP for a much more affordable tuition fee, but I wouldn’t have the best course, or I could choose Ateneo where my course is hailed the best, but I did not have the money for it which was a big problem. After months of waiting, the result of my appeal finally came just in time for graduation. I was granted 50% Financial Aid, my aunt stepped in to pay for the other half, and I graduated with awards as the Top 10 in our batch. That time was truly satisfying, all my hard work paid off, I was able to get the best, I was able to keep my honor.

Life does not stop there though. August came, and the MH life of avoiding C+ grades and maintaining that 3.0 QPI started. Freshman year went by pretty quickly. Too quick that I started losing the “honor” I carried with me. I questioned myself most of the time and thought, what would my high school self say? I was ultimately disappointed in myself even more when second year first semester came. It was our death sem with 25 units, including the 2 majors that would filter the best from the pool of geniuses. It was my lowest point as I failed the first exam of my life, our first statistics long test. We had the option to shift out after the first LTs for statistics and accounting to hopefully save our QPIs, but I didn’t despite failing one, and getting just a passing grade for the other. I didn’t want to be a quitter, I wanted to finish what I started and wait until the course kicks me out. At this point, I thought, there was no “best” I could get anymore.

The sem ended, and I didn’t meet the retention requirements. I thought it was the end of my life. It was the end of the 13 years of good grades, the end of an era I suppose. So what do I do now? It’s at this time that I truly reflect, now that I lost the “best” option I could get, now that I lost the “honor.” McAdams says in his writing that our lives are reflexive projects. At this modern day and age, we often try to manage, discipline, refine, improve, or develop the self. We work on ourselves, as we might work on any other interesting project. But what exactly is it that we work on? (McAdams, p. 3). Just like in any other project, we must have contingency plans. But then again, from what point should we start? We look back at the inscribed ancient aphorism mentioned at the beginning which is “know thyself” (McAdams, p. 1). In the process, as I grew, I knew I wanted the best and that will probably not change; but I have to accept in myself that there are other ways, other avenues where I can achieve this. I started talking to upperclassmen who served as my mentors and they did help me arrive at a course I wanted to shift to, which was AB Management Economics, my current course. In this course, my love for business and economics are combined, and the fact that it’s no longer an honors course buys me time to work on other things that can help me arrive at my best self. I started being more active in my organizations, tried out for JTA, and got several internships to build up my resume. In this learning, I also realized the vocation I am called for and it’s actually to become a public school teacher; although I cannot jump to that just yet with my family’s needs. Until then, I have to work on myself, work on building my character more than anything else.

In the end, what I got from this ongoing self-discovery, is that: there is no one path we can take to be at our best. We all have different goals and things we value, and consequently, different ways of achieving them. My course can never define greatness, only the means of getting past through every obstacle I face. To be a motivated agent, an individual who truly lives, is to act with direction and purpose, to move forward in pursuit of self-chosen and valued goals (McAdams, p. 4). With my new found end goal, I start an era of having a more meaningful life learning from my past experiences, living in the moment, and setting out goals not just for my personal gain but how I will affect the world eventually; and I suppose, this is how I proceed with honor.

Module 5 Reference:

McAdams, D. P. (2017). Self and identity. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds.), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. DOI: nobaproject.com (http://www.nobaproject.com)

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