Failing Is Bad (Or So I Think).

HEADLINES: I DIDN’T GET IN THE CANDY COUNCIL OF COOL.

What a bummer. I got in the second screening (which I’m proud of), but this morning on the way to the mall where my mom will be on duty for work, I got the text message from Ms. Marla. It said, “Unfortunately, we have chosen only the most qualified. Thank you for joining and try again.” I was shocked. I was near-tears in the jeep we were riding that time. My heart sank. My dreams shattered. I was thinking, I didn’t pass Dulaang Pinoy this year and now Candy? Am I destined to fail all of my life? Come on, I believed that I did well in the interview and the review I did on Queen Bees and Wannabes was already fine. Then I got this? Ever since the announcement that I qualified for the second screening, I prayed to God that I may get the opportunity I’ve been hoping for. When I was interviewed on Thursday, I could see that the editors were impressed by me. One of them also said, “Seems like you prepared your speech.”

So the text message arrived, I was like, WTH? I went absent on that day just to go there and now my efforts were fruitless? I remembered the failures that I encountered: not being a Junior Librarian in Grade 4, not being part of the Theresian Magazine staff in Grade 5 and 6, rejected in the Dulaang Pinoy last June. So okay, I’m destined to fail. When will I ever get success? I want to prove to those who judge me so much without knowing me that a simple sophomore can make it big. While rambling those thoughts, I was also thinking, I was born to be a loser. Why all of the opportunities I want are not given to me? Maybe God thinks I’m never good enough. I am even thinking of not joining the COC contest next year since I failed. My bitterness was so hard that I’m planning on not buying the November/December issue just because I’ll imagine that if I got in, the whole STC will know me and they’ll see how good am I. The Theresian Mag might even accept me as a writer this junior year. But I shouldn’t be bitter because if I did, I’ll never learn to be thankful. I should be thankful that out of the thousands of entries sent to Candy, I got qualified in the second screening. It is a sign of improvement regarding my writing skills. Not all people are destined to be good in writing. Not all girls like me get accepted in a screening like this. Most of all, there might be a better plan for me. It’s not that not getting in meant I’m a bad writer and I’ll fail forever. God wants me to stay focus because He knew it’s not yet the time to appear in a magazine. Maybe next year, I’ll be part of COC Batch 10 where Candy celebrates a decade of being Candy. I just have to trust His plans. Who knows, being in Batch 10 will be better.

I remembered a friend who said something to me when I failed the Dulaan auditions. “Stop whining about that pathetic audition!” she said. In fact, I’m happy in my Booklat SEG. If in Grade School I didn’t became a Junior Librarian, right now I am one, thanks to the club. Not only that, I enjoy it because my friends are there, which triples the fun. And besides, success doesn’t come to your doorstep overnight. Look at Charice. She wasn’t proclaimed the winner in Little Big Star but no one expected her international success three years later. Not all winners are successful. If you’re reading this post, hope you can name some celebs who are enjoying success although they failed lots of times. An important lesson: if life is perfect, you’ll never know God at ALL.

BTW, an earthquake occurred about an hour ago. :)

Candice at Your Service!

Our batch’s visit to the different communities assigned to our respective sections turned out to be a learning experience for us. Too bad I didn’t bring my camera, but I don’t it will be of much use. As I am writing this post, I am feeling excited for Friday’s outbound to Mount Makiling, UP Los Banos Museum of Nature, and I forgot the other venue. Our class color will be yellow (many of my classmates weren’t happy about it, since it’s the teachers’ turn to pick the color), and I already paid the fee.

So back to the main topic. The bus where I and some of us were assigned was so hot that we all complained because there was NO aircon. Is that what you call a bus? But at least there were open windows. Thank goodness we had fun while going to the ROTC Hunters Community. A lot of us showed off their phones and camera. It was a very short trip; we arrived there less than 5 minutes later. Since I was assigned to the Day Care committee, I went to one of the Day Care Centers with three of my classmates. We had fun teaching the 20+ kids there. We taught them the proper way to wash their hands, how to avoid getting a cold and cough, and some storytelling. By recess time I evenly distributed the Refresh juices and Dream bars. But there was one problem during that visit: we ran out of Refresh! We have to go to the other day care centers just to get the amount we need for the refreshments.

After the break, the four of us did some storytelling and played some games. By the time we left, we have plenty of time to go the nearest store across the community and buy softdrinks. For our reflection in our PALIHAN notebook, we need to get an object that we could paste in our notebook and explain why did we pick it up. I bought candy from an OSY (out-of-school youth) so I could paste the candy wrapper in it.

It was definitely a learning experience for me. Here are the things that I learned:

• Teaching kids the things needed in life can benefit all
• Simplicity is a must
• Love all kinds of people!

Book Fair Mania.

Yesterday was one of the best days I ever experienced so far. Want to know why? Since I’m a part of our Booklat SEG, we were invited to visit the 29th International Book Fair held in the SMX Convention Center in SM Mall of Asia. I arrived in school at 7:30 AM since my mom needs to go on overtime duty that day. I was one of the few people there, so I walked around the school to destabilize my boredom.

Our bus left STC at around 9:00 AM. The songs playing on the radio were great. While on the trip, two of my friends were joking around, calling names such as “pangit” and “baboy”. I laughed all the way round. One of them brought her PSP and was playing boxing, so we were joking about it too. We arrived at SMX at around 10:00 AM, when the weather was cloudy. We went inside and it was very cold! Thank goodness I brought my favorite pink jacket. We made rounds through the aisles of the book fair, from Powerbooks to NBS’ Pambansang Diskuwento booth. We were asked to leave by 11:00 AM so that we could go to the foodcourt and eat our lunch. My lunch was a satisfying meal of Spicy Chickenjoy with extra rice (see how I eat like a pig) and Magnolia Bottled Water. We sat in a table of 6 while two of my friends went to Jollibee just to buy food. It was really funny since by the time the four of us (one girl is in section 4 but came with us since she’s alone) were finished, they were just starting to eat. Lunch was over and we went back to the book fair to buy more books for three more hours.

I only brought money enough for two Baby-sitters Club books and A Little Princess, although the complete Twilight saga is there. Aww….I just wished that I asked Mom for more money so I could buy Breaking Dawn without waiting for the reservation we’ve made a few weeks ago. We hanged out at the Power Mac lounge for 30 minutes, tried out MacBooks (but no Internet connection), watched a cosplay contest, asked for a picture with some cosplayers, and had fun by the time we left at 2:30 pm. We were only about 15 in the bus since some were picked up by their parents already. My tita was already there when the bus came to school, and we ate McDo! Hehe. So much for a happy “ending”.

12 days to go before our outbound in Mt. Makiling! So excited. :)

The Post You'll Be Reading is Untitled.

Yesterday I finally got one of my wishes. Guess.

If you’re guessing I got a Nokia 5310, you’re wrong. If you think I went to a gimmick last week, you’re wrong too. Come on, keep guessing! Can’t guess? Okay…..

I finally have my own copy of Twilight! Yay!!! Now I can join in the fun with other Twilight readers and expect on what will happen on the movie to be released on January next year! Originally in the US, the movie will be shown on about November or December. But since the MMFF will be by Christmastime, we won’t get to see the movie until the end of that filmfest. Grrrr. As of now, I am reading Chapter 2 (what a slow reader am I) and enjoying every minute of the story!

I’m excited for three things this September. Look at my list:

1. This Friday, Sept.12, our class will be going to a ROTC Hunters Community in QC. I’m excited to be in the day care where I’ll be teaching kids on health and have fun with them for the two whole hours of our visit. Dum, dum, baby-sitter Candice here!
2. The next day, our Library SEG group will be going to the International Book Fair to be held in SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia. Not only that I’ll be buying another good book to read but also be with four of my friends!
3. Last but not the least…..the outbound!!!! The whole batch will be going to Mt. Makiling and other places in Laguna instead of having us divided into two batches. Supposedly our class is in Batch 2 when our outbound is on August 29, but because of the heavy rains it was cancelled, the same thing that happened to Batch 1. So on September 26, better get my camera ready for some nature-sighting!