Graduation Video
This is a video I found in the internet that featured my graduation last tuesday. I still have to consolidate all the documentations that were made during the whole graduation week so I will write my article after that is done. For the meantime... enjoy this one
thanks to all those who said their congratulations.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Monday, March 03, 2008
Beginning the Transition
It has been a while since I was really able to write something worth reading in this Blog. I guess I am really just busy or maybe pretending that I am busy. Yes, graduation is really taking its toll in me but I guess I really have to write. I think as I say goodbye to my last days as a cadet, I just have to take some time to look back and be thankful for all of it.
Yesterday, when I came up to Baguio after four long days (and nights) of lay outing and editing the graduation issue of the Corps Magazine, I had a thought as I made the last stop over in Sison, Pangasinan. I realized that it would be the last time that I will be stopping in that stop over as a cadet. I mean, the next time that I will be stopping there would be because I really had the intention to come up to Baguio, maybe to visit some friends or just have a vacation. Gone are the days when I am forced to ride on a bus going up because I have to be at Baguio at a certain time. The feeling is not that good as I discuss it with another classmate who was with me. It was a weird feeling really. And so, I fell that somehow, although this blog can be full of all the many memories I had inside this Academy, it is still worth a few moments to really write about the things that made my stay hear special. I guess this maybe my form of saying goodbye to Baguio City, to PMA and more importantly to being a cadet.
In a comment by a frequent visitor to this Blog, he said that it was a good thing that I am able to share my life inside this academy. I guess, with his following my blog entries, I believe he has more or less a better idea of how things really are in this Academy, beyond the publicity and the perception that is attributed to this institution. I think that subconsciously, that was partly the reason why I kept on writing in this blog. I simply wanted to give people a glimpse of how we go about our lives here to somehow put a little humanity on the cadets. I feel that by doing that, the public will be more understanding and more importantly more supportive of the reasons why we do the things that we do. Of course, there have been times that I was criticized. There were occassions that I had to edit out entries or not publish it altogether for fear of exposing the things that I am not to expose. In the almost four years that I have been blogging inside the Academy, I have learned to censor myself on topics to write about without really sacrificing my independence on the way I perceive things. But with those limitations, I do think that this blog was still successful in being true to its name -- a diary inside Melchor Hall.
And so I continue to write. In the coming days, I will begin with the transition of this blog from inside my beloved Academy to that of the bigger organization I will be joining... the Armed Forces of the Philippines, more particularly the Philippine Army. I believe there will be more challenges ahead and the surprises will be more different. As I continue my journey, I am hoping that the learning process will be worthwhile and at the same time the message I am trying to communicate will be able to at least lead to an understanding of the person behind the soldiers that fight for this country.
Yesterday, when I came up to Baguio after four long days (and nights) of lay outing and editing the graduation issue of the Corps Magazine, I had a thought as I made the last stop over in Sison, Pangasinan. I realized that it would be the last time that I will be stopping in that stop over as a cadet. I mean, the next time that I will be stopping there would be because I really had the intention to come up to Baguio, maybe to visit some friends or just have a vacation. Gone are the days when I am forced to ride on a bus going up because I have to be at Baguio at a certain time. The feeling is not that good as I discuss it with another classmate who was with me. It was a weird feeling really. And so, I fell that somehow, although this blog can be full of all the many memories I had inside this Academy, it is still worth a few moments to really write about the things that made my stay hear special. I guess this maybe my form of saying goodbye to Baguio City, to PMA and more importantly to being a cadet.
In a comment by a frequent visitor to this Blog, he said that it was a good thing that I am able to share my life inside this academy. I guess, with his following my blog entries, I believe he has more or less a better idea of how things really are in this Academy, beyond the publicity and the perception that is attributed to this institution. I think that subconsciously, that was partly the reason why I kept on writing in this blog. I simply wanted to give people a glimpse of how we go about our lives here to somehow put a little humanity on the cadets. I feel that by doing that, the public will be more understanding and more importantly more supportive of the reasons why we do the things that we do. Of course, there have been times that I was criticized. There were occassions that I had to edit out entries or not publish it altogether for fear of exposing the things that I am not to expose. In the almost four years that I have been blogging inside the Academy, I have learned to censor myself on topics to write about without really sacrificing my independence on the way I perceive things. But with those limitations, I do think that this blog was still successful in being true to its name -- a diary inside Melchor Hall.
And so I continue to write. In the coming days, I will begin with the transition of this blog from inside my beloved Academy to that of the bigger organization I will be joining... the Armed Forces of the Philippines, more particularly the Philippine Army. I believe there will be more challenges ahead and the surprises will be more different. As I continue my journey, I am hoping that the learning process will be worthwhile and at the same time the message I am trying to communicate will be able to at least lead to an understanding of the person behind the soldiers that fight for this country.
At this point, I am opening people's comments about this blog, kindly comment on anything that you feel about this blog. Just say your honest opinion and perhaps I will be able to use that to improve myself and the way I write about my experiences. Thank you very much people...
Sunday, March 02, 2008
More Jitters
Graduation is coming in full force. Its not that it has not come yet in the last days but this time, since everything is basically done for me, the graduation on the 17th has totally occupied my mind. I can just think of the preparations that I have to make like the billeting for my visitors, the preparations of my family going up. The attendance on the different activities lined up for us and many other things. I am also beginning to be very sentimental about everything that happens to me from point on as a cadet. Even now that I am here in Manila for the Corps Magazine's Graduation issue, I can just think of the so many things that I should be doing in preparation for my graduation. As you can see, my blog entries are not the usual ones as these are just thoughts that come to my head as I count the days...
Forgive me for being the blogger that I am these days, my mind is still not into the blogging world as I am being distracted by many other things...
Forgive me for being the blogger that I am these days, my mind is still not into the blogging world as I am being distracted by many other things...
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Graduation jitters
I just finished my last Final Exam. That would be the last academic work that I will be doing as a cadet, I can't believe that it was actually the last... the last after four years.
These, days the feeling is more of nostalgia and fear. Although I am really really excited to graduate, the feeling is very difficult considering that this institution has somehow changed the kind of person that I am. With this blog as my witness, I could say that I am a better person and PMA did nurture me to be a better person that I first entered here. I also fear the fact that I am about to go into the unknown world of being a soldier in the actual playing field. The reality is already settling in but the uncertainty is there and the fear is somehow coupling itself with the excitement I am feeling as the graduation nears. Somehow I could say now that PMA is not that very different to any other learning institutions. Although most people will see us marching around in our uniforms and all, we actually feel the very same things that everybody feels when they mature, they grow up and of course when they graduate. The feeling becomes more glaring when we listen to the perception of people about us and the expectations that they have set... the great things that people are relying on us to do. The greater feeling that I have now is the feeling of being humbled by what I am expected to be outside the Academy compared to the person that I can offer. I am humbled because I am beginning to understand why I will have to believe in myself and have faith in God as I embrace my role for my people. Yes, I am sounding very ideal, very promising but then that is the reality of why we are being trained at the country's premier military institution in the first place. I guess the point I am driving at is that the country's money did not go to waste. Come March 17 the 223 members of my class will graduate and will let history judge us. I hope that you pray for us....
Cheers to the many men and women who have in one way or another assisted in the development of the cadets who will soon become young lieutenants and ensigns of the armed forces.
As we say here.... Para sa bayan... Thank you everyone...
These, days the feeling is more of nostalgia and fear. Although I am really really excited to graduate, the feeling is very difficult considering that this institution has somehow changed the kind of person that I am. With this blog as my witness, I could say that I am a better person and PMA did nurture me to be a better person that I first entered here. I also fear the fact that I am about to go into the unknown world of being a soldier in the actual playing field. The reality is already settling in but the uncertainty is there and the fear is somehow coupling itself with the excitement I am feeling as the graduation nears. Somehow I could say now that PMA is not that very different to any other learning institutions. Although most people will see us marching around in our uniforms and all, we actually feel the very same things that everybody feels when they mature, they grow up and of course when they graduate. The feeling becomes more glaring when we listen to the perception of people about us and the expectations that they have set... the great things that people are relying on us to do. The greater feeling that I have now is the feeling of being humbled by what I am expected to be outside the Academy compared to the person that I can offer. I am humbled because I am beginning to understand why I will have to believe in myself and have faith in God as I embrace my role for my people. Yes, I am sounding very ideal, very promising but then that is the reality of why we are being trained at the country's premier military institution in the first place. I guess the point I am driving at is that the country's money did not go to waste. Come March 17 the 223 members of my class will graduate and will let history judge us. I hope that you pray for us....
Cheers to the many men and women who have in one way or another assisted in the development of the cadets who will soon become young lieutenants and ensigns of the armed forces.
As we say here.... Para sa bayan... Thank you everyone...
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