SAT subject tests — One Last Time

It’s been quite a while since I last blog. A lot has happened since the fourth quarter has started yet central to everything I’ve been doing in the past few days and weeks is one thing — reviewing for the SATs, one last time.

And finally, this is it. Tomorrow is the day I take my SAT subject tests. Barring any craziness in the future, this will be the last time I’ll be taking the SATs.

It has honestly been a crazy adventure that has gotten me studying like I’ve never studied before. I’ve carried my biology and math books to places I’d never even think of studying in. I’ve poured almost every ounce of my energy and glucose in an attempt to master all the concepts I’ll be needing.

SM Immersion Day 2 – Not As Easy As You Think

Day 2 of our SM immersion was a lot more tiring but at the same time, lesson-filled. Since we already had our orientation and tour on Day 1, Day 2 was almost all work aside from the first part where we learned how to do the employee dance.

Starting the day by learning how to do the employee dance really energized a lot of us and got us pumped up and ready to get to work. Unfortunately (or luckily for some) there weren’t that much customers in the morning once again. This gave us a chance to get to know the employees we were working with better and here their life story.

On this second day, I got to know quite a number of employees and there were a few stories that really stayed with me. The first story was the story of Jerrica who is the 2nd oldest among 5 siblings. What makes her story unique is that at 19 years old, just one year out of high school, she chose to stop studying after one year in college in order to earn for her siblings while at the same time, experience the work life. However, she plans to go back to college and pursue her dreams of getting a major in computer science and hopefully be able to work in the corporate world.

A realization of Jerrica that really struck me during our conversation was when she talked about how she misses her high school days where all she needed to do was study. She talks about how tedious and tiring working is and how I should enjoy my high school days while I can. 

No Better Remedy Than Doing What You Love

The last few weeks and days have been really hectic for me. I’ve honestly been having a hard time balancing everything and there have been moments where I’m not sure anymore what I should do next. With all my extra-curricular activities and with the SAT subject tests fast approaching, I haven’t really been able to blog consistently.

Being that classes were suspended today, it was the perfect opportunity for me to study for the SAT subject tests. The problem is that as I tried to study, nothing seemed to go into my head. I’ve been feeling tired almost everyday and it seems as though every single thing as become a chore to me. I’ve started to forget why I do things in the first place and what truly matters to me.

I wasn’t really planning on blogging today since I told myself that all I would do today was study for the SAT since I haven’t really been able to study for it. Honestly, right now, I’m regretting scheduling my SATs to be taken this October especially since I just realized how hard the topics actually are (I’m taking US history and Math 2). I’m suppose to be studying right now but after several hours of studying, my brain just couldn’t register anything anymore.

H2C, Yoda and Singapore – 1st Weekend of Senior Year

I’ve been really lacking sleep the past few days yet I had to wake up early once again today even if it was saturday to attend refresher classes. Although I was a bit groggy because of lack of sleep, I was still able to learn a lot today from the refresher classes I took in Math and Physics. Even if most of what we tackled today were just the basics, I learned a lot of different tricks and shortcuts from the teacher that will definitely help me when taking the college entrance exams.

The venue for our Physics refresher class made me feel quite nostalgic. We stayed in H2C today, the classroom that I stayed in during my second year of high school. I couldn’t help but feel sentimental as I saw the H2C plaque which will be eventually changed to Grade 10-C next year.

H2Champions – 2nd year was definitely a big part of my life even if I had a lot of wrong decisions that year and sacrificed a lot for basketball.

I’ve definitely grown up a lot since my 2nd year days but I’ll always remember that year and everything I went through. 2nd year was the year I really focused on training for basketball and improving my game. I was really dedicated to the point that I followed a very strict 8 meal a day diet, slept at 9:30 pm every single day and simply sacrificed a lot just to get my body right and take my game to another level. Looking back, I’m actually surprised that I was able to be that disciplined and dedicated.

The highlight of this day though was visiting my SAT review center after almost a month. I just felt a different spark rush through my body as I stepped inside that room once again. I was also really happy to see my teacher, Mrs. Lim and hear her calming voice and wisdom filled advice.

It was even more surreal seeing her talk to my older sister who once also reviewed under her. Mrs. Lim was really proud of my sister who is now heading to Yale-Nus this coming school year. It’s amazing how much Mrs. Lim enjoys helping students achieve their dreams and make it to top schools in the world. As she showed us her new additions to her wall of fame, which is filled with pictures of her students and the schools they ended up attending, I was left in awe and I could not help but feel inspired.

Throughout the years, she has been able to help hundreds of Filipino students go to top schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Upenn and a lot more. Hopefully, one day, I’ll also be able to see my picture in her wall of fame. All the weekends I spent in her classroom for around a month are days that I will always treasure. From the very first day where I was pampered with ruthlessly difficult tests to the final day, where I confidently answered a final worksheet after having built a foundation from all the previous tests.

Just like what Yoda said, Mrs. Lim emphasized the importance of breaking bad habits. She truly was an English Yoda.

As we looked through the wall of fame my sister commented, “Wow Mrs. Lim, you’re doing your job,” Mrs. Lim replied to that with a resounding, “No Joan, this is not a job to me; this is my hobby. I enjoy doing this.” That reply of hers really struck me. Work really never feels like work when you enjoy doing it. I’m really happy that I was able to be the student of such a wise and at the same time, caring teacher even if it was just for a month.

One of the greatest lessons I learned from her was the importance of breaking bad habits. When I first started, I was making a lot of mistakes because of the fact that I never really grew up learning the proper grammar concepts. With her help though, I was able to build a new foundation and I actually ended up getting pretty high in the Writing part of the SAT (I scored a 790/800). Without a doubt, she deserves her moniker, Yoda.

Even with all these moments, the weekend has only just begun. Tomorrow, I, along with my dad and sister, will be heading to Singapore for a business seminar. I’m honestly really excited to learn more about wealth management, case analysis, marketing and other aspects of business. Aside from that, I also can’t wait to meet new friends since the seminar is an international seminar that will be attended by young individuals from all over the world.

Since my sister is studying in Yale-NUS, she’ll also be meeting up with her friends in Singapore and she has invited me to tag along. I’m honestly quite excited to meet her friends. These friends of hers are some of the most talented and unique individuals in the world and I will definitely be able to learn a lot from them.

Everything comes with a cost though and since this seminar is a week long, I’ll have to skip 4 days of classes.  Luckily, the school year has just begun and after talking to my teachers, I won’t be missing that much and I’ll still be able to quickly catch up once I get back.

This is a unique experience that doesn’t come often so I’m happy to be part of it. Although this is an out of school activity, this is very much still a part of my Senior Year. Like I said in my previous posts, this year, I plan to take every opportunity and make the most out of my Senior Year both inside and outside Xavier School.

Senior Year is definitely off to a good start and I’m ready to accelerate the engines and experience even greater things!

-DOitChoco

HISTORY and why preparing for the SAT has become FUN!

In preparation for the 25 minute essay in the writing part of the SAT, I’ve really been researching a lot and reading up on a myriad of topics ranging from leaders who bravely fought for a cause to inventors who through their inventions, created a lasting impact in the world . I’m really trying to be more cultured, knowledgeable and aware so that I may be ready for any prompt or topic the test gives.

It’s really astonishing though how I’m really enjoying learning more about our history, the prominent figures who changed society and the significant events that forever altered our world. I used to find history really mundane and languid but recently, I’ve really learned how to appreciate it and I feel a lot more humane to know these things.

I guess my perspective and approach to history has really changed. Instead of looking at all these as mere facts that I’d need to get an A+ in a test, I’ve learned how to see history as a bridge that will help me learn more about not only myself but about the world. It also helps that reading about these things and then sharing what I learned to others make me sound a bit smarter.

 Honestly, one can’t help but be amazed at what several people were able to do and how they were able to make a lasting difference. Men like Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and a lot more fought for what they believed in and sought for equality. It’s truly inspiring reading about their beliefs and what pushed them to make a stand.

Moving away from politics and equality, I’ve also learned so much about inventions, technology and innovation by reading about the lives of Thomas Edison, Leonardo Da Vinci, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and the other prominent inventors of both the past and the present. Instead of just taking note of their achievements, I’ve learned how to look beyond that and more importantly, analyze and see how they came up with innovative ideas and what traits enabled them to reach new heights. 

I’ve definitely learned so much already the last two days, and it’s truly amazing how technology allows us to learn about a broad range of topics in such a short amount of time. Knowledge truly is power and with everything I’ve learned the past few days, I’ll hopefully be ready with a couple of examples for the essay no matter what prompt or topic may come out!

Looking ahead though, I plan to continue reading more about history and I definitely think everyone should be more knowledgeable about the past for it truly does have a profuse amount of lessons that we can learn and apply to our present lives!

To end, I’d like to share a quote from Thomas Edison “I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.”

No matter how mentally draining, tedious and arduous preparing for the SAT may be, I’ve found a way to enjoy the process and it has definitely been a lot more fun!

I’ve learned so much already from preparing for the SAT not only about math, reading, writing but most importantly, I’ve learned more about the world and myself! Our perspective, outlook and attitude towards life really does make a difference! Life truly is what you make it!

-DOitChoco

The Road to June 1 – An Uphill Climb To That 2400 Peak!

It’s been a few days since I’ve last posted here because of the fact that I’ve been really immersing my self in review material and trying to do my best as I prepare for the SAT the I will be taking in June 1.

The last few days, I’ve been really spending time reviewing for arguably the biggest test in my life, the SAT. It’s quite absurd how one test can be so abstruse, challenging and at the same time be so universal. The Scholastic Aptitude Test is suppose to be able to measure our reasoning and analytic skills in the three core subjects of Critical Reading, Math and Writing.

It’s mind blowing how fast time flies! It seemed just like yesterday when I was telling my dad,”Relax, I still have X number of months to review before the test,” but in a blink of an eye, I have 10 days left to buckle up, put on my nerd glasses and give it everything I’ve got. In all honesty though, I didn’t expect it to come this soon; actually, I’m quite astonished that SUMMER is about to end. This summer has honestly been just one roller coaster ride full of extreme highs and lows. I’ll save my senti feelings and reflection about what a summer it has been for another time for this post is all about conquering that Blue book and the test it represents!!

Preparing for the SAT has been a really tedious and taxing process. I really only started seriously reviewing for it during April and that was only on weekends because I had Chem Camp and Basketball Training everyday. It’s also actually the first time in my life that I’ve gone to a tutor to help me out in preparing for the English part of the test. This was only on weekends though and I was still having a hard time mustering up enough discipline to do serious review on weekdays because of the tiring everyday basketball practices.

But you know how the story goes, I ended up tearing my ACL two weeks ago and these last two weeks, I’ve been really ambivalent but at the same time, I’ve decided to really give it my best and review and prepare myself for June 1 as much as I can. During the last week, I’ve been really hitting the books hard and trying grasp all the concepts and lessons that I’ll be needing to get my desired score in the test.

The road has been really daunting and there have been times when I don’t even know if what I’m doing is worth it. The past few days I’ve been taking practice tests and my score seems to be stuck in the 2000 range. This may seem like a good enough score to some but it’s not good enough for me. It’s really a dream of mine to study in Stanford and based on my research, I’d need to get at least a 2200 to give me a fair chance at getting in. Being Asian also doesn’t help for we all know how Asians are stereotyped as “nerds” and “brainiacs.”

I’m different though. Although I’ve always been in the top percentile of my batch when it comes to grades, the last time that I really studied for something was probably when I was a 4th grader and my parents were still really strict about my grades. Ever since then though, I’ve been winging it and just doing enough to be in the honor roll. I’ve honestly studied harder than ever before these past few days. Although I know this is not the best way to get a high score, I have no other choice but to just pour everything out and give my 10000% in these next days leading up to the exam.

There have definitely been moments when I question myself and whether or not I’m doing the right thing, shutting myself from all the distractions (I deleted my twitter and instagram app on my phone to avoid distractions) is worth it. There are times when getting a 2400, no even just a 2200, seems so impossible. Aside from that, getting the aforementioned scores don’t guarantee anything. It seems as though the chances are 1 in a million.

During these moments though, I just tell myself,”Damn it David, you know you have lots of potential, you’re a smart man, you just have to learn how to stick it out, persevere! Don’t give up!!” Yes!! I guess I just have to believe in myself, use the remaining days I have before the test wisely and just simply, do my best! If I do these, I’ll definitely have no regrets!

It may be an uphill battle but anything is possible! I’m just looking at this as a challenge that I have to face head on!! I definitely won’t back down and lose to a test! No way! NEVER!

-DOitChoco

 

 

Science Fair – Chemistry of Social Beings At Its Best

Fountain International Science Fair – February 23, 2013

I was never really a fan or advocate of fairs, let alone Science Fairs but recently, I’ve become more a more outgoing and gregarious person for I’ve realized how much fun fairs can be.

When my mom mentioned to me how there was an ongoing Science fair last Saturday, I was really fascinated and curious as to what this fair had to offer. It’s not everyday that you see grade school and high school students presenting their respective science and math projects in middle of a mall in front of the public.

I was really excited to go and see the different projects of young minds more or less the same age as me. I also saw it as an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. I immediately called up several friends of mine if they were available or if they wanted to accompany me. A lot of them had previous obligations already but luckily, I had one friend who was willing to accompany me and be my partner in crime for the day.

It was also just last saturday when we had our Chinese Quarterly Oral Test, so I was really hyper and in a good mood already when I headed to V-mall where the Science fair was taking place. I had nothing to lose anyway and everything to gain especially since I had nothing planned for that afternoon and I would’ve ended up just bumming around if I didn’t go. Aside from that, I was really going to V-mall to finally buy an otter box for my phone.

As I caught sight of the Science fair, I was a bit skeptical that I would be able to see any breathtaking projects or get to meet any new friends but I knew I wouldn’t know unless I tried. I just said to myself, I won’t lose anything if I go but if I don’t go, I might have just passed on an amazing opportunity to learn and make new friends.

To my surprise, I actually had one amazing and breath taking experience. Some of the booths that really astonished me and left me a bit in awe were the solar powered robots and the mind reading using binary codes. These two were really innovative and it was really inspiring how students younger than me were able to come up with these projects.

What really made last saturday a surreal experience was the fact that I really interacted with the students and simply had fun trying out their inventions, inquiring about their projects and flat out just conversing and having a good time. I even made new friends and that feeling of gaining new friends will never get old.

The joy and extraordinary feeling one gets when interacting, socializing and getting to know new people is just indescribable. Quoting from my CLE teacher, we are social beings and we need each one in order to make the most out of our lives. Going to this science fair and getting to meet new people was an experience like no other and was definitely time well spent.

-DOitChoco

Highlights of the Week – Things to Be Thankful For…..

There are so many different things that go on in our lives that we aren’t able to fully grasp and appreciate everything that happens to us. Most of us are very busy and pre-occupied with either our school work, extra-curricular activities, work and other obligations that we tend to disregard all these little things in life.

When I started this blog, I mentioned how I want to turn all those ephemeral and fleeting moments into lasting memories by writing about each and everyone of them but I’ve come to realize that it is very hard to detail and talk about each and every moment that flies by during each and everyday. This is because of all the other commitments and activities I have added to my everyday school work. This really got me thinking as to how I can still crystalize all the awe-inspiring moments that happen each and everyday despite those busy days where I just don’t have time to write a blogpost.

Just this week, my older sister mentioned this very innovative organization in her school, HKUST that delivers something called, the One Minute News, every week. This One Minute News segment caters to the very busy and occupied students of HKUST who don’t have time to catch up with recent happenings and news headlines. This One Minute News summarizes and highlights all the important headlines and happenings that the very busy students may have missed all in one minute.

This idea led me to start this segment of mine called, Highlights of the Week – Little Things to be Thankful for to help me recall and remember all the highlights both big and small that I may have forgotten and under appreciated because of the nature of life and how fast everything occurs. In my journey to becoming a happier person and living life to the fullest, I find looking back and being thankful for everything that happens to you, may it be something life changing or even heart wrenching or just an ordinary incident, very essential in growing as a person and keeping a positive outlook in life for like they say, YOLO, you only live once!

So during this past week, Feb 18 – Feb 23, these are the memorable moments that I am thankful for

1. Finalization and Submission of our Filipino Short Movie titled, “Anong Gagawin Mo?” (or in english, “What Would You Do?”) – This is one of the projects that I really poured a lot of effort into and it feels really fulfilling and gratifying to see the finish product. Hard work never gets old, especially when it pays off in the end. I am really happy that our movie was chosen by our Filipino teacher to be the one to represent our class in our film festival especially after all the saturdays and holidays me and my group mates spent preparing, creating and filming this production. Working on this project is definitely one of the more memorable moments of my Junior Year!

2. Accidentally dropping my phone to the ground (which led to the screen getting shattered) – Thankfully though, I was able to get it repaired, and it looks good as new. The feeling of anxiety that I got when I saw what happened to my phone which is one of my more valuable possessions and is something I use each and every day, was really nerve racking. I truly learned my lesson and this time, I’m gonna make sure that my phone is protected and ready just in case another accident, where I end up dropping my phone occurs (off to buy my otter box!).

3. Farewell speech of Father Go – Our School Director, Father Johnny Go’s Farewell Speech during our last general assembly for the year was one of the most heart warming and inspirational speeches I’ve ever heard from Father. Father Go never fails to move people whenever he speaks, his homilies, speeches and talks will be missed! I was truly fortunate that I was awarded a Chinese Writing Award during this last general assembly for I was able to shake Father Go’s hand one last time.

4. Last Mentoring Period for my Junior Year – How time flies by; it seemed just like yesterday when Junior Year just started and I was joining a whole new class with a completely different set of classmates in 3A. Looking back, despite all of the challenges, quandaries, setbacks and all, it was one no doubt one helluva of a crazy year indeed and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

5. Fountain International School Science Fair – Attending this science fair was one crazy experience. Witnessing innovative and creative minds of talented individuals ranging from all ages was a truly breathtaking experience. Add to the fact that I was able to meet new people and gain new friends was the icing on the cake. To top it all off, I also got to meet my “former” and “favorite” turkish math teacher.

Looking back at these highlights, I can say that I am truly blessed to be living such a fortunate life filled with so many awe-inspiring moments and adventures. I am truly thankful for everything that happened to me during the past week and hopefully, the coming weeks will be just as awesome or even better.

-DOitChoco

PS. I will try my best to make separate blog posts and expound on some if not all of these highlights for there were a thousand different things I learned from every second of these moments.

Why Math is more than the numbers…..

I haven’t posted in my blog so far because I’ve been bombarded with several assessments and projects as this school year comes to a close. Just yesterday, we also had a field trip to an island called Corregidor, which was a full day thing that sucked all my energy. Aside from that, I recently finally PROMposed to a friend of mine, which really made the past week a really hectic and crazy one.

I’ve really missed writing for my blog during the past week and I will start posting again in the upcoming days for I’ve got a few memories that I’d like to forever remember by writing a post on them, particularly, my PROMposal and my field trip to Corregidor, but since those two will be a bit content heavy, for the mean time, I’d like to share with you guys a part of my WIKI Math assessment that I just finished.

WIKI Math is like a review of our previous practice tests and is an outlet for us to correct our mistakes and at the same time review the different lessons of the past quarter. This is something that was only started this year and is one of the more creative assessments in Math. We are tasked to explain and show our solutions to three difficult items from our past practice tests. We then end it with reflection, where we rate our performance during the quarter and put our realizations. Since it is the fourth and final quarter already of my Junior Year, I decided to make my reflection in the last part a really deep one, and one portion of my reflection that I’d really like to share with the rest of the world is:

“One thing that I really learned this quarter was that Math is more than just the numbers. There was one time when we were working on a really challenging seat work on a new lesson, I remember my classmate who was having a hard time and was quite frustrated already, asking my math teacher, “Cher, how do we use this lesson in our life?” It was really astonishing that my classmate asked this especially since our lesson was on circles, segments and the like, so I too was curious as to how my math teacher would respond.

To my surprise, my math teacher wasn’t shocked and probably expecting the question or has been asked the question previously, she calmly answered, “Sometimes, it’s not always about applying the lesson directly to our daily lives but what we want the students to gain from this, are analytic and critical-thinking skills. It’s about how you respond to certain challenges and how you deal with these types of problems. Are you the type of person, who easily gives up? or are you the type of person, who’ll find every possible way until you are able to find a solution?”

When my classmate heard this, he was obviously silenced and a bit embarrassed for what my teacher just said was the truth for not just math but for school in general. When we grow up and face the real world, we obviously won’t remember all the academic lessons we learned during grade school, high school or college, but what we will remember and what will stay with us for the rest of our lives are the values that we were able to build and gain when we tried to understand the lesson and in answering those perplexing problems.

As Junior Year comes to a close, I can say that the one thing I truly learned from this class is that, “Math it’s not always about the numbers or the grades, but more about the (real life) values we are able to learn from answering all these problems.”

-DOitChoco

My SOT Experience – How somethings aren’t as bad as they seem…

It’s another wonderful saturday morning and here I am spending my time rotting in detention. It’s a really hilarious story how I ended up having 2 saturday overtimes worth 3 hours of detention each.

With my new outlook in life, everything has a deeper meaning and even something as forlorn and dull as detention is worth writing about. Quite honestly, detention is an experience all by itself.

Before we talk about my bizarre experience in detention, let me explain to you how a relatively good and behaved boy ended up in detention.

If I can remember correctly, a unusually tragical school day took place during the 14th of December. The 3rd quarter was already coming to a close and we going through the last few school days for the year 2012. I was actually quite upbeat and ready to go through that final stretch when lightning struck and that day will probably always be stuck in my mind for reasons that didn’t seem so pleasing at that time.

It was during our first subject when everything seemed okay and it felt as though it would just be another one of those mundane and routine school days especially since we were starting the day with one of the more mechanical subjects in math; but I guess I was wrong for something out of the blue occurred towards the end of the period. While we were all focused and answering a Long Test, a weird ring tone like sound was heard. As you know , when it is test time, it is usually very silent and every single tick and tock is easily heard and noticed. Sadly, our math teacher wasn’t in such a good mood that day and she couldn’t accept that there was a cellphone like tone that went off.

Just to make it clear, in our school, we aren’t allowed to bring cellphones to school something I cannot comprehend especially during this day and age where technology has exploded. It’s really absurd how we’re required to bring either macbooks or Ipads which are way more powerful devices, but we are forbidden to bring cellphones to class. The funny thing is more than half the population of highschool brings phones to school. It’s really quite difficult not to bring cellphones especially for those with extra-curricular activities that finish past 6 pm already. Like they say, “Rules are meant to be broken.”

I was really feeling anxious and uptight the moment she mentioned that she heard a cell phone tone especially since I was so focused answering the test that I didn’t hear the sound. I was scared of the possibility that our teacher would rat us out and hold an inspection for I actually just started bringing a cellphone to school during that month because there were several instances when I was fetched really really late after basketball practice. My biggest fear came true and she went ahead and called for an inspection since nobody wanted to admit who’s phone it was or it could’ve possibly came from a laptop, but to this day, we aren’t quite sure who’s phone it really was.

The inspection was held and everyone who had a cellphone with them was terrified. There were a thousand things actually going on in my mind during that time. I wasn’t sure whether I’d take the chance, hide my phone and pray that it wouldn’t be found or just surrender it to the prefect and take a lesser sanction. I was obviously not in my senses and right mind anymore so I ended up making a really rash and hasty decision. I felt risky and remembered having a conversation with my dad that I should take chances but looking back, what I did was really, for lack of a better word, stupid. I listened to the advice of my friend who obviously had no experience hiding cellphones and hid it in the window, which I found out was a usual hiding place that the prefects routinely checked already. In other words, I got caught and regretted hiding my cellphone in the window out of all the other places that I could’ve hid it. I felt like a bonehead for the rest of the day but I guess it was just another one of those experiences that I can learn from.

At first, I was actually very pissed at both our math teacher and the dumb-ass of a person who didn’t silent his phone before going to class, but now, looking back, I just laugh at what happened. It’s actually a very interesting story that I like to tell to both old and new friends alike.

I ended up getting 2 SOTs; first, for bringing a cellphone and second, for not surrenderring it and hiding it instead. I was kinda bummed that I’d have to wake up early on two saturdays and spend my morning in detention, but little did I know, these two SOTs would actually be really good experiences and memorable ones at.

During my first saturday over time, I really didn’t know what to expect for it was my first time, something like an inauguration. When I got to the prefect’s office, the atmosphere was actually quite chill and the prefect was even surprised that I was there. The prefect handling it was really very cool and lax. He gave us our tasks and even told us to take our time especially since we would be there for 3 hours. Our task for that day was too pull out the lockers, clean up and sweep. Luckily, I also had friends who got caught with their phones and also serving their detention. Doing tedious work becomes bearable when you’re with friends for they lighten up the atmosphere and make things interesting. The saturday overtime turned into a kwentuhan (filipino term for storytelling) session and laugh trip. Aside from that, we even had a push-up contest and were able to workout. All in all, my first SOT wasn’t so bad for I actually enjoyed pulling and pushing the lockers, doing push-ups, catching up with friends and just flat out laughing at my crazy friend’s impersonations of or teachers. Before I knew it, the 3 hours had past and I had just completed my first SOT, one more to go.

Ready to hear some more and what took place in my second SOT? Well, going into my second SOT, I was expecting that it would be something similar to my first, but it was actually completely different. We were tasked to just sit down and make parents sign for there were family interviews. I wanted to do something more energizing and physical, but I told myself, got to be open to the experience and make the most out of my 3 hours. Since our task this time was not as tedious, I thought, why not do something productive. So guess what I thought of doing? Drumroll please….. I ended up…….. Writing this blog post.

Like I always say, life is what you make it and look how time flies, my 3 hours are almost up and we’ll have to report to the prefect soon; so there you have it, my SOT experience, and why some things aren’t as bad as they seem.

-DOitChoco