I UPGRADED this blog to WordPress 2.5 last night unaware that there exists a plugin that would have made the process a breeze instead of grueling.

Some Damn Thing Always Goes Wrong. That is what is meant by that acronym in my title. I borrowed that from Michael Crichton in his novel, Congo, which I will be reviewing in my book review blog sometime soon. That statement was used by one of the characters (Travis), referring to to the seemingly inevitable occurence of technical glitches.

IT FEELS so great that another alumnnus of Alabel National Science High School brought pride and honor to the school for graduating Magna Cum Laude from Notre Dame of Dadiangas University.

Angelo D. Gamat, a classmate in high school, was NDDU’s class valedictorian for SY 2007-2008. He took up BS Accountancy, a five-year course, so he graduated a year after I did.

Last year, in the same university, another classmate of mine, John Theodore Lawrence M. Palenzuela also graduated Magna Cum Laude. He took up AB Political Science and now teaches at NDDU.

YESTERDAY WAS the graduation exercises of my students at Alabel National Science High School. I felt an outrageous mix of emotions yesterday. It was one of the most emotion-packed days of my life for a variety reasons.

Although I have been with these kids for only about six months but I felt some pain about their leaving the premises of the school. They had been very good students and I am very happy that I have influenced them in one way or another. They, in turn, have touched my life at one point.

Their graduation is especially significant for me because they were my first students. I told them during the last lesson I gave them that I am thankful for they have been lab rats.

Here is a portion of the message I sent to them through our e-group:

ALTHOUGH I don’t have my own computer and internet connection (yet), I am very eager to add yet another blog to maintain.

I have just realized that I should try to do some niche blogging concentrating on books and reading in general. It will contain book reviews, updates about books I’ve read recently, my own short stories, and, hopefully, my own novels.

It’s called Journeys to the Soul, the old title of my personal blog. That signifies my view of reading as a sojourn into the depths of the soul of the author, the characters, and my own. It is on another blog platform so that I can learn something new and so that I can make a comparison as to which platform I am comfortable with.

I’VE BEEN gone for a while for a lot of reasons. I’m glad because I spent most of time with my family and on some other things I love doing other than blogging. But since I am online now, lemme take this opportunity to thank everyone who greeted me on my birth day.

Here are some of the messages sent to me via text:

Lotie, close friend in college (23:54:47) – Happy Birthday iel! Wla na gd q iban pa nga i-wish pa cmu kundi tani makita mo na gd ang gnapangita mo. Tandaan mo gd pirmi nga ari lang q sa palibot. [I don't have other wishes except that you find whatever you seek. Remember that I'm just here, always.]

MOST FILIPINOS make a big fuss about the Holy Week. But does everyone understand what we are commemorating during this time of the year?

Watching the evening news made me realize that to many of us this season is only a long holiday, during which we take a break from our busy schedules. The spotlight is on the different destinations people can go to. Celebrities and ordinary people alike have their suitcases packed for fun and relaxation in resorts in Boracay, Cebu, Laguna, Batangas, Thailand, US, etc. as if the Lenten season is a prelude to summer getaways many of us are looking forward to.

NO, I am NOT depressed.

They say, if you don’t accept the fact that there is indeed a problem, you can never get it sorted out.  So, if I kept on saying to myself the first line if this post, I would have been in a mental asylum now.

Yeah, my past few days had been stressful. Let me enumerate what those stresses were.

• I had been busy with school stuff: I had to complete the grades of my students in the four classes I handle. I facilitated the hands-on phase of the screening for incoming freshmen and it was stressful. I was part of the panelist during the seniors’ thesis defense, it, too, was quite a pressure.