IF THE average life expectancy for a Filipino is 66.35 years, then I have lived about one third of my lifetime. And if my life has three phase, being 22 means, I have gone past the honing phase and am now entering the working phase, in which I will be working most of the time in preparation for the last phase, the overseeing phase.

Being in the borderline between two phases, I am confronted with various issues. The most prompting of which is the question of my readiness. Well, I have started in the second phase already, but the period of adjustment proved to be occuring in the bumpy part of the road. You know, working doesn’t end with accomplishing your deliverables. The clientele’s satisfaction and your reputation are two major prerequisites.

Despite these challenges I am tackling, I am positive that I’ll come out victorious.

As I cross the border, I’d like to thank God for the many things He has blessed me with. Here are 22 of them (in random order):

1. Good looks (er, I mean, Optimism)
2. Education
3. A stable job
4. A loving family
5. Caring friends
6. Lotie
7. SoCCSKSarGen Bloggers and Plurkers
8. A roster of blogs and accounts on several social websites
9. Involvement in community projects
10. Helpful co-teachers
11. A peaceful neighborhood
12. A soft bed
13. A roof over my head
14. A large pillow to hug at night
15. Electric fan to keep my cool at night and to shoo away bloodsuckers
16. A tube of Clearasil
17. Love for music
18. Inclination to art
19. Love of learning
20. Shelves of books (most of them unread)
21. Positive attitudes
22. Passion for initiating actions

As I turn 22 on March 22, my objectives would revolve around these two major goals:

Make a difference for my students. I want to leave good memories to my students. I don’t want them to remember me as an incompetent teacher who just looks at teaching as a mere source of income. As a worker, Idon’t want to be mediocre. In two years’ time, I would have earned a master’s degree in Physics. I would have completed the online learning resource center I am putting up right now.

Make a difference for my family. There are plenty of things that I want to give my mother. She had been living a life of hardships. I want to give her a comfortable life. I want to do that before I settle down. So, I have to live by this mantra: family first before myself. That means I have to set aside my caprices. To earn enough for my family also means entering into a business venture. My brother-in-law is going to help me with this.

There goes my lousy birthday post.

P.S. My philosophy about life still has not changed: I still believe that this world is a lonely one. No matter what we do here, whatever we have achieved, there is no real happiness down here. We are not here to experience happiness. We’ll only experience such once we die.

Happy birthday to me!