Memoirs of the Modern Psalmist

Othello

marialileth — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:08:10 +0000

Last night, while waiting for the dinner to be served… my hubby played Othello (Reversi) t’was the first time he played that board game…. The victory for him was not really that sweet because there were turns that were given to him to get ahead of the game…

Here are the photos I chronicled…

Othello Game

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Adversity

marialileth — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:06:50 +0000

Adversity… It is a big word. In fact, nobody wants it. But it happens… Even the richest person in this planet has troubles and somehow meets it every now and then. Perhaps the only difference between rich and poor people is that rich people have the money to either buy the solution or use their money to escape the issues at hand, whereas poor people have either slim exit doors or none at all.

The reason why I talk about this one is that I happened to read a book entitled “The Upside Of Adversity”… Funny title isn’t it? Many people fail to look at the brighter side of hard knocks. But I always believe that there is the good side of things no matter how awfully bad they can be.

Why don’t you try to read the book to see what I meant. You might have friends who already owned a copy.

Here is the précis:

Os Hillman is a modern-day biblical Joseph who experienced his own decade-long journey from the pit of despair to the pinnacle of success in life and in the workplace. Here, he explains how God uses adversity to show His power and purpose. Os identifies seven reasons people experience adversity, and the three stages of response—including practical ways to cope when circumstances veer out of control. You’ll see why some people become victims while others become victors. Then, you’ll discover hope and inspiration in the stories of others who have survived difficult experiences and rose to positions of influence. Like a well-thrown life preserver, Hillman gives you the wisdom you need to see your negative experiences as God-given positive opportunities.

Blue Moon

marialileth — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:30:42 +0000

Blue moon… we recently watched “The Smurfs”… Yeah, you figured it right. I got the title of this blog from that movie. I just find it apt because there are things I don’t do often like reading a novel for leisure, cross-stitching, swimming, shopping and dating with girl friends…

Here’s a few Blue Moon thingy for me….

First… I had a lunch with friends… I truly loved that. We went to McDonalds yesterday. It was not a fancy place I know but it was their company that I was after of… so the place didn’t matter.

Second… the whole family watched “Puss In Boots” in the movie house.

We do not do this always. We seldom watch a movie in the theater. We regularly have movie night in the house.

Third… We bought books for the kids. My husband and I were trying to make our kids love reading.

So since we do not have time to buy books, today is the perfect time to do it. I am simply happy that we have this thrift bookstore called “Booksale”… books, magazines, and other reading materials are sold for a cheap price. The price starts from Php20.00… Books are not for the affluent only. Reading is not a hobby for the rich. Reading is something my husband and I value.

Personal Enrichment

marialileth — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:14:57 +0000

Today, I am attending a 4-day seminar. This will end on thursday. The said seminar is about the “Problems in and Methods Teaching of Reading”.

Participants are coming from different schools, colleges, and universities within the Region and neighboring Regions. The headcount reaches around 40 pax.

So far… the topics are interesting. I personally benefit this one because I have a 4 year old boy. I can apply the strategies in teaching my son to love reading and be an advanced and or skilled reader.

Our Resource Speaker is a professor from De La Salle Dasmarinas Campus.

My name tag:

Pens And Other Little Things

marialileth — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 00:27:00 +0000

As a writer… pens, pencils, markers, correction tapes, and sticky notes are those little things that I must have. Although, I can draft my thoughts in my netbook, but still nothing could replace the usefulness of these stuffs. I still get excited scribbling my thoughts on my journal using pens with different colors…

Aside from my passion to write… I have other likes too, and one of which is that I love to collect pens… I am fascinated with gel pens and fancy pens including unique sticky notes, fancy notebooks, markers, and mechanical pencils. I just find joy in collecting these things.

But you know what? Some of my stuffs are given to me. Seriously, I got it for free. How? Oh well… I have a few good friends who are medical representatives… sometimes they got “promats”, this means promotional materials. This is a marketing strategy to advertise their products. These pharmaceutical companies buy in bulks the promotional products from manufacturers of pens, markers, organizers, and other stuffs. Then these manufacturers personalize their products so that the name of the medicine and the name of the pharmaceutical company are printed on the “promats”. I am always ecstatic when friends give me their “giveaway” because aside from it is free the material has a good quality. And I think that that marketing strategy really works because I end up buying their products too when I need it.

ReaL SteeL

marialileth — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:52:37 +0000

We waited for this movie like forever… We saw the trailer sometime last summer, and I couldn’t wait til it was shown in the big screen. We did not watch the first day of screening not because we did not like to queue (which usually happens), t’was just my hubby and I were busy with our work and we did not want to rush and not enjoy the movie date. But contrary to what we expected, he got up thrice and went out to receive and make calls— three calls for client and one from my daughter’s teach.

Now the movie…

The theme maybe common… that blood is thicker than water… or that no dad (or mom or aunt) can not truly abandon his own child no matter how crude or bad-mannered or trash or worthless as a man and or father he has been… Poetic justice is applied in the movie wherein some characters have been punished in the end, and the father (Charlie) and son (Max), oh well…it is implied that they will have a closer bond .

The story line is predictable but at least you will go out smiling and you will surely be entertained, not just the fights but also the kid who is so smart and surprisingly more mature and kind than his dad.

What is good in this movie is that values are inculcated.

Like, being prideful … it was shown in the movie that cocky people get humbled… though it took awhile for Charlie to realize it. There was also this character in the movie who tried to take advantage of Charlie, he got what he deserved in the end too.

There are so many moral lessons that you would get from watching the film. It is good for the whole family.

PLUG-ins

marialileth — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:34:43 +0000

Plugin makes one’s blog lively. Readers will enjoy viewing the blogsites if it contains plugins that are informative and interesting. With wordpress plug-in for example, you have countless choices on what plugin to include in your blog. This is especially if you have a paid site. You will enjoy the coolest plugins.

But you can also get plugins elsewhere like jquery slider plugin. There are a lot of sites that provide you with what you need. In fact if you are an SEO writer and your site provides SEO services you might need a plugin that is useful for you. We all know we want something that will boost our page ranking. I do wish a plugin can do that, and that is not farfetched. With this generation of technology, anything can be possible.

In my case, I would want a Slide Deck that could be personalized at the same time chic. It should reveal my personality. So I would want to customize skin, have a slider if possible. Since we are talking about page ranking, it is not so bad to crave for that and have it in my blog, right? Now one more thing, how about animation? Isn’t it cool if your visitors are greeted with animation? That creates a good impression, and let them dig into your site. These are a few things I want for my plugins.

The Romantics

marialileth — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:36:03 +0000

I watched it a few nights ago….it wasn’t the kind of movie that most people watched… well for those viewers who loved happy endings. With “The Romantics”… you might be disappointed with its ending. It was kinda hanging, and you would be frustrated with the personalities of the characters… especially with the three main characters:

Tom McDevon (Josh Duhamel)… He was such a schmuck that deserved a whack so that he would realize what he was about to do. He was so lame and weak for a man…considering that his physique was so huge, and he was so manly (but of course, It’s in the person of Josh Duhamel).

Lila Hayes (Anna Paquin)… was a scurvy and pathetic woman. She was so ridiculous. She knew that her fiancé was still in-loved with someone else but she was so blinded by her own crummy and poxy love for Tom. It might be harsh to say this, but… it was truly absurd for someone to marry a person who was loving somebody else (the fact that she learned that her fiancé was cheating on her with her best friend) — that’s way too much!

Laura Rosen (Katie Holmes) was a foolish “hussy” in a sense because she kept giving in for Tom even though she knew he could not stand up for his feelings for her… She was cloddish to fall for his scheme every time he charmed her with sweet-nothing!

The story has twisted morals which is somehow a typical thing in a modern and liberated world… This theme would never be patronized from where I am from. We still value decency, self-respect, and modesty. We value love and relationship… and somehow honor marriage vow…Thus, we want to make sure that we marry the person who shares the same value, perspective in life, and faith.

HOWEVER— the writer tried to explain why these two lovers, especially Tom, could not defend his feelings for Laura… and why Laura drifted away… (don’t want to give-away too much and spoil it for you)

SURPRISINGLY— I like the movie as a whole… It is very realistic considering the culture of the characters in the story… it reflects that facet of life where nobody wants to confront or tread.

Plus the fact that the cast of the movie were Josh Duhamel and Katie Holmes… I’ve the tendency to patronize movies of my favorite Hollywood actors.

So if you are hoping for a “feel-good-movie”… then this one is not. Don’t watch it in the movie theater, rent the DVD instead.

Juggler

marialileth — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:57:49 +0000

“Juggling” is a lot synonymous to “multi-tasking”… this term is not new, and most people in this fast-paced world, multi-tasking is pivotal if you want to get things done…otherwise you will be facing backlog from tons of work that has been piling up everyday.

Work seems to be endless… and tasks couldn’t be accommodated by the fix hours you have in a day… Oh, well! If people could just add one or two more hour/s… then you could have 25/7 or 26/7 rather than the not-so-enough 24/7…

Here is a clipart that represents my role everyday… I am a mom, a college instructor, a writer, a student,, and most of all a wife

Grad Skul

marialileth — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:21:28 +0000

I am presently enrolled in a graduate program. This has been a desire right after graduation but then was put on hold for quite awhile. I have been shifting from one graduate course to the other… The school I am in right now is the 4th university already… I hope I would be able to finish my graduate study as plan.

Here are some photos that chronicle my activity every Saturday.