English

timmy

I was chatting with Jasmine, Timmy’s best friend and playmate, when she mentioned that Timmy was asking her why I don’t have an article about him on my blog site, TheCuriousMe.

He wants to know if he didn’t have a great impact in my life to warrant an article. It’s funny because I’ve been receiving similar queries and some are even requesting for me to write an article about them. Ha!

Anyway, I’ve completely forgotten about Timmy’s query when I stumbled upon the testimonials in my Friendster’s account which was buried in one of my dormant email addresses.

And to my surprised, he has a testimonial for me! Ha! I wonder what prompted him to post a testimonial? It was Jasmine whom I kept bugging to post a testimonial for me but she did not make any effort to post one because of unending “blah blah”.

Timmy is the boy-next door type who loves to play computer games. He’s quick-witted and a complete hearthrob in which he’s unaware of. In my point of view, he’s like a kid trapped in a grown up’s body.

His bubbly attitude and positive outlook in life makes people drawn to him, aside from his good looks of course! Nah, I’m not trying to sell him or feed his ego, I’m just stating a fact. :p

One of the fondest things that we had was on how often we gang up on Jasmine for her “penchant” for the English language and for cooking “edible” foods. 😉

I’m looking forward to hanging out again with them! This time, on the other side of the world where four seasons exist. See ya soon guys!

manifesto

This site was initially set up to vent out my curtailed emotions. I’m a typical Virgo who just keep things to herself and then explode at the “right” moment. Yup! That’s me! However, I don’t want to get heart problems so I’ve decided to be vocal about my pent up feelings whichever method that is deemed necessary.

Moreover, I’m a very quiet and shy person. :p Ok, some of you may disagree but that’s my nature since I was a kid. I exerted great effort to overcome it, yet, it still pops up every now and then.

Going back to the site, I decided to make it public because a lot of people shows interest in knowing my whereabouts, what keeps me busy, etc. Hence, TheCuriousMe (http://www.thecuriousme.com) is made available for “public consumption”.

Just a heads up, I’m not earning from this site so I don’t have a budget to pay for a copywriter. Poor me. Tsk tsk tsk… @TheSoulfulVixen and Majesty helps me every now and then (in which I’m very grateful) nonetheless, I can’t possibly bug them and take up their time to proofread my articles all the time. Sigh…

FYI, I’m not an English major, so if you find some missing “S” or more “F” & “S” than it should be… or any grammatical error, pardon me. I would greatly appreciate if you call my attention and help me correct it. You can shoot me an email at info.thecuriousme@gmail.com.

I hate English eversince I was in High School. I’m more of a Math person (I totally love Calculus and Algebra ) but I can’t seem to shake off my passion for writing…

Thus:
…Take it or leave it…
…Love me or hate me…
… I’m going to write until the end of time! Aja!

tongue-tied

For the first time in my life, I lost my tongue. In short, I became taciturn… tight-lipped… tongue tied… clammed up… buttoned up… closemouthed…reticent… However you call it. Sigh. This is not me. And I’m getting frustrated.

I’m doing my best to analyze and find out the root cause of this predicament. Below are the things that I’ve come up so far:

Is it because i’m surrounded with guys who are drop dead gorgeous?
Or i’m still getting used to seeing REAL blue, green, and other eye color aside from brown and all kinds of real vibrant hair color? (Note: I’ve gotten used to seeing colored contact lenses and dyed hair)
Or is it because I’m finally seeing the theories I’ve previously taught (during my teaching years) come to life?
Or is it the four season weather?
Or having the sunset at 10p.m.?
Or is it the roses, tulips and other kinds of flowers reaching its full bloom?
Or not knowing who Dr. Zeus is?
Or not knowing how to drive?
Or getting “nose bleed” talking in English with that trying hard North American twang? :p
Or I’m just overwhelmed?

What do you think?

Sigh… I’m always known for being an “okrabesa” (a.k.a . pugnacious) and “antipatika” (a.k.a. irksome) in a funny way. Also, I have a penchant to pester people in a comic way as well as making fun of my major inadequacy. Can you give a guess? Waaaah! Yes, it’s my height! :p

Most of the time, my one-liner goofy retorts send people in cahoots of laughter even if I’m not even making a joke. Hmmm… maybe I’m also born to be a comedian… not just to inspire creatures but to bring rainbow colors and hearty laughters into their uneventful life.

Now, I’m mute.

Share your thoughts and help me clear this cobweb of bewilderment! Argh! I need to find my tongue ASAP! Ha!

English

I’ve always thought that if you have good command of the English language, it will be enough to make you “global”. Hence, I did everything within my mighty power to learn English even though I abhor the intricacies of its “technical” aspect.

A lot of people say I speak and write English well… Hmm.… I might have succeeded in a certain way but I know in my heart that I still have a long way to go.

My accent turned topsy-turvy after communicating with people having various mother tongue such as:

Filipino (Ilokano, Tagalog, Bisaya, Ilonggo, etc)
Dutch
German
French
Singaporean Mandarin
Chinese Mandarin
Cantonese
Hokien
Bhurmese
Bhutanese
Nepalese
Indonesian
Malay
Arabic
Ethiopian Language
Hindi
Tamil

I usually adapt the most prominent accent but my tongue seemed be confused on what accent to follow. Strange huh? Even so, I did manage to improve my accent slowly and it got better when I worked at HSBC. We were dealing with American clients, so, we were taught to neutralize our accent to minimize communication barrier. After a few months, I can already speak English with that American twang.

However, when I went to work in Singapore, I needed to unlearn that American twang and speak English the “local” way inorder to get the message across and minimize receiving blank stares. (See related article -> Singlish).

Now, I need to unlearn the Singlish and bring back the North American way of speaking English. It’s a work in progress and it’s a bit difficult because I’ve also adapted the unresponsive nature of Singaporeans. It’s a total struggle!

Looking at the brighter side of things, I know things will work well in the next couple of months. The naturally bubbly, giggly. and chatty me will soon surface.

How to think English is also added in my to do list. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not removing Ilokano and Tagalog in my system. I’m a Filipino and will always be. I just want to improve myself and make my Mama proud (wherever she is now). (Note: Writing is given. :p)

Thus, my mantra now is:
“I must speak English and think English.”

Why don’t we do this together? Aja! 🙂

writing

Dr. Jose Rizal, Philippine’s national hero, once said that the pen is mightier than the sword. Writing is absolutely a powerful tool in getting the message across to a wider group range. If not for Mrs. Mila Julaila, my English teacher in primary school, I would have never discovered my “talent” in writing.

Being chosen to represent our school for an inter school letter writing competition helped a great deal in cultivating my passion for writing. Our school principal, Mr. Edilberto Aricheta, supervised my training and also gave interesting tips to enhance “my so called writing skill”.

I was thrilled because it was my first time to join such contest but a bit nervous because I heard that most of the contestants were “veterans” (a.k.a. old timers). I did clinch the second spot and there were over 20 participants from different schools. Not bad for a first timer eh?

I never thought that it’s a historical moment for our school. If I remember it right, in any of the competition that they have joined, it’s the first time that the school landed in the top 2. The school officials and teachers were very happy because we were able to beat some of the “elite” schools.

The next year, they asked me to compete in the news writing category. I managed to land on the 5th spot with over 20 participants. I think newswriting is not my thing. Hmmm…

I did put into practice my passion for writing by doing a daily prayer journal during my high school days. After two or three years, I stopped. It’s only when I was contemplating to set up my own site when I started writing again and that was last year 2009. I’ve accumulated a couple of articles which I’ve already posted in this site (www.thecuriousme.com). For some topics, I’m still working on it and I will share it once it’s done.

I noticed that majority of the articles found in the different personal sites tend to become an outlet to “vent out” frustrations. In my point of view, most of it emits negative elements. Hence to neutralize this, my ultimate goal is to “radiate” positive energy in every article I write and post in this site.

I’m not a high caliber writer but I hope the readers will feel at least a bit of that positive energy and be a good energy boost to bounce back and move on with life. I know I have a long way to go. And I’m determined to take the baby steps and work towards the goal!

Your feedback would be very much appreciated. Suggestions and comments can be posted at the bottom of each article or send an email to info.thecuriousme@gmail.com.

Aja!