life, outside - reflections on the challenges of being an ex-sem
0 comments Posted by Sano jetski at 10:00 AMBy Charles Maximus, B2000
here's a nice reflective piece from charles maximus of b2000. i retitled pala the post. i can totally relate with charle's experiences- as i also found out after leaving college seminary that life "outside" is hard, confusing and chaotic. its a culture shock that takes a long time getting over with. do visit their blog pala though it hasn't been updated in a while. chrisly must be busy :-)
It is 1:34 in the morning.
Well, what can I say. Living in the seminary for 8 years was like living in an idea. As seminarians, we were succumbed to the knowledge that life is easy and that we will be able to handle every situation with ease and hassle free. We were like a child, a blankslate who was given everything that he needs.
We thought that life in the seminary is hard, difficult because of the pressure imposed especially on studies. And to think that it is the only thing on my mind that is hard to do in the seminary. Yet we complain. It is hard and difficult. Yes it is.
Philosophy is really a hard course. Too much of philosophy is insanity, little of it is ignorance. But you see, aside from studying, whatelse is hard in the seminary? Is it hard to play basketball everyday? How bout cleaning the grounds or dorms? Is it hard to eat especially if you're food is already served? Yes we complain bout the hardships that we face inside the seminary. I doubt if once we leave the seminary, we will not complain... I said that living in the seminary is like living in an idea. Once we leave the seminary, there is the reality...the reality we learned in philosophy.
The true face of life awaits us outside the ideal. Some would hide; others will run; still others would complain. But the big question is; how far will we think we can escape reality? We cant. We have to face it and struggle to face it until we die.
On personal basis, I've been working for 2 years. Though I am able to apply and share the abundant knowledge from the seminary, still I fell short. There is still lacking. And so even if I did my best, my best isnt really good enough to pull things over. Experiences of delayed salaries, memos and shouting of boss are just mere examples of what I encounter and still I find myself hanging for the reason that without work I dont have anything to support my needs.
You see in the province, you maybe able to eat with just P5 at hand while in Manila you cant. You will starve to death. You might ask; why don't i leave manila and return to Bicol? The answer is simple. Challenges and sacrifices will make us a strong person. For a diamond to have a perfect shape it should be handcrafted perfectly. Working is just an example of how hard life would be. Other people experience more hardships than mine.
In Manila, you will see the reality. Starving people. Children sleeping on bridges, overpass, newspapers, etc...holdups, pickpockets. thousands of applicants applying for a few openings lining up for interviews. this is reality. we may stumble and fall. but we cant escape, we cant go back. the only motion is to move on. learn from it and face the hardships that the reality is imposing on us.
This is just a glimpse of what could be the culture shock that a newly grad seminarian will undergo once he leave the seminary. So while inside the seminary, enjoy and value the time you have coz when the time for you to leave the seminary a new life awaits you and there is no turning back.
We came back here (Adelaide) to spend our New Year celeb. with some "Filo" (Aussie slang for Filipino) friends at Glenelg. We watched a live band in the park and amazing fireworks just after the New Year countdown. We head up to our place at around 1AM to continue the "reverie" (tinumba an 1/2 "slab" aka case of beer, a whisky and a bottle of wine into the wee hours of the morning (Jan 1).. er, 9:00 in the morning na pala :-)...)! Well, holiday season is over now yet the good memories still cling on so I look forward to another one at the end of the year! Enjoy mga sano...
Kids inside the holiday unit (Stansbury)
New Year's Eve at Glenelg with some friends
Miaco kidz... taken at Harbor Town (Adelaide)
The family and I also went for a road trip around the peninsula... visiting places like Edithburgh, Coobowie, Warooka, Marion Bay etc. plus the huge Innes National Park wherein a "ghost town" is located called Inneston. This town was established in the early 1900's but abandoned not long after. Some of the town buildings and other residential homes are still standing (most are in ruins) and a few are restored without the inhabitants though. BTW, we saw a mother and child kangaroo in one of the streets just watching us as we passed them. I said to them, "Merry Xmas... makikiraan lang po kami!!!", but they just ignored me. Hmmmp, mga "snob"! :-)
Taken at the entrance of the Innes National park
Inneston town (a restored post office and the ruins of the town's grocery store circa 1913)
The two "snobbish" kangaroo :-)
As usual, same as last year... I am sharin' to you all sanos some of our holiday pix basi may maimud man lang na bag-o dini sa Tambayan ;-)...
Well, it was an excellent holiday for the family. We spent our Xmas holiday sa Stansbury, a coastal town. This place is very good for fishing, crabbing, swimming and other coastal area activities as you know it. Mayad kay may mga crabs kami na nakuwa para isuda sa panigab-i nan pulutan ko pa of course :-)! Stansbury is up Yorke Peninsula.
Taken on top of the hill where our holiday unit is located overlooking the jetty where we went for fishing.
Some shots from the road trip.
thanks to roy (B94) for the brilliant idea. i didnt even know yahoogroups had this database feature. but there it is the SanoSaurus - the lexicon of sano slang - is live and waiting for your words.
you can post and edit the lexicon by being a member of the olpsano mailing list. i've sent out invites yesterday. pls. activate them and send me more sano emails addresses so they too can be invited to the mailing list.
once u logged in to the olpsano click the "database" link on the right side, click "SanoSaurus" and click "add record" or click "edit".
I've no rules defined yet. but one thing that i would insist on would be to allow multiple definitions of a single word to account for and indicate the evolution of its meaning across the years.
so for example the word "iskaramusa" as defined by otats is different from how you defined it in 1972 and you would like it reflected in the lexicon, then what you do is "add a new record" titled iskaramusa and add a year or year range to that.
thus your word entry would be "iskaramusa 1972"
i think this is a far easier method of allowing multiple definitions with out adding too many fields and confusing first time users. i'm very open to suggestions though.
i would suggest also that you type your definitions in word or notepad first coz the text box in the database is so short its hard to see what you are typing. then after you're done, just cut and paste it in the definition field.
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the sano dictionary was originally conceptualized by bomick the great. "sanosaurus" was coined by fr. gerry del prado (B?) in one of his IMs to me. roy suggested we setup the dictionary on yahoogroups database.
next project is gerry arnedo's feature request to setup a section where we can post something about our olps mentors.
i sent out tonight the invites for the Sano mailing list. hope you got it. do send me email adds of other sanos you know so i can add them to the mailing list.
first topic i guess would be the SanoSaurus - the lexicon of the sano
on another note, according to my brod jay (b87) who just arrived from sorsogon, it appears that typhoon reming spared sorsogon and hit really hard legazpi and daraga. although he says there's still no electricity, landline phone or cellphone signal in the whole of sorsogon and seeing all the destruction the typhoon caused it might be sometime before these services are restored.
am guessing power generators and push-to-talk phones (CB radio/cellphone) would make for a great gift this Xmas to your loved ones in sorsogon hehehe
as suggested by sano bomick, we're gonna try to build a dictionary of sano slang/words.
actually i'm not very enthusiastic about this thing/feature coz its kinda like a private thing for us.
and as one sano said "publishing some sort of lexicon would rob the "mystique" of the sano experience. after all, if you do not understand the language, then clearly you are not a sano".
maybe as soon as blogger has a feature for posting private content or password protected posts or areas then we can start with it.
what do you sanos think about this?
Batch 83 had a despedida for Israel Gamis last Nov. 15 at Gerry's Grill. I remember Gamis as this reed thin, quiet and studious guy. But now he's looking all Mr. Suave (bagay sa mtv san parokya ni edgar, hehe). More deets and pix at their blog here
with the past weeks annoyances behind (pldt dsl outages, blogger outage, work deadlines, anonymous coward posters etc. etc,) i finally am able to report on the "State of the Sanosphere"
Batch 81
Had a rockin' beer and goat fueled reunion last Oct. 30 at the Donsol Parish hosted by Fr. George "Ninja" Fajardo (wonder if he still teaches karate and the secret ways of the ninja to minor seminarians - hehehe). Present were John, Joey, Vic, Raymund, Wowo, Art, Alvin, Charlie, Jun.
Bagan masiramun adto na kanding :D
Go visit their blog for the fun pix and stories
Batch 82
their blog has been silent for a while now. maybe still reeling from the wrath of typhoon milenyo :-p
sano ronny seems to be still offline. badi wara pa kuryente sainda sa gubat
they're still on the lookout for long-lost batchmate Art Fortuno though. so if anybody knows where he is do give sano ronny a heads up ok?
Batch 83
Always entertaining for the chick, booze, music and other husband survival tips :-) do check out Bomick's poems too. also noticed that the great larry manda has benn posting again. wonder when he will post his short films on the blog.
Batch 86
Is on a bit of business mode nowadays.
Batch 87
Totep Perez experiences life as a roman in Bond Uni and continues to endure bouts of homesickness. go visit and drop him a line to cheer him up a bit :-) yakang-yka yan totep!
while Paul and Koji have some apple picking fun with Koji's family
also Otats, Jay, Lloyd and Gerald had a beer fest at Balkon. Para daw idto sa mga kabatch ninda na OFS (overseas filipino sano)
Batch 82
this and other new pix at their blog. sin-o kaya an pinaka-batal didi hehehe
prayers pala for the good health of sano Dondee who's been diagnosed with some form of lung ailment. read his nicely written reflection about it here.
Batch 89
Richard Montano is still waiting for his batchmates to post on their blog. Mike Dagnalan has his blog up and running here
Batch 93
still scanning the pics to be posted yata :-)
Batch 94
had a pasta al pomodoro with red horse party of sorts
Batch 2000
The newest blog on the Sanosphere is still taking babysteps. watch out for more pix and stories millenium style. Chrisly Ereno maintains the blog. He is currently a 4th year Theology stude at the Collegio Sedes Sapientiae in Rome.
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Linkorama:
Sano's personal blogs
Jetski nano daw kun iban ta ini? Maribukon man ini na taga call center. AIX 4.3.2.0-4.3.3.0 sa IBM gamit sada.
phmn14mxc010.sykesasia.com 210.1.77.22
phmnlns002.sykesasia.com 210.1.77.23
phmn14web002.sykesasia.com 210.1.77.25
www.sykes.com 63.240.253.207
mga sano, go visit the batch 2000. chrisly ereno maintains the site.
Fr. PJ Alindogan has a blog where he posts what looks like his sermons and poems.
the best and safest browser in the world is now on its version 2 goodness. go download it at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/ this very instant. please. for the love of god!!!
Uninstall internet explorer from your computers and use firefox instead. okidoki? that way this blog will render super beautifully in your pc and from then on you will browse the world wide web safely.
why use firefox? well according to uncrate (am too lazy to list down firefox goodness)
Internet Explorer is awful. Its interface sucks, it renders websites horribly, and worst of all, it's ultra-mega susceptible to viruses and pop-ups. If your PC is acting odd or running super slow, you can thank Internet Explorer. You need to install Firefox immediately. Version 2 (free; Mac or PC) just came out and it offers even more web browsing goodness, like a sexy interface, tabbed browsing, RSS reader, built-in spell check, integrated search engines, pop-up blocker, phishing and spyware protection, and tons of useful plug-ins
so go download it now. and i mean right now :-)
As you can see, OLPS needs your help. It would be great if you or your class can donate something for the repair of OLPS. It could well maybe one of the greatest christmas gift you have ever given :-)
alternatively, as Sano Mene suggests, you may deposit your donations to OPLS Alumni Foundation Inc. Savings Account # 478-7007258 (PNB Sorsogon City)
Sano Tomas D. Sementela is the business manager of PNB Sorsogon. You may call him at (056) 421-5207 or E-mail him at sementelatd @ pnb.com.ph
well actually, its not postponed, am just playing safe hehe. seems like nobody knows if there'll ever be a homecoming this year. what is certain is that nothing will happen on the traditional homecoming day - oct 15-17
let's just say the homecoming will not be held in sympathy to the sorsogonons who were disastrously affected by the typhoon.
btw, does anybody know who are the members of the current OLPS alumni board? i honestly dont know :-(
Our heartfelt condolences to the family of Sano Alwyn on the death of his father
