#3 I Stop to Say Thank You Maming (mother) and Paping (father)

As the saying goes, "One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind." God have been showering me so many blessing in life that eternity isn't enough to thank Him. The best blessing I received from Him is my family. My family is the second source of my strength (God being the first). Without them, I will never be what I am today. I value them so much that I never skip a day of keeping in touch through text messages and calls.

 It saddens my soul knowing that others give less importance to their family. They don't even care if they end as a broken family. This will greatly affect the children. Most of the cases, children having broken family end up addicts, hateful of one's surrounding and engage his/herself to bad vises. These type of people in the community can be one of those who put the nation to shame. Charity begins at home. Putting importance on teaching children good manners and helping them differentiate what is wrong and right. these simple things help a lot in building a peaceful community.

A good future is what we always look forward to. Maybe 10 years from now, I end up being successful as a Chemical Engineer. That success can never be achieve without the family I have and God. Forever is not enough to repay them both but showing value and importance to them will be one of the many ways I can do. Giving time is the best way to express gratitude and love. I may have my own family to raise and take care of but giving time to my parents is the best way I think to pay back. If they have took care of me from the day I took my first breath until the present time, it would be nice to take care of them as they grew old. In these ways I can say thank you to them. I can also thank them in these present time by giving all my best in my studies. Attaining success and making them smile with what I may  reach in life is the best way to thank them. Maming and Paping, I love you and thank you so much.

#2 Reading and Writing

 Reading and writing are of the most essential needs in communication, same as with writing. Reading develops our vocabulary and improves are critical thinking skills. It also broadens our knowledge about things around us. Have you ever asked yourself, what kind of reader am I?

In my elementary days, never did I draw interest with reading. I find it uninteresting and boring. I only read textbooks to memorize some key points in compliance to my subjects. I had a hard time loving it because of the absence of motivation from my family, friends and especially from myself. As the years passed by, I graduated and reached high school. My point of view about reading has change and it affected my writing skills. Digital Fortress, a novel by Dan Brown, was the first novel I’ve ever read. At first I think of it as compliance for our home reading report but then as I turn the pages, all my perception about how boring reading is have totally evaporated and vanished in my vocabulary. I come to realization and regretted the years I spent my leisure times for irrelevant activities. But then, it’s not yet the end. So, I have put in my mind that I will read and read till the day my heart stops beating and I breathe the last air I can.

As a reader, I can consider myself in the middle. There are times when I act as a good reader but some qualities of being a poor one can’t be easily remove from my system. Before reading, I activate prior knowledge, choose appropriate strategy, set a purpose and understand my task yet on some reading materials; I start reading without knowing why. While reading I focus attention, anticipate and predict, use dictionary to understand the word I just encounter and reread if I don’t get the main idea of the author. Sometimes though, I just read to get done and realize that I don’t fully understand the material and that is why I have to reread for me to enhance my vocabulary. After reading, I usually summarize the story and important details and evaluate the writing strategy of the author. Novels by Dan Brown and Sidney Sheldon keeps me get excited and hooked up until the very last page. Amazingly page turner authors that motivate me from reading more reading materials to see to it if the facts they have written are well supported and sometimes to defy some information that bothers me.

 As a writer, reading is very essential. It adds knowledge and enables me to think of writing strategies used by famous author to improve my skills. I also keep a diary and journal with me every day. It enables me to evaluate my writing skills especially when it comes to grammar. I’m also making a novel inspired by my favorite authors, J. K. Rowling, Nicholas Sparks, those mentioned before and many more.  

Eventhough I’m not a good one, I’m striving to be. No one masters a skills one first try. That’s why I am motivated to keep moving forward. How about you?