National Eggnog Day

Photo c/o latestly.com

A lot happens during Christmas Eve, the mad-rush for last minute shopping and buying of gifts, food, drinks, and groceries for the feasts ahead.  This year my daughter Jess, introduced us to this concoction called eggnog.  It is also known as eggnog punch made with milk, cream, sugar, whipped eggs, spices, and a dash of liquor.  She also added liquid chocolate as flavoring.  I've seen people on social media making this drink, heaping praises to it's wonders.  I took a tiny bit of sip and I didn't like it!  I will stick to fizzy drinks, sparkling wine, and water.  Merry Christmas!

The nth revival of this blog

My logo c/o RMO

I originally started this blog in June 2008 while I was still in the Philippines, teaching at Miriam College.  I was an Assistant Professor teaching for nearly 20 years at the Communication Arts department.  Earlier on in my teaching career, I've found my passion---mentoring and coaching rather than just teaching.  Up until then, I've had an amazing time with my students, whether it was in radio-TV production, journalism, film, theater arts, drama, communication theory, audiovisual productions, media laws and ethics, development communication, and communication management.  I also taught undergrad students at St. Mary's College-Quezon City as well as Masteral students (mostly Chinese international students) at one of my alma mater, Far Eastern University (FEU).  But I had to leave that all behind for another great adventure in Aotearoa New Zealand.  I was offered a Teaching Fellowship with the Screen and Media Studies department of the University of Waikato, with the option to develop my topic for my PhD.  That's how PhDchannel.com came about.  And it's been 11 years since then.  This blog has been resurrected so many times, hopefully this time it will be for good.  As for my PhD, I never got to finish it.  It's still a work-in-progress!  And that's another story!

It's 2014 - Happy New Year

The first day of the year 2014 was spent with a late breakfast and doing some revisions of my novel.  In between, I couldn't help but ponder on what the new year will bring.  I still distinctly remember the first few minutes of the new year in 1970 and a family member was vocally explaining that it's a new decade, and she was scared of what was coming...wars, famine, nuclear holocaust, oil crisis, and many more!  I was 13 years old then.

44 years later and we're still here.  I have witnessed many things and have been in countless challenges.  And just like the Elton John song, "I'm still standing!"  No matter what may come, I do have the power within me to change the world and make it as beautiful as I can imagine it to be.  I have the vision, desire and dream to make this year the best in my life!

This novel I'm writing about, PhD students who are just starting in their PhD journey, will see the light of day this year, soon, now!  This novel will also propel me to cross that river and join in the PhD journey.  Bring it on then!

Happy New Year!

Nothing special really

Today has been an ordinary one.  I was able to write only over 1,000 words to my novel-in-waiting!  I'm beginning to feel the makings of a writer's block! What must I do?  There must be a special food, music, clothes, medicines, exercises, what-not to cure this!  If you dear reader knows of one, please do give me a line so I can nip this in the bud.

All for now, for today is nothing special really!

I've got a moleskin notebook for a gift

My family reiterated their support for my being an Authorpreneur with a moleskin notebook as my Christmas gift!  Not only do they want to equip me with the right tools, it is their vision for me to be properly inspired and motivated with gifts like this!  My daughter said great writers/artists like Ernest Hemingway, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Oscar Wilde, Pablo Picasso and many others used moleskins in their creations.

It's the day after Christmas (NZ time) and I am about to write something on my moleskin notebook.  I wonder what it is that I'll write.  I want it to be memorable and inspirational.  It must be something that will make me smile, when I look back a month, a year from now.  There's just so many things that I would like to put down into ink and paper.

I'm really getting excited now!  I'm beginning to see the thoughts that have been percolating in my mind the past few days, clearly being written on my moleskin notebook.  Let's do it!

The day before Christmas

It's the day before Christmas here in NZ.  For some it's a working day, for others their day-off (just like me), and for most the start of a very long weekend, lasting all the way to January 5, 2014.

I'm sure that the Christmas rush has begun.  I dropped off my wife at work and I've noticed the more than usual number of vehicles parked in the supermarket where she works.  For what is Christmas without the food!  The gifts, food, parties, seems to have replaced the real essence of Christmas.

I'm not trying to sermonise because I have no qualification to do so.  It's just an observation born out of nearly 60 Christmases!  Receiving and giving gifts, partaking of the simple or sumptuous food, and the constant and endless partying for some, is all part of Christmas.  Add a sprinkle of spirituality into the mix, and you're on the right path.

PhD life

Looking forward to writing another 10,000 words tonight until Thursday.  The first 5,000 words needs just a bit of editing and polishing; and they're ready to go online!  I would like to upload it as a sort of teaser for my novel, which will be available strictly online!

These first year PhD students are in for a year of adventure, travel, studies, drama, action and romance!  What kind of life does a PhD student have?  Who will survive to the next level and who will fall by the wayside?  How will they surpass the demands of arrogant and scheming professors?

The novel is not an autobiography.  It is the result of my observation as a PhD student!  It is a composite of the many personages and events that I have observed as a postgraduate student, that have lingered on, long after I have moved on.

Lingering last words

While reading a magazine I was delighted to find these lingering last words. Now these are just a few samples of a body of written work that could be developed into a story, a book, a novel.

1. It is said that while French writer Voltaire was on his deathbed, the attending priest wanted him to renounce Satan.  Voltaire's classic response was, "Now is not the time to make new enemies"

2. Norwegian playwright and poet Henrik Ibsen was told by nurse that his health was improving.  Again another classic reply, "On the contrary."  He died the next day.

3. Henry David Thoreau was asked by his aunt to make peace with God as he was slowly dying from a deadly combination of tuberculosis and bronchitis.  His classic reply, "I didn't know we had quarrelled."

Basketball on a Sunday morning

I've recently organised my son's basketball team.  They practice every Sunday morning and have been regularly going to the gym for the past two months. There are two other parents who do the coaching because I told them I'm good at organising but not coaching.

This morning, both of them are indisposed, and I have these group of boys eager to train and play.  Normally, while the boys are playing I hang around with the parents to talk and catch-up on whatever.  Today, I had to juggle the two tasks.  But I survived.

I've noticed that the passion of the boys for playing basketball is unmatched! I've mentioned this so many times to the boys and the parents, that its not only learning and excelling in playing basketball, but its more about applying what you've learned in basketball like sportsmanship, coordination, agility, leadership and many more, to survive and conquer the game of life!

I'm so glad to be a part of the growth of these kids!  Well my son is one of them and seeing him gain confidence and learn all the skills, is worthy of waking up very early on a Sunday morning!  That's how I started my morning. I do hope yours was meaningful too!

Authorpreneur

Now I get it!  I really am an Authorpreneur or more precisely an aspiring one, budding but not a wannabe!  There really is such a word and by definition and according to the Urban Dictionary - "an author is someone who creates a written product, participates in creating their own brand, and actively promotes that brand through a variety of outlets.  An Authorpreneur makes use of outlets such as: websites, blogs and social media, promotional materials both in print and online, opportunities to speak, generating media coverage, teaching other authors in person or online, creating unique business models to facilitate their product, offering support through those business models to other authors."

I like the word Authorpreneur and everything that it may represent!  Am working really hard to be a published author soon!

A family of writers!

I've begun to rediscover creative writing again!  It's good therapy and it gives me great pleasure to dream big ones and most often impossible ones at that too!  While driving to work this morning, my wife and I talked about writing. She had shown me the night before the essay she wrote to be submitted in her application for a Diploma in Interior Design.  I told her that I never noticed that she writes well too.  At least, she took that observation well, and besides I was the one driving!

All my three children are writers too, my eldest daughter with her own successful and popular blog and writing for a living too, my teenage son who comes out with insightful essays in his high school assignments, and my youngest son at six years old already showing great potential in creativity and writing!  My wife and I, have produced these very creative kids.  Must be the vibes we got when we were working for a TV network.

There are five writers in this family and I'm loving it!