Waiting for the NLE Result

Jaycee P. Gorillo

Perhaps no words can describe the suspense, tension, pain and agony of waiting for the results of the nursing board examination.

After I took the exam last Nov. 29 and 30, my dad and my mom asked me how I fared. But how could I assure them that I would pass? In the first place, not even 10 percent of the things we took up in the review class came out in the exam. Secondly, the most difficult subjects in the nursing curriculum, such as Medical/Surgical and Psychiatric Nursing for which I burned the midnight oil, were hardly covered by the exam questions.

Over the hump

By Geralyn L. Cruz

Back in 2007, I was one of thousands of unemployed fresh college graduates. I may not remember now how many companies I applied to from June to October of that year, but I will never forget how I felt.

Having gone to one of the most expensive and also one of the best business schools in the country, I was expected to land a job soon after graduation. It did not happen that way. It took four grueling months of exams, initial and final interviews and false hopes before I started working.

Picture in my mind

By Sheila Mañalac

There is a picture that keeps flashing in my mind. It is that of an old man sleeping soundly on a busy sidewalk in Manila’s Quiapo district. His blanket is yesterday’s newspaper, his pillow an old sack full of trash.

Twice burned

By Alexandria Llamasares

I fell in love twice last year. And twice I was heartbroken. I proved my professor right when he told us that love is a feeling which attracts masochists, people who love to inflict pain on themselves. I loved the feeling of being in love. I loved the feeling of loving someone despite the pain. I am a masochist.

The marrying age

By Aina Cruz

“I’m getting married!” These days, I have been hearing more frequently from my friends and cousins this dreadful sentence: “I’m getting married.” The moment I hear this, two feelings sweep over me at the same time. One is extreme happiness for this beloved person who has finally found what is famously known as “The One,” be it a high school sweetheart, a college lover, an officemate, a blind date, or a childhood playmate. I almost wish that at least somebody would be referring to the savior Neo who would finally destroy the Matrix.

Waiting for change

By Rachel Pagdagdagan

“These leaders never get tired,” I told myself upon overhearing an early morning TV newscast about the Dec. 12 protest rally last year. My feet were no longer itching to spring up and see what my Grandma was watching, but I recognized familiar personalities being mentioned whom I recalled seeing during the historic EDSA People Power II way back when I was in high school. Almost eight years have passed and these leaders are now against the same person who was sworn in as the new president in front of the EDSA II crowd.

Silence

By Janna Mae B. Tecson

Listen. There comes a point in your life when all you can do is listen. You can’t seem to find the right words to say, because there are no right words to say at that particular moment. I know that because of our great desire to comfort some people we deeply care about, we feel like telling them things we think could ease their pain. But sometimes, all we can and need to do is hear them out and keep silent.

Holiday frenzy

By Therese M Gutierrez

I have been humming Christmas tunes lately, and who can blame me? Maybe the Christmas spirit has finally rubbed off on me, but from what I still remember from the blur of the days just passed, I have walked, commuted and spent my hard earned moolah for family and friends. The only thing rubbing off on me is the Christmas rush. No spirit yet. It has all been a buying frenzy for me.

Winning Ideas in Hard Times

By Geralyn Cruz, 23

The Christmas season is almost upon us and everything seems to be costing a lot more than before—and I am not even talking yet about the effects of the global financial crisis on our own “island of calm.”

A few weeks back I spoke with a friend, a mutual funds analyst who was trying to sell me her company’s products. She mentioned that this is the shopping season for such kinds of investments. And for the first time, I agreed with someone who was selling me something. “Yes, definitely,” I told her.

Memories of summer

By Nicole Dalida

On our last day of classes, everyone in school was excitedly talking about the places they would visit during the summer break. Some were planning out-of-town trips with their friends. Others bragged about the foreign trips they were taking. Still others said they would just pass the time watching movies or singing in karaoke bars. Those who knew in advance that they would flunk their courses wondered how they would explain it to their parents.