KENNETH PORIO | the blog

  There are years that quietly pass, marked only by birthdays, calendars, and routine. Then there are years that reshape the way we see ourselves. As I celebrate my 35th birthday, I find myself looking back on a season that I can only describe as the year of rebuilding with integrity . It was a year that asked difficult questions, tested deeply held values, and reminded me that rebuilding a life is rarely dramatic. More often, it happens one ordinary day at a time, through small decisions to keep moving forward. Not too long ago, I stood on the shores of Bulabog Beach in Boracay before sunrise. The beach was calm, the sky slowly changing from darkness into light. As I watched the sun rise over the horizon, I realized how fitting that moment was for the season I had been living through. Sunrises do not erase the darkness that came before them; they simply remind us that darkness never has the final word. Looking back now, that morning became an unexpected symbol of hope—a reminder t...

In the confinements of home For quite some time, I am trying to cope with the changes coming my way as I transition from teacher to trainer and freelancer. As the "summer" term comes in the way for our school, only a number of teachers will be given a teaching load, and I am one of those teachers who won't be given load this year. As such, I will have to make do with this time to not only earn money but continue learning. I have been contemplating on making freelancing my priority career path in the next few months. I want to see if freelancing indeed works for me compared to my full-time teaching. Why? With the COVID-19 situation still lingering, I am very confident that working from home will be the norm, and I feel that with the circumstances I have, my career as an educator will not be sustainable in the long run. Honestly, having a work background that was based around being an office cubicle, and later on, having contact with 30 to 40 students at any giv...

It's been three years since I left Park 'N Shop - Victoria Plaza, my former workplace before I became a teacher. All those memories working at the mall surely gave me a liking of how has it been since it was purchased by NCCC. And with that, allow me to give a piece of memory from this humble place - it's famous jingle. For those who can't clearly remember the lyrics, here they are: Let's go and take the family To the plaza that has it all So easy at Victoria All is here for everyone Food, fashion, shops, games, and shows It's the place where your dreams come true So convenient at Victoria Victoria Plaza, the plaza for all! ---------------- This jingle was played on specific times during the business day: during the opening time (usually at 10:00 AM), 12:00 noon, 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM, and at closing time (normally at 8:00PM or at 12:00 midnight during a Midnight Sale). I used to inspect and maintain the supermarket and mall's CCTV and P...

I've turned 3 years as a teacher at Joji Ilagan (aptly referred as JIB). Parang kailan lang akong umalis sa dati kong trabaho  then I landed here where I met not a handful but a lot  of students. Different personalities, different levels of learning, and different levels of kagandahan (talaga lang ha?!). Well, let me describe each class or section of students I encountered so far these 10 months of teaching. (By the way, just to let you know, the way we name batches of students are quite unique here. We name BS Tourism Management sections after airlines. We name BS Hotel and Restaurant Management sections after spices. And we name our senior high school sections after hotel chains.) The above picture is me with the BS Tourism Management students of section "Qantas-Lufthansa" (Batch 2014) who are, as of this writing, fourth year students. They took COMED 6 (C++ Programming) in that particular semester. For me C++ was the most difficult subject I ever taught, for...

A few weeks ago, I was laid off at my first job for some reason I can't disclose. As soon as I took off, I printed my job documents in hopes of looking for the right job for me. There I found a job opening in one of the large malls here in Davao, which was looking for a Technical Assistant for their Supermarket division. I grabbed the opportunity and submitted my papers. After a few grueling days of processing additional requirements, I landed on the job. So far it has been a good experience helping the company in managing their data, in maintaining their Point of Sale systems, and troubleshooting when needed. I do hope in the months ahead this will be a better one than I got on my first employer.

Hello, friends! It's been about a good 5 months since I took a step further and won over my doubts. I constantly prayed that I would graduate from UP Mindanao, when at those times I wasn't deserving to graduate because I was doing nothing for my Special Problem and a major subject I did not complete. I was on the verge of failure. My father kept on doubting about me. He told me that it would be better if I went on work even if I haven't graduated. But my mother and my two siblings held on to the promise that I can do these things. On that time, I found out that I still am a child of God, and I can ask the Heavenly Father to guide me through the challenge. I sought the help of a few friends to pray for me as I went through those tough times. And through His Word on Psalm 13 , I hoped that this challenge will come to pass. And it did come true. I finally graduated on April 19, 2013. Not only that, my Special Problem was a finalist for the Best Special Problem c...

It's almost a month already since I started work, and I just realized today is my 22nd birthday . As of today, I'm working on editing 20 articles and write 2 e-mail blasts. I've tirelessly done writing numerous articles, that I already lose count of them. Indeed, my grammar and writing skills are put to a rigorous test right now. But it's indeed interesting for me. My boss has encouraged me to continue with my programming skills as he plans for me to administer web pages. My knowledge in web development (PHP, MySQL, Javascript, server administration) which I got from school is becoming to bear fruit. I've been truly happy with all the developments right now. Now that I've turned 22, I've wondered why a few people have greeted me over on Facebook or Twitter. Is it because I've left in the spotlight, or I've become too busy with myself that I don't have time to do much social media these days. I'm writing this blog during our lunch ...

It's been almost two months since I graduated from University. Right now, I am under training for a new job. Yes, I'm on my way to full employment to a new job! I'm starting small, in a small office in Matina. It's a small online affiliate marketing company that specializes in content writing. So, it's basically a BPO (business process outsourcing) company for online content. Yeah, when I heard of the term BPO, I would automatically imagine the work that will have you wear a headset, talk to someone on the line in a specified accent, type on the computer in front, and bear the attitude of the one who's on the other line. But this is something different, so I would want to check it out. Right now, I am starting to write a few articles. The topics assigned to me so far were quite interesting yet confusing. One group of topics were about home improvement in some city in Massachusetts. I had to gather the directory listings of home improvement contractors in t...

This is a repost from Mr. Aloysius L. Torres , PhilNITS Society Davao Chapter president, and consultant for PhilNITS Davao. Upon graduation from high school, and prior to choosing what course to take up in college, it is best to consider which career you plan to go into after college. In the field of IT, you can choose from a variety of careers that will suit your skills, interests and needs. I listed below a few of your possible career opportunities in IT. Please note that the description that follows each are based on my personal understanding and observations only, and might contain a few subjective comments here and there. Should you want, the Internet may provide a more detailed and more descriptive information for each. Software Developer / Programmer Mainly you will be responsible for designing, coding and testing software applications and programs. Here are some examples of application and programs that you might find yourself developing : a) online banking ...

Hello there! I'm still contemplating on what I did in the past examinations: I passed the STAT1 First Long Exam but I scored somewhere on the modal score in the distribution of all scores of STAT1 students in this exam. I passed the CMSC21 First Long Exam and I was part of the Top 10. (Yey!) It's not that easy to trace program codes! I failed the CMSC57 First Long Exam and I am still trying to cope up to pass with the next examination involving Probability and Recurrence Relations I'm doing it hard to pass the MATH27 First Long Exam this Monday. Practice those derivatives and integrals of transcendental functions! I was just wondering if I did the right thing in drawing vectors in our PHYS3 Lab Exam... I was not quite satisfied with the MST6 Long Exam... I wonder if I pass... We just had our first On-the-Spot Programming exercise in our CMSC21 Lab. I was just getting there to type and compile all those codes to ensure I did it right. These were our exercises in...

Dear friends, Another ENDURING process of enrollment has been done. I'm officially REGISTERED as a Sophomore of the University of the Philippines Mindanao . Alright, I had many worries carried with me during the enrollment period. But all of them were just blown by the wind, because I had a somewhat smoother process on my part. (pardon the pun) OK. For the last 4 days, I endured another long process, that is, the signing of clearances, enlisting of subjects, and filling up and signing of forms. Here's what I mean: DAY ONE: CLEAR. NO HINDRANCE . (06-02-08) As I arrived in UP Min, I got my clearance form and went on to the clearance centers: ILC/LRC (ILC Building): As I submitted the wee, little charge slip and gave it to Kuya Jeffrey of ILC. When he was done on assessing, he gave to Ate Diocy of LRC. It was so long and tedious because they did it manually. All I saw on the charge slip was a total of Php 900.25 Not that bad; my SV duties in ILC/LRC really paid off. (My...

♪ IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN! ♪ Dear friends... It's the last 10 days of May and it's nearing school again. Updates on my life: I'm been at home most of the summer time and I got the hang of it - switching between CNN and Disney Channel and ABS-CBN is quite fun. Watching CNN makes me much "in-the-know". (Think the natural disasters in Myanmar and Sichuan, China .) Watching Disney Channel shows makes my inner child happy. Watching PBBTE+ (PBB Teen Edition Plus) on ABS-CBN is just as exciting as its previous editions. I'm still deciding on my actions regarding my registration process in UP Mindanao. As of now, the STFAP Website has to release its Second Batch of Bracket Results by the fourth week of May (that's next week, at this time of posting). I will still be thankful if I'm still Bracket C, but Bracket D would be better. If my bracket is not yet released, I may resort to Student Loan (SL) because my student fees may count up to PhP 13,000. I s...

Dear friends: I have achieved these for past 3 days: Submitted my COMPLETE STFAP Application Form with attached documents. (Waaah!) After all those intricate documents I have to file for this Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program...it's all done. Did Mama's banking errands. You know what I mean... :-/ Deposited an amount of money in my Savings Account in one of the multi-purpose cooperatives my Mama is in. By 18 (that's two years from now), I may be a member of the coop if I meet the minimum quota in my savings account... (I hope so.) Visited Colegio de San Ignacio and made a quick conversation with Teacher Divine and Teacher Kenneth, and talked about how's it going in CDSI and with my batchmates. The Chinese teachers Siu Eng Siensi and Theng-Theng Siensi were out for this week to attend some businesses, but they will be back in a few weeks' time to do Summer Enrichment classes. The Yearbook Staff was there too to do their paperworks for this year...