+AMDG

though i'm no longer catholic, this is one thing thing i've carried over from all my years of jesuit education, st. ignatius' personal credo. since grade school, i've been writing it at the top of all my test papers and all other important documents i submit, almost like a good-luck charm. and so i am happy to say that, ad majorem Dei gloriam, when my +AMDG-marked prelim exams came back last week, i got the highest scores in class for both exams :D

it's really a big thing for me, because this gives me some affirmation that 1) i'm not dumb after all, even though i've been out of school for so long, and 2) the extra effort that naturally comes out of a passion --almost a desperation-- to learn really does make a difference in the results.

and so now, even though last sem's highest scorer is still the teacher's favorite, i sense an increased respect from my teacher (the notoriously difficult professor) because i scored consistently in her two classes. honestly, she listens to me more now when i give suggestions in class. results of another exam i took last week to come out this week. hope it turns out just as well.

on another front, just before i left davao, i got something in the mail from canada--two copies of All Mixed Up, a chapbook of poetry and artworks by people of mixed asian race. i honestly don't know why i'm in there, but i remember submitting my poem in 2001 or 2002, and then getting notice several months after that my work was accepted for the chapbook. the editors moved to different cities, got married, had kids, and that's why the chapbook was published only late last year. it's cute, hand-sewn. i think it's for sale at $12.

they'll be launching it in vancouver, new york, and california this year, i believe. so i expect all of you out there on the other side of the world to get yourselves copies ;-) that brings my count of "international launchings" to four cities, including singapore back in 2001 for Love Gathers All hehehe. oh and there was that other poem in a UNEP publication,  too, in 2000. i don't know where it was launched, but it was published in Africa.

i know, i know, they really don't count because it's just one poem in each collection, no book of my own, but not bad for something i never aimed for, eh? :) and yes, it's just the prelims, and there's still midterms, presentations and the final research papers--a long way to go in the next three months. but it's good to count every little blessing. definitely a good start to the year.

hope yours is looking promising, too :)