So I started a new blog. It’s called Jeric Pena Reports (JPR).

(Aside: I chose to go by the name “Jeric Pena” because “ñ” doesn’t have any place in the digital world.)

Jeric Pena Reports

JPR is my news blog. It’s where I post my video and/or photo essays, audio reports, and news articles. Yes. I basically shoot, write, edit, record, and report. I even do programming.

I’ve been working on this blog since December last year. And I know that I’ve still got a lot of things to do to make it the way I want it to be. For one, I need to buy more equipment. I just use my iPhone and a point-and-shoot digital camera to take photos and videos. I’ve already bought some gadgets to help me come up with awesome multimedia content, but they are still in transit. (Check my multimedia journalism gear wish list.) Nevertheless, I believe that JPR looks just fine for now.

So, are you interested in taking a behind-the-scenes look at Jeric Pena Reports? 

Broadcast Design

Well, I am also a broadcast designer for JPR. I designed and animated the lower thirds that I’ll be using for my video reports. Yes, it is inspired by the lower thirds that you see on CNN International.

Art Project

I also made my own microphone flag (You know, that box thing just below a reporter’s microphone that bears the station’s logo). I want a professionally-made microphone flag, but I can’t find a store or a person that does this thing so I decided to make my own.

Finished Product

Here’s the JPR microphone flag.

Stand-up

So, here I am testing the microphone flag I made and the lower thirds I designed. I am so excited to do some stand-ups!

Voiceover

Of course, I need to record voiceovers for my video essays and/or audio reports.

I am writing a novel.

I shall finish writing it by the end of the month (July) or by mid-August.

I shall edit it, if necessary.

And of course, I shall submit it to publishing house/s for publication.

Rinse and repeat.

I can do this!

WordPress ate my post! Literally. I don’t know what happened, but when I pressed Save Draft everything went bye-bye. FML, really.

Studying is fun. Truly and really.

My Summer vacation has officially started. Well I’ve been enjoying my Summer vacation since April 2nd. But this would be a very very short one.

Why? First, my second semester classes ended a bit late. I was expecting to be worry-free come March 22nd, but that didn’t happen. Second, I also decided to take Summer classes, hence I need to go to school from Mondays through Fridays starting April 13th. I’m not yet sure about my class schedule for the Summer term because I haven’t finalized anything yet.

Why? I need to finish my undergraduate program as soon as possible. Only a few academic units from my previous program were credited towards my current program, hence I really need to catch up. So I’m not taking Summer classes because I want to, but because I need to.

Why? Because as soon as I receive my undergraduate diploma, I also need to pass the licensure examination for teachers, get a job, and proceed to graduate school right away. I miss distance education and I can’t wait to study at UP Open University again.

Why? I’m studying to become a high school teacher, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be a high school teacher forever, although there’s nothing really wrong with that. But, of course, I also want to become a university professor. I can’t wait to instruct future teachers, conduct research, attend and speak at international conferences, and do other tasks that are very academic. Hence I’ll also be needing a doctoral degree.

Why? For promotion. Plus, I also want to become a school administrator or a university official. When I grow up, I also want to become a president of a higher education institution. Yeah, right.

But all of these things are nothing if I don’t act to make these into reality. So forgive me if I become a very dull person because of too much studying.

Happy New Year!

I really think that 2010 was a great year. I’m glad that I was able to accomplish almost all of my goals for the past year. So now, let me list down the things that I want to accomplish for this new year because I simply love making lists. This time, I want my list to be short and simple.

My Five Goals for 2011

1. Become a College or University Scholar – Yes, I’m grade conscious.
2. Save and Earn more – I need to save and earn more for my needs and wants. I’m currently building a podcast studio and I need money to make it into a decent one. Frugal living, for the win!
3. Pray the Liturgy of the Hours daily – I started praying the Liturgy of the Hours in 2008. Now, my challenge to myself is to pray the Morning, Evening and the Night prayers daily. No, I’m not a seminarian.
4. Blog more - While I’m more into podcasting than blogging nowadays, I must really find time and inspiration to update my blogs more regularly.
5. Do more, procrastinate less - I should resign as a professional procrastinator. Seriously.

I originally wanted to come up with 11 goals for 2011; but, I find having 11 goals for the year to be a bit overkill. Just like I said, I want my list to be short and simple. You know the KISS principle? Keep it simple, stupid. But, who knows? I might add more goals to this list in the next few days or so.

How about you? What are your goals for 2011?

Checky check list!

Last January 1, I have posted an entry on this blog with the title My Goals for 2010. I simply enumerated in that post, well, the things I want to accomplish for this year. Now, let me give you, my dear readers, an update or updates on how I’m doing so far with regards to accomplishing my goals this year.

Goal #1 – Finish my associate’s degree and graduate by May 8, 2010.

Goal #1 Status: ACCOMPLISHED (with flying colors). I graduated from the UP Open University last May 8, 2010 with an Associate in Arts Degree. The ceremony was held at the UP Open University Headquarters at Los Baños, Laguna. To know more about this momentous event in my life, read “I’m now an AA Graduate” at the Distance Education in the Philippines blog.

Goal #2 – Pursue a Bachelor’s Degree.

Since I was able to accomplish Goal #1 with flying colors, I’m currently pursuing a Bachelor of Secondary Education at the UP College of Education. I was admitted during the first semester of Academic Year 2009-2010 and now in my second semester. I’m hoping to graduate two years from now or even earlier.

Goal #3 – Save!

I’m not really sure if I have accomplished this goal. I still have some money left in my bank account that I’m reserving for my graduate studies; but I’ve been buying not-so-cheap stuff for my podcasting network. Nevertheless, I’m glad to report that, so far, my credit card didn’t do me any harm. My spending habits are quite the same as compared to my pre-credit card days. Plus, so far, I haven’t purchased anything that I cannot really afford. I only use my credit card to puy for stuff that I buy online (e.g. web hosting, domains, etc.).

Goal #4 – Support Charities and NGOs

I have been a World Vision sponsor for more than a year now. However, this December, I have decided to finally stop being a World Vision sponsor. I think that it’s better if I get to support different causes every month or every so often. Nevertheless, I’ll still be supporting charities and NGOs in the future. For now, I shall continue to fund my family’s apostolate, Awit at Papuri.

Goal #5 – Remove CHORVA from my vocabulary

You be the judge if I have accomplished this goal or not!

Goal #6 – Stay Fit!

You do know that I love walking, right? I walk a lot especially when I’m in school! I rarely ride the IKOT jeep when in campus! I just walk to go from one building to another. Seriously. I’m not really sure about the “Stay Fit!” part because I haven’t even stepped on a weighing scale for quite some time now!

So far so good, yes? Now, I shall think about the year to come—2011.

Since one of my goals for this year is to save money, I told myself that I should become “OC” when it comes to financial matters so I could track where my money go—every single peso, that is. Before, I would often ask myself, “Saan napunta ang pera ko? (Where did my money go?)”  It was only during the last quarter of 2009 that I have decided to use different tools to effectively track my finances.

Happy New Year! Last 2008, I started this “blog tradition” of writing a list of my goals for the year. However, I’ve become a “professional procrastinator” after that so even though I’ve accomplished almost all my goals, I failed to write my goals for 2009. I don’t have a year-end post (because I was so drunk last night) and I guess this one would do.

1. Finish my associate’s degree and graduate by May 8, 2010 – Just like last year, my first goal is about school and graduation! A few only know that I should be graduating by May 8, 2010 (if God permits). I’m currently taking the last few courses I need to finish my associate’s degree from UP Open University. Graduating on time has been one of my worries upon entering college so I’ve been working my ass off just to graduate on time by taking more academic units per semester and taking summer classes. I hope my efforts would pay off.
2. Pursue my Associate’s degree to a Bachelor’s degree – Upon entering college, I’ve decided that I would be taking Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia Studies (UP Open University). However, just recently, after some soul-searching, I discovered my true calling – I want to become a teacher. Seriously! So now, I’ll try my luck if the UP Diliman College of Education would admit me as a Bachelor in Secondary Education student.
3. Save! – I recently got a credit card because I want to establish my own credit history. I just don’t know if this would positively or negatively affect my savings. This year, I want to save for my future! For the past few years, my earnings have been devoted to buy new gadgets (like my current phone), which is save because only a small portion goes to my savings account. This year, no more new cellphones and or gadgets! Plus, I also need to save for the World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid, Spain if I’m really serious about attending it. I also need to save money to renew a couple of domain names and to buy tickets to musicals like CATS and Legally Blonde!
4. Support Charities and NGOs – I’ve been a supporter of World Vision since last year and I’m thinking on sponsoring another child for my 19th birthday (if my finances allow). I also need to encourage my eldest sister, Dianne, who’s joining the workforce soon, to sponsor a World Vision child. Maybe I should support UNICEF’s cause too by donating.
5. Remove CHORVA from my vocabulary – SERIOUSLY!
6. Stay Fit! – I should do more physical activities like walking, dancing, doing yoga and running. I love walking and I should do train more often.

Anything else? Maybe I’ll add some later when I get rid of this uhm, hangover.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been busy working on my latest web project, Brink Notes Entertainment Daily. If you’ve heard about it already then GREAT if not, go ahead, and check out the site.

Brink Notes Entertainment Daily is obviously, an entertainment news website that aims to give the latest Philippine entertainment news as well as foreign entertainment news. Aside from putting up articles, photos, and videos daily, I also produce podcasts from Mondays through Fridays for the site. So, if you want your entertainment news to be delivered in audio format, I suggest that you subscribe to the BED Podcast via iTunes.

Let me know what you think about Brink Notes Entertainment Daily, drop me a line at jeric.pena [at] brinknotes.net.

I currently have two more pending web projects – first is the website of our church, and the second one is still a secret. It’s great that I still have a short break from school despite my decision to take summer classes. This short break gives me time to work on things I love to do. Summer classes start after Holy Week.

By the way, Holy Week is fast approaching and I’m not sure if mom has plans to go out-of-own or whatever. May you have a meaningful Holy Week!

For the second time, I am joining NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)! My first time to write a NaNoWriMo novel was in 2007. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to reach 50,000 words because of so many things.

I’m excited to start writing my NaNoWriMo novel, which has the working title, “Is This A Mistake?” that revolves around Emmett, a 17-year-old student. I am eager to finish my NaNoWriMo novel this year for winners will get their novels printed by CreateScape for free! Isn’t that nice? I’ve been wishing to have my own book / novel published but I don’t have the money and time to do so.

Anyway, if you’re interesting in joining NaNoWrimo you could visit their official website, http://www.nanowrimo.org. If you want to meet other Filipino NaNoWriMo writers, check out the official website of the Philippine NaNoWriMo Community, http://www.pinoywrimos.com/.

Anyway, wish me luck!

One of my goals for 2008 is to attend World Youth 2008. Despite the efforts I exerted to be able to attend WYD 2008, I failed. Maybe it’s God’s plan. Well, I’m only 17 years old and I’m not yet allowed to travel alone. In addition, traveling to Sydney is just plain expensive! I don’t want my family to be in great debt just to have one of my goals achieved.

So, I gave up. No World Youth 2008 for me. No Pope for me. No Sydney for me.

I was depressed. In fact whenever I would hear any news mentioning World Youth Day, I would feel sad and would change channels immediately. But I came back to my senses and started to watch EWTN’s coverage of the World Youth Day during the Final Mass celebrated by none other than Pope Benedict XVI. It is where he announced that the next World Youth Day would be in 2011 and would take place in Madrid, Spain.

This time, I promise to myself that I would make it! In fact, I’ll be coming up with my own WYD 2011 blog in a matter of days or weeks. I’ll be saving up and would be starting to look for sponsors this early!

Maybe that’s why I’ve been meaning to learn Spanish. Maybe it’s God’s plan. See, God moves in mysterious ways (or is it love?). He wanted me to learn Spanish to by that I would attend the WYD in Madrid I won’t feel alienated.

Hello, World Youth Day 2011! Hello, Pope! Hello, Madrid!