What's GOOD IN FAILING???

I can say that I did very-very well in school, when I was in the preparatory stage of it, in fact I had a lot of recognitions and medals, which i bragged about, until I was in grade 1, after which, a big fat ZERO.

I guess, the competition is too much for me when I entered the second grade in a big school called, ST. JAMES SCHOOL of QC, way back in the late 80s.
It's a Hero to Zero, I was a fluke basically. Year in year out, I had to do better on the last grading to make it to the next level, it was a struggle for me on a yearly basis.

It was tough, from the boo-boos of your friends, from the scolding of my Family (my entire family, mind you, from Mama to ate to kuya, Paps is not around most of the time because of his work), to the stigma of being a not-so-good-in-school, in vernacular, BOBO.


My first share of failure is way back in grade 3, it was a make or break situation for me, for lack of a better term, let's call it a LOSE-LOSE solution, I have to pass my last exams, for me to have a summer class and go the next stage, or if I won't, I will have to a grade 3 again, REPEATER!!!
Luckily, I was never a repeater in my entire Elementary and High school life, am just a big fan of summer classes.

I went to summer classes twice, 1 in grade 3 and the other when I was in 3rd high school.
Again, I have to endure the LOSE-LOSE solution, I have to choose, remedial or REPEAT, but again, I managed to have the other side of the LOSE-LOSE solution. 
I finished high school in time, but with my stint in that school, I never made it at least on the top 30 students in each of my class, darn it.

Tertiary education is the next step, there's a lot of expectations from me since my predecessors made it big time, my ate went to UST and my kuya went to MAPUA.
 So here we go again, another taste of failure, I tried getting in to SAN BEDA, UST, and UE. out of the 3, I only passed 1 exam, UE. I recalled when my Lolo asked me about the entrance exams, he said without batting an eyelash, ANG BOBO MO NAMAN, ISA LANG PINASA MO, but he said it very lightly and played it really cool.

Since all mothers only want what's best for their kids, she waved her magic wand, and POOF, I became a student of UST, taking up Political Science, class 1A7 (if i remembered it correctly).
I guess, 1 of my phobias, aside from RODENTS, are the dreaded 4 cornered room, called CLASS-ROOM, I just can't find the reason for me to sit and listen to some stupid lectures of my professors, at that time. Don't get me wrong, am not saying that they are stupid, I have the highest respect for them, to begin with, but I just can't find the urge of having my full attention to them, let's just say, I traveled a lot, during their classes, while inside the classroom.
Could have been classes are held outside that 4 cornered room, like in the soccer field, on the GAZEBOS outside our class rooms, inside the CINEMA, billiard halls, HOLE IN A WALL DRINKING BARS, I could have finished college in 3 years and with HONORS, I bet you that.

The moment of truth, I have to get my class-cards, how I wished that day never came at all, I received a PINK form, which means, I was debarded, in a nutshell, UST will no longer allow me to move forward from 1st year to next, I just have to finish my first year and I need to find another school, whom I guess, will live up to my standards (KAPAL).

That day, I feel really-really guilty, most specially when I handed the form to my Mom, I will never forget the the disappointment in her face, I failed her again, not just her, but myself as well.
But being cool, she said, ANO PA MAGAGAWA NATEN ANJAN NA YAN, so here we go again, I have to look for another school, which will live up to my standards (UBOD).

Being so mabarkada and all that shit, I went to a computer university in QC, not to go to school, but to be with my home friends, and hopefully find more friends along the way, and it never failed me, if FACEBOOK is a degree, I could have again, graduated shorter than the rest and with HONORS.
For a year, I think I only saw my class rooms 5 or less times.
I became, sorry, WE became a regular students of BILLIARDS HALL, CINEMAS, and WHOLE IN A WALL DRINKING BARS, and it was such a success because our group of 5 grew up into a barangay.
We were such low-lying-scum-selfish-sonsofbitches-assholes at that time, because of what we did, am not saying that we are not now, we just became more sophisticated low-lying-scum-selfish-sonsofbitches-assholes.

Suddenly, it dawned on me, I had a recollection, after seeing PALABHISA LALAKE (with gwapings), I think it was Joey Marquez, he said KAYA HINDI KAYO SUMISIKAT E, MAGHIWA-HIWALAY NA KAYO!!! To cut the chase, once a again, FAILURE.

So, I decided to fix everything, I bailed out from that school and went to FERN in Don Antonio, to once and for all, clean up my acts, which I thought I will, but I WAS WRONG.
It was never different from my ELEMENTARY, HIGH SCHOOL, UST, AMA days from FERN, I was again a complete FAILURE.
Most of my drinking and tambay buddies in FERN finished their courses, except for a few, which includes myself.
Like the PACQUIAO-DELA HOYA fight,  my folks decided to finally thrown in the towel, after a long grueling battle with their course of giving me a bright future, since I helped them realize that I was indeed a FAILURE.
But not a bad batting average, 2 out 3, my folks are at 90%++ success rate in raising a kid that can and will finish their studies. (wink... wink...)

Don't get me wrong, I WAS NEVER PROUD OF ME FAILING MY FOLKS, OR ME AS A FAILURE AT THAT TIME, GIVEN A CHANCE TO HAVE ANOTHER SHOT AT IT, I WILL DEFINITELY NAIL IT THIS TIME, I LEARNED MY LESSON, THE HARD AND PAINFUL WAY.

Now here we go, finally my folks gave me the go signal to be the captain of my FUTURE SHIP, they said don't blame us, you brought that to yourself, which I couldn't agree more.
So the painful journey of looking for a decent job begins, I thought, WHAT AM I DOING IN THIS JUNGLE, WHAT ARE MY FREAKIN CHANCES?
Luckily, during that time, CALL CENTERS are on the rise, and you can get in, regardless of your educational background, so long as you're advance in the ENGLISH LANGUAGE, yes THE DREADED ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
Thing is, how will get in? to begin with AM ZERO WHEN IT COMES TO THE LANGUAGE (well obviously, that was before). What do you expect, after all the shit that I did during my school days, only a MIRACLE will do it for me.
But what the heck, am bound to fail and it won't kill me if I will try, so I had my buddy as my Batman (since he's so damn good in the language) and am the ROBIN, his KARAY-KARAY.

Let the fight begin, Call Centers after Call Centers after Rejections after Rejections after Failure after Failure after Failure, BUT I NEVER LOOSE HOPE, I SAID THIS IS THE POINT OF MY LIFE THAT IF I WILL GIVE UP AND ACCEPT THE FACT THAT I CAN'T GET ANY JOB EVEN IF THE DOORS ARE WIDE OPEN FOR ANYBODY, INCLUDING MYSELF, I WILL BE GOOD AS DEAD, AND THIS IS A GOOD AVENUE TO REDEEM MYSELF.
One good thing is that I HAD A VERY VERY GOOD TRAINING IN FAILING, so I never gave up, I tried and tried and tried and tried until I finally made it.
How? I learned from my mistakes (FINALLY AFTER LONG YEARS OF IT), whenever am being rejected, I will look back at it and identify what are the things that I did wrong, or the answers that I gave that ticked them off, and correct it or at least polish it on the next.

So I started my call center career as an agent, OUTBOUND, I had my share of GO FUCK YOU MOTHER to SUCK YOUR DICK to DIE TELEMARKETERS stuff, stayed as a TELEMARKETER for 2 years, and it honed my ability to have a full grasp of the language and build confidence in carrying it.
To sum it up, I work my way up, I ALWAYS SHARPENED MY SAW, to be at par and to out smart the other dogs in a DOG EAT DOG WORLD.
From AGENT to a QUALITY SPECIALISTS to a QUALITY SUPERVISOR and currently a QUALITY MANAGER ( am very confident that it will not stop there, I don't mind to take a crack at the next level, if the time comes), INDEED A SWEET REVENGE AT LIFE AND A VERY GOOD REDEEMER, FOR MYSELF AND MY FOLKS.

God designed my program perfectly, everything! from failure after failure, to my ever supporting family, most especially Paps and Mama, to the haters and non-believers who helped me fuel my urge to succeed in order to prove them wrong, and of course to my wife who made me stick to it since she made it clear to me that if I can't give her and our family a good life, then it's good as FAILED RELATIONSHIP, I guess I failed a lot in my life and this is the only thing that I don't want to fail.
(TRIVIA, ONLY IN LOVE I DID NOT FAIL, BECAUSE I ONLY HAD 1 GIRLFRIEND AND SHE IS NOW THE MOTHER OF MY BEAUTIFUL ANGEL) 

But with all my peaks and valleys, in life, most especially my EDUCATION LIFE, I never had regrets on it, DAMN I ENJOYED IT, every single minute of it, and it gave me the most valuable lesson in life. FAILURE.

As what the GREAT MICHAEL JORDAN said, and i quote (not sure if that is acceptable to say in writing) "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Like him, I dared to fail and did not chickened out to try, go ahead and take a shot at it, who knows, you might get it in 1 try, at least you tried.

I guess, to some it up, am bound to fail early on my life for me to succeed in the later part of it, the most important part, that is.

So for me, that's the "GOOD" in failing.

PS. I HOPE GOD WILL DESIGN MY KID'S PROGRAM JUST LIKE THEIR MOM'S, AND NEVER BE LIKE MINE, NOT EVEN IN A SLIGHTEST CHANCE.