Mr. Errand Boy

Swamped?

2008-10-17T09:08:00.000+08:00

A. Swamped with what?

Work
Board exam reviewing
Thoughts
Trying to manage 1-3 in a noisy house full of children
Doing default responsibilities like cleaning up after eating, crossing the street carefully

B. What to do?

Work

Make lists
Prioritize
Make new list
Re-prioritize
Actually do work according to a-d
Consult with people
Have breaks to chug numbing coffee, or the prescribed dose of water
Speed-find things in a lot of folders

Board exam reviewing

Make lists
Prioritize
Read
Solve
Rest
Nap
Sleep
Coma
Wake up Nov 4 and proceed to testing venue

Thoughts

Un-think
Re-think
Think of ways to permanently un-think thoughts
Un-think ways
Re-think ways
Sleep

Trying to manage 1-3 in a noisy house full of children

Let them do what they want if it silences them
When noise levels escalate, bare teeth
When it gets out of control, lecture
If there is no time/energy for a-c, just make them sleep early

Doing default responsibilities like cleaning up after eating, crossing the street carefully

Think safety: you wanna live, don’t you?
If not doing it will result in scolding/lecture, do it.
Make mental lists
Prioritize

C. How to prioritize: Consider resources

Time
Money
Energy
Kindness
Politeness

D. Follow this order of reducing swamping stuff:

Eliminate: if you can help it being not done, then don’t do it
Substitute: free market, hello?
Modify: if getting from A to B is difficult/time consuming, there’s a good chance you can do it another way
Delegate: Be a “team player”
Chop: step by step, ooh baby
Beg: less is more

E. Conclusion

I’m too swamped to make one.

The Four Kinds of Esteem-getting

2008-10-05T05:08:00.000+08:00

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs:

esteem needs are the second-to-the-highest level of need. People, in order to satisfy this need, do different things. I present, the Four Kinds of Esteem-getting.

1. Esteem from Others
This is the best kind of esteem since you gain it when other people give it. I'm not saying that you don't have self-esteem, but the esteem from others just makes it sweeter. People trust, love, adore, exalt (in this order of progression) you because you are worthy.

2. Esteem from Self
This is self-esteem. Examples of this are daily self-affirmations in front an overly-decorated mirror, or full-length mirror inside walk-in closet. You feel that you are doing well and deserve some esteem, so you start by telling yourself that. If it feels right to other people then you'll get the first kind.

3. Esteem through Others
We are now in the other side of the coin. This when you gain esteem as you step on others in discreet amounts. You treat people like dirt, or make them feel unimportant. You are known as someone who likes to say negative things to people at their faces (aka okray). After this you feel that you are someone a notch higher than them. Warning: this is fake esteem. Also, Freud has earlier identified that transferring negative traits to others is a defense mechanism.

4. Esteem-getting Strategically
This will go two ways. Either you plan to do things that will eventually lead to Esteem from others, or systematically say negative things to other people. This is waaaaay bad. You have arrived at some low point in your life. However, there is a chance to pick up the pieces and go to the bright side. But, you know you have to build burned bridges and the like. Anyway, if you do the first way, you will just think of impressing others and not live the life you're supposed to have.

And that's it. If you think you've heard something like this, then you probably did. But, I just made this up. But, I somewhat ripped off the terminologies from somewhere. Sorry, but I'm not really stealing anything, I hope.

ambot sa emo

2008-09-11T09:00:00.000+08:00

Hindi talaga to emo post. Gusto ko lang mang-asar ng mga emo-posters (Sharra, except ikaw).

Yay, and now for the Mayon/Malinao pictures...(Sorry, panget, pramis.)

This is Mayon behind random soil mound and heavy equipment.

This is Mayon naman na nakatagilid with a pole na nakaharang. So kainis right?

This is Mayon behind all the clouds in the Philippines. Grabe, pare, it's so effing maulap.

This is not Mayon. This is Malinao. O, ngayon niyo lang nalaman na may ganung bundok no? Actually bulkan daw siya dati, in the geologic past. Sa base camp pala ito sa Tiwi.

Ok yun lang. Balik emo na ulit tayo.

top of the world

2008-09-08T17:48:00.000+08:00

Well actually just the eastern part of the Philippines.

'Tis the day of my first plane ride. Meaning also my first airport experience (where do I pay the terminal fee? And I need seat in row 17, 18 or 19. What now? Row 11? *grumble*).

Highlights:
1. The stewardess who checked the boarding pass things was a Jaboom twin.
2. I was like 8 rows away from Dale and Jasser, but only a row away from the nearest co-worker
3. The onboarding vids were weird. And it bothered me. But I have to be able to save my life when something happens.
4. I did not really know what to expect so it was fun. And a bit scary and painful in the ears.
5. I was up and staring out the window the whole time. I did not even eat the munchies they give out. I chugged in my water nervously.

And now I can honestly say that I have survived my first plane ride. Now I brace myself for the second, this Wednesday.

It's also my first time to go to Albay/Legaspi/Tiwi and so far it has been pleasurable. Mayon is , and (not) surprisingly very large.

I missed the cheering competition this year (no tickets, no TV) but at least I got to go someplace. By plane!

*will post Mayon pictures if there are decent ones* (I know this is mababaw but.)

A not-so-very special love

2008-08-06T08:49:00.000+08:00

(Ayoko sa "Review" post eh.)

WARNING: Spoilers galore.

“A Very Special Love” was not as special as the John Lloyd and Sarah love team baby fans club expected. Yes, it had a new story (albeit the similarity to Ugly Betty), but the formula Pinoy love story scenes remained. There was this particular scene where Sarah’s character was sleeping and John Lloyd’s character tried to kiss her. Like we’ve never seen that before. What’s good about the story is that the family is not trying to meddle in the love lives of the main protagonists. Unlike many, many films we had in the past decades, there is always that rich-poor or feuding family aspect which keeps the lovers apart. This time, the conflict rests on the protagonists’ characters. However, there is a lopsided distribution of conflict between the main protagonists. John Lloyd’s character had his personal struggle of being the second family of his father, and gaining acceptance from the first family, while Sarah’s character had a teeny-weeny struggle of regulating her love for John Lloyd’s character. And I must say Sarah’s character was written around her, such that minimal acting would be required.

It seems that there were a lot of extra characters in this movie. Some got like 10 seconds of screen time. More than screen time, it directly points to the unimportance of some characters. This can be attributed to the writer’s style (or mistake). What is a Pinoy love story without the clichés? The rich Montenegro family (of JL’s character) always spoke in English. They are, after all, business people. There was also that requisite gay character, which I may say, is an extra character. And they did not avoid having the Greenwich endorsement by John Lloyd. (But nothing beats Feng Shui.) And of course, the trademark family lessons.

Some notable cast members:

Matet – first appearance for a long time?
Gio Alvarez – same as Matet
Irma Adlawan – Hey, you got a studio film project! Too bad your acting in this project is minimum
Agot Isidro (?) – Haha, sa picture lang.

Ideas that will sell: Coffee-cup post-its and Sundance.

Over-all rating: 7/10.

acronyms and matrices

2008-07-05T19:07:00.000+08:00

It's what I always have when I do something new. A crazy mix of excitement and apprehension. My years in grade school and high school did not prepare me for employment. At least, I didn't think of being in the workforce during those times. Probably the reason why I blindly chose my course out of the hundred others in the UPCAT form.

In a few days or so, my mentor would be asking me what I want to be after two years. That would be a very difficult question for me since I have not really thought of that yet. Or do I have any idea of what to think about. Don't get me wrong. I am beyond ecstatic that I am in this company and that I had the opportunity to work with such great people. I just have this problem of getting my mind to think of the future.

Like perhaps a lot of you, my birthday has been a checkpoint for me. But I always look back. I do not look so much forward. I do not plan in that scale. I can say that my nth year was a good year because this and this happened. But never claiming that this nth year will be a very good year because I would cause this and this to happen.

That is why I would have a difficulty in the first part of the program. I need to align myself with the company and have a vision. Difficult but achievable.

Goal: be goal-oriented.

----
Anyway, review sucks. Like vacuum cleaner on butt cheek suck. Plus, it's very cold. I swear that I contracted and expanded due to the temp changes.

acronyms and matrices

2008-07-05T19:04:00.000+08:00

That is why I would have a difficulty in the first part of the program. I need to align myself with the company and have a vision. Difficult but achievable.

----

No Guts, No Glory (surprise!)

2008-06-28T20:21:00.000+08:00

And apparently, no brains either. I knew I had copied that post for reposting (read from Pat, copied from Dale), but when I pressed ctrl+V, nothing came out. Anyway, since I am using dial-up and it will take another era for me to get to a blog with that post and back here again, I'm saving the reposting for later.

---

For 4.6 billion years, the friendship one offers to another has not been quantified so clearly. Until now. Presenting, the Friendship Badges! There are actually two types of badges: the Good Friend Badge and the Bad Friend Badge. Good Friend Badges are earned by, uhm , being a good friend. And the Bad Friend Badge are earned by being a bad friend. I'm sure we all got that clear.

To give a badge, one must possess clarity of mind and creativity to string words together to make a badge title. Then it is done. Easy, huh? It is not important to keep track of badges earned or given, because in the long run, good badges earn benefits and bad badges reap, um, bad things.

So start the badge-giving right now and achieve a sense of contentment in your lives! Remember, Good Friend Badge, good friend. Bad Friend Badge, bad friend.

Note: To avoid confusion on definition of good and bad, one must have comprehensive convention among friends which will set the bounds of good and bad. For future reference, 'naughty' may not necessarily mean bad.

school supplies

2008-06-24T11:29:00.000+08:00

I spent a good deal of my life (so far) as a student, and if I gather all the school supplies that I've used through the years, well, I can't even imagine how big that mound would be. I would like to mention them all, or perhaps, a good deal of them, which would demonstrate my writing style, but I don't feel like it. However, I have some thoughts about these school supplies.

1. The liquid eraser. Aka liquid eradicator, white-out, correction fluid. I seldom use this. I often just make a messy clump of lines to hide my errors. Fortunately, in college lab classes, these are prohibited. Corrections in data gathered must be made with drawing a line over the data one wishes to replace with another. The reason why I did not use this item is that I did not actually own one. I did not think of ever needing it. Also, I am impatient and would write on the still wet surface, making a mess. The lack of training on using the liquid also disabled me to make a neat painting when its use is badly needed. Anyways, I always wondered why they won't make other colors of this liquid. How about yellow for yellow pads, post its and Manila paper? Or blue, green or orange for rainbow pads? Brown for envelopes? It's like we don't make mistakes when writing on the mentioned media. Winning idea? Maybe.

2. The pencil. Truth be told. I never trusted the pencil which uses bullet-like things made of plastic that hold the lead. And you pull out the spent "bullet" from the tip and push it in the rear to push the new "bullet" to the tip. And I never saw the need for a mechanical pencil until ES 1 days (but still, I didn't use one). It was always the wooden varieties. The numbered ones. And I never, ever knew what those numbers meant. Something hard or soft, but I didn't know which is which. All I know is H is lighter and HB is darker. The other letters puzzle me.

3. The ballpen. Ask my high school classmates which person always did not have a ballpen. Obviously, that's me. Ballpens are hard to keep. But amazingly, I kept most ballpens in college. Maybe a bit of strategizing helped. I see to it that I have back-ups, especially when a pen is expected to screw up. Those cheap one-use kinds. These pen companies totally ripped me off.

4. Pencil case. I did not have those cases with buttons and levers and amazing stuff. I had the old person case that has a zipper and just holds all the pens and pencils and stuff that can fit in it. I envied my classmates (this was in grade school) because they have such pencil cases that do other stuff as well. However, at this point, I am now wiser and less shallow, I think that these fancy pencil cases are actually detrimental to learning. Children can be distracted by these 'toys'. I may sound like an old, bitter bat, but when you come to think of it, these cases are another way that companies use to rip us off. A basic box-shaped case with a good design will suffice. No need for a mini-chemical plant inside your pencil case.

5. Pad paper. I am glad that my parents saw the need of ruled pad paper in my pursuit of academic excellence (snort). Late in high school, I only bought a pad of intermediate pad and chopped it down as the need arises. Different teachers have different tastes, you see. Some require a whole sheet for homeworks, half crosswise for a short essay, half lengthwise for a comprehensive quiz, one-fourth for short quizzes. Some still want one-eighth crosswise* for really short quizzes (mention: Ginang Guevarra in Filipino) and one-eight lengthwise* for those multiple choice questions or those that required one to three-digit answers (mention: Sir Obsequio in Trigo and his 20-second quizzes). Fortunately, they do not require more obscure fractions such as 5/17th of a sheet.
*One-eighth sheet is made by getting half of the one-fourth size. The one-fourth size is made by taking half crosswise/lengthwise of a half lengthwise/crosswise. But of course you already know that.

6. Crayons. My parents (mainly Mama, Papa does not like to meddle with shopping, in any kind, except hardware items) were sane enough to buy me a maximum of 24 crayons. Imagine, if I was like that kid in our class that had a bazillion crayons, then art class would have to be as long as five periods. Let's say I wanted to color a car and I wanted it to be yellow. If I had my 8-crayon box then I'd pick up yellow and do it in a couple of minutes. If I have the 16-box, then I'd choose between yellow or yellow orange. But a bazillion colors? I'd have yellow, yellow orange, marigold, etc. See, I don't have much knowledge on the actual names of colors that are yellowish since I did not have crayons of their color. Anyway, with a variety of colors, I would take long on deciding which color to use. But then, it would widen my horizons, color-wise. Now, as an engineer, I am contented with the 24-box.

I know that this is all random but I live in a house with five kids going to school. And between the five of them, there is a large amount of varied school supplies. I just felt nostalgic and thought about my schooling years.

----
Oh no they didn't! I went to the NBI office in Muntinlupa today to claim my clearance which I filed last Wednesday, but alas! They told me that I should call tomorrow to check on my clearance. I was a 'hit' meaning there is another person in these 7107, more or less, islands that has the same name as mine. They stamped my receipt with June 24, meaning I can claim mine today. But no. Apparently they 'forgot' that today is Manila Day and the Carriedo office is closed. I woke up early for this since the NBI person told be to come around 8 am today. Crap.

I also filed for my SSS number today. It turned out to be quite fast, which worried me. I could have missed a step.

Turns out, due to the presence of some ear blockage, I will not be able to start working on July 1. I shall be cleared for my audiometry on Friday, and the final medical clearance will come at a later time. I have almost all of my papers ready (except for the NBI clearance and my parents' Marriage Contract), but the medicals are more important. 'Tis all very sad for me since I won't be able to have the orientations and whatever newbie activities with my 'batchmates'. I blame late approval of job offer, and ear blockage.

Rain

2008-06-22T20:46:00.000+08:00

If I blogged about how Sunday went, it would contain a single word: RAIN. I slept through most part of the day, making up for the week's tiresome activities (meaning I had to wake up early on consecutive days). I finally understood why people wanted to stay in bed when it rains. It's nice. And the rain makes Mama cook a lot of soup. We had Molo yesterday and Sopas today.

The TV is filled with news about the typhoon. And another ship sank. When will these people learn? Common knowledge: if the sea isn't calm, just stay on shore.

I went to hear mass today and the priest was saying something about being a Christian? He said that it is dfficult to be a Christian if people abuse you. True. You are donating to some foundation that turns out to be the largest shabu factory in the country. Or that you are giving a beggar some change which he/she will use to buy rugby. Then he/she will run amok and stab somebody, perhaps even you. Anyway, the priest focused on the ZTE scandal and how the government turned the people's eyes away from it. The rice crisis, the power crisis, the fuel crisis. All these just to get a billion pesos. If you compute how much it takes to live comfortably, a billion pesos is an indecently large amount to spend. A lot of people suffer just to make a couple of people ridiculously rich. And to think that other people abuse these crises just to get more comfortable than others. I heard that some people sell the rice cards which were supposed to be free for the poorest of the poor. It enables them to buy cheap rice from the government. And now, these wicked people sell them.

It's easy to judge other people hurting (in varied ways) other people. But we realize that we are part of the system. We unconsciously participate in making the poor poorer or the comfortable guilty even if they did not have to be. We can point our fingers to the President, the Senate, the police or our city mayors, but sometimes, a lot of these things are only partially their fault. Yeah, they can be greedy but the system enables them to be.

There is a feeling of being trapped. We can't be good because there will be people who will abuse us. That is why, perhaps, change needs to come as a common thing. Change the system and all. And then perhaps the rain will stop. And we can wake up from our long slumber.

Stuff

2008-06-21T19:27:00.000+08:00

The review class was specially painful today, since our instructor spent a great amount of time convincing two people to perform a line of a song. It's all good fun but not at 15 degrees Celcius and at hour 8 of General Inorganic Chemistry session. The topics were not very hard, but imagine being hit by pillows for 8 hours. It should hurt around the fifth hour.

Enough review shiz. It was unfortunate that my Fibrella umbrella is broken. For the first time in 20 years, I owned an umbrella that promises to be somewhat sturdy. But it is now broken. Ngayon pa. While typhoon Frank is raining down on Metro Manila. Specifically in Manila, where the dirt (spit/pee/other excreta) dissolves with the rain water and thus, making those yucky things more accessible to people. Like we wanted that. But then, after the rain, comes the clean streets. Right. Thank God Manila has CCP complex. Clean, fragrant, and without people. Really. It's like grass, haunted theater, Folk Arts, PICC, Coconut Palace, plants, flowers, sculptures. That's it. No people.Of course, there was, but compared to ordinary Lawton/Quiapo/Morayta density, the CCP value is negligible.

The Food Expo turned out to be great. Mostly because of the presence of friends and free food. We did not mind the other activities that were happening while we were there. Saw a couple of famous people such as Bobby Andrews (selling siomai ata) and who was that girl selling ice cream? They also had China Cojuangco baked goods, but no China when we were there (or maybe I missed her since I was late). I was most eager to see Jeffrey Hidalgo (he had a dishwashing paste booth) since he is a Chemical Engineer and an artist at the same time. I only know one ChE who is in showbiz. That is him. And I am clearly fascinated by that fact. The best of the Food Expo: the broccoli juice. It has broccoli, but no broccoli taste.

There are quite a number of things concerning my employment which made me busy this week. I had to go to Makati Med for the first time for a medical thing (obviously). I was literally lost in the Makati jungle since the FX driver told me to go straight ahead on Valerio Street. Turns out, MMC is on dela Rosa. I just asked random security personnel. But aside from the physical/medical stuff, there is a lot of thinking being done. Pessimistic, optimistic and things that really do not belong to either category. Over-all, it's just really tiring, even though work hasn't officially started.

fats

2008-06-18T17:19:00.000+08:00

Since the surprise of Jasser's fat content, I began thinking about mine. I shouldn't have eaten all those fatty foods. For the sake of my arteries (not that thing where your eyes are immediately directed to when you see me) and perhaps my over-all wellness.

I found out that I lose a kilo or so if I walk around all day. I lost a kilo (permanently, since weight fluctuates depending on the meals you miss/take) when we hiked (a bit) at Makiling. I also lost another kilo today as I went around the City of Muntinlupa, getting all kinds of clearances and stuff. The NBI clearance was painful. It was hot today and the lines are somewhat long. And then I didn't finish getting mine since apparently, someone has the same name as mine. What are the odds, huh? I should have been named Gel Elmet (LOLZ).

The medical exam was sort of crazy for me since it involved the (temporary) loss of my appointment slips (because I forgot to get it back from Pat, who kept it in her bag for safekeeping). The whole stress and lack of sleep might have triggered the surprise high blood pressure (or perhaps, the fats did it!).

Anyway, thanks to Mon(s) for treating us to a big lunch of 'fried shit' (lovingly used, promise, nag-enjoy naman talaga ako. Hindi lang natin akalain na ganun lang pala siya.). And to the HPs and SSs sans Benjo and Ceres, thanks also. Had a lot of fun. Especially the walk from Binondo Church to Lawton in the rain (whew, sarcasm). Saw a lot of Chinese stuff like the thick pads of angpao and fluffy threads of whoknowswhat named Mahu and Masang (joke: Mabahu and Masangsang). Nearly had kalesa accident because I was looking for the speaker which played Chinese music. And made wish in newly-visited Binondo church with purple firetrucks beside it.

Waa. Fats.

dear ate charing

2008-06-06T08:57:00.000+08:00

Itago niyo na lang po ako sa pangalang Dodong. Isa lang po ang pinapangarap ko sa buhay, ang maging isang artista.

Hindi ko naman po pinabayaan na mawala ang pangarap na ito kaya po ako ay sumali sa iba't ibang workshops and talent searches. Marami na pong nagreject sa akin dahil sa iba't ibang dahilan. Sabi nila, wala daw po akong personality, mukha daw po akong pusit, di ako marunong mag hard drama, mukha daw akong action star na panget. Huh? Action star ka na nga, panget ka pa? Ano yun, Max Alvarado? Pero alam ko naman po na hindi totoo yun. Kaya po nagsimula akong umextra-extra sa mga pelikula at TV show. Nung una po, goons lang ang papel ko. Tapos naging formula best-friend, hardinero, driver, body guard, passerby, testigo, tindero at sa wakas, nagkaroon na po ako ng major role. Kaso ito po yung tipong soap na panghapon. Naging masaya naman po ang trabahong ito. Ngunit napaisip po ako. Ano ba talaga ang gusto kong genre? Hindi ko pa natatry mag bold movie, pero naisip ko na hindi naman ata maganda yun. Masaya naman ako sa current genre ko. Natuto na ako mg hard drama, kaso di ko po alam kung ito na ba ang tamang genre para sa akin.

Ate Charing, kailangan ko po ng tulong. Ano po bang magandang career path na tahakin?

Nagmamahal,
Dodong

Oi hindi to allegory or similar ha? Katuwaan lang to. Reply with your best Ate Charing advice!

mga random stuff-tagged by Duane

2008-05-25T06:07:00.000+08:00

RULES:
- Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves
- Bloggers tagged need to write on their blog about their ten things and post the rules.
- At the end of your blog, you need to choose 10 people you`re going to tag and list their names.

1. Nung bata ako, geography freak ako. Memorized ko lahat ng flags ng mga bansa. Kaso, nakalimutan ko na. Mahilig din ako umalam ng mga bayan at lungsod pag bumibiyahe. Gusto ko rin yung nag-aalala ng mga daan. Kaya ang saya ng review ngayon kasi nakakagala ako sa Manila, na napaka-foreign sa akin. Pero nagegets ko na siya somehow. Mahilig din ako magbigay ng directions.
2. Wala lang ito, pero ang northernmosst na napuntahan ko sa Pilipinas ay sa Ilocos Norte. Southermost ay Negros Oriental, easternmost ay Quezon (sa Tayabas ata) at westernmost sa Palawan. Hindi pa ako lumalabas ng bansa bagamat may passport na ako.
3. Hindi ako na-aaddict sa mga laro sa computer, Playstation, Gameboy, etc. Maikli ang attention span ko sa mga ganyan. Yung Dynomite lang ata yung pinakamabenta sa akin. Kaya nung bata ako, batang kalye ako. Napapagalitan dahil gabi na umuuwi. Eh taguan time kaya pag gabi. Ang panget nun laruin pag may araw pa.
4. Hindi ako mahilig sa sports. Sobrang lapit lang kaya ng half-court (basketball) sa bahay namin dati. Pero dahil mahiyain ako at di ko talaga natutunan at nagustuhan ang basketball, hindi ako naglalaro nun. Kung ano lang sport ang kailangan sa PE nung elementary at high school, yun lang. Pero, outside of that, wala. Pero nakapunta na ako ng Nayong Pilipino (grade 5 ata ito) para maglaro ng Patintero for some inter-school. Nadefault ata kami kasi kulang kami ng isa. Anyway, halos lahat naman ng sports na-encounter ko na sa PE. Except yung mga mahal like jai alai and golf, or yung nagrerequire ng snow and ice like skiing, skating and hockey, and football pala. Pero wala talaga.
5. Favorite subject ko ang science. Nung high school, science at math. Nung college, nag-Chem Engg ako. Pero gusto ko rin mag Applied Physics. Science ang best subject ko. Scientific ang utak ko. Pero ngayon, gusto ko nang maging writer sa isang sitcom or series, chef, movie staff (yung pag nagshushoot) or maging part ng Hollywood press. Bukod sa pagiging chef, gusto ko talaga magshowbiz, di ba?
6. Nahihirapan ako magdecide on my own. Partly because I consider a lot of variables. Kaya kung pwedeng 'go with the majority' yun na lang. Kaya madalas ko sabihin ang 'kung anong gusto niyo'. Pag ako lang mag-isa, sobrang tagal ng decision-making process.
7. Tamang-tama sa number, pito kaming magkakapatid. It has its good and bad sides. Anim yung aalagaan mo (pangalawa pala ako, but then), tapos magulo sa bahay lagi. Pero pag galit ka sa isa, may lima pa na pwede i-hug. Pero siyempre yung matatanda, hindi na chummy. Sa mga bata na lang.
8. Hypersensitive ako. I mean, yung bibig ko. Hindi ako kumakain or umiinom na sobrang malamig at mainit. Hindi ako umiinom ng sobrang ice-cold na tubig. Di ko kaya ipasok sa bibig ko ang isang malaking chunk ng ice cream hindi dahil hindi yun kasya sa bibig ko, pero dahil ang lamig kaya nun! Tapos mainit na kanin, no. Mainit na kape, no. Pero may range naman na kaya ko yung temp. Kaya pag uminom ako ng kape, mainit pa rin, di nga lang piping hot.
9. Ayoko ng paputok. May minimum distance dapat ako sa paputok bago ko ma-appreciate yun. Tapos kailangan maganda at may effects. At dapat alam ko na may puputok. Bawal biglaan. So sobrang X sa akin yung kwitis at five star. Ingay lang yun.
10. I always see the glass half-full. Mahalaga kaya yun. Perspectives change everything. Nakikita ko lang yung glass na half-empty kung ako ang uminom nung kalahati.

And for this, I tag: Ailen, Yahwe, Pat, Ceres, Janina, Dale, Mon, Gayle, Sharra and Von (Ali) Pasensiya na sa abala. Wag niyo gawin kung ayaw niyo/nagawa niyo na.

'final'-ly

2008-05-22T06:52:00.000+08:00

The finale

(WARNING: AI Results Spoiler at the end of this post)

May 21, Performance Show
Hmm. I was really disappointed of tonight's finale because of these reasons:
1. It was very simple. There was no 'finale feel'. Aside from the change to a much larger venue, there was very little to be excited about. But we'll see tomorrow. I hope the Top 12 has a performance, if only to hear Brooke and Carly.
2. The lackluster performances. Weirdly, I did not enjoy both finalists' performances. Of course I favored Cook's performances, amidst Simon's blatant bias on Archuleta. Simon also said that they have the best finale ever. Talent-wise, maybe. But show-wise, no. Ruben's performance was better than most of the performances tonight. Or more Idol material for that. Hey, he's already a winner.
3. Simon. Biased git.
4. David Cook. Why, oh why, did you let Archuleta take the night? But I see that you won't explicitly sell yourself just to win the contest.
5. David Archuleta. Ang showbiz mo.

Well, I don't have much excitement anymore. But I will still wake up early tomorrow for the results show.

And did Randy take drugs before the show? Perhaps a pot of strong coffee. The Dog's barking mad tonight.

May 22, Results Show
I love the Davids' song numbers. Parang li'l bro-big bro tandem lang sila. One Republic + David Archuleta = Magic! Yay! Carly + MJ! Weird, but very nice. As I am writing this part, Jordin is singing and I am still hoping Cook got that 56%. Come on, 50+ million votes! The results show made up for the blah-blah performance show. Hah, walang special performance si Kristy. Siya lang kaya sa top 8 ang wala.

YAY! YAY! YAY! Let me here ye Cook fans! COOK! COOK! COOK! Yay! Cook beat Team Archuleta*. YAY! I was betting on Ryan saying that David Archuleta is the new American Idol. But, DAVID COOK is the new American Idol. Yay!

*I always thought that Archuleta did not compete alone, but with a team of arrangers, stylists, vocal coaches, etc. Sabi nga ni Lucky, vocal coach yung tatay niya. Ayan, buti nga sa tatay niya. Masyadong stage dad kasi. But still, Archuleta, on his own, is great.

Can't wait for David Cook's album. And Carly's and Brooke's too. Kailangan lagi silang kasama.

'final'-ly

2008-05-22T06:40:00.000+08:00

(WARNING: AI Results Spoiler at the end of this post)

Well, I don't have much excitement anymore. But I will still wake up early tomorrow for the results show.

And did Randy take drugs before the show? Perhaps a pot of strong coffee. The Dog's barking mad tonight.

Can't wait for David Cook's album. And Carly's and Brooke's too. Kailangan lagi silang kasama.

before the finale

2008-05-19T23:01:00.000+08:00

I told myself I'd hate Idol after Carly and Brooke were eliminated. At least for this season. But instead I made a list of all the songs the contestants performed throughout the whole season. There were a lot of blanks since I did not really pay attention to those I knew were going to lose anyway. Hehe, joke lang. But I had complete song lists from Mariah week onwards. I watched the Star World Marathon excluding Hollywood Week, Top 24 and Andrew Lloyd Webber Week. I had do to stuff, you know. But I have watched the Top 24 and ALW episodes on their original airing. And, yes I have watched the two episodes after Brooke has been eliminated. Mainly to see Jason Castro crash and burn and go home. But he made No.1 in the votes (sometime; as Ryan Seacrest said 3 of the top 4 were once No. 1 in the votes, and because Syesha is a constant bottom 3/2 person, then Jason must have been No. 1), I hope it's in the Songs that Inspire week, when he deserved it.

So who'd win? I'm hoping Cook but I think Archuleta would. Thank the votes of tons of admiring teenage girls and perhaps moms. Well, Mama and my younger and older brothers are rooting for Archuleta. But me and my sisters are for Cook. So let me rephrase that. Moms vote for David A and teenage girls for Cook. Okay. And the male population just chooses who they like. There is no polarity for the men.

The finale song. I hope it wouldn't favor one contestant. Ahem, Jordin Sparks. (I wanted Blake to win, but had little faith in him.) I don't really involve myself in the finale, emotionally since I've tuned in. It's always because my favorite contestant was always the 3rd placer.

Eliminated the week before the finale. I can't say I want people who, apparently, aren't good enough. Let's just say, they don't have enough voters. They're the ones who are really good vocally, but lack some charm to get the voters. But I was happy to let Syesha go. My favorites this season were 5th and 6th placers. Hah! Better than Ramiele fans (joke...).

Anyway, like all the AI fans, can't wait for Wednesday.

intellectual conversations with lucky

2008-05-16T22:46:00.000+08:00

Wala lang. In fairness, tuwing magkakasama kami ni Lucky, lagi kaming may ganitong conversations. LOLZ read. Pero may katuturan naman.

#1 (on the ride home from Zy's party)
Darl: May nahuli nga na teller (ng tollgate) na nag-ipit ng pera sa--alam niyo yung brief, di ba may bulsa yun sa harap?--doon.
Everyone: Ay, grabe naman yun (or an assortment of similar reactions)

Jerome: What if magdala ka na lang ng bungkos-bungkos na pera para pag nagnakaw ka sabihin mo na dala mo yun?
Darl: Di pwede magdala ng gamit sa booth.
Jerome: Eh kung ibulsa mo?
Lucky: What if magsuot ka ng damit na gawa sa pera?
Jerome: What if barya? Pero konti lang mapupuslit mo.

#2 (dun din)
Jerome: May tanong ako. Pag nanghiram ka ba sa bangko, kunwari, 10k for an investment, tapos naisip mo kinabukasan, "Ay, wag na lang!", pag binalik mo ba yung pera may interes na?
Lucky: Oo. Pero alam ko dinidiscount na yung interes agad. Kasama na yung interes agad.
Jerome: So kung gusto ko manghiram ng 10k, kailangan hiramin ko 10k(1+i) raised to n?
Darl: Wow, yan pala ang idea niyo ng small talk.
Lucky: Oo. (thinks) Ay hindi, kasi kung ganun, magiging 10k(1+i) raised to 2n na yung babayaran mo.
Jerome: HA? Di ko magets.
Lucky: Kasi mas malaki yung hihiramin mo kaya mas malaki yung interes.
Jerome: Ah. So dapat mas maliit?
Lucky: Hindi rin kasi 10k nga kailangan mo.

(after ilang days, nagkita ulit kami, May 15)
Jerome: So magkano nga dapat hiramin mo?
Lucky: Kunin mo ang future worth ng 10k.
Jerome: Eh hindi kasi yung hihiramin ko ay in the present.
Lucky: E di present worth ng 10k.
Jerome: E di mas maliit yun.
Lucky: Oo nga no.
Jerome: Tsaka yung present worth ng 10k na hihiramin ko ngayon ay 10k din.
Lucky: E di hiramin mo 10k.
Jerome: Oo nga. Yun ang realidad. May interest.
Lucky: Wala ka talagang magagawa.
Jerome: Pero kung isang araw lang may interest na?
Lucky: Oo. Continuous yun eh.
Jerome: Eh kung umaga ako nanghiram tapos hapon?
Lucky: Siyempre may bayad na rin yun. Mga financial fee.. Tsaka yung pagod ng bangko.
Jerome: Eh kung kunwari ito yung bungkos (gestures) tapos ipapatong na sa kamay mo, tapos naisip mo, wag na lang.
Lucky: Napagod na yung mga taga-bangko.
Jerome: Hay naku, itanong na lang natin kay Joy, taga bangko yun.

#3 (May 15 sa Ayala)
Lucky: Pano mo majujustify na libre ang mga pulis sa bus?
Jerome: Para pag na-hold-up, proteksyon?
(thinks)
Lucky: Dapat iba na lang. Dapat mathematicians.
Jerome: Bakit? Dapat Chem Engg kasi kami gumagawa ng gasolina.
(thinks)
Jerome: Hindi pala, kasi kami na nga kumikita tapos libre pa kami.
Lucky: Dapat mga teacher.
Jerome: Dahil kayo ang gumagawa ng mga professionals at kayo rin ang gumagawa ng marami pang teachers?
Lucky: Oo.
Jerome: Dapat senior citizens.
Lucky: Oo nga. Kesa mga pulis, e ang lalakas pa nun. Eh yung matatanda mahihina na yun.
Jerome: Sila ang mas nangangailangan sumakay.
Lucky: Dapat mga magsasaka.
Jerome: Dahil sila gumagawa ng pagkain? Dapat mga may kotse. Pero pwede namang wag na sila magkotse kasi malilibre sila.
Lucky: Dapat mga CEO. Nagbubus ba ang mga CEO?
Jerome: Pwede. Pag maliit lang yung kompanya, tapos palugi pa. CEO ka nga pero di ka mayaman. Dapat yung mayayaman kasi di naman sila nagcocommute.
Lucky: Dapat pangulo ng Pilipinas, libre.
Jerome: Hm.
Lucky: Pero kung sumakay si GMA, pagbabayarin mo ba siya?
Jerome: Dapat mga corrupt na opisyal na lang. Pagdineclare nila na corrupt sila na opisyal, libre nga sila pero bugbog naman sila sa ibang pasahero. Di ba?

LOLZ.

wheel of fate

2008-05-05T18:51:00.000+08:00

Besides recent snob by certain cheese-making company, another incident which subtracted to my golden pot of self-esteem was my Wheel of Fate experience.

Actually there was no Wheel of Fate experience. And I discovered what a big baby I am. The weak-hearted gang walked the streets of EK last Sunday. The rest took on the big rides. We stayed on stable ground. By the end of the night the group of 3 (or 2) was reduced to one. I alone stayed at sea level because Wheel of Fate was "too high". Riiight. If my (soon-to-be launched or not) career would depend on facing my irrational fears, then I have to better get a good psycholgist or therapist, or pet tarantula which spews firecrackers when we are alone in a high place.

But besides the self-pity parts of the trip (which was just the only one), EK was a blast. I finally got >90% wet in the Rapids ride. Endlessly teased certain new love team. Got in between relatively old but still new couple. Saw Mommy and Daddy of 0607 EC. Bought a raincoat practically made of paper (it was torn after only 5 hours). Laughed at Kathy for being so much captivated by Spongebob. And watched several food-service personnel serve customers from hell.

Example:
FSP: (pours in Taho syrup, grabs plastic spoon and pierces taho)
Mina: *shrieks* WAG NIYO PO SAKTAN!!!!
FSP: (in shock)

Pat: [kind request] + kung pwede lang (in bratinella tone)
(Nangyari ba talaga ito?)

Also had shuttle-mates from, uh, I don't know.
SM1: Nagugutom na ako.
SM2: Humingi ka dun sa likod o (=us).
Me: GRR. GRR. (silently)
Note: Hindi namin kilala itong mga taong ito ha.

SM: (puts up pigtails) Ay, parang Baby Spice.
Pat: *snorts*
Upon hearing this tale, Me: *snort*

Over-all fun rating: FUN (LOLZ, right?)
Kasi naman si Manong Shuttle person. Grr.

She's out

2008-04-24T11:04:00.000+08:00

WARNING: AI results spoiler

Well, it was totally unfair since 'Simon liked her (this week)'. And she gave a good performance. When will these Americans learn? (I'm not saying Filipinos vote for the right people, but.) They should have kicked Jason Castro out (I believe there are only a few JC fans after his performance). Because Carly got eliminated this week, Brooke should stay for at least two weeks more. They should really consider eliminating Jason Castro. (Not a JC hater until after his performance.)

More AI comments: Damn you, Paula! Apparently stopping and repeating is the right thing to do, according to more credible judges Simon and Randy. And please try speaking AFTER thinking. That way you'd be able to speak a string of words continuously. I am obviously a big Brooke fan.

*looks for this week's studio versions*

Anyway, I have not been called or emailed by a particular cheese-making company I've applied to. Everyone else was already contacted. I guess I got the boot. One thing Carly and I have in common, now. Oh, job, come to me.

Grad Dinner was more or less okay. Well, the balloons getting stuck in the tree was simply golden. And the Henkel and Accenture videos were tearjerkers. And I was actually dashing sleeping on a pink pillow. I won't say more, except that I had some fun. Cheerio!

*sits in Carly-related depression*

some things

2008-04-21T21:56:00.000+08:00

Weirdly, science has found its way in one of the most unlikely places (except for counting votes, and profits, kaching!): American Idol. Apparently, people who sing first are most likely to be eliminated. Read here.

I just wanted to post this here:

Wala lang. Pasensya na sa mga taong natamaan ng bilog.

She survives!

2008-04-18T22:51:00.000+08:00

I had feared the worst. For the past five weeks, excluding this week, I had always known that Kristy Cook would go. The only week I thought she won't be on the bottom 3, she left the competition. And I say, "YAY!"

Well not really. I'm just glad that my favorites didn't go this week. Carly, especially, was in the danger zone after her "holding back" performance. And I had to listen to Brooke's performance twice to trust her not to go this week.

I will be sad to see Brooke go next week (is expected). Perhaps Jason Castro can take the hit. (Oh, Jason fans sorry...) Okay enough Idol blogging.

Finally, finished clearance/transcript filing today with Mina. Did a lot of chismis-ing today. Hey, if you ain't studying/working, your brain either turns to mush, or it fills up with random gossip about random people. Bad for your social health. Aw.

Anyway, one neighbor seems to enjoy the videoke to the wee hours. As of 2:45 am, some deep voice is singing "Gold" not too well. But not very screamy also. But the time! Ugh.

Party season approaching...but still no concrete picks for the attires. Except the Grad clothes, which Mama took care of. It's really the moms who are more excited about this, huh?

Will probably post some pictures at a later time. If I find some. Time, I mean.

Personality ekek

2008-04-14T17:03:00.000+08:00

You Are An ENFJ

The Giver

You strive to maintain harmony in relationships, and usually succeed.
Articulate and enthusiastic, you are good at making personal connections.
Sometimes you idealize relationships too much - and end up being let down.
You find the most energy and comfort in social situations ... where you shine.

In love, you are very protective and supporting.
However, you do need to "feel special" - and it's quite easy for you to get jealous.

At work, you are a natural leader. You can help people discover their greatest potential.
You would make a good writer, human resources director, or psychologist.

How you see yourself: Trusting, idealistic, and expressive

When other people don't get you, they see you as: Bossy, inappropriate, and loud

What's Your Personality Type?

Huh.

it bugs me

2008-04-07T17:30:00.000+08:00

That I am bored out of my mind.

Except for Mama's party yesterday night. But it was meant for adults. They has these condom-banana games and wishes and stuff. But I got to eat a lot of left-over cake (native, chocolate, butter and unknown from Red Ribbon). And Dot and I had a wonderful time in the videoke. I sang my neighbors' brains out till 3 am! (Buti nga, kasi sila dati, kaya...)

I practically slept all day today. Hmm. That isn't that good. I think.

I looked at my Brown and LeMay Chemistry book (I mean, looked from afar) today and thought of reading it for the boards, which is btw, ages away. So I didn't. I slept instead.

I helped a bit with the chores. I folded the mountain of clothes (3 days worth; remember, we are 9 in the family) that had accumulated due to the party preparations and everything.

And so I need something. Something productive. Not board-exam-review-productive. Yet.

plant design thanks

2008-04-05T16:51:00.000+08:00

I always have this apprehension and fear at the start of a major obstacle. That the way to the finish will be long and cumbersome. That I'd never get to have that feeling of accomplishment. I tend to be a pessimist. I expect the worst.

Anyway, we got through. We finished. We did it. We submitted the bound copy of our plant design, our research poster, the research text and softcopies of everything today. Truth is, our quest to convert banana stalks to ethanol began last June. Random thoughts, research and ideas come out constantly from then on. But it was only three weeks ago that we got serious. I mean, we did some things during the past year. We did the experiments and all. We drafted our process flow diagram. But the real work began less than a month ago.

I raise my glass (strawberry milkshake-filled) to Dale, who is the brain of the group. He practically did the entire technical study. Without him, we won't be motivated/scared to do our work. He knows what to do, how to do it, and when we should do it. Sure, he might have done some things that we may have seen as bitchy, but everbody makes mistakes. But sometimes some people need some "motivation" to get their butts moving *raises hand*. Thanks Dale, you don't deserve a crappy project, so you decided not to make one.

I raise my glass to Mon, who has been very patient and motivated. You were like the group's battery (sure you 'recharge' a lot, but so does this laptop). He did what he could do, even mundane tasks such as just draining the test tubes (LOLZ, naalala mo ba?). He has handled the first draft revisions very well, even with Ma'am's red pen extravaganza. He is always ready to offer any service (that is legal and related, but then singing...LOLZ) that he can give for the success of the group. He mastered the gentle art of spectrophotometer reading and mental cuvette note-taking. I know that you sometimes feel that um, yeah (gets mo na!), but you are as important as every gram of Rochelle salt that we used. Thanks Mon, because without you, the gaps won't be filled.

I raise my glass to Janine, one of the boys. She brought life and vigor (I didn't say daylight wakefulness, LOLZ) to the group. Sure you have missed a couple, couple of lab sessions, but you were always ready with what we need. She was hopeful, optimistic and very cheerful. She gladly offers to do stuff so that we can do other stuff (gets mo na rin!). She talks to Ma'am so that we can get away with things. Even though she had a lot of things going on, she still finds time to fill a cuvette or wrestle a bear...stuff like that. [Oh, I got carried away with the bear thing.] And the poster is BRILLIANT! Love it. You are my Banana Man pal. Thanks, Janina, you made the plant design less stressful for me, and for us all as well.

I raise my glass to every person who have helped us, directly or otherwise. To those who have doubted our capacity to do this, well, I guess, you suck. Because we did it. [Harsh, but then it's hard to light a candle when the wind is blowing hard.]

Groupmates, group hug. I'm here, because you're here, because I'm here, because you're here. Best group, ever! Angal ka? Basagan kita ng bote sa mukha! Joke.

Additional specific acknowledgements:
Sir Cy, for fixing Dale's laptop.
Jabellz, for the ROI calculations
Vinz for more ROI calculations
Mercy, Chiara, Sacs, for sulfuric acid prices
Haidee for the Matche suggestion
Mina, for everything.

More tributes (in the academic(al, LOLZ) sector of my second semester):
To Group Catalysis, we know that we really did great. We deserve our 1.00s. So he better give it to us all.

Huh. Yun na lang pala. This is my end-of-sem post. My sem ended just now. And I better catch up on sleep.

galing kay Zsa

2008-04-01T15:08:00.000+08:00

Galing kay Ana Rizza aka Zsappy. Nauuso na yung mga ganito ah. Sana may ganito rin for PhD students. LOLZ.

1) ano sec. mo nng 1st yr high ka?
Avogadro pero Archimedes dapat kasi dapt di ba 2 lang yung sections

2) eh nung 2nd yr?
Einstein, yung magaling...

3) 3rd yr?
Faraday. (Parang Faraday, parang...-Gian)

4) 4th yr?
Pascal

5) anong best year for u?
Fourth year siguro

6) bakit? marami ka bang friends nun?
Oo, naaccumulate na kasi yung friends ko since first year. Tsaka pumasok na ako sa top 10 (hehe).

7) san kau kumakain kapag lunch?
sa classroom (patago dahil bawal) [loob ng locker, ilalim ng chairs and tables]

8) san tumatambay after skul?
sa classroom, grounds, Lola Bunny

9) lagi ka ba late pag morning?
NO! *coughHildacough*

10) nasuspend ka na ba?
No. Pero parang ang saya siguro...hehe, joke lang.

11) Bakit?
Kasi sinabi ko sa sarili ko na magiging isa akong mabuting mag-aaral.

12) masaya ba pag foundation day?
Wala namang ganun. Meron ba?

13) have u ever danced on stage?
On stage, sa canteen (Nutrition Jingle 04), sa labas (Field Demo), sa classroom (wala lang), sa lib (nung Carolfest).

14) nagka bf/gf ka ba nong highschool days?
Hehe. Secret.

15) sinong all time crush mo nun?
*giggles*

16) would u go back?
Pwede, ngayon baon ko na ang aking mga natutunan sa kolehiyo at aking pinalawak na perspektibo sa ilang bagay na hindi ko naisip nung naroon pa ako. LOLZ.

17) ano lagi mong binibili sa canteen?
ung biscuit na nakasmile..hehe..di ko na maalala ung name e..>>Sagot to ni Zsappy [HAY NAKU, MALAMANG SMILEYS!]

Lahat sinubukan ko, pero madalas yung default merienda yung binibili ko (kahit pa ketchupgetti pa 5 days a week!)

18) overpricing ba ang canteen nyo?
Hindi naman ata, pero sobrang sensitive sa demand. Pag lumaki ang demand nagmamahal. Naalala niyo ba yung Quake Cake?

19) u ever sang on stage pag may program?
Hindi. Hindi naman uso yun e.

20) fave subj?
Physics.

21) nagkabagsak k n ba?
Ha? Ano yun? LOLZ

22) have u ever been sent out?
No, or yes ba? Basta naalala ko lang yung kilometric speeches ng mga teacher esp. Maam F.

23) feel mo ba malayo ang HS bldg till canteen?
Nasa baba lang yung canteen dati.

24) have u ever ran in the court?
May korte na sa Munsci? I mean, kung dun sa parang sementado na area, oo.

25) varsity? of what?
Habulang panyo.

26) do u miss ur school?
Yes. Kasi ang dali pa ng subjects nun. Tsaka ang saya saya pa. Hehe.

the way I was

2008-03-16T17:13:00.000+08:00

I just wanted to put two recent photos of me in this post.

This is me at the UPPC wastewater treatment facility. Now, let me hear you say "RAWR!".

And this is me and Maynard (the manong atop the cannon) at Intramuros. I don't look fat in this picture,
ja?

Good times, good times.

the good, the bad, and the lazy

2008-03-14T06:31:00.000+08:00

The week wasn't totally useless. Due to the transport strike last Tuesday, I had to have rides with Papa (who planned ahead and brought Lola's van to work). And because they have this prayer meeting/mass thing on Tuesday nights, I had to come along. Luckily, this Tuesday was the fifth anniversary of Serviam, and there was only a mass. But no anniversary is ever complete without food. I mean, catered food! Yay! I not only get to eat catered food for two days straight (the first was last Monday at the CAPES, semi-catered sem ender), but I also got to hear mass by Cardinal Rosales (Archbishop of Manila). I also got to make mano (this sounds totally conyo but is there an English term for this?). It was a big thing for me, him being the most popular clergyperson in the country.

The CAPES sem ender made me happy too. Due to receipt of a large quantity of shampoo, food and leche flan.

The seminar we held yesterday was very successful, despite the slight booboos on the credentials of Dr. Soriano. It's not all on us. Her CV said 'acting chair'. I delivered a formula speech on my opening remarks slot (this usually required group heads to research, but I wanted to be cool and different, so...LOLZ). The food was great and our group ate the Ube cake that was supposed to be, uhm, hmmm. Yeah. That couldn't be said here. Anyway, three newsletters to go and were done.

Let me take the opportunity to thank the Seminar staff especially Carlo and Mils, Sharra, Yacel, Mercy, Dale, Hannah and Clarene.

We still haven't made big progress on our 142 palnt design. It is brought about by many factors. Anyway, maybe if I keep blogging this, it would be done (just like magic, eh?). [Perhaps, you'd say, "Get your ass off blogging and start the damn project!". But I'd like to see you try the project.]

I had a lot of time yesterday, after the seminar. The Kraft interview was moved to Monday so I was left with nothing planned for the afternoon. Of course, I can wander aimlessly at the desert of equipment design, but I did something better: Virtual Villagers and Chocolatier. In the professor's point of view, however, this is a sure shot way of not graduating in a month. In my point of view, this is pure bliss. Laziness, of course. But happy virtual fun! I want to thank the people who made this possible: the ones who installed these, I'm guessing Carlo or Kathy. Rest assured, you wiull not be blamed for any untoward incident that may happen to my academic career. It's all me. *sells a huge batch of Extra-Dark Choco Bars, kaching!*

There is something I can't get off my head. And I still don't know if it's good or bad. But it's not lazy.

very angry

2008-03-01T17:40:00.000+08:00

The recent event regarding the elections has made people very angry. That question was very inappropriate. But what should we expect from people who don't have half a brain to train people to work properly? Well, the people who are "academically excellent" should also have right judgement, and tact, for that matter.

Anyways, please vote for the people who actually have what it takes.
Avelyn Lim
Brylee Tiu
Dianne Alberto
Kenneth Juquiana
Addison Falcon
for ChE Representatives
and Ivanz Espiritu for ESC Councilor

Congratulations to the first half of the new executive council of KEM. Especially Fritz and Maynard. May Fritz continue the legacy of excellence of PRC (lolz).

Congatulations also to Carla Co for receiving the Gawad Chancellor para sa Pinakamahusay na Estudyante. And also to all the Gawad awardees, who, I'm sure are very deserving.

March is starting today, and we've got 18 more days till the end of classes. For the first time in my life, I never wanted the classes to end. Mainly because we haven't exactly started the whole plant design thing. We are doomed. But I'm sure we'll pull through. But barely.

the corporate world

2008-02-24T17:26:00.000+08:00

This week I've attended 2 seminars. The first one was in Yana Chemodities, about HACCP and Good Laboratory Practice. It was fun, and there was a lot of food. I was the only one among Jasser, Derwin, Ceilo, Hannah and Von (and me) who brought a jacket so they borrowed mine because it was freezing in the seminar room (although there were activities where Hannah gave and received a massage from random LaSalle HRM chinese dude, yikee). We learned a lot and got to know Yana's products, which range from culture media to sterilizers.

The next seminar I attended was the Polka Dots' seminar on Occupational Safety. It was a required seminar since we have to attend all seminars of our 190 class. The food was really great because of the strawberry sundae. It was also fun, aside from some things that we should not openly discuss.

After the Yana seminar (actually, we left the seminar early), we went to the Children's Hospital (or something) for the Socio Month Outreach thing. Okay.

Friday was interview day for me in Kraft. My interview lasted only 15 minutes, but it went well. Anyway, to Von, no freebies.

Talentine, in the pm, was really special, except that I did not get to eat much because they served meat. I was the host of the program, beside Edward who came as a girl. LOLZ. We rocked, by the way, in our batch(es) presentation. We won third place!

I slept at Yia and stayed at one position, which caused my back to hurt all Saturday. I attended the AM class of 126 and planned to go home early. But Doodz made me go to the SME Anniv night. So I just went back to Yia to make the SPOA bookmarks for the PRIME ChE reps. I almost finished it but Val and MJ didn't have their generic white background photos, or any photo for that matter. Addison, Kenneth and Dianne had theirs. (Para masabi ko sila lahat.) After that I went back to Engg to get my things.

So, I went to the Anniv night, which turned out to be the Apps Talent Night also. Met a few apps, signed some sigsheets. Received an award for being a CS last sem. Had loads of fun especially with Lalaine who danced energetically. I thought that Doc Chu would perform, but it wasn't meant to be. Also, had my first use of the microphone with a light like those used in the Senate hearings. XD Went home with Doodz and Shie and Tere. Came home to find Lola. She stayed at our house for the weekend.

But really, anything strawberry is .

LOLZ

2008-02-18T15:29:00.000+08:00

Wala lang.

ChE week + other stuff

2008-02-16T18:20:00.000+08:00

I was supposed to make this post's title: Mah Mad Volleyball Skillz but for the sake of World Peace, I did not. Anyway, to take away the weird thoughts you are having right now concerning the volleyball thing, I was MISTAKENLY awarded for being a part of the ChE Vball team. I have never been so embarassed in my life. Well not really. At least I wasn't the one who went up the stage as 'Carla Co' and received the medal for obtaining 1.0000 for two sems.(sorry Nat, joke lang.) But the real Carla Co came and received her award properly. Congrats Carla, and the others as well.

And so, the week actually began, for me with our spectacular 4th place in the Ham2. Well, 4th out of four teams. We blame the extremely difficult charades and lollipop-eating part. Plus our basketball players just kept running around. But they did a great job. The day ended with me convincing Buddy Rachell to have her Ham the next day.

And so, CONGRATS Buddy Rachell for completing the Ham part of your application. I am most proud of you. Well, we both sacrificed for your Ham and it paid off.

I had to juggle preparing the GO Adventure sandwiches and my buddy's Ham last Monday. Plus the emotional burden I carried. Blah. Anyway, thanks to the people who helped in GO Adventure:
-ChEReps: Alberto, Mark, Dale, Benjo, James, Bryan and Jericho
-ChESI: Trixie, Dianne, Carlo B, Carlo C, Mils, Dennis, Hannah
-Special mention: Mina for 'testing' the sandwiches
-Hosts Duane and BRYLEE TIU. Duane, sige na nga, DUANE GALANG.
-The participants.
-Faculty members who attended.
-People I failed to mention, or remember. Sorry, but thanks from the bottom of my heart.

Tuesday, was, as usual, LAB LAB LAB day. But we got to attend the STD. Congrats STD staff!

Wednesday was FUN, although it was boring sometimes. Some of the graduating KEMers and also, fourth years and third years went to Blaze a Trail, Take the Lead (or something like that). We had Francis Kong (super-cool), Senator Pangilinan, Bo Sanchez, Johnip Cua (prev P&G Phils President and GM), Mr. Mind Mapping Guy and Mr. P&G HR as speakers. Learned a lot. Did a lot of thinking. Got to wear a cool format outfit for a whole day. Got a lot of free shampoo. Had fun. Will have to give Mina a pair of bakya as graduation gift.

I was supposed to watch episodes 10-13 of Gossip Girl. But I have only finished the 10th and was halfway through the 11th when Ceres, Janine and Pat arrived at Yia and persuaded me (with free ticket and promise of obtaining a meal) to go to the Wednesday fair. Had a little fun (Watermelon Zagu is great!) but finally decided to go back to Yia after only 2 hours I think. When Janine and Ceres went back, we continued watching the GG episodes, but I fell asleep. So I haven't finished the 12th and 13th.

Got up early (thank God) on Thursday to prepare for plant visit. I was clutching my stress ball (not a euphemism) the whole trip to the plant. It went well, surprisingly, discounting the fact that 3 out of 4 classmates were grossed out and turned off due to blood everywhere and the disgusting fact that pigs should be killed just to have pork. And the shocking electric stunner so that the pigs won't suffer so much as they are stabbed in the chest by a sharp metal thing to kill them. But really, I now trust Monterey. Really clean meat.

The night was the first MDA this year. Well, underrated compared to the past two MDAs I had. Of course I was in the frontlines last year, and I was the target the year before that. It was informative all together. But I had another emotional wound, which, fortunately, was not too deep.

Friday is LABLABLAB day again, this time with a headache. Oooh! Challenging! Anyway, thanks to Jasser for the Lab gown. And we grew yeast this time. I also had a (fun) meeting with the i2k8 ExeCom. We did evaluations of our committees and members to prepare for the staff interviews for i2k9. Well, it was definitely full of insight. LOLZ.

And we return to the culminating night, super-fun + Vball award. Brylee and Mils did a great job in the videoke compet, judged by Sir Ernie and Carla's mama, Chairman Laguardia of the MTRCB. Did not eat free dinner because of Friday restrictions. But it was the least I can do. Had another emotional dip with someone acting like a complete child (in a bad way). I will not say sorry to you because I somehow, already did for the very minor thing I did.

-----
Happy birthday to Jet Lanting (Feb 10), Aldrin C (Feb 11), Joy Mendoza (Feb 14) and Auntie Yoly (Feb 17). And to all who wanted a birthday greeting. I'm sorry I can't keep track of a lot of things lately.

And I hope I rid myself of being too emotional. Just a bit. Because being emotional can be good. But not too much.

err

2008-02-02T15:39:00.000+08:00

Just some random ghastly thing I saw on TV last night, click here. Just reminded me of a certain talent performance in 2005.

I'm sorry but I can't resist..

I can't express how proud I am of my Buddy Rachell. I'm so blessed to have her as my buddy, so far. May the talent pour out more in the next weeks.

OMG. Another one. Sorry.

Obviously, I'm that webcomic-loving dude. My own webcomic coming up in a few weeks. Actually, KEMers know that I have my little series in the Apps Logbook. So KEMers may know what to expect. Will post teaser (for others) in this blog later. Wee!

Anyway, about a few months back, I posted something about not always knowing stuff about people. Yeah. Mainly due to (1) not being able to keep my mouth shut, and (2) liking gossip a lot. Update on that. I think I have shut my mouth considerably, and I have wanted to hear gossip less. I concentrate on the things I need to know. But of course I hear some things here and there that might belong to the gossip box. Some are okay, some are outright vicious.

Third one...

Congrats to the people who participated in the PRC Random Event and BitTHURSDAY.

PRCRE:
1st:Duane and Kenneth
3rd: Jecho

BitTHURSDAY:
1st:Enzo and Miggy
3rd:Karlo

I didn't plan on having two first placers on both events. They just tied, and there is no way or tme to split them.

"Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me." (except when I'm pissed off, LOLOLOLZ)

The UJF didn't really help me much. They closed early on Friday, and it sucked because I was able to pass ZERO resumes. I prepared eight. Well, their loss.

gossip girl, etc

2008-01-27T11:02:00.000+08:00

Ooookay. Somehow this Gossip Girl series has squeezed itself in the top of my list of to-watch series. The reason? It so happened that Giselle wanted to watch the series too, and so we borrowed Janine's copy and transferred it to um, a place where we can watch it freely, and so near school we can watch between classes. Well, someone might flip if s/he finds out. But then, not much harm. Anyway, I have watched 9 out of 13 episodes this week, and have been mentioning it to random people all week. I said, after seeing the first episode that it's a so-so series and the writing is not really good compared to Ugly Betty or Heroes (I'm not an expert.), but the second, etc. episodes changed my mind. And I have to watch the remaining episodes. Then I can move to other series. (Good thing there are breaks between seasons when people can catch up with other series that they like. And also work and buy groceries.)

The Jollibee plant visit is semi-blog-worthy. I mean, ropes upon ropes of hotdog appearing in front of you? Cool, right? Sadly we didn't see the exciting stuff like the rows of burger patties and buns (I meant bread) and pies moving along the conveyors. But I got to watch (Filipino) horror films on the bus. That was the highlight of the whole thing, no offense (it's the plant's fault).

This week has been awfully fast. Super-fast. Partly due to the presence of an exam at the end of the week. I hardly felt it pass by. Maybe because we're really busy (bees) doing our 136 experiment (Dale's sleeping pics to be posted later!) and thinking about the plant design. All the mixing and weighing and drying we had to do. Whew! But it's semi-fun. It could be more fun, right?

I am now an official buddy. I had to partly leave Patrick to Sharra since they gave me a buddy. Finally all the days of whining and feet-stomping has paid off! (Joke lang, Ron.) My buddy is Rachell (yep, no 'e'), a second year student who failed to tambay last Friday because she 'went home to Laguna'. Anyway, I'm still hoping she'll show one of these days and actually make it through. I have to make her. *brings out van*

For ye KEMers, Skittles Week 2008 is actually starting on Monday. We have a lot of fun stored for you, since that's our job. Anyway, PokeMONDAY- vote for your favorite Kemer-pokemon look-alike; TUESDAY Bargas-write a bargas for "Tuesday"; Walang gagaWEDNESDAY-no event; BitTHURSAY-a game of skill and wit and luck; Freaky FRIDAY-parlor games with a twist. Please join and have fun.

Also, SECRET VALENTINE (a PRC fund-raising scam, I mean, thing) will be starting on Feb 4. So be ready for that. :D

Please vote for your favorite KEM couples for Mr and Ms KEM. Especially the one with Giselle. LOLOLOLOLZ.

deception 101

2008-01-21T10:08:00.000+08:00

But first...some random crappy stuff.

Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Ron Weasley

You often feel like second best and as a result don't have an awful lot of self confidence, but a truer more capable friend would be hard to find.

Ron Weasley

75%

Albus Dumbledore

70%

Sirius Black

70%

Ginny Weasley

65%

Draco Malfoy

65%

Lord Voldemort

65%

Severus Snape

60%

Harry Potter

60%

Remus Lupin

60%

Hermione Granger

55%

This is actually a very light issue. Maybe. So, Dale and Janine tasked me and Mon to do the consulations with Ma'am R last Friday. I thought that the consultation would be a piece of cake since our group sans Mon had a meeting last Tuesday on what to do for the next two weeks for our lab work. I was ready to report that, and Mon was to report our progress (that we mashed 200 termites and mixed their juice with the autoclaved cellulose, peptone and meat extract medium). Well, we didn't deceive Ma'am, except from the "Oh yeah!" look while she was discussing the URC tasks (we won't join since we expect a failure probabilty of about 0.55 on our experiment). We went to the consulation (Maam was an hour late) and brought home the bacon.

When we first met Dale after the consultation, I gestured two thumbs up to indicate that we were successful (we were at a company talk so I didn't want to be noisy). Dale asked us what happened, and Mon told Dale that we were scolded. I looked at him and got that split-second message. I told Dale how Maam told us that we should always be working, eventhough she wasn't around. I think Dale did not believe us, because that's Dale and he's got half a brain not to.

But the deception spread to Jasser and Torts (since I liked the idea that Maam lashed out on us). I told Jasser the same story, plus with 'naiyak pa nga si Mon' (well, Mon told Dale I cried). And with the line Maam "said", "Nawala lang kayo, hindi na kayo gumagawa! Eh kung i-singko ko kaya kayo!", Jasser was blown away. He was so affected, he told Torts. But when he turned around, I told Torts that it was only a joke. I told Jasser after thirty minutes that it was all a joke. Of course, Maam would never do that. Yet.

But we forgot to tell Dale that it was only a joke. But I think he figured that out. Mon told Janine this story but, um, didn't believe it because of the "umiyak pa nga si Jerome" part. The "umiyak pa nga si Mon" was more convincing. Because...yeah. I'm really sorry for the trouble that we made because of this. But you have to admit it was fun too. Unless Ma'am calls me and makes me write "I will not tell lies" while I am immersed in ethanol, or bacteria-inoculated medium, in a CSTR (or worse, PFR! Horrors!). [For those who can't understand what a CSTR or PRF means, click this.]

Let us not tell lies. Or play advertisements that tell lies.

KWATRO o KWARTO?

2008-01-19T17:41:00.000+08:00

But before that, have a little laugh. All you need is an electronic file of your photo. Go here and find out which celebrity do you look like.

Yesterday, Lucky, Ails and I went to Glorietta, supposedly to watch Sweeney Todd together. Unfortunately, Lucky and I left UP late and due to *traffic*, we arrived at Glorietta late. [Ails actually texted us while we were still on the MRT that she's already in the cinema.] Because of that Lucky and I went "window shopping" and ate a few quail eggs (kwek kwek). Ails texted us when we were at Powerbooks that she's already out of the cinema and we should now meet. I texted her back that we would be meeting her at Food Choices, but I can't send her a message. Damn Globe. Lucky's phone was off (no power) so we only had mine to contact her. And as we went to Food Choices, I was trying to send Ails our message on the waning power of my cellphone. We arrived at Food Choices and started to look for Ails. We were, in fact, calling out her name in the midst of the hundreds of people who were in Glorietta. After 5 minutes, we decided to use a phone booth phone to call her. But my phone went dead. And we still have to get Ails' number. So I turned on my phone using the last watts it probably has, and got Ails' number. The phone we used was not working at first, for reasons unknown, but finally got through. Anyway, the night ended with us full of pizza.

Anyway, the real intended content of this blog is Lucky and my idea of how he should deal with his students who'd get a conditional grade of 4.00. I present, KWATRO o KWARTO.

KWATRO o KWARTO?
S:student P:prof
case 1: Dignity
S: KWARTO na lang po sir.
P: Dahil pinili mo ay kwarto, singko ka na! Akala mo ba ganon akong tao. At ikaw, pinababa mo ang iyong dignidad. Nakakahiya ka!

S: KWATRO na lang po sir.
P:Dahil may dignidad ka, TRES ka na!

case 2:surprise!
S:KWARTO na lang po sir.
P:Ahh. O sige ineng. Pumunta ka sa ganitong motel bukas ng 7pm. Tapos magdala ka ng 3 days worth of food and clothes. Dala ka na rin ng energy drink at condom. Okay ba yun?
S: Opo sir. *blush*
*kinabukasan*
S:Sir, nandito na po ako.
P: O sige isara mo na ang pinto at i-lock. Umupo ka na diyan sa kama. O, tanggalin mo na yung kumot.
(student sees bed is actually a stack of papers)
P: O ayan ang sample exams, mag-aaral ka dito for three days straight for your removals.
S: Eh para saan po yung condom?
P: Wala lang. Panakot lang. Babay!

S:KWATRO na lang po sir.
P: Dahil kwatro pinili mo, kwatro ka na! At dahil diyan, tatanungin kita, KWARTO o KWATRO?

case 3: baligtad pala
S:Kwarto na lang po.
(proceeds as case 2 kwatro option)

S:Kwatro na lang po.
P: O sige, maghubad ka na...

case 4:paasa
S: Kwatro na lang po.
P: A, walang kwatro, retake.

S:Kwarto na lang po.
P: O sige, pumunta ka sa kwartong ito, 8:30 am, sa June 2008. Retake yan.

case 5:singko standing
S:Kwarto na lang po.
P:Since singko naman talaga standing mo, sige, maghubad ka na!

S:Kwatro na lang po.
P:Since singko naman talaga standing mo, sorry, singko ka na.

case 6:unattractive student
S:Kwatro na lang po.
*proceeds with exam*

S:Kwarto na lang po.
P:Congrats! Tres ka na! :D

Sana natuwa naman kayo. :D Next time uli

random crappy stuff to flood the message list

2008-01-19T15:49:00.000+08:00

Just a random UP thing. Got this from Belle. Wala lang ito.

1. Student number?
03-05612

2. College?
College of Engineering, UPD

3. Ano ang course mo?
BS Chemical Engineering

4. Nag-shift ka ba o na-kickout?
Hinde.

5. Saan ka kumuha ng UPCAT?
sa UP Diliman, CHE Gusali 2, pinakaleft sa second row.

6. Favorite GE subject?
comm 3 ata. +Geog1 at ES10 bilang uno ako sa mga yun.

7. Favorite PE?
Yung duckpin bowling. Kahit bano.

8. Saan ka nag-aabang ng hotties sa UP?
sa Mongolian area. Masarap ang Mongolian pag hot.

9. Favorite prof(s)
Yung maraming kwento (sa mga GE, Kas 1 and Lingg 1 profs). Pero totoo niyan, si Sir Cy at Maam Melit (bilang, hehe, secret, related sa no. 6). At si Sir T kahit super hirap magpaexam.

10. Pinaka-ayaw na GE subject.
socio 10. Ang hirap kaya...

11. Kumuha ka ba ng Wed or Sat classes?
Wed... Sabado, once lang.

12. Nakapag-field trip ka ba?

Geog 1 (at loner ako nun, pero katabi ko si Paula Peralejo or cousin niya, basta). EnE31, on foot from Engg to the bowels of Balara (no pun intended). ChE 140 sa Noritake. Plato, plato effects. At sa Petron, Bataan, lately, for ChE 190. Sa Thursday, sa Jollibee (as a plant). Sana may mascot.

13. Naging CS ka na ba or US sa UP?
CS! 4 times, officially. Pero 5 talaga. Pramis.

14. Ano ang Org/Frat/Soro mo?
KEM and SME. +service-oriented groups

15. Saan ka tumatambay palagi?
sa Lib. Joke. Sa 3rd floor lobby, tapat ng Engg Theater.

16. Dorm, Boarding house, o Bahay?
Bahay.

17. Kung walang UPCAT test at malaya kang nakapili ng kurso mo sa UP, ano yun? (Given ang mentality mo nung HS ka)
Applied Physics. Kasi magaling ako eh. Hehe.

18. Sino ang pinaka-una mong nakilala sa UP?
Si Jesame, sa PE.

19. First play na napanood mo sa UP?
Tatarin ata. Hindi naman ako masyadong na-shock sa breast and butt exposure.

20. Name the 5 most conyo orgs in UP

JPIA. (Para ito kay Lovely, at sa kanya lang. No violent reactions.) KEM. Conyo kami, di lang halata kasi...um, secret pala, pero hindi naman kami ganun ka-yaman. Keri lang.

21. Name 5 of the coolest orgs/frats/soro in UP.

KEM is super cool. Yung mga nasa Yakal Complex, air-cool. Joke lang. Chemsoc pala kasi nasa IC sila. Gets? IC? (icy?) Hehe. Ang corny.

22. May frat/soro bang nag-recruit sa yo?

Wala. Mahirap lang kasi ako. Joke.

23. Saan ka madalas mag-lunch?
Nagbabaon ako ala-high school. Tipid...

24. Masaya ba sa UP?

Tanong ba to?

25. Nakasama ka na ba sa rally?
Parang. Yung sa Quezon Hall. Basta, required kasi sa Socio 10. Kitams. May ganun pa sa Socio 10.

26. Ilang beses ka bumoto sa Student Council?
3 times pa lang.

27. Name at least 5 leftist groups in UP.
Hindi ko nga alam kung ano ang leftist. Pero wala namang org for the left-handed, so.

28. Pinangarap mo rin bang mag-laude nung freshman ka?

Hindi. Nung third year ako. Oo.

29. Kanino ka pinaka-patay sa UP?
Sa mga guard. May baril sila e. Yung SSB arnis lang. Kaya ko makarecover, I think, if ever may sudden attack sa akin.

30. Kung di ka UP, anong school ka?
Hindi ako school. Tao ako.

wazzup?

2008-01-13T15:24:00.000+08:00

***What Jerome Means***
in full color: Red means "Hmm. Yeah." Green means "Oh, yeah!" Blue means "Whaa--?" Orange means "I can't think of this."

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you.
You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries.
You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. (I don't give advice, unless it's a joke advice.)

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something.
You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense.
You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. (Hell, yeah!) But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

You are well rounded,(or fat, LOLOLOLZ) with a complete perspective on life.
You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you.
At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself.

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated.
You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want.
You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way!

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyournameshiddenmeaningquiz/

Well, who said, it'd be accurate?

The Petron Plant Visit is not really blog-worthy since we just slept and ate the whole time. Um, except for the touring around the plant part. Which was creepy, because of the 40-year old tanks and vessels. And the two large pools of black goo. But I <3 our batch. One of our last parties, these plant visits.

At long last, Awitan 2007 is over for me. We had our last meeting last Friday. And that marks the end of our 6-month team experience. It was really a lot of work for all of us, and we actually did a great job. Congrats, Awitan team!

Will have to be an adult and find a job. 'Tis jobfair week. This is held by UP CAPES, open to all UP students, especially Engineering students and graduates. For more info, click this.

public service

2008-01-07T13:12:00.000+08:00

Okay, I was really going to begin lamenting the slow speed of our current mayor in signing the extension of my scholarship (I mean, I need the bucks, man.). But webcomics never fail to cheer me up and make me forget the injustices of today's society. Or something.

Anyway, after 12 days of waiting, I still haven't completed my scholarship papers due to the ineffciency of the local government. At least, in that office. Why did I have to suffer on the very last time I do this? Of course, the whole event ended with me promising to myself that if ever I become one of those people who sign things, I'd sign the papers immediately, because I know someone is waiting for them. *suddenly remembers ChE registration days*

I'm way behind my public service quota these days. Mina keeps on asking where the messages (of Chancy Cao and Prexy Roman) are. I don't reply to her because (1) I still don't have them since [1] I haven't sent letters to them and [2] evil committee member failed to do it so I'm doing it; and (2) I do not have cellphone load to reply to her texts. I have also failed to submit my work for the career handbook which sucks because I really wanted to do this right but failed due to erm, procrastination and acads and other stuff that's not really important. Anyway, I think I seem like a hypocrite now because I rant about the bad public service in our city hall but then, I do bad public service myself. But let me tell you, these (the situations where I fail to deliver) are just lapses of my perky, service-oriented self. I'm proud to say that I have been a good public servant (not as say, a policeman, but you get the point). So that only justifies my right to rant. Yay! Ranting rocks!

And speaking of service, what the heck! The (TV) network war has gone from doing pathetic clones of the other network's shows to lawsuits regarding truths and publicity. And with the constant airing of each network's "dignified" speeches on bringing out the truth and filing lawsuits and caring about the televiewers. From a televiewer's point of view, well, I don't effing care about what you are battling for. Just give us the best programming you have and the right to choose. Go to court all you want, just don't tell us. We don't care about the ratings because in fact, we make them. You care about the ratings, so keep the raging war to yourselves. Please. Or we might shift to ETC, 2nd Avenue and C/S completely, now that they're on free TV. :D

first classes

2008-01-05T12:48:00.000+08:00

One of the most memorable EnggWeek moments...

(Photo c/o Yacel.)

Here I am clothed as a Christmas tree during Dresseng'g Up. I was actually not supposed to go dressed like that, but I came along in case something comes up. Lucky for us, since Rachelle did not have her ID, and I did. So I took her place. Ceilo is fixing up my tinsel. I looked spaced out in this picture, but still Christmas-y.

After the crappy end-of-year, start-of-year blogpost, and also a crappy start of the year due to unfortunate incident within the family, I went to my first class of the year. And it had to be CE 22. As I was walking to our classroom, I muttered to myself, "Sana walang pasok. Sana wala si Sir." But students who wish things like that for no good at all do not get that wish. It's my worst class this semester because (1) I do not really know anybody in there; (2) the topic is really, really difficult but it is just my 9th elective so I could drop it if I had it in me; and (3) it's boring and it may hinder me working on plant design. But then, the class dragged on for an hour. We discussed the very difficult homework that I did not pass. I did not have a pen (any pen) so I failed to take notes. I told myself I could rely on my photographic memory (which proved to be helpful at times), but alas! The solutions are long and tedious and I really needed a pen and my notebook (which I also left at home) so I can review them later. So poor me.

Maam R is still on vacation (as Dale put it), so I could go home at 10:30 am but I didn't. I chose to stay in school and do nothing. But I returned my 2 overdue books (I thought I'd pay 72 pesos, but the library didn't count the vacations so I paid only 12), went to the lab to ask Kuya Obet if they have peptone and cellulose powder there, had a meeting with MALE (combination of Mon and dALE) groupmates in 136, submitted Awitan stuff to Mils, chatted, distributed PRC RE prizes to Jabellz, Pat T, Kong and Gids, collected 190 fees, remitted 190 fees, reminded 190 groupmates and cut KEMMDA-approved paper.

So, yun lang. Wala naman kayong paki kasi ang random lang nito. Pero OK lang. World peace. And may I find a planner that I will actually use. Gifts are welcome.

my 2007

2008-01-02T18:20:00.000+08:00

and new year things.

The post-Christmas vacation went pretty well, aside from the bunch of household chores I had to do, because, well, our help went to have her own vacation of sorts. Lucky, Ails and I went to see Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo (SSS) last Dec 27. It was great because I got to be with mah friends again (LOL on 'mah'). Dec 28 and 29, I was on the beach with mah (LOL) family. A nice break because I did not think of school or yearbook work the entire time. It's nice not to care. Although, we had to look after the little kids so that they won't drown or something. New Year's Eve was normal, less firecrackers around. But the parteh was not as fun as before. Should have stayed home, perhaps. But 'tis great to be around family.

And the year that was...
-the end of my term as VP (with fond memories of the Mr and Ms KEM, ugh)
-and SME officer
-EIC apprenticeship
-being the Write-up Head
-getting two 1.00s in a sem (and thus getting my highest GWA ever)
-first plant visit (Noritake)
-all the company talks
-Subic and Baguio
-family moves to Lola's house as she goes to the US
-"applying" at Petron
-the JG experience
-keeping a written journal (and budget) for the entire internship
-earning money
-going to Batangas, alone
-going to Ilocos
-meeting other ChE
-last Inter-U hosting gig (or not!)
-cooking the Opening pakain
-being a MemCommer
-first Ham *winkwink*
-being a WAMCommer
-carrying a lot of shirts
-Lolo's first Death Anniv
-going to Adamson
-Awitan 2007 (Best AWITAN ever! Kumontra, patay!)
-Best EW ever (winning a lot and more)
-having my own loveteam(s) [LOLOLOLOLZ]
-HP 7 and Order of the Phoenix movie
-from boarding at KNL to going home everyday
-voter's registration and 2007 elections

Of course, I can't remember everything.

My goals before Dec 31 2008:
1. Lose weight and waistline inches: because I have a back problem and I think it's time
2. Graduate on April and pass board exams on November
3. Organize stuff
4. Learn a new software/programming language that will be useful
5. Get a job, start my career (in something)

And more, as I go along.

christmas

2007-12-25T12:01:00.000+08:00

Although the mornings of christmas, christmas eve and the day before that was filled with the air of my Mom's menopausal speeches and anger, the whole event turned out fine. I recieved an equal amount of "beauty" products as with clothes (shirts mostly). Several relatives decided not to give gifts to the 'old ones' anymore, unfortunately, including me, who is still a student (the only one 18+ not working yet). Fortunately, Lola decided to give me a large amount of money, which I used for buying gifts and going online everyday (to do workstuff and um, blog). There was, of course, a lot of drama on who gets what and when, and why did the other one step on the other one's toy. Crazy blinking lights toys are also very much present under the sheets of gift wrapper for the kids. They went uber-crazy on those, swinging their blinking-light-swords in the darkness which is the street in front of the house. There were a lot of cars also for the kiddies, which means a lot of zooming going on. I think we got four of those Ferrari cars from Shell. My cousins (who gave them) were having a big laugh on that, being a bit cheap and all. But then, the kids are happy.

And so, I hope I did not get any fatter this Christmas. Because I know that I did not overeat like I used to. Mainly due to me hating the spaghetti, which I made, two days in a row.

We went to Bocaue last Sunday. Ate a lot of lechon (and saved Mama from eating a piece of lechon skin, yay!), so maybe that makes me 1% fatter. There were a lot of never-before-seen relatives of my Lolo's (+). Lola Ched and children gave us lots of chocolates (+2% fatter), and the family a big loaf of bread (NO, I only ate a bit of that.). We did not buy firecrackers, as usual and I tag our family, "the people from Bocaue who don't use firecrackers".

I did not really plan on buying gifts but ended up buying for immediate family using the early Christmas present (cash) of Lola. So, then, back to zero in the finance department. Much love from the receipients, including Kuya, who received an "Office" plastic sign. (He vowed to put it in his cubicle at the Institute of Chemistry.) Excluding ingrate little brother who wanted more gifts, specifically from the parents ("Nasan na yung gift ko?"), and insisted on dragging parents to nearest shopping mall because Mama promised to buy him his gift with the all new gift certificates she acquired. (She needs to show proof that she indeed has purchasing power and deferred buying gift because she wanted little bro to choose said gift.)

Received a lot of text messages about Christmas and all its joy. Thank you all. I cannot respond to you all not because I have no coverage here, or similar. I just don't have the resources to carry out such an act of 1-peso generosity. Believe me, I have 450-peso class requirements come January.

So, went to mass, two days in a row. Sunday in church near ATC and Monday in nearby village church. Parish priest, as it turns out, vowed to keep sermons at a maximum of five minutes, but seems to have not obliged. Yay! I'm going to church again. Prayers of relatives are heard after all.

It is a happy Christmas. I hope I continue to spread the love in the coming days. Except.

an empty cup

2007-12-21T18:02:00.000+08:00

I forgot to mention: Mary Macapagal for making the Awitan2007 webpage. :D Thanks a lot!
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They once again bagged the empty cup, which only means they are EWOC because they cheated, one way or another, felt so much angst towards people who win over them even in the tinniest games, and initiated fights that are really unnecessary.

And so, KEM for the nth time, was in second place. Well, we gave it our all. And I mean, all. Suddenly, I was sewing cloth together. I don't sew! Because I don't really know how to do it properly. But I did! Anyway, I don't blame anyone but the cheaters (not necessarily them) and the dimwits (not necessarily them either).

But, congratulations to all KEMers who kept their eyes on the prize. We did it! Well, minus the effect of the cheating and manipulation... We will get them next time. Eventhough it's my last Engg Week, I am with you again next year.
----
Congratulations to all KEMers who were a part of the success.

To the EC and Engg Week heads, I'm pretty sure to say that this was the best Engg Week ever (for me) because you guys were organized. And you motivated the KEMers well. You gave the right people in the right jobs. And you were there, 7 am, 12 midnight, and even in our short dreams. Thank you for protecting what we worked so hard for, keeping a close eye on the points and ensuring that everything is fair. The biggest clap, however, goes to Mils, for being a strong person. Strong enough for the 180 or so KEMers. Jabellz, Meanne, Kong, Eds and Ron, congratulations and thank you also. You were all great.

To the major events people. Congratulations! We again proved that when it comes to talent, KEM is the best. We almost bagged all night events, if you take out the cheating part, which I will discuss later. To the Indakers, whoa! Eight times! To Torts and Dianne, congrats. You really deserved to win. To the Maski people, maski na pinatalo tayo, panalo pa rin ang outfits and modelling niyo. Best Maski I've seen (KEM lang 'no!). To Edward, good job! You are the one and only Ms Engg in our hearts. To Buddy Popples and Trixie and RT and all people behind Ms KEM, congrats.

To the mini-games people (including me), congrats because I really felt the passion of the KEMers to win those games. This just proves that we're very passionate in everything that we do, even if doesn't involve chemicals and stuff like that. To the people I played Nuts Enggtertainment (1st), Bogglengg (4th), I-drawengg Mo (1st), Cliptomania (1st), Dressengg Up (2nd), Brengg Me (esp the last day, 1st), Reverse Charades (1st), Debatengg (oh no!) with, thank you for being great teammates. To the tireless beings who improvise things for Dressengg Up, I applaud your greatness.

To everyone and just everyone who was there even if just to give nice words, to reassure one another, to lift another up, even if it was in a form of a joke, or soft insult, thank you. For no thought went wasted, no effort unproductive. We did well, and napanginig natin ang mga tuhod nila.

To them, takot kayo no? Sige lang. Magsaya muna kayo. We'll (or they will) be ready next year. Even if we just scare you. It will be worth it.

KEM Go Fight Kill!
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Will blog about the Maskipaps issue later. Or see other blogs then.

mid-engg week

2007-12-16T05:18:00.000+08:00

Before anything else...

Thank you to everyone who helped make AWITAN 2007 a success.

To enumerate:
1. The AWITAN 2007 STAFF
Fritz Gonzales- Asst. Head
Carmel Germinal- Secretary
Jecho Antonio-Tech Head
Tricia Pestaño-Tech AHead
Larissa Gador-Log Head
Aldwin Binaday-Log AHead
Maynard Salangsang-Pub Head
Oscar Bejasa-Pub AHead
Tin Falagne-Marketing and Fin Head
Kathy Eliseo-Marketing and Fin AHead
Ria Requiero-Programs Head
Addison Falcon-Prog AHead.

And the rest of the Awitan staff:
Rhonda Reyes, Unja Manlangit, Brylee Tiu
Kris Catangcatang, Megan Malumay, Ron Villasquez, Tin Margallo
Mercy Ituriaga, Aimee Diamante, Shanelle Lopez, Daril Santos
Trizie Dy, Hannah Ebro, Alvin Salvador, Pat Tan
Herc Garcia, Lily Castro, Anne Apsay

And our ushers headed by Von Dela Cruz.

2. To the 2007-2008 Executive Council especially Kristine Millano, Pat Rimando, Haidee Macaraig, Hannah Cabrillas and Janine Montoya.

3. To the UP KEM alumni especially the UPKEMGLOBAL, Melan, Ate Georgie, Marc Ramos Elpee Macapagal and those who attended the event.

4. To the orgs who participated:
UP JPIA (every year, and finally FIRST na din!)
UP IEC
UP ERG
UP CIEM
UP CIRCUIT
UP CURSOR
UP ENGGSOC
UP AGGREGATES
UP ALCHEMES
UP MSS

5. To the ESC for all your help, especially Angelle and Pheng.

6. To our sponsors, URC (XO, CREAMS and HIDDEN SPRING), Pocari Sweat, CHEMREZ, ORANGE SEGMENT. (Naku, pasensya na kung may nakalimutan. Next time.)

7. To UPFI for the venue. Mga manongs... although somehow the rice tray was "lost".

8. Performers and hosts: UP SAMASKOM, UP DANSA, UP DanceSport, Marvin and Mark.

9. And, to all the KEMers who were always willing to help.

MARAMING SALAMAT! I will not forget this for the rest of my life.
-----

Engg Week is SUPER! Well, none of the hardworking KEMers have had sleep since last week, but we are all happy and filled with energy.

Congratulations to Jasser, Jabells and the cast of SMOKERS. Sa wakas, 2nd na!

Congratulations to the CLAIM TO FAME people, Buddy, Shey, Dada, Paulie, Aids and Addison. 4-point margin (1st!).

Congratulations to the Play Musical cast, and props crew, especially Mils, SHERRY, Mark and Vivi. Winning by a 19-point margin just proves that KEM is the best!

Congrats to all the people who have won in the mini games. To all who have lost, I know that we did our best, and did not cheat. I love you all.

Still, 3 days to go! With Cheering and Indakan, Maski and Ms Engg to bag!

KEM Go Fight!

a sorry note and more

2007-12-08T17:51:00.000+08:00

I changed my layout to a (hopefully) more visible one, but 'tis only temporary because of the Christmas theme.
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Eventhough Mr. You hasn't read my pointed post to him (I checked the who viewed me part), I decided to un-complicate my life by getting rid of one unfriendly relationship. And so, first I say sorry for whatever pain I have caused you (or wala naman ata eh), and for the difficulty of us not talking to each other. But, I think that you should also learn from this. Seriously, there are a trilion other people in this world. And you are not hot enough to be the sun (so the world revolves around you), or massive (aka fat) enough. Let's just laugh at this episode in our lives. I was a bit childish. [May you read this because I won't mention anything to you about this again even though I will start speaking to you again come Monday.].

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I still want to be appreciated for the things I do. Ang sensitive ko ata, pero naglaan talaga ako ng time para dun pero wala lang. Sayang sa oras. Pasensya na. Nainis lang ako kanina. Good luck sa paghahanap ng tulong. Wala na akong oras for that now.
-----
I realized people just need to hear things from other people. Thank you to those people (coughPatcough, etc.) who tell me (nicely) the things I need to hear (praise or otherwise).

But resenting the person is unavoidable. If the comment is one you would rather not hear but need to.
----
I need to focus on things now. Graduation is near. And I guess I'll have to be a chemical engineer to save the world. That's my power...calculating rates and designing vessels. I wish I didn't have to train for that and got time-space warping instead. Or super-taste. Or baking. (Thinks of a certain Mrs. [frog-related] cookie-baking person). Wee.

really random

2007-12-05T13:27:00.000+08:00

I was really looking forward to blogging today, but somehow I lost interest.

But I'm really shocked at the porny pictures that appear in the google picture search when I looked for Disney-related pictures. I just typed 'pinocchio' and there it was. What if kids had seen that? I knew google was a good search engine, but it's not supposed to be that good to include all (and I really mean all) photos with the word 'pinocchio' on it. Gawd.

I still can't seem to move my butt and file my scholarship papers for this sem. Maybe an allowance pinch will motivate me. But please don't, parents.

The Awitan schedule is set as of our Monday meeting and I'm confident that we can pull this off nicely. But still, I'm very nervous about it. But we'll rock. Please watch.

I hope things turn out okay for me. Because I finally made the first step (in a lot of things).

And although Ceres said I can't be dictator because I look mabait, maybe I can try not to take crap from anyone anymore. So kids (and people acting like kids), beware.

must have

2007-12-02T07:49:00.000+08:00

I must have posted this last Nov 30, but due to a sudden glitch, I haven't. Here goes.

Clearly, I had lost interest of claiming my graduation picture prints (and frame and CD of raw UNEDITED, relatively ugly shots). I only had 7 booth hours out of the required 9. I had somehow lost the thrill of getting my pictures, showing them to my friends and randomly giving dedications with the pictures. Getting graduation pics are not sweeter the second time around.

But then...

LOLOLOLZ.

We had a very short 190 group meeting (the waiting took longer than the meeting itself). We had named our group Catalysis. It sounds weird but maybe it won't be once we rock the plant visits and seminar and newsletter. I had the group meet at the 2nd floor lobby of Yia Hall, which is isolated and dark and weird, but it almost worked. Ceres asked me why I chose the place as our meeting venue. I said that it was convenient for me. She grumbled. I'm not blaming her for grumbling, but I only tried this evil group leader thing once. I wanted to see if I can actually pull off a dictator move. I can, but the guilt is unbearable. Anyway, that's Ceres and no one can be her dictator (in a good way, although you are an Uke right?).

I was really scared of what would have happened if things got worse in Makati yesterday. I feared I have to take an alternate route (e.g. C5) because of the situation. Gladly, Papa is nearby and I can go home with him. Also, the tension has dissolved around 6PM and the Ayala area is peaceful by the time we got there. However, the shops were all closed (we were supposed to buy eggs and bread) and people were scarce at the Ayala station (like 1% of the usual crowd). I do not know the issue behind this incident by I just have two things to say. First: what the heck! Why do you have to scare the people all the time. Sometimes people just want to go to work everyday and earn something to feed their family. I know this is totally capitalist of me, and shallow, but really, people just want to survive a day. They don't really care much about idealism this days. I don't know, maybe because a lot of politicians fling their kapricho around everyday and call it idealism. People are tired. Just let them work now.
Second: what the heck! Did the tank need to get INSIDE the hotel lobby? I was actually laughing at this when I watched this on the news last night. It was like the soldiers just want some Iraq-like action. Or maybe it was SOP. I dunno. It was just really funny.

Maybe if Miriam Santiago went to Peninsula, we'd all have so much fun. Or Bong Revilla. Then the military would catch him with Edu Manzano watching pirated DVDs. Boo to the arrest of media people. They just want to do their job. (But then if things get worse, they might be hostaged and bring about more problems.)

un-harshly

2007-11-28T11:46:00.000+08:00

Naalala ko lang yung incident na nasabihan ko ang isang tao na control freak siya. Nagulat ata siya nun. Tapos nag-usap lang kami about that through text lang. Anyway, totoo naman yun, in my perspective that time. That was one of the few times I said something hard to say to someone. I'm sorry but I'm not the kind of person who will just pour out. I hate confrontations. Sabi nga ni Gary, madaya daw. But then.

But first: click me

I have always thought of myself as hindi ma-pride. But I have been proven wrong a lot of times. Perhaps, my fear of confrontation is mistaken by many as pride. But sometimes, yes, I feel proud. Proud enough not to take the first step. If I know I'm right.

This avoidance of confrontation is a social flaw. Or maybe, not, at the right moments (i.e. when you want to confront someone who has a deadly weapon). I remember one meme which makes bloggers write 20 things that they want to tell specific people but can't. A lot of people did that. Including me. That only shows how people are also afraid of telling other people things to their faces, no matter how beautiful or bad that is.

Anyway, I'm doing this.

Let me tell you, I am not sorry. You should have realized I was just playing with you. It was a joke. I do it all the time to a lot of people. I have hit a nerve more than once with that, and I know when to stop. If you think I went too far, then perhaps you should also look upon yourself. Do you always insist your ideas? Are you too assertive? Do you find yourself VERY creative that other's ideas are practically worthless? Maybe a leader can insist his/her ideas to his/her group, but it takes a lot of experience and knowledge to be credible as a leader. (But that was somewhat irrelevant.) The truth is, I acted like that in defense. Maybe I felt that you were blocking us out. So I blocked your idea out. If that hurts your pride so much you cannot recover from it then it's a problem. Trust me, you'll meet a lot of people that are bigger a-holes than what I was. Don't be too touchy. Your idea is good. But it's not the best idea ever. And other people have pride too.
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We suffered a major grill yesterday at our 136 presentation. (Let me thank the people who have contributed to this...) We have a lot of work ahead of us. Darn.
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I nearly forgot to write about the batch party. I had fun, especially because of the things we can share (like Maynard's charades acting or Pat's Dating Game answers). I have nothing to not share. As I've said, I do not welcome much clog (gossip) in my brain anymore. And Smooth E really works. To make us laugh, at least. Gamerzz rock!

And it would be the last batch party (as a student) for me. And so, click me.
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To come: The Ilocos Empanada (with pictures c/o Pat)

JOIN UP KEM

2007-11-24T20:07:00.000+08:00

Tis Orientation Seminar blogging season again. But this time, without much hatred, I would like to invite all ChE students to join KEM. I will not give much here but this pic:

Please do. For your own sake.

KEM Orientation
Dec 6
Eng'g Theater, 5:30 PM
FREE FOOD!
**This does not mean that you are an applicant upon attending the seminar. Just see what/how KEM is.**

day off

2007-11-23T14:54:00.000+08:00

This is a photoshopped (not the skin or anything) photo of me and Pat. Wala lang. I just want to post a pic of me (at least) that has been photoshopped. Pero parang ang kinis nga namin. But no healing brush.

I have been sick for the past two days. Nothing too serious. Just the colds, and a bit of throat irritation. I just missed class (what class?) today. But I think it was worth it since I got to rest.

Engg Week na. I hope we have a very marvelous Awitan. With your help. *winkwink*

alone time

2007-11-21T14:32:00.000+08:00

I had some alone time yesterday (and today, since I'm at home). I went to Glorietta to check out the post-bombing atmosphere. It was more or less okay. Sales are a bit slow, but prices went down (there's an all-month sale). I refused to buy a regular Zagu because I was seven pesos short but I soon bought a Taro Ice which costs 18 pesos more than the 27 pesos I had for food for that malling session. I really didn't have a lot of money to spend, but I go to malls to see what's new, look at people and basically, walk and think and sort things out. In conclusion, I had a fun lonely time yesterday. Lucky was supposed to come with me, but Globe messed up and sent our messages 2 hours later. But I'm not going to change networks.

Leadership update: I'm head of a ChE week event. *dies*

leadership

2007-11-18T11:54:00.000+08:00

But first...
This is a picture of me as a kid. I'm cute, aren't I?
(Shameless! Shameless!)

For more kiddie pics, please view 'childhood pics' album. Which can be accessed by clicking this.

And so, I have been elected the group leader of our 190 group. That's very ok with me because 190 is an easy class, and I would love to be of service to my groupmates. However, this also means additional leader work (aside from those mentioned earlier).

Classes have started, and no heavy work was due anytime soon. Oh, right, 142 and 136. Yeah. Ma'am decided we should work hard this sem.

I have noticed the two leadership methods that I use. The first one is the democratic style. It is the one I use at school, where I have team members older than me (or younger by a year or two). I ask for a lot of suggestions and comments and I always consult them if there is a major decision. The other style is the strict, autocratic style that I use at home. No questions asked. I get angry boundlessly. I order my younger sibs to do something (chores, go to sleep, etc.) and they bow to me. But then, I consider their feelings. But I guess, not ask.

Perhaps, there is a need-to-know-you-better thing with those people at school, so I need to know their positions on the things that we need to decide on. At home, I know my sibs and I know how they'll react to my decrees and orders. I know I wield a lot of power at home, being second oldest (practically the oldest commanding child, kuya isn't around so much) and all, but I do not abuse that power. Except when I want to watch TV. Then I make them clean their room or sleep in the afternoons.

I have learned a lot from the PIChE LTS but so far, I think I have used little. But I now listen. I just need more teeth for my school groups. I wish I could channel the guts I have at home ( I am ruthless!) to my other groups. That way I can be more effective. Perhaps.

injustice

2007-11-14T11:44:00.000+08:00

This is not exactly a very big thing compared to the rich-poor social injustice we have today. Compared to that, this is really not a big deal. So, I was sitting in the 3-person seat in the bus yesterday, on the way home from school. There was this fat woman and rude man who sat with me on this seat. Actually, nauna ako sa upuang 'yon. I just have to have the space nearest the aisle because Doodz and her mom was seating on the other side of the aisle, on the two-person seat. Of course, I have to be seating close to them as I am with them. So, when these two people came to sit on the seat I already occupied, I move to let them pass. I was very polite in doing this. I did not roll my eyes, or smirk. The fat lady got there first. We were okay. Two butt cheeks and legs were still upon the seat. Then tragedy struck when the rude man came. He stopped in front of the seat, looked at me as though he wanted me to move and made a face. I did not mind that so much and moved to 'I-let-you-pass' position. He passed with ease and sat down.

HE DISPLACED ME almost completely. I was left with 1.5 butt cheeks and half a leg upon the seat. I was 75% less uncomfortable. And HE DID NOT SEEM TO MIND. More polite people would say something, or would make you feel s/he's sorry for doing that. Of course, I had no control of the situation since I am on the outermost end of the seat and I cannot squeeze them inside.

During the trip, I had to grab the opposite seat so I won't fall when the bus suddenly turns. I was uncomfortable, and I wished that there won't be any heavy traffic so we can get to Alabang fast. And, I did not complain because that's me. I'm passive. Mr. Rude Man will get what he deserves. We all do.

----
I have been unjustly elected as Group Leader of my 142/136 group. I wasn't passive this time, but what could I do really? [Ei, groupmates, 'tis okay. I just want a whine out of this.]
----
And why does it take TWO LONG WEEKS to process a TCG (true copy of grades) at the College of Engineering while it takes only minutes in the College of Science (they say)? Like it takes a whole hour to validate/check/assess form 5s in the ChE department.
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I am on temporary, unofficial ban (by parents) from alcoholic beverages because of rumored allergy. My chest tightens. Poor me. Will have to eat chocolate instead. Haha. Also told by Papa to jog/walk to improve cardio-vascular health. We'll see.

enrollment week

2007-11-11T11:21:00.000+08:00

But before that, I would like to share a random moment.

This is a picture of Yacel and Mina preparing lunch (pouring Pepsi on a pitcher with ice). This was in Pagudpud, where apparently, there are no real lunch places. We had the tiniest serving of pancit canton (instant) and a gulp of Pepsi. It was very much enjoyed, though. And we get to bond with the other delegates (of the LTS) who suffered with us.

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Back to the enrollment week. So, actually almost finished enrolling last Monday due to the well-used Graduating powers. Got 13 units this sem, and although I envy other people who have Language electives, I chose to have less this sem. Concentrate on 136/142 perhaps. Or get a job. SA-ing, maybe. Or just spend more time at home or elsewhere, like the mall.

Enjoyed (really) ChESI work on registration on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Ma'am Rollon told me we were having our first meeting last Friday. But she did not come to class. Only had CE 22 last Friday. I know only one person, which is connected to an entire barkada already. So, new friends. Might do a Mina and do group project individually. Might be easier though because said group project is a feasibility study, which is one of the requirements in 142 AND 126. I can hit two birds with one stone.

Had lunch with instructor Lucky last Friday at LB. Thanks for the Banana Shake, and the company. He's now teaching Math 17 to a couple of students. Will sit-in one of these days. Get a laugh. Perhaps re-learn Algebra.

Oh. And I now have a Saturday class. 126 lasted for only 30 minutes. I had to go to UP for that. The trip to UP lasted 2 hours. Yeah. Ma'am Ang is cool, although it is quite weird for an instructor not to know much of her students in a major subject class. But she just returned from someplace so that's why. Janine, Dale and me are grouping again for our written report. We have to find another person. Perhaps Jasser, but he's already taken*.
*His group is too big and they have to eliminate someone. We can take him if he likes.

Jabells, Jasser, Janine, Benjo and I also did a "Papaya" video shoot in Engg, a waiting shed and Lagoon. It was fun, but a bit tiring.

No sem-starter activity yet. Maybe movies on Wednesday, but that won't do it. I have to party.

The LTS/Ilocos Tour Post

2007-11-02T15:05:00.000+08:00

Mahirap talaga magsulat kapag overwhelmed ka with emotions, which is why I have this blogpost in Taglish, as it comes out. As in wala nang translation, basta kung ano lumabas, yun na. Pero hindi pala, siyempre filtered out yung masyadong personal, or hindi dapat sinasabi sa blog.

Anyway, nagsimula ang lahat nung umalis kami ng Ilocos. Wala lang, naisip ko lang na aalis na kami and there is a big possibility na hindi na kami magkikita-kita (yung other school friends). Tapos nagwander ang isip ko sa graduation, etc. Well, ganun talaga ako mag-isip, parang sa charades, one thought leads to another hanggang sobrang layo na. In this case, na-aggravate lang yung kalungkutan ko kasi naisip ko na nga yung mga hiwalayan (physical, etc.) na mangyayari after 6 months. Ayun, parang ang dami kung issues sa pag-graduate no? Ayaw ko pa talaga. I mean, I want to earn money, and lose the academic responsibilities, pero ang sarap kasi ng feeling sa school. Napaka-devoid of all adult worries. Pwede kayang magbreak muna ako ng 2 years? As in floating schoolkid lang? Para kasing napakmature na ng pagtatrabaho, and I honestly don't think I have the maturity to be a part of the working force. Not entirely my fault. Pero itong 'I don't wanna graduate yet' stuff ay part lang. Basta ayun, ganun.

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Napakasaya ng LTS. And Ilocos Tour. Gusto ko lang muna magpasalamat sa mga taga-MMSU (na ChE) sa pag-accomodate sa amin sa Ilocos. Sobrang na-feel ko naman na pinaghandaan at pinaghirapan nila ng LTS. Sa mga ChE students from other universities, salamat dahil hindi magiging uniquely fun ang experience na ito kung wala kayo. Sa teammates ko, Team Bagnet, [Turururut, BAGNET!] grabe, sobrang saya ko at kayo ang groupmates ko dahil, kahit hindi tayo ganun kagaling sa Charades (minsan kasi yung ibang teams, mental telepathy), super nag-enjoy naman tayo (hehe, Ethics, Analytical Chemistry). Tsaka pala yung Amazing Race. Special mention kay Jay at Dean, sobrang galing makiusap sa locals para maka-hitch. Salamat din pala kay Atty. Kris Ablan, mainly for the empanada (haha, ang PG), which actually represents his hospitality (may ganun). Nag-enjoy naman ako sa Ilocos, sobrang ganda! At kay Mr. Ryan Mercado na rin. Marami akong natutunan sa seminar/activities. Huli, salamat sa officers ng PIChE dahil sobrang nakita ko na nahaggard kayo sa LTS para lang ma-enjoy ng mga tao yung event, at para na rin marami kaming matutunan. Salamat, salamat sa lahat.

Sobrang ganda ng Ilocos. Wala lang. At least totoo ngang dapat puntahan lahat ng lugar sa Pilipinas dahil maganda naman talaga. Medyo larger than life yung windfarm sa Bangui at yung view from the lighthouse sa Burgos.

Places in Ilocos Norte we visited:
1. MMSU (Batac) - Parang UP. Mainly because napagod ako sa paglalakad from Track Oval to COE. Kabikabila ang mga palayan, na malamang ay pinag-aaralan ng agriculture students. I <3 MMSU.

2. Batac Church - Dito kami nagsimba nung Sunday. Weird yung Ilocano songs kasi siyempre hindi naman ako maruning ng Ilocano. It provided insight on the Ilocano language. Parang ang haba nung words nila. Pero I've learned to respect the Filipino languages naman from Lingg 1.

3. Laoag Market- Shopping sa palengke. Parang Alabang market lang, pero maraming other things like the very big pamaypay and sukang Iloko and Basi (tama ba ito?). Sobrang tumawad kami sa mga Ate (Manang) Chichacorn at ayaw na nila ibaba yung price, pero ganun na daw pala yung price ng Chichacorn. Sorry mga Ate. [Tapos nag-muMultiply din pala si Ate.]

4. Museo Ilocos Norte (Laoag) - Basically, pinakita lang nito ang buhay ng mga Ilocano. Medyo pang-foreigner siya (like one foreigner who commented in the guest book that she was offended by one woman's remark about her and the Ilocos heat and losing weight). Please view pictures from this place where Janine and I roleplayed with the exhibits.

5. Laoag in general - Yung church nila ay may sinking bell tower. Kita yung doorway na half-submerged na. Ang ganda rin ng kapitolyo. Maraming mga kalesa. May compound where they sell empanadas. Nakita namin si Kris Ablan dito, accidentally. Nilibre niya kami ng empanada. Kakaiba pala yung empanada dito. Orange, crispy and eaten with ketchup. Yummy. See pics.

6. Paoay Church - UNESCO Heritage Site pala ito. Sobrang luma na ng church na ito. As in 1500s ata ito tinayo. Maganda, seashells yung ginamit nila sa walls.

7. Paoay Lake and Vigan House - Yung Vigan House ay actually ang Malacanang of the North. Ito daw ay tinutuluyan nina Marcos sa Ilocos nung presidente pa siya. Ang ganda ng view overlooking the lake. Ang weird ng feeling na nandun ka mismo sa bahay kung saan nangyari ang important historical events, gaya ng pag-babath tub ni Imelda. Hehe.

8. Pagudpud (say it with an American accent: paGOODpud)- The beaches here are phenomenal. As in better than Zambales. Calm yung waves, clear yung tubig at yung alat niya ay alat lang, walang clay/lupa taste. Ang ganda pa ng view. Souvenir shopping. Best lunch EVER. With and without sarcasm.

9. Windfarm (Bangui) - Parang kami ni Janine yung pinaka-excited dito dahil sa EgyE. At least kami nakita na namin siya. Dito kasi dapat yung field trip. Pero ang layo kaya. Pero dun lang kami sa viewdeck due to time constraints. May video ata si Janine nito.

10. Lighthouse (Burgos) - This is somewhat historical, pero hindi ko na maisip ngayon kung bakit. Basta kasi 5 mins lang kami dun. Dun sa pinakamataas na pwede puntahan ng tao (sa base ng tower), sobrang ganda ng view. As in yung dagat, infinitely spreading 120 degrees siguro in front of you. Tapos green landscape. Breathtaking.

Yung mga landscapes - Ang ganda lang talaga. Yung mga bulubundukin ay 'broccoli'-looking pa rin. Meaning marami pang puno. Tapos marami pang sun-related pics. Please see album, mine or one of the participants.

Oo nga pala, nag pic-taking din pala kami ni Pat and Tricia sa train sa Luisita, Tarlac. Will try to get those from Tricia.

And again, the link to the pictures: clickme

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Last emo: Mahirap pala talaga ang relationships no? Napakacomplicated. Design of humidification equipment is way easy.

wala lang

2007-10-31T16:20:00.000+08:00

When you expect more, you get less. When you expect less, you get more.

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Ilocos trip, PIChE-JCL LTS post on the way. :D For the meantime, see partially finished photo album. *clickme*

sem break

2007-10-25T15:16:00.000+08:00

I went to the PIChE Quizbowl Luzon Eliminations yesterday at the Adamson University (in Manila). Of course, the UPD team scored another first place, but the top 5 teams will compete in the national finals sometime next year (in Cebu, I think). I met my EC friends (they're all the people I know (ie care to see) there, aside from the contestants, Carlo, Ivanz, Dale, Jecho, Benjo, Jabells and Eds), which really means nothing, aside from our time-space selves being close to one another.

Anyway, I finished the CE main write-ups I was assigned to edit (I did the assigning so, haha.) at the Inhinyero office. I had DH withdrawal the whole day yesterday because I was detached from my daily habit of soaking up with the DH DVDs. Today, however, I finished first half of the season 3 DVD. At first I thought that the DVD contained only Episodes 1-12 but there was a pleasant surprise a while ago when, after Ep 12, the DVD kept going. It was playing the 13th episode! Of course I checked the Title-Chapter menu and it said Title 2 Ch 1, and had 7 hours left to play. I thought that I'd spend my Friday doing nothing but to edit the EE, EM and MetE write-ups, but now I have something to look forward to.

There are still no significant display of grades on CRS (the 125 grade is there, but we already know that). The processing day was also moved to Oct 27 instead of 26, which blows because I cannot wait if I get my CE22.

And I keep getting fatter. Totally my fault.

not overrated

2007-10-21T15:08:00.000+08:00

The outing was super-fun, aside from the torn pair of pants and the tollway police stopping our jeep twice. Even sand in underwear is fun.

First of all, congratulations to the hard-working OutingCom. Alagang-alaga ang mga KEMers. They know that KEMers are such babies and would want everything set-up for them (no offense). And also, for the safety reminders, which were timely.

Next, to the Executive Council, thank you for the wonderful Team Building Activities and mushy chummy activity *winkwink* (Grabe, enjoy na enjoy kayo dito.) I really think it helped a lot.

To the MemCom, especially VP Vany, congratulations to all of us. I honestly believe we had a very good and talented batch of new members. I hope they prove themselves worthy.

To all KEMers (those who were there), thank you for a fun outing. It was fun catching waves (not surfing but jumping only) and lying on the mini-river meeting the sea.

Some people who had some discoveries:
-Ana discovered she could work as a wave predictor. She calls a wave, then it doesn't come.
-Ceres discovered she could play angst-driven darts. More angst, more points.
-Jasser discovered he cannot reach the high notes without hand movements.
-Hannah discovered she can dance without inhibitions to a rap song.
-Sakura discovered that I should be an officer of KEM.
-Ivanz discovered he should have brought a towel to a swimming trip.
-Janine discovered that ethanol, when ingested does crazy (than usual) things to the body.
-Jerome discovered that ethanol should not be ingested at all because of chest tightening.
-Jerome and Ceres discovered that they cannot play correct frisbee at the beach.
-Rhonda discovered that "ramdamin" is not a word.
-Maynard discovered that most people cannot recognize his voice.
-Manong driver (homebound) discovered that not following rules can actually get him into trouble.
-Billy discovered he will not get any darker no matter how long he spends time under the sun.
-And a billion more discoveries due to little strips of blue paper.

And now, back to school. I mean Desperate Housewives.

the sem that was

2007-10-18T09:54:00.000+08:00

I am days behind everyone else, like the CRS-related post season. Just about everyone has posted their "my sem is over" posts. But I am delayed for a good reason. My sem actually ended just yesterday when we finished our Visual Basic project for 124 (clap clap to Hannah and Von). And I was not very ecstatic about the end of this sem. I am still worried about my grades. See, my goal for my GWA is now higher than my goal for the rest of my college life, which was a 2.00. Actually, I did not plan on setting goal GWAs when I thought about college, because I just wanted to get a degree and enjoy doing it. But then, due to my need to actually get into college, in the financial aspect, I needed a scholarship. How lucky I was to get one with a relatively high GWA requirement. I was supposed to get 2.00 every sem. And it was really hard for me because I'm a lazy student. I will rely only on my memory for an exam if it can make me pass (but it doesn't do the trick). Anyways, some interview last summer (for my intership) woke me up. The interviwer asked me why I didn't set high goals (i.e. aiming for the Laude status). I did not know how to reply to that. So, now I set my 1.75 goal. So that I can be Cum Laude. Mainly, due to the awakening, parents, relatives, board exam review discounts, resume content. I guess, just about everything. But I can conclude now that I don't set serious goals if I see there's no possible way of achieving it. I'm not too lazy, I'm just a bit afraid to take risks. That's why I did not take the 172 finals. Nyquist plot? You're kidding me.

I am feeling a bit sad because this sem is the last before my last sem, ever. It occured to me that I really loved school all the time, from Nursery up to now. Why? Because school's fun. It's boring in class, but aside from the requirements and classes, it's very fun. I like being a student because you have less cares because your elders think that you have too much on your plate with the 4-10 subjects that you have. And I like learning. And I still don't want to grow up and belong to the adult community where all they talk about is...Politics (haha, private joke among Zsappy's party visitors).

I have mixed feelings about this sem. I did not really enjoy much of my subjects this sem. I was angry all the time. The instructors are so evil this sem, at least in my point of view. (To everyone, esp. the instructors, please don't take offense. Hey, students antagonize professors all the time, but they still love them.) I'm just glad this sem is over. I am a bit excited about graduating, actually, and getting out of school. But the working isn't very attractive as of now.

Well, I am mostly happy, because at least I can rest and watch DVDs.

surprise, surprise

2007-10-12T15:31:00.000+08:00

it's the same potato balls

2007-10-06T13:30:00.000+08:00

If you didn't notice, I put "balls" on my blog name. This is just a tribute to the potato balls of a certain Japanese food stall outside Engg. They taste like kamote. Nothing special. I'm reverting to the "ball-less" blog name in a few minutes.

And so, finally, 125 is over for me. In a good way, please. I think almost all of us have the same level of happiness, or lack of it towards the 3rd exam.

The 141 presentation (on mass balance) was okay. In fact, much better than we expected. I am learning to appreciate instead of just complaining.

Yay! It's sem break already, and I can't help but be sentimental about graduating. And to think that I might not graduate due to plant design/crs failure, or unexpected failure in a class (which will give my parents right to strangle me). I loved my college days. I was very stupid. And now it's coming to an end. And still no career path!

There's still a sem (Tuesday to Saturday schedule!) for that. [Will post schedule detail later.]

banking

2007-10-03T13:12:00.000+08:00

Today was my first banking experience. Uh, not really because I was cashing checks since first year college (for my scholarship), and the ATM withdrawals for Mama/Lola (in fairness, they receive the whole amount). But today, I applied for my first bank account. I was supposed to do this years before but 1) I am scared because back then, I wasn't at least 18 yet, and 2) I'm lazy as a log. But now, the urgency of my JG Summit paycheck encashment (actually, no hurries, but it may be taken away e.g. loss of funds, other similar cases) has pushed me to make a bank account and deposit my money. Mama told me to open at PS Bank because it was near, and not a lot of people go there, unlike Landbank, which handles the City of Muntinlupa accounts, therefore long lines. She told me that I would go by myself today because she has a few meetings (it's wednesday, of course there's work!) and couldn't accompany me. But I made a way. Of course, I acted like a big baby for making Mama come with me to the bank for my first account. What mother won't be proud of her child's firsts? Luckily, a situation came up where in bringing Mama along proved to be useful. See, she told me that I should bring only 500 php to open the account. Turns out that 2000 php is required to do that. [And 2000 is the maintaining amount (oh no!).] I had 1500 php and I had to ask Mama for another 500. Di ba? Buti na lang. So, the filling of forms took very long, and I had to repeat some because of a decision I made early in college. That was when I signed my IDs (UP ID and passport). I sign my name differently now, and I was required by the bank person to sign my name like I used to sign on the IDs. It was difficult for me, but I did it. Heck, there was only a tail of a Z's difference between the then and now signs. The bank session ended as the bank person taught me how to deposit money. And now I have a bank account. Hello adult world.

Another inch of my feet in the adult world is our 141 lectures. I didn't think there was going to be hardcore accounting/fianance/money work in my chemical engineering career. Turns out, it's one of the main jobs of people who graduate from this course. Very adult and boring.

What's not boring was the ENTER-U. I was the quizmaster for this, and I looooooved it. (Despite the aching throat because by the end of the contest, I spoke for 5 hours straight. Interview+Enter-U.) Congrats to the winners: Jecho, Rhonda and Brylee. And to the runner-ups, who, however, did not win any money: Shey, Dale and Maynard. Congrats also to Hannah, Von, Duane, Jasser and Torts. :D Fun.
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On the bitter side of things. Please. Let's just end this. Okay. Or Barney may have to perform a colonoscopy on you using his (big) dinosaur hand. You have been warned.

grumble grumble

2007-09-29T16:39:00.000+08:00

Hala! It's the last week of classes and I've listed all the things I have to do before the semester ends officially for me. I have a list of ten, with '141 stuff' as the tenth. Might as well be the eleventh, twelfth, up to eight-ninth. Well, good luck to me. [Ugh, another acad post.]
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FINALLY, KEM Cup is over. And we are very happy at 2nd place. A bit bitter because of some things, but we all have these things when we compete. Anyway, I feel much much better (and civil) now. I want to say sorry especially to Marj (I won't do this enough.) because she was the first person that experienced my outpour of emotions, in an antagonistic way. And also to the others which I secretly wanted to dismember/hydrolyze (acid/base/enzyme) during the course of the competition. I learned that life won't ever be fair because we all have our biases (and this statement is very biased). I should think of a business that capitalizes on biases and get a lot of money (Wait. Reality TV text voting. Right. Career option---X.) I also learned that sulking can be better than fighting, and that breathing is a good way to dissipate anger. When I say sulking I mean grumbling to people who are on your side. To the people I wanted to throw cuss words to, I've done it. Did you notice? No? Good for you. But I really did. And I won't regret doing that. But I regret being immature again. But nobody wants to lose. It's a bad bad feeling. Especially if it's three years in a row.

It's over. So let's love each other back again. I'll try very hard, promise. I have the emotional capacity to do this naman. I don't know about you. (Oh, I'm starting again...)
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Congratulations to all the wonderful people of WAMFin. To me, you are the best team ever. I love you all, especially those who, for a week, suffered the after-Ham2 body aches. Congratulations to BENJO, LMK Champion. You really deserve it (considering the criteria). To Pat and Haidee, you are the best VPs a KEM Cup team could ever have. You are loving and supportive and inspiring. [Si Haidee ang ka-grumble ko.] Thank you to all the WAMFin people who participated. Sa mga di tumulong, belat. Ang saya kaya. WAMFin, WIN!
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Weee! We won the Cliptomania (brought to you by UP 49ers) contest. Galing ni Aids. Like he watches movies all day. Yay, cash inputs.
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Congrats also to the SepKEMber team! It was the best SepKEMber and LMK ever. And to the hosts, Jom and Marlon, keep up the good work. :D

my hosting career

2007-09-19T12:05:00.000+08:00

Naisip ko na talagang career ko na yung hosting kasi I had 2 hosting jobs for Tuesday (yesterday). The first one was the 4-in-1 seminar on EgyE and EnE, at the Engg Theater. I came in and the program started. Wala nga akong alam sa pangyayari. Mils supplied stuff like the complete title, objectives, etc. But like a real professional host (which I am not), I just adlib-ed a lot. Tapos ang dami pala nung naka-assign sa akin na babasahin.

The next hosting gig was SME's EEE seminar/talk. I did this because the head of this event is Shie, which is a good friend. I had to miss Pictionary (KEM Cup) for this, but the spaghetti was worth it. I also learned a lot from Sir Malquisto about Automation. Very 172, but much more fun. Anyway, EmJen co-hosted again (like in the Orientation), but she did not suggest that we do practiced jokes. It was okay, and I think I did better in this one.

Hosting jobs, June-Sept 19, 2007:
-SME Orientation
-Brainstorm 2007 (KEM)
-InterU 2007 (KEM)
-ChE seminar (SME)
-EnE/EgyE (ESC)
-EEE seminar (SME)

Other hosting gigs:
-Inter-U 2006
-Inter-U 2005
-a few GenMeets 2006-2007
-SME Induction 2007
-KEM Induction 2007 (with swollen jaw)
-SME Apps Night 2005

Hmmm, career option. Check. And, you are free to contact me for my dead serious (as a mood) hosting skills.
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We won! We won! I mean, the TIP-Manila Trivial Quiz Show. Not really. We got second place. Second only to UST. But by only 6 points, or one difficult question. We = Me, Aids and Patrick (and Pat who scored 2+ points for answering when no other team can [I'd say stealing but it won't sound right]). We got some cash, a liga trophy and stapled medals. Obviously, that's not much but I enjoyed the experience. :D (This was held Monday.)

And I passed the 125 first exam! Woot! And not only that, I got 89! :D *grabs Levenspiel for dreaded 3rd exam, or not*

And, WAM-Fin! WIN!

my sept 16 post

2007-09-19T10:38:00.000+08:00

I read an article about how blogs (Uh, MS Word 2003 is saying, “No, blog isn’t a word!” with red squiggly lines.) are causing this generation to be self-centered. I somewhat concur to what the author said as the large part of the content of many blogs these days are about the rantings and ramblings of pre-teen, teen and post-teen people. Thank Friendster (Uh, Friendster isn’t a word either.), Multiply and other similar websites for starting a blogging culture among the young ones. However, can we blame them for writing (in a whole spectrum of versions of the English and Filipino languages) about themselves as they make the transition from the ideal childhood situations to the almost-real-world problems? Let’s just hope that blogging keeps the teens close to the (safe part of the) Internet, and far from drugs, violence and thoughts of suicide. Perhaps if one person writes about these things in his/her blog (I mean the drugs, etc.), then at least someone in the whole world knows and a solution can be made.

Of course as a blogger, I am for blogging. We just have to tone down a bit with the angst and whining. But it feels good after, right?

We won! We won! At last, after four straight years (five, actually, but I was a student of UP for just 4 years now) of spectacular losses in the Cheerdance Competition, we finally won. Congrats guys! At last, my UP life is complete (or not, I have to have another Eng’g Week! And I have to finish our plant design, among other things). Unibersidad ng Pilipinas!!! Oooooh!

On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: (Jeopardy spoof)
Jay: The answer is “Superbad”.
Britney Impersonator: How is my dancing, my parenting skills…?
George Bush Impersonator: How did [name] describe Iraq so that I can understand it?

Oh, the contact prints have arrived. After nine excruciating booth hours, I finally got mine last Friday. It was definitely worse than last year. I mean, last year’s photos were better. If only I could use those for this year’s yearbook. The photos were, um, just okay. Acceptable.

The field trip. Yeah. That was a bit early. We left UP at 6 am, which means the meeting time was 5 am. Let’s just say everyone except for some tough cookies and, of course, the driver slept through the trip to Mak-Ban. The place was steamy. And I meant that literally. The plant relies on steam from the underground.

Highlights:
-Seeing a real cooling tower that looks exactly like that in Foust
-Learning the (Chevron) Tenets of Operation and corresponding gestures
-Waking Janine every once in a while
-Picture-taking (with hard hats!) and goofing around
-The steam and designing (in my mind) an industrial-scale dim sum cooker using the steam from the plant

I am in big trouble. It is because I am currently doing the job hunting thing and thinking about my career (so, this is the self-assessment part). I am not very sure I want to work as a chemical engineer. It’s boring stuff. Maybe because of 125 and 172. Maybe not.

Career choices (as of now):
-Chemical Engineer, but a fun job, perhaps not a process engineer
-Teacher, but maybe not ChE, high school Physics maybe, but I need Educ units, I think
-Series writer. Like Grey’s Anatomy, which shows life of surgeons, I think I’ll write a TV series about chemical engineers. People would just ignore the jargon and go for the drama, or humor.

Sample:
Person1: (approaches in big steps) There’s a huge leak in the nitrogen line.
Person2: So?
Person1: What, “So?”? What will I do?
Person2: You’re a licensed engineer, top of the class, exam topnotcher. You’ll know what to do exactly.
Person1: Oh, no no no no. You are my supervisor. I am new here. I’m not supposed to make decisions. You do.
Person2: Well then, put a sock in it. (walks away)

I hope it works.

some good things

2007-09-12T14:14:00.000+08:00

Buti naman, I passed 125. I really feared for the worst because I changed my answer, which turned out to be correct, in one problem. However, I did not get bonus points for my "Braindead-o-phobia". But, there's still a third exam.

We have ended the two-week fight. Yipee! It's nice to be not angry all the time. And to have my other arm/kidney back.

There's a field trip on Saturday to look forward to. However, I will miss the Coastal Cleanup and HAM2 (on my last year, hopefully, as KEMer!!!). Why can't I miss worthless activities instead?

Congrats to the wonderful KEMers who joined the PRC Random Event: Bring Me Extreme. Especially those who won:
MONDAY: Cutest Baby Pic
winner: Jan Marc
runner-up: Gideon
(I hope I can post the pics later.)
TUESDAY: Biggest Umbrella
winner:Kong
runner-up: (aqua umbrella)
Special thanks to Ruth Guinto for joining!

So, back to impending failure of 172 2nd exam (Why me?).

ONEderful

2007-09-08T17:36:00.000+08:00

ESC Auxcomm Party
Sept 8, 1 PM
Had a very wonderful ESC Auxcomm Party, thanks to team ONEderful. I'd say all their names, but I may miss out someone, so I'd just say thank you, collectively, to my teammates. At least something nice happened to me after that damned 125 exam.

And I can do tongue twisters. Yay! And I love trash talk, if you really don't mean it and get into a fight.

Ivanz: 1, 2, 3!!!
All: ONEderful!

Anyway, we won over-all. We only lost a few tableaus, some Reverse Bring Me rounds and the Dive-for-coins game but we were the best team.

125 Exam
Sept 7, 6-8 PM
Of course, we all studied, in different intensities but all worried because of unreleased first exam (very low scores), but almost all of us cannot say that they really passed. Sir told us that it would be an easy exam. Maybe. Who knows how 'easy' means to our profs? I mean, it was easier than the last exam, but I might fail. I wanted to roll down the Eng'g Theater after the two-hour exam. But I didn't. I will not spill my blood in that place. I may not graduate because of that exam, but the war isn't over. *gets battle gear*--> (which is what exactly?)

Biochem Lab Field Trip
Sept 6, 9:15 AM
Actually it was a simple tour of the lab. I think no undergraduate student has ever been there before us. It's the creepy building separate from the main ChE lab. It actually has two floors, with only about 2 m height, so some people could have difficulty inside the lab.
Features:
-Constant Temperature Room: This room is hardcore geeky. It actually has insulating stuff (the soft silvery sheets) on its walls. And we don't know what it's for.
-A room with what looks like an electric chair. For stubborn students. *grabs books*
-A shaker for chemicals and stuff. It's an old piece of equipment that will shake the flasks that are needed to be shaked.
-A weird space with blue water drums. We dared not ask.

Actually, we made a lot of bekray about the place. It was an actual living quarter because the biochem experiments could take hours per sample. It has food, water and aircon. We didn't see beds but we didn't see all the rooms. Sir joked that Doc Jose actually designed the place. That's why the ceilings are so low.

JG Summit Payday
Sept 5, 11 AM
Carlo, Mils and I went to the JG Head Office to collect our cash (and check) for our summer internship. Considering the work and loneliness I suffered during the 23 days I stayed there (but I went home on weekends), it was a very small amount. Luckily I learned a lot from the experience. I now have more insight on how ChEs end up after graduation. We had an Old Spaghetti House lunch, to celebrate.

Uploading Overnight
Sept 4, 8PM- Sept 5 9AM
Let's just say that there are a lot of Inhinyero subscribers this year. Woe to ye who will layout the thing. But you will get all the help that you need from us (of course, legally and not really that much).

My Firstborn Child
Sept 3, 3-6 PM
Everyone who is a KEMer, meaning he/she went through the application process would understand what I mean. I had my first anak, Justine Castillo. There will be no details here, but I'd just say that I'm glad (but will not elaborate now). To everyone: There was no fruit of my loins, it's just a KEM thing to call that person his/her anak.

catharsis

2007-09-01T16:09:00.000+08:00

CATHARSIS

Definition:		[n] (psychoanalysis) purging of emotional tensions [n] purging the body by the use of a cathartic to stimulate evacuation of the bowels
(www.hyperdictionary.com)

If definition no. 2, would be used, then Catharsis, a night of soulful music and poetry would then become a night of soul-cleansing through bowel evacuation. I imagine toilet bowls and plastic medical tubing.

Anyway, I enjoyed the part of Catharsis I watched. The mega-production by the talent pools was...MEGA. It brought tears to my eyes, sort of. Yay for Vany for the dance number. Everyone did well. Congrats to the staff.

moments:
Marvin (the host): O, baka may nag-bleep diyan sa dilim... (pointing to our portion of the audience)
Maynard: Si Marge! She's playing with herself! (laughs)
Marge: And I have a ballpen...(laughs)

Of course, she didn't play with herself.

person1: *hugs*
person2: *hugs*
Mina (beside p2, in front of p1's face): !!!!!!

And the 125 exam did not push through. Thanks.
------
I've been in and out of situations involving me being very much madaldal, revealing things I shouldn't and saying things that should be kept to myself, or a few trusted people. But I'm at it again. Even if I resolved to stay away from other people's business. I successfully did that, to some extent, and my brain has de-clogged a bit because of that. I promise to do more de-clogging. And on with studying!

And to you: I'm sorry if I knew.
And you: !
------
Congrats to the nursing board passers!

Inter- U 2007

2007-08-25T15:30:00.000+08:00

The whole Inter-U went well thanks to the diligent and brillant members of the Inter-U team. Aside from a few glitches. Made by me. Thanks to my lack of focus and utter stupidity, I called the correct answers 'wrong' and vice versa. Imagine how my heart drops when I hear the disagreement of the audience. Aside from that, the audience loved me and Janine as we did the very perky and funny hosting of the event. Not to mention screwing up the opening spiel amidst gales of laughter. Sadly, this would be my last Inter-U as a member of the org. Actually, last KEM Month na rin. And to think the first half of my last Catharsis is our 125 exam. *closes fists in rage*

I still have to study.

oh no!

2007-08-18T16:37:00.000+08:00

The Ravenclaws have a hugging thread!

*runs away*
----
The very long weekend is not spent well. I have spent at most 30 minutes for academic work, most of it worrying about postponed 141 presentation. A lot of it spent sleeping, and eating (or more like gorging on food, although that's the same in my book). Anyway, shift to the Great 141 Overnight. And when I say 141 I mean, Temptation Island.

So, TI is overly popular these days, because of the hilarious youtube videos. Heck, they even have a compilation of the "best" of TI. That only means we watched a few videos. I was never the same ever since.

Here is my favorite quotes from the movie:
1. "Bertdey na naman ng bruha..."
2. "Sabihin mo kay Vicente, ihanda ang Mercedes Charcoal Gray.."
3. "Careful, careful now.." (while Deborah Sun is rubbing the upper part of the bida/kontrabida's chest; this was supposed to be erotic back then)
4. "What are bitches for but to bitch around with other bitches..."

There are lots more (you should go ahead to youtube and watch them), and they are equally funny, but realize that this movie is actually a Bomba film in the 70s.

I actually accomplished little in this overnight of ours, but Jasser and I managed to finish the Inter-U video, which I will be uploading here as soon as it makes its world premiere on Aug 22. Anyway, just sitting or sleeping or eating with friends on a rainy day is fun. Except that they were preoccupied with their anime/games while I was trying to study for EgyE exam, and falling asleep every 10 words or so. The EgyE lectures are hopeless, as far as staying awake is concerned. That's why I erased all the puyat I had on the first few days of the week, mainly because of the early wake-ups because I need to travel 1.5 hours (if the traffic is okay) to get to school. But I keep sleeping when I travel.

Unfortunately, my 1.5-hour trip home yesterday lasted 4 hours. I left Janine's at 5 pm, and was at MRT Ayala at 6 pm, but got home at 9 pm. The SLEX part was 3 hours: 1 hour before we reached Skyway tollgate, 1.2 hours to Sucat 0.5 hours to Alabang and 0.3 hours for the jeep and trike ride. I hope I get less of this as I continue going home from school every day. I still resent not having an apartment close to school anymore. And I have good reasons. Like the other day when I almost died, because a man was hurrying to get off the MOVING bus. I was first at the bus' door and he kept pushing me. The bus was still moving so I didn't want to get off. But because of his persistent pushing and grumbling, he managed to push me out of the bus. AND, I clung on a part of the bus and swinged outside as the bus slows down. It was a scene out of an action movie, and perhaps funny for the spectators. but MY LIFE AND/OR FACE WAS AT STAKE, so no laughing. But of course, I can laugh it off now. One quote from the man who probably had a full bladder or something, "Haharang-harang ka, di ka naman pala bababa!". Right, like I would jump from a moving bus. You should try it sometime, on Skyway when the bus seems to be ready to take off (like an airplane).

And, I should really focus on this Plant Design thingy. It might help me graduate. Or something.

my list of 20

2007-08-12T15:08:00.000+08:00

Since people get sucked in to popular things all the time, I'm doing my 20 things I would want to say to some people, but is hindered by social rules, or whatever. (Pasensya na, English lahat ito.)

>I wish we can put aside our differences, and/or our immaturity and move on.

>I really don't know what exactly to say to you, or how I should feel towards you, but I sincerely believe you that you are sorry. But I can't forgive you yet.

>You never really cared about us. So here's your money, bye.

>Please stop and look at what you are doing.

>Have you submitted your write-ups? I hope you did. Because if not, I'm gonna KEEL you! (this one's obvious)

>Realize that loving you would be easier if you don't have a wall around you. Let me in sometimes.

>It seems that sometimes I hate you. Most of the time, yes, I hate you, but your optimism surprises me. I don't want to hate you as much as I did. But do your part too.

>I didn't know why I wanted this, but as of now, I want to give this up, at least 50% of me wants to.

>I really don't give a damn.

>Oh yes, you scammed me, but someday, you'll be scammed bigtime.

>I'm sorry I'm not the person you wished me to be.

>Please slow down a bit, and check if we're still enjoying the ride.

>A little compassion won't hurt.

>No, we're still number one.

>I was never against you. I know that you are very talented, but this job's hers. I hope you understand and forgive me if ever you felt that I wasn't a very good friend. Actually, I trusted in your capabilities once.

>I should thank you both for not choosing me. I went on to do more wonderful things. I'm sorry if I felt bad and held a grudge.

>Sorry if I didn't live up to your expectations, but you shouldn't be as harsh as you are now. People are not robots.

>I blame myself for taking this class under you.

>Do I rant too much? Yes I do.

>Live a little.

updates-seriously

2007-08-08T15:02:00.000+08:00

I have a new multiply account, actually my first, which has been taking so much time. And I won't synchronize this blog with the multiply blog. Maybe not now.

So, go:
peelingpotatoes.multiply.com

And, I passed my CAPES application and now in the publications (career handbook) committee. Yay! Ok. That's all. For now. Will rant later.

walking the plank

2007-07-08T16:13:00.000+08:00

*currently searching for equations that will lead to solving systems of ordinary differential equations using 4th order Runge-Kutta Method*

Since 125 instructor started giving out probsets for this sem, I have put off doing them (at least, I wanted to do PS2, which is the whole lot of the problems for Chapter 3). Unfortunately, there is a way to "motivate" me. Sir required that we do one problem. One problem, I can't do because it turns out that I have to refer to a book I do not have. So, perhaps this whole probset experience will teach me something, or it will just plain suck.

I was so sure I would apply for CAPES last summer. I was thinking that I had noting much to do for the school year, aside from maintaining a grade (which I will not mention here, for now). So, when classes started, I got a form and happily filled it up. As of last week (see most recent post, aside from this of course), I was thinking that I would give up CAPES for a moment of doing nothing: no meetings, no work, just studying, or not, if I choose to stare at space blankly. So, I decided to put the CAPES form aside, and try to sort my priorities and do all the work I am supposed to do for now. But, everytime I look at the CAPES form, some sort of force pushes me to consider applying again. Of course I let that force take over me. Probably, as the deadline for the form nears (July 13, Friday), the desire to pass an application would go stronger.

Unfortunately, I received a hurray/no! text message from a certain person I would link only to the ChE Reactor (the official students' publication of the ChE Department). Neri told me that we are about to have a meeting, and courtesy call with Ma'am Gene this Monday. I asked Carla if that was true (she was made EIC, I think) and what position did I get. She told me that yes, I am part of the Reactor staff, and I have been made Layout Artist. All my euphoria from getting in the Reactor staff had dissipated because I wanted to be the Features Editor. The last thing I wanted to be is the Layout Artist, so I am expecting a) I will suck at this, or b) I'd be good, but will want to pass out every issue.

So there, I've got three swords aimed at me as I walk the plank. I chose to risk my life (social, academic, and perhaps, in the long run, physical [pertaining to health and well-being]) by taking these risks. Of course, I cannot choose to not do all my 125 requirements, or the Reactor duties (now that I have been accepted; it would be such a shame to be pasaway). I still have to choose to have, or not, the CAPES sword pointing at me. But probably I'd have it anyway. To me, the CAPES sword is made of licorice. At least for now.

----
On the teen-angst-joy-irritation side, I really hated irate and semi-irate and quasi-irate subscribers in the last booth of Inhinyero. I hope everything goes well. And also, may I forgive a certain person for going too far.
----

UP KEM Engineers invites ALL ChE students to KEMelicious: KEM Orientation Seminar on July 12, 5 PM at the Engineering Theater (3rd floor, Melchor Hall). There will be free food, fun and entertainment and freebies.

UP KEM is not only recognized by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Youth Commission, but also the only UPD, ChE org affiliated with the Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers-Junior Chapter Luzon and the Philippine Association of Chemistry Students.

Academic Excellence and Holistic Development Since 1954.

work person

2007-07-04T21:08:00.000+08:00

Luckily, I have not yet aligned myself with our carriage-pulling friends which do a lot of work. I still have a bit of self-respect, but it's slowly thinning as the work that I have to do increases. Of course, this is not new to me but I have not experienced this kind of stress for about four months, so forgive a redundantly-themed (wha--?) post.

I think that the teenager-emotion/mood tumble is catching up on my last teen year. But as Dale said, "Let's not go there!".

----
So, went to an actual wedding of a relative yesterday. The church ceremony was okay, well-rehearsed and not very touching (the couple, the husband, my uncle, has been married [civil] a long time before they had this church wedding). The reception (Shang!) was very fabulous for a simple person like me. Anyway, I got to join the bachelor/bachelorette game which is truly horrifying. So, we had to catch the garter-like thing for us to be 'eliminated' from 'winning'. The ladies had to catch roses. Of course, I did not want to 'win'. But I'm not very good at competitive games so I nearly 'won'. The final three guys were me, a second cousin of age 18, and uncle of age 41. Clearly, the most moral and just thing to happen is that we two boys 'lose' and our adult uncle 'win'. So, he gave way (actually, he gave me the garter-thing for me to 'lose'). He 'won' the game and got to slide the garter up some lady's leg. He also got to the 9 different kisses game. Unluckily, the lady who 'won' already had a boyfriend. So, imagine if I won, I could be sliding a garter up some 25+ year-old lady and giving her 9 different kisses. That's really adult stuff. I like being a kid and not doing those kind of stuff. Now I understand why Kuya Totep and Auntie Yolly used dirty tactics just to escape the watchful eye of the emcee, and avoid joining the embarrasing game. Whew. I gulped a bit of wine as I went back from the game. That didn't help.

Probably, a few years from now, I would be age-appropriate for that kind of stuff, but still, I can't see the point of humiliating single guests at a wedding. We should be toasting to the couple every 5 minutes, or instead, eating yummy pastries. That would be nice.

a roaring start

2007-06-17T16:27:00.000+08:00

We're at it again. Sunday morning started with a semi-confused pounce at Kuya, and his overwhelming howl of disgust at me. He vowed not to talk to me for a week, then a year. But two seconds later he asked me if I'd go to church. Of course, I didn't want to go to church anymore because of the incident. So I stayed at home. I then vowed (to myself) never to talk to him until some circumstance calls for it. Now, I've been seriously meditating on, in general terms, changing my location at nighttime, for several reasons, one of which, is that Kuya and I can have the littlest contact time. Even if I have to suffer bringing home my clothes on a Saturday or bringing them to Papa on a Friday.
----
So, started classes this week. Everything's smashing as of the moment. Dale and Mon did not attend our first day of 141. Luckily, Ma'am's cool with that. I've grouped with Hannah and Von for 124 since Sharra (who promised that we'd be groupmates) went off to have other groupmates. No hard feelings here, seriously. EgyE seems to be a nice subject. 125 and 172 are promising, I mean, it seems that I can actually learn something from the two subjects. Sir in 197 is a no-show last Thursday. Time between classes proved to be useful, and would be useful in the days to come, as I do my extracurricular work.

Already met with 3/4 of the Write-up team. So far, they are GREAT, aside from the odd suggestions here and there, and the puzzled look at their faces (some of them), and another look which says, "How the h*ll can I fit this in my schedule?!?". Been made EIC of the SME Newsletter which isn't much because there is no much choice. Met with Abet and ChESI crew, Ken and Kathy (Dennis wasn't there because of "PRIME Meeting"). Discussed games for Big Bro, Big Sis event for freshmen. Been made Logistics head for Games Committee. Assigned to buy game materials and prizes. Met with Yacel and Janine already for Alumni Homecoming (Attention: KEM Alumni!) pre-planning. Submitted letter of intent to Vany 4 days after the deadline. MemCom career: dead.

----
Happy Birthday to fellow Thailander and friend Mon (June 14), and wacky Mon-mon Concejero (June 14). Thanks Mon for the treat last Friday. Bigger thanks to bigger treat by Dale because of bigger OJT pay. Also, thanks to Lucky for treat because of new job that pays. I ate Sbarro for two consecutive days. That's not at all bad. Except for my fat-coated veins. Happy Birthday also to Glecy (today).

great

2007-06-09T20:27:00.000+08:00

Just before I write this I have been sent to 'detention' in Hex. But it's not really that bad.

Anyway, things are not so good at home. Kuya and I recovered from our biggest fight ever. He started it. But I ended it. Of course, there was a nasty remark that I said which ended our conversation, with him going away with a bag (to Diliman for his work week), forgetting his keys, and coming back 4 hours later. He did not speak to me for the whole week. Of course, we did not meet, so it was semi-okay. Although it seems that he has forgotten the whole incident, as he would always do--yield and be the better person, I know that someday we will pick up from where we left off and argue our brains out again. Then another week of non-correspondence except in emergency situations e.g. someone cracks his head open or similar. To him, he always wins the arguments. And I also think that he does, nobody can out-argue Kuya. He can be a lawyer if he wanted to. He'll just blab about things and you'll just realize that even though he's wrong, and you're probably right, you can't find a counter-argument.

Anyway, we're okay now. I just try not to get in his way.

But the younger sibs are always acting up. So no fatherhood for me for the next 20 years or so.

Okay that last statement was shocking (perhaps) so I'll explain. When the sibs are all dears and seem to be little angels: quiet, happy and not whacking each other, it makes me think that I can be a father since I have a lot of experience taking care of my sibs, from the time they scream for milk, or a nappy change to the time they have adolescent mood swings. But when all things go wrong, when they eat the fridge out of house and home (literally, but not to the extent of them actually eating the fridge--wait, I take that back. They'd eat the fridge if it was made of toffee, or marshmallows.), when they are all screaming and assuming authority, whacking each other and the house is filled with the air of anarchy, there is a feeling of regret that I ever had 5 younger sibs who aside from depleting my oxygen supply, also increase my blood pressure. So no fatherhood for at least 20 years. That's the situation now. They always get to me. At least thrice a day.

But, vacation's over and I'm starting my last year of school. Which is sad. Or happy. I can't be very sure right now. But I'm happy, or sad. See.

hmm...interesting

2007-06-09T20:15:00.000+08:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

before school starts

2007-06-02T19:28:00.000+08:00

I also thought about posting stats before I read the blog post of someone *coughpatcough*.
----

Summer Activity 1: OJT
or otherwise known as Summer Internship Program for Outstanding Students. Neat, huh?
Highlights:
-worked on a Chemical Engineering concept almost alien to me
-gained a few good acquaintances
-ate processed food which is actually good (in taste)
-ate sardines with calamansi and asin for the first time
-had first tequila shot
-saw not one, not two, but THREE real, full-blown chemical plants, namely, Shell Tabangao, Malampaya and of course, JG Summit Petrochem
-rode a shuttle bus for the first time
-first real job
-first timecards
-first corporate presentation complete with supervisors grilling (me, not fish or meat)
-slept in own room with aircon
-lived with aircon for almost 24 hours
-lived in Batangas
-read two classics: Les Miserables (Hugo) and Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Twain); both books are political
-attended a party
-knew more about valves
-worked in a full-blown plant (obviously, I can't hide my joy)
-had a very wonderful (and beautiful) mentor
-ate Batangas goto--no rice, just soup with pig parts, and doubted cleanliness of food, also had cholesterol intake that should have been ingested in a year
-finally passed STAR Tollway
-scorned a hypothetical "Eva" for not cleaning house and causing havoc one Saturday night when we weren't in Batangas
-had wonderful time with Mils and Carlo, eventhough there was a need to give them space
-gossiped a lot about several people instead of working
-wore a hard hat and safety jacket and safety shoes
-bearated by HR person
-had fun, over-all

Summer Activity 2: (Almost) Boundless Bakasyon
-watched TV
-slept till noon
-awake till 2 am
-eating (understatement)
-partying (nephew Ian's birthday party, MSF scholars party and Grad Party)
This vacation was concluded when I started work. It was an almost boundless vacation because I thought I can have this summer to bum around and rest my weary brain for two months. But no. Worse, (or better) I had a lot of brain work because of Summer Activity 1.

Summer Activity 3: Baguio Cityyyy!
It was like going to Baguio for the first time. The last time I went to Baguio (also my first time) was when I was six years old. The only details I remember is that I saw Pres. FVR in the flesh for the first time (that was big for a child like me then, like the British seeing the Queen), the loud cannon sounds before the PMA graduation and that it was cold. But evrybody knows that it is cold in Baguio.
Highlights:
-holy week (Wed-Sun), so no meat for Friday
-ate fresh Broccoli
-ate strawberries
-endured 8 hours of travel (to and fro) in a packed vehicle
-visited Manaoag church for the first time
-watched 7th heaven marathon on studio 23
-went to Mines View, Camp John Hay, PMA, Strawberry Farm (in La Trinidad), Good Shepherd Convent (sweets!), Burnham Park
-boated in circles (and rotated) in Burnham Park (we looked silly)
-tried the 'Clean Comfort Room'
-climbed up a mountain road
-had lots of fun, especially because of bonding with family members

Had a very eventful summer. And happy that Summer Activity 2 did not extend as expected, but instead, had work. Thank God. :D

shocks

2007-05-26T18:17:00.000+08:00

One cannot easily recover from the shocks that happen in one's life.

I recently had non-life-changing shocks the past week.

Melinda Doolittle got eliminated from American Idol. I had hoped that Jordin would somehow mess up and get eliminated instead. But she's really good. I didn't like her anyway, so I hoped Blake would win the Finale. But he didn't.
Some bigwigs are attending our presentation. Including one person we are eager to see, but not actually get to know to because of rumored sternness. Brings back memories of when I was applying for KEM.
I cannot solve the activated carbon filter because there is simply no information on how to design one. I am hoping for a miracle because I only have 2 days to finish my whole project.
Lor Fresnedi didn't win as Muntinlupa mayor. Of course I'm a Fresnedi supporter since I am a scholar of the local government. At least I know that the taxpayers' money are actually used in worthy projects such as college scholarships for about 100 students. Let's see how things turn out for the new mayor.
(not really a shock) But the senators I voted are not winning! For the nth time in my life my bets are lagging behind. I'm beginning to think I vote bad candidates or maybe I just go against the flow. Uh, I didn't vote for big-mouthed candidates who wouldn't make a law if his/her Pork Barrel depended on it. So I'm going with my go-against-the-flow theory.
I'll have an interesting sem, with interesting professors. *cough172cough*

Enough shocks for me. At least until I recover.

potatoes? tomatoes!

2007-05-19T19:05:00.000+08:00

I am currently absorbed with doing work. Although I suffer from it (and the chronic bad canteen food), I find a bit of joy in doing stuff like that, however hard (it's giving me headaches!) it is.

Found out about something horrendous this week. Actually, most of us suffer from two things (out of a lot): prejudice and generalization. Just because a tomato is ugly doesn't mean it's rotten. Just because a tomato is rotten doesn't mean all tomatoes in the box are rotten. Like I said, we suffer from these injustices but we also, subconsciously or otherwise, do these to other people. Why waste a perfectly good tomato just because one is traumatized from a rotten tomato in the past? That's not fair for the other tomatoes (which is weird because tomatoes don't have feelings) because they grew up nicely, but are still neglected because of the prejudice and generalization they experienced. I know it would take a deluge or tsunami to wipe the earth of all people who do these things (so that means all of us), so are we doomed? Of course we are. We even vote for underqualified senators, corrupt governors and mayors and lazy councilors. Anyway, all we got is one another and we would be stuck with the people around us for a very long time. So, I think a little cooperation would help. A little compassion and unprejudiced thinking will make the world a better place. (Ah! World peace! World peace!) Or a better tomato sauce.

It would seem that we got sucked into playing Text Twist like the other guys there at PED, but we really have a game of our own. However, one day, we just played Text Twist and never looked back. So, it's not a matter of we did it because they were doing it, let's say, we had a different inspiration to do so. But, why am I so defensive about this thing? I've no idea.

I am one of those UP people shaking their fists in the air for the CRS team. Or the ChE Department. Or the unpopular professors/instructors. Anyway, I am fearing that I would not get the ChE education that I paid for, thus I might graduate knowing a little, thus I might fail the Boards, or pass the Boards but suck at work, thus have a miserable life. Sometimes wethink these problems are insignificant, but they aren't. Unfortunately.

what vacay?

2007-05-13T18:47:00.000+08:00

My vacay ended April 26, when I went to Batangas for an interview.

Unexpectedly, I was accepted for their summer internship (for 24 days until June 1). Of course, I was ecstatic at first because I will be working in a hardcore chemical plant. A dream of a chemical engineering student who has been just looking at books for the past 4 years. That was until I had to start working on my project: Evaluation of the Demineralization Plant.

I had to learn and relearn my ChE 133 stuff. It was the end of my 2-day career as a budding chemical engineer. The JG Summit Petrochem people would find out that their newest intern is a fraud. That he does not know how the heck an ion exchanger works.

So, I had to read mounds upon mounds of chemical engineering books, which are, not really enjoyable to read. I had to filter out a lot of complicated stuff from Perry's, which provide little help on adorption and ion exchange, but is a great source for physical data. I had to re-read Foust, and refer to McCabe and other books. I had to do research over the internet, since they would probably explain the matter fully in a few, ordinary words. But my quest for digestible literature over the internet is futile. Oftentimes, I need to be a member of some journal-subscription website to access the really good stuff. The free stuff are overviews and do not tell me how to design an ion exchanger.

So far I had a really miserable OJT because of the work I had to do. It's like I entered an abstract art critiquing job rather than a process engineering job. Another factor that added to my misery is that I had to stay in Batangas (100 kms away from home) for five days. That means no TV, no siblings, no other friends and fun activities for five days. Every Friday, I feel like I'm getting out of prison. Anyway, thanks to Mils and Carlo, life at Batangas has become bearable for me. They had been such nice people and I have easily adapted to the routine they had two weeks before I came along.

I'm just hoping to get through designing. It would be a nice training for my plant design this coming academic year.
----
I had met the college-version dictator. Probably worse than the "principle"-monster I have met before. I'm just hoping s/he doesn't turn out to be a hypocrite. That would be worse.

vacay

2007-04-03T10:32:00.000+08:00

I received a rather long text message from Pat T. containing the word vacay and I decided to use it as the title for this post, as it is somewhat appropriate.

Got the tooth out. I was really scared to do that tooth extraction (ugh. baby.) because of the huge amount of pain I anticipated. I can't even sleep the night before as I imagine the screwed-up face of the dentist while hopelessly pulling out my tooth from the back of my mouth. I also imagined how the anaesthesia needle would poke my gums. On the big day, I was reluctant to take a bath and dress appropriately for the event. I can't even drag my feet out of the house. I sat staring at the mirror as I mentally convinced myself that I'm a man now and men don't usually get scared of tooth extractions. I decided not to wear white because I thought that there may be some voluminous bloodshed. I went to the dentist with Mama primarily because she had the money, and she was the one who knew the dentist (discount!). Unfortunately, the dentist who Mama knew wasn't there, and I had to settle for the other one. Fortunately, she was one of Kuya's Com/Lec friends (at church), and so there was this "I'm-not-a-dentist-but-merely-a-friend" atmosphere. And now the details. There was first an inspection. She pushed my tooth with a scary-looking apparatus. It did not hurt for reasons unknown. But still, it had an infection and needed to be pulled out. She brought out the Novocaine-like cream (it was some sort of -caine but it was not Novocaine) and put some on the parts of my mouth near the tooth. It was bitter but it made my mouth numb. Then, she brought out two clear containers of some liquid which I soon found out to be the main anaesthesia. I did not see her bring out the syringe nor put the liquid in it, but within seconds, she was poking the inside of my mouth. I felt a little sting but not very painful. When she was preparing for the second injection, I sat up and looked at what she's doing and she retracted the syringe so I won't see it. I felt like a baby but thought that generally, people are afraid of needles being poked on certain parts of their bodies. Then, without any pain at all, she did the second injection on my gums. We waited a bit for the anaesthesia to take effect, and she soon brought out the pliers-like tool. She had another tool which she used to poke my tooth, and eventually drill it (she was doing twisting motions with it). Then she clamped my tooth and moved it sideways until it came out. There was certainly a lot of blood, red and all, but NO PAIN. At least for the duration of the extraction. I went home happily with a pint of ice cream, and slept for four hours. The anaesthesia lasted for 4 more hours, and there was so little pain for the rest of the day. It was, as I remember, the painless, and therefore happiest, tooth extraction of my life.

So, for the next couple of days I did nothing but bum around the house, eating, watching TV, sleeping. I wondered if I got fat. I read Jane Eyre, but stopped because of boredom. The excitement seems to be a bit mellow compared with the last book I've read (and no, it's not Harry Potter).

Saturday came, and it was time for the outing. Janine and I decided to go by ourselves from Alabang since it would save us time, energy and most important of all, money. We met at Metropolis, and walked to the bus station, where luckily, there was a bus leaving for Lucena/San Pablo immediately. It took us two hours to get to San Pablo. We ate a bit at Chowking and went to the jeep station at the town proper. We paid 19.50 for the jeep ride but we were uncertain on where to get off exactly. We got off about 50 meters past Villa Sylvia. Swimming followed after 30 minutes. Food. Lambanog drinking. FR. Food. Nap. Swimming. Skits. Food. I'd say 7/10 over-all. 9/10 for the food, 6/10 for the swimming and 8/10 for the FR, minus 2 points since I did not get to sleep much but that is in great part, my fault. Went home with some of the guys, and rode the bus to Alabang with Frank. Anyways, congratulations to the new members of KEM. Congratulations especially to Jet Penuela who was a great applicant. :D

Anyhoo, the vacay continues. I just hope I get to work this summer, and I plan to do well.

a new end

2007-03-26T12:19:00.000+08:00

So, classes are over, and although everyone is still on their toes and fussing over schoolwork, I am finding myself with nothing to do, except to wait for my grades and my tooth extraction scheduled on Wednesday.

I am taking antibiotics for 6 days now because of the huge infection on my chin due to the tooth that had a cavity. It stated swelling last Monday, but I only went to the dentist (alone) on Wednesday. The dentist prescribed the antibiotic because I can't have the extraction with the infection (as Dale put it, there could be pus squirting out from the place where my tooth was if I had the extraction prior to treating my infection). I can't eat food that needed to be chewed until Saturday, so I think I got an ulcer because my stomach and/or esophagus hurt a bit with every swallow yesterday. But I'm just paranoid.

The good news, so far, is that I got a 1.00 (that's a 4.00 for ye Ateneo/US/etc. people) in IE3. I know that IE3 will not affect my bid for Cum Laude (I took IE3 for extra knowledge) but I am extremely happy for my third 1.00 in college. I am hoping for more high grades for this sem. Yay!

We had our induction of officers last Thursday, where in I had to give up my lordship over PRC. It was a nice program because I was the emcee (despite the large lump on my chin...ugh! the photo-ops I had to refuse!). It was nice, and completely tear-free for me, if you do not count the time when I nearly cried because I can eat only the cake without pain. The pasta was very, very painful, but I had to eat something.

I hope I really get the Petron summer OJT because I wanted some industry experience before I graduate. You know, to find out how a big a dufus I am for studying all the theoretical/impractical stuff. Or maybe, those book problems are really real-life problems. I have to find out... Honestly, I am not for the salary whatsoever because for one, I think that at this point I do not deserve the salary I an going to receive because I do not have a degree. Also, I am having the summer internship first and foremost for the learning experience, the cash inflows will just serve as incentive.

I watched a bit of Oprah yesterday, and she was interviewing Anderson Cooper, of CNN. I really do not know this guy because I do not watch CNN for more than 30 seconds. I only know him a bit because Saturday Night Live spoofed his CNN show. So, Oprah was discussing basically his life, because she read his autobiography. Anderson is a news anchor who started doing films in areas where American journalists do not go. He went to Myanmar, Rwanda and Sarajevo as a young journalist. So, one thing he said in his book, that Oprah reiterated in the show is that hope is not a plan. "Hope is not a plan." That really struck me because I am a person that hopes so much. I rely my daily actions on hopes. But hope is not a plan. I hoped that I can become the best leader that I can be, but I did not have a plan. Actually, I have plans, small ones, but no grand plans. I just hoped. On the other hand, I hoped to become an honor student (just now), and I planned to take my studying a level higher. But planning is not what's important, as I have learned (by my own, thank you). Therefore, hope is not enough, a plan is not enough. But these are two important things because they are stepping stones to motivating one's self. "Hope is not a plan," but I must first hope, then plan, then move.

Been kind of lonely (of a happy-sad kind) like when a parent lets his college-aged son/daughter free. I will certainly miss all the bossing around, joking about abusing my people-given powers and fussing about noise and cleanliness in the tambayan. And probably making so much stuff with Photoshop. And all the joy it brought to my heart. I loved being the PRC boss. I loved being with PRC and I am seeking forgiveness for the time I thought of leaving. As I've said, once you go PRC, you'll never look back. So, guys, let's kick ass this year, eh?

some updates

2007-03-19T16:47:00.000+08:00

135 papers done: 2.667
135 papers passed: 2
difference: 0.667 postponing deadline=procrastination

toothaches:1 i mean 1 tooth is aching
lymph nodes (i think): 1
visits to dentist: 0 will wait for parental accompaniment because i am such a baby

leadership positions as of today: 2
on tuesday, next week: 0
hopefully, next month: 1

ojts as of today: 0
hopefully, next month: 1. or not.

people i hate: 4
people i love: many to mention. awww.
people i hate in the near future: 0. gradually.

sure-pass subjects as of now: 4
exams tomorrow: 2

wrong

2007-03-15T18:04:00.000+08:00

Of course, almost everything is empirical. What we have thought today to be obviously right may turn out to be wrong, maybe not in the near future, but eventually, if it's meant to be. Imagine the time when everyone believed that the sun and other planets revolved around the earth, or that flies came from raw meat. Those were popular theories at that time, which is proven to be wrong today.

I've been thinking (in between doing schoolwork) about some things in my life that may have been wrong. Some of the things I assumed to be right to make big decisions are devastatingly wrong. And now, I am suffering the fruits of bad judgement. But, there is always room for improvement, unless you jumped into a bottomless pit. That should suck.

We can also be wrong about people. No one is ever always correct about a person. We are entitled to have mistakes in judging people. Of course, we should not judge a person fully, but one needs something so that (s)he can interact with that person. First impressions, however long they last, are oftentimes wrong: kulang, sobra or iba talaga. What is important is that you try to see the real person in them. Because, sabi nga sa showbiz (a favorite in many interviews), "Gusto kong makita ng tao ang totoong ako. Tao rin naman ako. Hindi ako iba.", or to that effect. Everyone wants everyone to see them as they really are. No one wants to have an image that is not really them, lalo na kung masama. But then, tao ang pinakamahirap basahin. Foust madali pa, pero tao...

----
Really, really fun stuff off the internet: Engrish.com. Loads of pictures of ridiculously wrong English. And no, I don't mean prepositions or those horrendously wrong for the grammar nazi. The pictures here have wrong English because they have translated words to English very literally. /*Actually got link from Pat*/

----
I am really sorry for all my bad decisions, because, for one, I am suffering because of them. I should develop my own decision making system. But for the record, hindi ko kailanman kayo ginawang pahingahan. If I'm there it's always work. Mali ko lang, I bit off more than I could chew. And if you think you can do better, then do it. I don't care. The bottomless pit needs more people cascading on its never-ending duct. Maybe you should try it.

----
I just want to say that I am sorry if all I ever do is rant in this blog. It seems that I hate someone everytime. That really sucks for me because there is really a lot of energy and stress invloved in such emotions. I can not not hate a person if he/she deserves it. Sorry, I'm not a citizen of the Gumdrop Fluffy Things World. But I can try. And I do.

update on biorhythms

2007-03-13T22:08:00.000+08:00

Biorhythms are cr*p. I will fail on that exam I just took. :(

Well, who ever said they were reliable. Nothing is.

hit by a truck

2007-03-13T10:31:00.000+08:00

in the face.

----
Here's what I was doing lately:

Thought about doing things such as reading Van Ness while lying down in a ball pool (Yup, the one in McDonalds and/or Jollibee. Minus the kids.).
Worked too much on 135 paper (done: 1, not done: 2), even when I'm not typing, I'm thinking Carman-Kozeny, Burke-Plummer, Ergun. Of course, who can relate to this problem?
Realized all effort was not enough. Starts thinking of plans to improve things. Wakes up to the smell of Your-Term-Is-Through-So-Stop.
Panics at thought of TGIF (March 16): 135 papers, 140 panel work, 123 Gamma-Phi work, IE3 Problem Set DEADLINE.
SME Elections. Been nominated for same position. Embrassed. Declined.
Enjoyed Ham2 with applicants and members. (see, there is hope!)
Jumped for joy as Mils won the presidency. Could have made the best Patronus ever.
Lost sleep because of roaches at home.
Supervised planning of PRC/Socio party.
Ate a lot because of sapin-sapin na depresyon.
Thought about Induction speech.

in recovery.

sinusoid

2007-03-08T00:35:00.000+08:00

Just when you thought you've reached the top, you slide down.

I'm blaming it to the freakin' sine curves that rule a large number of things in our lives. Yup, biorhythms. Of course, it would be foolish to cling to a mathematical model for your life, but then again, insurance [I have a math major friend and they insurance is their highest form of employment, aside from being a mighty Archimedes or Pythagoras or similar.].

According to the theory of biorhythms, our lives depend on some 3 sine curves that go up and down in regular periods of time. The 3 curves represent our physical, emotional and intellectual states. Although there is not much evidence (that I heard) for this theory, its popularity and coincidence with real life makes it "valid".

Funny how I reacted to this subject. Before I started to write this post, I had a different emotion and a different idea in mind. Then, I thought of the possibilities of using my biorhythms to score better in my exams. On Mar. 13 will be our 123 exam. According to my biorhythm, I will have high intellectual capability on that day (yipee!). Let's just hope this thing is really accurate.

So going back to that emotion. Or not. Story time!

So there's this worm who wanted to get some fresh air. He lived about a mile underneath the surface so he started to dig up. Unluckily for him, it was not the most friendly parcel of land to live in. The soil is dry and hard. When he finally hits the surface, a huge bulldozer dumps some soil on him. Let's say the soil builds up another 0.1 mile on top of this worm. He should give up now, but this worm is really persevering. He digs through that pile of soil again. Then the same thing happened. Dump after dump covered him and he was soon under a mile of soil again. But he continued to dig up. He just thought of the fresh air he wanted to breathe. After another long day of digging he finally, finally got to the surface. Only to receive another mile-thick dump. He was tired and fed up so he just stayed and soon after he died and was, after a little while, part of the soil.

No more soil for me. I'm tired. Please get off me.

first weekend of March

2007-03-05T15:19:00.000+08:00

listening to: my brain. (it's working!)

Really enjoyed the weekend. Watched Dreamgirls, Fantastic 4 and The 40 Year Old Virgin plus Till I Met You (because lola watched it) and Little Mermaid 2 (because claire and dot watched it). Dreamgirls was great and Jennifer Hudson really deserved her first acting award in her first movie. It was also refreshing to watch a musical movie that has really great songs and the actors do not fail to perform them well--and with a serious, "grown up" theme. Of course, Steve Carell was superb in his portrayal of an old man wanting to get laid. Although there was a part in the movie where there is butt exposure by Paul Rudd (the man who marries Phoebe in Friends), the rest of the movie was all clean fun, in a sex-themed kind of way. What is a Steve Carell movie without a great script? Remember Anchorman (with Will Ferrel and Christina Applegate)? That was hilarious too. And who would not know his sitcom, The Office, for which he won a Golden Globe last year, and was again nominated this year? As for the others, they were really...regular films, although the quality of Till I Met You (technical) was really good, for a Filipino film.

Been somewhat sedated by the events that followed the event that um, yeah. Went to Pulilan last Saturday for Andrew's (my nephew) birthday party. Although it was a swimming party, I focused more on the party side. And for me, party means only one thing--food. I am not really planning to get fat. But. I think you could guess how much I ate.

So, got an 80 and 85 in 197 this week for the two exams. Not really bad, I guess. My expectations are higher but its all that I can do for now. Have loads on my mind right now, with the elections and stuff. Of course, they shouldn't have to interfere with my academics but I'm putting more effort on the subjects that I really need to have good grades at. For instance, I have to do 3 135 papers now, because if I keep postponing doing them, then who knows if I stay sane come the 16th. I also need to study for my upcoming 123 exam, which promises to be difficult, yet gentle as to not kill the students so they can live a long life pondering on their mistakes. But I am neither mad nor expressing a very strong emotion. It just sucks the fun out of life.

Been avoiding to get into situations where I might suddenly blurt out something that's for the history books. I actually have spent some time converting four-letter cuss words to highly colorful phrases which would intensify the emotion embedded in the word. But it's all wordplay, in my mind. Nothing's ever coming out, unless it's absolutely necessary and/or I'm going to be paid for it (eg. it will be part of a film's script).

Been wanting to catch up with Heroes. Just finished ep. 11. Lou has ep. 12 to 16, but has uploaded only ep. 15 and 16 on his multiply account. I do not want to watch either of them until I watch the preceding episodes. Have been catching up on Grey's Anatomy every weekend. I'm still on Season 2, but am hearing Season 3 and beyond news. (although I have watched Season 3 up to ep. 8) Meredith's going to die, and later on the series would have a spin off and Meredith would be replaced by Addison as the lead character. Would it be called Montgomery's Anatomy? Because Grey's Anatomy would be so wrong if they're going to remove Meredith Grey from the series. Also, just recently, the actor who plays Izzie would also leave the series. Ugh. The series, which has been very successful, is now falling apart. Why won't somebody like Dr. Burke die, or leave or, um, I mean he's a better, more intelligent choice (as who should be removed) than Meredith or Izzie. Anyway, I just have to wait patiently.

Now I'm going back to my real, academic life. Another week of no TV (except maybe for American Idol), and Mr. Foust and Geankoplis (because I have to read his book to understand things for my paper), and maybe Mr. Van Ness, but we'll see.
---
Happy Birthday Shie, and Andrew.

facelift

2007-02-22T16:28:00.000+08:00

oh. not really.

i tried to give my blog a facelift today, but obviously i failed. i have to search for that perfect blog skin. or try to make one when im ready. i have to read gert's (genius!) html tutorial module.

----
listening to: electric fan drying my footwear

FINALLY watched music and lyrics yesterday. i remember myself looking at the music and lyrics billboard in SLEX a month ago. i told myself that i would watch that movie (sa sinehan) and i did! twas nice, warm and fuzzy like all formula romantic comedies. learned that i have been an academic lyricist (read: i write songs about academic stuff) for so long as i knew what a rhyme meant. you could ask my HS english TEAcher (caps intended, read it that way) and he remembers me as the one-time "poet of the year". [cue:evil laugh, thunder] it was a dark year for munsci. if you think my lyric-writing skills are bullcrap, ill give a sample later. haha.

then, the would-be most heartbreaking meeting of the millenium. like the day a hundred plus people went down the abyss with the "unsinkable" ship. (while the kate winslet character, being female, and rich, survived.) obviously, im not, in any way, happy about it.

just had the [no comment] polymers 3rd exam. i did not have a calculator. i am amazed at my superior arithmetic skills. hurrah. i hope i ace this one.

i am generally happy today. good. better. hoping for the best. i love my friends. i mean, the friends who love me. (yes, i am excluding you.)
----
happy bday to Eds, feb 19; VA, feb 21.
----
~~Ceres' word of the day: none. [but you wanted a word right? i did too.]~~
Gideon's word of the day: FLASHPOINT-n. (1) temperature and pressure where a mixture of liquids flash (ie. vaporize) (2) a very vague audio-visual presentation. (3) the point in your life where there is no way but naked, at for the important body parts. v. moving the index finger such that the long axis of your index finger is perpendicular to a point in someone/thing else's body(not necessarily touching) very fast.

good times. good times.

principled

2007-02-21T11:40:00.000+08:00

listening to: HomeBoy then Game KNB?

so, had a little to drink last night, didn't want to get very drunk because i think that i should not be very drunk in any point in my life. except maybe when i fail the board exams or similar.

as you might have known from the story of my life (i.e. this blog; oh how much it sucks.), i am the one who nods randomly to anything. i follow. i agree to almost any justifiable thing, even though the justifications may not be valid. i am easy to sway. i can be persuaded easily. [some examples: riding anchor's away and j. log jam last summer; removed gary/basty loveteam from mr/ms race for a while]

im done. i hate being in the middle of things. i have to take a side now. permanently. another thing i learned from this job. having my own, solid, permanent principles may actually make me happier.
----
i am currently hating someone. and i hate this person for giving me a hard time. s/he has his/her priorities wrong. s/he should not be pissed for a very MINOR thing. s/he should realize that there is more to -bleep- than -bleep- the same -bleep-. and it was my first -bleep-. if you have minded your own -bleep- then, we would all be happy. and i really did not have time to -bleep- because i had something much much more important to do. law-defined duties are more important. and -bleep- is not a duty. vanity lang yan. alam mo yun. kaya wag mo akong aartehan. hindi mo pa ako nakikitang mag-ma-ora. my terrified siblings could tell you how i raise hell.

but luckily, i have enough patience. but do i? am i always threatening people with this rage sh*t? sorry. i should stop threatening and start demonstrating. hahaha.
----
Ceres' word of the day: forange- (1) n. an orange from alien territory (2) v. checking wild plants for an orange (3) adj. looks odd because of the tacky color (w/c is orange)

i just have to say it: Pat is afraid of Heather Graham, as of 3 am, Feb 21.

to you.

2007-02-20T11:16:00.000+08:00

put a sock on it.

valentines week

2007-02-17T13:38:00.000+08:00

of course, the other third of the population is single. actually had an eventful week. came back to up last sunday (and still here) to do the eoea video. loads of fun, although we did not get to sleep. then, miting de avance later. aaa. headache. election. eoea (we did not win despite the oscar-winning acting).

then the report (cue: suspense thriller music).

me: Good morning. Happy Valentines. We are celebrating our love for the Chemical Process Industries. Hence, the Ceramics Industry!
classmates:

me: there are different kinds of jiggering machine. the machine for the cup is different from that of the plate, because the cup is more...malukong.
(classmates laugh)

me: ...the most commonly used wetting agent is water, because it is cheap, and abundant and therefore, cheap.
(classmates laugh)

all of it was fun until our teacher asked me to research something about microwavable ceramics. i did research on that but failed miserably. bah.

had fun in the up fair, although most of it was spent in our california maki, bbq and popcorn booth. met ate Gennie and family members. really good music, and nice atmosphere. kaso inantok na ako.

did 123 homework the rest of the week. had a few problems here and there. (damn Wilson and van Laar!) mr and ms as stagnant as possible.
----
thanks janine for the flower. i kept it.
----
we should always do what we feel is right. i mean, i should have done what is right, fair and just to everyone. even if it means losing a leg. it's not over yet.

happiness?

2007-02-07T21:01:00.000+08:00

where is the source of happiness? where can we obtain true happiness? is there some place where we can buy happiness for 3o pesos? do we obtain it from our loved ones? does doing something great make us happy? is happiness permanent? is happiness really good for us? why are we always searching for happiness? why is happiness such a complex concept? does love make us happy? ~~do friends make us happy?~~ of course they do.
----
i surprised myself today as i realized that i have been wanting to work on this special day of mine. i mean, working on that video, which we are not yet sure if it is really required from us. great. just what i need. more work. i love working. working sedates me. but i get tired too. everyone does. so we sleep. but does sleep makes us happy? i know one person who's happy because of sleeping... (di ba, Boi, Lucky? hehe.)

thank you for making my day special: ceres, shie, inay gayle, ails, fra, mina, yeye and lovely (my texters). special thanks to EC (cake!!!), especially gary (who made everyone we meet greet me), and janine (for being there). thanks to mike and haidee for being such good teammates in our bid for the ChErebral prize. Fifth place is not bad. Plus, we have a sweeter prize. :D thanks to sharra, mils and my 135 groupmates, may, mau and joey (although they didn't know). thank you mama. thank you kuya for the GREAT gift (however lame it would seem, it's really a great gift). another thank you to ceres, pat and janine for the gifts. thank you to all the people who remembered, or just knew but greeted me.
----
happiness? it's so commercialized, we can buy it. so let's just, altogether, shove it up our ___.

a neutral birthday to me.

not a year older

2007-02-06T21:49:00.000+08:00

with only hours before i finally turn into a full adult (chronologically and therefore physically), i sit here again in a computer shop desperately trying to empty myself of hate or love or any strong, stirring emotion i have. aside from the fact that i grow old a year tomorrow, there's really nothing very special. as of now.

i have mastered a couple of things as i grow up. i learned to ride a bike. i learned to use a computer for 4965 different jobs. i could make my younger sibs follow my commands (whapak!) [of course who cuddled them when they cried when they were little?]. i can make a meal for my own consumption [keywords: fat, trans fat, carbs]. i can actually be a chemical engineer someday. and sadly, i have mastered the art of hurting people.

lots of times i've been confronted. they call me tactless and hurtful. of course i should have learned to be a better person. but did i?

i get too harsh at times. but that's who i am. i know my limits. i try not to hurt people. i always give way (not really, but most of the time). people who really, really know me should know that i am the one who sacrifices. i am patient. i control myself. i defer anger until it dissipates. most of the time.

it pains me to think that i have not been a good friend. not just recently, but i have not been a good friend ever.

i should suffer the consequences. and i will.

damn it.

poked upon

2007-02-06T00:20:00.000+08:00

i am finally a month away from being just a somebody, not a somebody else anymore. and so, mixed feelings. so mushy. but we are all entitled to an amount of mushiness once we reach our teens. then again when we become parents. but that's not for a very long time.

it feels so sad to be a different person again. like a soldier finally retiring after 10 years in war. he misses the action. the adventures. the uncertainties of his occupation. he is scared to return to his oh-so-safe life in the farm. with the chickens and the cows and the big red barn. it feels so slow to be just on the ground. he misses being on the plane, seeing everything not covered by the clouds. heck, he can touch the clouds. he adores the clouds.

but he needs to step aside as he is worn out. no soldier can fight for a lifetime (unless he gets killed in battle, and thus he fought till he died.). even birds have a pit stop every hundred miles or so. then they soar again.

lashing out?

2007-01-31T14:35:00.000+08:00

i'd prefer not. it's good to appear as okay as possible.

things to do:

140 paper - done
123 take home - done
197 exam - done
bio 1 exam - done
check on STD pub - done
be around for help
clean tambayan, jan 30 - done
take the slack
i2k7 boothing
140 powerpoint
che week presentation
eoea video
sell brownies

good thing there's Heroes to cheer me up, and divert my attention from "self-suicide". but i had to keep my hands away from someone. i might strangle him/her or something...like Jessica (Niki's alter ego, Heroes) would do. but then, i'm joking.

so, more about Heroes. Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) has been named #10 worthless TV character. See who's in the top 10.
----
had a lot of fun during pat's birthday week, including neglecting academic duties for Mall of Asia escapades (free pizza!). [but she did not make me neglect acads. it was another situation, i.e. my fault.] also, free pizza from pat also, that day, lunch. and some more free pizza from pat on the 27th, when we went to greenbelt/glorietta. so, Happy Birthday PAT! you are officially an adult. (or not.)
----
LOU, good luck to your Comedy Royale gig. may you win and make other people's lives better through laughter, like what you do to me. :D
----
election time again, but i'm not really too concerned because i decided to pursue other things ('aayusin ang lovelife' ba?) that i really wanted to do. coughinhinyerocough. of course, i still have a lot of duties, and will have another at the miting de avance (to help make the choice clear for others, hopefully in a non-biased way, you know, what's good for the org... hey! these are just the questions that any member of the EC should be able to answer at this point! no agenda whatsoever.). to all, candidates, good luck and may you be the right ones.
----
update summary: still whiny, heavy and lazy. but did 2/3 of 123 exam without any help. a bit positive on life again, but suffers from bits of frustration.

i'm just hoping. i do not like to explode and destroy a lot of what we had built for the last year. whoa. maturity? (but they say, maturity is overrated nowadays.) what the hell? i'll just go and burst into flames. that would do the trick.

a thursday post

2007-01-18T11:26:00.000+08:00

i just can't resist posting today. just some random thoughts.

a week ago, i rode this jeep with this v. rude/profit-oriented jeepney driver. i was supposed to get off at asian center but he dropped me off 100 meters further at the ilang ilang residence hall. as always, i cursed the manong driver in my head and swore that i never would ride his jeep again. when i thought of it, a lot of public transportation personnel are not really that um, dedicated to their work of service to the people. actually, a lot of public service people hate serving, and it shows. remember the Luli Arroyo incident? an eye-opener on the ape-like patience of our public servants (not the elected ones, of course; they have a different defect). there are tricycle drivers who drive near the speed of sound, mock their passengers, use a lot of cuss words and overprice. a lot of jeep and bus drivers drive too fast, or too slow, get angry when there is an emergency getting-off situation, but have no shame in stopping every 10 meters just to get passengers, and of course the record-holder jeep and bus stuffing. i experience countless times of pain while riding a stuffed jeepney. they always say, "o, tatlo pa!" when there is only one seat left. usually, i am the person who hangs on to the tinniest piece of seating almost squatting. the buses do the same deception. the conductor says, "marami pa! maluwag pa!". the truth is there are no more seats left and passengers could only ride standing up, hanging on to dear life while the driver speeds up in skyway. another profit oriented scheme is when the buses stop at the bus stops for too long. i actually spent an hour travelling just sitting in a bus waiting for passengers in ayala. in all cultures of this world, an hour not in motion, when you are supposed to be travelling is an utter rip-off. unless you are the driver/operator.

and i now go to the office personnel. i have involved myself in a few matters where i need to obtain things from the government (these include forms, permits and other papers). in most cases, i end up with the stuff i intend to get, plus a headache or an additional 50 mm Hg of blood pressure (without eating pork). these personnel are rude, insensitive and lazy. some of them would take a break from 11 am to 2 pm. 3 hours? hello, we're burning daylight here... some are simply lost and uncapable of doing their actual jobs, and you have to draw an explicit diagram just to show that you need a form that says you're actually alive. and of course, the red tape.
yung tipong pinagpapasapasahan ka lang. that really sucks.

i think that no amount of VAT or credit rating can uplift this country if its service personnel continue what they are doing. mag-artista na lang sila. parang si Gretchen Barreto. if they want to be rude or insensitive, they can. artista na sila eh.
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we had an experiment yesterday that used a big weighing scale. eventhough it may be prohibited to use this scale to measure my weight, i used it. a hundred and fifty pounds. what? i was just 140 when i last weighed, two weeks ago... (of course i thought of water retention and all that but still). so, i panicked. i computed my BMI (of course, steve told me i was overweight already), and found out that i was still safe in the normal weight range. i am worrying about my health. i can't take care of it very well. i planned to jog today (2.2 kms) but i got colds so i passed the opportunity to be healthy (for whatever amount of health i can get).
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i am known as the quiet guy who never gets angry explosively. wrong.

the adventures of errand boy

2007-01-17T14:01:00.000+08:00

there is such a character as errand boy. he, like his title suggests, does a lot of errands for several people. he is neither a strange character like batman, nor a superperson like er, superman. he does not have powers. he just can't say no.

before we judge errand boy on his lack of gut to refuse an errand, let us first look at the circumstances affecting errand boy.

1. errand boy is an overachiever. he likes doing stuff because it gives him a high. and there is so little time.
judgement: it's his fault he has a lot of errands. it is what he thinks the best use of his life. there is too much to do, he asks for them.

2. there is always a burning need to get certain things done, and there is only a few who want to do them. some matters, not-so-urgent ones become fatally urgent when piled up.
judgement: so, does errand boy need to do them all? (or at least most of them?)

3. errand boy lets himself be bullied. well if you can't do it, find someone who would. if there's nobody who would do it in their own free will, bully someone.
judgement: poor errand boy, but he really should stand up and learn to pity his tired, tired body and soul.

so there. we shall now cast our final judgement: errand boy is a nice person, but he is utterly stupid, although he is very productive. he should focus his energy to activities that will have gain on him more, than on other people. (which isn't bad in this situation) until he sees the light, he's doomed.

seatbelt ad

2007-01-10T14:17:00.000+08:00

i was supposed to have a post today but no... am lazy today.

so here's a seatbelt ad from hex (so i hex-ed. am really lazy).

So What's Your Excuse?

Seat Belts Are Too Umcomfortable.
Maybe. Of course, in a car crash - without your seat belt - you would smash into the steering column, slam into the dashboard, or crash through the windshield. We've heard this, too, can be very uncomfortable.

Seat Belts Wrinkle My Clothes.
Sometimes. But sitting also wrinkles clothes. Wearing clothes wrinkles clothes. Flying through a windshield, however, really wrinkles clothes.

Only Geeks Wear Seat Belts.
Really? All we know is that without seat belts - geeks, jocks, cheerleaders, "A" students, and average students would all fly through the windshield at the same rate. In fact, even being really cool won't keep you in your seat without your seat belt.

Seat Belts Restrict My Freedom Of Movement.
You're right. Without your seat belt you have all the freedom in the world - to crash into your windshield, to slam into your car's interior, or to be thrown from your car and slide along the pavement. Freedom is great.

I'll Never Have An Accident. I'm A Good Driver.
That's nice. Unfortunately, good drivers can be hit by bad drivers, drunk drivers, or by other good drivers with mechanical failures. Few people intend to have accidents.

I'd Be Too Embarrassed To Ask My Friends To Use Their Seat Belts.
In 2002 over 100 people died in car crashes in New Hampshire. That same year not one person died from embarrassment.

You're More Likely To Die In A Car Crash Than In Any Other Way.
It's true. Car crashes kill more people between the ages of one and fourty-four than anything else.
In fact, for people in their late teens and early twenties, car crashes account for more then 40% of all deaths.
Why risk it? Your best protection against death and injury in your car is your seat belt. It's easy. Just reach over - click - and you're set.
Think about it.
And while you're thinking Buckle Up!

and poor windshield.