Melodies of Life: The Layers of Harmony

Alone for a while I've been searching through the dark, for traces of the love you left inside my lonely heart. To weave by picking up the pieces that remain, melodies of life-love's lost refrain.

- Melodies of Life by Nobuo Uematsu from Final Fantasy IX

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Location: Binondo, Manila, Philippines

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Saturday, October 28, 2006

Reunited

Reunited

Written from Tuesday's point of view, this post is an attempt of mine to shorten/summarize the events and happenings that occured on Tuesday with the use of evocative descriptions and euphemisms. View the pictures taken at my Multiply (currently offline at the moment)!

Speaking of pictures, my digicam betrayed me again, this time, all pictures before the skating session (Hey wait, I'm not discussing that yet!) had been corrupted and erased by my [sleek and cool - for other people, especially those nouveau riche; worn-out and distasteful - for me] camera.

I'm glad all my moaning would be over in, let's say, about a week, perhaps, as my aunt would be returning home from Taiwan. With her is my brand new professional-looking 10.1 Megapixel Sony Cybershot™ DSC-N2 Digital Still Camera. I'm so excited that I bought a tripod to complement its features. Till that day...

I woke up early waiting for my mom to drive me to GUM & MUG, our meeting place. Knowing that Steph and the rest had a dislike for latecomers, I got pretty anxious when the clock struck nine and my mother hadn't arrived yet. Not long after, I began to receive call threats from my friends about leaving me behind.

I managed to arrive at my destination but time had already overtook me. Everybody seemed to be grabbing spears to lance me from behind. Feeling innocent (Yes, I am - it was my mom's fault), I went into Lisa's van's (Van!) compartment and took out my Palm Tungsten to do some minor pranks.

I also took a few shots of us along the way (and everything had been erased; visit Nikko's album instead). Upon arrival at SM Mall of Asia, we first bought tickets to the rink; I paid for our locker rentals. Then came Teriyaki Boy.

Some people were kind enough to treat us to some gyoza (Chinese dumplings) and California Maki. Memories were rekindled as we shared about the "brownies" treat. I also took pictures of the area, which sadly had faded with the smoke...

Ice skating. At first I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that we were going to skate for three long hours - it turned out that they weren't kidding. Joanie gave up too easily; it's safe to say that she slipped more than 17 times. Well, practice makes perfect. I slipped because she clung unto me.

Steph moped the area for a consecutive 2 times. Nikko also. Lisa was the professional among us. By this time, I successfully took photos and these photos can be found at Multiply (check above link).

Cafe Breton - I usually hear Nikko mutter about this place for quite some time now. We got a chance to be gourmands at the venue. Nikko's mom was there, as well as his sister. His mom treated us to a great selection of dishes. I found the vanilla shake to be quite fascinating.

We went to Havaianas All Flip Flops because Nikko wanted to buy something which wasn't actually there at that time. We left empty-handed.

Who wouldn't forget about Dance Maniax. As Steph had said, it was dessert. She and I played the first game. Then came next... I also raced with Lisa and played Air Hockey with her because she wouldn't want to partake in our dancing experience. I also managed to accomplish an S rank in DrumMania. Poor Joanie didn't get what she wished for (Dance Dance Revolution). And also, I sucessfully completed Quickening Wild Mode in my duel with Nikko. Hooray!

With hungry stomachs, we walked our way through the audio/computer/electronic shops and made our way to Chef de Angelo, which was fully occupied at the moment. We settled for second best and dined at Shakey's instead.

After dining, we found our way to BreakTalk where we encountered Lisa's parents who drove us home.

Thank you, everyone! It was a fun day.

PS. It looks like everything turned out to be okay after all...

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Magnitude

Magnitude

My 100th post...

Anyway, because it is already 2 in the morning, I will briefly explain yesterday's happenings in one word:

EARTHQUAKE

Twice it had happened - about 10 in the evening and just now...

Aftermath? No casualties, considering that we live in the 9th floor of a building. (How's it going there, Shirlina?)

What else? We had our reporting in TREDONE. I went to SM Manila with my mom and her assistant. I submitted my reflection paper for NSTP-C1 due 11:59 pm yesterday (online submission). I also reformatted my notebook PC by myself to get rid of the contagious malware (worm) that's slowing down my computer.

That's about it.

UPDATE: Two earthquakes struck again making a total of 4. Is it the end of the world?

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Let's Roll

Let's Roll!

Disclaimer: This entry was supposed to be my article for Bits and Bytes (La Salle Computer Society Official Newsletter); however, I modified some of the content so some things might need to be revised. Also, many days had passed before I worte this article, so some details may not be very specific. Please correct me if you see any grammatical/spelling errors. It would help a lot. Thanks in advance!

On October 11, 2006, the La Salle Computer Society spearheaded the event “Roll the Dice!” in celebration of the famous Mooncake Festival. Officers, members, and non-members flocked to the second floor of Gokongwei Building to play, knowing that proceeds of the event would go to charity (I think). The prizes at stake were also a big draw, ranging from ball point pens to bags to a Sony 512 Megabyte MP3 player for the grand prize.

Many officers volunteered to help during the event. Some sold tickets, some ushered guests, some facilitated the game, and some worked at the registration table. Before the game started, the president of LSCS, Evelyn Sy, gave a short briefing about the rules of the game. Sponsors were then given recognition for hosting the event. The games started about 1 pm. Major as well as minor prizes were given out to players who rolled out winning combinations. Raffle tickets were also drawn and lucky people were given an issue of Gadgets Magazine (Ahem, Yna!) to take home as additional prizes. The first prize winners were then summoned to compete with one another. At 2:30 pm., the grand prize was finally won by Loullevette Salvador (Lou! What luck!) amid much celebration and cheer.

As the people were coming down the building after the event, the smiles on their faces proved that the occasion was not about winning. It was about being with other Lasallians, making new friends, and knowing that with each ticket bought a contribution was made for a cause.

Epilogue:

And to think Lou won the grand prize. We were so happy for her. (And to think I sold her the ticket.) I told her to use her MP3/MP4 immdiately. All in all, she already has 3 MP3 players (according to Lou). 256 MB, 512 MB, and 1 GB...

Neophyte's serendipity!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Moneygrubbers

Moneygrubbers

I had my first boothmanning session today. It was fun, interesting, and exciting. How's that? Read on to find out...

What's boothmanning anyway? Well, as an officer of LSCS, it is one of my responsibilities to allot some of my time to help operate a booth(s) of the organization. Today was finally my time to shine...

I came in a little late because I thought my boothmanning session was at 9:45 AM. I was shocked when my schedule was set ten minutes earlier. I rushed to the LRT station via pedicab and arrived at my destination soon after.

The first thing we did was to affix some stickers to the Roll the Dice tickets we were selling. I could say that (even though I was late) I did the majority of the work. I expected some of my friends to drop by so that I can sell them something...

We were required to sell at least one ticket per officer. Me, being the ambitious type, set my own standards. I won't be satisfied until I sell at least 10 tickets. Some of my co-officers asked me why I held in my hands so many tickets. "Tinitignan ko lang" was my reply...

I saw Dtiff passing by. I don't know if she intentionally ignored me or she didn't see me at all. I should have sold a ticket to her...

Joy came soon after. I rushed to where she was sitting and saw that she was with Kristine. I convinced them to buy tickets and they did so. Joy even bought a bag. Alright!

2 tickets sold - and more to go. Jerlou soon arrived and I sold one to her. That makes 3...

Being the proactive type, I called Dianne (and Lou) and asked if they would want to buy some tickets. They agreed. 5 tickets sold; 7 pesos lost.

I tried to convince Gelo, James, and Johann, but unfortunately...

Fellow officers commended my marketing techniques.

We ate at La Casita; my boothmanning was successfully completed. I brought 6 additional tickets with me, hoping that I would be able to sell them this day...

Before eating though, I had to rush to Vito Cruz to have our group's (Solomon's Descendants) entity-relationship diagram "acetated." I also had to go to SPS Bookstore to buy a plastic folder for our SOCTEC1 submission.

I slept at 5 AM by the way...

I saw Richard at our school lunchroom. Two days before I saw my former neighbor Christine Enclona, as well as many other Uneans. Austin's face had changed. Anne, Jensen, Shirlina, and the rest haven't changed a bit...

SOCTEC1 class. Lecture room. Nothing interesting. I used the time to complete my ENGLCOM timeline...

ENGLCOM classes - Chavz and I got a 14 in our context clues search activity. I sold some tickets to my blockmates too. Interestingly, I was excited for our DATABAS class.

DATABAS - I never expected Sir Solomon to call me to defend our ER diagram. Because we had an acetate, the professor told our group (representative - me) to recite first, and I was pretty nervous. My group mates also had that vicarious feeling within them.

"Don't be afraid to commit mistakes," our professor said. Everything went smoothly, until we discovered that our 1 page-full ER diagram can be minimized into an eighth of a page. Our project proposals were also in desperate need of correction. We'll do it sometime later...

Class dismissal. I had to muster up all I had to convince Bea and Jamie to buy tickets. That's because Yna wanted them to buy from her...

"Bakit ka naghihirap? May incentive ka bang nakukuha?"
"Wala."

"E bakit mo gusto mabenta lahat?"
"Gusto ko na maubos ang lahat ngayong araw. Kung hindi, malalagot ako..."

"Kanino?"
"Sa sarili ko."

At the LRT station, the two finally realized that my determination to achieve my goal was stagnant and firm. Touched by my perseverance, the two voluntarily approached me to buy my final two tickets (that were for sale). That's it. A total of 10 sold tickets apon my arrival at GUm & MUG, where Joanie was waiting to boast about her new, sleek cell phone.

Remaining ticket left for myself if needed: 027 (any number ending with 7 will do)
Sold tickets: 009, 020, 021, 022, 023, 024, 025, 026, 028, 029
Tickets sold to: Bea, Ces, Jamie, Je, Joy, Lou, Nica, Rai, Tin, Yan

To sum it all up...

LSCS owes me 40 pesos of change; I owe LSCS 400 pesos.
Bea, Ces, Nica, and Jamie owe me 80 pesos each.