Debilitation on D-Day

Ah... My head hurts. Who would have imagined eating a can of sardines could have such an effect on me?

Disclaimer: This is a summary of last month's and this month's happenings.

Leaving aside all those Unean Reunions, Raisa and Yan held their birthday parties at Yellow Cab; well, most of my blockmates birthday parties were held there. Next in line was Yna's birthday, and after one day, Tin's. I suggested that we all go to Enchanted Kingdom since the former one was cancelled. My friends suggested that I, along with the two birthday celebrants, as well as Jerlou (whose birthday is tomorrow, December 20), treat our lunch group aka circle of friends to Enchanted Kingdom as birthday treats. I quickly agreed. Joy volunteered herself too because she didn't treat the block back when she had her birthday. The magic begins here...

We had our finals exams in DATABAS, our business case defense in ORGMGNT, our MTV submission on TREDONE, etc. I remember us (Rai, Lou, Yan, etc.) being scolded by the master lecturer back on the last session in SOCTEC1 for being late (because I accompanied the group in printing their reflective essays. I hate SOCTEC1 - almost didn't learn anything from the subject...

Jump to Finals Week - Apparently, we had nothing to worry about except for the final exams we were going to take for SOCTEC1 that Friday, as well as the ENGLCOM submissions we were going to pass on some designated dates. Our EK trip was set after the test on Friday, everything seems to go well, until...

I realized that I (being the organizer of the event) was unable to go on Friday. Despite the complaints I received from blockmates (the EK participation had been expanded so that the whole block can join), I ignored the remarks because it seemed stupid that the organizer wouldn't be around on the event he organized. Additional reasons were added though, as many groups would be having their DATABAS mini-project demos on Friday.

The trip was now scheduled on Wednesday.

Disclaimer: The next few paragraphs will be summarized according to my memory's capability.

Enchantment at Enchanted Kingdom (December 13, 2006):

I was terribly late because I had to wait for the driver aka uncle to arrive. From a group of more than ten, the participants, excluding me, decreased to a mere 5.

Jerlou, Joy, Lou, Nica, Yan and I were dropped off at South Superhighway and we ate lunch at Jollibee. We were awed at their Computer station which featured fast DSL connections, sleek computers, and even sofas and such.

We met with Ces outside Enchanted Kingdom, for her house was just around the corner. It was hard to believe that she hadn't been to Enchanted Kingdom all her life.

The first ride we rode was Dodgem (Bump Cars), followed by this and that. What's worth mentioning is that we were able to ride the Rio Grande Rapids for three times (1 time during the afternoon and 2 consecutive times by daybreak). We had our "Racist Wars" and crazy competitions, and they were fun. It was also fun to see how Ces and Yan reacted when we were riding Wheel of Fate (Ferris Wheel).

We didn't ride Space Shuttle (Roller Coaster - 3*2 loops), by the way. We did play arcade though, as well as watch the 4D movie, et cetera...

We ate dinner (take out) at Jollibee, again.

Lou stayed at my place overnight because LRT and MRT stations were already closed.

SOCTEC1 Finals (December 15, 2006)

I slept so late the night before (5 AM); I woke up two hours after. After the test, which was definitely not worth mentioning at all, we submitted our ENGLCOM portfolios at Ms. Gaerlan's p-box (pigeonbox / pigeonhole).

By afternoon, we had our mini-project defense for DATABAS. A 2-hour activity turned into a 6-hour activity just to improve our grades. Jerlou and Nica were afraid because Mr. See said very negative things about their research paper.

Evening, my parents arrived at Gokongwei and we went to Century Hotel to celebrate my grandmother's birthday.

Course Card Distribution Day (December 19, 2006)

I couldn't rise up from bed the time I woke up. My stomach was experiencing excruciating pain. I realized that this phenomenon was caused by my eating of an entire bottle of sardines the night before as a midnight snack. As a result, my liver was inflamed; thus, leading to various pains throughout my body.

I could barely move. I told my mom to wait for me - I would just get my FWDANCE and TREDONE course cards, then I would return. She would then take me to my acupuncturist, who could perform instant wonders just by piercing needles through various pressure points in my body. I got my FWDANCE - a 4.0, no wonder.

I wasn't worried about SOCTEC1 for I knew I got a 3.0 in the subject (via Internet reference). My friends were the ones who were scared. I was scared about ORGMGNT. Anyway, SOCTEC1 course cards will only be distributed after lunch.

I was in for a shock in TREDONE - I first received my reaction paper regarding the temple visit; I was shocked to get a 0.0. I organized the whole thing and I got the lowest grade?! Impossible. I was shivering when I reached out to get my course card. What's difficult to believe is that despite my low grade, I managed to get a 3.5 in the subject. I was in a state of disbelief.

I went to my acupuncturist...

It's still a long story, the Blumentritt LRT ride to Quirino, the pains inflicted on people upon receiving the course cards, this and that. In the end, I managed to attain my goal, even if my grades were terribly lower this term that last term's. Here are my scores:

DATABAS 2.5
ENGLCOM 3.5
FORMDEV Pass
FWDANCE 4.0
NSTP-C1 3.5
ORGMGNT 2.0
SOCTEC1 3.0
TREDONE 3.5

Next term... It shall be different... Until that time...

Worst Case Scenario

It's been really a long time since my last post - been busy the past few weeks (past whole month; my normal sleeping time is 3-4 AM) Whoever said college life is less stressful than that in high school?

Now that finals week is over, a regretful feeling encompasses me whenever I look back into the past. The second term was very short; I don't think I did very well this term:

Sorted below are the courses/subjects we had in this term, from (I think) highest to lowest [grade I will receive]:

1. FWDANCE - Basically, I'm worried if Prof. Ronda would consider my tardy marks and deduct 0.5 points from my final grade. I hope not...

2. ENGLCOM - If it wasn't for that day wherein I missed THAT quiz, attaining a 4.0 wouldn't be much of a hassle, but now there's only a low chance left...

3. TREDONE - The truth is, I don't really know how well I performed in this subject. I only ranked this according to the grades I got during midterms and other online quizzes we had. I'll be more than satisfied with a 3.0. 3.5, I wish, but a 4.0 is, I think, impossible...

I don't know how to rank my grades starting here:

4. DATABAS - True, we've spent much time and effort trying to complete our mini-project, with Je, Joy, and Nica staying overnight at my house for one day - Mr. See promised us a grade of 120% - 130% in the project, but the research paper, anlong with the finals exam that nobody passed makes the odds turn against us...

5. ORGMGNT - My grades (in exams) in this course are actually low; I don't know how we did during our business case defense. I'm pretty worried about my grade...

6. SOCTEC1 - How I hate this subject! Not only did we have an ineffective lecturer who didn't enjoy teaching her students, we also didn't learn much from her - and to think that we had a finals exam just for the course! I did very badly (I think I failed.) in the exam although I studied for it. Is it still possible to get a 2.0 - 2.5?

Finally, I concluded that I may not be able to be among the Dean's Listers this term (The chances are 35% (YES) - 65% (NO).)

I know I tried my best. Let's just leave it to God to decide if I decide the title or not...