Melodies of Life: The Layers of Harmony

To my dear readers...

2008-02-12T01:53:00.000+08:00

To my dear readers...

I'm aware that I haven't posted for a LOoooONG time...

Sorry, I'm very busy with my schoolwork, orgwork, et cetera and so I rarely have enough time to do leisurely things such as blogging and writing. In this regard, this site would be left idle for quite some time...

I promise to update this blog as many times as I can, but if I fail to do so, do drop by my Multiply site at http://splgum.multiply.com/ and enjoy the pictures I upload once in a while to my page.

Until then!

Affixed Agony

2007-09-05T00:29:00.000+08:00

Affixed Agony

I never knew anything,

except for the fact that if he initiates the conversation,

my life would soon be over...

Foreword: Some parts of this post may be written in a way that is hard to understand for secrecy.

I couldn't sleep last night. I lay down at 4 in the morning after doing all my LSCS work but I just couldn't doze off. The promise God gave me couldn't be true, could it?

Signs. I needed a sign. I got one during my haircut session yesterday. The channel was switched to ABS-CBN, featuring Kapamilya Deal or No Deal. The contestant and her fluctuating faith...

Today is this term's D-Day. My feared subject this time is ANMATH1. All of us were scared. BISPROC comes first, though. Ms. Tangkeko hasn't finished checking our research papers yet. Others got a 0.0 in the activity. Oh no...

We went to get our SCIENVC/LBYENVC course cards but ATE wasn't there yet. We had no other recourse. ANMATH1 was next.

The entry of Dr. Diesto made us all petrified. With him were many failing course cards and desperately low quizzes. As the course cards were being handed out, I noticed that our professor sometimes talks to the students he hands over a course card to. Soon enough, I realized that every person he talks to got a 0.0 in his or her respective course.

I gazed at the blackboard. There were some writings which go like this...

"All forms of emotional outbursts... sent to the Discipline Office."
"All forms of love and kindness were included in the computing of your grades."

It was our class's turn. I felt more hopeless after seeing the low grades of my excelling blockmates. If they got such low grades, what about me, who performed drastically poorer than them in previous quizzes? Joy came to the front soon afterward. Next was my turn. I was in despair. My face was proof enough.

I wanted to sit down immediately after getting my course card and forget all about the day, but unfortunately, my professor had a dedication for me...

"Sayang ka. Ang baba ng mga quizzes mo."
"Oo nga e, sir..."

I sighed as I took a brief glance of my course card. My classmates pitied me when they saw a concave down curve painted on my face. I returned to my chair and sighed once again, still in deep sadness.

"Ilan ba nakuha mo?"

I showed them my course card. I got a 2.0.

"2 ka pala e. Candidate ka pa mag-DL."

Even so, the words of my professor kept reverbating inside my head...

"Sayang ka... Sayang ka... Sayang ka..."

I figured out that I had the potential to gain higher scores if only I had exerted a little more effort. It turned out, at the very end, that I got a 92% in my finals examination.

(Actually, this is no time for me to blog. I'll keep the next part as short as possible...)

SCIENVC - I will miss our professor. The last words he had for me were: "Meron rin akong damit na iyan a!" I got a 3.5 in both SCIENVC and LBYENVC.

Someone had to drive the other out.

BISPROC - We returned after getting our other three course cards. No comment. 3.5.

We went to eat lunch. The scary part was finally over.

All restaurants were flooding with people. We were left with an overcrowded Jollibee.

JAPALA1 - I got a perfect score in the finals exam. 4.0...

Before long, I was trying to compute if I would be able to reach the quota for first honors Dean's List or not...

(I'll skip the other subjects due to time constraint.)

It turned out at the very end that God kept His promise. This gift of His I would never forget. I was only hoping to pass ANMATH1 at the beginning. Praise be to Him!

I would also like to thank the following sponsors aka friends, relatives, et cetera who helped me exceedingly the time I needed help:

Rochelle Santos for the tutorial at her house.
Chester for the comprehensive lessons and exercises that he had for me.
Dianne Tiffany Chan for tutoring me at our store and lending me her notes.
James Andrew Lim for borrowing me his exam booklets.
James Sy for making me aware of the 10-point question before the exam.
My parents for their unconditional love and guidance.
And all other friends for moral support.

A big thanks to all! I'll be gone in a few days, but I'll try as much as possible to update my Multiply so check it out daily. I'll be back before you may even know it.

Ittekimasu!

PS. Did anyone notice that my blog titles are becoming negative in nature?

Sleepless Nights

2007-08-15T22:28:00.000+08:00

Sleepless Nights

The sky cries once again.

At last, the DEVEWEB designing phase is *almost* over. A bunch of frustrated programmers would soon have their long deserved rests from more than a week of overnight sessions.

I want to swap brains with math geniuses.

It's been a long time since my last post. We had a lot of activities at school. I have my worries, and one of the most critical ones are my ANMATH1 grades. Many of us, including me, are worried that we may not even pass the subject. I've lowered my expectations regarding my GPA this term. I'm not after Dean's Lister status; I just want to pass ANMATH1. If I do that, there would be no more calculus subjects in our course syllabus. For me, ANMATH1 is the hardest subject I had taken. I believe no other subject I will be taking up would be harder than this one. Oh, the anxiety...

Latest updates? Check out my new videos in YouTube. Just type in "splgum" in the search box and enjoy navigating.

No classes again. I hate the weather.

Real TQ Blog Remover

2007-08-03T03:05:00.000+08:00

Real TQ Blog Remover

(Click the Blog tab on the left sidebar to view.)

Infected by the TQ's Blog malware? Click here to eliminate the virus in a calm, simple manner. Best of all, it works!

Copyright © 2007 Solomon Lim. All rights reserved.

Stressed Satisfaction [Part Two]

2007-07-14T19:33:00.000+08:00

Stressed Satisfaction

Foreword: Parts 1, 3, and 4 can be found at [my] Multiply, Black Anime Den, and Friendster pages, respectively.

No homework, no quizzes, nothing. I still sleep at 2-3 am. Now that is strange. No wonder, I've distortedly trained my biological clock. It's bad for me, trust me that I know. Adjusting one's sleeping habits can't be accomplished with the snap of a finger, you know...

I've been terribly frustrated with my grades, especially my ANMATH1's. With only little enthusiasm and motivation, my grades have gone way beyond the passing line; and to think I was competing in international math competitions back in high school. I wish I were Austin, our resident math genius, who can solve almost any math problem with ease.

Just recently had I acquired motivation for ANMATH1. It was funny when Dr. Diesto, our ANMATH1 professor, said to me:

"Ngayon lang kita nakitang naunang sumagot a. At least gumagawa ka na ng seatwork."

Those words he uttered had a profound effect on me. I started feeling that the subject wasn't as hard as I had imagined it to be. I am now motivated to study hard for the course. From this point on, I assure you that Kristine will not have the hard time of answering seatworks without my participation. I just hope it's not too late to turn over a new leaf...

Before Thursday, I felt that only bad luck was overtaking me; however, things changed positively. Even though Friday was Friday the 13th, the only bad luck I had was the inability to watch Honey and Clover in JAPALA1 class thanks to technical difficulties. We were to watch it on Monday instead.

After classes, I rode the LRT to Bambang station. Instead of going to our store, I rode the tricycle to PC Express, and that's where IT all began...

Continue to Part Three by clicking HERE.
Click the BLOG tab on the left sidebar to view.

Concerns and Consequences

2007-05-29T01:21:00.000+08:00

Concerns and Consequences

I've heard people say that the freshmen year is the easiest time in college, and that it gets harder and harder as time goes by. I believe so...

Firstly, I am frustrated about my workstation. By workstation I mean my desk, my convertible notebook, my computer at home, its bundled hardware, software, and accessories, and the like.

My Core 2 Quad processor was supposed to arrive sometime earlier to give me an extra boost in my heavy multitasking. My 400 GB hard disk storage memory is almost entirely filled up, and I have to upgrade to a terabyte (minimum of 2*500 GB) system soon. If I do that, I would have to install Windows on one of the two hard disks that I am planning to buy.

The problem: I misplaced my Windows Vista AND my Microsoft Office 2007 installers.

Steph had long been waiting for me to borrow her my CD, but, no luck still...

My notebook had not yet been upgraded yet. Drat!

As for school, I am preoccupied with lots and lots of schoolwork. FILDLAR, DEVEWEB, SCIENVC/LBYENVC, JAPALA1, ANMATH1, BISPROC, and PERSEF2.

Yes, we would be having our first class of PERSEF2 later. I wonder how "interesting" it would be...

Regarding my blog, I've made a "major" revamp on my Multiply blog found here. The site is now fully animated, but I can still implement a lot of changes and improvisations. If you observe carefully, all my three major sites (Blogger site, Friendster profile, Multiply page) have animated backgrounds instead of steady, boring ones.

My head is all dizzy now so sorry if you can't understand much of what I am saying. Right now it's 1:50 in the morning and I still have a lot to do.

I'll end my post here.

Jaa, mata.

Stress and Summer

2007-05-07T21:27:00.000+08:00

Stress and Summer

Summer vacation... is about to end... soon... sigh...

I never had the opportunity to enjoy this short break from school (almost).

A lot of people were laughing about my being busy in summer. Believe me, I'm pooped.

Firstly, I am frustrated with my computer at home; two years ago it was the best of its class, but now, I couldn't visit even one website without getting mad at my machine. Windows Vista Ultimate really draws a lot of power from my computer...

Yes, I've upgraded my computer's RAM to 2GB. It sped up a bit for a few days. Only a few days, however...

Nikko and Steph were planning to buy their own notebook PC's this summer; I was mesmerized by another convertible one Unean Reunion as I gazed upon a twistable, touch-screen HP Pavillion. Equipped with Windows Vista (whatsoever), it is an object of beauty; I won't get it for sure however... Sadly...

I'm satisfied with my Fujitsu Lifebook P1510 at home; it's the smallest convertible in the world. If only I could upgrade its RAM using cheap means. Because of it's miniature size, the upgrade costs at least Php 40K. People, kindly inform me if you know of a place selling 1 GB DDR2 NanoDIMM RAM's for a cheap price.

It's unfair. Other RAM's only cost from 2K to 6K...

I'm here at home, writing this blog entry as well as playing Pokemon Pearl. There are some things I want to accomplish this summer, some of which have been completed.

1. Buy a new pair of shoes - COMPLETE
2. Buy a new printer - Pending
3. Buy Pokemon Diamond AND Pearl - COMPLETE
4. Complete "Crest of the Wind ~ The Three Seals" - 87% Complete
5. Fill up my summer schedule - Extremely Overfilled
6. Go to Hong Kong - Pending
7. Remove two irritating wisdom teeth - Scheduled
8. Upgrade to 1 GB of RAM (Notebook) - Under Negotiation
9. Upgrade to 2 GB of RAM (Home PC) - COMPLETE
10. Upgrade to Core 2 Quad (Home PC) - Under Analysis
11. Get ready for a new year of college life - I don't want to think about this yet.

That's about all. A while ago I was in Gateway with Nikko, picking out some stuff which I'm interested in. We played Dance Freaks (my first time to do so) and were intrigued by a song so familiar that we first heard in Audition Online... La la la la la la la la la. What's it entitled again? In English?

Understanding Men and Women.

Another Mission

2007-04-26T01:40:00.000+08:00

Another Mission

Foreword: This will be a short post. I have a lot of other things to do besides blogging...

Today (actually, yesterday), I had a performance in Makati Shangri-la where I would have to play two rather difficult piano peices to a multitude of people for my grandma's birthday...

Although I made some mistakes, they (according to many) were hardly noticable and many complemented on my piano playing skills. Yay! (Have to learn a lot more though.)

I finally got my hands on a copy of Pokemon Pearl (although I like Diamond better... next time) Version and I'm playing now. Where did I buy it? Toy Kingdom Express SM San Lazaro. Grab one now!

This ends my post.

My Freshman Days

2007-04-13T18:51:00.000+08:00

My Freshman Days

Foreword: After long, stressful weeks filled with deliverables and projects to be submitted, it was finally our vacation (April 13, 2007 - 12:00NN)...

After months of dormancy, my blog has come to life again, starting with this post. Enjoy reading!

--------------------

1. Pre-confirmation Orientation

I remember way back to the first day, no, the preconfirmation orientation we had in La Salle for our course. If I remember right, it was also the day that we were going to have our Chinese History (li shi) periodic exams in Uno, so we were permitted to wear civilian clothing inside the school grounds...

I, along with my mom, arrived late for the event held at Yuchengco. There were games, speeches (...), and an open forum. There was even a campus trip but we were not able to attend because I had a quiz. Oh well...

Back at Uno. I really regretted wearing civilian clothing that day. Eyes were fixed at me and people commented things like "o, ganda ng suot mo a" and other similar comments. It was humiliating. Mr. Yu (our school disciplinarian, also had a short talk with me about my attire. Apparently he wasn't informed...

2. LPEP (and first few days of college life)

LPEP was (an atttempt) to let blockmates know one another. We were at the Yuchengco Theater watching a presentation; I remember getting lost on our way to our seats at the chapel. We went to a classroom at Gokongwei and was introduced to our facilitator and his two assistants. We had a nickname elaboration session. I was so timid back then, avoiding speech. When people asked me what my nickname meant, I replied with this (actually, I had so many nicknames but I chose this one):

M - Mysterious -> someone asked me why I didn't write "mature" instead...
O - (I forgot. Pardon my short memory.)
N - Nostalgic / Not Nostalgic -> depends

Anyway, we had campus tours and were also dragged to the Sports Complex for a grand welcoming from (almost) all student organizations in the campus. It was funny how they said "Hello, [name]! Welcome to La Salle!"

Then I met my former facilitator from CCS Summer Camp 2005. She was very excited to see me; I was shocked. It turned out that she was a very high ranked officer in LSCS, the only professional organization in the College of Computer Studies. I thought about joining...

We watched the pep squad and other presentations at the top floor of the Sports Complex. There was even a mini-concert afterwards.

This was the time I made my first few friends. Vero, originally calling me "little bro," as well as Aya and Treisha, became my first few friends.

3. First Term

Additional people (Lou and Yan) were added to our lunch group, and I became more attached to them because or similar interests and the like. The other three became my groupmates in a subject called INTRICT (Introduction to ICT), where we had ouur group reporting on 'The Internet and the World Wide Web.' Because I was pretty reserved back them, I wrote them a letter discussing our plan instead of actually talking to them. I planned to make our report a very interesting one like how I had done my reports back in my high school days, and we partially succeeded. I made a short video (actually, my first video) featuring the different functionalities of the Internet (It didn't work during the first day. I was shocked.) I was also forced to bring my humongous speakers at home because I forgot to get the speakers from our store. I also brought with me my smoke machine...

I found many similarities in my block and my batchmates from high school...

We had our INTRPRG classes by Ms. Shirley Chu, a not-so terror professor (who looks like she's going to punch people every time she asks "Nagkakaintindihan ba tayo?") I vowed to do well in this subject, but was saddened by the fact that I wasn't able to answer one of her recitation questions. I struggled to eliminate the loss, and virtually succeded upon receiving a 98% and 105% for my two departamental exams and a 135% for my machine project. I was happy to get a raw score of 106.25 and an overall grade of 4.0 (I hope there's a higher grade that 4...)

We also had other subjects, which included FWSPORT (Taekwondo), SCIENVB, and the like. PERSEF1, Mr. Molano, Jake, The Venue, Period.

Was it Bea who invided us to her birthday party at Yellow Cab? I forgot...

Near the end of the term I really felt the need to have my very own laptop computer.

Other important events included my becoming an officer in LSCS, my being caught by a discipline officer for writing on the blackboard, et cetera...

4. Second Term

I finally got myself a laptop, no, it would be better if I address it as a convertible notebook...

It was finally time for us to have Saturday classes - NSTP-C1. Also, we had our ENGLCOM classes, where I almost got a 4.0 (if I didn't miss a quiz).

DATABAS was the hardest subject this term, and by that time, E-MAD Productions (formerly known as Solomon's Descendants) was formed. We struggled for weeks just to finish our MP. It was my first overnight experience at my own house.

Nica and Jerlou soon became close friends of mine (along with Bea, Cecille, Jamie, Joy, Kristine, Michelle, Raisa, Yna, and the others -> did I miss anyone?) in the absence of Lou and Yan (sometimes).

My video editing hobby also started this term wherein we had to make videos for our ORGMGNT classes and an MTV for our TREDONE classes (along with numerous Unean Reunions that took place).

The lowest grade I got this term was from ORGMGNT, a flat 2.0. I barely hung on to my stand as a Dean's Lister. Hopefully I'll do better next term...

Other important events not mentioned were te activities held in LSCS, the unretrieved shirt of Tin, the CCS Summer Camp Reunion, the Enchanted Kingdom trip, the confirmation trip to JCDC, my new camera, and many others.

5. Christmas Break

What I remember most in this span of time was the formation of the UniFuzion (formerly known as UniFusion) as Nikko, Yan, and I (known as YanMeMon by Nikko) went to SM Mall of Asia (up to 3 in the morning) to watch the Pyro Olympics.

Nothing much to say...

5. Third Term

The emergence of Windows Vista had become critical. I planned to buy an original one four years ago, and my plan will definitely be fulfilled. I bought the MS Office 2007 Professional first at XXXIII K at SM Mall of Asia during their launch. The place was packed. Computer illiterates were being conned into Microsoft's new product as they were enchanted by Vista's eye candy. Fortunately, I knew what to byt because I've tried the product two times before (MS Windows Vista Beta 2 and MS Windows Vista RC1). I ordered the Windows Vista Ultimate full edition and got it weeks after.

We had our very interesting SPEECOM classes wherein we made a video for our panel discussion. A video, a podcast, a blog (http://emadproductions.multiply.com/), and a flash presentation were made for our HUTECIN classes where there was very high competition among blockmates. The daring MTV for our FILKOMU classes.

Who wouldn't forget the hard quizzes in NETCOMM? The Saturdays on JCDC? The negative grades in FWTEAMS? The curse being passed on in FILKOMU (only applies for 'The C' of S18)? The weariness in coding MP's for APPSDAS? The funny speeches of Philip in SPEECOM?

I ascended in rank as I became the VP for Publications in LSCS. I was surprised when my firends showed me that I was in the Plaridel newspaper...

Just yesterday, The Comedic Trio (Jerlou, Nica, and me) had another overnight session at my house wherein we coded for a partially finished MP for APPSDAS. We also prepared for our NETCOMM defense which took place a while ago.

The funniest moment occured a day before yesterday, wherein the three of us (and none else) lost balance in the LRT going form Central Terminal to Carriedo.

The course card distribution day is on Thursday, April 19, 2007. I have high hopes...

I can't wait until April 22...

--------------------

My classmates notified me of my behavior change from the first day of classes until recently from my being timid to my being 'hyperactive and paparazzic.'

I replied with this story:

"Back in elementary, I was more of a warfreak type of person who usually picked up fights with other people. People also called me Pastemaster and other weird names because of my weird habits back then.

I wanted to change the bad stereotype my classmates had made about me, so in high school, I became a bit more timid. I became quite shy; however, and I lost the ability to express myself according to my feelings. The things I wanted to do, like joining in a FunFest game, getting a particular role in a play, et cetera, I lost my chance...

Fortunately, I got to do the things I wanted to do in college. How? I dunno... Figure it out yourselves. >:)

The GUI Master aka Gadgetkid will strike again!

--------------------

Lou... we haven't said goodbye personally yet, and now you've already left for Canada. Your video... I'll be done with it soon, and you'll be able to see it in YouTube. Let's meet again when I get a job in Canada! Until then, we'll miss you.

PS. Always be online in Yahoo! Messenger, alright? <(^_^)>

Catalog Catastrophe

2007-02-19T20:11:00.000+08:00

Catalog Catastrophe

At last, APPSDAS Mini-Project # 1 had come to pass. The effort, blood, and sweat I've exherted will always be seen in my work, though, and as I gaze upon it, I become nostalgic...

It was time for the LRT - Line 1 Generation 3 trains to go on operation. I was excited and I wanted to ride on one. My first ride was with Lou after we dropped off Yan at Vito Cruz Station after leaving SM Mall of Asia. Presently, my Generation 3 train ride count sums up to 13.

A lot of things also happened at the time interval. After watching Pyro Olympics Denmark-Canada and China-Philippines with Nikko and Yan, I propagated the idea of UniFusions (Uneans meet blockmates of fellow Uneans) to my friends and they seem to be confortable with the idea. The current UniFusion count is 3.

HUTECIN was also quite interesting. Our first major project involved us to make a video critique on 3 cellphones / music players. With my (developing) video editing skills and my friends' advertising talents, we were able to make a good presentation. The video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u565A1e4nPs

There came APPSDAS... As I was very well disappointed of a grade of 85% for my first hands-on exam, I exerted extra effort in implementing my E-Catalog program. If you know me, I like to add additional features... so I added and added...

Search still doesn't work. It's already Saturday (deadline is on the following Monday). I worked as hard as I could, and was finally able to search entries. A very unfortunate incident which almost led to an immediate cause of heart attack struck me as I accidentally overwrote the codes I took 2 whole days to come up with, and it's 2:30 in the morning...

What will I do? Realizing that the file I created is unrecoverable (as I had no backup copy), I sighed and almost cried. The time won't be enough. I had to finish it today, before I sleep...

I prayed to God for help. I asked my mom (who just woke up) for encouraging words but what she gave me were the opposite). Sadly, I returned to my workstation and began coding again...

The song "True Courage" played inside my mind and I regained hope as I listened to the lyrics. With rekindled passion for programming, I miraculously finished (for the meantime) my program in an hour. I then went to bed...

The next day, (I'm not sure about this, but) I think I saw Mr. See (long lost brother; Mr. Java) at our tower elevator. I ignored him because I wasn't sure if it was really him, but very short hair... short beird... "sloppy" movements... cranky voice... hmmm...

I edited my codes and added the New and Print functions that afternoon.

The next day, which is today, I submitted my work. Mini-MP # 1: Complete!

Mini-MP # 2: On progress... Philip, prepare yourself!

Video Posting

2007-02-02T22:56:00.000+08:00

Video Posting

For a very long time I have disregarded blogging and have head straight on to video editing, since some projects of ours require us to make video presentations.

Since I don't have much time for blogging, I'll use this site to inform everyone regarding new videos I have created or whatsoever. Please do comment and rate on YouTube, as I would be posting the video URLs also.

Currently the EDITED videos I had already uploaded in YouTube are:

1. The Internet and the World Wide Web

2. Controlling

3. Christianity

4. Pokemon Johto [Nicachu Version]

5. TREDONE MTV Presentation

6. Lang Song

7. In and Out

8. Pokemon Johto [Jiovannie Version]

9. HUTECIN: E-MAD Cellphone Review

10. Precious Memories [REVIVED]

I'll be posting updates soon. Stay tuned!

Debilitation on D-Day

2006-12-19T23:01:00.000+08:00

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

2006-12-17T23:31:00.000+08:00

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...

Stressed Out

2006-11-20T02:25:00.000+08:00

Stressed Out

I've got to apologize to everyone for not posting here for a long time.

Seems that college life isn't so easy after all. Every day we are bombarded with lots of work and projects to do. It's no wonder that we full-fledged bloggers post less often lately.

My Multiply blog is now more updated than this one in Blogger, especially since Multiply became my main blogsite. Still, I wouldn't want to leave my other two blogsites behind. This post was meant for that purpose.

My Multiply homepage can be found here. Browse through the music, videos, and pictures I have uploaded. If you are an anime fanatic, Join my Multiply groups at Animotaku Otakanime. There, you would be able to upload or download files without the hassle of space constraints.

See you there!

Time Capsule

2006-11-07T00:02:00.000+08:00

Time Capsule

You and what matters to you. Preserved for eternity.

Hundreds of years from now, many people will wonder anout this time and place...

These words struck me when I accidentaly hovered my way to Yahoo! Time Capsule...

I uploaded three pictures to participate in this memorable event:

Beautiful, light brown fur...

Me and my friends pose for the camera at the SM Mall of Asia ice skating rink...

Triangle of Hope - Skates on ice: A symbol of friendship from now until eternity...

Visit them in any way you like. These are not photos taken from my new camera.

PS. There is another photo I uploaded but eventually cancelled because some details were missing. You can view the picture here.

Reunited

2006-10-28T00:45:00.000+08:00

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...

Magnitude

2006-10-21T01:37:00.000+08:00

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?

Let's Roll

2006-10-11T23:11:00.000+08:00

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!

Moneygrubbers

2006-10-05T22:17:00.000+08:00

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.

Weekend Madness

2006-09-24T21:00:00.000+08:00

Weekend Madness

It had been a long time since my last post. I was afraid my readers would disappear one by one... Miraculously, my blog reached 2000 views while I was out (No, I didn't cheat.) Anyway, this is my post after a long break...

I may have forgotten most of the details so this would most likely just be a summary...

Monday - I really forgot most of the details... All I remember is that we went to the Smart Room for our TREDONE classes (Oh yes! We'll be going there tomorrow again! Yahoo!). Joy, Lou, and Yan (as well as I) went to our store to interview Ms. Christina Liao-Pangilinan for our SOCTEC1 report.

Tuesday - I wasn't late for our FWDANCE classes. We transferred to another room and watched a video on Dance Sport (International Dancing). Raisa and I accompanied another group to interview our former SCIENVB professor, Dr. Wilfredo Licuanan - his pictures can be found all over the campus. Everyone in our class got a 0% in DATABAS.

Wednesday - We listened to a group report in ORGMNGT. Aside from that, I don't think anything interesting happened. Was Lou absent? I forgot...

Thursday - Again, I forgot all the details. Blame it on my short-term memory loss. I only remember this thing: Naruto 201 was released today, and it was the final filler episode. I got too excited so I watched it at once after downloading it.

Friday - We had a treasure hunt (and I was reminded of Naruto) in ENGLCOM. Lou was absent. We listened to a group report in ORGMNGT. Nothing else.

Saturday - I was late for our NSTP-C1 class. Johann also. We had some speakers from the partner organization. After dismissal, Lou, Rai, Yan and I went to Glorietta and eventually visited 4 additional malls (namely: SM Makati, Landmark, Greenbelt, and ViewPoint). Of course, we played Dance Maniax. We also got to meet Raisa's younger brother, who was a DotA addict for his age. We also played O2 Jam at B-Connected, which was located in Greenbelt. After some more mall-hopping, we went to our respective homes. Raisa stayed behing.

I got to ride four different trains today. (LRT-1 going and returning, MRT-3 going and returning). I also visited Van at GUM & MUG. For more information, visit my Multiply Photos page -> click here.

Sunday - Today. After going to CGC, we went to eat at Ling Nam. We then went to SM San Lazaro, where I played Dance Maniax with my mom (She always runs out of hit points.) I also bought a The Sims 2 Glamour Life expansion pack. We then went home. I organized the photos on my Multiply account and now they're ready to be viewed. Afterwards, I worked on this blog. The next thing I'll do is end my post and start working on my homework.

Concentration

2006-09-20T00:15:00.000+08:00

Concentration

Many people dropped me mails yesterday asking me if I had a new post or not...

It seems that many people had been waiting anxiously to see what my new post is all about. Today's post would be a breif summary of what happened these past few days, so stay tuned.

Before anything else, I would like to ask for everyone's cooperation by clicking on this link to help me earn points. Thank you for your neverending support.

Let's get down to business. Last Sunday was like the usual Sundays, except that I brought a lot of money with me. I planned to make major upgrades to my computer and notebook. With the money I had with me, I bought a D-Link Wireless DSL Router, a 1 GB Apacer DDR2 memory for my notebook (although I returned it a few hours later because it didn't fit into my notebook's memory slot. I also bought a 1 GB Secure Digital (SD) card for my digital camera. Imagine what kind of a buyer (how extravagant) I am...

It was also my aunt's birthday (my dad's sixth sister). We went to eat at Barrio Fiesta and went home as soon as we finished eating. I showered her with tons of gifts hour by hour. (This was the main reason why I wasn't allowed to join the LSCS Reboot. If only it was scheduled at a later time, then maybe...)

Monday - Everything went on as usual, we had our FORMDEV classes and we were divided into groups. Dianne was terribly late. Also, an announcement was made that we were to go to the "Smart Room" for our TREDONE class. The room was so cool! The place was packed with computers and control devices - the professor had the ultimate control and he or she can set the screen output of one's computer terminal. The best thing is that we would go there every Monday. Yay!

Aside from the "Smart Room," nothing else was new...

Oh yes, the essay! Guess what this is referring to:

A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is a better place than the street. At first, it is better to run than to walk. You may have to try several times. It takes some skill but it's easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it. Once successful, complications are minimal. Birds seldom get too close. Rain however, soaks in very fast. Too many people doing the same thing can also cause problems. One needs lots of room. If there are no complications, it can be very peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor. If things break loose from it, however, you will not get a second chance.

Tuesday - Oh, how late I slept because of our DATABAS Code Challenge. We were to make a Notepad using Java, and we didn't know how. What's more, we had a text (S-25) in ENGLCOM, and we had to be at school at *shrudder* 7 AM for our FWDANCE class...

FWDANCE - We watched a video about dances and stuff. The professor only got mad at three students who were late.

During our spare time, Raisa and I joined Yna's group and went with them to interview Mr. Licuanan (His pictures were all around the area.).

SOCTEC1 - We went inside the lecture hall. The discussion of Ms. Pineda was quite interesting today, despite initial technical problems.

ENGLCOM - We had a 25-item quiz (essay and enumeration type). After that, we discussed some aspects of reading. That's all.

DATABAS - All our hard work paid for nothing. All students (maybe not all), weren't able to answer Mr. See's questions the way he wanted to. An ultimate massacre...

The three day post ends here.

Sabotaging Saturday

2006-09-16T22:37:00.000+08:00

Sabotaging Saturday

We had our first Saturday class at 9 AM. NSTP-C1 commonly known as NSTP-CWTS (Formation Phase - National Service Training Program - Civic Welfare Training Service) headed by our facilitator, Ms. Ira Tamis. We played Wordles to liven up the day and did some more activities to boot.

After we were dismissed, we walked by the soccer field and saw how arduous the tasks those cadets taking up ROTC were enduring from. We felt priveleged to have stayed inside an air-conditioned room.

Plans for the day bere crushed into bits when Rai and Yan wouldn't be able to join us in our trip. We took lunch at McDonald's before parting with each other (Lou).

Miraculously, the two of us saw Jerlou and Nica lining up in front of the cashier. We were told that Ces was around also. Not long after, Mich and Kristine also arrived. I saw Kate by the way. Hopes were rekindled.

I was glad that Lou was "not herself today" so she agreed to join me in my escapades. We went to GUM & MUG. I saw Dianne (Dtiff) there. By that time I greatly felt remorseful of not bringing my camera with me. We went to make an appointment with Mrs. Rivera (on Monday). We visited Ms. Lim and greeted her happy birthday. We went to the gym and saw Kathy and Mr. Go watching a basketball game. All this time Lou was at GUM & MUG waiting. She didn't want to join us.

After a few games of O2 Mania (some Sophomore students' attention were also attracted in the process), an episode of Bleach, and a few episodes of Digimon Savers, we went to SM San Lazaro, where we played Dance Maniax.

Skip to the end of the day - I'm home. I hope Lou enjoyed her day, and I hope she makes good use of the book I borrowed her.

Assignments... Ji - guly - puff - jiga - li - li - li - puff...

Second Impressions

2006-09-15T20:25:00.000+08:00

Second Impressions

The first week of the second term (set aside tomorrow) had just ended. I encountered dirrerent kinds of professors - carefree to starchy to stringent and the like. What I liked most (for now) is ENGLCOM, for English is my forte. The other subjects... I don't like them very much.

And now, a summary of this week.

FORMDEV - I usually confuse this with ORGMGNT. Our facilitators were students from higher batches, and I believe this course would be much like PERSEF - fun-filled and action packed.

ENGLCOM - Our professor is Ms. Marianne Jennifer M. Gaerlan. Our current topic is about critical thinking - a high-level mental activity which enables a person to do a careful examination of a subject. Our first quiz is on Tuesday. Since our block was divided into two, 18 of us went to S25, and that includes me. We ended up at Room A905 and there we take our ENGLCOM classes.

TREDONE - Our professor is Sr. Pinky, MACE. She gave us a simple recitation a while ago to show our blockmates how creative we can be. I've heard rumors that our professor teaches well, so I have high expectations of this subject.

ORGMGNT - Uh, this subject is quite boring. Our professor is Ms. Pineda. This subject is quite like Economics with a twist. Since our course involves management (as in Information and Communications Technology MANAGEMENT), we have management courses to boot. We had a surprise quiz a while ago, and I did very badly. Oh boy...

FWDANCE - Our professor is SCARY - Professor Martin C. Ronda. I got scolded by him the first day (Tuesday) when I arrived 4 minutes late. He encourages me to arrive at school an hour earlier. I'll try... my best.

SOCTEC1 - Another Transformative Learning course - we were to interview a scientist and ask him or her about certain things. By the way, a while ago, when I went to Metropolitan Medical Center, I met Gian, his mom, Ron, and Mrs. Rivera. Ron told me how unlucky our batch was in the sense that Uno is already featuring Theater, Music, Math, and other clubs. So what, the progress began with us. We were the pioneers. Anyway, an idea came to me. I asked Mrs. Rivera if we can interview her for our SOCTEC1 project. She agreed but she told me that I have to set an appointment with her first...

DATABAS - Our professor, as I previously said, looked like the 'previous' Kevin (Tan) and sounded a lot like Mr. Ang. Later I figured out that we shared the same first name; his name was Solomon See. Judging by his attire, I could see that he was a Philippine Cultural High School alumnai, just like Kristine (and Christine Enclona - she and her family have already moved to Bay Garden). We were given a difficult task of making a Notepad program with a lot of specifications. Good luck to us.

NSTP-C1 - Tomorrow, we'll see...

New Beginnings

2006-09-11T23:05:00.000+08:00

New Beginnings

Today was the first day of our second term in college. Believe me, things did not go out as expected. There had been many twists and turns today, but I was happy. Happy in the sense that school started once again and I do not have to endure days of boredom at home.

I was even happier when I found out that Lou's and Yan's schedules wasn't drastically different from mine's. The trio lives on...

Realistically speaking, the day faced a terrible start when I was late for my first class, which was FORMDEV (Formation and Development). This is a 0.5 unit non-academic course which we would take up every Monday at 11:40 to 12:40 PM for the whole term. I was even more surprised when I saw the president of LSCS in front of the classroom. Fellow students would become our teachers? Interesting...

We had an introduction, then formal classes started. We were grouped accordingly and then had an activity which involves writing about positive traits of different people. We then proceeded to our second class, which was located at the same floor (Room 905 this time, FORMDEV was at Room 902). I became an S25 student, as well as the two and some of my friends, and the others got separated and remained as S15 students.

ENGLCOM (ENGLONE - English One) was our next subject which we will take for four days (MTHF). Our professor was Ms. Marianne Jennifer M. Gaerlan (She told us to remember and not misspell her name. Writing her name in my post would be a good start.) and she asked us to partner up with another person and ask him/her about some information. Yna was my partner and we ended up doing well...

There was a long break, so I took out my notebook (which I am currently using to write my blog; somewhat getting used to its diminutive keyboard) and played some games. Before long, we returned to our former classroom (Room 810) and had TREDONE.

TRED - Theology and Religious Education Department
TREDONE - Humanity's Search for Life

What a vast difference. Our professor (sister, perhaps would be a more proper salutation) was Sr. Marlene Anne Garcia Aquino, MACE or Sr. Pinky, MACE for short (She also told us to remember her name - It might come out as a bonus question in
her quiz.) Anyway, I thought TREDONE would be about Bible characters and figures, but I was wrong. This subject involves interreacting to other religions, oh my gosh.

Lastly, ORGMGNT (Organization and Management Concepts)... I recognize our professor. She was the one who taught us blogging back during summer camp time. She's our teacher now? Great... but I heard that she's a "terror." We'll see in the following weeks...

Classes were dismissed, and we went to the bookstore to buy... books. Yna and I had to wait until 6 for our LSCS meeing though...

Jump to 5:30. Yna (after meeting with her friend) and I went inside L'Hermitage (second visit) and stepped inside the prayer room abd waited for the meeting to start. Yna went home early, but I waited for the meeting to end before going home (with my mom, I waited for our car).

At home, I pondered over a interesting text message I received (and ignored) a few days ago. It was from Nikko. (I just realized now...) It goes like this:

R u smart? I'm male. Add a letter and i'm female. Add another letter and i'm male again. Add 3 more letters and i'm female again. What am i? ='p

Let me think...

1st Term Break (Part 6)

2006-09-05T00:56:00.000+08:00

1st Term Break (Part 6)

I realized that I haven't posted for two very important days - yesterday and the day before that. To cope for that, I would be dividing my post into 3 shorter ones. The first part can be found here; the second at Friendster, and the last one at Multiply. Please remember that my blog here in Blogspot would contain the most updates.

Part One - The day my blockmates came to my house.

Meeting place: Gokongwei. Lou was the first to arrive. Bea was the second, and Kristine and I came in simultaneously. After a few chit-chats, Lou and Bea decided to accompany Kristine and I to the admissions center to pay for second term's tuition. It took us a long time to go over step two, despite spending so less a time to finish step 1. (Lasallians must know this.)

After enrollment, we ate lunch at KFC, where I ordered two pieces of fried chicken, an order of extreme hot shots, a chicken barbeque stick, and a cup of iced tea. Delicious!

Initially planning to go to Glorietta, the constraints of time forced us to go home instead. We rode the LRT all the way to Carriedo, and my blockmates did some DVD shopping there.

We then rode a jeepney to Madrid, a block away from my home. Upon arrival, and a few camera shots later, Lou was already playing O2 Jam. Within a few minutes, Bea and Kristine were also playing. It took me a few moments to showcase the different musical instruments present in our room. My dad's collection of Coke cans from all over the world also fascinated my friends. After a few minutes of preparation, the GameCube was ready for a game of Mario Party.

My blockmates were easy learners; thus, we started playing early. Every minigame deserved two practices at that. Lou won in the end. Shocking! We also played Speak Up! of Mario Party 6, and I won while my friends were enjoying themselves in the process.

It was 5 o'clock, and it started to rain. We took separate side cars and went straight to GUM & MUG. Van can be seen wandering around. Joanie was also there, and I introduced her to my blockmates. She left soon after.

Lisa arrived all of a sudden. She expressed her emotions about her not pursuing BS-ICTM in La Salle when in fact she passed the entrance exam. She went to Ateneo by the way. Moments later, my mom drove my friends to Bambang station and the day was soon over.

Click here for Part Two - The day Steve Irwin rocked the planet.

PS. Yes, I intentionally didn't place the link to my Multiply account here. Navigate your way the hard way!

1st Term Break (Part 5)

2006-09-03T01:00:00.000+08:00

Memories of My Great

Grandmother

Today started out fine. I went to GUM & MUG to meet with some of my close friends from high school. We were set for a trip of a lifetime!

Shirlina was indeed late. Nikko arrived way before him. He easily became fond of Van, and he took some photos with my pet. Meanwhile, Shirlina was on her way...

The three of us, along with her mom, were happily chatting as we headed for World Trade Center. Text messages "entertained" us and so did jokes.

We arrived soon after and took some photographs of the area. Nikko and Shirlina immediately rushed out to purchase some good books, while I calmly walked around in search for a Java Databases reference book. I found one but it was definitely not of my style; it was not a thick book which looked easy to read.

There had been rumors of Christabelle and Keith roaming around the vicinity. Too bad we didn't get a chance to meet them.

Lunchtime was approaching. We initially planned to have our lunches within the realms of World Trade Center, but circumstances forced us to have our lunches outside - into the depths of Blue Wave.

Pizza Hut - we ate a Super Supreme Pizza, Fetuccini Alfredos, drank Tropical Fizzes, and ended up with laughs. Jocke / Robin's got to see this...

On our way home, I suddenly recieved a call from my mom:

"Great Grandma is in the hospital and she couldn't breathe. The doctors are tying to save her. Please pray..."

Immediately my head went blank. Tai-Ma (great grandmother) was one of my most cherished people. I didn't know what to say so I quickly said yes and hung up the phone.

Why are these things happening to me? Just yesterday I heard that my aunt's father-in-law just passed away. My brain was starting to crumble apart...

I was afraid to touch my cell phone. Any minute I may receive that dreaded message. Perhaps not? Shirlina's mom dropped us outside the Reina Regente Tennis Club. After expressing my gratitude, I walked my way to GUM & MUG.

Upon passing by Elan, our school's resident hair salon, my dad called me up informing me of the bad news - my great grandmother just passed away...

The expression on my face didn't change. I continued walking until I finally arrived at our store. Tai-Ma's dead... Am I dreaming?

No, it couldn't be. She just went to Malaysia a few months ago. Last April, she also joined me and Joanie to Baguio. She was so strong...

I remember Nikki joking to me when she saw Tai-Ma without an upper garment last year. We were happily playing Mario Party along with the rest of my nephews. Those memories...

Nooo...

Shirlina was the first one to condole me. My mom wasn't at the store, so I was the supreme ruler that time. I ordered Van to be released from prison, and told my maidservants to bring a cold mango shake and some delectable food in front of me. All things were done in a snap of a finger.

At night, I went to the funeral ceremonies of Tai-Ma. I figured out that the coffin wasn't in it's proper place yet. My mom and company were still in the preservation chamber, and my aunt told me to join her in going there.

For the sake of those people who have hematophobia or any related fears, I will not be posting what happened inside the morgue.

This question bothered me...

You cry for a loved one who just passed away. You miss that person. Why is it that, after a few weeks, those tears are nowhere to be found? You just speak about that person treating him or her like a lost object? Where do your tears go? It's not like you still love the person.

My question would sound stupid to most of you, but if you analyze the question thoughroughly, ever so deeply, the feeling of sorrow may also engulf you.

This is the sad reality of life.

All things change but Jesus never - Yes, only His love is unchanging...

PS. I still have some more things in mind, but since I'm trying to keep my posts as short as possible, those paragraphs had not been included.

1st Term Break (Part 4)

2006-09-02T00:04:00.000+08:00

1st Term Break (Part 4)

Today's post would be short.

I was finally able to download all 14 episodes (and 1 trailer) of Digimon Savers (for now). Since I had matters to do, I went to GUM & MUG and waited for my mom (or anyone else) to accompany me to the (tooth) x-ray station, for my dentist was concerned about my wisdom teeth.

Surprisingly though, I found Shirlina and Stephanie there. (Who would forget about that darned tricycle trip I had. That driver was to naive.) Shirlina was back from her tennis trip, and Steph - it was my first time to see her in her new hair makeover in person. Before long, Marija, Tinselle, Allyanna, Nikko, George, and Kelvin arrived. Wow! Reunion party!

Denzel (DK's clone aka younger brother) was obsesed with his Pokemon Fire Red version as I was busy earning Bug Fragments for Mega Man Battle Network 6. Van entertained us quite a bit and everything went okay...

At home, I played a few games of O2 Jam with Lou and afterwards, I watched the remaining few wpisodes of DS (Digimon Savers) I downloaded. Seems like starting episode 14, resemblances to the other Digimon series have started to emerge. But still...

I'm ending my post here.

1st Term Break (Part 3)

2006-09-01T00:35:00.000+08:00

1st Term Break (Part 3)

I've met with so many Uneans today. There's Mhir, Sharmaine, Rominick, Karl, Rochelle, Tinselle, Jester, Jhovee, and even (Professor) Andrew Pua! It seems that today really was kind of different...

The moment I arrived at school, I immediately set forth to LSPO, without knowing where it actually is. I'm glad I met Raisa, her friend, and Bea on the way. Because LASARE1 course cards are not yet available, we set toward the sports complex in front of Gonzalez Hall (Andrew) to (hopefully be able to) get our FWSPORT course cards.

How long we waited for Mr. Andrei Ablaza, who would give us our course cards in our professor's place. While waiting, I met Marija and Sharmaine, who got pretty impressive grades in their respective PE courses. I envied most of my classmates who got a 4.0 in Taekwondo for I only got a 3.5 - maybe it was because I was late once. Oh well. FWSPORT's not a course to be afraid of. There was more to come.

(We were shoched when we saw a failing mark in one of the course cards. Later on we realized that it was Jake's. We were relieved.)

We headed to LSPO and got word from the person in charge that our course cards were with Lichelle. We looked for her and found her waiting in the Warp Zone on our way to Gokongwei to get our INTRICT course cards. I passed even if I submitted my soft copy late (because of that wrong email address). Again, one problem down; more to come, and the worst is approaching...

INTRICT - I got a 3.0 and it let me computing if I would be a Dean's Lister or not. The next ones we would eventually receive are our ALGTRIG course cards. Everyone (almost) was afraid of them, for the final test was really difficult and it looked like more than half of the class is going to fail in that quiz. My heart started pumping wildly. I was starting to get nervous and "hyper." I expected a 2 in ALGTRIG but pretensions stated that I might actually go lower than that. We proceeded to Saint Joseph Hall...

Thanks to Cecille's commanding voice, we found out that our ALGTRIG course cards would be distributed at 1:00 PM and so we left. It was still early but we headed for lunch at Jollibee.

I ordered the usual. 2 pieces honey-spiced chicken - I hate the smell, but I like the spice. After the meal, Lou, Raisa, "Both (or is it "Boat?"), Lichelle, and I went to Netopia. Neopets and Dance M... I mean O2 Jam time!

After all our anxieties were poured out on our crazy games, we headed for Saint Joseph Hall, where we anxiously waited for our ALGTRIG course cards. We had some photographic escapades back then...

2.5 was the highest grade? No way!

The professor called one of our blockmates and told him or her (I forgot who the person was.) that course cards would be distributed an hour later. What's with him?

We waited for Ms. Shirley and joked around with "to-be-made" GIF files in the process. Tunes of O2 Jam were also hummed and performed. Oh wow!

We got our INTRPRG Quiz 2's first, then our course cards. I was surprized that I got a 105% in quiz 2; I was happy to get a 135% in my machine project (for I was anticipating a grade of 130% only). A 4.0 with 12.329 points to spare.

Unfortunately, these INTRPRG course cards were the cause of sorrow to most of my blockmates. My conscience greatly bothered me when I found out that... should have helped them...

Yna arrived and she had Joy's course cards with her. Perfect 4.0's. Wow! Would she be the next... or the first "Goddess of ICTM," just like him... Jester Sia?

ALGTRIG - "This is the worst." I remembered from Digimon Savers - that was the most commonly used sentence in the series as of now. In case you were wondering, the most common word uttered was "aniki," which means brother. (Agumon loves to say that!) I was utterly shocked when I saw that I got a 3.0 in ALGTRIG. Is this possible?

SCIENVB - I met Tinselle. I got a 3.0; Joy also. "Sayang! Perfect 4.0 na sana!" Still, she's a First Honor Dean's Lister. I envy her.

After all those trials, I had a meeting with my Publications committee at the Student's Nook. After that, I went to McDonald's, gave Lou and Yan a little surprise, went to Netopia with them, went to GUM & MUG, to an uncle's (and his dad's) birthday party, went home, submitted my class schedule to my officer, then worked on this blog.

It's almost two in the morning, and I'm still wide awake. What to do? I can watch some episodes of Digimon Savers I downloaded overnight. Maybe my dad would force me to sleep. Who knows?

PS. There's also PERSEF1, in which our kind professor gave us all in our class 4.0's. Isn't that nice?

1st Term Break (Part 2)

2006-08-30T00:25:00.000+08:00

1st Term Break (Part 2)

It's really boring here at home doing nothing...

Course card distribution day (August 31) sure is drawing near, and I become more and more anxious in the process. I finally admit defeat to the one I am competing against. Getting a 4.0 in all subjects is not as easy as I thought (especially ALGTRIG) and by that, my chances of becoming a Dean's Lister are becoming slimmer and slimmer. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about it, except to hope that somehow, our professors would have compassion over our flunking (maybe) grades...

Monday

My father "disturbed" my sleep calling me Solomosaurus and acted like a kid in the process (His second childhood has once again returned.). After 30 minutes of rampage, I finally rose up from my bed and got up to work. It didn't take me long to realize that my eye had swollen...

It was scary - the white part, the sclera, had puffed up leaving the colored parts (the iris and the pupil) compressed. I thought I would be blind in a few more days, but after consulting an ophthalmologist, I learned that it was caused by allergic reactions in my eye. He prescribed some medicine for me. After applying a drop to my eye, my eye was back to normal. Brrr, the power of steroids - mustn't overuse them.

I missed an old anime which I enjoyed watching more than 5 years ago - Grander Musashi RV. After days and days of searching for download torrents, I made no progress (for it was indeed an old show). I looked for Digimon Frontier torrents instead, and I encountered something interesting in the process. A new series? Really?

Digimon Savers.

At first sight, it looked nothing like the provious series of Digimon - the goggle-boys, Digidestined kids, and stuff. It looked more like Gundam Seed characters, woth captains and commanders, missions, et cetera. Another look made interested in the opening and ending themes of the series - quite good. I decided to delve into the series. Download progress: 0.24%...

Tuesday

I woke up and found that not a single episode of Digimon Savers had finished downloading yet. I was bored. I played a little O2 Jam and Mega Man Battle Network 6 to cool off. Finally, I was able to return to the point where my game suddenly restarted. Within a few minutes, episode 2 had successfully been downloaded, leaving episode 1 far behind...

I waited for episode 1 to finish downloading and ended up with an avi file of episode 3. Waah! I was forced to watch episode 2.

The show looked really interesting, and it created a vast gap between the provious series. (Agumon was so cute! Agu-chan!) Watch it yourselves...

Episode 1 had finished downloading. I watched it, of course, and now I am waiting for the others (Currently, up to episode 14...) It's a long way to go... Finally, I'm not limited to Naruto and Bleach, and nobody can tell me that I was following after him or her. After all, Digimon had always been my favorite...

I also had a battle with Johann in Neopets, and I garnered victory without a single hit. (I used my level 1 Blusster.) After teaching him the basics of Neopets, I left him exploring the vast worlds of Neopia...

I went to the prayer meeting this night and ate dinner afterwards at David's Tea House. We had a Sate hot pot and I ate the biggest share of food (Who wouldn't be hungry at 9:30 PM?). At home, I waited for the downloads...

Wait. Wait. Wait. Be done already!

1st Term Break (Part 1)

2006-08-27T23:53:00.000+08:00

1st Term Break (Part 1)

Sunday it is. After going to church, it was time for some mall frequenting. Today, we went to Greenbelt...

It was sad to see none of my friends coming to join me, but what's the matter? It's their loss. Anyway...

The moment we arrived there, there was a heavy construction going on. It must be because of that Greenbelt 5 their trying to come up with.

We were also surprised to see the changes in Greenbelt 3 - 4's food court. The place was missing and was replaced by different exquisite restaurants.

We planned to eat at Jollibee today to indulge in the "Chiliwings" that I am very fond of. Things turned out differently and we settled for Krocodile Grille instead. Hmm, brings back memories... (Aww, cute little Crocks...)

I parted ways with my parents and had my weekly dose of Dance Maniax. I tried out many new songs which I have never played before, and ended up losing in Quickening Wild Mode. (Obviously, that song's crazy. Those who can surpass the stage must be really good...)

After that, we proceeded to Powerbooks and I browsed for certain Java Database reference books to get ready for the next term (I really hope INTRODB is more on programming than memorizing. Then again, some may not agree.). We passed Landmark and went to Glorietta. There, there was this Intel showcase which caught my attention...

High Performance.
Low Power.
Absolute Perfection.

The new Intel Core 2 Duo desktop processor.
Introducing the world's best desktop processor.

From the time I saw PC Express's advertisement two weeks ago, I was really interested to find out what this revolutionary processor can do. Yeah, it's fast. So what? Can it really exceed my SSS (Sterling Silver Station - I call my computer, for it had a silver theme.) built with Pentium 4 HT 3.2 GHz processor? If yes, how so? I took the tour...

If I wanted to upgrade my computer to Intel Core 2 Duo, I would have to replace everything inside the casing (Hey listen non-techies, the casing's not the CPU, it's called the system unit, or to sound more professional, call it the chassis [pronounced: shassy]). Guess I'll have to earn more money. The computer at GUM & MUG desperately needs upgrading though, I could replace it with mine at home, after upgrading...

Wow Thermaltake Shark! I saw the chassis Intel are using. Makes me want to buy them... Hmmm, guess I really want one. Okay, start earning.

Target Gadget: Thermaltake Shark, Kandalf, or Kandalf LCS

It took us a long time to get back, and we reached home at around 6 o'clock. What if my friends join me? We would definitely have a fun time playing Dance Maniax, but would I be able to accomplich this much things? I don't think so.

I guess God's will for each day is perfect after all.

Absence

2006-08-25T23:36:00.000+08:00

Absence

How unnerved we were yesterday after our ALGTRIG final exams. Many questions were left unanswered. There goes my hopes of becoming a dean's lister...

It was a difficult test. I could say that it was an average test to the 6th power - a level or two below Mr. Ang's quizzes. Grumblings filled the second floor of Gokongwei lobby. Sigh... (I wonder how Rochelle found the quiz...)

We ate at Tapa King and went to Netopia in University Mall (after frolicking various areas) to relieve our trobles and anxieties. Lou and I taught Rai-chan how to play O2 Jam. Star (Yan), on the other hand, was busy talking to her friends (maybe?) through the Internet and MY cell phone. After a few minutes, Raisa had to go...

I thought they were joking when Lou and Dianne said that they would go to my place. Well, I expected their presence the next day, which... read on...

We first went to GUM & MUG. Van was anticipating us, and he greeted us warmly. We went home and played Mario Party, thanks to that broken computer table (keyboard stand). We had some road trouble on the bay back, but nonetheless...

I'm trying to keep this post short, so I'll skip some major portions...

The next day, whick is, in fact, today, Yan's presence was missing; she couldn't come because she caught a bad cold. Too bad... Nicolo became her proxy. We went to SM San Lazaro (because of Nicolo's bidding for he had some matters to do there).

We ate at Jollibee. I figured out that the honey-spiced chicken of Jollibee tasted a lot like their Chiliwings which I really liked. I'll definitely order that again next time...

We played Dance Maniax after Nicolo and us parted ways... We (Lou) bought some posters at Comic Alley. We also had a short game of O2 Jam at Netopia. Afterwards, the day seemed to end. A day without Yan sure is different...

At home, I tried my best to convert my 9-class file 58.2 megabyte scientific calculator into an applet. I also converted my blog into a different format. (Most of you wouldn't notice this...) Currently, my right eye is irritating me...

I'll end this post here.

Crash Landing

2006-08-23T23:44:00.000+08:00

Crash Landing

Today had been an awful day for me. First off...

Anyone wondered why I wasn't online yesterday? The reason is simple. Well, after our exciting trip to SM San Lazaro yesterday, and after returning home
(that's about 6:30 in the evening), I immediately dozed off...

I woke up at 6:30 in the evening stupefied. What's this?! I slept for 12 hours without eating dinner. What's more, I discovered that I had a serious case of eye inflammation on my right eye because I forgot to remove my contact lenses last night. My eye sore affected my brain which led to a minor headache.

I brushed my teeth, took breakfast, then went to bed again to cure my headache. I woke up at 11:30 in the morning...

Jump to 4:30. I met two Unean friends of mine on my way to GUM & MUG. Upon arrival, I saw Kathy. Then Joanie, then Lisa, then Kenneth, then Joyce, then Kem...

Anyway, here are the BAD things that had happened today, listed in chronological order (and aggrevating order):

1. My eyes got inflamed by overusage of contact lenses.

2. I only got a 95% in our Hands-On Examination 4 when I expected a 100%. Oh well, that's still a 4.0...

3. I can't seem to find my USB card reader. Without it, I wouldn't be able to transfer the pictures I took to my computer. Oh no! Update - Found it!

4. My Game Boy Micro's exquisite black velvet covering was misplaced. I hope I can find it soon.

5. My computer table, 70% of which was made of glass, shattered and broke into pieces when a cup fell from the top layer. Good grief. I was expecting to put up a nice show on Friday...

Till then. I have to study for... *shrudder* ALGTRIG!

Unexpected Occurrences

2006-08-19T18:28:00.000+08:00

Unexpected Occurences

To start my post on a happy note, I am pleased to announce that my blog setting have been modified for easier and faster access. You can now only view my 7 recent posts on my blog's main page. For those who want to check out any posts before that, figure out a way...

Why did I do this? Well, my blog overloaded two days ago and most features were disabled for quite a while because of that. I'm trying to prevent that from happening again so please bear with me.

My cousins would be going back to Taiwan tomorrow...

We ate lunch with them at Mandarin Oriental Hotel a while ago. There are some pictures I want to post, but never mind.

I'm sorry to tell everybody that this may be my first and last post for today, well, until Wednesday. Too much had already happened. Next week is already our finals. Good luck to me and my blockmates.

That's only half of the problem. We had to submit a 7 + 2 page proposal / action plan for SCIENVB, and there is also this tedious machine project. My head is bursting. Enough already!

Birthday Bonanza

2006-08-17T22:02:00.000+08:00

Birthday Bonanza

I met with my friends at Starbucks this morning in preparation for a special surprise party for our two blockmates. Together, the four of us...

Cell Phone Addict Dianne Añes (Yan)

Anime Fanatic Loullevette Salvador (Lou)

Block President Raisa Aquino (Rai-Chan)

and of course ME!

... went to SM Manila to buy some gifts for our two beloved birthday celebrants, Bea and Joy.

Firstly, we went to Designer Blooms and bought some flowers for our two celebrants. Afterwards, we went to Tokyo Kids and I reserved a copy of the original Final Fantasy VII Advent Children DVD which was out of stock in more than 5 locations I've visited. Lastly, we went to Blue Magic and bought some cute and cuddly stuffed toys for our two friends...

We went to McDonalds Taft and waited for Joy...

That was Joy's initial reaction upon receiving her gifts.

We went to school via South Gate and encountered some problems which were soon resolved. We went to EGI Taft and left Joy's gifts (and cake) at her place, and we left for Andrew Hall.

I met five classmates today (although only 4 may have noticed my presence. These five are:

1. Rominick Lee
2. Jillan Yu
3. Raymond Dizon
4. Diana Bulang
5. Jacqueline Chuacokiong

I ate lunch at La Casita - Nissin Beef noodles and iced tea.

Before long, Bea arrived and...

Today, I'll be introducing to you (non-blockmates) some of my classmates in S-15. Before that, though...

Introducing our ALGTRIG professor, Christopher "Tweet" Cruz!

Blockmates, show yourselves! Dun dun dun!

Lichelle Acebuque

Nica Lorraine Tanjutco

Blushful Louie Sioco

Johann "Panda" Sy, Nicolo's former classmate

Cecille Santiago (Ces / Cess)

James Victor Sy

Cesar Padre Jr.

(Left to Right) Raisa Aquino (Rai-Chan), Michael Chavez (Chavz), Yna "Cinel" Bicol

(Left to Right) Michelle Ty (Mich), Caselyn Joy Lim (Joy)

EAF Distribution - Dianne Añes (Yan) and Jamie So

(Left to Right) John Philip Torres (Philip), Marcky Lumayag

(Left to Right) Batch President Eloize Mendoza, Nadia Cayco (Nadj)

That's all for now. I'm running out of storage capacity... Before I end this post, though, I would like to show you two more pictures...

This is Andrew 810, the classroom which gave me my humble (and horrendous) beginnings.

(That's Aya over there, and Gino...)

Only one university offers its students a 21-floor tower complete with up-to-date and efficient facilities, and that is...

De La Salle University!

My past regrets have already been cleared. Now I see how lucky I am...

Animo La Salle!

Entourage

2006-08-17T00:15:00.000+08:00

Entourage

Yes, I know I haven't posted for a while, again... What can I do? Tons of homework... College life sure is difficult.

Well, my cousins from Taiwan have just arrived yesterday and I couldn't wait to show them around the new sights in our environment... After coming home from school yesterday, and after going to SM San Lazaro, me, my mom, my household assistant, and my two cousins went to SM Mall of Asia.

Well, pictures speak louder than words, so instead of my usual boring, lengthy paragraphs, I'm providing everyone with photos - decipher them for yourselves...

Well, I was the official photographer, so...

The first thing we did when we arrived is... to eat!

Where did we eat? Discover for yourselves.

What did we eat? Look and see.

A picture of me and my cousins by my mom.

Take 2 - by Jael! Oh yes, I haven't formally introduced everyone yet!

This is Eunice, the famous artist (as in drawing and the like) from Taiwan who would soon be known from all over the world! I'm not kidding!

This is Jael, the one who inspired me to take music seriously, especially playing the piano.

This is Bibing, our assistant who smiles all the time.

(My mom doesn't want to be included in this photo gallery.)

I guess you know me already...

My two cousins in front of Dance Maniax! They didn't play. Only me and Bibing did.

We lacked time to go ice skating...

We went home after most shops were closed, and home we are right now.

The end!

Escapades

2006-08-12T19:36:00.000+08:00

Escapades

Well, I didn't have time to post yesterday because I went home late and there was a quiz the next day, so I'll combine yesterday's and today's articles into one single post.

We had our final exams (written and application) in Taekwondo yesterday morning. I went to school an hour early to study and practice. After the two tests, me, Dianne, Lou, Lichelle, and Raisa, started our adventurous journey to SM Manila.

We rode the LRT to Central Terminal. We ate at Jollibee. We went to Quantum. We played Dance Maniax. We rushed back to school.

My friends described the day as:

"The day Dance Maniax died"
"The day we ate at Jollibee"
"The day we ran to Gokongwei"

We were there!

After being entertained by Louie and Co.'s report, I set for GUM & MUG... On the way, I met Raymond and Diana again; GUM & MUG - Joanie was there, and so was Nikko and (the daring) Lisa. Afterwards, my dad told me to assist at church...

It was 10 when I got home. There was a lot to study for our INTRPRG quiz tomorrow, and so I slept at around 4 AM.

I woke up at 7 in the morning (Boo hoo... only 3 hours of sleep...) and prepared myself for things to be expected:

1. Ms Shirley may call my attention.
2. The quiz may be harder than expected.

We went to Gokongwei 402. Our professor was late. Eventually, she arrived and we took our 4-page exam...

She didn't call my attention. That's great. I didn't need to defend myself.

The test was definitely harder than expected. At the first sight of pages 1 and 2, I was dumbstruck. The tracing portion was so long.

I couldn't let myself be disgruntled for I have a goal to attain. 11:20 was still far away, I thought. Things would be just fine...

I got to finish my test on time. When I was comparing answers with my blockmates, I found out that I committed some mistakes in the debugging portion. Thank goodness there was 10 bonus points. Uh oh, I think I've found another mistake...

We had our last PERSEF session. I have nothing much to say... Our team ended in second place and we would get an additional 0.5 points in our final PERSEF GPA (grade point average).

I went to GUM & MUG and met Shirlina on the way. We met again when she invited me to play tennis with her amidst the ferocious wind and rain.

Back here at home, I'm enduring a minor cold which I may have caught a while ago. Machine project? Hmm... maybe later...

Paranoia

2006-08-10T21:39:00.000+08:00

Paranoia

How glad I was when I realized how right I was to not teach my blockmates how to do their hands-on examinations...

If being bombarded with tons of questions was not enough, compare it with failing threats from our INTRPRG professor. It caused our block to stumble from a state of peace to a hotbed of confusion...

"Buti pa si Mon, walang pinoproblema." I heard somebody say...

Who says I had no worries? I feel bad about my blockmates' suffering; so bad that I felt that I had to say sorry myself for doing something which I didn't really do. It was a terrible prococious experience. It's still bothering me now...

I know I did nothing wrong. Be still, my soul...

I couldn't shake the feeling off. If I "confess (which I don't know why I'll do so)," I'll get a 0.0 in my hard-worked hands-on examination. So much for my suffering...

If I didn't, though, she may call my attention this Saturday morning, and if she did, I'll get another disciplinary case and an immediate failing grade on my course. Still, I know I did nothing wrong. Mostly, I relied on the three reference books I had at home, which doesn't teach you anything about calculators...

My program consisted of more than 10 variables, 5 classes, and one final output. I sincerely believe that absolutely no blockmate of mine had that crazy idea of using 5 classes such as me. What's more, I have so many variables...

It had really been a crazy day, and what I can only do now is give you all a brief recap of today's events...

1. Class confusion at INTRPRG.
2. Crazed meeting at Gokongwei 2nd floor after INTRPRG class.
3. Signed up for a free Ragnarok CD at Gokongwei 1st floor.
4. 9th Sisig with egg meal and iced tea at La Casita.
5. Trigonometric functions at ALGTRIG.
6. Discipline officer called Yna, the "muse."
6. A Great Coral Reef Expedition High Definition video at SCIENVB.
7. Pictionary and Taboo at PERSEF.
8. Met Allie at the Andrew elevator.
9. Met the discipline officers and explained my case.
10. A discontinued game at Portal.

And I'm home... Many people are still reassuring me that I did nothing wrong... Nervousness still burning within me - I'm scared. We still had our practical examinations in Taekwondo tomorrow...

It's been a crazy day; I'm scared and I don't know what to do...

Psychopathic Crazilator

2006-08-09T22:02:00.000+08:00

Psychopathic Crazilator

From the title itself...

Yes, I know I haven't posted for 2 days already. It's all because of that hands-on examination / machine project! Darn it! I slept at 4:00 for the past few weeks all because of those two, and look what happens...

I'm going crazy. Why did everyone think that I was already finished with my calculator (last two days) when I wasn't even half-finished? Every day, when I go online at Yahoo! Messenger, I am flooded with tons of questions from my blockmates. That's why I hid myself two days ago...

I was glad to submit my porject on time. Traumatized by my reflection paper which was sent to the wrong e-mail address, I hope I submitted my work to the correct e-mail address...

Machine project time. I slept at 4 again yesterday just to complete my calculator, and my hard work did pay off. Right now, I am planning to add some extra features so that I could get a grade higher than 100%. How high can I go?

I'll ask Ms. Shirley tomorrow if I can submit my project ahead of time...

Today, when I rode the LRT to Bambang Station, I calculated the time it takes to, well...

Vito Cruz to Quirino -> 57 seconds
Quirino to Pedro Gil -> 45 seconds
Pedro Gil to UN Avenue -> 45 seconds
UN Avenue to Central Terminal -> 1 minute and 15 seconds
Central Terminal to Carriedo -> 62 seconds
Carriedo to Doroteo Jose -> 37 seconds
Doroteo Jose to Bambang -> 38 seconds

I saw Mhir two days ago; I saw none (Unean batchmates) yesterday and today, except Joanie who "barged" into my house to use borrow my computer yesterday when I really lacked the time to complete my hands-on examination...

Today was my cousin's son's birthday; yesterday was Dennis'. I also had my flute lessons a while ago. My flute teacher was filled with awe the moment he noticed my new LCD monitor at home.

"Lupit!"

LCD monitors take time to get used to... LCD monitors and contact lenses have lots of things in common - advantages and disadvantages. Since I plan to make this post short, I'll not discuss them.

I went to the Discipline Office a while ago, but my appointment was rescheduled to tomorrow since the investigation officer wasn't around. It wasn't a waste of time though, for I easily became friends with a DO (Discipline Officer) when I found her a muse for their (I don't know what) party - Yna!

I'm sure she was really angry at me, but what can I do?

Tomorrow, I'll be back with her for more excitement, thrill, and action. Right now, though, it's a choice between enhancing my machine project or playing of O2 Jam. Which should I chose?

Sterling

2006-08-07T00:52:00.000+08:00

Sterling

Ahhh... I'm in a rush again...

Let me give you a really brief summary of today...

1. We went to Annapolis (a restaurant) and was treated by my aunt (my mom's only elder sister) for it was her birthday.

2. I met a nine year old kid who had a Game Boy Advance-SP with him. Observing more carefully, I noticed that he also had Mega Man Battle Network 6 Cybeast Gregar Japanese Version! We helped each other out and easily became friends. He only speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, but since I know Mandarin, communicating with him wasn't much of a problem.

3. We went to SM MegaMall. For what you ask? Well, I was planning to buy a 19-inch LCD monitor of Sony; unfortunately, scratches were present from the display model that Octagon was selling. The back panel was also missing. (You'll understand what I mean if you see one.) I was forced to purchase a 17-inch LCD monitor instead. (17-inch monitors sure are large, what more if 19?) To cope for the huge price drop (from 25000 [19-inch] to 19000 [17-inch]), I also bought a Sony external DVD burner...

Yay! Two gadgets added to my collection!

Sony SDM-H5S5 LCD Monitor and a Sony Dual Layer DVD + - Drive!
The computer memory should be up next...

4. Machine project - Grrr... I can't seem to figure out how to make the X^y function work! If I were to figure that one out, my machine project would be 100% complete!

5. Hands-On Examination 4 - I can't understand what Ms. Shirley wanted us to do! Somebody help!

6. Oh yes! I hid myself (invisibility) the whole day so that I could concentrate on my work...

7. ALGTRIG time. I have to study...

Goodbye!

Pursuits

2006-08-05T23:48:00.000+08:00

Pursuits

Because of homework (as usual), I have to keep my post as short as possible (again).

This morning, I ate lunch as early as 11 AM. I would meet my friends at Starbucks by 12:30 PM, so I left the house early.

I rode a side car which drove me to Carriedo Station. From there, I rode to Vito Cruz Station and met my friends outside Rizal Sports Complex (for they have left Starbucks already).

We reluctantly forked out 50 pesos for tickets to the Taekwondo Championships we were required to watch...

After signing the attendance sheet, we made our way to our seats, not long after, the opening ceremony started...

It was good indeed, those flying side kicks and body-flip kicks... Then there was this rotating move that slams another to the floor. Those plank-breaking techinques - I wonder how many trees were sacrificed for this day... Overall, the show was good; quite funny at times... Too bad we only watched until 2:57...

Next stop: Glorietta?! I was surprised because I was expecting that we'd go to SM Mall of Asia instead. Fortunately and unfortunately, because Raisa's driver didn't show up in time, we took separate taxi cabs and went to SM Mall of Asia as initially planned.

The first thing we (my blockmates) thought about was food! (I thought about Entertainment Mall.) In a struggle between Jollibee and KFC, I managed to divert their attention to Pizza Hut, and so we ate there instead.

After ordering 3 regular sized pizzas (for all of us - we were comprised of more than 10 people) and 6 New Orleans Chicken Wings (for myself), we munched our way to Entertainment Mall, where we went to Q Power Station and played some arcade games, particularly Dance Maniax.

Many of us played... My last game was me versus Lou. 4th song - Boys (wild mode). I went ballistic and lost. Waaa... Z z z z z Z z z z z z Z z z z z Z z z z z z ~ (Players would know what this means...)

In the end, after a little bit of shopping in SM Hypermart (My, that place is huge!), I lined up with Lou and Dianne and waited for a taxi cab... which drove us to EDSA / Taft. From there, we rode the LRT. Yan dropped off at Vito Cruz, Lou at Doroteo Jose, and me at Bambang, where my mom was waiting...

After returning home I was greeted by a tremendous amount of questions from my peers about the calculator. Anyway...

I made some discoveries today:

1. Yna resembles Allie a lot, especially her voice...
2. Such a phrase "Filipino time" existed...
3. MetroPoint Mall was connected to EDSA / Taft Station...
4. Males can ride at the female side of the LRT in the evening...
5. I'll get my newest Sony LCD monitor tomorrow! Yahoo!

Signing off... Machine Project time!

Satisfaction

2006-08-05T00:48:00.000+08:00

Satisfaction

I've reverted back to my old, plain English titles...

Since I'm in a hurry to finish my Machine Project, I'll keep this post really short...

I went to the discipline office to see what destiny has in store for me.

Before that though, I went to GUM & MUG (and yadda yadda yadda). I also brought with me the Final Fantasy X-2 movie (or anything you want it to be called) I've been boasting about hoping that Joanie would be able to burn me a copy to lend to my blockmates. It turns out that she has no blank DVDs available...

Well, back in mainland La Salle, I met my friends in Z2 Cafe. I told them that I was about to go to the discipline office (and I hope that they would accompany me). Well, they didn't, so I went to the "forbidden area" myself.

The time I arrived, there was a gang of three to four people waiting to be judged, I mean sentenced, by the investigation officer. After they left, I explained my case to the officer and told him that I didn't know that it was illegal to write on the chalkboard. Well, he had me sign some papers, then let me go...

Well now, the Take-Home Hands-On Examination 4 has just been uploaded into our INTRPRG Yahoo! Group. Got to shorten this post in every possible way...

I saw Bette outside CSB (College of Saint Benilde) on my way to the LRT station.

At GUM & MUG, I met Joanie and we went to Uno. Coincidentally, she was also wearing green like me. (La Salle supporter! Animo La Salle!) Anyway, we went upstairs, met with Mrs. Rivera and her Physics Team. We also met Mr. V... I asked him what lesson he is currently teaching in computer science - Visual Basic. Guess he learned from THAT mistake, the mistake which led to the loss of the UHS Computer Team - namely, Nikko, Xiaoge, and me. Oh well...

Kelvin Cu was also there. Lisa too. We went exploring...

On our way home, I saw Allyanna and her younger brother in a horse-driven rickshaw.

Back home, I worked on my Machine Project - 88% complete!

Right now (look at the time I posted this), I'll work on Hands-On Exam 4, and I won't rest until I finish it!

Coincidencia: Destrucción de la Vida

2006-08-03T20:43:00.000+08:00

Coincidencia:

Destrucción de la Vida

Coincidence: Destruction of Life

"Weird title! Walang relation sa post! Yada yada..."

This is my final "weird-titled" post. What's that have to do with my post? Read on, and find out later...

I was pretty excited to go to school this morning because I knew our INTRPRG Hands-On Examinations would be given to us later. I anticipated a grade of 100 in both hands-on exams, since I didn't discover any loopholes in my program.

Inside the classroom - names were called and the test papers were given one by one. When it was my turn to get my paper, I was surprised to see that I didn't get a perfect score (on one of my two hands-on exams). I was dumbfounded because a lot of people got higher scores than me in Hands-On Exam 2. (I only got a 95%.) Worse, I intentionally wrote that error statement.

You see, in Java programming, there are several data types which programmers can use. Two of the most commonly used data types are "int (integer)" and "double." "Int" refers to a whole number while double refers to any number with a decimal point. Since the Sample Runs' "amount" handed to us were integers, I followed the flow and used "int" instead of "double." (To all non-techies out there, sorry fro using computer jargons.) My decision affected another part of my program.

As our SCIENVB professor had said, wrong decisions can lead to great consequences.

With a heavy heart, I was forced to accept the sad reality that past decisions cannot be revised. After INTRPRG classes were over, I showed my Machine Project to our professor to confirm some things that I was confused about.

I went with Joy to the complab (computer laboratory) and I gave her some pointers on how to use frames and subclasses.

After the lesson, I joined my friends at La Casita and ordered sisig with egg for lunch (6th time). After eating, Yna reluctantly accompanied me to the Student's Nook to take our LSCS Membership IDs (and order some LSCS shirts).

I propesized to my blockmates the good news of having an LSCS membership card - get freebies and special previleges at McDonald's Taft. All right! Every time you order a meal - just show your LSCS card, and you automatically get either an upsize, a sundae, or extra rice for free!

My happy-go-luckiness was cut short when a horrendous incident occured. I prefer not mentioning this one, but I'll do so.

It is theoretically insane for a person to write anything (with chalk) on the blackboard when there isn't a teacher in the classroom.

Well now, I was called by a discipline officer named Ms. Kat. She told me that I was violating school rules...

Writing on the board is a misdemeanor? Outrageous!

I told her that I never knew anything concerning writing on the chalkboard before, so I explained...

To cut the long story short, she told me to go to the Discipline Office in SJ (St. Joseph) Hall during my spare time...

My bad day turned to be an absolute worst!

I was really very unnerved. For a period of classes I couldn't even manage to smile. Tears shed out a bit. All my hard work... would they all be futile?

I tried my best to get good scroes in all my subjects (particularly INTRPRG). I was trying my best to get higher grades than some of my classmates, and "him." I slept at 3 AM for almost a week just to do my Machine Project and look what happens...

It hurt me a lot. Many blockmates reassured me that nothing bad would happen - all is but normal. They wondered if I had never been sent to the office during my elementary and high school life...

From what I currently know, those with offenses, either major or minor, cannot attain a cum laude or higher...

My blockmates told me not to worry because 'it' would be considered a warning and not an offense; Carlos invited me to play DotA with him tomorrow at Portal to forget about these things. I wonder...

If I am forgiven, never would you ever see me approaching that blackboard again. Before, I really enjoyed cleaning up the board; now, I avoid it.

What if 'it' was considered an offense?

Sigh, and I was hoping that this course would lead me to the job of my dreams...

Too many things have happened, and I can't remember all of them.

After PERSEF classes, I decided to go to the Disciplie Office and clear things out. Upon my arrival, another discipline officer talked to me and told me that Ms. Kat went home already. He told me to come back tomorrow...

At this point of time I thought of disregarding all my thoughts regarding being one of the Dean's Listers and just settle for a passing score. Maybe I'll just transfer to another university...

Circumstances prevented me from doing so. Upon my arrival at GUM & MUG, my cousin and a friend of hers was there. When I told my mom what happened during the day, my cousin's friend overheard the conversation and volunteered her services. She (or she had a friend) who could get me out of the mess I'm stuck in...

When I was talking to Shirlina over the Internet, she told me that this plan of mine is not adviceable (just ask her why). I told her that everything would be revealed tomorrow...

Just when I was about to give up hope, this berse suddenly came to me:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

It's like God is telling me, “Everything will work out in the end. Rest assured!”

Joie de Vivre

2006-08-01T01:02:00.000+08:00

Joie de Vivre

French for "joy of living."

This is a two-day post.

Earlier, I firmly decided that I would not post for today. Unfortunately, my unpredictable mind kept on bothering me...

I'll start by telling everyone that nothing special happened at school today.

I visited my pet rabbit at GUM & MUG.

I went home and worked on (obsessively) my machine project. I'm finished with the decimal point! Yeah! (Blockmates, no asking of source codes please...)

Today's half ends here. Short post isn't it?

The next day...

The other half of this post, expect it to be short.

It was INTRPRG time. At last we were going to be taught about arrays and stuff. Before that, though...

Most of my friends brought their notebook computers with them. (How envious I was...)

Lou was the last to arrive of the three of us... (Me, Dianne, Lou)

I was quite glad when I heard that I got the highest grade in our first INTRPRG exam in our class, but I was really disheartened when I heard that someone from our batch got a higher score than me...

If only that sixth line of crosshatches didn't show up...

We ate at La Casita; I met Shirlina and Joyce and Jillan; I ate sisig with egg for the fifth consecutive time in our school's exclusive cafeteria.

Before ALGTRIG classes, I gave a short lecture on the basics of GUI Java programming to a bunch of my classmates.

We started discussing about trigonometry! All right! My enthusiasm was suddenly restored and I started listening attentively to our professor just like before.

There was a slight interruption...

SCIENVB - our teacher got mad at Tapat because according to him, they are "violating rules." Anyway, we watched a documentary (The Correspondents) entitled 'Dugong' that speaks mainly of dugongs. You know them, right? Those cute, harmless creatures...

Gwen came into the room "looking for friends." She recognized me at first sight and asked me if the results (of the tennis tryouts) had already came out. Not yet...

I was finally able to ask Mr. Licuanan the question which had been bothering for a few weeks:

If a fly is inside a car running in constant speed and velocity... err...

The car is running. The fly is inside the car. The fly is flying. Should the fly exert more effort into flying (go against the flow of wind)?

Well, I got a good answer and my questions had been answered. He asked me if that was a trick question. I said no...

We did some more things in La Salle, like going to the William Shaw Theater. I also went to EGI Taft Tower and bought myself (and Joanie) 100 e-points (50 each).

GUM & MUG. Poor Van was just vaccinated a while ago. I went outside and met Efren Pascua, a graduate of Uno, and some more friends...

I went to Joanie's house and gave her the 50 e-points I promised her. She used them to buy some songs...

I went home and started my machine project. I then worked on my blog.

Life is a like a continuous cycle of events happening over and over again. Oh, vanity of vanities...

Get set for a really weird title tomorrow. Maybe...

Requête

2006-07-30T23:59:00.000+08:00

Requête

French for "an invitation."

Before anything else, I would like to request you readers to help me earn points by clicking this link. Thank you and enjoy reading my blog!

I have been aware that many readers had been freaked out because of my "weird" post titles. To make it up for those victims, I would like to assure everyone that I would be reverting back to my old, "normal" titles after my 75th post. (That is, two more posts.) I hope everything would be fine by then.

Because of time constaint, I would summarize all the events that had happened by using short essays; thus, my post would be shorter than usual.

First of all, I woke up and attended our church meeting.

When Joanie arrived, the three of us (my mom, I, and Joanie) went to Robinson's Place to have lunch and a little shopping.

We ate lunch at Chowking. After eating, my mom parted ways with the two of us (Joanie and I). We set for AstroVision - I asked if MegaMan Battle Network 6 Cybeast Gregar (original) was already available. Not yet. I became too impatient and so I thought of buying the Class A cartridge instead. (Next time, when the original version becomes available, I would definitely buy it also.) I told the saleslady that I would be back later...

We went to DataBlitz. On the way, I was glad that I didn't see something I wanted (and at the same time didn't want) to see; we arrived at DataBlitz. I bought the MAGIX Video Edit Pro 11 which I had been earning money for. I was entitled to a 7% discount because I frequently buy from that place.

We went to GBox. I bought 10 tokens. Seeing that the queue in front of Dance Maniax was still long, we tried playing a machine which even the rules we didn't know. We played 4 consecutive games of Dance Maniax...

I told Joanie to buy 2 more tokens - we played another game. Seeing that a child was patiently waiting for us to finish our game, we let the kid go first; unfortunately, as soon as we vacated the area, the queue became longer than expected.

We played the DJ whatsoever game and it was quite fun. After that, Joanie bought two more tokens and we (Joanie) overtook some people (who really should have been playing instead of us).

There were mumbles of "ang daya nila" but I told Joanie not to worry because I had already experienced being cheated for more than seven times (the same people, the same day, the same area - click here)

After that, we went back to AstroVision and I bought myself a "temporary" MegaMan Battle Network 6 game cartridge.

We met up with my mom and proceeded to Philippine Plaza...

The magnificent surroundings enticed us and we were drawn to the area. We went and attended the birthday party of Samuel and ate, watched some shows, then left...

We drove Joanie back to her place; we fetched my dad; we returned home.

I did my machine project...

I worte my blog...

And now, I'll sign off and continue working on my scientific calculator...

Ricordare con la Mente

2006-07-28T23:49:00.000+08:00

Ricordare con la Mente

Italian for "to recollect, to remember."

Before anything else, I would like to request you readers to help me earn points by clicking this link. Thank you and enjoy reading my blog!

It was 6:30 AM when I was forcibly woken up by my mom...

Our LASARE1 (Lasallian Recollections 1) would start at 7:30 in the morning and would end at approximately 4:30 in the afternoon...

Lasare... Lasare... Lasare...

I absolutely have no idea of when we would be taking part in an hour ago. (Blame Uno for not having any recollections!) I remember days ago... I was speaking with Rochelle inside a jeepney...

She told me that Mr. Ang, our former trigonometry / calculus teacher, described LASARE1 as "fun and interesting" whereas Mr. Ong, our former economics teacher, depicted the activity as "boring and unworthwhile."

It's hard to understand the "ambience" of LASARE1 especially if there are two opposing opinions... A conclusion I arrived to is that the one and only way I could possibly find more about this event is that I have to, well, participate in it.

My journey of self-reflection starts here...

I quickly packed up my things - Officers' Info File (for La Salle Computer Society), some writing materials, Java programming source codes, my GameBoy Micro, and three game cartridges.

A fragment of my memory...

"La ka na ba ibang laro? Puro MegaMan nalang ba?"
"Nasa bahay e."

Well, I always bring my MegaMan came cartridges (MegaMan Battle Network or MegaMan Zero series) with me. Why?

1. The MegaMan Battle Network (1 - 6) and the MegaMan Zero (1 - 4) series are renowned for being some of the most challenging RPGs (role-playing games) ever produced in GameBoy Advance*.

*Advance? Micro is a limited edition GameBoy after GameBoy Advance SP (SPecial) that also sports some features of the famous Nintendo DS (Dual Screen) and DS Lite.

My mom drove me to Gokongwei Building where I entered. After taking the Agno exit, L'Hermitage (the venue where our LASARE1 would take event) was clearly in sight. I entered the area...

I signed in the attendance log and was handed two sheets of paper and a name tag. After answering the Spiritual Gifts Discovery Test and its Summary Sheet, I met up with my friends and waited for the event to start.

We were given a brief discussion on house rules and other stuff we have to observe inside the area. Not long after, we were told to go inside the prayer room...

In every person's seat (kneeling pad) there can be found a booklet. Nothing was written inside.

Some of my blockmates made a lot of noise upon entering and this greatly upset our facilitator. He wrote something on the board. (If I rememer right, it goes somewhat like this...)

A while ago you were told that L'Hermitage was a place of SILENCE. Now I want you to GO OUT of the room. Come back if you understand what is the meaning of being inside a PRAYER ROOM. I would also rearrange the pillows which have been arranged before you entered.

We left the room. We reentered silently.

A lot of things happened. I couldn't explain the details, but we became too silent that some of us were afraid to partake in the discussions.

I was very relieved when the factilitator said the following:

"Don't worry, this would not be the trend of the day."

Well, some of my blockmates were called up to give a little information about their educational background. I didn't get called.

Well then, before long, we were told to trace our hand (right or left) on the first page of the LASARE1 Booklet. We did so...

In the palm side of our sketch, we were to write down the thing we wanted to say to God.

In the thumb portion of our sketch, we were to write down what we can contribute to make LASARE1 successful.

We had a "song" prayer... After that we were to answer the following questions:

1. What happened to you in the prayer?
2. How did you feel about what went on?
3. What did God tell you?
4. What did you tell God?
What were your insights / realizations gained from the prayer?

I was startled when I was called to answer a question.

"Which question did you have a hard time answering?"

With nothing in mind, I told our facilitator (Mr. Glen) that I had a hard time answering question 1, although question 4 gave me a lot more difficulty...

Morning break...

We had our visualization exercise (guided by our facilitator).

We closed our eyes, observed the symmetric pattern in our breathing, imagined ourselves in a place where we can be ourselves... We were told to imagine God caming to our "paradise," and we talking with God...

At the count of three, you may slowly open your eyes.

One...

Two...

Three...

We were given some questions to answer in groups. (We were grouped individually.)

1. How did you feel during the visualization exercise?
2. What are the images or characteristics of God that came out during the exercise?
3. What was the content of your conversation with God?

We discussed our answers with our group mates. We were told to create a poster after summarizing all our individual answers...

30 minutes after...

We interpreted our posters to the class. After some more time, we had our lunch break.

The food was great.

We went inside the room.

The facilitator told us that we can go home if we wouldn't want to join in the next activity (provided that we face the consequences). Everyone stayed.

We were in for the experience of a lifetime.

The room is set to explode in 8 minutes...

Such and such... The Game of Life. Our block versus our facilitator.

Red area - Danger Zone
Violet spaces - Path to Safety
Blue Area - Safe Zone
Orange Area - Graveyard

We had to cross to the safe zone by going through those purple spaces... Every purple space explodes when previously stepped on and no body weight remains. Anyone caught in the explosion would die and be sent to the graveyard. Anyone leaning against the walls die. Dead people cannot move, stand, and walk on their own. If anyone, even the dead people, weren't able to go to the safe area, the room explodes and we lose the game.

Out of 51 blocks (classrooms) that played the game, only 9 were able to win.

Did we have what it takes to survive?

We were given 3 minutes to strategize. After that, we would be allowed to ask 3 questions, then it's game time...

Game! There were many who crossed and many who died. It was my turn. I managed! The excitement and anxiety got into us, and we tried our best to help.

Your voice, your noise can kill you...

Great. Johann "died." He was so heavy (My other blockmates really had a hard time carrying him...) We lost, by the way. Sigh...

My blockmates blamed Johann for dying...

We were very disappointed. The facilitator asked us why we lost, and we answered him...

He would give us a second chance, that is, if we are able to give him 3 valid reasons...

The first thing we said was invalid. We tried again...

Our three reasons all came from the Bible...

For every person sacrificed, we can ask a question. We sacrificed two blockmates and pushed through with our game.

This room is set to explode in 5 minutes.

5 minutes?!

Now fully strategized, we managed to cross to the safe area with fewer people dead...

In the end...

Sorry guys...

You win!

There was a sudden exclaim of happiness! Alright! We were the 10th block who won the game! We're in the Hall of Fame!

This LASARE1 is fun and interesting after all... (Especially now that we won in this game. Unean-Lasallians, if you still didn't have your LASARE1, better take note of the game...)

The facilitator asked us why we won...

Answers...

We had some more activities...

Final part of the day...

Some went upstairs for confession. (Don't ask me; I don't know these things...) We stayed at the room and wrote some dedications for others... While I was writing, my head suddenly felt warmer than usual. This was followed by a minor headache. I felt that I had a fever...

After the Eucharistic Celebration, we had our snacks...

Afternoon snacks...

The activity ended.

My post should have ended here; unfortunately, this post is going to be longer than expected...

I met Diana outside Gokongwei (Agno). He was waiting for Raymond. Before long, we also saw Richard with his friends, and not long after, Raymond arrived and I went to look for my mom...

She was waiting for me outside. I went inside our car... My head hurts, not because of pain... There was a momentuous pulge of heat surging through my head... I wanted to sleep...

5:58... I went to Gokongwei 2nd floor room G209 and waited for the meeting to start. Only my Publications head was there (and her friend)... After waiting some more, the others arrived.

We had our LSCS Productions meeting. I received my ID - It was beautiful...

The meeting proceeded...

We saw the sample LSCS shirt...

8:00 PM. We were dismissed.

I went downstairs and waited for my mom. I was surprised to see Rochelle. I wonder where she is going...

I went home and discovered that I had a fever, but for the sake of my readers, I started working on this post. Eventually, my post was cut short... I had to sleep earlier than usual (1 AM). Sigh...

Joanie said that she'll join me this Sunday because she had no classes on Monday...

The next day, I wanted to go to CLIP, but my body was weak... I really wanted to see my students and congratulate them for going through this far. Unfortunately...

Well, I've showed them my blog before... So, my good students, if you do read my blog, let me warmly congratulate you. Don't forget everything that you've learned, including those that I've taught you in advance. I'll miss you all! Godspeed!

I spent the whole day working on my machine project. It was tiring and tedious...

Postively speaking, I am making some progress though. I wonder when I would be finished?

Ciao! Got to finish my project!

Rédaction D'un Essai

2006-07-27T20:15:00.000+08:00

Rédaction D'un Essai

French for "essay-writing," you'll understand soon.

Today's post is quite different. Since I slept at five o'clock tonight (a while ago), my mind is all mixed up, so I couldn't think properly. To cope up for that, let me share with you instead my PERSEF essay that I wrote yesterday.

Note: I'm sorry if you ever get bored reading these long, wordy paragraphs.

How can we become good citizens? One thing we can do is by changing our country. How can we change our country? The answer is by improving on some things which we may consider as trifle and unimportant in our daily living.

Firstly, we have to follow traffic rules. Traffic rules are the most commonly applied of our laws. We are confronted with them every day – from morning until evening. Thus, whether to follow traffic rules or not is a question that we all face daily. It is a challenge that confronts us every day. We can try today, the next day, the third day, and all subsequent days. And if we succeed today, we may also succeed tomorrow, and on the third day, and the days thereafter.

Someday, our repeated act of following traffic rules could become a habit, and hopefully, a national discipline, Someday, our repeated act of following traffic rules, which are the most ordinary of all laws, can lead us to follow the more difficult and more important of our laws.

Secondly, whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt. Whenever we buy a product or pay for a service, the price we pay already includes the tax. Under the law, the seller is obligated to remit or forward the tax to the government.

If the seller does not issue an official receipt when you buy a product, the seller may or may not remit the tax to the government. Since you did not ask for an official receipt, there is no record of the sale transaction and therefore the government has no way of knowing it. If the seller chooses not to declare the sale transaction to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the tax that you already paid for the product will not be collected by the BIR. In short, the tax that you already paid for the product will just be pocketed by the seller.

Thirdly, do not litter. Our human acts affect our environment and nature, although always slowly and imperceptibly, but when nature reacts, it could affect as all in devastating ways, including typhoons, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, fuel shortage, water supply and food chain degradation, skin cancer, and global warming due to the depletion of the ozone layer.

We are part of the environment; the environment is part of us. Whichever way we look at it, the environment and we, human beings, are linked to each other in a powerful sense. That’s why we have to dispose our garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle. Conserve.

Lastly, we have to pay our taxes. Of the many duties of a citizen under our Constitution, paying taxes is one of the most crucial, because taxes are the lifeblood of our government and of our nation. Taxes are what we use to buy the basic textbooks for our millions of children in our country, or to build additional classrooms in public schools nationwide. Taxes are what we use to buy the most basic of medicines, often generic and cheap, that our Department of Health officials distribute to 34 million Filipinos nationwide who live below the poverty line. Taxes are what we use to pay all our government employees nationwide – our soldiers, our policemen, our public school teachers, among many others.

This government, whether we like it or not, is our government – its cost is a burden we must all share. The task of building this nation is a task we must all share. We all must contribute to build the nation we dream for ourselves. Each one of us has a role in it. Each one of us has a responsibility to it.

Well, that was my PERSEF assignment. After the clock struck five, I went to bed.

Had anyone noticed that I have not used elipsis points (three periods) yet in my entry today? Well, you better believe it. Today, I am working on a formal entry - no abbreviations, no elipsis points, et cetera.

Oh yes, this post would be short enough to read in one sitting.

I woke up at eight-forty in the morning and headed to school twenty minutes after. After alighting from Quirino Avenue, I searched for a jeepney to drive me to La Salle, but unfortunately, there was none to be found. Suddenly, a side car driver approached me and offered me his services for ten pesos. Being a quick thinker, I quicky agreed, since side car drivers normally charge at least twenty pesos every time they drive a certain passenger to a specific location.

I arrived at my classroom and waited for our professor. I was quite disappointed when I saw Ms. Shirley coming inside our classroom without bringing anything with her. Rochelle was right again, I thought, for she had told me not to anticipate for anything in INTRPRG.

We ate at La Casita. My order for the fourth consecutive time was sisig with egg and a cup of iced tea. I saw Jillan afterwards, and after I finished eating, I bought three packs of Fruit-Tella Crazy and shared some with my blockmates.

We had our ALGTRIG class. Our professor revealed to us his favorite cartoon character. It was Tweety. Unfortunately, he slashed out the "y," and he would not accept answers other than "Tweet."

We had our SCIENVB class, and it was interesting as usual. We submitted our essays to the professor - I won't post it here to conserve space. Our topic today was about corals, invertebrates, and the other specimens than can be found in the vast realms of the marine society.

We also had our PERSEF class, and we submitted our collages and essays to the professor. We had a lot of verbal-knowledge games, but in the end, Team Two managed to overtake us. We will catch up, somehow.

I met Dianne Tiffany for the first time since we entered college. She wanted to borrow some episodes of Naruto and Bleach from me. She also asked about Fruits Basket and Prince of Tennis, but I told her that she was talking with the wrong person.

My mom met me at the Light Rail Transit station in Bambang and drove me to our store. I met Brother Joevir, Elvin, and Jan Timothy outside, and we chatted for a bit. Afterwards, I checked on my cute little bunny. And, oh, I forgot to tell you readers that my other rabbit (also known as Joanie's rabbit), Congo, passed away two days ago after living a life of vanity and hatred.

Here I am now in front of my computer monitor ending my blog post for today.

Yours truly,

Solomon Lim

Trèfle à Quatre Feuilles

2006-07-26T21:10:00.000+08:00

Trèfle à Quatre Feuilles

French for "four-leaf clover," a symbol of good luck.

Another weird title...

... this is a short post

Well, since I had to classes this morning, I spent the first few hours of the day doing my Machine Project. (GUI Programming is starting to get really addicting...)

I slept at 4 AM. I woke up at eleven. These retainers are hard to get used to...

I was lucky not to be late for my ALGTRIG class. You see, I left our house (which is at Camba, Lavezares, Binondo, Manila, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Asia, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way... I could go on and on... Google Earth...)

I arrived at the Andrew lobby. I was greeted by multitudes of people campaigning for Tapat (a political organization). Since I was forced to wear Blue (for Santugon) by some of my blockmates... well, I stepped out of the opposition and went to our classroom. Well, my blockmates had been loyal supporters of Eloize, our campaigning batch president for Santugon, so most of them were wearing blue or yellow...

Our professor was late...

We took our test when he arrived... He gave us a bonus question worth 3%...

"What is my favorite cartoon character?"
Clue: Yellow cya, no relation to his name (Christopher Cruz)

There's Tweety, Pikachu, Spongebob Squarepants, Goofy, Big Bird, oh... I can go on and on...

What is the correct answer?
How would I know?

We had our INTRICT class and we listened to four of our blockmates "campaign" for their report. Before that, though, some members of Tapat and Santugon also campaigned. Some people I recognize were Eloize and Gwen (who accompanied me and Shirlina during our Tennis tryouts). It's a good thing I didn't join any of the two organizations, otherwise...

Maybe I'll join next time...

How I was inviting people to join our LSCS First General Assembly this evening. The irresponsible Yna, a newly recruited officer, won't be around for the third time (since she became an officer). In the end, only Cecille was able to join me. (Even Lou and Dianne had to go...)

Talk about time management. From 4:40 - 5:40, we spent our minutes doing our SCIENVB essays inside the computer laboratory G304. After that, we proceeded to the Intellect Seminar Room (ISR) and waited for the program to start (after registering, by the way). I saw Rochelle coming in...

I taught Cecille how to play MegaMan Zero 3 (since I brought my GameBoy Micro with me). I never knew she was hysterical. Some people asked me what device it was. GameBoy Micro, I told them. It's a good this they didn't assume that it was a PlayStation Portable or Nintendo Dual-Screen, unlike some people there...

The program started. (Blockmates, eventually you'll regret not going a while ago...) Firstly, there was an early bird awarding... The early bird arrived at 4 o'clock. Haywire! Afterwards, there was an opening ceremony, a showcase of plays and dances. Then there was a raffle...

At the bottom of our seats... Anyway, Cecille won a ticket to a movie! Congratulations Cess!

Today was her lucky day. Initially, she wanted to go home. I told her to stay. Now, she was brimming with happiness. Wish it was me...

Oh, but I was lucky to get a 92% in INTRICT. I thought I messed up...

After having dinner, I went home with Rochelle; her dad drove me home. Now, after a long, tiresome day, it's time for work... Homework. I wonder how long it would take me to do them? What would luck bring to me this time?

My, is my blog lucky to have you readers out there!

Souffrance

2006-07-25T22:32:00.000+08:00

Souffrance

French for "severe suffering."

No classes today... Sigh...

And I wanted to go to class today...

Why has this phenomenon occurred?

How would I know?

Anyway, this is going to be a short post...

I woke up today. After brushing my teeth (and cleaning my retainers), my first stop is my computer. Java time. My goals today are as follows:

1. To finish designing the graphical user interface (GUI) of our INTRPRG Machine Project - to make a scientific calculator.
2. To finish modifying the scientific calculator after designing it.
3. To start working on EventHandlers, ActionListeners, and the like.
4. To completely master Java GUI.

Well now... it seems that I had already spent more that two-thirds of today making this machine project of ours...

Whoosh... There goes the wind...

Sigh... and I only rested (played O2 Jam) for less than 15 minutes... (and spent more than 12 hours programming) Tough work...

Oh yes, please help me earn points by clicking this link. (This link leads to a really cool website featuring mp3s from anime and games. Check it out!)

I'm ending this post here to resume my tedious work and suffering.

PS. Now who's working on a boring blog? Definitely not me...

Coupure

2006-07-24T20:47:00.000+08:00

Coupure

French for "power interruption."

No classes today... Gee...

I started my day in a funky beat by summoning hordes of monsters (and killing all those weaklings) in Ragnarok Online. After eating lunch, I started watching Final Fantasy X-2 the movie (that many of my blockmates wanted to borrow from me - Wait a little longer, blockmates...) Unfortunately, my show was interrupted when I finally received a battle invitation from Nikko...

I was surprised to see NIC0L0 (Nicolo) in Thalo Channel 20... We battled... Nikko won... I won... Nicolo never won... *snicker* (You still need a lot of practice, Nicolo.) *kring* A message from Yahoo! Messenger!

Joy asked me some details about the SCIENVB project... (I had been disconnected from my game.) After replying to her message, our battle commenced...

Suddenly, the screen went blank!

Wow, "great" timing for a brownout!

Unfortunately, this brownout turned to be a blackout when electricity didn't reach out homes for more than 15 minutes...

The two of them must have wondered where I went... or maybe there was a power outage at Nicolo's place also... Hmmm... Suspicions, scenarios...

I decided to enhance my Pokemon deck with the powerful cards I had acquired a few weeks ago. I found my deck - it was just inside my drawer. The new cards are at my table. The old cards I needed more than the new ones are missing!

There goes my idea of upgrading my deck...

Well, I had a drawer in my closet which had been locked for more than three months or so. I couldn't find the keys... I figured out that my other deck was stored inside that drawer...

Amidst the dark and eerie clutches of my room (no lights, and it was windy, for there was a typhoon), I tried to sniff out some clues concerning the whereabouts of my coin purse (My wallet was inside the purse.) I arrived at nothing...

My mom called me. I told her about my lost purse... My grandmother heard my call for help...

I realized that I gave her my wallet for safekeeping. Immediately after receiving, my long lost wallet, I made my way to my drawer, and I found these things...

I found my AMC (Australian Mathematics Competition) certificates which I tediously earned in my first to third year of high school.

I found my one hundred 10 peso coin collection (amounting to 1000 pesos).

I found my never-to-be-forgotten Logitech Marble Mouse which served me loyally for 4 years.

I found the freebies I got from last year's Ragnafest held at World Trade Center.

I found the limited edition coins which I had bought sometime last year in our Economics' field trip to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

I found my 2000 peso bill (no kidding) I purchased from Banko Central last year in our field trip. In reality, I purchased 5... 2 for my dad, 2 for my aunt, and one for myself...

If you're interested, browse the pictures I posted below (click to enlarge):

Notice that the width is slightly longer than usual.
Well... that's how they made it...
Even I was surprised...

I didn't find the things I were looking for.

I found them inside my magazine drawer...

And so... I updated my deck... (I found my Digimon cards too... Guess they didn't go that well unlike Pokemon trading cards...)

By the time I was about to go to my math review classes, the electricity returned.

And so... we reviewed for my test (initially today). When I was about to go home, he told me something which... gave me split feelings...

"Baka lumakas daw ang ulan bukas a... Titigil yata yung bagyo sa Thursday pa..."

That means... There is a possibility that there would be no classes tomorrow:

Disadvantages:

1. I would not know how well I did in my INTRPRG Hands-On Examinations.
2. I would not have the opportunity of asking Ms. Shirley about our Machine Project.
3. There is a very big possibility that there would be another blackout tomorrow.

Advantages:

If there were no classes tomorrow, I would have more time to do the things I long to do, like watching television, ending Final Fantasy X-2 the movie, making my Machine Project, and lots, lots more...

I'm cutting this post short to give way to some flashing news...

There was a grave misunderstanding that lasted for quite some time... Are there classes tomorrow or not?

My Unean (high school) friends are rejoicing amidst our confusion, but me, my batchmates, and my blockmates managed to dig out some evidence to prove that...

First of all...

Classes Suspended in Metro and

Other Areas Affected by Storm

INQ7.net
Last updated 09:53pm (Mla time) 07/24/2006

CLASSES are suspended in all elementary and high schools in Metro Manila and in other areas affected by public storm signals, including Batanes, Cagayan, Apayao, Ilocos Norte, Ilcoso Sur, Kalinga, Abra, Mt. Province, Benguet, Ifugao, Isabela, La Union, Pangasinan, Zambales, and Bataan, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita has announced.

Secondly...

No Classes in Metro Manila,

Typhoon-Hit Provinces

The government on Monday night suspended Tuesday's classes in all levels in Metro Manila and typhoon-hit provinces, DZMM reported.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced that classes in elementary and high school levels are suspended in Metro Manila and the provinces of Batanes, Cagayan, Apayao, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Kalinga, Abra, Mountain Province, Benguet, Ifugao, Isabela, La Union, Pangasinan, Zambales and Bataan.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Higher Education announced that classes in college level are suspended in Metro Manila.

Weather bureau PAGASA said on its 5 p.m. bulletin that strong winds associated with the southwest monsoon enhanced by typhoon Glenda will continue to affect the western seaboard of southern Luzon.

And finally...

I received a text message from Eloize...

Confirmed! Dlsu announcement no classes tom. Brought to you by koko ortuoste, ccs cap. Pls pass.

Alright then, no classes! Hope there won't be any power outages tomorrow...

It sure is windy out here...

Espérer

2006-07-23T23:59:00.000+08:00

Espérer

French for "to hope." Guess why I used this word as my title...

Nicolo... Would you join us today?

Joanie, how about you?

No reply from both people...

Oh well... It's their loss...

I went to church this morning. Everything went on as usual... until I saw Kevin...

No, nothing bad happened. I just remember Joanie telling me how she met Kevin on the jeep and bla bla bla bla bla... (Stop it!)

Anyway, we went to Robinson's Place today, and boy, was I tired of that place.

If I were to count the number of times I've been to Robinson's Place Ermita, the number would amount to somewhat near 200. Yes, I'm not kidding. You see, we shop almost every Sunday... Before, it's only a choice between Robinson's Place and SM Manila... Oh well...

But now...

SM Department Stores:
1. SM City Hall (Manila)
2. SM San Lazaro
3. SM Mall of Asia
4. SM MegaMall
5. SM North Edsa
6. SM Makati
7. SM Baguio
8. SM Sta. Mesa (CenterPoint) - Oh, how I hate that place!

Robinson's Department Stores:
1. Robinson's Place Ermita
2. Robinson's Galleria
3. Robinson's Pioneer (Oh, how I hope I could get to explore that area...)

Of course, there's also The Podium, as well as Rockwell Power Plant, Greenbelt, Glorietta, and so much more...

My post is not about malls, so let's just move on...

Well, we ate at Tang City... After that, we went to Data Blitz. I wanted to buy the MAGIX Video Edit Pro 11 which costed 2499 at the moment, unfortunately, I didn't have the money to do so... Next week, perhaps. Anyhow, I went to G-Box and serenaded. I tried a couple of new songs, which are in fact, unavailable in Dance Maniax Second Mix... What do you expect?

Oh yes! I also bought myself a Pokemon EX Holon Phantoms booster pack and I got a rare holographic Latios Delta card, as well as a rare Psychic energy card. (Since when did energy cards become rare?) Anyway, I was an avid card battler in my high school days, so I always buy at least a booster pack per series for my collection. (Yes, I know you don't care.) Anyhow, feel free to challenge me to a card duel. I'll take you on anytime!

My post is not about card collections, so let's just move on...

I wanted my mom to buy a new shirt for me (especially since I left my money at home). Before that, though, we went to AstroVision and I asked the salespeople if Megaman Battle Network 6 Cybeast Gregar (original) was already available. I expected 'no' for an answer. How rigt I was. Within seconds, my eyes were feasted to another game cartridge in display...

Pokemon Chaos Black?!

Is there even such a thing?

I tried playing it, and my conclusion is that... It was fake! It really was...

I was steaming with anger when my father disapproved of my idea of purchasing clothes (especially since my mother told me that my father already agreed to my plan). He said that I already had lots of clothes. 30? I don't think so...

I was mad the whole afternoon. I received my retainers at last. I won't wear them to school.

I was glad that my 5.70 GB download was already completed. (Joanie, because of you my precious disk spaces were wasted! Grrr...)

Well, I had to download an MKV codec just to watch those files. English?!

I played O2 Jam with some of my friends...

8:00 PM. I went to Benavidez to get some helpful hints in ALGTRIG. (Our professor - I couldn't understand what he is talking about...) And I was aiming for a 4.0 in ALGTRIG... Is it still possible? Yes, it is... It's not like I am failing, you know...

When my tutorial classes were about to end, I received a text message from Eloize:

S15,a10shun: NO CLASSES tomorrow. No stir. Aryt?i'll update you if changes occur. Take care and God bless. _.loizee^U^

It took me some time to "decode" the message... I was never good at text lingo. That is why, if you were wondering why I usually text in pure, fluent English... Well, now you know...

No classes tomorrow? How come? I thought the president already announced that there would be classes on Monday... Or so I thought...

I asked my fellow Uneans and blockmates about the matter. No classes, confirmed.

I arrived home. I remembered my sensei telling me that classes were cancelled because of the so called SONA (State of the Nation's Address), but I found a news article which proved that his hypothesis was wrong:

No Classes in Areas

Affected by 'Glenda'

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQ7.net
Last updated 10:07pm (Mla time) 07/23/2006

(UPDATE) DUE to typhoon ”Glenda” (international name Kaemi), Malacanang has suspended classes at all levels in affected areas, including the National Capital Region (NCR), on Monday, July 24.

Upon the recommendation of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita has authorized the suspension of classes at all levels in the NCR, Pangasinan, Bataan, Zambales, Bulacan, Rizal, and Cavite, according to Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye.

Bunye said work in goverment offices in the NCR was also suspended, except in those offices performing health and protective services.

Yay! Alright! I watched the last episode of Star Ocean EX, and boy, was I really, really disappointed... (to the tone of Mrs. Anastacio)

What's with the ending? What happened afterwards? Oh... Hateful!

Bakit bitin?!

It was also like that in Tales of Eternia... Why didn't the cartoonists place an epilogue of some sort? It makes my mind come up with so many different scenarios... I wish I knew what happened in the end...

Well, I guess that's what anime is known for...

After gulping down my hot and spicy (to the 10th power) noodles, I continued working on this blog... and now, I'm finally finished with it!

See you again soon!

Cauchemardesque

2006-07-22T20:37:00.000+08:00

Cauchemardesque

Hmmm... Here goes...

Today... was...

I woke up at 11 AM... Sorry, students... Regrettedly, I would be unable to teach you advanced lessons today...

I had a meeting (LSCS) on 1:30 in the afternoon, so I prepared myself...

Firstly... I was glad that one of my downloads (Zoids) was finally completed.

Secondly, I downloaded DivX Player because some of the files I downloaded are in encoded format...

Lastly, because my Snagit 8 (application software - screen capture program ) Trial Version was going to expire soon, I took some "precautionary measures."

What did I do? I searched for a keygen... /gg
... and I utterly regretted doing so...

I can't believe it! We just took a test about computer security and the like, and still...

After downloading the keygen, I scanned the file and found no viruses, so I opened it...

After double-clicking it, there was a security warning... No viruses... so I ignored the warning...

The file disappeared... suddenly! Trojan horse?

I ran my antivirus and anti-spyware programs... The antivirus did not detect any viruses at drive C (I had 6 disk drives - C being the master drive), but my antispyware detected 26 critical objects...

Inoculatation... Quarantine...

I went to La Salle for the LSCS Officers Mini-Bonding event. Everything went on great:

1. We (who weren't around yesterday) introduced ourselves and told everyone our favorite food (What's the use of knowing anyway?)...

2. We (who weren't around yesterday) were divided into 3 lines and then told about our respective committees...

3. We (all new LSCS AVPs) were given a breif lecture on proactiveness.

4. We (all new LSCS AVPs) played a game called "Amazing Race" wherein our hands are tied to each other... (4 teams - scavenger hunt - Gokongwei)

5. We (all LSCS officers) prepared some short 'skits' and presented them to the whole assembly.

I wouldn't forget ours...

Introduction!

Presenting the newest AVP Publications... (We entered with choreography...)

Publications! (Pose...)

To protect LSCS from devastation,
To unite all peoples within this organization!

(Introduce ourselves, yes, I know 2 lines are missing.)

Publications committee blast off at the speed of light,
Surrender now or prepare to fight;

LSCS, that's right!

Wa ha ha ha ha! And it was our VP (vice president)'s idea...

Our liason officer, as well as some other people, greatly approved of my accent...

"Yay! May announcer na tayo."

(/swt... and I was struggling about using my British accent a while ago... Guess I was quite successful...)

Our surprises... were our officer IDs (not membership cards). Unfortunately, we can't bring them home...

I went home with Rochelle (Yna wasn't able to join us because she had an important family matter to attend to...) via jeep...

On the way, we talked about organizations, teachers, tests, grades, Uneans, and programming...

Soon enough, we arrived at Binondo Circle.

We rode a side car and Rochelle dropped off at her place. I arrived home...

I met my father upon arrival and he bothered me a bit...

Back to my computer...

I thought of using System Restore to give me complete assurance, but I didn't do so...

I turned off my computer and let it rest for a few minutes (after continuously running for 4 consecutive days)...

I went to our living room and watched a little television.

I turned on my computer.

After reaching the operating system selection page, my computer crashes...

Uh oh...

I tried switching disk drives via CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor). Nothing happens...

Uh oh... I never anticipated that the virus would be this deadly...

Finally, I decided to get the hard disk from my other computer and attaching it to my other computer, making it the master drive...

It works... However... I could only access two hard disks at a time...

I took this opportunity to write this blog.

Sigh... no Internet connection, 16 color display, no games... everything had already been bad enough for me...

I hope I can fix my computer soon (and if I managed to repair it myself... well, I'll be able to handle those things computer scientists do handle...)

This is Splgum signing off.

PS. This blog was initially written using Notepad.

Present time... Finally... I deserve some certification here, you know!

Otorhinolaryngology

2006-07-21T19:03:00.000+08:00

Otorhinolaryngology

Today's post may be a lot shorted than expected...

I woke up at 11:00 AM... I slept 'yesterday' at 4:00 AM to study for my INTRICT quiz...

I studied again... My eyes suddenly become sore... I inspected them after a few more minutes of irritation. Redness! I won't be able to wear contact lenses today... Of all the days...

We had a 'group study' at Starbucks (Vito Cruz branch), so... I dropped off at Vito Cruz instead of Quirino Avenue... Sigh... Loops...

So far... In my college life... I've rode from...

Bambang to Quirino Avenue
Bambang to Vito Cruz
Carriedo to Quirino Avenue
Central Terminal to Bambang
UN Avenue to Quirino
UN Avenue to Vito Cruz
Vito Cruz to Bambang

I was late... Lou was waiting... and so was Bea...

I ordered a Vanilla Cream Frappuccino with Mint Syrup at Starbucks. Lou was disgusted because she said that frappuccinos (especially vanilla cream) are too sweet. Well, people have different tastes. He he...

Raisa arrived sips later... Beacuse the place was so cold, we left for school after everyone was finished with their drinks...

The test... was... I hate it! I don't know if I got a high grade or not... And, oh... how I wanted to win... against...

Well anyway, after a few more minutes at school, I went home... In the LRT Station, I met Shirlina...

I went to GUM & MUG... On the way, I saw Kate and Bette... and many others...

Er... these are the Unean batchmates I met with today (in chronologial order)...

1. Shirlina Ang (I met her at Vito Cruz station...)
2. Kate Tung (I saw her riding a tricycle to Uno, eventually, we were able to talk at Uno...)
3. Bette Almorado (Bette was with Kate, so we also chatted upon arrival at Uno...)
4. Gian Chua (Gian went to GUM & MUG in search of her mother...)
5. Austin Pua (Austin was walking with Gian when I saw him outside GUM & MUG...)
6. Princess Dizon (Princess called my attention when I was waiting for my mom... She inquired about video editing and stuff...)
7. Edric Rocafor (Edric was with Princess, and we talked about machine projects and programming...)

Poor Congo... his ears got infected with some sort of disease... Don't contaminate Van alright?!

After that, I arrived home... my nose runs... cough... my allergy attacks once again...

... to figure out that we LSCS officers had an inauguration from 6 to 7 PM. I wasn't able to attend the meeting, but I was sure glad when Rochelle told me that the committee I signed up for was the committee I got accepted into.

Finally, a load taken off from my back. Anyone care for a little O2 Jam? If none I would just take my time to enjoy the anime that I've downloaded...

Download in progress:

1. Zoids Chaotic Century 37 - 48 2.058 GB 80.19 % complete
2. Star Ocean EX (Joanie kasi!) 5.724 GB 68.21 % complete

Faster... I'm waiting...

This is the reason I hate DSL connections... So slow... especially for gigabyte downloads...

If in case you were wondering, my computer has 360 GB of disk space.

That's all. Short post (for real) isn't it...

PS. Read my title... and check the number of times you attempted to read...

Recapitulation

2006-07-20T20:06:00.000+08:00

Recapitulation

Today's post is short. I mean it... (especially the introductory part)

I woke up, did my things, and was driven to UN Avenue Station by my mom.

I rode the LRT and alighted at Quirino Avenue, where I dropped off.

Arriving at Gokongwei Hall, I saw that I was still 5 minutes early for my class. I bought 2 sheets of bond paper, and, arriving at my classroom, I gave one to Vero.

We had our INTRPRG Exam 1 - Part 2. We swapped classrooms because our room was too hot. Don't ask me any more details...

My friends accompanied me and I bought clothes for PERSEF. We went to the bookstore and bought test booklets for Monday's ALGTRIG examination. We then ate at La Casita...

(I'll start being more detailed now; anyway, this would still be a short post...)

I met Rominick for the second time at the same location...

My record on how many times I ate at La Casita (consecutively) was already broken, but now I am starting a new record... This is my third consecutive time to eat Sisig with Egg at La Casita...

I joined the others in watching Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, well, even after watching it for a few times already...

We had our ALGTRIG class. We submitted our test booklets... Next...

Our SCIENVB class today was pretty much interesting. I learned the answers to the following today...

In what direction does the earth rotate? Why?
What is the English translation for 'mamon?'
How do marine organisms often reproduce?
How do ocean currents form?

One thing I've remembered is EAC (East Australian Current)... Sounds familiar? Our professor then showed us two clips of Finding Nemo...

Sir Rene was absent... A substitute professor served as his proxy...

I went to GUM & MUG... I was surprised to see Pitto gone again. Now where did he run off to again?

I went home, ate dinner, watched a little television, and worked on my blog.

My post ends here. S-15, Good luck on our INTRICT test tomorrow!

Aujourd'hui

2006-07-19T19:03:00.000+08:00

Aujourd'hui

The nasty Shirlina forced me to accompany her in trying out for the tennis varsity at La Salle...

Well, yesterday, I should have warmed-up a little in Reina Regente Tennis Club; however, things didn't turn out my way...

I planned to practice this morning at the same location. Unfortunately, I woke up late and was unable to do so...

Sigh, what kind of massacre would happen later on?

My tennis racquet was at GUM & MUG, so I decided to go there... I thought my mom was going to drive me to La Salle... She won't... Then I thought that it would be a hassle if I brought along my tennis racket with me. Oh well...

Shirlina called up my mom (or it may be the other way around)... I asked her if she can lend me her racket. She agreed...

(Read Shirlina's blog for more information...)

I rode the LRT and dropped off at Vito Cruz, because it is nearer to our designated meeting place (McDonald's). I entered the place, hoping that Shirlina was just sitting in a place where I can easily find her. One more thing, I found out that my sim card has malfunctioned (and to think I left my other one at home). Anxiously, I joined the queue and lined up to order food.

I was deliberately discombobulated. With Shirlina nowhere in sight, I wondered how we would ever meet. Well, perhaps she had already left several minutes ago. No, she just won't. Oh, I was so confused that time...

In the nick of time, Raisa arrived. A light buld (idea) flashed inside my head. I thought of borrowing Raisa's cell phone to contact my mom. She could then contact Shirlina. No, exclude that idea. I'm not a pachiderm...

Finally, I got to 'enjoy' my lunch - french fries. I still couldn't find Shirlina...

After eating, I thought of going to EGI Taft Tower to buy a functional SIM card for myself to contact my mom... Still, EGI was far from McDonald's... Anyway, I left...

*knock* *knock*

There she is!

Let's skip the conversation part...

We went to Rizal Memorial Sports Plaza to try out. The coach told us to warm-up... and so we did...

"Ha ha. Kapal ng mukha natin. Beginners nagtratryout para sa varsity."

We (many of us) looked like amateurs. Some were pretty good though...

We didn't expect that the warm-ups were already being judged by the coach...

Results next week. I don't care if I got accepted or not... but if in case... like Dtiff... maybe I'll be lucky and get exempted from my CWTS class (and maybe, our FWDANCE PE) next term...

It was 2:40... and we (Shirlina and I) were already late for our next class.

It was 3:15 when I arrived at my classroom...

"Nag-dota ka noh?"
"Addict!"
"First time!"
"Mon, bakit ka late?"

Our professor, who never cared at our class attendance, only chuckled...

Eventually, Lou and Dianne were the only ones who knew that I went to try out for the tennis team...

15 minutes of ALGTRIG - I quickly copied eerything on the board... After some time, we were dismissed... Blockmates, I wouldn't be late without a valid reason.

I was the first to arrive at our classroom for INTRICT again. We listened to a group reporting and was dismissed.

I met Shirlina at the LRT Station... We rode the train and went to Bambang Station, where we alighted. I invited her to join me but she declined my offer...

On the way to GUM & MUG... I was finally able to meet my favorite Chinese teacher in elementary - 張老師, who was accompanied by 劉老師... They asked me where I am studying and what course I was taking up...

I told them I was studying at La Salle and I was studing ICTM (Information and Communications Technology - somewhat related to computer science). After some more chit-chats, we parted ways...

My, am I glad that Pitto was back in his home again. The furry creature needed some consoling. I also took pictures of Van, and I'm going to post them here on one of my next posts, hopefully...

Lisa arrived and asked me if *ahem* Shirlina had left a few things with me...

I told her that *ahem* I invited Shirlina to come over, but she refused...

"Sayang pagod ko," she said.

Well... I went home, had my flute lessons, and worked on my blog.

That's all. "Short" post, isn't it?

Scintillation

2006-07-18T21:22:00.000+08:00

Scintillation

Anyone ever noticed how weird my blog titles are? Well...

My post today hopes eradicate all those sceptic typecasts you may (or may not) have made about my blog...

Firstly, I plan to keep this post short by using bulleted lists instead of those circumloquacious paragraphs to decribe what happened today.

Well, let me start...

I woke up and was driven by my mom today to La Salle. Since we had an exam in INTRPRG today, I felt quite nervous... The test will occupy 20% of our final grade... Separated into two parts... One today... One on Thursday...

There I go again... Oh well...

I was almost late today because of my mom; I was just in time for my exam...
Our INTRPRG exam (Part One) consisted of 4 numbers... Number 1 and 2 was about flowcharting... 1 - Fibonacci Sequence... 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34

Guess I'll insert a paragraph at this point... When I was in fourth year high school, our computer teacher gave us an extra work... If anyone could submit to him a C program of the Fibonacci Sequence (from 1 to 20), he'll give him or her the higest possible score in that particular grading period.

Well, I was the first (maybe even the only one) to submit my work to my teacher... Here's my program...

#include
main()
{
int i;
int f[7];
f[0]=1;
f[1]=1;
printf("These are the elements of the Fibonacci sequence from the numbers 1 to 20: \n");
for(i=2;i<=6;i+=1)
{
f[i]=f[i-1]+f[i-2];
}
for(i=0;i<=6;i+=1)
{
printf("The %d element",i+1);
printf(" is %d. \n",f[i]);
}
}

Mr. V asked me if I used arrays... Yes, I told him... Guess there were more solutions to this program...

Well, a few weeks ago, I was practicing Java programming at home. With nothing in mind, I decided to convert this C program into Java code. Unfortunately, I was unable to do so...

The moment I saw Number 1, I was struck with a sudden tinge of fear. Uh oh...

"I've practiced this before... I've done this before in C... It shouldn't be difficult..."

Unfortunately, our professor didn't teach us about arrays yet, so I tried to think of another formula...

It wasn't as difficult as I thought, well... It was pretty challenging for a fact, that was why I did all the other numbers first before moving to this one...

My program, when converted to Java code, looks like this...

public class Fibonacci
{
public static void main (String[] args)
{
int N1 = 1, N2 = 1;
System.out.print (N1 + " " + N2 + " ");
while (N1 != 34)
{
N1 = N1 + N2;
System.out.print (N1 + " ");
if (N1 != 34)
{
N2 = N1 + N2;
System.out.print (N2 + " ");
}
}
}
}

Screen output: 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34

Sigh... this is turning out to be a long post again...

Number 3 was the only programming problem in our quiz. It looked rather easy, but it caused me and many of my blockmates a lot of trouble...
Number 4 was tracing. Acceptable enough...

Lunchtime...

I invited my friends to Yuchengco Hall first to get our MooMedia Track Cards, but Ms. Cell Phone Addict was demanding enough to send us to the ranks of La Casita in Andrew Hall.
I ordered Sisig with Egg (like what I ordered yesterday) and a cup of iced tea.
The service of La Casita today was remarkably fast; the queue was quite the cause of upheaval though.
I met Shirlina and Joyce for the second time at the exact place where they were seated yesterday. Rominick came into the scene afterwards.
We did our ALGTRIG homeworks.

ALGTRIG class...

Nothing commendable... as a matter of fact...

SCIENVB class...

We listened to the report of the last group.
Philip was so funny. He had to take over three (or was it four - Tricycle Driver, Teacher, Doctor, Reporter) roles... Impressive job!
We evaluated our group members.

Dismissal time...

We went to Yuchengco Lobby and got our track cards for MooMedia.
I was sure glad that I got into the Media Productions committee! I slept at 5:00 AM the day when I was working on my submission.
I went to the LRT Station and rode the train to Bambang.

Inside the train...

House of Praise
"Hi SM... Bye SM..."
Lawton Park and Ride
"Hi NBS-A; bye NBS-A. Hi NBS-B; bye NBS-B."
Crazy me...

Outside Uno High School...

I met Eunice along the way to GUM & MUG - fourth Unean classmate I met today.
I saw many friends from Uno...

Speaking of Uno... Every time I see elementary students of Uno...

I may be the reason why they are wearing the uniforms they are wearing today...

Ha ha. Before, Uneans in elementary wore the usual white polo shirt and khaki shorts... Well, my mom (or I) requested that I be allowed to wear long pants because I have skin allergy...

(Understand now, blockmates?)

The school administration permitted me to wear my proposed attire, but it unexpectedly brought about a lot of drawbacks...

Many people mocked and ridiculed me because I looked like a high school repeater.
It took my classmates some time to understand, for a fact, that I was wearing my clothes for a special reason.
Within the span of adaption, I felt left out.

Realizing the problem, the school administration executed some major changes. The next year, the elementary uniform was changed to what it is today - Polo shirt and navy blue pants.

That was the history of Uno High School's Elementary uniform revamp.

At GUM & MUG...

I tended my rabbits.
I provoked my father's pet snake.
I observed my pet turtle as he merrily waded his feet along the crystal clear waters.
I played the piano.

On the way home...

I slept the whole journey.

Evening...

I ate dinner.
I went to my resident hair salon and had a haircut.
I worked on my blog.

Presently...

Time to say goodbye!

Hope you've enjoyed reading today's post!

Sesquipidalian Verbosity

2006-07-17T22:02:00.000+08:00

Sesquipidalian Verbosity

Well, this is my second post for today...

Today is, in fact, Monday. July 17 in the year two thousand and six.

Ha ha! What am I saying? Oh anyway... I'm quite in a good mood...

Morning... My mom drove me to UN Avenue Station... After alighting at Quirino Station, I walked my way to La Salle...

Again... The same things over and over again... You must be bored... I'll try keep this post short... I'll try not to lose control...

We had our PE classes... We were taught Formation Form 2 and Self Defense 4 and 5. Since Lou was absent, I lost my training partner... (Treisha became Dianne's partner) The coach / professor became my partner. It seemed like I was still had many flaws in my defensive movements. I'm glad our professor corrected me... If not...

Joy and I went to Speed Bytes in EGI Taft Tower to make some improvisations in our INTRICT reaction paper. While she was not yet around, I was infuriated by the person beside me and those behind my back. They were playing Neopets, and they think they're so good. If I had the chance, I'll show them. I'll beat them to a pulp. Do not mess with me and my Kiko!

I texted Dianne and asked her where she was eating. (Lou went home... so I didn't bother texting her...) No reply. I fell into a state of confusion...

I decided to enter Andrew. I was greeted with a "Hello!" by Karl. What a coincidence.

Someone who looked familiar was sitting at the bench talking to another person. It was Richard! My! The second Unean whom I met...

I decided to go upstairs to visit our classroom. It was still occupied. Oh well, guess I have to eat lunch by myself again...

That's when Dianne replied.

Tp0s n po kme kmain...D2 la casita

I wonder how people get used to text lingo...

I arrived at La Casita, and I saw my blockmates fleeting from their seats... Nooo... Off they went. Some volunteered to accompany me. I declined their offer.

"Thanks but no thanks."

I ordered Sisig with Egg. While waiting for the queue, Bea and some others returned and offered their services again...

"Kinokonsensiya kami ni Dianne..."
"Di na bale. Ako na mag-isa."
"Sure mo a?"
"Sure!"

I ate... by myself...

After eating, someone suddenly stood in front of me. It was Joyce.

"Shirlina, nasa likod mo lang si Solomon o!"
"Shirlina?!"

Oh, hi! I met the third and fourth Uneans of the day. We went up the stairs to the eighth floor... Their classes start at one. Mine starts at 2:30... Oh well...

I went beck to my classroom. It was already vacated. Totally dark and empty, I waited outside to see who would be the second to arrive...

Yna... I told her totay was the 'feared day.' The day when the results of the LSCS officer recruitment would be announced...

"Judgement day!"
"Natatakot ako..."
"Sa tingin ko di ako mapapasok. Di ko na papaakyatin expectations ko..."

Cecille arrived...

As time passed by... a few more entered...

It was strange for our classroom... It was 2:00 and our classroom wasn't even a quarter full...

"Probably doing their reaction papers," I said.

ALGTRIG - Our dreaded test papers were given, and I got this drastically low score of 89%. Overall, that's (91% + 89%) / 2 = 90%...

And I was hoping for a grade of 4.0...

Still, plenty of time to catch up...

Anyway, I was surprised to see Lou again...

INTRICT - I was the first one in class, and my professor commended me for that. The groups who would be reporting today were quite unprepared... and since most of my classmates arrived late today, our professor lost her cool...

It began raining... and I was forced to stick with my friends. Lou explained that she went home to get her left ID... She skipped ALGTRIG classes (Our professor never cared about class attendance.) just to validate her ID today. Very wise decision...

I met Raymond and Diana at Bambang Station... the fifth and sixth Uneans I've met today...

I went to GUM & MUG, took care of my pets, did some programming exercises, and went home with my mom (and our helpers)...

I was waiting for the 'message.'

My Yahoo! Messenger developed some sort of problems because of memory overload...

I received a Friendster testimonial from Joanie...

I worked on my post meant for yesterday...

After closing some programs, I tried opening Yahoo! Messenger again...

It finally worked.

I saw Yna's status message and was a little bit assured of a good outcome...

All's well that ends well. I was accepted as one of the Assistant Vice Presidents of La Salle Computer Society. All right! My hard work and efforts finally paid off!

Ciao!

Syzygy

2006-07-17T20:03:00.000+08:00

Syzygy

Sigh... It looks like I wasn't able to post again yesterday...

Well anyway, I was in a deep slumber just before Nicolo called up one of our housemaids at home to wake me up. Geez...

I was pretty surprised when Nicolo voluntarily wanted to go to church today; I was even more astonished when Nicolo said Nikko was also going to attend our church meeting...

We were quite late when we arrived at CGC (Christian Gospel Center). Nikko was waiting for us at the fifth floor. The mass commenced...

It was not a common sight to see Nikko and Nicolo continually "insulting" each other all the time. They say they do it every time they meet just for fun. Weird...

After the church meeting ended, I told them about my undecided schedule for today. Well, it was Eric's birthday and he invited me and my mom for lunch. Initially, they thought of returning home, but I was able to turn the table and change their minds when my mom strategically decided to leave the two in Robinson's Place Ermita while we partake on our sumptuous lunches...

Nicolo and Nikko dropped off at Robinson's Place and designated Mercury Drug as our meeting place later on. We went to Emerald Garden...

The moment we arrived, I was pretty amazed and at the same time shocked when I saw my former teachers - Eric had invited them to his party. Oh wow! I never thought about inviting teachers before...

Let's see... There was Mr. Herman Ong, Ms. Anneline Ang, Mr. Joey Villarinte, Mrs. Polly Rivera, 楊老師 (aka Soriano), 吳老師 (aka Baba), and 黃老師 (aka Uling). I also saw some of my former classmated there... Tara, William...

There was also Jamie, Kenneth, Stephanie, and the rest...

I talked with Mr. Ong for a short while...

黃老師跟我說, "阿呀!你為什麼遲到？＂
我想回答，但因為時間的關係，我無法做這回事．．．

You may be wondering what that means...

My Chinese history teacher asked me why I was late...
I wanted to reply, but because of time constraint, I was unable to do so...

Finally, we went back to our car... (And I was hoping to ask Mrs. Rivera about part-time teaching in Uno...)

We went to Robinson's Place and reunited with the two...

(Now... Thomasians... don't be offended... We do this for fun...)

Our group was complete: Atenean, Lasallian, and the other school. Nicolo ought to visit the 99 peso shop; he can only afford to buy the things there. Nikko said that Nicolo would melt if he entered those classy stalls like Lacoste, and continually tells Nicolo...

"Excuse me please..."
"You're such a whore."

He says that was the most common 'insult' in Ateneo...

Eventually, he changed the word 'hore' into two different translations. One for UST, and the other I don't really know...

Well, after visiting AstroVision (looking for Megaman Battle Network 6 original version), National Book Store (shopping for a pRO Lighthalzen installer), Octagon (browsing for television tuners), Data Blitz (viewing original MAGIX Video Edit Pro software), and Nokia (to be hypnotized by all those expensive cell phones), we arrived at G-Box, the one and only amusement center in Robinson's Place Ermita, as well as the home of Dance Maniax First Mix...

I bought 4 tokens for us to play... Eventually, I purchased 6 more.

"Ayaw ko maglaro dito... bubulok ako." Nikko complained.

He played eventually. And really, our skills deteriorated... a bit. We lost once... There are many reasons why:

1. The laser sensors were not functioning at 100% potential.
2. The first and second player screen was attached to each other, unlike in Dance Maniax Second Mix.
3. I hate Dance Maniax First Mix! It had a totally different GUI (graphical user interface).

After waiting some more, we met my mom at The Handyman, anf after claiming the bulky table at Blims, we set for a new exciting journey...

NQ: "Pauwi na tayo diba?"

SL: "Nope. Papunta tayo sa favorite mall ni Atenean."

NQ: "Oh no! Gusto ko na umuwi!"

NT: "Di pwede. Sasama ka!"

NT: "Ay alam mo ba, yung mga blockmates ko, di nila alam yung SM Mall of Asia. May nagtanong nga sa akin e: "

'Bukas na ba yan?'
Huh? Tagal na...
'Ilang beses ka na nakapunta?'
Mga 6 times na.
'OMG!'

SL: Ako nga nung half day lang kami dapat pupunta kami sa SM Mall of Asia e, kaso lang... Anyway, napansin ko na mas common sa kanila ang SM kaysa Robinsons..."

NT: "Yuck!"

NQ: "Yabang!"

NT: "Excuse me please..."

SL: "Pero syempre you can't exclude Glorietta, Greenbelt, et cetera..."

We arrived at SM Mall of Asia Entertainment Mall. My mom volunteered to wait at the car for us. We told her to come with us, but she insisted that we go on without her... Oh well...

We entered Q Power Station...

NT: "Hay salamat, may matinong Dance Maniax na rin."

I loaded my VIP Card with 200 pesos and ended up regretting...

SL: "Marami pa palang natira sa card ko!"

There was a short queue at the machine... We waited, then the first match commenced...

Was it Nicolo and me or Nicolo and Nikko?

Anyway, who cares? The best match would be mine and Nikko's.

When we played, the evil Nikko deceived Nicolo into choosing Quickening Wild mode as a song. We both lost...

When the two of them were playing, I taunted Nicolo...

SL: "Ay, matatalo na si taga-other school..."

NT: "Aba, nagsisimula na rin a."

We played with Nikko... Well, I guess he was practicing too...

We went to TimeZone and I treated them to the Mad Wave Motion Simulator. Woohoo! It was quite expensive, though...

I bought a Lychee Ice at Quickly; Nicolo and Nikko went to Giordano...

We went to Lacoste. The poor person from the other school was raving about Nikko's 'counterfeit' Lacoste shirt...

NT: "Excuse me please..."

Then we saw Nikko's shirt...

NT: "Yan yun sa akin o!"

NQ: "O sukat mo. Fake yun sa 'yo! Minighty bond mo lang yung crocodile."

NT: "Excuse me please. Nakakahiya ka. At di tumunog yung alarm, kaya original ito."

SL: "Sasabihin ng tao magnanakaw ka. He he!"

We looked for the 'zippered clothing,' but was unable to find one...

We returned to Q Power Station and played our final few games of Dance Maniax. Rank S!

Would you look at the time. It was late already, and my mom was telling me to return as soon as possible.

That was my eighth time to visit SM Mall of Asia...

We drove home...

After a series of school jokes and Nicolo puns, we arrived at Nicolo's place.
Goodbye Nicolo...

Nikko went to my house... After eating dinner, he downloaded and installed Google Earth onto my workstation, and after showing me the different notable locations in Metro Manila, he said farewell and left for home...

See you soon, I hope.

PS. Afterwards, my mom went to Eric's place and delivered the table we bought for him... Hope he appreciates it! Homework coming up!

Zugzwang

2006-07-15T17:52:00.000+08:00

Zugzwang

Another Saturday...

I have to wake up early for Clip 2006. This time, the topic was about Microsoft Excel, and boy, I'm bad at it...

Microsoft Excel... dates back to Year 2 in high school. (Imagine, we were just studying Microsoft Excel in Year 2, whereas students from other schools are already discussing about Flash and others...) I hated MS Excel because of the many formulas one is required to memorize (know to heart). Anyway...

I arrived at Gokongwei after a series of LRT and jeep rides. I looked around but nobody was around... I texted Rochelle and Yna...

"Where are you?"

No reply. Trying to look natural, I went up the stairs as calmly as I could...

I saw Apollo.

"Ummm..."
"Prospect ka diba?"
"Umakyat na ba sila?"
"Di pa. Nasa baba lang sila o nandito sa second floor."

I was relieved. I went down and occupied an empty bench near the Gokongwei lobby. I saw Rochelle approaching...

"Kanina ka pa lumilibot a. Alam ko itetext mo na ako nung linabas mo cell phone mo."
"Ha ha."
"Dadating ba kasama mo?"
"Baka malate daw, pero dadating siya."

She excused herself and went to sit with her friends.

I waited for the students to arrive as I mesmerized upon a notebook computer with a sketch of Kon (Bleach - the cute yellow doll) as desktop wallpaper. It took me some time to realize that Rochelle and the others are gone.

The students arrived at last. (They were 27 minutes late.) I escorted them to their respective classrooms and afterwards entered Gokongwei 302...

I seated beside Rochelle. Yna wasn't around yet. I received a message from her asking my whereabouts and such. I told her I was in the mentioned room and told her to come quickly. The discussion started...

This kid I was tending to didn't look like he needed my elp so I just remained silent and watch him do his stuff... I guess I enjoyed teaching my former student more than today's...

Yna arrived. When I mentioned about the RagnaReunion happenning in Portal today, my student reacted positively.

"Kuya, nagraragnarok ka rin?"

I chuckled when Yna exclaimed, "Nagraragnarok ka?! O?"

The server race began. I was in Chaos. Edmer was in Sarah, while Yna was in Loki...

We took our lunch break... We couldn't find Rochelle anywhere...

I expressed to Yna how I wanted to go to Portal for the RagnaReunion. We had lunch at Tapa King because it was located near Portal. And so... we ate...

We rushed to Portal afterwards. Wow! The place was full of posters and ads of Ragnarok and RagnaReunion. We rushed upstairs...

There was a booth in front. Sign ups for Ragna Quest and BTAX (whatever that is)... Many people were signing up for Ragna Quest, so my curiosity raged...

I asked the personnel (the GMs) about the Ragna Quest...

"Kailangan magform kayo ng team of 3 members. Tapos magpapakita kayo sa amin ng isang unused 50 peso level-up card. Pagkatapos bibigyan namin kayo ng map at 500 (imitation) zeny. Papalibutin nyo ang buong Vito Cruz..."

Wow! And I thought the quest would be done online...

How I wanted to join... I asked her...

"Kailan ho simula 'tong Ragna Quest?"
"Ngayon nagsisimula na..."

Oh no. It was 15 minutes to one, and only Yna was with me. There were in-game prizes and cash prizes at stake, and they made me want to participate more; however, we had our priorities...

Oh, how I hoped Rochelle was with us... Joining may be impossible, but getting the map (for remembrance) would be nice... Sadly, there was person we can rely upon, and I went back brokenheartedly...

10 more minutes. Nikko wants me to buy him 100 e-points. Maybe later...

My mind went berserk. Ask Yna about it. Period.

Anyway, we went back to teaching. This time, we went to room 304 and met my former students. Hello again!

"Kuya! Kayo ulit!"

From that on, I enjoyed teaching again. My students were very smart, so I taught them advanced lessons again... Ha ha!

Formulas like MIN and MAX and RAND() and RANK and so on and so forth...

Then the test... again. My students were given the test a little later than usual because of the lack of writing materials, but in the end, they did a good job. One got 21 and the other got 17 (over 26)...

Well, we were dismissed. Yna was compassionate enough to accompany me to Portal again, preferably not to suffer another round of sorrow. (Well, I believe she was anticipating for band to play...) Suddenly, I saw Cecille...

My face brightened. This may be the answer to my prayers.

"Pwede ka sumama?"
"Sumama saan?"
"Sa Portal."
"Saan yun?"
"Sa tabi ng Yellow Cab; sa harap ng La Salle."
"Bakit? Ano gagawin mo doon."
"May RagnaReunion."
"Ano naman yun?"

Sigh, explaining the details were harder than I thought...

Fortunately, Yna came out of the rest room.

"Gusto ni Mon na sumama ka sa Portal kasi kailangan ng tatlong tao para sa gustong saliin niya para makakuha siya ng map."

"A ok. Di pa naman ako uuwi..."
"So sasama ka?"
"Ok lang."

All right! Our team was formed.

I told them to wait for me as I went to EGI Taft Tower to buy my 50 level-up card and Nikko's e-points... There were also signs posted around EGI...

We headed to Portal. The place was jammed. The booth was more organized. The food was served and the crowds were increasing in number...

"May freebies kayong makukuha kapag nag-sign kayo ng survey..."

How can I resist. I told my two blockmates to sign too...

We arrived at a point where you are required to write your username, guild, and highest level character... It was not a problem with me. Hissi was my strongest character since vaudeville (or rather, since I started playing Ragnarok)... Yna and Cecille had problems...

Yna told me to lend her "my other account" (Shirlina's). Cess, in turn borrowed Yna's account... Hmmm... I wonder...

"Pili kayo kung ano dito gusto nyo..."
"Kasali ba ito sa freebies?"
"Oo."

I can't believe it. I asked Yna's and Cess's opinions...

"Syempre kukunin ko yung CD."

What a choice! Stationery and Licenced CD. Which one would you choose?

I asked the GMs, if the Ragna Quest was still ongoing yet...

"Meron pa, pero bilisan nyo na dapat."

We signed the form...

"May 50-peso card na ho kayo?"

I gave her the card which I just bought...

She stamped my hand, handed me an envelope, and "rolled" a strip of authentication paper onto my wrist...

I completed my mission successfully.

Aside from the Ragna Quest and the BTAX, there were also other activities in store... There was this 'Beat the LU RokStar' challenge... and many more...

I opened the envelope and found these things inside...

A Ragna Quest Map - for a larger version, click here...

Ragna Quest Rules - click to see...

and 500 zeny!

We were also given a name tag each...

Suddenly, my eyes feasted upon what was written on the Ragna Quest Rules page. The Lighthalzen CD was for sale...

I asked the GMs where this CD (or rather the Mastersmith's Kariton) can be found... Long story...

"Adik ka talaga." Yna told me.
"Nah... Isang character lang malakas sa akin."

The moment I came down, a GM was announcing about joining an activity (I wasn't able to hear clearly what it was...)... Visit Tristan III... receive a card which not a single pRO player has ever acquired yet... worth more than 7.5 billion zennies!

"Oo! Ganyan talaga yan kamahal! Kaya pumunta na kayo sa kabila..."

WOW! 7.5 BILLION ZENNIES! That's a lot of money! (Converted to Philippine peso... er... count that for yourselves... Before, my friends sell me 40 pesos per million zeny... The price dropped to 20 per M... compute for that...)

20 pesos* (7,500,000,000 zennies /per 1,000,000 zennies) = 150,000 pesos

Wow! Rich!

Just by looking at my blockmates, I could see that they really wanted to go home... Sigh... Broken dreams...

It started raining. I did my best to protect my Ragna Quest Kit from the ferocious drops of rainwater as I rushed to the LRT station reluctantly... I wanted to return; however, with only one person (which is myself), what can I do? I went to GUM & MUG painstakingly...

... and then arrived home... Shirlina was online, and I told her about my day. Too depressing. I'm glad Joanie was there to alleviate asome of my hard feelings by playing O2 Jam with me...

I played with her until she reached level 3; I reached level 18. She had to go afterwards...

My second aunt (father's side) visited us this evening and showed us some pictures of their glorious peregrinations. I burned them onto a blank compact disc...

Even until now... one question remains in my mind...

What if I tried going there by myself... Would I be able to attain that which I am aspiring for? Perhaps... Maybe... Hopefully...

Nonetheless...

If I went there and tried my best... I would instead say...

If only I had said this or that instead of just...

(derived from a text message I had received a few weeks ago)

Anyway, if you were able to reach this point, (of course, reading from the top), then let me thank you for being patient with me. People say that my posts are too long, but what can I do? This is all for you readers out there!

By the way, I have short term memeoy loss... It's really surprising how I can get to remember all those minute details happening in my daily life...

So, thank you for viewing my first pictopost (picture post) and have a nice day!

PS. Be sure to come back tomorrow!

Wild Goose Chase

2006-07-14T19:27:00.000+08:00

Wild Goose Chase

It was 11 in the morning when I woke up because of the beckonings of my father. Our classes (or orientation) starts at 2:30 PM.

"I mustn't be late." I told myself.

After eating breakfast, I took the time and enjoyed playing a little Ragnarok Online and some O2 Jam. I was to take lunch at our store, but circumstances compelled me to eat at home...

I proceeded to GUM & MUG. Suddenly, someone came from behind and grabbed hold of the side car. My heart pounded ferociously. A holdup!

The side car driver scolded the prankster. I was still in a state of shock so I listened to my iPod. Was the person following us? Guess not. What a hoax!

I arrived at our store 8 minutes and 36 seconds after. My 'second lunch' was in front of me. Xiao Lum Pao, my favorite chinese dimsum! All right!

We headed to the LRT station munches after...

Zoom! Off to La Salle. I looked at my watch. I was almost late. I thought of riding a jeepney from Quirino to Andrew; however, there was no jeep to be found... Briskwalking time...

I met Raisa at the queue in front of the elevator. We chatted. I wondered why she wasn't in a hurry. My question was answered when I saw the time - 10 minutes 'till class. She told me that our orientation would only take 10 minutes.

"What?!"
"Oo nga e. Tapos late yung orientor o..."

How right she was!

While the orientors haven't arrived at the classroom yet, I played "Jack-Palo" with some of my friends (as well as some unfair ones... guess who I am talking aboout...) I terribly regretted not bringing my german-english list of words to class...

Anyway, I saw some blockmates who had already acquired their LSCS IDs already... I wanna get mine too...

The orientors arrived 30 minutes late. After letting us cut (or fill up) some papers, we were dismissed.

Upon entering Gokongwei, I grabbed four (I thought I got only three...) copies of The Lasallian and then went to the ID claiming station. Louise (from Uno batch dunno) was there and she said hi to me. I waited for my ID. It wasn't with her nor her peers. I told them to check once agin. Again, it was nowhere to be found. Waaa...

I went up to my classroom and asked Yna if she had already gotten hold of her ID. She said we would get our IDs after July 17 (depends if we become officers or not). Sheesh, all my futile efforts. A chasing after the wind...

We listened to the report of Group 5...

We were dismissed. I gave Yna a copy of the newspaper and grabbed another one for myself. After meeting with Joy in front of the Student's Nook, I set for our store...

Now a miraculous thing happened. I rushed to the LRT station and was sad that the train doors were already closing and I couldn't enter. After a few seconds, the doors slid open. I took the chance and entered the narrow passageway, and boy I succeded. (If I even paused for a second, I would have been crushed to death by now...)

That was my first time to ride in the backmost compartment of the train. I looked outside and lo beyond... the world beyond human perception... (I didn't know what I had been writing at this point.)

I arrived at GUM & MUG. Uno (while the other schools had) didn't have classes today, as expected of my alma mater! I heard a kid whistling, and in front of him was my turtle. His eyes were feasted at another direction... A white mouse. Pitto! There you are!

I tried to catch him but he was unexpectedly faster than usual. I informed my mom...

I saw Pitto once again and I had him trapped in four directions. He jumped and rushed out for refuge. Not again!

By the time we were about to go home, I took a "cage" (the electric fan's head) and waited for him to come out. I waited and waited but there was no responce from my pet. Sadly we had to go home...

I wasn't able to retrieve back my pet but I was sure glad that he was safe and sound. I believe that Bitto is currently somewhere in our store merrily scampering around and enjoying himself.

I'll definitely get you back, Bitto. Until then!

Force Majeure

2006-07-13T13:16:00.000+08:00

Force Majeure

Sigh, it's really saddening...

Just now, another breaking news flashed out of nowhere...

Palace Suspends Classes, Number-

Coding in Metro Manila

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday suspended classes in all levels in Metro Manila due to security reasons.

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) also suspended the number-coding scheme in Metro Manila.

DepEd Secretary Fe Hidalgo over an interview with ABS-CBN's Magandang Umaga Pilipinas said classes were suspended both in private and public schools in Metro Manila.

CHED Representative Amelia Diglete announced the suspension of classes both in state and private colleges and universities over an interview with DZMM.

Diglete said CHED Secretary Carlito Puno has yet to announce if Saturday classes would also be suspended.

Suspension of classes in the tertiary level is also restricted to the National Capital Region, she said.

The Philippine National Police raised the red alert over Metro Manila on Thursday in anticipation of demonstrations for the next two days.

The PNP said that the National Capital Region Police Office has deployed more than 1,000 officers to monitor rallies and implement security guidelines to ensure peace and order.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), meanwhile, gathered an additional 300 soldiers to augment crowd-control units for the 20th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution.

The report said that the augmentation force was pulled out from the Air Force, Army and Navy. The soldiers arrived at the AFP headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo Thursday afternoon.

Hmmm... so it wasn't the typhoon that's causing all these problems...

So... does that mean there will be no classes again tomorrow?

It doesn't! Within a few hours, another news broke out...

Arroyo: Classes resume in all

levels in Metro, Regions 3, 4

Still suspended in Regions 1, 2, and CAR

By Joel Guinto
INQ7.net
Last updated 04:09pm (Mla time) 07/13/2006

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has announced the resumption of classes at all levels in Metro Manila, and in Regions 3 and 4 on Friday but said those in Regions 1 and 2 and at the Cordillera Administrative Region would remain suspended.

The President made the announcement Thursday during her visit at the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) in Camp Aguinaldo.

Classes in all levels were suspended in these areas following heavy rains caused by Tropical Storm “Florita.”

“Florita,” which became a typhoon as it headed towards Taiwan, left at least seven people dead and three missing.

Worthless newcasters! Don't they know how to do their jobs properly?

PS. I just hope nothing bad would happen on Saturday...

Weltanschauung

2006-07-12T20:08:00.000+08:00

Weltanschauung

I felt very excited and at the same time nervous. We had another hands-on exam later; this could be my chance to catch up with Joy (for she had the highest grade in INTRPRG, me placing next to her). This could also be another opportunity to beat him...

I came to class really early today. There was a raging thunderstorm out there; force majeure. My parents advised me to check up the DLSU website to see if we have classes or not. In the end... well... read on...

I arrived at Gokongwei and realized that I forgot to bring bond paper. I quickly bought a sheet from the Warp Zone...

I went to my room upstairs... 306... I was at least 30 minutes early... Thinking ahead, there was an official assembly in MooMedia and LSCS today... Before ALGTRIG classes start, I would entertain my blockmates with loads of spelling, pronunciation, and the like especially now that I had researched on the topics... In INTRICT, we would listen to another report...

The room was gradually being filled with people. I started working on my exercise program, a decimal to binary converter (which I had managed to compile in C). Before I was finished, though, the professor arrived and told us to keep our things; it was time for our exam.

What is this? Number one (aka 2.java) seemingly looked rather simple. I wanted to be the first one to submit my work, but I prevented myself from doing so...

Slowly but surely...

After trying Sample Runs 1 and 2, I noticed that my program displays incorrect information in Sample Run 3. Then again, I browsed through the paper again and found out that Sample Run 3 in the paper was incorrect, not my program. I told the professor. She told the class...

I submitted my work. Marcial was first to submit though...

On to number 2 (aka 3.java). Now this program looked difficult. After carefully analyzing the program, I figured out that it was not as hard as I initially thought of. And so I started...

I submitted my work and was one of the first people to finish the exam(s). I then became a 'student assistant.' Glee!

I really hope I didn't commit any mistakes in our hands on exam... (but it looks like I did, unless that specific number is not considered as a valid input... Hope so...)

I watched my other blockmates as they struggled to find the correct code...

Soon afterwards, the professor came into the room (She went out...) and told us that she had some good and bad news for us...

"Which one would you want to hear first?"
"Good!" "Bad!"

"The good news is that from 11:40 AM onwards, you have no more classes."

Many were shocked. Some were happy. I was dumbstruck. What about LSCS? MooMedia?!

Ms Shirley answered, "Siguro pinostpone na nila yun."

"The bad news is you have to finish your program by 12:00."

That's no bad news, I thought, for I had already finished my work 40 minutes before her announcement...

I volunteered to collect the papers and arrange them...

I wouldn't ever forget what our teacher told me when she was leaving the room...

"Thank you, Solomon!"

Ha ha... She thanked me for the first time.

Anyway, for the first time, I went out with my classmates. There was SM Mall of Asia, Glorietta, Greenbelt, but we ended up taking a jeepney ride to SM Manila (City Hall)...

We first ate lunch at the FoodCourt (Our 7 day consecutive was cut short...), afterwards, many left us and went home... We, the ones who were left, went to Quantum (my invitation, yeehah!) Dance Maniax time!

I bought 10 tokens. The place was jammed. I went to the machine. 12 credits. I placed 8 coins, hopefully for the 4 of us to play at least once...

The machine broke down! Despicable! The people there were also uncivilized. Let me explain what I mean...

Initially, there were 12 credits... We placed 8. That means, a total of 20 credits... We waited... 18, 16, some people placed tokens... 21... 19... It should already be our turn. People continued to play...

I let them play...

Now it should already be our turn. The player(s) insisted that it was still her (their) turn...

Reluctantly, I gave them another chance.

This happened more than twice more.

I was steaming. We had already been waiting for more than an hour. I told her in her face that it was already our turn. She just wouldn't do... Last, she said... last...

Grrrrr... I was really mad. Lou also... My other companions were bored stiff...

We played. 4 games with Lou, then a game myself. (I alledgely placed another token...)

The machine crashed many times...

When we left for home, the escalator broke down. Sheesh, I wonder what in the world was happening today.

I arrived at GUM & MUG and met Nikko there trying on his contact lenses. I told him that I mastered wearing contacts after 2 weeks. He betted me that he can master it within 3 days. We'll see about that...

Anyway, I had my flute lessons at home...

Then another 'thing' came to sight...

Classes Suspended at all Levels

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez

INQ7.net

Last updated 08:26pm (Mla time) 07/12/2006

CLASSES have been suspended at all levels on Thursday, July 13, in areas affected by typhoon ‘Florita’ on, Malacañang announced Wednesday evening.

However, government offices will be open and government employees are required to report for work.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita authorized the suspension of classes on the recommendation of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

Regions where classes have been suspended are the National Capital Region, Cordillera Autonomous Region and Regions 1, 2, 3 and 4.

There were many unbelievers... Anyway, this announcement was officially from INQ7.net, so it must be true enough...

No classes tomorrow! Rejoice!

Fashion Police

2006-07-11T18:00:00.000+08:00

Fashion Police

This should be a part of my previous post Petit Monde; however, because of various reasons, I decided to seperate this post from my last one.

A while ago, when I was teaching my blockmates about language, Yna told the class:

"Tignan nyo si Mon."

I know, I know. Lou had already informed me that such a thing would happen...

What's wrong? Did the clothes I wore a while ago totally differ from those that I wear before?

They told me that:

1. I didn't tuck my clothes in.
2. I wasn't wearing a buttoned polo shirt.
3. I looked better this way.

Those clothes of mine were meant to be tucked out... It was zippered

I really prefer wearing polo though; I'm used to them. They are my house clothes, my clothing for outdoors, and the like. I'll give my blockmates a chance to see me in a different perspective, but I'm definitely not going to go overboard.

The next morning, I slipped on my, erm, clothes which I had been preserving for so long just for this post. Ha ha...

Anyway, our first class was a lab session in programming. I rode the LRT from UN Avenue to Quirino Avenue, then rode a jeepney from there to La Salle. (No more briskwalking for long distances.) Zoom! Wthin seconds, I arrived at my destination. No kidding!

I went to Gokongwei room 302. We were given some practice exercises. I breezed through number 1 but number two was more than challenging. After nearly an hour of tedious work, the problem was solved, and another problem was given to me...

It looked easy enough, and I finished it in no time...

I just hope that the problems given to us tomorrow wouldn't be that difficult...

After INTRPRG classes, Lou was the first one to notice my attire...

"Mas bagay ang ganyan sa 'yo..."

No comment...

I can't understand why sometimes... Well, I'm really used to wearing polo. I don't feel heat, unless there is a sudden decrease of oxygen... Back to my topic...

After accompanying Dianne (with Lou) to her house, we ate at La Casita (for the 7th consecutive time, oh my gosh) in Andrew. I ordered Sisig with Egg so that I would not regret like yesterday... My food tasted a lot better today than last time. Wonder why?

I taught my blockmates proper pronunciation before our ALGTRIG classes started. Some of the words I discussed include the following:

buffet (verb)
clandestine
ichtyology
valet

Our ALGTRIG professor arrived. I became sleepy. To tell you the truth, it is only in ALGTRIG that I get sleepy. Soporifically speaking, our professor was, for a fact... Somehow...

SCIENVB - Yay! No worries! We had already done our reporting so there was nothing to be anxious about. I just sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed watching the presentation of the two groups who reported today...

It was time to go home. Initially, I planned to go to GUM & MUG because I wanted to visit our alma mater. Unfortunately, circumstances just wouldn't allow me, so I just went home...

I was greeted by an embouteillage and a heavy rainstorm.

Fortunately, I arrived home safely and was able to complete this post.

By the way, check this out: I'd Rather be Green than be Blue

Until tomorrow again, readers. Take care!

Petit Monde

2006-07-10T20:01:00.000+08:00

Petit Monde

It was another Monday...

Well, we had a practical test in Taekwondo today, and I was pretty nervous about it... Although I had already practiced the Foundation Form 1 many times at home, but I'm still not confident about myself. Well, self-confidence had always been missing in my daily life, unless of course...

I've gotta beat 'him' no matter how hard it takes...

I was still at home. I left at 9:15 AM, not to commit the same mistake again... (Read my post regarding that by clicking here.) On the way, it started to drizzling. A heavy rainstorm soon followed after. Force majeure, I thought. It would be harder to arrive for my PE classes on time from now on.

My mom suggested that after alighting from the LRT station in Quirino Avenue, I could ride in a jeepney immediately so I won't have to walk to school. Hmmm, I'll think about it...

Well, I followed her advice and miraculously arrived on time. I practiced the kickings and forms with my blockmates. Everything seemed to go along smoothly...

Soon it was our (Joy and me) turn. I made a mistake in the 20 step stances, but it was not noticable. After that was the kickings... I accidentally... er... anyway... Overall, our performance was satisfactory.

I've gotta beat 'him' no matter how hard it takes...

After watching all blockmates take their exams, our professor made some final comments, and then dismissed us... The usual thing happened...

"Mon, saan ka kakain?"
"A... di ko pa alam e..."

Well, after a few minutes, when the question arouse again, I decided to answer them frankly...

"Sabay nalang ako sa inyo, ha ha..."

We ate at La Casita (6th time consecutive on school days) at Andrew. I didn't want to order fish because... um... a certain je ne sais quoi... I also ordered a sup of iced tea...

... which was wasted when four-fifths of it spilled onto the table and seeped into the ground. Nooo... what a waste of money...

I couldn't manage with just a few droups of drinks...

I ordered a bottle of mineral water costing me an additional 15 pesos.

When my order (Blue Marlin) came, I was dumbstruck...

That... is... my... order..? 70 pesos for just that and plain rice?! Imagine the fish to be the size of a Nokia 3120. No more, no less. My blockmates joked that the other half of the fish had fallen down to the ground...

I won't order that next time... It's not worth it.

Then there's this cubic puzzle thingy. I was able to solve it when we went up to our classroom...

I entered the classroom. Having an hour and thirty minutes of free time, I decided to start another ruckus inside our classroom. I wrote down...

鼠牛虎兔龍蛇馬羊猴雞狗豬

Translated, the characters mean (Left to Right): Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, Pig.

If in case you were wondering, these are the so-called Chinese "zodiac signs" you can hear every Chinese New Year. "It's the Year of the ___! 恭喜發財!"

After that, though, I decided to move on to language proficiency. I taught some of my blockmates French and Chinese, and when a blockmate asked me how many languages I know, even for a little, I answered her...

"Uh, about 10..."

I wasn't lying. I know Cantonese, English, Filipino, Fookien, French, Japanese, Mandarin, French, and a few more languages, although some of them I haven't mastered though...

I then decided to make a survey. (Okay, here's the results, blockmates!) I asked them to pronounce certain words written on the board...

Say the following aloud:

Graham
chassis
petit monde
grandeur
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
joie de vivre
Thailand
je ne sais quoi
xiang nian
itadakimasu

You may be wondering about numbers nine and ten... The first is Chinese (想念), and the latter is a japanese word, which is nomally uttered before eating...

The fifth word... Try to say it within 3 seconds. Go!

The word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is defined as "a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, mostly found in volcanos". However, the origin of the word has been found to be a hoax... Being one of the longest words in the English dictionary, it is rarely used... Well then, do you want to know the longest word in the English language? (I couldn't say dictionary for the word cannot be found there.)

Er... you may want to skip this part... Anyway, here it is...

Chemical name for the "Tryptophan Synthetase" protein is however, the longest official word ever (1,913 letters) with the formula C1289H2051N343O375S8 And it is spelled:

methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucylphenylalany lalanylglutaminylleucyllysylglutamylarginyllysylglutamylglycylalany lphenylalanylvalylprolylphenylalanylvalylthreonylleucylglycylaspa rtylprolylglycylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylserylleucyllysylisoleu cylaspartylthreonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanylglycylalanylaspar tylalanylleucylglutamylleucylglycylisoleucylprolylphenylalanylser ylaspartylprolylleucylalanylaspartylglycylprolylthreonyliso leucylglutaminylaspfraginylalanylthreonylleucylarginylalanylpheny lalanylalanylalanylglycylvalylthreonylprolylalanylglutaminylcyste inylphenylalanylglutamylmethionylleucylalanylleucylisoleucylargin ylglutaminyllysylhistidylprolylthreonylisoleucylprolylisoleucylgl ycylleucylleucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalylpheny lalanylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenylalany ltyrosylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalylglycylva lylaspartylserylvalylleucylvalylalanylaspartylvalylprolylvalylglu taminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphenylalanylarginylglutaminylalan ylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginylvalylalanylprolylisoleucy lphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinylprolylprolylaspartylalanylaspartyl aspartylaspartylleucylleucylarginylglutaminylisoleucylalanylseryl tyrosylglycylarginylglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleucylseryl arginylalanylglycylvalylthreonylglycylalanylglutamylasparag inylarginylalanylalanylleucylprolylleucylasparaginylhistidylleucy lvalylalanyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparaginylalanylalany lprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylphenylalanylglycylisoleucylser ylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysylalanylalanylisoleucylas partylalanylglycylalanylalanylglycylalanylisoleucylserylglycylser ylalanylisoleucylvalyllysylisoleucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhi stidylasparaginylisoleucylglutamylprolylglutamyllysylmethio nylleucylalanylalanylleucyllysylvalylphenylalanylvalylglutaminylp rolylmethionyllysylalanylalanylthreonylarginylserine

Count the number of letters if you wish to.

Brrr...

Anyway, I also gave them a few acronyms to translate into Layman's terms.

SOS
ROTC
CWTS

Answer them yourself. Search for the answers after trying.

We had our boring ALGTRIG class and our more interesting INTRICT class. Group 4 was supposed to report, but because of the evalutation teacher and some technical problems, they would report next meeting.

We were dismissed. I called up my mom. I told her that I would go to our store because I need to settle some things with Joanie. I found out that Nikko was there...

Nikko was asking me to buy him 100 e-points for O2 Jam. I bought him five 20 e-points instead, becuase the 100 e-point-top-up card was out of stock. I also decided to buy one for myself so that I could purchase some new songs...

I arrived at GUM & MUG. Nikko was being checked up by my mom, who was an optometrist. I gave the 5 20 e-point cards to Nikko. He paid me. I then gave Dianne's eyeglasses to her for repair. Figured out that Nikko would start wearing contact lenses soon... We chatted...

Joanie came afterward. We talked about school... I told her that I need the two final episodes of Star Ocean EX; she forgot to burn me a copy... Anyway... we talked, joked around, et cetera...

We met once again...

I then told them about the person whom I wanted to beat so bitterly. Think about it. Uneans should know him / her. Guess who's that person? Clue: His / her last name starts with the letter S. Good luck. Post your guesses as comments. Readers, you too. Thanks a lot.

Guess... Guess... Guess... Guess... Guess... Guess... Guess... Guess... Guess... Guess...

Farewell.

Misadventures

2006-07-09T23:30:00.000+08:00

Misadventures

I woke up from my slumber because of the upheaval going on outside my room. I managed to catch a few more minutes of sleep... zZzZzZzzz...

I was lying down... waiting for Nicolo to call me saying that he's sorry for not being able to join me late. (It may also be the other way around.) Anyway, I was waiting for his call...

He finally called and said that he'll come over my place. I told him to come after 10 minutes, for I have to prepare for our trip yet...

After the alloted time, he called again and asked if he can already come over by that time. Sure, I told him. This was the beginning of our great expedition.

When he arrived at my house, I showed him the CD I promised to give to Joanie two days before. Geez, why are there a lot of O2 Jammers around?

Nicolo was interested so I let him try playing my account at home. He was playing fine for a first-timer. I could see from his face that he was definitely engrossed with the game...

I thought of giving him a copy of the game; however, the thought that by doing so may make some prople mad kept me from burning him a copy. My suspicions were alleviated when he told him that Nikko was actually inviting [asking] him to join [about the game]. Well... We had to go...

We went to CGC. Nicolo was bored, so he started a word guessing game with me. When the 9:00 mass was over, I asked my junior Uneans how they had been doing in my alma mater. Fine, they say. Then I let them into a little secret. How I would make them SUFFER when I teach for 1 year in Uno... Bwa ha ha ha...

Well, I feel irritated... Imagine, teaching my... er... never mind....

Anyway, if I were to teach computer to the whole high school committee, this would be my lesson plan:

Year One - Macromedia Flash 8 or later
Year Two - HTML and Web Design (Macromedia Dreamweaver)
Year Three - C++ and Visual Basic
Year Four - Java Programming

Ah, for once. No more Microsoft Powerpoint in Year One... I'll make Uneans more technologically advanced, if given the chance.

I would also like to organize a computer club that features lots of activities, contests, and a whole lot more...

After the gospel meeting, I texted Joanie and asker about her whereabouts. She's still at home, and was asking if we could wait for her. I told her that we would go fetch her instead. She agreed. A problem soon arose, as expected...

My father, aunt, and grandmother would be arriving in NAIA at about 3:00 and my mom had to fetch them. Our schedule went haywire (also expected). Anyway, I told my mom to get moving and settle those problems once we fetch Joanie.

12:30 - GUM & MUG. Joanie arrived soon after. I was tending to my rabbits. They (specifically, he, the brown one, Van) were (was) so cute... My turtle was growing a lot faster than expected...

When did I start to speak about my pets. Oh, I see... Ok back...

I wanted to go to SM Mall of Asia. Nicolo doesn't want to, and so does Joanie. There are still a few choices left: SM San Lazaro, SM Manila, and Robinson's Place Ermita. No, exclude Robinson's.

Well, we were dropped off by my mom at SM San Lazaro. We ate lunch (after tedious searching) at KFC. Itadakimasu! Munch munch! Gochisosama!

The brawl between Joanie and Nicolo would officially start in five minutes...

... I thought after seeing a guy (Mr. Cutie, as called by Joanie) showing off his skills at Dance Maniax. I told the two (Joanie and Nicolo) that a person can only be classified as a great player when he or she attains an S-rank in all of the song he or she chooses. How did I say so, well...

I've seen a lot of people spinning around, swaying their butts and stuff in order "to get people's attention" when they're playing. These jerks can often be seen at SM Manila, SM San Lazaro, and many other places. In the end, what rank did they get? C? That's good? My foot! I can do a lot better than you! *grimace*

Was it Nicolo or Joanie whom I played with first? Anyway, I was waiting for Nicolo to shine, and Joanie to show me the 121 combo she was bragging about. The crowd multiplied when we inserted 6 more tokens into the machine. Overall, that was 12 coins! Wow. It's u now who are greedy... Don't blame us. No one placed their tokens inside the machine...

Sigh... If only I had enough money... (Translated, it means: If only my parents would allow me to buy a Dance Maniax arcade machine to place inside our home or store.) I could earn a fortune with that thing. Right, Joanie, Nicolo, Nikko, Shirlina, Stephanie, and the rest? How about 5 pesos only per game? wouldn't that be nice? You won't have to go to SM MegaMall just to play for cheaper prices...

Faceoff! Joanie vs Nicolo! Who won? It was a tie. They both lost in Tubthumping Wild mode! Wa ha ha ha ha!!!

Who's better between the two? Well, you decide for yourselves...

We played another set of matches (the second batch of 6 tokens). This time, I placed some Mild mode songs, which I easily breezed through with my one-hand techniques. Eyes were feasted at me. Ha ha ha~ ~ ~

Well... Other School (Nicolo) decided to play DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) next. We agreed. My, I was happy when I found out that the 2 tokens required dropped to one.

We placed 6 tokens inside the machine and played Air Hockey in the meantime...

We went back to DDR. Joanie was entranced with Mr. Cutie's dance moves. Hey Joanie, they lost. They lost!

Nicolo and Joanie was first to play. Nicolo - Beginner. Joanie - Light. The two rocked. The two lost.

Then it was my turn with Nicolo. We played. Solomon - Light. Nicolo - Light. We survived, somehow, but the score was pretty low... I was never good at this somehow... Especially...

Do you know how hard it is to dance with my shoes on. No, not my rubber shoes. My hiking boots. They weigh 2 kilograns each. Imagine how difficult it is to dance with weights strapped on to your feet. Anyway, it's good for foot endurance...

Joanie and my turn. Joanie - Light. Solomon - Light. We played some difficult songs and ended with the Beethoven song which I forgot. We managed, but afterwards, I was (the three of us were) soaked with perspiration. Ahh, good exercise.

My mom told us to go home for Joanie's mom was already worried about Joanie. I bought two Bubble Jugs which were gulped by Joanie and Nicolo. We went to GUM & MUG via tricycle. We talked for a bit there. Afterwards, farewell Joanie. See you later...

Nicolo and I went to our house via side car. Nicolo wants me to burn him a copy, after registering an account and learning how to play for a bit. So, he played, reached level one, and, well, got what he wanted. Practice hard, so you would be able to beat Joanie, Nikko, Shirlina, and of course, me. Let's meet sometime when our schedule is not too tight...

PS. O2 Jammers, my name is Splgum. Feel free to challenge me to a battle anytime. (That is, if you can find me.) I'm still not an expert, though. Nikko still beats me all the time... And Nikko, Shirlina, and the rest, please purchase the song 'The Festival of Ghost 2' in the Music Shop. It only costs 10 EP. It's pretty challenging... Your money would be worth it. See ya!

Mentor (Part Two)

2006-07-08T18:22:00.000+08:00

Mentor

The first part of my post can be found at my other blog. Click here to go there...

We ate lunch at Red Spoon at EGI Taft Tower. (We had a hard time deciding though...) Bafore my food was served, I went to my resident card supplier and bought myself 50 e-points. I saw a blockmate there and we said hi. Then, I returned to the restaurant for it was chow time!

When the clock struck one, we guided our 'little pupils' back to their respective classrooms and continued our duties. They were in for a diagnostic test to see how much they have understood the topic...

After the answers to the test questions were given, (translated, the phrase means: After taking the test) my 'student' added me on Friendster. Wa ha ha!

Now I'm really thinking... Would I go for it? To teach for 1 year in Uno after I graduate? I promise to make my students' lives 'easier.' Mu ha ha ha ha!!!

After all those happy times, it was finally time to go home...

I went home with Rochelle via jeepney. After alighting at Binondo Circle, we parted ways and I set for home...

Joanie went online and boasted about her achieving 121 combos in Dance Maniax a while ago in SM Mall of Asia. Nicolo then called and told me how miserable his college life is...

That's all about it!

Shards of Memories

2006-07-07T19:01:00.000+08:00

Shards of Memories

I woke up today (late again, as usual...) at 10:30 AM. With 2 hours of spare time, I managed to do everything I wanted. I downloaded Macromedia Authorware and Captivate and successfully installed them onto my PC (original, not pirated). I played a little O2 Jam, played some RO, then ate lunch. Afterwards, I headed to school...

I tried a different route...

I told the side car driver to drive me to UN Avenue station. It took me a lot of time and I was almost late. UN Avenue was further than I thought... From there, I rode the LRT then headed to SPS 8th floor for my Taekwondo class.

We were taught side kicking, self-defending, and a lot more. Our practical exam is on Monday... better practice at home...

After PE, I changed clothes and was in for a shock. My fifth time in La Casita this week... A whole new record. I suggested going to La Casita again the next week, then the week after that, and, oh, I'm going crazy!

Lou and Dianne took their time and ate lunch while I waited for my cup noodles to boil. It costed me 49 pesos (with drinks). Oh wow, for the first time, I didn't exceed 50 pesos!

We went to Gokongwei Hall. I lost sight of the two, and I went to our classroom. Only two people were there... With nothing to do, I cleaned up the blackboard and started scribbling Chinese characters...

"Ganda naman ng sulat mo... Naiingit ako sa yo."
Of course, I remained silent...

Well, that was the result of hard work and training. Back in high school. I was trying to compete with Shirlina, Stacey, Nikko, and DK in terms of handwriting...

We listened to a report which was commended by our teacher as the best report in four sections (the topic they discussed). I envied them. Surely, they'll get a high grade...

The game... oh... How I won't forget about the game... I knew that they'll be having a crossword puzzle because I 'spied' on them when they were meeting; however, our team still lost. Too bad, the prize seemed good enough.

On our way downstairs, there was a commotion going on. I joined the uproar... CCS Shirt Selling. I ordered one for myself... 150 pesos. Expensive...

I bought myself a 50 peso card for O2 Jam and a 10 peso Level-Up card to show to my mom.

So... I headed to the LRT Station, wondering how I could remind Shirlina to go online so that we could go jamming. Surprisingly, I met her (for the first time) in the LRT Station. I told her the things I wanted to say. She faced her friend and told her...

"Jessica, nag-oO2 jam rin to!"

I just smiled. Anyway, Shirlina showed me her new cell phone and boasted about it.

We rode the train and alighted at Bambang, where I got to meet them again...

My mom was there; she drove us to GUM & MUG...

I played with my rabbits. Aiko saw me and said hi. Long time no see.

It was only the beginning of a grand reunion.

I went outside and saw Mhir, Kirk, Anne, Omi, and company. They were surprised to see me. Joanie then passed by. I called out. She then told me about her exhausting jeep expedition...

Well, Lisa was also there, talking to Kenneth and group... Joanie then thought of going to school. Lisa kept blocking the way...

"Umiba ka a. Naging makulit..." I snickered.

I then remembered. I went back and asked Kenneth who was their Trigonometry teacher. Ms. Ang. And Economics? Mr. Ong, without reviewers... Tough.

We went to school. The senoirs can be seen in their CAT fatigues. I saw William Hung (or he saw me). We asked him about his not having Chinese classes. His reply?

"Wag kang magalit a." he told Joanie.
"Bakit?" Joanie replied.
"Ano ulit pangalan mo?"
"Umalis na tayo."

Ha ha ha! Joanie was mad!

"Sino ka?" Joanie retaliated.

I told him that her name was Joanie.

"Oo nga a. Alam ko letter J umpisa pangalan nya."
"Batchmate pa naman natin sa Chinese..." Jaonie mumbled to me.

Anyway, we went sightseeing. I saw Mr. V, Mrs. Gregorio (Joanie must have forgotten her name), and Mrs. Duran. We also saw Nathaniel Chua and the rest of the gang.

My cell phone rang. My mother was looking for me. Time for me to go...

It's also about time I end this post.

PS. At home, the first thing that came to my mind was blogging. When I saw that Nikko had a new post, I believe that it was worth checking out. An intriguing post, I may say... I agree to his point of view, and my opinions can be found in his blog...

Yaup

2006-07-06T21:48:00.000+08:00

Yaup

I woke up today at 8:30 in the morning. After preparing my speakers and smoke machine, I headed of to school. My mom drove me to school, and because there was a heavy embouteillage on the streets, I was late for my first class...

I left my speakers and smoke machine at the Gokongwei lobby once again. Afterwards, I went to my classroom...

Boardwork - and bummer, I didn't get called. I knew the solutions... too bad...

I heard my friends talking. We were going to eat at La Casita...

Oh my. For the fourth time this week (four consecutive days), I'm going to eat there again! Poor me. It's good I haven't tried some of their food yet...

I ordered a Tonkatsu and iced tea. My lunch costed somewhat below 90 pesos...

After eating, I went back to Gokongwei (I'm at Andrew that time.) and retreived my two devices. The guard asked me if I would be bringing them every day. (Would I rather have a term pass instead?) I told him I need to bring these things for our report. If we reported today, I wouldn't have the burden to bring them the next few days...

Soon after I arrived at Andrew. The personnel in charge asked me what I brought with me. I told her that it was a smoke machine, then I signed the entry permit...

Soon, a higher 'official' came and asked me when and where I would be using the fogger. I told him... Andrew 810, 3:30 PM.

What does it do? It breathes out smoke, and is commonly used for presentation purposes.

Soon, a problem arose... Long story, so I'll just skip that part, but to give you an idea of what happened, here are some words uttered: seal fire detector, cover with newspaper, tape, get ID, take from guard, assistance, and many more...

Before ALGTRIG classes, our group made some preparations; I really wanted our group to report today, so that we won't have to worry about the teacher's increasing expectations after every report...

Soon enough, our SCIENVB professor ran his 'Magic Random Number Generator.' He ran it five times, and the groups who got the two lowest numbers would be the ones reporting today. Our group would be the second one to report today. Just what I hoped for! Our group was not the first to report, but would eventually report on the first day...

And so we reported... We started off with a bang. A cheerleading introduction as thought of by Cesar and Marc. Afterwards, we had a game...

The background music we used, for me, was perfect. It took me 15 minutes to search for that. One that reverbates echoes around the room... Ambient and mysterious...

Anyway, the game turned out to be better than I expected. We delivered our presentation successfully and we were glad that our professor appreciated our efforts and told us that we did a very good job.

PERSEF... The thing I can only remember is that we played Taboo. I became overexcited... Team 5 was able to catch up, but it's not the end yet. Go Pink Team!

My mom fetched me and we went to GUM & MUG. I was still entranced with the music I chose for our game... After eating my snacks, we prepared to leave.

As soon as I arrived home, I did a cold boot on my computer. I was shocked to see it malfunctioning. I turned it off again, and tried one more time. The same thing happened. Why?

My day was ruined. Fortunately, after a few more tries, it finally became operational...

Here I am completing this post, and I would like to end my post here.

PS. Has anyone noticed that my post titles are in reverse alphabetical order?

(Bait - Agony - Zephyr - Yaup)

Sad to say, the next post would cut off the chain...

Zephyr

2006-07-05T23:59:00.000+08:00

Zephyr

Sigh, another day at school...

Today, my grandmother, my aunt, and my father flew (via airplane, obviously) to Bohol where they would have a 5 day break from their daily 'rituals.' My mom accompanied htem to the airport, leaving me alone at home...

I was supposed to have an interview at 12:20 PM; I woke up late. We also had a meeting at 10:30 AM, and I hoped that they knew how to manage things themselves...

Left alone at home, and with very little spare time left, what could I do? I ate my breakfast as fast as I could and proceeded to Binondo Circle, where I would (reluctantly) experience riding (and finding) a jeepney myself for the first time...

Thank goodness I met my aunt (my father's third sister) her husband (my uncle). She called out jeeps rushing through the streets...

"Dumadaan ho sa La Salle?"

No. It took us a long time. I wanted to ride a taxi instead because 10 minutes have already passed. I prayed, and not long after, I was brought to La Salle by a jeepney...

I rushed to the Student's Nook in Gokongwei for my interview. On the way, I met Cecille and Yna. I told them I would deal with them later. My interview comes first.

And I was interviewed. From a number of 2 interviewees, the number rose to 4. I was asked questions I didn't exactly expect. I don't know how well I did, but I forgot to mention one slight (or major) detail. I love writing, and so I keep a daily record of my current events. It's all for you readers out there. I won't fail you!

I met Rochelle (for the first time in normal school days). Together, we (and my friends) went to Yuchenco Hall to fulfill our requirements...

We ended up playing games instead of assisting students.

After that, we went to our classroom in Andrew 810. Inside the elevator, I saw Joyce enter...

"Hello!"
She was surprised to see me.

Soon after, I saw Shirlina panting as she rushed inside...

"Kala ko late na ako. Galing ako sa Scholastica."
"Swerte ka may piano lessons ka na ulit."

Be bid farewell to each other when we headed to our different classrooms in Andrew 8th floor.

I left my bag at my seat. Then I went down for my lunch.

My lunch costed 57 pesos. Guess what I ate?

What else except iced tea and Nissin cup noodles? Boy, am I a miser...

We had loads of fun playing text twist before the tardy professor arrived.

Let's skip. INTRICT, I was the first one in class again! The group supposed to report were surprised to find me inside the silent classroom.

I traded my 2 500 peso bills for Vero's 1000 bill.

The group assigned to report started their discussion, and I was quite impressed with their performance...

We had a meeting afterwards, for our SCIENVB project...

Afterwards, I went to EGI Taft Tower and bought some e-points for my O2 Jam account.

I went to GUM & MUG and did many things there. I'm glad they saw my pet mouse; however, they were not able to retrieve him yet.

I had my flute lessons at home. (My flute lessons are on every Wednesday and sometimes Friday...)

Silencing myself, I approached the windowpane...

Tilting my head towards the sky, I looked at the star-strewn sky, which held different hues of violet and gray. Crickets started chirping their songs, breaking the stillness of the night...

It's was a pleasant day after all!

Agony

2006-07-05T00:02:00.000+08:00

Agony

*sob* I can't take this... *weep* My hard disk...

No... System Restore cannot do anything good. All that's left... is to format the drive...

But my Drive I contains all the memories I had since grade school...

Gigabytes of storage... decimated.

I formatted the drive...

Formatting a hard drive, except a CD-RW, flash disk, or a floppy disk, is the most painful task for me. All the precious files stored in there, one by one, ousted from their positions... It's like human brainwashing...

Thank goodness I had a backup copy of my treasured files, set aside the multimedia files...

Anyway, I hope this would never happen again, and because of this, I have decided to upgrade my computer chassis and cooling system next. No more overheating!

Bait

2006-07-04T22:19:00.000+08:00

Bait

I'll keep this post short because my computer is experiencing a major breakdown...

My mom drove me to school. I brought my smoke machine and my Altec Lansing 220 speakers with me. Why? Well, to be prepared for our SCIENVB report, just in case...

I was not late today. No, that sounds awful. I arrived at school on time. There. That's more like it...

Our first subject was programming...

Programming... the subject feared by many. Maybe it's because of our 'sadistic' professor. Maybe because of the tons of homework. Maybe...

Programming (aka Computer Science) had become my favorite subject since Year 3 in High School. Wonder why? Because of my enthusiasm to learn I bought 3 books concerning HTML, XHTML, XML, DHTML, and Macromedia Flash MX 2004. This time in college, I had already bought two reference books for INTRPRG...

INTRPRG was over and it was about time for us to conduct a group meeting. Some suggested that we have our meeting after lunch. Everyone agreed to the plan. We parted ways and set off to lunch...

No... La Casita, again...
Thank goodness this time we ate at the SPS branch...

I ordered a burger steak meal this time, and a cup of iced tea. The cost didn't reach 100 pesos.

I was with Yna and Lichelle. We went to the SPS bookstore and bought some materials we needed. Afterwards, we accompanied Yna to the Student's Nook for her interview...

We went to our classroom and had a meeting; however, things didn't go as smoothly as planned because we had this quiz in ALGTRIG (and I haven't studied)...

Well, when I recieved my test questionnaire... well, I skipped one whole activity. I felt that the porblem solving part was totally much easier than the inequalities part (especially since I have the knack for word problems)...

Environmental biology... I was terribly glad and at the same time downcast when I heard that the first two reportings would be done on Thursday (instead of today). My smoke machine is quite heavy, you know...

Next stop, GUM & MUG... Joanie came and we playes with my pets. Joanie named my pet mouse Pitto; however, he ran off and was nowhere to be found. Hope we can find him tomorrow.

I was shocked to see Ralph the size of a wallet. The last time (last week) I saw him, he was only the size of a credit card. My, how fast turtles grow. Van, on the other hand, was as cute as ever.

At home, I got hooked to the game O2 Jam. I invited my friends to play as well...

I'm ending this post now because my computer's backup unit, which contained all my major files, crashed just a while ago. I hope I can fix it, without having to format the disk drive and deleting all the files inside.

See you.

Refractions

2006-07-03T19:45:00.000+08:00

Refractions

My blockmates were more intriguing than I ever expected...

Today, I woke up at 8:30 AM. With the notion that my first classes are still at 9:40 AM, I took my time...

It was already 9:15 when we arrived at our car. Swiftly, we drove to UN Avenue station. 9:30 (our car clock, 30 minutes fast, was already 10:00). Now how would I avoid tardiness? A horrible reality struck me. I remembered that our Taekwondo class starts at 9:30 AM, not 9:40. Uh oh...

I rushed inside the tram, zoomed to Quirino Station, ran to Andrew Hall, and ascended to the 8th floor. I was late. Nooo...

Anyway, I caught up. We reviewed the Foundation Form 1, as it was called. We also learned how to do "Roundhouse" kicks, and we also did consecutive kicks. Before that, though, we had to do some stretching exercises, push-ups, sit-ups, and other "tedious" work. Ha ha! It's a funny scene seeing my blockmates groan in anguish after the warm-up exercises.

After PE classes, I asked Dianne where she would have lunch. She'll return home...

Well then, I decided to go back to our store, until Bea asked me...

Well, our group of 8 (or 9) people ate lunch at La Casita (Andrew, again?!). This time, I ordered calamares (fried squid). Two of my blockmates ordered an unusual-sounding food called as Arroz ala Cubana, which is minced meat with banana and egg and vegetables. Another ordered boneless chicken, two ordered spaghetti, and the other ordered speribs. I then made some great discoveries:

What did that yellow cake taste like? Polvoron with chocolate with caramel with icing with bubble gum flavor... Gross...
There were more Chinese, most of them anime lovers, in my block than I ever imagined.
There were many Naruto-fans in our block.
Lou, which looked a lot like Stephanie, also liked CSI! I can't believe it. At first I thought that she was just similar to DK and Nikko and Shirlina and blablabla, anime fanatics...
I learned a japanese word, or rather, sentence. Here goes: (Readers,) watashiwa anatao aishiteru!

It was still early, but we decided to return to our classroom. On the way, we were discussing about the song Scarlet - its melody and its lyrics...

Classes were still far from starting; it was only 1 o'clock. With nothing to do, I scribbled some Chinese characters on the blackboard...

"Na mimiss mo na ang Chinese classes?" a friend of mine asked.
"La lang..."

Unexpectedly, classes begun. Foreign language classes. Brought to you by the one and only 林老師...

There was one teaching Japanese, one teaching Korean, one teaching Cantonese, and so on and so forth...

Anyway, we had our ALGTRIG classes, then INTRICT. Afterwards we had a "short" meeting with our groupmates for our SCIENVB project.

I'm ending my short post now...

童話

2006-07-03T00:22:00.000+08:00

童話

Ah. This song brings back a lot of memories. I was supposed to sing this song in our Chinese singing contest in fourth year high school, but I changed my mind...

忘了有多久
再没听到你
对我说你最爱的故事

我想了很久

我开始慌了

是不是我又做错什么

你哭着对我说

童话里都是骗人的

我不可能是你的王子

也许你不会懂

从你说爱我以后

我的天空星星都亮了

我愿变成童话里
我要变成童话里
我会变成童话里

你爱的那个天使
张开双手
变成翅膀守护你
你要相信
相信我们会像童话故事里
幸福和快乐是结局

一起写我们的结局

Jammin'

2006-07-02T23:41:00.000+08:00

Jammin'

Well, I woke up at 8:30 in the morning and attended our church meeting. I met Joanie; Joanie met Kevin. I paid 200 pesos to the greedy Joanie for the CDs I ordered from her. We chatted...

She told me about her classmates. I told her about my crazy dream yesterday. Then, she told me about an essay of hers. The creation of man - her version. What an assignment!

Anyway, she had to leave... I was hoping that we go to SM MegaMall (to grab hold of that sleek Sony LCD monitor which I kept raving about, and to play Dance Maniax for only 5-6 pesos per game) or to SM Mall of Asia (I miss the place. I want to visit the Entertainment Mall again, and also, surf for gadgets...) He didn't want to. His reasons are:

SM MegaMall is too far from our current location.
SM Mall of Asia may still be packed with people.

I suggested Robinson's Galleria; he denied. In the end, we went to Robinson's Place (RP).

"I just went there on Monday! No way!Let's go to SM San Lazaro instead..."

Too late. Nooo... I'm already sick of RP. I've been there more than a hundred times. I've already memorized the locations of all the stalls and booths there (now, including the second floor).

Eliminating my complaints, let's move on...

It seems that Robinson's Place had been doing a little renovating...

First, I went to the fourth floor to check for some "cheap (or counterfeit)" CDs which I may be able to use... None. Nothing to lose though, I rarely purchase pirated CDs. Yeah! Anti-piracy!

We went to eat at Karate Kid. Munch! Gulp! *burp* Excuse me...

What's next... We returned to that CD store and I checked for some other things... None.

I went down to DataBlitz, my official supplier of original CDs. Oh my gosh! A newer version of MAGIX mp3 Maker is already available. Man, it's hard to keep up with these guys...

What attracted me most is the MAGIX Video Edit Pro 11 program for sale. It costs 2400 pesos. I'll buy it soon, if I had the money...

I also bought another reference book for my studies. SAMS Teach Yourself Java 2. How I love reading these books...

My mom was supposed to go to DataBlitz to accompany me to GBox. She wasn't around. I called her up.

"The subscriber cannot be reached. Please try again later."

I got furious. I called up my dad. No answer.

I went to the other end of RP. I heard a war cry which made me wonder. Pacquiao was boxing against another person, and the people were cheering him...

Still full of fury, I returned to the Robinson's Department Store side and bought myself a limited edition (Pokemon) Mew card. My psychic deck is getting better and better. Someone challenge me please...

With no one to accompany me, I went to GBox alone...

Their Dance Maniax was working, at last. I bought myself 3 tokens (7 pesos each) and went upstairs...

After waiting for two people wear themselves out, it was my turn. I inserted two tokens for two games, and then I started...

The user interface was different. This new environment puzzled me. The sound was louder than usual (perhaps because it was located in the corner). Dance Maniax First Mix, was it?

I learned that it's okay to lose in a song in this Dance Maniax machine. I can't believe I lost though... Baila! Baila! was pretty easy. Maybe because my dad suddenly arrived. Oh yes. The sensor wasn't working properly, and it's harder to get an S-rank than I thought...

Locomotion, Butterfly, Heaven is a '70 Metallic Gray, Baila! Baila!, All My Love...

I ended my third game with All My Love, as usual... I only got a rank A. I don't understand. I didn't commit any mistakes... Why?

I went down with my father and went to AstroVision. One version of MegaMan Battle Network 6 (class A) was already available. I asked them when they would have the original version. They didn't know.

"Pareserve nalang kung meron..."

We went home with my mom.

I did some Java programming at home; I also watched some Naruto videos, played a little Ragnarok, and did my homework...

We ate dinner at Manila Hotel. My cousin sang at the wedding feast, as usual. He's quite famous. I was awestruck when I heard the emcee sing a song whick rekindled a lot of memories...

我愿变成童话里
你爱的那个天使
张开双手
变成翅膀守护你
你要相信
相信我们会像童话故事里
幸福和快乐是结局

Wish I could sing like him...

Back at home, I tried O2 Jam and checked if it was really as addicting as my friends say...

No comment.

Java Cup of Coffee

2006-07-01T21:10:00.000+08:00

Java Cup of Coffee

With nothing to do at home (leaving aside the homework), I delved into the vast realms of Java programming...

The machine project our professor told us to work on... It's not as easy as I thought...

I tried making one simple calculator (command-line interface) using JCreator LE and I managed, somehow... (except that it could only calculate two digits at a time)

I remembered that we have a homework in INTRPRG - to make a class displayDay which displays what day of the week is given the date.

Well, I'm through with that...

Ms. Shirley had been raving about her so-called programming competitors...

Hmmm... What if...

Anyway, isn't this quite a short post? Enjoy the rest of your day!

Prognostications

2006-06-30T21:17:00.000+08:00

Prognostications

Yes, I haven't been posting as often as you people think nowadays, for a valid reason...

Well, you see, we had this INTRICT (Introduction to Information and Communications Technology) project and we had to report this Monday. Being the group leader, I couldn't help but feel a responsibility surging up to me. I organized a video shooting last Friday at Portal, the Internet cafe above Yellow Cab near La Salle. We were to take videos and pictures of our blockmates playing their addictive games, namely, Counter Strike, Battle Realms, DotA AllStars, Gunbound, O2 Jam, Ragnarok Online, Warcraft, and a lot more...

Lunchtime arrived, and so we ate at Luto ni Ina. I ordered a Chiksilog. After that, we went back to Portal.

Although, I was late for a few minutes, we managed to achieve our goal, and the finished product can be found here.

If you're too lazy though, the file can be found here:

It took me four hours to fabricate that video, and with my video editing skills and a very familiar melody, walla, a job well done. We're only doing this for INTRICT! (And this is Wazzup! Wazzup! Just Facts.)

The next day, my hopes of holding an organized meeting was shattered as schedules were driven crazy. In the morning, only Veronica was there, but she had to go before lunch. After lunch, we fetched Treisha at Bambang Station, with Aya nowhere to be found. We had a brief discussion of our plans and tactics. Eventually, she had to leave.

Aya never arrived. We could only communicate to her by text messaging.

Sunday, after uploading the files to our INTRICT e-group, and after returning home from Shangri-La Hotel, I coordinated with my groupmates through instant messaging (IM). We ought to finish discussing at least half of our module tomorrow.

The next day, I went through all the trouble by bringing with me my smoke machine, my Altec Lansing 220 speakers (which are no match for my Altec Lansing FX6021), two 'mountains,' and the like to La Salle. After meeting up with Shirlina and her peers, Aya was the first one to arrive at school. She helped me with my things and we left them at the guard.

Lunchtime, Vero arrived. I went down to meet her from the Sports Complex. She brought with her two notebook computers. After uploading the necessary files into her laptop PC, I went to lunch myself, spending the least time and money.

Treisha arrived afterwards and taught us our choreography. We then practiced for quite a while. People were looking at us. What do we care?

We begged to our ALGTRIG professor to have us dismissed early. He didn't mind.

After ALGTRIG classes, I rushed to Gokongwei and set up our props. Most of them (smoke machine and speakers), however, needed to be plugged into an electric socket. I waited for our maid to bring me the things I needed, and then hastily returned to the classroom.

We took a quiz. After that, we had our report. Everything was going on smoothly until our video presentations experienced some technical problems. My head went berserk and my head went blank, forgetting my lines...

It was awful, my groupmates were seemingly mad at me. I promised to make it up. We figured out that we have the option to extend our report until Friday. We did so...

Let's skip Tuesday...

Wednesday, after editing the script and converting the videos into SWF format, we were ready to go for another shot. We restarted back from the very beginning of our report and ended up with an Internet Timeline game / quiz. Group 3 was outstanding and garnered 14 points. The rest got scores of below 10.

Vero pleaded to our professor to share her insights about our report. At first she hesitated, but we managed to squeeze some information from her. She wasn't satisfied with our report, and was expecting a major improvement on Friday...

(Starting here, I'll be more specific...)

Thursday, My father insisted that I ride a jeepney instead of the LRT. Why? What's the use? I have a trauma for jeepneys, not because that I was held up in one, but because for me, jeepneys are much more dangerous than LRT trains, although the two both pose hazards and risks for passengers.

Here are my reasons:

There are far more people in LRT trains than jeepneys. Those marauding incidents ought to occur less than in jeepneys.
An LRT train is usually air-conditioned, so I don't mind standing up for the whole trip. Jeepneys, on the other hand, make you feel constricted. Any time, one would be able to grab a dagger and stab you in any part of your body and then make a grand escapade.
I don't know about this, but I feel that there are more civilized people riding LRT trains than in jeepneys, and so I feel more relazed.
Compare the crime rate in jeepneys and in LRT trains, which one posts a higher risk?

I've heard multitudes of unfortunate events that happened in jeepneys. Why be one of the victims?

To anyone out there who has a right mind, can you knock some sense into my father? He won't listen to me. He won't even listen to my grandma, or my relatives.

It's better to spend more money in transportation than to be an unlikely victim of snatching and kidnapping.

Back to my story, I arrived a few minutes late for my INTRPRG (Introduction to Programming) and was happy to receive my first 100% in that particular subject (Hands-On Examination), I received another perfect score when I successfully corrected the syntax error in a given source code. Off to lunch.

We ate at La Casita (Andrew). This time, I tried their speribs... I was amazed to see my food served almost immediately after I ordered them... We had a test in ALGTRIG (Algebra and Trigonometry) at 1 o'clock, and so we reviewed...

My day was ruined...

Jump to Friday, we were not sure if we would have PE classes...

Turned out to have none... We didn't prepare for our reporting today. We only have at hand our PowerPoint presentations, our background music, and our presence of mind.

"Bahala na..."

We started our report. Everything turned out much smoother than expected. We lacked time for games though, but everything went well...

Our professor was glad with our improvement, and she promised us a high grade.

Chavz recognized the music I used, two songs from Naruto Movie 2. I knew it. Yesterday, I accidentally browsed through his profile and saw this Naruto video in his site. Figures.

"Hay salamat, tapos na!"

No, it's not yet over yet...

On Tuesday (this coming Tuesday, Thursday, or the Tuesday after next week), we would have another presentation. This time, it was SCIENVB (Environmental Biology). I'm interested in how things would turn out...

I never thought college life would be so stressful. Yesterday (or a while ago), I slept at 3 in the morning and woke up at 9AM. This may be the reason why I feel weak today...

Till here. I better get some rest.

Retribution

2006-06-28T20:30:00.000+08:00

Retribution

It feels bad not posting for a long time...

Terrible... Homework's increased a hundredfold! I'm losing the attention of my treasured readers...

Here's a post - a long one, perhaps, to capture you back.

Sigh... My memory's not that good. I can't remember all the details that happened...

Anyway... I'll try my best!

Friday, what can I say? Oh yes! I slept quite late the day before... 4:00 AM, just to finish the flash presentation I was to submit to MooMedia. What's more... I hate Macromedia Flash...

If there's anything I don't know about computers, it's Flash. Yes, I've programmed some Flash animations before, but they are just animated words, so on and so forth. Time and again I was envious of Sherman because he knows flash. Jehanne too...

Travelling back...

Four days before (Monday), I got the application form of La Salle Computer Society. A day after that (Tuesday), I got the application form of MooMedia. I really wanted to join the Media Productions committee (I had a lot of good impressions on this group.) and I invited my friends also. They told me to fucus my attention on one message written on the form:

If you want to join the Media Productions committee, please submit a CD containing your sample work.

Bummer! Sample work, hmmm...

I could submit a website which I had created, but something tells me that it won't do. I could submit pictures which I have designed. Same feeling...

MooMedia is all about Flash presentations, I thought. I have to make one, or else I won't ba able to attain my goal. And so... With the best of my ability, I learned how to make Flash presentations in a day! Stupendous! I never expected that I would make it.

Click here to view the SWF file which I have created, or should I say, my first Flash animation...

I quickly saved my website (created using Macromedia Dreamweaver 8), picture (edited using Adobe Photoshop CS2), and the Flash presentation (obviously, conceived using Macromedia Flash Player 8) to a CD. Soporifically drowzy, I plopped into my bed soon afterwards.

By the way, did anyone know that Macromedia is under Adobe nowadays? I was surprised when I saw the Macromedia website. How could such a thing have happened. I couldn't imagine Adobe Photoshop and ImageReady CS2 and Macromedia Fireworks 8 merging together...

The next morning, I was mad. Really mad. I had a meeting with my group mates at 12 noon in Portal (whereever that is) because we need to take some photos and videos for our presentation on Monday. I woke up at noon. I was shocked. I told my mom to wake me up at 10AM because I need to edit the flash presentation which I haphazardly made earlier. I ended up meeting my group mates at one. Boy, I believe they were mad at me... and I was the one who organized the meeting...

So, Portal is an Internet cafe located above Yellow Cab...

My blockmates offered to teach me how to play Dota. Sorry, no time...

We captured our blockmates on action.

After the video recordings, I sat on a chair watching the people (gamers) enjoy themselves as they endulge into hardcore gaming. Dota, Ragnarok, Counter Strike, O2 Jam, Warcraft, Battle Realms, and a lot more. And oh, how I wanted to play...

We ate at Luto ni Ina (Well, for the first time... Where was it located? Trans-what? I can't remember!) I ordered a Chiksilog and iced tea. The rest is not worth mentioning...

Group 1 did a good job improvising their report. Clearly, one can detect a lot of improvement, and so, they deserved a higher grade. Their interview with the IT (Information Technology) specialist is a little bit funny though...

After classes, we asked permission from our professor to bring my smoke machine for our reporting.

"If the room doesn't catch fire, it's okay."

My friends were waiting for me outside. Recruitment time! The central plaza was bustling with action. (The whole place was crowded.) We first went to the booth of LSCS (La Salle Computer Society). I submitted my two application forms, along with my essay, to the person in charge. I (voluntarily) paid 220 peses for the membership fee. (I volunteered to pay for the 10 pesos's of my friends.) We were entitled to a free INTRPRG reviewer. Then we heard that the area was about to be closed.

Rush hour! I hurried my friends to MooMedia. When I arrived there, Jhovee recognized me.

"Sorry, next time nalang..."

Wow! All those efforts for nothing!

"Meron na pala siya e."

So, they've run out of application forms...

I submitted my application form and the CD which I have tediously engineered a while ago. Some were wondering why I submitted a CD. Gosh, you're MooMedia officers. Don't you know better?

Many were happy that I wanted to join the Media Productions committee...

"Yes! May mag-memedia productions na ngayon palang."

I sure hope I'll be able to join...

Anyway, I joined another group, ENGLICOM. I never planned to join this group but when I saw my Chinese blockmates joining, I was left with no choice.

I lost my precious ball point pen.

BJ (Brother Joevir) and his group came to visit me during the evening.

Nothing more to say about Friday...

Saturday... *sigh* We planned to have a meeting... The 4 of us (Aya, Treisha, Vero, and me)... We planned to meet at 9:30 AM at Cello's. After we all met, we would go to my store in Alvarado Extension (Take an LRT ride to Bambang, then ride a tricycle to our store.). We would then plan on what to do on Monday. After conceptualizing all the details and ideas, we would then go to our house in Camba (Binondo). Using this nifty computer of mine, we would create presentations that would make the audience stare in awe. After eating lunch and finalizing our presentation, I would bring them to La Salle so that they could go home.

Unfortunately, everything changed...

Treisha had an important matter to take care of at home, while Aya had to go to the dentist (or was it the other way around?). Veronica was available, somehow, and we met outside the Burgundy Transpacific Place, where Cello's was situated. I got to see her mother, and she looked kind...

Treisha said that she would be available at 10:30 in the morning; we decided to wait for her. Aya, on the other hand, said that she would meet with us after lunch...

Vero and I decided to look for a place to discuss some matters at hand. After going round in circles, we arrived at McDonalds. She took out her laptop. Low power. We shifted to pen and paper...

I ordered an order of Twister Fries and a cup of iced tea. We then started our "small group meeting." I thought someone called me...

"Mon!"

It was Anne! (aka Dong Shutian) I was surprised to see her. She was studying at CSB (De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde) and was with another person (classmate, perhaps?) We talked for some while and then she lined up to order food.

It was 10:30. Some really bad things happened. Treisha couldn't make it! She'll only be able to arrive after lunch, along with Aya. Vero, on the other hand, was to be fetched by her mom. Oh, what in the world is happening?

Sadly, I went to our store alone, riding the LRT and such. The day had turned out to be an absolute worst for me, especially when it rained.

Joanie was supposed to treat me and my mom at 1 in the afternoon at Greenwich. That morning, about 9:oo, I told her I may not be able to make it for our group had an emergency meeting... Sigh, I guess she took it too seriously...

Anyway, arriving at GUM & MUG, I told my mom to tell Joanie to postpone her treat to a later time. After a few minutes, I told my mom to tell Joanie that I may be able to attend her treat. My mom, however, was afraid to call up Joanie, her mom might answer the phone...

I told her to call Joanie via cellphone. I don't know if she was able to do that...

We fetched Treisha at Bambang station at 1:30 in the afternoon. It was raining so hard that I could see numerous umbrellas flung up by the wind to the sky. Treisha was almost soaked...

Upon our arrival at our store, I showed her the smoke machine which we are going to use for Monday's presentation. We talked about our script; we divided topics to be discussed among ourselves. We discussed about the visual aids we were going to use; we planned games for our blockmates. We awaited Aya's arrival...

Aya texted me saying that she may not be able to attend our meeting. She didn't arrive. My goodness...

Shirlina arrived at GUM & MUG. She was carrying a Prince 03 backpack which stood out among the rest of her attire. It was a beaut. I thought she already had her dream racket... She'll get it (as she said), if she was admitted into the tennis varsity, or if she was in the Dean's list. I bid her good luck.

Joanie came and she looked mad. Initially wanting to gain some ingenious ideas from her, I changed my mind. Guess my mom didn't tell her...

When it was becoming late, we accompanied Treisha to the LRT station and bid farewell...

What a drastic change of plans!

Sigh... Sunday... I was supposed to go to church, but with the ton of assignments stacked up on me, I wasn't able to attend today's church meeting. Also, today at SM Mall of Asia features a judo competion wherein two of my blockmates would be participating in. I'm sorry for not being able to attend...

After uploading our presentation handouts to our DLSUINTRICT e-group, I proceeded on and did our introduction video (my video post before this). It took me a long time and a lot of effort to make that short video clip, and I hope everyone would enjoy it!

We went to eat lunch at Shangri-La Edsa. A 1-year old boy was celebrating his birthday there. We were welcomed by three robotic people whom we had already seen at SM Mall of Asia. What's more, there are stalls of Dippin' Dots, Ice Craze, and many more. Wow, what a birthday party. The organizers must have spent hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions!

After the party, I went to my dentist and had an impression (The first step in making a model of your teeth. You bite into a container filled with algenate, and the algenate hardens to produce a mold of your teeth.) of my teeth. I'll receive my retainers next week.

Back home, I proceeded with my work. I had an Internet conference with my groupmates. Finally, I completed my video...

... 96... 97%... 98%... 99%... 100%

On Monday... We had no PE this Monday. It was my first time to wear my new contact lenses. I told my groupmates to come to school early to meet with one another. After the accidental meeting with Shirlina, I had to pass through a very long procedure just to leave my things and props at the Gokongwei lobby. Aya was the first one at school, and ironically speaking, the rest are unavailable at the moment. We discussed about our plans and eventually, it was lunchtime.

We were to eat lunch at Red Spoon; however, the place was packed with action. (It was full.) Oh well... She told me that she won't have to eat lunch anymore. I was silent.

No lunch? I'm hungry! (Although my face didn't show...) I continued my act.

Soon enough, Veronica called and she told me to meet her at the Andrew lobby. From the 8th floor of Andrew Hall, I went down to see her not around. I took the time and went to the Sports Complex to buy food for myself...

I told myself, maybe I'll meet my classmates again...

However, as soon as I arrived at the 2nd floor of the SPS (Sports Complex), my phone rang and it was Vero, asking my whereabouts... Eventually, I had to return on an empty stomach.

I met Vero and we went up again to our classroom. I told her that I would be away for a few minutes...

I rushed down to the 6th floor, went to La Casita, and ordered my lunch. Cup noodles and iced tea. My cheapest lunch ever. 57 pesos! The noodles cost me 20 and iced tea 37 pesos. Wow! Drinks cost much more than food!

We requested our ALGTRIG professor to have us dismissed early. He didn't mind. Then again, he never cared what we were doing, or anything we were about to do...

On the minute the 4 of us were about to leave the classroom, the indifferent professor called me up for recitation. Bummer! I was able to answer the problem correctly, and after that, we left the classroom.

The others followed shortly...

Rushing to Gokongwei Building, I brought all my props to the classroom. The story of the adaptors and the extension cord will not be mentioned for my sake...

We took our INTRICT exam (which I nearly didn't study for) and afterwards, proceeded with our reporting. It was somewhat of a fiasco... The movies which Treisha and I have created didn't work. Oh no... Don't ask any more details.

We decided to report from the very beginning on Wednesday.

Tuesday... Nothing much to say except that we had our first hands-on exam in INTRPRG. Sensing that there was no one who submitted his/her source code for printing yet, I decided to jump to conclusions. I placed 2 "System.out.println ();" on my program for easier reading. After compiling and running my program for a few times, I believe I was ready.

In the end, I got a 100%! And I thought it was another person's paper... Glee!

(Starting from this point on, this post won't be in chronological order...)

Scary day... My INTRPRG professor got mad at one of my blockmates and warned him about disciplinary actions. My SCIENVB professor shamed two blockmates of mine in front of the class. Scary indeed... I hope I won't be one of them...

After our exam in INTRPRG, we went to Portal...

My friends offered to teach me how to play DotA... I was reluctant and said that I'll be playing Ragnarok Online instead...

And so we played... When I got bored, I switched to online surfing...

Lou, Dianne, and me ate lunch, again, at La Casita (Andrew)...

We were late for our class. Then again, the teacher never cared to check the class attendance...

Evening, I met with my groupmates via the Internet. I edited the two videos and made them AVI format. I had second thoughts, and so I converted them into SWF (Flash Presentation) files.

The next day... or today... We were more prepared than last time... Except that my mom forgot to bring the speakers at our store. I texted my groupmates to see if anyone was still at home. No one. I had no other recourse but to bring my Altec Lansing FX6021 2.1 speaker system to school...

I really didn't want to bring it for a variety of reasons:

It may get damaged.
It was bulky.
People may think that I'm showing off my gadgets.

Well, I brought this "luggage" to school and left them once again at the Gokongwei lobby. I went to my classroom at Andrew and got my new script for today...

Presentation time:

Our introduction speech... erm... Treisha was too excited.
The flash presentations worked.
I wasn't the one who made the PowerPoint presentations; It was Vero.
Thumping bass rocked the room to action.
We were excempted from wearing business attire.
We gave a test (or we had a game) to our blockmates. Blockmates, see your team's current standings at the DLSUINTRICT e-group. I have already uploaded the file Score Board.pdf
Not everyone wore their team color.

Well... Prepare to be entertained a lot more on Friday... and be sure to go over the handouts we've uploaded over the Internet...

My post ends (Finally!) here.

PS. Blockmates, wear your team color already!

Team 1 - Pink
Team 2 - Red
Team 3 - Orange
Team 4 - Yellow
Team 5 - Green
Team 6 - Blue

You would really want to get your hands on the prize!

Get Hooked

2006-06-28T02:40:00.000+08:00

Get Hooked

Here's a video which I have created for our INTRICT report:
Hmmm... Sounds familiar...

(I want comments on this one.)

(Violent reactions are welcome.)

I would appreciate it if you would rate my video at YouTube.

PS. Please be patient and wait for my other post to be published...

Jirachi

2006-06-22T20:46:00.000+08:00

Jirachi

Our first class today involves going to the computer laboratory. It would be my first time to go there (this year) and I was so excited. I was really glad that my ID was already with me, and I swore never to forget to bring my ID to school again.

My mom drove me to La Salle because I was almost late for school. Initially, we were planning to pass by our store to get my USB (Universal Serial Bus) hub. Why? I had a trauma for USB ports.

I've said this before. My sleek USB flash dirk got burned to a crisp. It was my first and my favorite one. The horrible nightmare happened at Uno High School, when I plugged my thumb drive into the computer's USB port. Click here to read Friday Frenzy, my complete post.

Going back to my story, I arrived at the entrance of Gokongwei Building 2 minutes before time. I took out my ID and scanned it through La Salle's famous card reader. Beep beep beep beep beep (Actually, it sounded like *toot toot toot toot toot*)

"Left id?" The guard on duty asked.
"Yes." I replied, "yesterday."
"Punta ka sa South Gate. Pa-validate mo."

What?! This couldn't be happening.

This ID of mine had already ruined my whole day yesterday. Don't tell me it's back for more... vengeance...

What can I do? I had my mom bring me to South Gate and I told the person in charge that I want to validate my ID. He told me to go to the Registrar's Office.

"Saan yun?" I asked him.
"Doon sa picturan ng ID." he replied.

It's hard to imagine that I, who had already stayed in La Salle for a month, still do not know how to go about the campus. This is the reason why I prefer not going out alone, despite my type of person.

By the way, for those who think that they are starting to understand my true self, think again. I'm not that easy to decipher. *wink* It's just that I'm good at hiding my true identity. Having said all these, don't think badly of me. I'm a very kind and friendly person.

I rushed to the Registrar's office. Number 66. Currently, they were only serving Number 48. Oh no! How long would it take me?

The time ticked away fast. I was very worried. My teacer could call me up for recitation any time. If I were not present, it would mean a 0% for me.

Two days ago, I was happy when I found out that I got 80% in my recitation grade instead of 0%. Ironically, I was sad because if I got a 0%, I can eliminate that score by getting 5 100%, and I haven't even gotten one yet. Why wouldn't you call me, ma'am? The 80% mark I got cannot be wiped out, for it's a passing score that is considered to be 'high' for some people. For me, what's considered a high grade is any grade >= (greater than or equal to - my, some programming here) 94%. I'm aspiring for a grade of 4.0; I exert all my effort to surpass "him."

Soon, it was 10 o'clock. The number was still stagnant at 48. I was sweating buckets. I called up my mom. She was waiting for me outside McDonald's. I told her that I desperately wanted to attend my classes. I went back to the South Gate and pleaded with the person in charge to give me a temporary ID pass; I would validate my ID after my classes end. He had compassion on me and granted my wish.

My heart was crying when I finally arrived at G302 (Gokongwei Building Room 302). In my confusion, I wasn't able to remember much except that the ConsoleIn and the Computation classes that our professor uploaded to our e-groups brought in some errors to our java documents, so to speak...

After our classes were over, we crossed to La Salle (main) via Warp Zone. We (Bea, Dianne, Jamie, Lou, Raisa, Yna, and of course, me) had a hard time choosing between Kenny Rogers, Pizza Hut, Shakeys, and the Animo Canteen for our lunch destination. We ended up at Wendy's, where I ordered a Big Bacon Mushroom Melt Burger with large fries and iced tea that cost me 176.98 pesos. Most of my companions ordered a chicken meal, while the others ordered burgers like me. Munch! Chomp! We discussed about school and yearbooks, pictures to IDs, and alumni cards to togas. Thinkers!

We returned to South Gate. I asked for an entry permit and quickly proceeded to the Registrar's office. Of course, I had to part ways with my group, for they were headed towards a different direction. I hoped that there won't be many people in the office so that I wouldn't have to wait for that long. My wish came true. Within seconds, I got my ID validated. (Seriously, why did it take minutes to validate an ID a while ago when it only took me seconds?)

Having calculated the distance to Andrew Hall and the walking speed of my group, I figured out that they haven't gone far. True enough, they were surprised to see me walking ahead of them. Teleportation - if there was only such a thing.

Rejoice! My ID was fully functional again.
Never again would I forget to bring my ID. Never ever...

We had our ALGTRIG classes and the lesson was becoming much tougher than I thought. Our professor gave us a seatwork and it was pretty much challenging. It became our homework when half of the class wasn't even able to answer at least half of the equations given to us in his designated amount of time.

We had no SCIENVB classes; my friends (Dianne and Lou) invited me to join them to pass the time. I joined them and went down to the sixth floor. The lunchroom was damp and hot. We decided to go to La Casita at the Sports Complex instead.

Having a functional ID, I felt that it was so much easier to travel through Lasallian compounds. I'm thankful that I already had it validated.

Readers, especially Lasallians, don't forget to bring your IDs to school. You won't want to commit the mistake that I did.

I went to the bookstore and purchased a folder (for hidden purposes, you'll find out soon) and 10 test booklets (5 small, 5 large). Afterwards, I accompanied the two, watching them eat, copying their movements, and calling up Ate Pole. Seems like they are going to watch the movie Cars in Glorietta (or was it Greenbelt?). Enjoy!

I met with my groupmates (SCIENVB) and we discussed among ourselves how we would go about the experiment designed for transformative learning. Before our discussion ended, our PERSEF professor entered the room. Boy, time zooms!

We had such a great time. All the 6 of us in our team wore the correct color (Blue) and we were given 6 additional points for that. In our first game, Wordles (it's not Wordless), we got 5 out of fifteen questions...

(5 correct answers) times (3 points each) = 15 points

In our second game concerning etiquette, we garnered 8 out of 10 points. Only one team got a perfect score and was entitled to 5 additional points.

We were staggering at third place.

Our third game consisted of two rounds. Each group was to select five strong-hearted individuals to participate in the game.

The game was like this...

Clockwise. Team one will choose a representative and that person would choose who he/she wanted to 'kill' by choosing the numbers 1 to 5...

No, the rules are too complicated, so I'll just skip them.

We won the first round, garnering 10 points. On the second round, we were second with 8 points.

Overall, we ascended and became first place! Yeah! Go pink team.

Ha ha ha! Nobody was able to 'kill' me. Guess I was too sly for you people. Well, maybe I'm not. It depends how you look at me.

Our teacher had good and bad news for us. He started with the bad news...

Our class president, also our team captain (I believe), was going to leave us for good. He was going to transfer to a different university...

The good news is that he would enjoy his stay there, after all, it was his first choice.

When faced with such complicated situations, I don't know how to react. I feel sad deep inside, although my face doesn't show it. We are pilgrims on a journey. People come and people go. It's hard having someone leave our block...

If I should leave this lonely world behind
Your voice will still remember our melody
Now I know we'll carry on
Melodies of life
Come circle round and grow deep in our hearts
As long as we remember

Sigh, what can I say... I hope you have enjoyed your stay with S-15 (and if you didn't, I hope that during these last few days of your stay, we can make your stay in our block a memorable one) and I thank you for being a good friend. I wish you the best of luck in your journey in life. Don't let the fire go out; don't let your vision die!

I love this song. It can truly capture my innermost feelings as well as express my deepest thoughts...

So now, maybe you were wondering why I named my post like that. Well, in the anime world, Jirachi is a legendary Pokemon who awakens once every 1,000 years to grant wishes. If there was such a thing...

Science will remain as science, and nonscience, nonscience. Things that can be proven can be considered as scientific, but those that cannot, well, are just matters of faith...

I'm still going to do some other things.

My post ends here.

Stay tuned.

Dream Eater

2006-06-21T18:41:00.000+08:00

Dream Eater

The title itself says it all. This day was, well...

I kept on telling myself to "wake up, wake up..." when I felt that it was already late.

I woke up at noon. I brushed my teeth. It's still hard to imagine that I already had my braces removed. I'm not used to it. Anyway, no more hardship (except the pains of wearing a retainer after a few days). I ate lunch instead of brakfast, and I did everything I was supposed to do. I left the house at 1:45.

I waited for a side car to bring me to our store. When one finally was available, I told him...

"Sa Uno."
"Ha? Saan yun?"

(Now this question irritated me a lot. It's hard to believe that side car drivers don't know where my alma mater is. It's very near... And pshaw, you live in Manila, so you must know.)

(Most of you blockmates are excusable. I know there are only a few Chinese in our block, and many of you came from different parts of the Philippines. But for these side car drivers, this is unacceptable. Uno is a very famous Chinese school. Come on!)

(Hey Uneans! Make a good name out of our school! I'll start by telling people to visit our school's website at http://uhs.edu.ph/)

Every time drivers ask about our school, I always try to explain...

"Sa may Alvarado Extension."
"Ha? Saan yun?"

(Now I am really irritated.)

"Doon sa may Abad Santos!"
"Saan?"

(Inhale, exhale. I now know that there are many barbarians living in this city of ours. Not one, not two, but three. Wait! There may be more. Much more than I thought.)

He asked his 'colleagues' on the whereabouts of Alvarado.

What entered the other pedicab drivers' minds, obviously, was where was Alvarado Street located.

(I hate it! I hate it when people confuse Alvarado Extension with Alvarado Street! I tried to explain it to the driver, but he ignored me. How dare him!)

"40?"
He nodded.

When he was about to make a turn at Soler to go to Alvarado Street, I commanded him to go straight to Abad Santos. And then, I discovered that I left my wallet at home.

This greatly troubled me. I was supposed to pay for the membership fee of two organizations I wanted to join today, namely, LSCS and MooMedia (aka Baka, as told by my friends). My LRT Multi-trip tickets was also inside my wallet, so my anxiety was greatly increased. I assured myself that my mom would let me borrow money from her. My fears were cut short.

When I arrived at our store, after all the anger and anxiety, I discovered that my mom only had a few bills in her wallet. Trouble came. The membership fee of each organization I wanted to join was 220 pesos. My mom only gave me 300 pesos, and I have to set aside some money for my LRT fare. That means I can only join one organization today. Bummer!

So, I went on my way to La Salle via LRT. After alighting at Quirino Station, a ghastly truth occured to me; my ID was inside my wallet.

Without my ID, I wouldn't be able to enter the university. I've heard many a person warn people never to forget bringing their IDs to school. I checked my bag. I had my EAF (Enrollment Assessment Form, our temporary ID) with me, good.

I entered Andrew Hall with only a minute to spare and showed the guard my EAF...

"Sorry, di na kami nagtatanggap ng EAF dito."

I tried to convince them. They were so stubborn and cold-hearted...

I rushed to the back entrance of Andrew Hall, and again, the same response. Seems like I have to go all the way to South Gate to get a temporary gate pass. I informed my mom about my current situation, and an uproar started.

She wanted to call up our dean, Dr. Caslon Chua, and try to convince him to permit me inside. I warned her not to; I don't want to have a bad record in my stay in La Salle. And so, I rushed to South Gate. It began raining.

In case anyone noticed, I wasn't wearing my new shoes today. I wore my black pair, for my dad told me to. He said that it might rain today; I don't want to damage my shoes.

After receiving my passport to La Salle, I entered Andrew Hall through the back gate. I asked the guard how I would be able to go to Gokongwei Building after an hour of classes. He said that since left IDs are not offenses anymore, the punishment is that I would have to return to South Gate and get another pass. Oh no! Our INTRICT professor takes punctuality very seriously. One tardy mark and it's goodbye 4.0 for me.

I called up my mom again, and the rampage became worse. I went up to 8th floor by walking up the endless flight of stairs. I arrived at our classroom 15 minutes late, and many were shocked.

I'm really glad that our ALGTRIG professor doesn't check the class attendance, if not, I would be tardy, obviously. I try not to be a latecomer whilst only coming to school 5 to 15 minutes before the bell (for various reasons, I prefer not mentioning them).

I'm glad that we were dismissed early. Again, I scurried to South Gate to get another pass. Almost losing my breath, I ran to Gokongwei Building and entered the classroom. We were to watch a group report.

I was really worried because our group will be the next one presenting, and we still haven't had a formal meeting of our own. For the first time, we were able to utilize time and meet with our group properly while there was still some free time.

Free time? Well, the group who reported today mostly relied on their video presentation. They didn't bring with them a set of speakers and the sound coming from the laptop they brought was too little. Fortunately, one of my blockmates volunteered to go to EGI Taft Tower to lend hers to the group. While she was away, our group had a conference for a short while.

Our professor looked fiercer than usual. She gave the group a grade of 50% (The passing grade was 70%.) for disorganization. Because the reporters weren't in business attire, the teacher gave extra deductions. Everybody agreed to give the group a second chance, for they were the first group that reported. They were to report again on Friday.

Our group would have a meeting this Saturday, and I hope that everything would be fine by then. As a perfectionist, I wanted our group to get a grade of 95% or above, if not 100%. It's for our own good, anyway. And it covers up 30% of our grade...

When we were dismissed, I was worried again about returning to South Gate to get a pass to the Central Plaza. My worries were eliminated when my friends told me that we would pass through the Warp Zone. Seriously, I forgot about that area...

We got the application forms for MooMedia today, and I met Jhovee in MooMedia's booth. We still didn't submit our application forms to LSCS because my friends wanted to avail the ten peso discount offered...

On my way home, I saw Rominick. I said hi, hello, and goodbye.

My friend wanted me to meet his cousin. We stopped outside university mall and sis some introductions. Afterwards, I bought myself a regular-sized Mango Parfait (Zagu - It was the first time I drank a pearl shake in 5 months time.) Afterwards, we (Lou and I) proceeded to the LRT station.

I know that I would not be admitted inside because I brought refreshments with me, so I drank as fast as I could, amidst the brainfreezing. I met Kathleen. She was wearing a business attire, which makes me wonder...

When I finally got in to the station. I situated myself in a designated area for departure. I was surprised when Raymond suddenly stood beside me. I figured out that he didn't see me, so I called his attention. We were even surprised when, for the first time, the LRT train was empty. Dark, there were no people inside yet... Hmmm...

Raymond asked me how such a thing could have happened. I didn't know. We talked about our college life. I asked him what his PE was - basketball, he replied, with tests every session. Boy, that's tough. He had 19 units, he told me. I told him that Nicolo had 29. He was shocked.

He advised me to wear slippers because they feel a lot more comfortable. After all, wearing slippers was allowed in La Salle. I remained silent. Many people were telling that to me...

We rose from our seats when we arrived at Bambang station. We bid farewell. He was going somewhere else. I went to GUM & MUG and installed Microsoft Office 2007 Professional onto my computer. It took quite a while, but the job was done successfully.

My Yahoo! Messenger wasn't working! I tried reconnecting for a number of times but Yahoo! just wouldn't give in. I was finally able to reconnect after installing a newer version of YM (Yahoo! Messenger) found at this site: http://messenger.yahoo.com/. I was astonished when I saw the enhancements made, especially the Yahoo! tab found at Internet Explorer.

I also had flute lessons today. We tackled how to play ear-piercing high notes today. It was not easy. I had to catch my breath all the time.

Overall, today was my worst, and ironically, my best day in college. I never met so many classmates before, and it was my first time to ride an empty train. I feel that I have accomplished quite a lot of things today, including my post.

Check out my sidebar. I have updated it with new features worth looking.

My post ends here.

A Hard Day's Night

2006-06-20T19:09:00.000+08:00

A Hard Day's Night

Today was not a typical day of my life.

Yesterday (or today) midnight, we were trying to do a painstaking assignment our SCIENVB professor had given to us (in groups). What's more, he also gave us (individaully) a research paper homework with only two topics to choose from: "Aliens Cause Global Warming" and "Environmentalism as a Religion," both of Michael Crichton, the famous writer and director.

By two o'clock in the morning, Vero and I were the only ones left doing the project. I was already sleepy. She volunteered to help me by sending me a word document containing all her ideas; I only had to do the revisions. It was a great help. Thanks groupmates! Sorry you had to stay up so late...

In the end, only I was left doing the step-by-step instruction experimental design project. It was 3:00 AM when I finished my work. By that time, I was already very, very sleepy. My chest pains started...

I really wanted to go to sleep, but sensing that I still have responsibilities to fulfill, I endured the continual pains that kept on bothering me from time to time. I still had a 2 page reaction paper to do, and it was quite difficult. You'll understand when you see the article.

Check it out for yourself! Go to a search engine and type in the keywords Michael Crichton Aliens Cause Global Warming. It really makes an interesting read.

As time continued to tick, I realized that my drowziness were being eliminated slowly; however, my body felt heavy. I was too hard on myself. I shouldn't be awake at this time, especially since I had a liver infection.

I plopped down to bed immediately after finishing making the hard copy of my work. It was 5 o'clock. It was time for some people to wake up; it was way past my bedtime. My whole body hurts a lot. Never again, hopefully, would I ever sleep this late.

With this said, let me share you some interesting facts about my life.

My earliest wake-up time was _____, don't ask...

My latest sleeping time was 9 o'clock in the morning, when I had to submit a portfolio for our chemistry class.

My latest lunch was food taken out from Red Ribbon at 4:30 PM. We went at Child's Play waiting to be photographed that day.

My latest dinner was served at 1 o'clock AM, when we had to ride a 9 hour train to go from Kuala Lumpur to Malaysia.

I woke up at 8:30 AM, sleepy as ever. My chest pains continued to bother me, and I had minor headaches. I pleaded my mom to bring me to La Salle via our car today because I was not feeling very well. How could she deny?

Today was the first time I felt sleepy in class (specifically, in college). My brain was not working properly - during our ALGTRIG class, I wasn't able to answer any of the exercise problems given to us. In our SCIENVB group meeting, I couldn't think of a good solution to our problem.

It was a miracle that I could have written my blog just now...

We ate lunch at Red Spoon at AGI Taft Tower, well, after observing two groups hastily making their SCIENVB experimental analysis. I ordered Beef Curry for 89 pesos and Iced Tea for 15 pesos, with a total bill amounting at 104 pesos. (Wow! The first math problem I solved today!)

I initially had a dentist appointment by 3:40 PM, but because our SCIENVB class was extended, my appoinment with the dentist was postponed to a later time.

After classes, me and my friends pproceeded to the organization booths located at the sports plaza and asked for application forms from LSCS (La Salle Computer Society). MooMedia, unfortunately, was unavailable as of the current time. Tomorrow...

On my way to GUM & MUG from Bambang Station, I met Mhir. Intriguing, this LRT station does a lot of wonders, from meetings to reunions and many more.

Denzel was standing with his parents outside our store. He told me that Joanie was waiting for me inside our store. Indeed she was.

I'm glad that my computer update was completed. After installing Windows Media Player 11 on my PC, Mr. notorious Keith arrived. He wanted to borrow my tennis racket. Being the kind soul I am, I lended mine to him. But if in any case...

Prepare yourself, you owe me a lot.

I went to the dentist and had my teeth examined. He told me that I can already have my bonding brackets (braces) removed. And so he did. I was glad. It only took me two years.

My plans were already 39% completed. Readers, you will know what I mean when the percentage reaches 100%.

So long...
40... 41... 42... 43... 44... 45... 46... 47...

朋友

2006-06-19T20:49:00.000+08:00

Inspired by a friend, here's the lyrics to an old, yet beautiful song...

这些年一个人
风也过雨也走
有过泪有过错
还记得坚持甚麽

真爱过才会懂

会寂寞会回首

终有梦终有你在心中

朋友一生一起走

那些日子不再有

一句话一辈子

一生情一杯酒

朋友不曾孤单过

一声朋友你会懂

还有伤还有痛

还要走还有我

Psyche

2006-06-19T19:02:00.000+08:00

Psyche

A typical day of college life...

I woke up and drowsily did all my chores once again. Last night (see my post Impressions), I slept at around 3 AM because of the seven chapter test we will have in INTRICT today. That explains why I feel so sleepy - stress.

I used to sleeping during early hours in the morning. I developed the habit when I had the wonderful task of being the layout editor for our school newsletter and the layout artist of our science club's publication.

Sleeping late at night is bad for your health. (Yeah, I knew that.) This bad habit of mine continued up to a point that my liver got injured. (Ask your doctor for more details.) It affected my heartbeat, my lungs (that often hurt), and well, you get the idea.

Before that though, we (block S-15) weren't sure if we would have PE classes today. I still had to ask a lot of people...

Anyway, I put on my jogging pants and my PE uniform and headed to La Salle via a gospel car (My first aunt, father's side, was a missionary.) I arrived fifteen minutes early. Too early.

I learned from my mistake.

We were taught a 20 step stance and it confused us for the first few times we tried to perform it. It was a combination of punching and blocking, and a lot of footwork. We were also told that we would not have PE classes the next Monday; we would be having classes on Friday instead. Bummer!

I was supposed to go back to GUM & MUG after our classes. Fortunately and unfortunately, I decided to join my friends and go eat with them. My lunch just costed me 90 pesos. My second less than a hundred peso meal, and my first time to eat with my blockmates on Monday. Palatable!

Review...

This INTRICT stuff is getting really irritating... Let me explain.

The topics look so simple that (I think) I don't need to review for the quiz.
Most of these topics I have already studied when we were training for the IT General Quiz Bee contest held at Chiang Kai Shek College last February.
I needed to review or else I would fail.

It was still very early but we headed to our classroom. On the way, we talked about a lot of things. I was dumbfounded when I remembered that we had to fill up a form and submit it today to our class president, and a 1 by 1 photo to boot!

I finished my work as soon as we arrived at our classroom. Thank God I had a photo with me.

Lou approached me and let me hear a song from her phone. It sounded familiar, especially the chorus part. 朋友一生一起走。。。 She said it was her singing. What?! She sounded like a man.

Our professor was late once again. I took the time and reviewed for the exam. Many people borrowed my notes.

"Siguradong dadating yan by 2:45," I heard someone say.

True enough, our professor came. He looked different though. He's wearing more formal clothes than before. What's more, he shaved his head...

"Ano kaya, magpakalbo na rin tayo," I heard another say.

He started, "Please submit..."

Huh, sir, wala kang binigay na assignment."

"... my pasalubong!" He continued.

Soon we realized what he meant.

And so we chorused, "Happy birthday to you!"

He started the lecture. It ended faster than I thought. Oh no! D-Day.

And so we took the test. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't difficult. Don't ask why...

After the test, I joined some of my blockmates (for no particular reason) to SPS(?) and soon after, I returned home.

Some interesting things to note:

Raymond called my attention.
I saw Rominick and he was to watch a presentation (as he have said).
LSCS and MooMedia have already started their annual recruitmant. (Hmmm, should I go for 'it?'

Well, I returned to GUM & MUG and saw many Uneans passing by the street corners. One Unean recognized me and said hello. We talked for some time. At least someone remembers me.

Surprisingly, Joanie entered our store. Long time no see! I asked her if she wanted to visit the school. She agreed.

Before that though, I saw Gian and Phillip walking by a while ago, though they shouldn't have seen me.

We explored our alma mater. We also met Keith, by the way...

I wanted to speak with Mrs. Rivera. She wasn't around. *sigh* Ms. Josie was sitting in her room as always...

Joanie shared with me some interesting facts about her college life... *snicker*

As we were on our way back, Mrs. Rivera walked by. We greeted each other. Joanie told her something she shouldn't have did... retribution.

We returned home.

My post is over.

Impressions

2006-06-18T21:09:00.000+08:00

Impressions

I really wanted to post today but I just can't (I'll try to do so later...)

I had a really fun time today so my post would be quite long...

Catch it tomorrow at my other blog Melodies of Life. Surely, you won't want to miss it.

PS. Yahoo! I was still able to post.

Mixed Emotions

2006-06-17T22:21:00.000+08:00

Mixed Emotions

What a nice day...

Writing blogs had been my hobby since classes started.

I feel bad deep inside if I don't post for even a day; hence, writing blogs had also become a burden to me. A responsibility that I shouldn't just overlook.

I should be studying for my INTRICT test now. Ironically, I'm sitting at my chair writing this entry.

Let me begin.

I woke up at 9 in the morning when my aunt laid my godson beside me. I was still very sleepy that time, and I tried to catch another shut-eye. Unfortunately, given the responsibility to look after my godson and prevent him from toppling over the bed forced me to keep my eyes open.

I gave up.

I alighted from my bed slowly, as to prevent my godson from waking up (for he was also sleeping). I proceeded to my computer chair and sat down. Turning on the computer monitor, I saw that there was a person calling me at Skype. It was my third aunt (father's side; the one who gave me the painstaking task was my fourth aunt). We chatted. She looked for other members of the family. They talked over the internet. Technology is great.

Fortunately, because of the pristine clarity of my Logitech Quickcam Sphere, my aunt who was living in Canada was able to see and hear us with unparalleled quality.

We could also hear her clearly because of my highly-defined Altec Lansing FX6021 speaker system. Even if the volume was just set to one, we could hear my aunt's voice from all over the house. Sheer power. It only eats up 75 watts of electricity.

There I go again, boasting about my gadgets. One thing I can tell you, if there's anything not high-tech about me, it's my cell phone. No doubt.

The usual things - making my bed, brushing my teeth, eating breakfast, and lots more.

I decided to play Ragnarok again. (Players would understand this:) Luckily, I was able to find a person selling a Pipe for only 12M zeny. I bought it without hesitating. I spent the rest of my 18 million on Dead Branches. (I was bored. Burning some money wouldn't hurt.) I summoned a lot of monsters outside towns, and I inderectly annihilated a lot of players. I summoned loads of monsters up to a point that I got killed as well. Thank goodness I already attained the highest base level. (My Job experience decreased though.)

I understand that many of you cannot relate to what I was talking about, so, moving on.

There is a ToyCon held at MegaMall today and tomorrow. I invited a lot of people but I'm not sure if they would be able to join me. I was planning to go there tomorrow, so I had to study for my test in advance, but as I have stated above, why I'm writing this blog instead of reviewing? Beats me.

I organized the files on my computer to prepare it for Windows Vista instalation. It took me a lot of time. 2 hours and 41 minutes (and 16 seconds) to be exact. In the end, a job well done.

I was talking about the darned technician who didn't show up yesterday. I did the procedure myself and successfully accomplished it; however, it wasn't Windows XP Service Pack 2 that was installed; it was Service Pack 1! I need Service Pack 2 to update my PC with the latest Microsoft Office, but I don't have the installer. I ordered my mom to call up the technician. The technician 'promised' to come as early as possible. I was burning up...

What do you expect from computer technicians? He didn't arrive. Oh, I wanted to kill him. Inhale, exhale... No word of honor. Despicable.

I had flute lessons today, and boy, was I improving. I played Ode to Joy successfully and moved on to another song. Canon in D, I suggested. It was tough...

Shirlina started the Canon trend in Uno (or in our group). Afterwards was the Canon Electric Guitar Version by Jerry C and FunTwo. Joanie introduced them to me. *haha* (remembers a funny memory) I showed the video (of FunTwo) to my flute teacher. He was impressed and took out his video camera and recorded the whole song. Then, we returned to Canon Flute version. I checked if there was one available in YouTube. There was none. My teacher told me to record us playing and then upload it to YouTube. After all, it was a site where you had to broadcast yourself. (My, when would I be able to do that?)

One hour passed and we had to say goodbye. My father approached me and showed me a snake trapped inside a large bottle of mineral water. His friend found it inside his store, thinking that it was an aluminum cord. After realizing that it was a snake, he placed it inside a bottle and gave it to my dad. Would that snake eventually become our pet? I'm afraid to ask.

I turned on the piano and played some of my favorite pieces (and some invented pieces). Afterwards, I returned to playing the flute while playing the piano. (The song was already recorded into the piano, I was playing the accompaniment in flute.)

My father told me to rest for a bit. He told me to give him my (his) cell phone. I wondered why...

He brought our his cellphone and exchanged his with mine. Alright! The day had finally come. My first (originally second*) cellphone with a colored LCD. I was happy. If only it had a memory card slot...

* My first colored LCD phone was stolen from me when I was travelling with Nikko in Tutuban. It was really my fault that I got hold-upped. I got angry with him (when I shouldn't had) and parted ways with him. Anyway, long story. Sorry, Nikko...

I was satisfied. At least I got a decent phone. Even though it wasn't eqipeed with high-end technologies, the point is that my cellphone is already part of today's technological progress.

I ate dinner with my family. I played the piano again. I moved on to editing my blog.

Notice that the sidebar has been equipped with a lot more information than ever before. Brought to you only by yours truly.

Suddenly, I had terrible chest pains, and they were aggrevating every second. I explained my situation to my father, even if I knew that I shouldn't have did.

I had to undertake some 'serious' measures...

Well, after walking round the podium for 15 times, I returned to my computer.

The rest is self-explanatory.

Perfection

2006-06-16T22:35:00.000+08:00

Perfection

Somehow, I don't feel like posting today, but, it'll be a waste. Here goes...

Another thing, this post would be short.

Today seemed like the great day for me. I woke up at nine and was happy to accomplish many things in the morning. My RO (Ragnarok Online) character finally attained the highest base level and my Windows Vista download progress had already reached 10%. My morning was ruined when I heard that the computer technician hasn't repaired (performed a maintenance check on) the computer at our store yet. What's more he hasn't even arrived.

I watched some episodes of Bleach once again (with nothing to do). Somehow, I got addicted...

I went to our store by two-thirty in the afternoon. The technician wasn't there yet. *grumble* Keith arrived while I was eating lunch. He was raving about the concert held at ADMU (Ateneo de Manila University) yesterday. He said his PE will be tennis; he want's to borrow a racquet...

White was the theme of this weekend and I'm glad I was part of the group. After dismissal, I gave my groupmates some notes which I would like them to take note of.

I really hope they would be online later... (No, they're not.)

Groupmates, you'll finally see how cranky I get when doing projects like these...

I returned to GUM & MUG. My flute skills are finally getting better. I petted my turtle and my rabbits. Some mischievous kids were torturing the two lovebirds at our store...

In the end, the technician didn't arrive. I decided to do things by myself...

And now I'm home, practicing the piano and trying to master my favorite piano piece.

That's all.

PS. Notice how short and ambiguous this post is?

Hacker

2006-06-15T20:22:00.000+08:00

Hacker

I was woken up by ma dad at 7:30 in the morning. Gosh, it was still so early yet. Today was also my first time to ride a jeepney to La Salle. He accompanied me.

It was just 9 in the morning. I told him I didn't want to go to class yet. My reason is that I would have nothing to do except wander around (until I get lost). He accompanied me to Chowking and we ate our second breakfast there.

Time passes by so quickly. Within a few minutes, it was already 9:45 AM (My watch is fast.) I told him that I wanted to go to class by this time. I'll enter through the Hotel (aka Andrew Hall), I informed him.

Eventually we said goodbye. I went to Gokongwei Hall from Andrew Hall and headed to my classroom...

It was just 9:30 AM. I got a good seat in INTRPRG class today. (I always change seats in INTRPRG.) Our professor gave us our dreaded seatworks. She also called up many prople to the board for recitation. It was scary.

She denied the fact that she was the translator of F4 and 5566. She said the translator was her good twin - she's the evil twin. And as a proof, she'll show to us how evil she really is in our upcoming exam. Brrr...

Classes were dismissed. For the first time ever, we ate at the canteen closest to us (the non-air conditioned one). I didn't imagine that there would be a vast price difference between La Casita and this one. The food was good, and it costed me only 95 pesos (with drinks). It was my first time to eat lunch with my peers spending less than a hundred.

In our ALGTRIG class, we discussed word problems (the topic that most people hated). I loved word problems, especially the consecutive part. We were dismissed 30 minutes early.

With nothing to do, I took out my sketch notebook and drew out a sketch of my blog. I thought of improving the layout but I think that it's still fine by now. A few blockmates noticed that I was wearing different shoes (white instead of black). Well, I was excited to try out my new shoes, so I wore them today.

There came SCIENVB class. I tried to recite as much as I could. We were left with a painstaking homework and a research paper to boot. And so on and so forth...

Alright, PERSEF! Our team was the defending champion - GO PINK TEAM! All of us wore pink and so we got an additional 6 points. It was Johann's birthday today; our professor was disappointed that he didn't cook food for us. We had a lot of games. And *sigh*, some other teams overtook us. The Yellow team was able to catch up, but they still weren't able to overtake us though.

Don't lose hope Pink team, we still have the winning edge. Teamwork!

Here's my favorite poem dedicated to our team:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Invictus - I have shared this before to my teammates in our DLSU CCS Summer Camp 2005, and boy, were they impressed! (http://splgum.blogspot.com/) I'm sharing this once again, and I hope this poem would encourage everyone of us to strive harder.

It was drizzling when I was on my way to the LRT station. Thank goodness it didn't rain so hard (unlike now). When I arrived at GUM & MUG, I visited my rabbits, said hello, and played with them. They are so cute.

I miss Uno High School (the school I graduated from). I see many Uneans passing by our store and it makes me nostalgic. One day, I would visit the school again...

Hello to UHS Batch 2006! If you've read my post, please leave a message at my message board or comment at this post. I miss you all.

I arrived home and I figured out that 'someone' unplugged my PC. When I turned it on, a message popped out, saying that I may be a victim of software counterfeiting. A pirated Windows XP - what more do you expect from those computer stores along Masangkay? The messages irritated me, and I wanted to get rid of them. Finally, thanks to my cracking skills *grimace*, I was able to eliminate those nagware and my PC is as good as new.

Yes, I remember the game wherein people have to write down three statements - two true, one false.

My first statement was that I had tuberculosis when I was still a child. - True
My second statement was that I had a fracture in my nose. - True, but it's not noticable; it already healed by itself.
My third and final statement was that I was feared by my classmates for my hacking skills. - False, I know how to hack, but I don't do it unless I needed to.

That's it folks.

PS. Don't ask me to teach you how to hack.

Melodies of Life: The Layers of Harmony

To my dear readers...

To my dear readers...

Affixed Agony

Affixed Agony

Sleepless Nights

Sleepless Nights

Real TQ Blog Remover

Real TQ Blog Remover

Stressed Satisfaction [Part Two]

Stressed Satisfaction

Concerns and Consequences

Concerns and Consequences

Stress and Summer

Stress and Summer

Another Mission

Another Mission

My Freshman Days

My Freshman Days

Catalog Catastrophe

Catalog Catastrophe

Video Posting

Video Posting

Debilitation on D-Day

Debilitation on D-Day

Worst Case Scenario

Worst Case Scenario

Stressed Out

Stressed Out

Time Capsule

Time Capsule

Reunited

Reunited

Magnitude

Magnitude

Let's Roll

Let's Roll!

Moneygrubbers

Moneygrubbers

Weekend Madness

Weekend Madness

Concentration

Concentration

Sabotaging Saturday

Sabotaging Saturday

Second Impressions

Second Impressions

New Beginnings

New Beginnings

1st Term Break (Part 6)

1st Term Break (Part 6)

1st Term Break (Part 5)

Memories of My GreatGrandmother

1st Term Break (Part 4)

1st Term Break (Part 4)

1st Term Break (Part 3)

1st Term Break (Part 3)

1st Term Break (Part 2)

1st Term Break (Part 2)

1st Term Break (Part 1)

1st Term Break (Part 1)

Absence

Absence

Crash Landing

Crash Landing

Unexpected Occurrences

Unexpected Occurences

Birthday Bonanza

Birthday Bonanza

Entourage

Entourage

Escapades

Escapades

Paranoia

Paranoia

Psychopathic Crazilator

Psychopathic Crazilator

Sterling

Sterling

Pursuits

Memories of My Great

Grandmother

Coincidencia:

Destrucción de la Vida

No Classes in Areas

Affected by 'Glenda'

Palace Suspends Classes, Number-

Coding in Metro Manila

Arroyo: Classes resume in all

levels in Metro, Regions 3, 4

Still suspended in Regions 1, 2, and CAR