Today classes from 13.00 onwards were suspended. Basically, all I did today in school was submit my (hefty still, mind you) requirements for research class, and I found myself with no five-hour break, but a really early dismissal, and another distorted sense of time. I decided to take the opportunity and go to ATC, maybe chill out a bit while downloading MP3s faster than usual - if only not for the constant power outages.
Boooo. Funny thing is, that could be a Halloween ploy. You know, turn off the lights ever-so-constantly and scare the kids. Turns out, my mom says, that something went wrong with the generators, as she saw smoke somewhere near Makati Supermart at the same time I was at the mall. And, when I went into the darker-than-usual cinema lobby, a fire alarm was going off. Weird thing is, it's far from where the smoke apparently was.
So I lost the chance of doing a decent download - instead I ended up watching the videos for The Kooks' Naïve and my current favorite track, Suede's Beautiful Ones. And in between, the lights went on and off, and people were screaming for a second, then eating the next. I decided to go home and try to sleep while making sense of Chronicle of a Death Foretold for our paper that's due Thursday.
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10/31/2006
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10/29/2006
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If this doesn't get to you early, Blogger went down for another time. Funny way to ask all of us to switch to their beta version and possibly lose this layout. Let me say, then, that this was written on a rainy Sunday night.
Funnier even that I keep on forgetting about that poster Jaja is asking me to do. Even worse all the work leaves me graphically uninspired. I think the only color I decided to splash on myself are hues of red and pink, if it does look like pink.
Yet again I miss people. But it isn't in any disturbing, potentially chaotic way - I don't know. It's just different, with the rain falling outside, a potential class suspension tomorrow morning (which means I get an extra day to do everything, unwarranted or otherwise), the people you meet (like Alyssa, who is connected to Issa and is another one of those people I meet online who loves Muse and does photography, but studies in DLSU like most of us), and the people you don't see. Is it with the people who don't respond even if they promise to? Is it with the things you end up doing, or even cramming?
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Funnier even that I keep on forgetting about that poster Jaja is asking me to do. Even worse all the work leaves me graphically uninspired. I think the only color I decided to splash on myself are hues of red and pink, if it does look like pink.
Yet again I miss people. But it isn't in any disturbing, potentially chaotic way - I don't know. It's just different, with the rain falling outside, a potential class suspension tomorrow morning (which means I get an extra day to do everything, unwarranted or otherwise), the people you meet (like Alyssa, who is connected to Issa and is another one of those people I meet online who loves Muse and does photography, but studies in DLSU like most of us), and the people you don't see. Is it with the people who don't respond even if they promise to? Is it with the things you end up doing, or even cramming?
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10/27/2006
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The moment I got the invitation for Jenn's debut, I had another costume dilemma. I barely got through Jackie's debut with a necktie that my parents doubted, but somehow I survived and even got tagged as a rock star (by Jason, definitely). The theme was vintage semi-formal - and as much as I wanted to rely on my father once again, I doubt whether we have striped polos. Then again, I could go for those polka dots, but it's suicide if I do so.
But polka dots are blemishes! I mean, some people call your pimply marks as polka dots in your face - if you think about that advertisement for some facial product, with that artist who signs autographs by drawing her face, remaining truthful, and accounting for everything, then that's it. Like a big bruise in your arm, a scratch in your watch, or a glimmer in your eye.
Somehow I was trying to catch myself sporting that glimmer the entire day. I wasn't really expecting something, but if only for idle time I decided to see whether something extraordinary would happen to me when something comes up. Last night, when I told Mon about everything I thought I was hiding, she mentioned about what gave it all away. And, just as I expected - that glimmer in my eyes.
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But polka dots are blemishes! I mean, some people call your pimply marks as polka dots in your face - if you think about that advertisement for some facial product, with that artist who signs autographs by drawing her face, remaining truthful, and accounting for everything, then that's it. Like a big bruise in your arm, a scratch in your watch, or a glimmer in your eye.
Somehow I was trying to catch myself sporting that glimmer the entire day. I wasn't really expecting something, but if only for idle time I decided to see whether something extraordinary would happen to me when something comes up. Last night, when I told Mon about everything I thought I was hiding, she mentioned about what gave it all away. And, just as I expected - that glimmer in my eyes.
Read more »
10/26/2006
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The first notes, if you'd call them as such, for a Callalily song was supposedly one of those heart monitors dying out. You know, it's when they go beep, beep, beep, beep, beeeeeeeeep... and then you'd imagine images from television dramas where whoever was closest to the dead person would go hysterical and cry over the loss. And, there always has to be that dextrose bag connected to your arm.
Hell week for us used to mean the weeks before finals week, but these past few weeks we have been exposed to the harshest reality majors can bring: hell week is every week when you're a level higher.
Tuesday was a special holiday, and yet we all decided to work on stuff. Nothing extraordinary there, really - in fact, during the nine hours I spent online I was jumping between film notes and downloading MP3s - but seeing everyone go from groggy to groggier is a weird wake-up call. Everybody's status message either said they were busy, or they were not in the mood (as was the case with Toni). Even more surprisingly, Jackie, perennial symbol of resiliency, had this for a status message.
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Hell week for us used to mean the weeks before finals week, but these past few weeks we have been exposed to the harshest reality majors can bring: hell week is every week when you're a level higher.
Tuesday was a special holiday, and yet we all decided to work on stuff. Nothing extraordinary there, really - in fact, during the nine hours I spent online I was jumping between film notes and downloading MP3s - but seeing everyone go from groggy to groggier is a weird wake-up call. Everybody's status message either said they were busy, or they were not in the mood (as was the case with Toni). Even more surprisingly, Jackie, perennial symbol of resiliency, had this for a status message.
Read more »
10/21/2006
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Today I had my first job interview, and the bad thing is the guy from Toyota Philippines sensed that I was really, really tense. Well, he proceeded to give me another schedule with my immediate superior - for ABS-CBN.
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10/19/2006
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So Caresse had free lunch yesterday, and the regret again, that I didn't bring the camera despite us obviously having a feast, with that big platter of California maki and that bigger platter of pancit. On one side of the Yuchengco lobby, there were preschoolers being entertained. The disicpline officers were parading, but we didn't notice (or even care). And then there was that band - apparently, Wickermoss had a complete set - playing at the Sports Plaza.
The most surprising outcome? I went home with a new phone.
So there was the band, and there was this fastest-texter-with-predictive-input-turned-on contest. Out of a whim - and out of impulse - I decided to join. Somebody from the event told me about it minutes before, as I shuttled around SJ Walk waiting for photocopies to finish, and after I gave the copies to Jaja, I was back watching Wickermoss with Jana and Ariane. Again, out of a whim, we decided to submit our names, then hope sunk - anyway, it was just a chance - when we realized there was this "magic fishbowl with no fish in it" full of names.
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The most surprising outcome? I went home with a new phone.
So there was the band, and there was this fastest-texter-with-predictive-input-turned-on contest. Out of a whim - and out of impulse - I decided to join. Somebody from the event told me about it minutes before, as I shuttled around SJ Walk waiting for photocopies to finish, and after I gave the copies to Jaja, I was back watching Wickermoss with Jana and Ariane. Again, out of a whim, we decided to submit our names, then hope sunk - anyway, it was just a chance - when we realized there was this "magic fishbowl with no fish in it" full of names.
Read more »
10/15/2006
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...they all leave the seventeen-year-olds behind.
It's been almost a week since I last updated this blog, and it's been almost a week since I went to school with a smile on my face. So far, I've been deprived of sleep, got cranky, got passed around, got desparately desparate, got stepped on, got stabbed in the back...
...basically, I'm still in a bad mood. I thought, even, that by Friday (which was the thirteenth) it would turn around for the better; surprisingly I held that belief in what was supposedly a very unlucky day. And indeed, the moment Saturday kicked in somebody crossed the line and I slept with more than I wanted to bring.
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It's been almost a week since I last updated this blog, and it's been almost a week since I went to school with a smile on my face. So far, I've been deprived of sleep, got cranky, got passed around, got desparately desparate, got stepped on, got stabbed in the back...
...basically, I'm still in a bad mood. I thought, even, that by Friday (which was the thirteenth) it would turn around for the better; surprisingly I held that belief in what was supposedly a very unlucky day. And indeed, the moment Saturday kicked in somebody crossed the line and I slept with more than I wanted to bring.
Read more »
10/09/2006
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Yes, it has been that long. You have been waiting for an update for that long. You have possibly been wondering about where I have been. I have been doing my wondering as well - like the reasons why I haven't posted here for so long. Yet, I've waited for so long to get in this seat, I almost fell asleep and forgot what I was supposed to write.
So, again, a very aimless entry.
Still, though, I've been doing my wondering. In between watching totally improvised plays and working on a report (which we just finished), a project (which we also finished as well), and a script reading (which has just begun), I've been hit by those all-too-familiar thought bubbles.
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So, again, a very aimless entry.
Still, though, I've been doing my wondering. In between watching totally improvised plays and working on a report (which we just finished), a project (which we also finished as well), and a script reading (which has just begun), I've been hit by those all-too-familiar thought bubbles.
Read more »
10/05/2006
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Mark one for Mae and our surprising conversation on auras on the bus ride home. Actually, I was also with Tracy on that bus, so we made ourselves comfortable in a row, arranged by who gets out first, and I was becoming noisy again. Then again, I think I needed the conversation.
I met Mae earlier in the day - I was with Tracy as well, as it seems we would spend more time together during this term - and I funnily pointed out how small the world is. Mae was with Nadia, and I began pointing fingers at people - to the two of them, plus Kiara behind us when we started walking to our classrooms. Our conversations have always been more lost than coherent today, but I stuck with my degrees of separation and started playing with names myself.
Think about this. Tracy's classmate Jan, who's Mirielle's blockmate, who's also Abby's blockmate, who's Rachael's friend (and blockmate, I presume), who's Jackie's friend, who's my friend. Not to mention I know all of these people.
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I met Mae earlier in the day - I was with Tracy as well, as it seems we would spend more time together during this term - and I funnily pointed out how small the world is. Mae was with Nadia, and I began pointing fingers at people - to the two of them, plus Kiara behind us when we started walking to our classrooms. Our conversations have always been more lost than coherent today, but I stuck with my degrees of separation and started playing with names myself.
Think about this. Tracy's classmate Jan, who's Mirielle's blockmate, who's also Abby's blockmate, who's Rachael's friend (and blockmate, I presume), who's Jackie's friend, who's my friend. Not to mention I know all of these people.
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10/04/2006
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Or geekspeak. It's your call.
Wednesday's been mundane - pointless, if you should say. If not for the make-up class Miss Averion called, I would've decided not to go to school. Then again I had to talk to Jason about our Filipino 3 report, so it would have been like last week, where the only thing I did was meet Derek and Christina on our report on Buster Keaton. Then again, I called Jason up, worried that he forgot our appointment, until he told me that he had just woken up - at our supposed meeting time. So, meeting gets called off, and I ended up seeing Cam and telling her to go online tonight - yes, we've got the phone line up, finally - but so far, nobody's here but Karla.
My life today revolved around three places: SJ Walk, Z2, and the Yuchengco stairs.
Read more »
Wednesday's been mundane - pointless, if you should say. If not for the make-up class Miss Averion called, I would've decided not to go to school. Then again I had to talk to Jason about our Filipino 3 report, so it would have been like last week, where the only thing I did was meet Derek and Christina on our report on Buster Keaton. Then again, I called Jason up, worried that he forgot our appointment, until he told me that he had just woken up - at our supposed meeting time. So, meeting gets called off, and I ended up seeing Cam and telling her to go online tonight - yes, we've got the phone line up, finally - but so far, nobody's here but Karla.
My life today revolved around three places: SJ Walk, Z2, and the Yuchengco stairs.
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10/01/2006
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It was rainy, and typhoon Milenyo meant this could have almost been postponed. Jackie, ever optimistic, wasn't about to budge. "At bakit di matutuloy?" she answered last Thursday. "Tuloy rain or shine!"
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Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
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