A little less than 24 hours

There are three things running in my mind right now:

One, it's almost 4 in the morning and I'm not yet sleepy. Two, I have to finish watching the whole season of House, well the 5th season to be exact. Thirdly, I still can't accept the fact that 2009 is about to end in less than 24 hours.

It's not that I'm sentimental or what, but I just noticed that as we grow old, time runs faster than we have previously thought or expected. Maybe because all the things we do are just already a routine, or cycle or whatever...

I suddenly have this thinking of not leaving my childhood days. I mean, it's fun to be a kid again. But it's crazy if I ACT like a kid. Seriously.

So yeah. Two-Zero-One-Zero. Welcome.

Looking back...

2009 is almost through and admittedly I have lots of experiences which somehow contribute of making me a better person. Let me just narrate some of them.

January. I together with my classmates in BIO 150 (Principles of Ecology) went to Davao Oriental for a field work. We originally planned to leave Davao at around 5 am but due to some circumstances, we left Davao an hour and a half late. Anyway, that night have changed everything, well at least to some. I have known some secrets from my classmates and the reason behind their annoying personality. Now I understand and know them better. I believe that there’s a reason behind a person’s personality.

February. Another trip again. Again, it was my first time to spend an overnight stay in Talikud Island, Samal. Mind you, the place, which I believe is better than Panay Island’s famous Boracay. Anyway, I regret some of the moments of this trip. It’s just, I’m just too afraid to interact with her. Whatever. But yeah, eventually I learned on how to communicate with her. And right now, we’re good friends.

March. The last month of the second semester. I was a bit worried with my standing in Biochemistry. But I didn’t take it seriously, leading to my first singko. I flunked Biochemistry because of my negligence. It was my first time to experience this. I thought I was a total failure and honestly, my mom was very disappointed to me. Well, thanks to my ever supporting friends, they cheered me up and it took me one week to accept the fact that I HAVE to retake Biochemistry (CHEM 160) the following semester. It hurts, but it was really my fault.

Also this is the month where I finally decided to take Dr. Ruth Gamboa’s research on sea cucumbers as my thesis topic. I was brave at that time. Oh yeah, don’t worry, I don’t have plans to change my thesis topic. I love Marine Biology. I love my thesis work despite the fact that I have to do this all alone.

April. I tried to resume my online business, that is designing Multiply pages. I get paid, of course but I grew tired of it. It’s just, I wanted to have an adventure, you know. Summer classes in UP Mindanao were suspended due to lack of funds. God-only-knows-the-real-reason. Jeez. So yeah, this month, I went to the Airport Tower more often, met the Research Team of my thesis, hang out with my high school barkada, eat, sleep, read books and a whole lot more.

May. I just learned that my good friend, Chippy made it to the US (University Scholar/ Chancellor’s List) with a GWA of 1.31. She promised to treat us some mouthful pizza from Greenwich. ‘Til now, the pizza is but a lifelong dream. *Sigh

June. School again. Oh for Chrissakes. The enrolment was indeed a long and dreary process despite the registration is already available online. Well, I just have to wait for the waiver, which allows us to take Biochemistry and Molecular Biology simultaneously. Oh well. Good thing Sir Toto exerted so much effort. I miss his smile. Also, this is the month where I met the juiciest and loudest batch of BS Biology.

July. I decided to join the Cheerdance competition. I made a promise to myself that before I graduate, I shall join the cheerdance competition. Also, I together with Dr. Ruth’s research team went to the Vanishing Island. There, I met some foreigners who are willing to help to sustain the ecological balance of Vanishing Island. They were so great and brilliant. Unfortunately, July ‘s the saddest month of my life. My dearest cousin, Yayo passed away. It was painful to my part since he died a week before my birthday. I’m going to miss his jokes and emotional outbreaks.

August. I turned a year older on the first day of August. Guess I have to enjoy the last year of teenage life. Sadness once again ruled on this month. Our dear department chair, Dr. Severo T. Bastian, Jr. passed away. All of the sudden, he was gone. The once radiant hallways of CSM are now filled with loneliness. No one can replace his cheerful smile, his dimples and his jokes. But yeah, that didn’t hamper our cheerdance spirit. We, once again ruled the arena! For three years straight, we won the cheerdance competition! God, I miss the feeling of being the champion. :)

September. After all what happened, we went to Initao, Misamis Oriental for our field trip in BOT 150 (Plant Ecology). No words can express how much I love that trip. It was the best field trip (so far). Okay, September was very stressful, most especially when you’re taking ZOO 113 (Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy). I can’t imagine that I survived this subject! Kudos to us who endured sleepless nights just to memorize the pathways of blood, the origin-insertion-action of the muscles from head to toe and the infamous CRANIAL NERVES! Who wouldn’t forget the Y!M conference the day before the second long exam in BIO 101 (Molecular Biology)? Hahaha. Sabaw moments. Glad that I made it to the finish line. Also, I can’t forget Ondoy’s rage. But hell yeah, Filipinos are strong.

October. At last, after two semesters, I passed Biochemistry, well not just passed, but I got a deserving grade. Anyway, the semestral break was a bit short (only two weeks) and I only have limited time to renew my scholarship. But I still managed to squeeze my barkada’s beach outing. Ha! And I won’t return to that expensive beach resort. You know, for every move, they charge you. Ack.

November. Ah, school resumes. Brand new semester, new schedule, new subjects, same old classmates and same old professors. Nothing really happened… ah! I handled so much haters since I joined Tumblr last May. HAHAHA. They’re funny, you know.

December. HAHA! This month is very memorable. I got drunk for the first time, thanks to Animal Physiology lab. And yeah, celebrated Christmas just the way it is, together with my family and friends.

This year made me reflect some of my weaknesses. And through these, it made me a better person. I just want to thank my family for the never-ending support, to my friends who made me realize that life is not a piece of cake, to my newfound friends (both online and real life), thank you for letting me intrude… no… joke… thank you for being one of the best things that occurred in my life. And to the Almighty Father, even if I rarely profess my faith to you, you know I’m thankful that you’ve guided me throughout this year, through the ups and downs and from laughter to tears. I humbly ask for Your continuing guidance this coming year, 2010.

Happy New Year everyone!

Keep on Hatin' this Yuletide Season

No matter how hard you try to be nice, uhhh, wait, let me rephrase that... No matter how nice you are, haters will keep on hating and bashing you with no valid reasons. I have encountered numerous haters and as far as I'm concerned, I didn't do something offensive or whatever things that will somehow cause a few people to hate me.

Here are some reasons why some people hate you sooooooo much despite you didn't do anything wrong or offensive.



1) Mistaken 'identity'. You try to crack a joke. Everybody laughed at it, except for a few. Well, let's just say that you unconsciously do not know that your humor is a bit offensive to someone. The fun begins when those offended people start to send you hate mails everyday. "Hey you fucking retard, that's not funny!" or "SHUT THE FUCK UP BITCH THAT WAS NOT FUNNY". People, if you think his humor is offensive, please tell him in a NICE manner.


2) Lots of followers. If you create cool and awesome posts and receives a lot of compliment, expect lots of detractors too. Envy is the primary reason for this.



3) You didn't follow them on Twitter/Tumblr or you rejected their friend request in Facebook and other online accounts. I guess people should understand this. We own our personal blog. We have our own set of rules. It doesn't mean that if you follow a certain person, he/she MUST automatically follow you too. That's bullcrap.


4) You have a happy life. You posted a picture of you and your girlfriend or boyfriend and then you'll receive this kind of hate mail, "PUTANGINAAAA MO ANG ARTE ARTE MO PURO KALANDIAN LANG ALAM MO". Whoa, that is totally rude. So what? I am happy and you're not. LOSER.


Well whatever the reasons, as long as you didn't do anything wrong, just ignore them. Sometimes those hate mails are the source of entertainment. Imagine when you receive a very long hate mail full of profanity and you only replied "K". I wonder what would be the reaction of that certain hater.


This yuletide season, let's share some love, not hate.


Merry Christmas!

Just One More Chance

I thought our country's the only one who's suffering from the wrath of Mother Nature. But I was wrong. I checked news lately and found out that the WORLD is suffering from her wrath.

• Earthquake in Singapore and Indonesia
• Tsunami in Samoa
• Sandstorm is Australia
  

This is very alarming.

I think these scenes are very familiar to you, right? I think you have already seen these on sci-fi movies like The Day After Tomorrow, Twister and other movies which presents a man vs. nature theme. The only difference today was clearly evident - it's real. No actors, no directors, producers and cinematographers, no special effects were used today... all of them were real.

Real people, real emotions, and real stories.

Do these series of calamities correlate with what we have done to Mother Nature?

We all know that since the dawn of Industrial Age, everything was promising. We started to develop a lot of things just to make our lives easy and comfortable. But to every man's comfort, there's always a consequence - a consequence that would somehow change the face of our only home.

We used to laugh with those scientists who claimed that the end is near. We all accused him of being stupid or crazy. We often ignore those warnings and continue with our dirty habits.

I do hope that we'll change our old habits before it's too late. There's still hope. Mother Nature is just giving us a warning. No one can surpass her power.

Change, for the betterment of humanity.

This is our only chance to save our only home, the blue planet, EARTH.

Unexpected Disaster

Today is indeed the darkest hour of our beloved country. Yesterday, we always think that the consequences won't be occurring for the next fifty years or more. But we have underestimated the fury of Mother Nature.


Now, we are suffering the consequences brought about by our recklessness; but we didn't expect it. It acted so soon. On a spur of moment, the modern infrastructures, sleek buildings and roads were transformed into a solid mass which imposes great danger to all of us. It took several years to build these, through thick and thin. Today, however, Mother Nature took only a matter of hours to destroy what we have built for the past decades of development. Our manpower was just nothing; a useless force with regards to Mother Nature's.

Lots of lives were affected.
Lots of lives were lost.
A lot of people have suffered too much.


It's quite unfair to think that the innocent ones have to suffer the most, and the ones who are guilty of their actions didn't suffer that much.


Let's all hope for the best.
Pray to God that the affected people would still be safe through the rest of the night.


And most of all,



WE SHOULD HAVE LEARNED ONE VALUABLE LESSON. AND WE ALREADY KNOW THAT.

We can't afford to have an encore performance of Ondoy.

Current Mood

Wanna know my current mood?


SABAW. AS IN SABAW.


Actually, my mind is literally empty. I only managed to have 3 hours of sleep today and I think it was the worst day EVER in my whole college life. It started yesterday.


It was 11pm. I was busy reading Bruce Alberts' et al. Molecular Biology of the Cell. I was almost through with the 7th chapter (reading then writing a summary on a paper) when suddenly, the lights went off, except for the laptop. I was so pissed that I want to hit something very hard. The place isn't conducive, so I decided to sleep and just wished that the power will come back an hour after. Then I woke up at around 3am and was relieved that the power was back. So I continued reading that freakin' e-book, then reviewed, then took a nap.


Today, I have two long exams: Molecular Biology and Plant Ecology. I haven't had read even one single report on the latter since I chose to concentrate with the former.


Then I went to school and it was drizzling. O_O


11.30 am, I took the exam. I took a deep breathe...


and then...


and then...


AND THEN I FCKINGLY STARED ON MY TEST PAPER FOR ABOUT 30 MINUTES. Seriously. I thought I was the only one who just stared on the paper and doodled something at the back page of the blue book (my doodle was still related to the exam since we were asked to draw the general structures of DNA, RNA, DNA Replication fork and etc...). I was not alone.


After the exam, all of us whined since it was really a difficult exam. Potek.

NAKABOBOBO ANG EXAM SA BIO101 KANINA PRAMIS.

And then this afternoon, I just crammed with my Plant Ecology exam. GOOD THING, the exam was NOT DEPRESSING.


Okay. So much for these things.


I still have an exam tomorrow, Elementary Statistics.


Then by Thursday, report on Plant Ecology.


I'll be reporting this weird looking plant.

Ahoy!

All About Politics

Let's get this straight, shall we?


Apparently, the quality of politics here in our country is very low. Numerous graft and corruption cases have been filed to several politicians - both local and national offices. Well, this is just common to our country for the past two decades. And it's already irritating to hear news about it. It's just depressing, you know.



The role of the leaders is to lead the country, help the oppressed, shelter the homeless and give all other necessities to the needy. But take note, this is just an idealistic idea, let go to a more realistic situation. Consider these two scenarios:

a) You have a great leader on a certain country. He had what it takes to be the best among the rest. He's gentle, good and caring. But the countrymen abused his power. They just depend on to them. This isn't a good scenario.

b) All of the people residing in a certain country are generally good, but the leaders aren't that good, not because they're stupid, but because they're ABUSING the role of being the leader of the country.

The 2010 Philippine National elections is already imminent due to the public exposures of the presidential-wannabes on the media. It was very irritating to see those TV personalities who are planning to enter politics. Don't get me wrong. This is a democratic country. BUT FIRST, LET US EVALUATE OUR OWN SELVES if we are REALLY CAPABLE of being the leader of the country. Being a leader of the country isn't a joke. Apparently, they should consider several things and several factors before deciding to be become a leader.



Basically, those beautifully written speeches of those candidates should be real. I mean, their projects and plans should be incorporated whenever they're on their respective seats. Those promises shouldn't remain on a clean substance 20 paper. It should be put into action.



This May 2010, I can already vote for the next leaders of our country. I know, there's still HOPE, despite those several depressing hopes. I still believe on it. But I don't believe in miracles. Hopes and miracles are different things.



*Pardon if this post is not that coherent. I just want to release these.

Aftermath of UAAP Cheerdance

Okay, so most of you guys have watched the hyped UAAP Cheerdance Competition 2009 haven't you? Well if you haven't watched it, then better search it on YouTube and make a reaction paper out of it.


Just kiddin'!!!


Well basically the UAAP Cheerdance Competition 2009 was totally different compared last year. Also, the number of audience has dwindled a little compared last year. The routines of eight participating schools were a bit stunning... and surprising... As always.


8 universities battling for 1 title.


Pre-battle arena.


Adamson University - No offense but... What the hell's happening to you guys? Your last year's routine was so much better than today. What's with the scary make-up and the overly-designed costume? Sigh. The stunts and the moves weren't emphasized that much because in the first place, the costume and make-up was very... uhhhmm, distracting. Sorry guys, but that's what I can say about your routine. :( I guess being the first performer is not a good thing.


National University - Better than the first performer. It was clean, and yeah, if I were a judge, I would give it a grade of 2.25 or 2.5 - Satisfactory.


University of Santo Tomas - The tiger's growl wasn't that loud since they didn't make it even on the top three (for bitterness sake, they're the 4th placer of this year's competition). There were apparently lots of errors committed in the stunts, but still they didn't fail to surprise me. I really like the Chinese-Egyptian dance, where the girls formed a straight line, and portrayed the ghastly synchronized hand gestures. The girl in front exudes pride and self-confidence. Cool. Better luck next time Salinggawi Dance Troupe. ;)


University of the Philippines - Apparently, what they did was right, portraying and incorporating the UP Life in their dance routine. It was a nice idea. Although while performing the pyramid stunt on the first half, a crucial mistake had occurred. But that's okay, we have to prioritize our existence rather than risking our goddamn life in the stadium. Tuloy pa rin ang buhay. And yeah, the Ikot Jeep was very cool. I don't think it's just an ordinary jeep. It's the only Ikot jeep that I have seen in my life which transformed into an eagle in just a couple of jiffies.


De La Salle University - Okay, it was generally clean with some minor mistakes. Oh yeah, Poi. What's with poi by the way? Yeah right, I'm bitter since I don't know how to play poi with my hands.


University of the East - Oh, another jeepney... errrhhh, yeah. The dance routine was basically clean with some minor mistakes. Uhhh, what more can I say? Sorry, I didn't concentrate watching with UE because I did something important. :(


Ateneo de Manila University - Onehelluvahkind routine! I think they dedicate their dance routine to Michael Jackson. Hehehe. But on a serious note, their performance was way better than last year. Heck, I was very amazed with the improvised moonwalk!!! Hell yeah! I also love their choices of music. They included Moony's Flying Away, Coldplay's Clocks and Ida Corr's Let Me Think About It. It's definitely a One Big Fight for them.


Far Eastern University - To be honest with FEU, I underestimated them. But heck, they beat the odds and bagged the top prize for this year's competition. There are several reasons why they won the said competition. First, it was very clean, no need to elaborate this. Second, the routine was very synchronized. Third, their music. They deserved to be the champion though.

---


One of the objectives of this competition was to exhibit sportsmanship and camaraderie. But I'm not sure if those were present today. A lot of people were bitter after the results were announced. It was clearly evident that the results were unbiased. FEU's the host and they won. So what?

And so the cyberwar between the universities will now commence in t-minus 5 seconds.


5...
4...
3...
2...


...

UP PEP SQUAD! Bawi nalang next time!!! :))) Hehehe

**Picture taken last UAAP Cheerdance Competition 2007

Credit: m_ke2 of Flickr



So Congrats to FEU, ADMU and UP!!!