just curious.

BOO.

This has been one gruelling semester - by the term semester I refer to the time frame and not the academic period - and I've been taking it with a not insignificant dose of my own mix of optimism and hard work and not-at-all-familiar standards of exactness.

Consequently, I am now one big crybaby with a troubled mind, troubled guts and a troubled sense of direction. I think I've fairly lost myself, and it doesn't help that I am too impatient to do any searching. And might it count that I don't think I'd recognize myself if I do go for the hunt?

Furthermore, I don't think it helps that I might just have sounded insane right there.

Ehrm, yeah, my all-girl hormones are acting up. And I shall temper this with ice cream and a highly emotional movie about pets.

love can be random.

the sun. college kid who smiled at the convenience store. exact change.
chocolate breakfast. a fresh pack of yosi.
a nice bowl of pochero. discovering aluminium.
two free slices of pizza for the very first time.
a long, refreshing walk. a paid credit card bill.
a nice, cool shower.
power smiles and puppy eyes. witnessing a friend's strength.
two new friends. two new hilarious friends.
a quick nostalgic visit to sarah's.
meatshop part 2. "si maya taga-**ag yan!"
two free glasses of soda. a ride home.

and as if the day wasn't over: good news about grades.

thanks. c:

LUGAR LANG: The Trip to Cebu - Intro

Thanks to friends, I found myself in the Visayan region for the first time, and not just in transit. I haven't been to a lot of places, and I'm only beginning to fulfill my goal to see the whole of the Philippines. I'd say that traveling outside the country, which of course I won't refuse when given opportunities to, is a goal which is of a lower priority than exploring my own country.

Due to the urgency to destress and the awesome inexpensiveness of ticket sales promotions, deciding to leave Manila took about an hour. After a few conversations over Gtalk and office landline phones, we were booked to leave for Cebu. This happened sometime February.

Two Fridays ago, syupahfriend Angge, un chorveur Paul, Tin [Angge's former officemate/friend] and I flew to Cebu despite the discouraging weather forecasts and the threatening pandemic. We spent two whole days in Bantayan Island and one in Cebu City.

The highlights of the trip were documented religiously, thanks to the two photographers among us. This series [yes, it's a series] will feature their photos, a few of which I took myself. Hihi.

Here's the cast of characters in no particular order: [Hover to see our roles, click to enlarge.]

I just had to make the two look special. Haha.

The truth is I don't think you'll see much of us in this series, which is why I just devoted a whole post to us. Even truer than that is that I have to wait for the photographers to publish the photos they took first. And the truth of all truths is that I'm too lazy to finish everything in one sitting. d:

Stay tuned. c:

this vacay is over in two weeks.

It doesn't help that Pagasa has officially announced that the summer is over.

Fine. The weeks of sweltering heat were not at all pleasant, especially since my first trip to the beach will only happen this weekend. So, yeah, I'm actually grateful about the clouds and the cool breeze and the occasional shower.

My gripe is about what the summer oh-so-preciously connotes for a working law student. Pagasa has just, in essence, thrown a massive law book at my face.

It's been quiet for me so far. I've been catching up on movies, TV and harmless flirting. I've yet to totally clean up my place and do some leisure reading. Playing football's become regular, which means the corollary nights-out have been regular, too. I've accomplished a couple of family errands, helped out at a friend's wedding and had almost booked a trip to Jakarta.

Tonight, I fly to Cebu with several friends for some lovely ~~sun~~ beach time.

When I get back to Manila next week, I plan to take the rest of the two weeks slowly still, resolving to instead accommodate quiet time in my schedule when the semester starts again. There's really no rush. And it's become pretty easy because I'm living alone again.

I'm lovin' it. This must be good.

Ito na daw yung rurok.

Professors can sometimes be nasty. They are, of course, aware that if they arrive on exam day 15 minutes earlier than the agreed start time, he/she would then unlawfully, feloniously and knowingly induce a mental state of extreme emotional disturbance, which thereby causes some of the students to forget some of the stuff they've been cramming all night. Especially for those who especially like the professor and who pay him a great deal of respect as a lawyer.

And imagine this scenario. The same professor steps out of the classroom for a while because he came too early, and he'd rather not watch his students do their last-minute flipping through codals or reviewers.

Fifteen minutes later, he walks back in with a slightly heavier stride, grabs the whiteboard and writes something on the board:
"25 + 16 ="

How many is that, he says.

The others continue their last-minute flipping. Some look up and say, "41, sir."

Then he shouts: "That's how many UP students failed the bar exam."

He gives the students five seconds of that distinct stern look of his that they've been trying to get accustomed to all semester.

"Among those who failed, there were 25 first-time takers; the 16 made their take-two. If you're going to fail the bar anyway, I might as well fail you now."

A five-minute lecture and historical recap later, he asks the students to begin the exam.

And, man, was the exam tough.