Blue Pencil Chronicles

So here I go again, ranting like I really meant the things that I write, dumping all the stressful things in my life in this blog.  Haha.  I’m increasingly getting self-aware of all the things I do in here.  ‘Cause the past few months, it’s nothing but one thing: Stress.  Goodness.  I never realized Senior Year could get this stressful.

However, unlike the past few weeks when all the academic requirements piled up and caused a great amount of burden on me, these days, stress is coming from other things, something exogenous, out of the system ika nga ni Samuelson.  Academic load is actually light recently, and all that is causing me stress are extra-curricular activities.  Muh. (more…)

Two years ago, I made a blog post about an old hag.  Now, I find myself feeling the same way I feel two years ago.  Too bad I can’t talk about the matter very publicly.  But suffice to say that the following post generally captures my emotions right now.

*Pardon the profanity in this post, I believe there’re no other words in the English language that can describe how I feel and how some people have dealt with me, so please bear with me*

Some people can be such an ass. Bitch, whatever.

The other day I went to Katipunan to pay our hosting dues for the month. It was my first time to pay via BPI Katipunan and so I was a little bit careful at the time.

Upon arriving at the branch I filled up the deposit slip with the information provided by my host. The deposit slip looked different in that branch, I thought. But nonetheless the process was still the same. (more…)

The first time I heard the word “Raketista,” my journalist-editor instincts immediately kicked in.  I thought the word was misspelled, that it should’ve been “Rakista” instead of “Raketista.”  Soon, I found out why they used the word.

A raketista is someone who has many “raket,” or “sideline jobs” in English.  College students are found to be prone to become raketistas, considering that college education in the country is pretty expensive.  That is why a small business opportunity can slowly become a well of income for these students in need.

So why am I talking about raketistas?  ‘Cause I’m slowly becoming one.  I hope I can find more “rakets” soon.  Haha.  Just to fund this somewhat expensive schooling.  And, of course, to unwind once in a while.  Everybody needs rest to be able to tackle crucial matters as academics.  Agree?

So, bring on the rakets!  Ring me if you know one.  Hehe.

I attended Ms. Sheila Coronel’s Centennial Lecture last Friday, having been required by our thesis professor for reasons unbeknownst to us (aka she didn’t want to teach that day?  haha.  I’m guessing).  Prior to our prof’s announcement, I was itching to ditch my thesis class because Ms. Coronel’s lecture was related to my thesis, anyway.  Besides, I slaved over my thesis the whole night (and now I need acne cures pronto!), so I wasn’t really in the mood to study.  So at quarter to one, I was resolved to ditch class.

But the stars seem to have aligned that day: the professor promptly canceled the class and ordered everyone to attend the lecture.  If this wasn’t destiny, I don’t know what it is. (more…)

People always tell me to do the things that I love and I will be happy.  When I was having second thoughts with my chosen course for college, they told me to go where I wanted to go and in the end all my fears will be put to rest.  When confronting a personal relationship problem, they told me to go where my heart tells me to go, and everything will fall in its rightful place.

CommRes101: Simply one of the most memorable academic overnights I’ve had in my entire college life

Suffice to say, that little piece of advice from several years ago hasn’t failed me even once today. (more…)

Iskos and Iskas got their much-deserved rest from academic stress this weekend as one holiday after another cancelled two days of classes, giving everyone a four-day vacation.

So what does one do with 96 hours of free time?  What else?  Catch up with more academic work!  Hahaha.

Ninoy Aquino day is on the 21st but we all know our President is an economist so she wants us to spend money to “stimulate” the economy, whatever that means.  Luckily for us, Quezon City day (which falls on the 19th) isn’t a national holiday so there’s no reason for moving it, giving us a full four days of free time to spend (more like, splurge). (more…)

Olympics 2008 is in Asia right now!  Haha.  I know everyone has been raving about the spectacular opening ceremonies held at Beijing a little over a week ago.  But they all have us fooled, didn’t they?  Darn those Chinese men.  Hehe.

Anyways, I’m not going to talk about sports here (since I’m not a sports-minded person myself), nor am I going to talk about the highly-politicized game.  What I’m going to talk about is something cute and fluffy, small and cuddly: the olympic mascots!

Hahaha.  Really.  Olympic mascots are getting more and more interesting throughout the years.  The first mascot I have a fond memory of is Izzy (or WHATIZIT) from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.  Izzy was a very animated mascot, and unlike the traditional animals used as Olympic mascots, Izzy was just… a blob, I suppose?  Haha.  His stunning quality, according to this website, is his ability to quickly shift into different kinds of sport stances.  Cool, eh? (more…)

The wikipedia article on it defines “stress” as the consequence of the failure to adapt to change. Stress happens when two opposing forces interact with each other and the element in the middle gets all the brunt of the collision.  When something seems to be right and it turns out to be totally wrong, that, well, is considered stress.

I am stress personified for the past few days.  I couldn’t fully explain why, or how, it happened, but one thing could possibly be the source:  Thesis.  Grrrr.  I never knew thesis could be this stressful.  Especially if you factor a lot of things in.  Hay.  I hope I can sit somewhere remote, like an old house with a porch in the desert, with extended rooms and recreational spots and elegant patio furniture covers, where I can inhale the sand-filled air and chillax for a moment, taking everything in.

I badly need a vacation.  Please?  Pretty please?

This is a sloppy post which should fill in the gaps of my blog absence.  Just to let you know I’m still here, even if I know you’re not there anymore (drama!).

The beauty with independent films being produced these days is that you get a certain level of expectation that the movie will be good once you enter the cinema.  The poster may be haphazardly done–not even appealing to the very least–the trailer a mashup of scenes that don’t make a logical telling of the story, the title scrawny and hard to understand, and the actors and actresses virtual unknowns to demanding audience, but one element of independent cinema holds all these together: the quality of the story.

I’m excited at how independent cinema has improved over the years, both in the quality of the story and the quality of the film itself.  (more…)

Yesterday I left a stage in my life that has been so special to me and entered into more unfamiliar territory.  Yesterday, I turned twenty, leaving my teenage days behind and entered the world of the “twenty-somethings.”

I hope I can say that the transition was easy, that leaving behind a lifestyle you’ve led for seven years is like chaging clothes for the day, but it was not.  Many have been witness to my sudden bouts of emotional fits the past few weeks, as well as my tendencies to act childish in an attempt to stop time and prevent growing altogether.  To these people, for the unnecessary burdens I may have caused them, I apologize. (more…)