Blue Pencil Chronicles

Here it is, as promised. This sem’s pains in the ass. The fruits of my (and my groupmates’) labor. Enjoy.

Balitambayan - The Final Cut (Part 1 of 4)
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Balitambayan - The Final Cut (Part 2 of 4)
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Balitambayan - The Final Cut (Part 3 of 4)
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Balitambayan - The Final Cut (Part 4 of 4)
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Also, please don’t forget to drop by our J111 Feature Writing Class Web Magazine aptly named On the Rocks. Enjoy people! I’m still not done with this sem yet! Ugh!

Awareness. Community. Training.
Dito nakasentro ang General Program of Action ng ISA.

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I know 2007 is nearing its end and soon we’ll be ushering in a new year but this post isn’t about the year-end or the New Year at all.

photo from http://aethlos.com/uploaded_images/Solitude2-762550.jpg

Moments of lull and silence make one think real hard. Moments of Reflection are moments of Introspection. Silence offers us a solace to look deep within and examine what’s been happening to our lives.

I’ve had the luxury of having such moments of solitude lately, especially now that I have to walk a mile from our new apartment just to get a ride to school (but no one’s complaining). These leisurely albeit strenuous walks offer moments of silence for me to talk to myself and examine my life as a whole. Yes, I’m a melancholic if you’re wondering, and I’m a tad too sentimental as well. That’s why foot trips like that get me on a very dejected mood.

So what’s with all the emo-ness anyway? (more…)

Aaahhh, there’s nothing like reading another person’s blog and getting the inspiration you need to blog on your own. I’ve been hovering for a few hours already, keeping this Wordpress window open, staring at it blankly, thinking intently what to write and trying to drown out all the noise around me. Suddenly I can’t perform with that much noise around anymore. But I try.

Class this morning was interestingly significant. I’m taking Sociology of Religion under Prof. Gerry Lanuza this sem. If you’re a UP student and you have no idea who in the wolrd Sir Lanuza is, then go give up your slot and transfer to another school because this guy’s reputation is more popular than himself!

But for the sake of the uninitiated who still want to get to know Sir Lanuza (and also to those who know a zilch about UP and its distinct culture), he’s a Sociology professor well-known for his notoriety and tactlessness. Several years ago he may be popular for being an atheist, albeit being a former seminarian and devout catholic. He was known for challenging students’ beliefs and religion and debating them about the existence of God.

But that was then. Now, Sir Lanuza is a believer of the Catholic faith, of Jesus Christ. It’s interesting to note how he’s been converted. He’s convinced now, he says. As to exactly why he shifted beliefs (and convictions and principles, for that matter), I’m not in the know. I hope you guys who know him could enlighten me.

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Registration week hasn’t ended yet but classes have already begun last Friday. And how did the registration go?

Let’s put it in the context of this text message I got:

Magbiro ka na sa lasing at sa bagong gising…

…wag lang sa UP student na kagagaling lang sa enlistment!

So, to put it quite simply, registration was… (more…)

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT EMO LIKE THIS. HAHA. Just so you know.

It felt like everything just swooshed by. Within a blink of an eye, everything was gone. It’s over. I can’t get it back.

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Photo from http://www.gheblawi.com/nostalgia.jpg

*Please see update below… waaaay below. =)

Just a few hours ago, I turned in my last-ever requirement for the sem. It was a photo-essay plate on my joyride adventure to Old Manila aboard the Pasig River Ferry boat (which can also be found here). I had mixed feelings, even though it went by as quickly as I imagined it would. Holding the piece of delicate paper on my hand, I trudged the halls of Masscomm one last time, feeling the feeling of the floor on my feet, the dirty walls, the brightly-lit corridors… but beneath all the physical traits that will make me miss CMC sorely, I believe I’ll miss the CMC people more than the actual place.

I walked up the stairs, and the place was very quiet. It felt like Wednesday when half of the university doesn’t have classes. Masscomm is unusually silent, like somebody just turned the mute button on. It was eerie. Masscomm is never this silent. Good thing great friends IA and Elsie (along with her boyfriend Frank) greeted me as I reached the stairs’ landing, lest I cry of too much sentiments and memories of that god-forsaken place.

I opened the department’s door and the usual quiet Ate Racquel greeted me with her usual stillness and impeccable silence. I rushed to the pigeon hole and dropped my plate off as quickly as I could. There. It has ended. It felt nothing. At first. Like it’s just usual. Ordinary. Normal.

Maybe I forgot how it felt being free. Because right now, I feel like screaming… I’M FREE! SHET!! I’M REALLY REALLY FREE! I think I’m having a Cristina moment right now. I’m free. Damnit! Damnit! Oh, take this off! Get this off! I can’t breathe!

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(UPDATE as of 10/13/07) So the CRS batch run results came out a few days ago. To those whining that they got only two or three subjects and most of them are majors, I tell you, YOU DO NOT HAVE THE FREAKING FREAKING RIGHT TO WHINE, OKAY? Coz only people like me have the right to be upset about CRS. Why? CUZ I DIDN’T GET A FREAKING THING. ZERO UNITS. You people are lucky you even got your majors. I enlisted in three major subjects and didn’t even get a single one! So now tell me, who in this freaking world is more unfortunate?

And to those who got more than what other people expected, I have three words for you: I hate you. Do I have to sleep with somebody from CRS now? LOLz.

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UP Diliman’s CRS (Computerized Registration System) has gone a major overhaul last year, following the collective registration of the entire UP-CRS Webteam over some issue which up to now has not been cleared by any of the participating parties.

To the uninitiated, yes, even if this poorly-run and poorly-funded state university has been living on scraps for decades now (soon to be for a centennial), we actually have an online registration system much like that of Ateneo’s and De La Salle’s. Hinding hindi magpapahuli, ganyan kaming mga taga-UP!

Problem with this Computerized Registration Sh*t is that it’s that–full of shit. It’s crazy and hardly efficient, which accounts for 90% of students having to line up for manual registration because they failed to get their subjects through CRS (which operates on a pre-enlistement/pre-registration timetable, meaning we enlist our subjects prior to registration day).

And even though CRS has not fully risen up from the shit pile that it’s been all these years, it is, once again, burying itself in a new pile of craptacular shitload.

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Here’s something to expect next year: a photo of a nude man overprinted on the Philippine 100-peso bill.

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I had two girlfriends in tow. And yes, amazingly, they weren’t out to slap each other to death to see who gets to take me home as a prize. We boarded the MRT together, ate together, rode the cab together, and went through our afternoon schedule together.

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