I Can Conquer All

I have reformatted my PC, but then here comes another darned problem.

I cannot browse the Internet!

My PC can connect to the Net but the Internet Explorer doesn't work. It shows page cannot be displayed. In frustration, I cried last night and cried myself to sleep. I pounded the wall, too.

As a consequence, I cannot download Bearshare, Yahoo Messenger, and most important: the antivirus.

I think I have been attacked again.

My blockmate suggested to reformat the d*mned computer. I too was thinking the same thing. Alright, here I go again.....luckily my dismissal is early today, or else I couldn't have done it.

UST Internet Station is the best for Thomasian students in need for the PC.

When my PC was attacked, I was deprived of communication with the rest of the world! (Of course with my best friends, too.) I made a virtue out of it: concentrating on my studies. [I am so becoming a nerd now. No.....just a hardworking student. :D ] I am already half of the new chemistry topic of electron shells...but the Dean's out for his seminar.

Okay, now I'm going to reformat the stupid computer and back up my important files once again. And then re-install the audio, video, printer drivers....then CONNECT TO THE INTERNET AND DOWNLOAD THE ANTIVIRUS!!!!!

It's been two months ever since I stepped inside the Main Building of the University of Santo Tomas and starting my college life. At first, I was very confident of meeting new friends because I had good PR skills. I somehow doubted my blockmates at first because their personalities didn't match mine.

I can say that there are some in the class that I don't really like, but I get along well with most of them. The important word in this relationship is pakikisama. Why don't I connect with the others? That's because they don't know how to get along with me. I approached them with my friendly disposition, but they recriprocated it with mild hostility. They have found their own friends, and they flock together. There's no need for me to disrupt them.

Mingling with Filipinos wasn't an easy thing for me. I grew up with Chinese friends in high school. I grew up with some of them for twelve years, some of them for eight years. Nothing in this material world could ever explain the bond between us. In college, I'm starting from scratch.

It was during junior summer year that I realized chemistry was my academic calling after joining the Ateneo chemistry camp. I made no regrets choosing this course. It's very fantastic to know that BS Chemistry is the Center of Excellence in the College of Science, and all my professors are Ph.D. holders. A large number of faculty administrators graduated from the chemistry program too; an example would be the Dean of my college.

During high school, I was just a fair student, grabbing decent grades and was just a normal one. When college life started, I made a decision to aim higher. I wanted to change my grades. So I worked hard. Worked hard to attain my goals. There may be someone greater than I am in the class, but I have no intention to challenge him. I would only do my best to attain my goals.

I'm also in this big, big, big, big pot of various personalities. I find myself with blockmates with very-so different backgrounds than I am. I am lucky to be born in such a well-to-do family. I won't elaborate much of this.

Finally, our prelims for the first semester are finished. Yesterday was our last test on psychology.

I was a little excited for the ending of the preliminary exams, but I was more excited for my selected blockmates and I were going to Mall of Asia to relax and celebrate. Of course, we were going to ice skate!!

Me, Melissa, Armine, Isay, Nikki, Audrie, Rosnah, and Lei were the original group that was going to go to MoA. During the last minutes, Alleni and Raychel joined. Although I didn't like a LARGE group while malling (My motto during malling is the lesser the people, the merrier.), I just kept mum about it and let them join us.

I served as the tour guide and I discovered that a lot of them haven't even rode the LRT-1 yet. We arrived at EDSA station and rode the orange jeep--the whole jeep was ours for the taking. We deposited our bags first and went off to stroll a little, then we took lunch at the foodcourt. How it was heartbreaking for me to know that I wouldn't be able to eat at my favorite restaurant..... sob sob.....

Anyway, eating at the foodcourt was a new experience. Normally, my lunch together with my Unean pals or my mom will cost five hundred above, this time eating a plate of sizzling pork BBQ and a medium sized Coke cost me below a hundred. Good thing, because my mom just gave me 900 pesos for the trip.

After lunch came the fun part: ICE SKATING!!! Raychel, Isay, and I were first to enter the rink because the others accompanied Alleni to buy jogging pants because she was wearing the uniform. (She joined us impromptu. Raychel, too, but she didn't buy pants. There's a story behind, just YM me to know it.) I was forced to rent a locker. Fine.

I tied the skates and urged the two to enter the rink. I entered first. I felt a little nervous because it was months after my first skating with George, Nikko, and Lisa. I walked a little, but with Raychel tugging on my jacket, I walked off the ice rink and waited for the others.

They came a little bit later, and after wearing on their skates, we went to the big Olympic sized ice skating rink.

Alleni, Lei, Melissa, and Raychel went on walking by the sides with my tip: V your feet and bend your knees. Armine was so scared that she kept on calling me. I walked beside her, told her to raise her feet and walk. But she was hell too afraid. Then she hugged me!! She hugged me, but her feet weren't in the V position, and her weight shifted on me. We fell down the ice.

Isay walked beside her for a while, while I walked the rink. I had to take in some courage and balance before I start. After gaining some guts and balance, I went to the center. After a few minutes, I now know how to glide.

YIPPEEE!! I know how to glide, thus enabling me to circle the rink with no problem.

We went to Q Power Station. Dance Maniax, drums....of course, being with Filipino friends, they couldn't resist entering the Music Station and belting their hearts out on the karaoke.

Ten pesos per song. Okay...the price was reasonable. I hope they wouldn't invite me to go to Red Box. I think it's really expensive there.

So....we will be ice skating next time. Until then!

Padala ng notes, kokopyahin ko.

Wow, it even came as a command.

I am not selfish. Well, you don't know whether you'd feel flattered or frustrated because somebody's borrowing your notebook and copying your hard-written notes. At this point, I am not flattered.

Mabait naman yung nangheheram, but it's the FACT that you are asking for another favor. I have said before to my blockmates these things:

1. Huwag abusuhin ang aking kabaitan.

2. Tuturuan na lang kita kaysa pakopyahin ng homework.

I have done #2, because I just teach them how to solve the problem. I don't let anybody copy my homework. I have repeated and repeated number 1 to the point that I'm too TIRED TO REPEAT IT but they don't seem to KNOW how to LISTEN simple Tagalog.

Pinaghirapan ko ang mga notes ko. Sinulat ko sila ng aking kamay, ginamit ko ang aking mga tainga upang pakinggan ang propesor. Eh ano naman ang mga ginagawa nyo? Daldalan, tawanan, at kung anu-anu pa. Tapos mangheheram kayo ng notes na pinaghirapan ng isang tao? Hindi na yata tama yan.

I will just put my POINTS in numerical order.

1. I am not your daily planner/calendar. - Hindi ako ang tanungan kung anong homework/quiz/project bukas o for this week! Hindi ako ang taong pwedeng "Pahingi ng favor" lagi. Please, listen to the professor and write your own notes.

2. I am not your homework bucket. - Don't approach me to ask for my homework. I have spared some of my precious time to do my assignments, and all you do is just copy the darn thing. This ain't high school. It's college.

And for your own sake, you picked such a difficult course. You gotta do your OWN homework. You gottta do your OWN logbooks. You gotta do your OWN post lab report data. You gotta do your OWN chemistry problems. You gotta do your OWN algebra and trigonometry questions. It's alright to ask for my help on doing your homework, but don't do it on a regular basis. Sobra na yon. 不知羞恥。

3. I am not your keeper. - For goodness sake! Sarili niyong homework, sarili niyong tandaan! Sarili niyong project deadline, sarili niyong tandaan! You don't just approach me and scream: "Steph!! Bakit hindi mo sinabi sa akin na ngayon pala yung deadline ng ganito ganyan...." EXCUSE ME? AM I YOUR KEEPER? AM I YOUR MAID? NO I'M NOT!

4. Do your own freaking homework. No homework? Your problem, and you solve it yourself.

5. And when you're failing, you don't just say you're going to study. YOU DO IT.

6. At kung magpapaturo man kayo, hindi lang puro salita. Gawin ninyo. Hanapin ninyo ako. You don't just freaking sit there and wait for me to approach you.

7. My goodness, studying is your own problem. You don't ask me how to do it.

8. Please don't do this: you listen to the professor, but you don't take down notes. Then you go and photocopy mine. This is called PLAGIARISM. And at the same time, you don't learn because you don't scribble down on your one hundred plus pesos notebook.

9. When you need something, you come to me. When you don't need a d*mn thing, you don't even know I exist. What the heck? Get a life, loser.

10. May you be bugged by your consciences. (That is, if you do have.)


======The Confessions of a Frustrated Person Trying to Change the Impossible====

Believe me, I'm doing this post inside the Internet station of the UST Central Library. I've just finished reading myself to death once again at the Science and Technology section for the chemistry test on Thursday and I've decided to do a blog post.

We don't have classes tomorrow because it's the Feast of St. Dominic de Guzman.

What happened today:

1. We had lecture about redox reactions. I was studying the topic last night and had a difficulty doing so. Luckily I managed to understand the whole concept and the 3 hours of studying for the topic paid off as I answered at the same time the professor wrote the numbers on the board.

2. Got a perfect score on my logbook data.

3. Had a short quiz on English. The air-conditioning was off and it was like having sauna inside the classroom. Oh, I meant to say the whole 3rd floor had their air-conditioning gone wrong. It was fixed thirty minutes later.

4. Quiz on psychology. Anybody with common sense could answer the questions.

Okay...so my topic for tonight is Dance Maniax. Why so?

I could remember the first time I saw the Dance Maniax machine during my frequent visits to the Timezone arcades in Megamall. It seems to be so fun dancing, but I didn't try it because I remembered the time I tried the Dance Dance Revolution at my cousin's house.

Total disaster.

It was one warm Tuesday afternoon that my friends Nikko, Shirlina, DK, Solomon, and I went to San Lazaro for lunch. The Teacher's Day Program was just finished and it was a job well done. Instead of just eating McDo at Masangkay, I suggested SM San Lazaro. They obliged.

Then I suggested to try out the Dance Maniax machine sitting outside the Quantum arcade zone at the third floor of the said mall.

That's where it all started. Getting hooked on the Dance Maniax and getting frustrated why so many people are fighting over it when their dance skills are soooooo low class. (Ahh...I have insulted again.)

The DMX machine played a significant role in my HS life. It was the perfect way to release tension and stress after a week's hard work and hell. There was a time where I was so addicted that I had to play once a week.

Months later, from a speed of 1.8 and mild mode, I went to 2.0 and wild.

Well, from the four said friends above, only three are now addicted and known to be strutting their arms and legs to the DMX: me, Nikko, and Solomon. Every week, Mom and I go to MoA or Glorietta, and a trip to Timezone/Q Power Station is always a must.

Why, it's still a method for me to relieve the stress and pressure from a week's chemistry and other classes. My favorite arcade games? Dance Maniax, Maximum Time, Time Crisis 4, and DrumMania.

Now that we're all in college, we still meet once in a while and go out. And dance. And ice skate. And eat. And dance again. My golly, a trip outside is NEVER, NEVER COMPLETE without the Dance Maniax.

And to speak, a lot of my blockmates do the dance too. I would love to see their skills, but they have told me that they do the wild things. Like using the head. Like using the butt. Hmmm.........I still go for the arms and legs and hips....I'll try the other methods some other time.

My first post after my blog's reconstruction. You can notice that it has become....well, kind of professional and serene. The Georgia font looks great. Anyway....so, maybe this is gonna be a long post (**maybe**). I'll tell you guys what happened this Thursday (parts), Friday, and Saturday.

Thursday

The only thing worth mentioning is the fact that my group in Rizal Course did its reporting on Rizal's journey to Japan and meeting O-Sei-San. We did a comedy-style news reporting (as usual, I'm the anchorwoman) and fusing in the concept of Kapamilya Deal or No Deal.

Friday

It's the last day of the week! We had a quiz on inorganic chemistry lab. I made two mistakes. Darn. We also had the algebra quiz, and I am quite confident that I know all the answers. (I hope to get a 100.) My blockmates all told me they had a hard time. I was thinking whether they didn't study for the test or it's just the Unean training. (Well, Uneans know what I mean...we got some hard mathematics test kahit kay Miss Ang lang....hehehehe)

And since it's also the first Friday of the month, we had Mass. Actually, we weren't planning to, but our English professor told us to listen to Mass. (She could've just told us she didn't want to have class.) I didn't catch the priest's sermon because I was too preoccupied with fanning myself; the air-conditioning inside the chapel wasn't working. Or it wasn't turned on. Any way goes.

We were supposed to have four quizzes that Friday: one for algebra, one for English, one for chemistry lab, and one for psychology. Since we heard Mass, no English; and my psych professor didn't come to class. The class went berserk and made noise.

Trigonometry time! My blockmate had a hard time proving an identity so I came to help. Then the professor asked who had the answer to numbers 39 and 40. I raised my hand; she told me to answer number 40. And then, she asked me to explain it to the whole class.

My blockmates are now asking for my help on four subjects.

I went to the Central Library and read myself to death once again. (Just kidding.) I found a thick Forensic Science book at the Social Sciences Department and checked it out. I learned a lot of things, and my eyes were fatigued from all the reading. I also had two thick psychology books xeroxed because it contained some useful information for my topic in the psychology research paper. Darn! Speaking of psychology research paper, it seems that from a group of six, only two are working.

Saturday

As usual, Mom and I went to Mall of Asia.

I wore my Ateneo t-shirt.

We ate at Teriyaki Boy once again.

After lunch, we walked around. I stopped for a couple of minutes to watch the ice skating rink. How I wanted to wear those skating boots and go walking around the ice. Mom bought some bread at BreadTalk and then we went downstairs. She bought muffins at The French Baker.

I saw a K-9 dog outside the store and walked outside to take a glimpse, because the dog was playing with a ball. (I am obssessed with dogs.) So, I left Mom doing her own bread shopping. When she went out of the store, she didn't see me. AS IN.

Where was I?

Just near the concierge table.

I could see her mouthing the words, “Where did she go again?" in Chinese.

My mom kept looking for me but I just stood there. There was a point I couldn't contain my laughter and kept on chuckling. Basta, nakatayo lang ako doon, hindi niya pa ako nakita. Mwahahaha!! I took my cellphone and called my mom.

Mom: "Where are you!?"
(I kept on laughing.)
Mom: "Why do you keep on laughing?!"

That was the time she turned her head and saw me behind. I couldn't contain my laughs!!

Then we sipped coffee at Starbucks and went back home. =D

It's a Sunday, and I spent the half day studying! Goodness! Filipino, trigonometry, chemistry....speaking of chemistry, I poured three hours just analyzing redox reactions. (The professor didn't teach us yet, but I like to get some headstart.) And I just got the trick twenty-nine minutes ago.

Thomasians don't have classes on Tuesday. Yipeee!! Celebrate good times....