Level Up!

Posted on June 3, 2008 at 10:24 pm | 6 Comments
Filed under Daily Dose • School Sabotage

Two years have passed since I entered college and until now, I still hate the course my dad forced me to take. But that’s not what I want to talk about. In that span of two years,I’ve already mastered the right time and which jeepney to take to get to school at the right time. As an evidence, I’m pleased to tell everyone that I have a clean attendance record. No tardiness, no absences. Unless you would count that instance (I think I’ve mentioned it before) when I was marked absent during my Philosophy class because our instructor only entered our room with only a few minutes to go before dismissal with no notice that he would still meet us.

Back in my first year, I used to take a jeepney-jeepney-jeepney-jeepney ride. That nearly drove me insane, transferring from one jeepney to another was really a hassle. That was when I still gave more importance to money than time (less expensive but time consuming). The previous school year, it became jeepney-jeepney-tricylcle ride which was more expensive but faster. In just a few weeks days, I will be a junior student and that means I’ll be spending more time in school which could also be equated to less time for blogging and surfing the Internet, and not to mention less time for sleeping. I’m not sure if the usual ride that I take would be enough to bring me to school at the right time. I can’t really afford to be late for my classes. Besides, getting late is not in my vocabulary.

That’s why I’m thinking that I should get an apartment somewhere near the university. With that, I do not have to wake very early (I do not need the early worms anyway). I could also dedicate more time for resting since that would mean that I don’t have to spend 1.5 agonizing hours on the road.

But then again, there are a lot of complications. Actually, I could think of more disadvantages than advantages. Like, how will I survive? Where would I get my food? Fast food chains? Well, I’m old enough to stand on my own, but I really prefer going home everyday. Do I have to share the room with someone else? I prefer to be on my own, though. Where would we get the payment for the apartment? Electricity? Water? My parents have enough on their plates and I don’t want to give them another helpings of not-so-appetizing bills. And then, I have my biggest problem… Internet. You know that I love surfing the Internet and as a student, I will surely need it. Where I would get an Internet connection? SmartBRO? Thanks. I’ve read a number of bad reviews about their services, and I don’t want to be included in their fast growing number of disappointed customers.

See? There are so many disadvantages that I could think of. Haha. Call me pessimistic, but renting an apartment doesn’t sound good to me. Besides, if I were to get myself one, I would surely miss the stretch of road that I take, the numerous banks (especially the branches of Banco de Oro), gas stations, churches, branches of Jollibee and McDonald’s, the single flyover that I know of here in Pampanga, the irritating passengers in the jeepney, the passenger versus driver matches, the crazy tricycle rides, and everything else that I see every time I go to school and back home. What’s more, that means that I would have no time to review. Lol. You see, the only time I review (most of the times) is during when I’m in the jeepney. Hahah.

Of course, I could change my mind. XD

PS: I know, I’ve already blogged about this before, not as specific, though. So yeah, forgive me. There’s really nothing interesting that happened to me lately. I’m just stuck here in our house, but I’m definitely enjoying every bit of it. And I just felt that it’s time that I had to update this blog. Haha.

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Earsplitting Volume

Posted on May 18, 2008 at 3:46 pm | 18 Comments
Filed under Daily Dose • Music Mania • Random Realities • School Sabotage

iPod touch med grön Apple-sockaEven though I have an iPod touch, I’m not one of those people you see in public places especially in public utility vehicles and malls with their earphones on and listening to music. I love my ears more than music and I don’t want to be deaf and use hearing aids.

The volume on my iPod is currently set on 25%. I usually don’t go beyond that point except for attacks of the LSS. The engine of the vehicles and other roadway noises simply drones the music that comes from my iPod, so instead of increasing the volume, I simply turn it off. Besides, there are other things that I can do during my jeepney rides. I usually study my lessons while waiting to reach for my destination. Sometimes, I read books to avoid boredom or if I’m with somebody that I know, I chat with him/her about various things: demanding and perfectionistic instructors, how I miss my high school life, insensitive blockmates, and toxic subjects.

Okay, back to the subject…

So when do I use my iPod? I use it whenever I’m in my favorite place in school: the library or anywhere there isn’t much noise. The library has been my cradle, it’s where I feel at peace. Hu? What am I talking about? Well, if you had very noisy blockmates with mouths larger than a car’s tire, you would know what I mean. There are times when I even go to the library just to listen to music. Lol. I’m really thankful that the library is just a few steps from my room.

And oh, lately, I’ve been listening to music during my Rizal class. Everyone in the class couldn’t hide their boredom. Some talks with their seat mates, some are busy pressing on their phone’s keypads, others would even dare to sleep. Good thing my professor sits on the back of the room while listening to the reporters. That’s why I dare myself to listen to music even though my class is going on. And I’m pleased to tell you that I wasn’t caught… ever. Actually, during my last three Rizal classes, I was not only listening to music but also reading a book that has nothing to do with the Philippine’s national hero.

While on the subject, I just want to mention that I really don’t know why we have to study Rizal’s very detailed life. I think, the authors of the book that we are using included all the information that they could get about Rizal. I don’t know why almost everything has to be precise. Some of the not so important events that happened to Rizal were also well documented. As a matter of fact, there are times when the book mentioned not only the date but also the time when this and that happened. Aren’t the basics enough?

Take the following excerpt as an example:

… the two tourists [Jose Rizal and his friend Maximo Viola] went to Brunn. According to Viola, “nothing of importance happened” in this city.

Why add that if “nothing of importance happened”? Duh. And now… I’m bombarded with unimportant dates, names, places, and events that I’m not even sure if I could and how I would apply them once I landed with a job. Haha. (I’m not saying that RA 1425 aka Rizal Law should be abolished. What I’m saying is that the basics are enough, we don’t need to know all the places Rizal visited during his lifetime. Besides, what sense of fulfillment would you have if you memorized them?)

Before I close this entry, I just want to talk a few things about Death Cab for Cutie’s latest album: Narrow Stairs. First, I want to say that it’s a nice album, but not as good as Plans. My favorites from the album are: Your New Twin Sized Bed (I can’t get it out of my system), Bixby Canyon Bridge, No Sunlight, I Will Possess Your Heart, and You Can Do Better Than Me. And oh, have you seen I Will Possess Your Heart’s music video? Well, Death Cab rocks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq-yP7mb8UE

Well… you look so defeated lying there in your new twin sized bed. XD

PS: Yesterday, iTunes mistakenly recognized my iPod touch as an iPhone. WTF.

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Looking Young

Posted on February 12, 2007 at 8:28 pm | 11 Comments
Filed under Random Realities

[EDIT] Happy Valentine’s Day to everybody! I hope you had a great time today because I did not. Lol. Our midterms had officially started today! [/EDIT]

I’m a first year college student in a known university here in Pampanga, but I don’t look like one. I always thought that I looked older for my age… I was wrong after all this time: it was the other way around. Nobody told me that I look too young until I stepped into college.

Some students and professors that I met in the university reckon that I don’t look like a seventeen years old (or shall I say young?) lad. There are times that I get agitated with this. Now, It’s not new to me if I would hear somebody ask me “Sigurado ka bang college student ka na?1” or tell me “Akala ko high school student ka pa lang.2”

Flattered? Sometimes. Haha. But know what, I’m half-fortunate and half-unfortunate about this.

I could easily lie to somebody that I’m still a high school student. If only schools does not require a birth certificate before you could enroll, I suppose I could enroll myself again in high school (I miss high school so much). During my sem break, I had to go to school (my current school) for something. One means of transportation to get there is by jeepneys. On all the jeepneys that I used that day, I only paid the student fair. But on the last jeepney that I used to get back home, the driver complained. He said that there were no classes that day. Yes, he’s correct, for college students, it was their break. Luckily, I know some schools here in Pampanga that were still having their classes that time. And so, I lied, “High school student pa lang po ako.3” And because I don’t really look like a college student, another passenger agreed with me. Well, I was saved from being embarrassed.

But then, when I reached eighteen, will I be allowed to get the things that I’m supposed to get without showing a proof that I’m eighteen to those people who are concerned? Haha… I’m really wondering about that. Oh well, I don’t want to cite examples for this one. Lol.

  1. Translation: Are you sure that you’re a college student? [↩]
  2. Translation: I thought you were a high school student. [↩]
  3. Translation: I’m still a high school student. [↩]

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Transporteysyon

Posted on July 17, 2006 at 9:33 pm | 4 Comments
Filed under Daily Dose • Pinoy Pride • Random Realities • School Sabotage

Ooohhh… an update!

During my high school days, I was only walking the distance between my school and our home. It’s not a big deal to me, (if my calculations are correct) it’s only a quarter of a kilometer away; I can arrive at my destination in less than five minutes.

Sometimes, due to some reasons, we were going out of school, like competitions and community work. My school has no bus; instead, my school rents a jeepney from a very prominent person in my school. And in turn, we, the passengers have to pay a certain amount of money. We even jokingly named the jeep Apung (lola in Tagalog, grandma in English) [insert the name of that prominent person whose name starts with the letter "A"] Airlines or [insert the name of that prominent person whose name starts with the letter "A"] Express, AAA and AE for short.

Okay, let me describe the jeepney. It’s a prehistoric jeepney. I mean, it’s very old. If I’m not mistaken, 14 people plus two plus the driver, 17 in all can be in that jeepney at once. For sure, you will be knee-to-keen with the person sitting in front of you. It’s always driven by a man whom I know as “Mr. Brown Eyes” and he has to sit with his feet on his side just so he can fit. And from what I heard from my classmate, its wiper is ran manually.

But now, an hour’s drive is needed (if you’re going to transport by jeepney) so I can go to school. Every street is a terminal for the jeepney drivers! They stop whenever they see people on the pavement, what’s more is that these people are not waiting for a jeepney, they’re crossing the road. Plus you can smell smoke!

*****

Just a quick thought… do you already know that the words “tsokoleyt”, “laybrari”, “smayl”, “navigeysyon”, “senter”, and the like are already accepted in Filipino? Yeah, I know, they sound baduy and if you will come to think of it, it’s as if a grade school pupil who has no idea on how to spell these words correctly decided to spell these words based on how we pronounce them. During my high school days, I and my friends always spell English words like these and we laughed at them because they were spelled in a way that you will recognize the errors as soon as you see the word, not knowing that the words that we were laughing at are accepted in Filipino.

I repeat, they’re accepted!

*****

My agenda this week…

  • I’m planning to go to my previous school tomorrow… alone! I asked some of my classmates but they’re not free.
  • Our prelims will start on the day after next! And here I am blogging! Bad news for me, they decided to move our prelims next week!
  • We have a meeting on Friday regarding on our first issue of our college newsletter (or whatever you want to call it) this academic year. And my news article is not yet finished! My article looks like a test paper… I mean, it has blanks here and there! Lol! Fill in the blanks? Yeah… that’s because I still don’t know the other information of the event that I’m documenting.

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