Saturday, June 19, 2004
ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS
The Damage Report - Year 3 - Ending Week #01
Background Music: "Hands to Happiness" by Christian Bautista
NOTE: This is a weekly blog entry that summarizes a series of events of a finished week in and around La Salle.
I STARTED THE WEEK off already with that inner feeling that all great things come to an end. This past week I entered my 3rd Year College. Two whole years have already passed. Two years of excitement, fun, and complicated emotions. It bites when you remember you're here standing at the half-way point seeing the light at the other end of the tunnel.
It doesn't feel that good. I feel sick just thinking that from this time back to the first day of College is just about the same distance between this day and the day I will enter the real world. I've prayed every day this past week that time slow down. I want each day to last longer. I want each hour to continue to be filled with surprises and happenings. I don't want this College life to end.
***
SUNDAY NIGHT - REVAMPING OUR ROOM
Jan was the first to arrive at the dorm on Sunday night. I had made a dramatic last minute decision by returning to our originally reserved room, F10. We were opted to move into the opposite condo since Condo-F wasn't going to be made air conditioned. I had submitted a proposal backed by a petition last school year to get a Condo building air conditioned and it was successful.
The whole aircon thing
But look whose out of the loop... me!
The six rooms in Condo-E and three selected rooms in Condo-A will be made air conditioned. The rooms in A, no offense to anyone who's dorming there, can't compare to the comfort of the rooms in Condo-F. Condo-F is truly the best Condo building in the newly expanded Men's Dormitory Compound.
Speaking of that, last year saw the addition of two more buildings for the men's dorm compound. This year, three more buildings have been turned over to the men's dorm compound nearly doubling the available rooms. Last year I tried to get to know as many as I could from 31 rooms. In the end, I only got to know the people in half of those rooms. This year, why bother! These rooms are filled with way too many freshmen.
I decided to move us back to non-aircon F10 because it wasn't practical to stay at A8. Condo-A faces the sun during the hot afternoon which will force us to use our air condition more. The bathrooms in the Condo-A rooms are small and look much older than the ones in Condo-F (actually they are older). A8 is isolated from our company of friends in Condo-F.
For the past two years I've been dorming in F3. In first year, I was with my high school buddy Lance and an upperclass guy named Jan (a different Jan). In second year, I was with Alex and a guy from Kuwait named Kyle. Over the past summer when I had dorm'd, I was in F1 with Mark and Andrew (Abbie's boyfriend).
My new roomies
This year, I'm with two friends I met in the previous year. Antonio Apolinaris Francisco Benjamin Castelltort, or in short Tony, from AB Communication 2-1 -and- Jan Arian Pascual, or in short Jan, from BS Human Biology 2-1. Both served as Class Presidents of their block sections in the previous year. Both are avid players of Magic: The Gathering. And together with my former roomie Alex (who stopped dorming this year) and Jan's classmate Aaron, we form the "F3 Gang"... the noisy bunch of dormers that sleep late due to playing cards, chatting with neighbors, and just hanging out.
This is the first time I'm moving into a room where all three roomies have planned to be together. In first year I already knew Lance (but not Jan Amogawin) and in second year I already knew Alex (but not Kyle Redoble).
Joel occupies F11. Neil (2nd year, friend from last year) moved into F11 from F2 on Tuesday. Tom and DR occupy F9, and a guy named Christian moved in but I haven't met him yet. F8 is occupied by the Dulce brothers again.
Lance handed us pasalubongs from the states. I got a can of tasty beef jerky (Slim Jim) and a big bag of Starbursts. Lance also gave me this gray polo shirt. Thanks Lance!
We cleaned the room up and arranged the beds. We decided to place all three beds together in one corner of the room to free up space. Tony cleaned the comfort room while Jan and I wiped the different cabinets in the room.
We also took midnight showers to refreshen due to the humidity and the sweat from all the cleaning. These midnight showers would now be a normal thing every night.
MONDAY - ADVANCING AGAIN
7 to 10 am - Computer Journalism - JFH 208
11 am to 2pm - Music Scoring and Audio Design - JFH 102 (Lab)
All of the classes are three hour blocks. There's no Tuesday and Thursday or M-W-F. Even REED105 Christian Morality is three hours long on Friday mornings. Eshada!
A wonderful sunrise was facing the 2nd floor of JFH as I approached my classmates in JOU3-1. Yes, we were now AB Broadcast Journalism THREE ONE. To me, it's sort of a sad thing.
Our professor didn't show up. I ended up joining Tope and Arjay in fixing our schedule to advance Technical Writing which is a 2nd Semester subject for JOU3-1. After doing the rounds (getting the form, getting the form signed, submitting the form to the Registrar) I stayed at HF till our 11am class.
Sir Carlo Salcedo is our professor. He's obviously new at DLSU-D but he's definintly not new to the subject matter. He played samples of background music he composed which were used in some commercials in the late 90s. Cool! He doesn't speak filipino at any time and at one point he said he admires all kinds of music except OPM. (Whaaat?!)
He's probably one of those professors that were brought up to appreciate western cultures or something. He reminds me of that one substitute professor in Art Appreciation last year who said his father censored him from watching local movies and from listening to local music.
I believe in Sir Salcedo as a professor but I was shocked when he bashed every sort of Philippine media art. It was clearly seen on some faces in the class that this guy hated OPM, even the classics. Hmmm... but let's wait and see.
At least he looks like a really good professor. JOU3-1, has what you can call a good or bad trait. We carry a magnifying glass and put it over any professor that comes our way. We're so damn meticulous when it comes to grades and sorts, Sir Palad would even sermon us later on Friday about that.
It's on the front cover
After class I returned to the admin to claim my new registration form and adding Technical Writing was a success. Then, as I was in line at the Registrar, Chief Bernard (the guard on duty there, former dorm guard) was holding what at first I thought was some travel magazine. Then I saw the word "Sailing" on the front cover and I wanted to jump out of the line! It was the latest issue of La Salleño! I was there in line smiling because the front cover pic was one of the pictures I took on my Writer's Trip to the fisherfolks of Manila Bay in Bacoor!
Omg, a picture I took--- on the front cover of La Salleño?! I never imagined it before. Thanks to the layout artist who put it there. Cool.
I had my reg. form processed before I ran out and grabbed a La Salleño. I fled back to the HF office to browse the magazine. It was wonderful. I'm so proud of Joanna, now Associate Editor, for producing three issues which I believe revolutionized the La Salleño.
I have two articles published in it. The first one is "Playing with the people's thirst" which is about privatization of water companies in the country which is doing more harm than good to the local folks. The other one is "The Mamalakaya of Bacoor and the Tahong Revolution" otherwise known as the Writers' Trip for this issue. It was with Tom Wagan, now Managing Editor. I also had supporting pictures published to compliment the article.
Same old dorm scene, different room
It's funny how some things haven't changed. Like the noisy F3 scene of the past two years now invading the spacious F10.
Jan and Aaron continue talking about Ragnarok MMO and then with Tony, they all play a nice round of Magic: The Gathering. I'm next door at F11 meeting a freshmen named Andrew. Andrew is a political science student and he's into martial arts.
Like the night before, I took a refreshing midnight shower. Our combined beds just makes us lie down and lazily watch television or just talk and talk about whatever. However, this year we're trying to avoid sleepless nights.
TUESDAY - PRISONER OF AZKABAN
10 am to 1pm - Electronic Newsroom I - JFH 102 (Lab)
2:30 to 4pm - ADVANCE in Technical Writing - JFH 504
Sir Palad was our professor in Electronic Newsroom but he made us do seatwork that felt like it was for RTV Newswriting.
During the break, I spent time at HF editing more articles. Afterwards, we returned to JFH and Eric entered JFH 205 and I saw my classmates there.
It feels good to have a slightly different schedule from my block. I feel good that I advanced Economics. I didn't put to waste a time slot last summer. And this semester, I also didn't put to waste anything as I climbed up the stairs to JFH 504 and entered TECHNICAL WRITING.
I went to the door and asked if the class there was PSY3-5 "Tech Write". They responded yes and I entered. They were about 15 to 20 girls and no guys. Suddenly this girl enters the room and she happens to be an irreg. She sits one seat apart from me and asks me if I'm an "irreg".
If I'm an irreg?
No! I'm a regular student! That was what entered my head. Then I remembered that I was an irreg! Cool. I'm an irreg in one subject.
Her name is Lane, short for a longer name which starts with an L. Her block is COM2-1 and she's classmates with my roomie Tony who she described as the loud guy in her class. I laughed when I heard that. She reminded me a lot of my own classmate Camille, who played around with her schedule to become an irreg.
Arjay, Tope, and Jhen (my classmates in JOU3-1 who are also advancing this subject) entered the room and the professor is Ms. Manguerra. She happens to be the chair of the Technical Writing subject at DLSU-D. She projects her voice quite well and I believe she's the best Tech. Write professor we can get. I sure hope so.
Rushing to Rob. Dasma
We were going to watch Harry Potter 3. I returned to the dorm and we waited for Tony. He finally came and the four of us (Jan, Arian, Tony, and myself) took a jeep bound for the Bayan and another for Rob. Dasma. At the mall we dropped by Kameraworld where I had an ID picture taken. Tony had a "Rembrant" taken. Then the four of us had a studio pic.
I didn't like the 2nd picture. I was actually the one who requested it be a close up of us on a small black background which meant we had to squeeze together to fit in the proper framing. Everyone turned out fine except me! I was trying to come out with the tough guy look and it came out all wrong. I look like I got punched in the gut. Hahaha.
We ordered take-out at Jollybee and rushed to Cinema 3 to catch HP3.
I liked HP3 the least of the three. I don't know why. I know HP3 was supposed to be a darker, more mature approach to Harry Potter under its new director. But I felt like that magic of childhood innocence went away too dramatically. I really hated the scene in the swaying cabin or whatever you call it. It was too fast, too confusing. You really need to read the book to bop your head up and down to that scene. I haven't read the book. I did, however, enjoy the time travel part near the end of the movie. You all know my favorite movie of all time is "Back to the Future".
After the movie, we were really in critical mode. We were 20 minutes away from curfew so we dashed across the street and tried to get into an Area C jeepnee. There wearn't any. In the end, we got to the dorm around 9:10pm and just when I thought the guard who was approaching us at the gate was going to get our IDs, he just happened to walk right by us. Technically we failed in our mad dash to avoid a curfew, but the guard let us go. I mean, it was the 2nd day of school. Tough luck if we were already curfewed.
WEDNESDAY - STUDIO PICS AT SM DASMA
10 am to 1pm - RTV Newswriting - JFH 105
Sir Geslani is our professor in RTV Newswriting. We first met him last summer when he was professor to our Newswriting and Editing subject. We watched a newsroom production of 4th Year graduates of AB Comm in their elective subject "Broadcast Journalism". I remember those Seniors, because two of them were my superiors in the AB Comm Channel last year. Ate Tin was one of the hosts, and despite the technical flaws, she projected her voice quite well. The background was dull though. Black. Boringness.
After class I decided to go to SM City Dasma with Katz, Apple, Upper, Kay, and Leah. Our other classmates like Jezire and Company were also going. They were going to ride with Sir Geslani in his van. We walked to Up's car at the dorms and took off.
We had lunch at Tokyo Tokyo and we went downstairs to where we met up with Jezire and company as they prepared to have a studio picture at Tronix Digital Imaging. I decided to have another set of 2x2 pictures taken there. I joined Jezire and company as we they had another studio picture (this time with me in it) up at Kameraworld on the top floor.
After having the picture taken, I returned to Upper and company to walk around the mall. We went to OUR HOME and noted that they have good gift ideas there.
We dropped Kay at her dorm in Villa Isabel and then Leah, Upper, and me returned to the campus. Up let me drive her car from Gate 3 to the dormitories. I went to the HF office to edit more articles afterwards.
THURSDAY - COPY EDITOR'S JOB
2:30 to 4pm - ADVANCE in Technical Writing - JFH 504
JOU3-1 has no classes on Thursday. But I did.
I got out of bed just before lunchtime and headed towards the stalls to get a photocopy of the Tech. Write handouts. I went to FIAT and ate lunch by myself. It was actually quite a lonely day. I tried to suck it in and say to myself that "being alone sometimes could be like meditating".
I crashed at the Teatro Booth where Tope, Arjay, and Jhen were at. Classmate Jonee was in the neighboring DLSU-D Chorale booth. Jerwyn, my ka-batch and probee buddy back in VPAPU (my former org) passed by. We did our assignments at the kubo and climbed up the stairs to JFH 504 for Tech. Write.
We had a seating arrangement and I was no longer with Lane. Oh well. I want to get to know my new seatmates.
After class I returned to HF and just like what I had been doing the past few days, edited more articles and passed them up the food chain.
Judy txt'd and I got Joel to come with me to meet her and Connie at Inasal. We ate and then enjoyed some beer. I drank my first bottle of beer for the school year. Whaapak! We exchanged news about each other. She just got back from Jordan during the last week of May. She said she loved it there (again) and almost didn't want to leave it. It was lame when I had to leave early and rush back to the campus since it was curfew.
FRIDAY - SIR PALAD'S SERMON
7 to 10am - Christian Morality - PCH 103
11am to 2pm - Newsroom Production and Design - JFH 102 (Lab)
It was a no-show again for our 2nd 7am class for the week. The professor didn't appear and we were waiting outside in the hallway. To kill time, I went to HF with Maycee and Eric. We returned to JFH at 11am to have Sir Palad as our professor in Newsroom Production and Design.
We watched "Citizen Kane". It's this old black and white movie. We were told to observe the camera angles, the proper blockings, etc. I analyzed the camera angles and the proper blockings. I appreciated the movie, it must've been really good during its time. Today it's all digitized now with special effects.
Sir Palad sermon'd the class afterwards after two or three people were caught eating inside the MPR. I got a little agitated when he blamed our class for this and that. For being hard-headed. For being tough to manage. He put into boldface our faults. Yes, some things that he said about our block are true. While some wearn't.
He did mention that we're not the "star" section. If there is a "star" section, then what section is it? We're the only section with a multi-talented cast branching into various organizations in La Salle. And those that are in these organizations can also carry the weight of their grades. Meaning, our block has no problem when it comes to grades. Perhaps one or two people, but generally, we don't!
He's irritated with our questions pertaining to our grades? Is this true? Other professors have probably told our adviser (him) that we're hard-headed and sensitive when it comes to policies and rules. I say, you can't blame a group of students taking up Broadcast Journalism which involves us being meticulous about anything. It's a natural instinct for some of us in the class to question this and that... especially when things do go wrong.
I'm just saying that the class and our adviser should meet halfway. This was a great way to start the school year off. Sir Palad putting our entire class down over a bag of chips. Jesus.
My greatest fear here is, our block section becoming a reflection of our adviser. I don't hate Sir Palad, in fact he was starting to make more sense. Maybe he doesn't believe it, but there are people who respect him in class including myself since he is our adviser afterall. I certainly don't treat Sir as a "barkada". That's outrageous.
When will there be a day when both our entire block and our adviser will learn to get along. When will my own blockmates and myself learn to be warm and accomodating to irregular students. When will Sir Palad learn to love us even for our mistakes.
In the end, nobody's perfect.
I rushed to the canteen and ordered take-out from Jefcees since I was starving. These three hour block classes really kill the stomach. I retreated to my dorm room. Jan and Tony wearn't around. I removed my barong polo and my shoes and socks and watched "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched" on Studio 23 before falling asleep.
I hate taking naps.
I dropped by HF one last time for the week and before my pick-up came. A lot of people were in the office. Jezire and Shiela were taking the HF competitive exam with a bunch of other applicants in the conference room. Layout food was also there and Jaynie was busy. I edited two more articles before going to the dorm.
Jan already went home while I caught Tony playing with a sponge over some water. I laughed and took a picture of him. Lance came in and he was riding with me. I gave Tony my pasalubong to him from Banaue. I gave that same pasalubong (Mini Shield, Axe, and Spear made of wood) to Lance and to my brother Paul. I also have one for myself.
"A shield to guard you, an axe to build something, and a spear to attack with."
We dropped by SM City Dasma before going home. I bought some things at ACE Hardware and then Lance bought some things at Tribal. That's when we encountered Aldrich and his cousin Jamie. Lance and I went to the supermarket before eating at Tokyo Tokyo with my parents.
The first week of Third Year College is over. As much as I'm excited for this new school year, it's hard not to think about how time has passed by so quickly. Everytime I see someone pass by wearing the new barong polo with the new embroided patch... everytime I see countless new faces in the dormitories... everytime I pass under the new renovated Gate 1... everytime I enter JFH 102 or the Media Production Room... everytime I talk to my 2nd year friends... everytime I'm the one editing an article at HF...
...I'm feeling like this wonderful college life will be finished one day soon. I should remind myself always that all that really matters is making each moment worth it. Squeezing the life and zest of each and every day that passes by. Cherishing the little things. And the most important- leaving no regrets.
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