Bliss

listening to: the song stuck in my head - The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani
mood: grounded but consummate euphoria

...So this is bliss.

Hello, it's been a while since you filled my heart and gave spright to my steps.

Let me do a recap. My last post was when, July-somethingish? And lookie, its already August!

Last week, (and perhaps the weeks preceeding that) was terrible. Some of my plates had to be passed late, and I missed an anatomy plate. That's a 5 in my record. It's really all too depressing, knowing that I had enough time and resources to pass that plate, but due to procrastination, you know what happened. Irresponsibility. Guilt-free for sometime, but costly.

I'm worried for my scholarship, which has enabled me to pay only a fourth of the regular CFAD student tuition fee.

I'm doing well in CTEC, MDR, DC and my other academic and drawing subjects. Anatomy is the only class I fail at. All my plates have grades of 2s. And I must maintain a 1.75 GWA.

And because I'm too lazy, a copy&paste comment from Josh's blog:

..I can empathize.

A drawing plate requires at least 5 hours of mental bleeding and relentless hand & eye abuse, while keeping your sanity intact. The friendly company of a cold glass of Extra Joss or piping hot coffee optional.
When submission time comes around, your prof takes a single look at your plate, mutters something minimalistic (say, “too small”), encircles said area of error, and jots down, rather unceremoniously, a 2.75, or 3 if you’re lucky; otherwise an ominous 5 should suffice for his perfectionist standards.

Down goes the aforementioned 5 hours of inhuman torture. And in that way you are reduced to being what they like to brand “a mediocre artist.” (Emphasis on mediocre).

Frustration, yes. And a damnable amount of it.

…Meanwhile thoughts of shifting come to mind.

Sorry for the disjointed incoherence. Misery loves company, as they say.

But today I feel different--like I'm in the eye of a storm; whilst everything is around me is apocalyptic and such, I find a place of solace, in this case, a moment, a reason to smile and laugh all of it away.

I've been plugging my Social Dance class too much in my blog and for good reason: it gives more endorphins than any amount of chocolate. Just today, we had our practice from 8AM-12PM (classes were suspended in the morning due to a convocation of all the faculty members of UST) of our latest dance, swing. Swing. Elegance, beauty, style, gracefulness and whatnot. But we defied all that. Think post-modernism in writing. Think maximalism. That's what we did, or rather, what our choreographer made us do (my partner Jesper [it has come to mind that maybe I shouldn't put names, but what the hell]). Our song? The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani, 1.2 times faster than the original version. Our dance? We didn't do any of the basics our prof taughts us. We mixed and matched them with other types of dance steps, and made-up ones. What we came up with was a hybrid of futuristic, fun, swing dance of sorts. Something.

(A video might be posted. Words are not enough to describe our... um, unique--no, eccentric dance. XD)

Despite the bucketfull of sweat, the killer hills, the amount of time, the torrential rain and the glaring sun (hello, poem ba ito? :D), the many mistakes, the many wrong dips and the twisted turns; the hateful bottomful-bottomless feeling of waiting, the numbing, gnawing hunger, the dry laughter, the tiring overall effects of practice, and the disappointment of our prof (the steps were good, kenkoy, nakakatuwa. Maganda, bagay na bagay sa music. Kakaiba. Dumumi lang yung execution. Nagkagulo kayo. Hindi malinis. Kalat. [reader, please take note that this is my version of what my prof said. The original may vary. The meaning is still the same, I assure you. But never trust my selective memory. Heh.]), it was worth it. It was fun. I am being completely honest when I profess that I now really love dancing. It's... a different form of self-expression for me. Credit goes to my lovely group-mates (who're always on party/hyper-mode =))

And coming from a (former?) nerd/geek/anti-social killjoy, that's saying a lot.

Let it suffice for me to say that I'm happy. Blissful. Euphoric.

To all my group mates (not that you'd probably be able to read this) thank you! <3<3<3

SO WE'RE A LITTLE CRAZY.

But that's how we roll.

-from a logo thingy from friendster

Insanity, 1. Society, 0.

I know don't make sense--I don't intend to. To whoever is reading this: Thank you. I love you. God bless. And (for the first time I'm fully appreciating our Filipino class):

I'M HAPPY YOU'RE ALIVE.

Go on. Spread the love crack. Haven't you heard that lunacy is the new black?

*Panic! lyrics-writing mode XD*

Lastly, I want Ryan Ross in my closet. XDD

Backlogs'll be posted soon.)

God bless y'all.

To Mama

listening to: raindrops
mood: subdued

If my biological mom was alive, she'd be forty-something today. Unfortunately, she died 11 years ago.

Happy birthday, Mama.

College (part 2)

listening to: a plethora of spontaneous human movements
mood: happy-productive tiredness ^-^
location: Computer unit 25, station #1, UST library

(Is it obvious that I am starting to make the UST Miguel de Benavides Library my primary second third home?)

It's been a long time since I felt this happy-produtive type of fatigue. I feel really good these days.

Anyway, I just came from my PE class which is (drumroll please) Social Dance. Yes, people who know me well will be shocked/awed/have an untimely cardiac arrest at that knowledge. For those who don't, it's simply because my feet has a will of its own, and my hand-feet-eye coordination is that of a derailed train going on a speed of one thousand bazillion light years.

But I surprised myself even more: I actually enjoy it. Nevermind if I have to wear 3-inch heels as part of my uniform; nevermind if I learn the dance step after #@!&^% times of practice. My teacher is uber nice, and is funny; my group mates are simply crazy and kalog that they make me want to practice with them everyday, just to be able to bond together; I get to improve my posture, and, um, acquire a touch of grace and lightness in my Gundam-like body movements; I'm having fun while learning something new.

I have no right to complain.

After class, one of my groupmates in SD, Kuya Larry, a 2nd year Electric Engineering student (tama ba?? ^__^;;) accompanied me to the library. I borrowed some books for my plates (to aide my disobedient hand in drawing my gawdammed Anatomy plate >.<), and went to the computer station. And here I am typing my blogpost.

As promised, here is a recap of my 2nd week. (If you've been reading up to this part of my post, then I believe you're either of these: 1) patient 2)just nice 3) have time to kill 4)bored 5)genuinely interested in me 6)obsessively interested in me 7) reading my post out of pity because there are no other readers

I mean, I'm doing this more for myself than anyone else, really. When I'm old and wrinkly I'll spend my days rereading my blog. :D)

Teh 2nd Week

Monday - We had our CFAD Freshman Walk Tour, aptly named "Walkie Talkie (We Walk, I Talk)." The banner/poster/invitation was soo pretty! Basically we went around the UST campus with tour guides, who taught us some trivial facts about our university. After that we had lunch, and then we proceeded to Freshman Orientation. It was a bit boring, but then I saw our Student Council prez, and that made me a little attentive.

Tuesday - Our CTEC prof turns out to be our Lettering prof as well. I like him, he exudes this fatherly image, and he really is nice. He's the prof who gives inspiring quotations for us to ponder on prior to the actual lesson. He reminds me of Mr. Nachor, our Economics teacher back in high school.

For PE, we were simply given an orientation, and taught some cheers for the UAAP.

Wednesday - We finally meet our Design and Color prof. She is strict, and straightforward, but I realize that it's through her terror-teacher techniques that I'll actually learn something from her.

For Freehand, we were assigned to pick a tree to be able to apply our learnings in perspective and shading. The sky started turning gray, so our prof dismissed us early. The tree I picked was a bit dark, and quite large by the way the branches stretched out, but I'm starting to practice challenging myself. I know I can do it!

Thursday - Our anatomy prof assigned us to sketch the bone structure of the hand. He was nice enough to give us a copy.

Filipino was okay; we just chatted about pamahiins and Filipino idioms.

Friday - Lettering was hard! T___T Especially since my handwriting, as my bezzie would say, looked like "Kinahig ng Hungarian Horntail". And I have little patience for these things. I survived, though, and managed to pass my plate on time.

Our Mechanical drawing prof didn't appear. We left the classroom after an hour.

Saturday - I perfect-ed the excercise in Capitalization in English, so I get to be exempted for next week's quiz. :D Theology and Math were dull, but I am trying to cultivate my interest in those subjects for myself. I wanna learn, and besides, I'm paying hard for this education. I'm not about to let it just go down the drain because of my enthusiasm that is comparable to that of a garden rock.

The third week will be posted sometime soon; I still have to work on the refund from my scholarship. And I need to go home early, too; my anatomy and freehand plates are waiting. ;___;

PLUG: Visit my friend's LJ, Click!

Jaime, magkikita din tayo! So far, si Camille, Emicon, Faye, at iba pang Stellans na takot ako lapitan dahil baka nakalimutan na 'ko ang nakikita ko. Asan ba building niyo?? Stalk Hanapin kita!

Check ko LJ mo ngayong week. Hehehe. ^________________^

To the others: God bless and take care! Remember to eat lotsa vegetable to keep yourself healthy. Chocolated won't hurt, but greens will do much more for your bodies.

Michan, get well soon! D:

College (part 1)

listening to: the comforting monotonous hum of the air conditioning machine
mood: bored
location: Computer unit 33, Station #1; UST library

I'm officially a three week-old Thomasian! :D

(faint background noise: "Go USTe~! Go USTe~!")

This post was supposed to be done back when I was a one week-old USTe student, but due to *cough* technical problems (i.e. this writer's damnable procratination), said post gathered cobwebs in the lonely draft folder of my blogspot account. D: Two weeks later I was able to beat my chronic psychological illness--and here I am! :D

But seriously, nowadays I have no time at all to procrastinate. Really. And I'm not just saying this as a lame excuse or an illogical reasoning for my online inactivity. Okay, so I managed to get online almost on a daily basis, usually in the ungodly hours in the morning. But what I mostly surf for are tutorials, picture references and other things that help keep my sanity intact.

The plates (not the dinnerware, I'm referring to the drawing plates) are starting to kill me. ;____;

Not much, but little by little it's consuming all my sleeping time. And I NEED to sleep. I love my pillow too much. ^_^

Anyhow, a recap of my three weeks:

Teh First Week
On the first day, I woke up early, anticipating the legendary traffic that supposedly plagues the UST vicinity. Legendary traffic must be a myth; I arrived at school 30 minutes early. Oh, the ennui of waiting! *woes* Oh, I wasn't able to buy a uniform, so I spent the day wearing casual clothes. :D

Our Design & Color (DC) prof didn't arrive, so we just chatted. The very first friend I made was Stel! ^_^ She's not into anime that much, but we talked about two periods of our class away. Everyone was quiet, as it was after all, the first day. The monotony of the air conditioner was broken when three officers of the College of Fine Arts Student Council (CFAD-SC) burst through our classroom.

So we met Kuya Paeng, the SC prez. He is sooo bishie! *le fangirl* Seriously. And the term does not pertain only to his physique, but to his overall personality. See, he was trying to cheer us up freshies, and he got us to play a name-game so we could get to know each other. And by the way he would tell stories about what was in store for us--he was just so animated. For some reason. RAABUUUU! ♥_♥

Through the game, I met Windy, Dess, Bettina, Marge, Kevin and loads of other people I would be hanging out with in the future. In the meantime, I had lunch with Stel. <3 In the afternoon our Freehand Drawing (FDR) prof showed up, and gave us the list of materials. I got to know more of my classmates much better. In the following days, we had our Anatomy (ATY) class, Filipino, Lettering (LETT), Mechanical Drawing (MDR), English, Theology and Math. We have each class once a week, with regular subjects lasting for 3 hours, and our drawing subjects up to 4 hours.

I've realized that these are the subjects that I really want to study; I'm so excited! But at the same time I'm a bit scared.

You know the feeling the you want something so badly, that once you get it, you feel such an overwhelmingly powerful inner bliss, that it gets at times too much, too overboard? Like the feeling is threatening to consume you, like you're spiralling down and out of control, like...

I get scared at times. And insecure. I mean, college isn't like high school anymore; I gotta wake up and smell the artificial fragrance of instant coffee.

Our class is full of really good artists and...

Where do I rank?

Frankly, I feel like I'm at the bottom a deep, deep well.

But I know I'll survive.

*stops being emo*

Anyhow, all our profs are great in a creepy kind of way. They're all professionals practicing their trade in the advertising industry, and they expect nothing but the best from us. They said they wouldn't allow a mediocre artist to work in the industry with them.

Our ATY prof told us he won't be teaching, he'll be training. He is good-natured, and is funny, and I know I'll learn a lot of things from him, but y'know, he's the all-business-let's-get-serious-now types of professors. Eeeee.

Our Lettering teacher is a bit nicer. At the start of every class, he said he'd give us "principles in life" that will be helpful in the real world. Our MDR prof is boring, and kinda... dull?

Our regular subject professors (Fil, Eng, Theo & Math) are just fine.

But of course, all of these are just first impressions.

My sched goes from Tuesday to Saturday, with 2 days 7AM-5PM; 2 days 7AM-3PM, and 1 day of 7AM-4PM.

Thus my first week ends.

***

The two other weeks will be posted this weekend. My one hour net time here at the computer station is almost up, and I still need to borrow some books, and to go home (I need to be home by 7pm).

Weirdly enough, the June floods I've been anticipating prior to classes hasn't arrived yet. Hmmm. Maybe it likes surprises. :D

Oh, and we had our Welcome Walk (us freshmen passing through the famous Arch of the Centuries as a sign of alliance/acceptance/point-of-no-return in our stay at UST.) Afterwards, there was a concert. But I wasn't able to attend it since I had to go home early. And I also promised my high school buddies that I would drop by Friday afternoon to catch up with them.

Have I mentioned that our batch at UST is extremely special? We are given special treatment 'cause we are the tentative graduates on the year 2011, the same year that UST will turn 400. Imagine that! 400 years! So, like, we're called the Quadri-Centennial Batch. :D

I will graduate on 2011.

...So I hope I pass all my subjects. And maintain a grade of 1.75.

God help me.

Oh, and belated happy birthday to Josh!

And I'm gonna plug all the DevArt accounts of my blockmates: Pilar, Kev, Alfonso, Alexa and Kuya Moody.

Have a God-blessed Saturday! ^_________^

The June Whirlwind

listening to: Sanbun no Junou na Kanjou - Siam Shade
mood: happy-sleepy

My! With the entrance of June, so maaaany things happened. Usually, I'm a homebody, but for the past few days I've spent my waking hours away from home. I hate being cooped up at home to vegetate, so the change of routine is welcome. I love travelling, walking, just being constantly on the move. I tire easily, but it's the I-feel-so-productive-and-content type. A recap of my havoc-spreading activities these past few days:

New haircut! Usually trips to the salon are treated with anxiety. My hair is anything but manageable, it's all wild and wavy and happy, so I have to make sure that the hair cut I get looks okay even if I don't blow-dry it or something. I'm not very prissy when it comes to my hair, generally my over-all looks, so... Anyway, I had a layered cut. S'alright but the bangs aren't exactly what I wanted...

Jzone and Dgroups! Last Saturday we joined a CCF youth group called Jzone. We met Elle, who let us join her Discipleship group (I'm not exactly sure if that's what it means). At first we were a bit uneasy since we didn't know anyone, but pretty soon we started to enjoy the presentation, talks, and the mini-concert thing. It was fun, and me and my sisters are planning to attend it regularly.

Family time! Consequently, after the Jgroup thing, we got to shop for a while. It's been a while since we really got together as a family and do those normal things we used to do when were still kids. My sisters and I wanted to buy anime DVDs; they had everything from Gakuen Alice, Ouran Koukou, to Death Note! *__* They were bootleg copies, though. After much debate with my practical side, I bought myself a versatile bolero instead.

Death Note! My sisters and I were able to visit Comic Alley again after some time. And OMGJkassksjsajhjhjku THEY HAVE AN L PLUSHIE! L! WITH THE HAIR AND THE EYES AND THE BAD HABIT (of teh fingers pressing against his lips XD)! AND THE SITTING POSITION! I MEAN, it was sooooooo cute. ;__; Which reminded me of the materials I bought last year for my plushie-making plans. Since I had no time last year, I decided to postpone it for this summer. Apparently, I forgot. On purpose. Maybe Dad's right, I do have time management problems.

And classes begin... I accompanied my sister to her school today for enrollment. Since our beloved high school was just beside hers, I paid a visit to some of my teachers. I saw my third year adviser, Ms. Batulan, and Miguel (your hair looks different when liberated from gel XD). I also got to talk to our much-loved (see the sarcasm dripping?) fourth year adviser, Ma'am Caingat. I thought she would bite my head off, say things like: what kind of irresponsible valedictorian are you? You are a disgrace! You do not deserve the title! However, she was civil. And actually nice. I knew that if she was separated from Math for even a few months desirable results would be produced. :D

In the afternoon my younger sister and I went school supplies-shopping. Just the two of us, and lots of food afterwards. :DD

I'll cut off here--Jeffrey Archer's Shall We Tell The President? is beckoning me again. And, yes, I'm quite sleepy with all the activities for today.

Oh yeah, I added some browser charms from Endless Rain. *points to upper right corner of teh blog*

God bless! <3

Saturday family-time :D

listening to: Sunday - Babystars
mood: content

We went to our neighbor's baby's baptism today. We woke up extreeemely early, and for the first time we actually got to the venue well before the indicated time. (My family is a faithful advocate of the Filipino time. Sad.) We were actually the first ones there.

The church was pretty nice. A wedding was going on when we got there. It was beautiful, but it really wasn't the wedding I had in mind. It was not at all solemn, some people at the back where chatting, fidgeting with their phones. And it looked kind of sad. I just felt that aura while looking at couple in front. For some reason.

And, creepily enough, I envisioned my own. I mean, lol XD. I really can't see myself donning a beautiful gown, walking down the flower-laced aisle... just... can't. And that's a good thing. For now. :D

A few minutes later all the guests started to arrive. So we proceeded to the small room attached to the side of the church, where the baptism was supposed to take place. But since the room was so small, only the ninongs and ninangs were allowed to stay in front. The rest of us loitered in the main part ot the church, making noise, (the wedding was over) picking flowers (from the aisle), exploring the place (churches are always nice to explore).

After the baptism, rabid picture-taking ensued. I guess, memories are better relived when visually accompanied.

I realized how bonded everyone was. Eveyone invited were our neighbors, and we've got this whole happy family-community thing going on. The feeling is just too nice. I can't imagine how close everyone has become, but its apparent everytime one of us has a birthday, or celebration, or whatever. Even in problems we join one another.

Really, it's just like a family.

Then we ate at the nearby Aberdeen Court. The food was... okay, save for the other dishes. The utensils were really bad. D: I think they were a bit dirty. Service was over all bad.

But nevermind--we had cake! Lots and LOTS OF CAKE!

And I died of sugar overload, and we all went home.

By then you'd think my food overload adventures had stopped. Nah-ah! We were pleasantly surprised when they invited us over to their house again for dinner. It was like lunch all over again, except that the food was great and the utensils even better. I confess home cooked food is definitely better. <3

Anyway, Welcome to Christian World, Kerby! ♥

***

Yesterday, I took my special entrance examination in UST. While waiting in the lounge (I refer to any waiting place as a 'lounge') a guy who sat beside me was listening to Avenue Q. My inner fangirl was giggly.

The test was okay. It was really cold, just like when I took the UPCAT, but I didn't learn from past mistake and conveniently forgot to bring a jacket. The first test, I wasn't able to answer all. But I guess it was all right since it was indicated there that it wasn't meant to be answered completely. English was pretty easy, and so was Science. The Math subtest killed my brain a bit, especially when it came to the circular functions. ARRRGH.

But it was definitely a lot easier than the UPCAT. (I left many blanks in the said test. ;_;)

I got home around 1pm. For us who were gonna take up Fine Arts, we were given a special test and a talent test. I have a feeling I won't pass both.

Results'll be out on the 22th. Hm.

First post! XD

listening to: Winding Road - Ayaka & Kobukuro
mood: sleepy

OMGBBQ. I finally finished the coding and layout-ing of this site. JLKjsskhdsj. *rambles on incoherently*

So, yes, welcome to my third blog, Vanilla Fries. Disregard the weird and obviously-written-by-someone-hungry-slash-lovesick name. It's fun and totally disjointed and irrelevant. I like it. ♥

Cover boys (and girl) are (clockwise, starting from bottom left) Kaoru & Hikaru Hitachiin, Takashi Morinozuka, Mitsukuni Hunny, Kyouya Ootori, the overdramatic charming Tamaki Suou, and the unfortunate Haruhi Fujioka from Ouran High School Host Club, created by Bisco Hatori. Get to know more about them here! (You know you want to~)

Anyhow, the blog is kinda empty as of the moment. =3 Hopefully in the following days I'll be able to fill it up with posts...

Ara~... my link list is kinda empty. So anyone who'd like to link exchange, just drop me a line.

Ouran!crack is RABU! ♥ Join!

I want a HS reunion. NOW.

listening to: Osaka Lover - DREAMS COME TRUE
mood: nostalgic

They say that a high school reunion is only done after 10 years or so. But I don't care; I want a high school reunion now! ;____;

I was getting my application form for the UST special entrance examination filled out by the school registrar when I decided to check out the campus (to go emo while reminiscing and stuff) and stumbled upon Jesse. He was in charge of the YECS corner while all the repainting and refurbishing was going around. Since the queue at the registrar was a bit long, we chatted for a while.

I learned that he wasn't going to study as UST anymore, since he really wanted to take up Nursing, but was enrolled in Biology. D: Also Kenneth. I dunno why. I feel sad and alone.

After our chat, I finally got around to accomplishing my forms. Jesse waited for me, and for some reason we decided to pay a surprise visit to Kenneth (who lived like, just beside the school).

Ken was surprised to see me =P. We chatted, and watched tv, and talked and ate. After that we went to James'. XD (Who, according to Jerome and Reginald, had a mini sari-sari store already, so he wouldn't go to college anymore, since his entrpreneurial dreams had been realized fulfilled.)

We saw Tope and Darwin on the way. I presume they came from Bernadette's house.

We chatted yet again. My supposedly 2-hours stay at school stretched into 5 hours. Fwee. I proposed the idea of having a school reunion before classes start. After all, our Farewell Party sucked and we didn't even have a decent Closing party. (Which would have been probably loads better than the former.)

They agreed. ♥ And we all went home around 7pm-ish.

I miss all my Journ classmates. ;_; Especially Missy. ♥

Onto another topic, I still don't know what to take up in college. I'm having second thoughts about dropping my slot in UP, but then I dunno what course to take up in UP. If I pass the USTET, should I take Fine Arts there? Is that really practical? Or should I just consider a computer-related course, which will surely provide me more job opportunities?

Can someone recommend a course in UP? Something preferably not-so-math-related?

God help me. >___<