Monday, March 31, 2008

High School! Can't believe it was ten years ago.

In the spirit of reminiscences and because Iris made me do it...

THINK BACK TO 4th year high school… Let’s see how much you remember and how much you regret..

What section were you?

I was in the star section, which incidentally, was ALSO the bottom section. How's that possible? Go figure.

Who were your seatmates?

Sat beside the class president for the 1st term. When my grades plumetted, i had him move to a different seat for the following grading quarter. But he transferred back when his mom specifically asked he sit beside me again. Pfft, kaya 1st honorable mention lang ako. (waaaah)

Still remember your English teacher?

Definitely. Anne and I terrorized her albeit unknowingly. Honest.

What was your first class?

Not quite sure, but I think it was physics. I can vaguely remember Mrs. Genota making us toss raw eggs into the air at 8 in the morning. As to why, I never did figure out, and I probably never will.

Made friends with the lower years?

I wouldn't go so far as to say I actively sought to make friends with the lower classmen, but I was civil. I pretty much kept to myself and my small circle of friends.

How was your class schedule?

Always 8 hours too long. Dapat 7am assembly, 8 am dismissal. (wish ko lang...)

Made any enemies?

Didn't make friends, didn't make enemies either. I was a virtual Switzerland.

Who was your favorite teacher?

I'm gonna lie and say Molleda, the CAT instructor. If only for the fact it took all of my self-control to NOT laugh whenever she calls out "Harap sa kanaaaaaan. huh!" with the world's most controlled diaphragm contraction.

What sport did you play?

For the most part, volleyball. PE teacher bashing didn't count as a sport in those times - yet.

Were you a party animal?

Closest tjhing I ever got to being one was when I participated in a food fight.

Were you well known in your school?

I'd say yes. If only because EVERYONE knew EVERYBODY in that school. To quote Iris, yes, it's THAT small.

SKIP CLASSES?

This may comes as a surprise for those who've known me as being the designated class geek, but yes, I skipped classes - on several ocassions.

But all under the pretext of "research".

Did you get suspended/expelled?

Nope, but if I did, I'd have called it "distance learning".

Can you sing the alma mater?

"Yah put yer left foot in, yah put yer left foot out..."

What was your favorite subject?

Physics. Because they made us throw raw eggs into the air. And no, I still can't remember why we did that. But it sure was fun!

Did you go to the dances?

Never had one!

Where did you go most often during breaks?

My little band of misfits usually hung out at Pastor Ribo's (the chaplain's) office. No, wait, lemme rephrase that: Pastor Ribo usually hung out at OUR office.

What did you do on the last day of school?

Most vivid memory was when we signed each others' CAT shirts then hung out at Wendy's. In retrospect, it was a pretty boring day.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Closest thing I'll get...

Inspired by Ris' own album

MY ALBUM COVER
Instructions:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover

You then take the pic and add your band name and the album title to it, then post your pic.


What I Got:


Kinarir, ba?! Clicking on the image will show the higher res version.

Oh well... like the title says, it's the closest thing i'll ever get to something like this.
Fun exercise nonetheless.

Looking at it though, I can't tell what kind of music it's supposed to convey.
Any suggest-ments?

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

As I stare into this cathode ray tube...

...I've come to realize...

...I am not as able to pull all-nighter anymore as I used to back in high school and college.
Apparently, this is what they call getting old. Darn it.

...when you're sleep-deprived, your brain exacts its revenge on you by floating around in lala land AND refusing to compose coherent thoughts when you most need it.
I know that's common sense, but when you've lost sleep over cramming for work, that's the last thing you want to happen.

...when your brain is in that aforementioned state, it's basically in cruise control.
That tends to cause you to care less about what's happening around you.

...when you're pitching a big project, common sense would tell you this is the worst state to be in.
Apparently, common sense could be NOT entirely correct all the time.


In cruise control, people seem farther away.

The farther they seem, the less you care.

The less you care, the more you seem sure of yourself.

The more sure of yourself you seem, the more convincing you look.


Moral? If there was one, I suppose it'd be:

Don't lose sleep.

But if you have to, make sure you're in cruise control mode at the most critical points.

When that's over, get the heck out of there as fast as you can
because no one wants to see an ugly crash.
Thus endeth the lesson.

photo from Flickr: The Sleep at Work Pool

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

An English Fairy Tale

Not that anyone cares, but I changed the title of my blog. After much consideration, I settled for a phrase from a fairy tale I read when I was only 6 or 7 years old. Yes, I was already a nerd at time. It's actually a genetic thing.

Anyway, without much ado, here's the story. What do you think would be the moral lesson to this?

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Master of All Masters


A girl once went to the fair to hire herself for servant. At last a funny-looking old gentleman engaged her, and took her home to his house. When she got there, he told her that he had something to teach her, for that in his house he had his own names for things.

He said to her: “What will you call me?”

“Master or mister, or whatever you please sir,” says she.

He said: “You must call me ’master of all masters.’ And what would you call this?” pointing to his bed.

“Bed or couch, or whatever you please, sir.”

“No, that’s my ’barnacle.’ And what do you call these?” said he pointing to his pantaloons.

“Breeches or trousers, or whatever you please, sir.”

“You must call them ’squibs and crackers.’ And what would you call her?” pointing to the cat.

“Cat or kit, or whatever you please, sir.”

“You must call her ’white-faced simminy.’ And this now,” showing the fire, “what would you call this?”

“Fire or flame, or whatever you please, sir.”

“You must call it ’hot cockalorum,’ and what this?” he went on, pointing to the water.

“Water or wet, or whatever you please, sir.”

“No, ’pondalorum’ is its name. And what do you call all this?” asked he, as he pointed to the house.

“House or cottage, or whatever you please, sir.”

“You must call it ’high topper mountain.’”

That very night the servant woke her master up in a fright and said: "Master of all masters, get out of your barnacle and put on your squibs and crackers. For white-faced simminy has got a spark of hot cockalorum on its tail, and unless you get some pondalorum high topper mountain will be all on hot cockalorum.”

This is a high topper mountain.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

September 23rd

(Taken from an old journal entry, written at a time when "blog" wasn't a word yet and having a gazillion Friendster accounts was the epitome of coolness. To some people, that's still true today. Poor things...)

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Funny how you can easily move from one place that's dry and sunny to one that's soaking wet with rain - nature's mood swings courtesy of the Metro Rail Transit.

Went home from Anne's place in Boni where it was sunny and arrived at North Avenue where the rained cats and dogs.

Needless to say, had to take refuge in the shelter of the station overpass along with fellow stranded commuters.

It's interesting how you find yourself catching up on your people-watching in the most unexpected moments. Nothing really exceptional caught my eye. Well, maybe one or two.

Saw this man and woman: the man looked younger than the lady, The woman was rather large and could pass off as the guy's mother. The guy looked like he was in his late 20s or early 30s.

What caught my eye was how the lady doted on the guy and how comfortable he was with it in front of everyone. At first I thought he had some form of mental retardation, but at second look he seemed normal to me. He even made "goo-goo" faces at the woman (which made me wonder if SHE was retarded...)

Watched a kid play with a paper airplane and he was as pleased as any little boy could get with a toy. He obviously looked like just got off from school. He launched that paper plane into the air for all he was worth, completely oblivious to the sweating crowd around him and the roaring EDSA traffic below.

I guess if you choose to do so, you can always keep the child inside you. And one shouldn't be embarrassed about it. If at all, one should actually take pride in it.

So here's to the child in all of us.