Entries for November, 2004
November 4th, 2004
buhay pa po ako =)
Posted bylalah at 04:51 PM on November 4, 2004.
hey im back! so here's a full account of my life for the past 5 days.
thursday night bibay called. its been a while since bibay and i had our lengthy phone convos. la lang, just need to catch up. even if we have our blogs, syempre iba pa rin yung actual convo ryt?
friday 3 am: mom and i got picked up from the house by chingkit, her dad and putchay. actually woke up at 2 am so i could take a bath and get ready. at exactly 3:10 am we arrived at the dau bus station and luckily for us, may victory bus bound for baguio agad. as soon as mama, chingkit and i boarded, we were off! was planning initially to catch some snooze on the bus
, especially while its still dark. oh, well syempre chingkit and i ended up having our usual chitchat. good thing none of us have any problem with motion sickness
. but when we got to la union, chingkit and i were not able to fight our sleepiness anymore and went to sleep. mama on the other hand, didn't do so. oh well, i let her enjoy the sights
. arrived at baguio at 7:30 am. we went straight to the u.p. dorm to drop off our stuff. then, we were off to the downtown. first stop: u.p. so chingkit could get a transript of her grades there. then, visit the cathedral. then, breakfast at swiss baker along session
hmm. yum what i loved about this place is that the food is served home style. you dont get the feeling that you're eating on a fast food.
then, where off to slu (saint louis university). i had to submit
's application form and chingkit also had to get her grades from their law school (she's a dean's lister despite her being happy-go-lucky
) i also used this moment to get the feel of the university's environment so i could decide whether i'd go there for grad school...hmm...so far, i loved the environment there naman. its just the distance and the long travel that's causing my misgivings.
it took a while for chingkit to finish her papers so mama and i decided to wait for her at one of the canteens (slu's quite big din pala
) by the time she finished it was already 12 noon. but since we had late breakfast, we weren't hungry yet. so chingkit proposed that we go check out the books at diplomat muna. now, you see, i have long been so envious of chingkit's book collection. papa and i have our own at home bu its not as big as chingkit's. hihih! so when we planned this trip, chingkit promised that we'll go on a book hunt in baguio. now i understand how her book collection got so big. there's sooooo many books to choose from! as in! i was simply
with all the books! i thought, as i was happily unearthing titles i like, had dad been here, he would have taken a headlong dive unto this sea of books. i want to start collecting all agatha christie's books but on this particular branch, i didn't find any christie. but chingkit was very helpful and kept on recommending books. i ended up buying 7 books, one of which was "the immitation of christ."
the rest were classics. then walk walk walk towards...don henrico's!!!
i simply fell in love with their spaghetti...sigh...then off to burnham park. la lang, just took some pics. we didn't go boating anymore because the sun was up high in the sky. 3 pm ba naman. then off to mine's view park. first, we purchased some pasalubongs. the usual lengua de gato, strawberry preserves, choco pinipig, choco flakes and the
walang kamatayang peanut brittle. anytime to make anyone's tooth rot.
then we went to look for some plants. i cant believe that the cactus that sell here at 3 for 100, actually cost only 10 pesos each there! but mama chose a money tree and chingkit bought 2 malaysian peppers...after badgering the lady repeatedly assured her that they are really hot and that they are edible. chingkit actually wanted to taste them but the lady assured her there's no need for that because they are REALLY hot
then, we went around the park for some picture taking. mama was kinda afraid of heights so she didn't dare go near the part where you could see the valleys and the mountains. one thing that i was looking forward to about this trip was the fact that its a getaway. i could actually go around and have fun and see different sights and people. well, i was thinking, since this place is 6 hours away from angeles, i was confident i wouldn't bump into anyone i know. we were like "ah, what the heck! wala namang may kilala sa atin dito" NOT! chingkit and i were happily posing for and snapping pictures when i heard that immortal line i usually get when going around the mall in my hometown: HI MA'AM LAH-LAH!
yipes! it was one of my former nursing students, turns out he's there with his family. there you go folks, another proof that the world is not just
bilog, its also small. sigh...
then, we were soooo pooped so we decided to go back to the dorm and rest muna. we barely hit our beds when we drifted away to dreamland. woke up at 6:30 pm. as usual mama was the first to wake up. hihi! she's kinda hyper and really eager to go out again.
now this was the part i enjoyed the most. walking out in the cold night (as in smoke was actually coming out of our mouths) under the full moon. plus, alot of people were out so it was really really fun! we were supposed to check out the ukay-ukays but they closed early. the reason? midnight sale at sm. i didn't know chingkit's digestive can endure any type of food she consume. as we were doing our evening walk, she ate isaw and barbeque pork then binatog (or kiniliting mais in pampango...oooops, kilitian mais pala remember this one
kren?
). then we went straight to sm. went straight, well, what do you know, at diplomat bookstore there (diffeent branch from the first). hah! i had the time of my life unearthing more books and getting a. christies.
i ended up buying 8 more books so that brings my total of new books to 15. weeeh!
then chingkit asked: are we eating? now mama and i just ate some left over chicken from our lunch at don hen and chingkit just had isaw, bbq and binatog. i was like: "im not really hungry" and then my mom seconded. so we decided to go home. as we were making our way to the exit, our convo went like this: chingkit: di talaga tayo kakain? mama: di naman ako gutom chingkit: ako din me: pero giniginaw ako. bili kaya tayo ng mainit na inumin? mama: baka gutumin KAYO mamaya. bili kayo ng makakain nyo chingkit: tara bili tayo chichirya. 5 minutes later, we were happily having dinner a dinner of rice and 2 viands (
delle taught me this term which i stupidly didn't know exists in the english dictionary) with soup at the food court. then we were off to our dorm. chingkit and i spent a whole lot of time scaring each other with scary stories (she NICELY told me that this dorm is actually haunted and had been featured on tv). in the end, she slept on my bed. we read a book first before we went to sleep. then lights off. yes, i know baguio is known for its cold climate but i didn't know it gets this darn cold in the evening! now i know how it feels to be a turkey inside the fridge!
another thing, since there's two of us on the bed and chingkit was all curled up because of the cold, i ended up being squashed against the wall. i sooo wanted to curl up my self but i was being pushed back against the wall by chingkit. so i slept with my back and my legs straight against the wall
owkei...that didn't prevent me from getting a good sleep naman eh. woke up at 7 am to the sounds of men yelling while taking a bath. turns out, more bakasyonita's came during the night and are also staying at up. i had never appreciated hot water until i took a bath that saturday morning. wow!
then breakfast at mickey d's and then we were off to the lourdes grotto. another thing i loved about baguio was that the drivers follow the 5.50 minimum fare for regular passengers and 4.50 for students, senior citizens and disabled, proving that the standard of living in the provinces is really lower and less expensive. the lourdes grotto was the place mama really really wanted to see. so despite the fact that's its soo cold and it there are around 300 steps to the top (accdg to chingkit, i didn't dare count, i concentrated more on getting there without tumbling down the steps). i was so pooped and panting like a dog that when i got to the top, my prayer sounded like this: " dear god...pant, pant...thanks...pant, pant...so much...pant pant...please continue to ...pant pant...take good care...pant pant..." sigh, i think god, in all his knowledge and mercy, would comprehend
. then off to the market to buy veggies and flowers. good thing mama was good at haggling. that coupled with chingkit's knowledge of baguio prices got us some good deals. it was just sad that since the vendors are aware that alot of people are coming to baguio to buy flowers, they raised their prices. so we didn't get to buy the flowers in their usual low price. but at least, its still lower than atually buying them here. then we went back to our dorm and checked out. we were aware of the surge of people going to baguio for the break so we resolved to go home early so we wouldn't have any trouble catching a ride home. left baguio at 11 am and got home at 5 pm, finding the balibago roads closed for the tigtigan terakan king dalan (for full details, ask
delle ). sigh, i loved baguio and i was touched when mama gave me a big
on the cheeks and said thank you for the trip. awww...isn't that touching? hay, home sweet home. turns out
and my beloved brother took advantage of mom's absence and went to the tigtigan the previous night. oh well...
they deserve some fun too. we haven't finished the film yet so the pics have not been developed yet. will post them as soon as they become available
the rest of the days of the break i spent in the joyful company of my new books.
work resumed here yesterday, wednesday. i spent my entire day yesterday covering my books with the plastic i took from ro which he in turn pirated from the chem department. by the way, with all the veggies we bought from baguio, i resolved to return to my vegetarian life. actually, im a lacto-ovo vegetarian again.
delle decided to adopt a vegetarian life too, but she opted to be a pesco-vegetarian (which means she eats both veggies and sea foods) but actually, since she hates most veggies there is, she just eats fish. that's it. heehee! wish us luck!
by the way, here are the family of cute cats i was telling you about residing at the iso at admu. bart was nice enough to snap pics of them and then sent them to me. they are soooo cute no?!
November 5th, 2004
November 8th, 2004
sobresaliente rizal
Posted bylalah at 10:02 AM on November 8, 2004.
sigh, i cant believe its the start of the second semester already. and you guessed it, im still not up for it. as usual, i feel like kicking myself. i made promises to myself before the sem break started that i would do advanced readings on my subjects before the new sem starts. oh, well...given the fact i was surrounded with tons of murder mystery novels...well...heheheh!
hanggang ngayon wla pa rin akong alam! 
i was "saved" by today's transport strike.
okay na sana eh. last friday, we (me and my co-faculty members here) were hoping for a no class day when we heard of the transpo strike on monday. we waited anxiously for an announcement from the admin. then at around 5 pm, we received a memo: classes are suspended on monday (HOORAY!) due to the transport strike. however, faculty and non-teaching personnels are requested to report for work for the resumption of enrollment.
argh! count on the admin of this university to come up with alot of ways to annoy its employees and make them feel "loved." reason nila the strike will start at 8 am (and will continue till 5 pm). since we are to observe office hours, we have time to get to the office, before 8 am that is. it takes me two jeepney rides to get to school. i was successful in catching a villa jeepney. but when i got to the paradahan of the check point jeeps, the evil jeepney drivers there were already stopping their fellow-drivers who are still taking passengers!
i ended up riding a trike (in my uniform! as in in my skirt!) which cost me 20 pesos instead of the usual 5.50!
so here we are, at the office, bemoaning our fate.
hay, maybe we cant just have everything eh? so here's a full recount of my weekend.
friday: chingkit asked me to get some of her books and cd's from her former colleagues in the soc sci department. friday night, i decided to take a break from the world of christie and read some other material. i chose ching's book "Rizal Without the Overcoat" by ambeth ocampo. i had always been fascinated with rizal (though im probably a huge disappointment to him. far from emulating him, im a lazy bum hihi!) and i took great pleasure in reading biographies of him way back in college (thanks to that compulsory rizal course we took in college
. and i could still remember how our entire class went sooooo kilig with maria clara and crisostomo ibarra's love affair when watching taped episodes of noli me tangere. ahhh, the
kababawans when there are no boys around
. anyways, i was specifically fascinated with his travels and his knowledge of various languages, his love of learning and books ans his "masalimuot" na lovelife. i loved ocampo's book because it gives a new perspective on the legendary person who is both well known and forgotten. well known ksi he's our national hero and sabi nga ni ocampo, his statue in his usual winter coat stands at almost every municipio and school in the country and so many streets and roads bear his name. forgotten kasi very few people, sadly, take the time to get to know him more and emulate his example. i mean i remember, when i was in college, we usually refer to our rizal class as "art class," owing to the fact that instead of discussing his works, we were asked by our teacher to have a drawing book each where we copy his literary works and then put designs around it. parang interpret it through drawing
. so just write it in a fancy way or better yet, type it and use some fancy fonts and then just put in loads of lace, ribbons, beads and glitters and voila! a grade of 97.
anyways, ocampo said some of rizal's biographers magnified his personhood and exagerrated his qualities so that made him larger than life (no wonder the religion) . kaya naman i am interested in rizal books that tell us, he is human after all. here are some interesting points i read on the book:
1. his view on his knowledge of various languages. "it is also a misfortune to understand various languages because thus, one has more occasions to hear stupidities and nonsense. Lord, I said, thinking of God- because regardless of what friars say, I belive in God- if for six or seven languages that i scarcely understand I have unpleasant moments because of the nonsense i hear, what moments would God have, God who understands all languages, not only of men but also of animals? If I who am little less than ignorance itself (oh my god, what am I then?!) am so irritated to hear the stupid designs of only one man, how will God feel, God who is wisdom itself?" Oo nga naman...buti na lang hindi ako si Lord...I would have fired lightning bolts on all of you
2. Claro M. Recto fought tooth and nail for the rizal course to be included in our curriculum...and then now its one of the subjects college students leave behind just when they thought they are graduating na, then they flunked it pala in their third year and overlooked it.
3. rizal is a model student...di naman masyado. he graduated with a grade of
sobresaliente (excellent) in all his subjects...along with 8 of his classmates. so that makes them 9 out of a class of 12 with sobresaliente grades. so hindi pala sya valedictorian (ako din! ako din! sabi ko na nga ba marami kaming pinagkapareho ni rizal eh!). in ust where he took up medicine, he wasn't as great as our araling panlipunan teachers inculcated in us. he wa actually more of average in his medical subjects, probably due to the fact his inclinations were more towards the arts and letters. and then for some reasons, he didn't take the Licentiate in Medicine, so technically speaking, he culd not carry the academic title "Dr."
4. rizal a psychic? in his diary, he described a dream he had on 30 december 1883, he desribes the feeling of a dying man. this is of course, the exact date of his execution...13 years later. he also expressed his belief that he will not reach the age of 30. oh well, he was given an extra 5 years by the Lord naman. no wonder he chose the pseudonym Laong Laan which means "ever prepared."
5. during the early days, the church opposed the inclusion of noli and el fili in school curriculum. they said both contain lusty, immoral passages. here's an example daw. in the chapter where ibarra and maria clara and their friends went on a picnic by the river, the girls where separated from the boys, they were seated in separate bancas, with the girls' moms or old maid aunts serving as chaperone. so the boys cooked up something to get the girls to their banca. they told the girls their banca has holes so naturally the ladies panicked and thought they were actually sinking.
albino (a seminarian, one of the boys): have no fear ladies. the boat is quite safe, there are only five holes in it and not very big ones either. only five ladies, and only this big (making a circle with his tumb and index finger). just make sure you keep your feet firmly on the plugs and keep them down.
then, five young men transferred to the other boat in order to reassure the frightened mothers.
five "holes" in the banca with five girls and five "plugs" with five men. figure it out. now, who's got a dirty mind? rizal or the friars?
6. how he kinda served as the go between antonio luna and the mestiza nelly bousted. but after nelly spent many afternoons fencing with our national hero, well, you get the picture. in the end, they set a duel to settle the matter (luna did so in a drunken state). but thank goodness, antonio's bro juan berated his brother to apologize for his drubken behavior and so antonio told his friends to tie him up in a chair and gagged him the next time he gets drunk. wawa naman...
7. on the painting of luna "parisian life," if one would look closely at the 3 men in the corner leering at the lady making her self conscious, they are actually luna, rizal and ariston bautista pala. maybe i should ask gsis pgm winston garcia to check. hehehehe!
hay, basta, i enjoyed this book. i ended up reading it till 2 am. if because of christie i am now dying to take french classes, now because of rizal i am doubly dying to take spanish classes. argh! but now, sadly i have to hit my bio books or else i'd be stammering and cramming my brains for something clever to say to my students tomorrow. see yah all later!
p.s. I feel so sorry for
rho for losing his palm pilot last Saturday here. (i wasnt around so that excludes me in his list of suspects
) Stolen, we believe. Hmmm…maybe its time to call upon poirot or miss marple!
November 9th, 2004
[sometimes] it pays to be my sunny, funny self :-)
Posted bylalah at 06:38 PM on November 9, 2004.
since classes were cancelled yesterday dur to the transpo strike, today became officially the first day of the second sem. and im still not that up to it.
pero unti-unti na akong nagigising sa katotohanan . but i must admit, im still having difficulty getting up at 5 am for my 7 am class. Faculty B (we have a shortage of instructors, so we had to hire new ones. take note ha, they have to be master's degree holders daw and they'd only be teaching for 1 sem lang. next sem la na shortage of loads na naman kasi.
ang talino at bait ng school diba?! ) didn't show up yet and Faculty C (part time) backed out. so we divided their loads amongst us and so most of us, if not all, have extra loads. i ended up with three actually. that means extra work, extra pain in the neck, another stone to hit your head with but it also means extra pay. but its not that much. still, it's money and in this economically trying times, one doesn't have much of a choice diba? unless you are bibay or chingkit
. and i really really have to save up because come next summer, im a bummer again (i have no summer loads)
and if this vicious cycle and situation of alternating periods of load abundance and load shortage continues, i might be looking forward to a-no-work situation for me next sem. so i really have to save up while i still can.
anyways, faculty B is coming na raw in one or two week's time so temporary lang yung 2 extra loads ko. hay, that's life. anyways, here's my sked now:
MWF 7-9 Zoo Lab
10-11 Zoo lec
11-1 Zoo Lab
2-3 Eco lec (oh crap! with the marketing people!)
3-5 Zoo Lab
TTh 10-1 Zoo Lab
5-6:30 college bio lab with the crim people
sya ng MWF sked ko no? 
the MWF 7-9 zoo lab, 2-3 eco lec and the TTh 5-6:30 coll. bio lab are actually my extra loads.
met my first class kanina, zoo lab with the bsn 1-12. owing to the shortage of rooms, we have to have our bio lab at the physics lab!
thank goodness my students were nice naman...or is just because its only the start of class?
just some short intro then divided them to ggroups then asked them to label and draw a compund microscope.
hah! kala nila no! my lab assistants erinest and ryan. as usual, the huge class of nursing studes, majority of them girls, unleashed the "big bad wolves" in them. they spent majority of the time prowling and spotting for hot chicks in my class
(they used to do this with my psychology 1 class). anyways, they happily informed me that they spotted two and they are expecting to spot some more. Men!
then spent the rest of the afternoon typing class records for mam belle and mam gon and myself
. i am not much of a person who form negative impressions on people the first time we meet. i usually give myself time to get to know them first before making conclusions. but our new full time faculty is truly pushing me to do the opposite. i was irked with her the entire day for calling me "ate." argh! isn't obvious that she's older than me?!
i mean she has been teaching part time here quite some time now, way before me!
and then she's sooo pa-cute when she's the total opposite! hmp!
kainis talaga!
anyways, 5 pm was my dreaded hour this day. why? first day with the criminology people eh. this people are known for their brusque (carino brutal?), rowdy and boisterous manner, which were my reasons for having misgiving about actually taking the class.
most of the times, teaching them is a form of initiation for newly-hired faculty. i was just spared (baloy and mam belle got the "blow") second sem last year because their sked conflicted with mine. but now, i guess there's no way around the problem unless i throw away the monetary benefits involved. as 5 pm drew nearer, i looked more and more of someone headed to the gallows. so with so much last minute tips and "well-wishes" from mam belle and baloy, i mustered all my courage to actually face them today...20 out of 40 of them actually. hay, typical crim people. the start of the classes is the time when they start ENROLLING.
hay naku! not that im complaining, if you know what i mean
anyways, our first meeting went well naman. we went through all the necessary introductions and so far, they havent done anything that ended up in me annihilating the entire class naman. i just took to heart balon's and mam belles's and mam zen's advice:
lambingin mo lang sila. now dont start having visions of me a doing lap dance on each of them
i was just my usual sunny self. that's it. our day ended without any form of violence with me just being...me sometimes, it really pays to be cheerful (or flippant?! away with your second demotions
kren and
delle! :yell
catch you all tomorrow... i hope...
p.s.
im happy to inform you that my partner with the crim class is none other that hot mama
delle she'll be handling their lecture class. god bless both of us,
delle!
p.s. 2
no site of kiel yet...please god, let him not be in any of my classes, extra load or not.
Currently listening to: this love :-)
Currently reading: at bertram's hotel by a. christie
November 10th, 2004
November 12th, 2004
another year older
Posted bylalah at 06:31 PM on November 12, 2004.
yup, its me bday today. thanks so much for all who have dropped by to greet me
. i was specially touched for
kren's bday greeting for me on her blog.
and then of course
delle and ro, whom i barely saw actually until this moment. heheheh! so here's a full account of my life since yesterday.
thursday my favorite day at the moment. i only have two classes, zoolab with the bsn 1-12, then vacant till 5 pm. 5-6:30 pm, extra load of college bio lab with the crim people. not much for me to do actually, just the usual introduction to microscopy. i had so much fun with the crim actually. i know, i know i was dreading teaching them. but after two meetings with them, i discovered, they are not that bad at all. as in i had fun pa nga, kasi they are so funny. i agree with
delle, they have the right to be just like that: goofy, rowdy, funny and sometimes, stupid (but for them that's a form of entertainment. they think their doing service to others.
) for our meeting yesterday, i asked them to draw and label the microscope. very elementary i know. but u should be thankful if they draw as much the ocular or the mirror alone or, if they attended your class at all. i was surprised kasi they came prepared with pens and bond papers, some with the manual even and actually searched the net for the parts and their functions. miracle of miracles!
there were new students by the way. ahahahahahaha! more "twilight zones" came. im referring to the oldies, as in the oldies. can you believe there's even a father and son team in this class? the thing with teaching the oldies is that you both address each other respectfully. they call me "ma'am" because im the teacher, and i say "po" and "opo" to them because they are so old. hehehhe! you could see the
pagka-dyahe in them but i do my best to make them feel comfy and at ease all the time. at least they still grabbed the chance to catch up on their education diba? unlike some others who are given the opportunity but take it for granted.
what's more, when i was discussing, they were listening with rapt attention. now this IS a huge miracle because crim people are legendary for their 5-minute attention span.
in the end they came up with excellent drawings (well, some because they traced their copies but at least may effort diba?).
sayang extra load ko lang sila. next week i would no longer be their instructor.
as for the
sister act (our colleague who kept calling everyone ate and kuya) finally came to her senses. actually it wa due to baloy's "nice" and "humurous" approach. she asked her outright why she's calling us "ate"...
nang nakatawa a hehehehe! turns out she's two years my senior and she's 3 years baloy's senior.
and then by the way, i guess our other colleagues here are getting irritated too. even the ones who are older than her. they kept on sarcastically calling each other "ate" and "kuya." hahaha!
bad ba kami? wawa naman si xwing jaina baby...she thought i minded her calling me mama lah-lah. syempre naman, i find that sweet. i was just irritated with this colleague of of ours kasi she's acting like a baby when it doesn't look so good on her. hay! enough of that!
dumarating na ng paunti-unti mga new faculty namin, the ones we do substitution for. actually, they'd only be teaching part time, sister act included. i have mixed emotions. syempre im relieved to be relieved of some of my extra loads. but syempre, i wont be enjoying much of the extra pay kasi sandali lang. anyways, i'd still have 6 extra loads till january because now we need 3 full time and 1 part time (dati, 2 full time 1 part time lang). i was hoping i could actually get rid of the marketing people...in exchange for any other class...i so emphasized that to our department chair. i told him he could give me another extra load even. but as usual, owing to his extra short short term memory, he did just the opposite!
he RETAINED the marketing! argh! i guess he cant make use of his goiter problem as an excuse this time kasi he had that removed already!
hmp!
another annoying thing. since two of those who applied for the teaching posts were males, our colleagues here are already being malicious. they are thinking of "partnering" me with one of them, owing to the fact that i am still unattached (and i had never been for that matter). i mean now i understand how mam lynn, our nice co-faculty who is still enjoying her single-blessedness despite being in her thirties). so okay, i dont have any plans of ending up an old maid. sympre naman i also would like to have a love life. sabi nga ni xwing_jaina baby ko, every one starts with a sub zero love life. pero eventually it will just come diba? what i do not like is how some people think sa since you still do not hve a man in your life (or never had one ever), you are desperate na. they'd go through annoying heights to hook you with just anyone and then bug you all day long for latest updates. kairita diba? it doesn't mean na i dont have a boyfriend now, that's all i ever think of. i mean, im open to whatever life will throw at my way. if it comes, it will come.
friday my super dooper toxic day. but, its also my day
i told
delle and ro yesterday to be quite about my bday. you see im trying to save on money actually so im trying my colleagues' requiring me to treat them. i mean okay lang sa akin naman, last year i did just that. but at the moment money is rather tight. maybe some time but not now. so i told them to just greet me quietly and just give their GIFTS in secret hahahahahahah!
my plan was going so well, as in half of my day passed by without anyone other than
delle and ro remembering. this despite the fact that the ams that we all see first thing in the morning actually shows bday celebrants and it being posted at the dean's office. jairah, college student council greeted me but i was just in time to tell her to hush it all up.
my plan sana was that they would just remember next week, and since they forgot, they'd be ashamed to ask for a treat.
but then, as we were having lunch, the dean came because of a teaching demo. she said "uy, birthday mo! happy birthday!" i told her to tone down (take note, dean namin ito) but i wasnt quick enough. sir maze, our chair heard it! "birthday mo?!" oh well, that started it...anyways, since they still forgot all about it, they didn't dare ask for a treat
heheheheh! i know, i know. im so stingy now...sorry ha, low budget eh. bad talaga ako. so that's it. another year older. i was thinking last night, as the last hours of my 22 years were ticking away, i found myself as usual reflecting. what good have i done for the past year. teach? maybe, but to be honest, i didnt give it my 100%. im a lazy bone din eh most of the times. started volunteer work? maybe...i hope so...but i hope i could do more this year. as in. i love doing volunteer work. i love working with kids. i love contributing to the saving of the environment. i love contributing to society. i love making small wonders. i love making a difference, no matter how small...but i hope i could do more this year and in the years ahead.
November 16th, 2004
birthday night and ways on how to outwit a potential killer
Posted bylalah at 03:02 PM on November 16, 2004.
let me tell you about me birthday night. me and me gang (sounding like a pirate here...) had nothing planned for my birthday night. but then, our perky, oriental friend girlie and norman asked
rho if we want to get together. so there, we made arrangements to meet at our house at 7 pm. had spaghetti dinner with
delle and
rho. in the middle o dinner, norman and girlie came. turns out girlie came straight from manila and didn't attend her classes (she's in med school here
) because she attended her aunt's funeral. we couldn't believe it when she told us how she died. she was gunned down infront of her house by a still unidentified killer. her two friends witnessed the whole thing while they were on board a taxi waiting for girlie's aunt to get to her house! horrible eh? i dont understand what the world's coming to. people are getting more and more violent. well, her aunt, aside from being really rich (as is common amongst chinese people in our country), has no known enemies. the guy just came up o her while she was waiting for their gate to be opened. then asked her if she was this person. she barely said yes when the guy shot her, then fled on board a motorcycle. i guess this was flashed on the news last week. however, given or crazy mentalities, count on us to make a joke out of this event. well, girlie for one was bemoaning the loss of her money-laded
ampao this christmas.
this sister of her dad's turns out to be the most generous among her aunts and uncles. then she told us about the cremation. well, you see, being chinese, her relatives were very superstitious. before relatives and family were allowed to enter to witness the cremation, they were asked if they were born on the year of the carabao (huh?!). all those who said yes were not allowed, her father included. now she couldn't give us an explanation for that either. so her father tearfully allowed his children and wife inside. when it was all over, he asked girlie what happened. girlie, being the psychotic that she is, far from consoling her father, told him they skewered her sister before placing her to the oven. poor father, he was horrified
at the idea of his beloved sister being barbecued! tsk tsk! girlie
talaga! well, what do you know, after sometime,
delle, ro, girlie, norman and i sounded like a bunch of drunkards even if all we were drinking were pepsi and water. we came up with alot of crazy ways to confuse a potential killer. if someone came up to us and asked us whether we are so and so...we came up with the following responses to aboid being killed:
killer: ikaw ba si sheila cabral?
me: ako? hindi ah! (deny to death)
or pwede rin to:
killer: ikaw ba si sheila cabral?
me: hindi ah! hindi sya dito nakatira. (then go on describing your mortal enemy and give him explicit diretions to his/her house)
or this:
killer: ikaw ba si sheila cabral?
me: hindi ah!
killer: hindi, ikaw itong nasa litrato eh!
me: ay, hindi, tignan mo, payat ako dyan! ang taba nyan ha! layo ng hitura ko dyan manong!
(argue that that's not you on the pic)
this is norman's idea which is a variation of his tactic when confronted by a ghost (in which he'll imply play dead daw)
killer: ikaw ba si norman garcia?
norman: (grabs the gun and shoots himself na)
oh well, at least he wasn't killed, he committed suicide.
this is girlie's suggestion
killer: ikaw ba si girlie lu?
girlie: hmmm...laro muna tayo! taguan, ikaw taya. sige bilang kana!
delle raised the question: what if its an innocent person about to inform you you won the lottery?! edi if you deny you're that person you risk losing your millions so to be safe, ganito daw:
killer: ikaw ba si
delle mercado?
delle: hmmm...teka...ano muna yan? sabihin mo muna bakit!
o di ba? you just have to know how to make lambing to your potential killer. deny to death to that you are that person. or better yet, asking him first his purpose, baka nga naman it involves money. how about you? any suggestions? feel free to post them here! so we're all safe! hehehehe!
anyways, went to northern brew after that, a nearby coffee shop i'e never been to ever. as in walking distance lang from our place. had a lovely evening with my great and psychotic friends
spent the rest of saturday, sunday and monday snoozing.
today, just gave the bsn 1-12 a quiz in the lab. our dept chair informed us that its unlikely that the new teachers would report to work any time this week so we are still to continue with our substitution this week.
ay hihihihi!
just saw kiel on our way to lunch today. i know na what his section is, 1-23!
he's under baloy in the lab. so now im being "friendly" to baloy. heheheh! been volunteering to sub for her in case she too feels ill to teach
hay...he's like an angel talaga. parang so placid and calm on the outside pero parang animalistic inside...darn guimo for putting ideas like these on my otherwise innocent mind!
November 17th, 2004
evict the homeless and other heartbreaks at the moment...
Posted bylalah at 05:46 PM on November 17, 2004.
what a day! my head's already spinning! three lab move system exams, 1 lecture exam and 1 ecology discussion. that may sound easy but we are talking about 3 sections taking move system quiz for the first time! so you talk about a bunch of nursing students getting disoriented no matter how many times you have given very explicit instructions. haaayy...
kung si kiel yan, okay lang! haven't seen him today. i am totally hoping i'd run into him naman to somehow ease my misery
anyway, cute talaga nya. (as in talaga, bart
)
met the marketing students again today. this despite the fact i already delivered my farewell speech last friday kasi i thought the class would be taken from me na (so i ould take over the mass com class). turns out the new teachers havent finished with their application yet (di pa sila na-panel interview) so our substitution continues. and then our fickle and absent-minded department chair turned the skeds of the new faculty, so im stuck with the marketing people until january!
waaaaahhhh! it was weird having to attend their class today after i told them last week that's the last they'll see of me. and as usual, they cheered when i came, as if naman they're happy to see me. so there's no way around the situation i guess so i just tried to make the discussion as lively as possible without them being over excited. thank goodness it worked except for some
pasaways at the back.
...
argh!!! one of the new teachers came na. and guess what...they made me share my table with him. now before you call me selfish and evil, let me explain to you. you see, ever since i came here, i never enjoyed any personal space. for one thing, i am occupying dr. bognot's table (former faculty here, now dean of educ. why? because...
) anyways, even if she has her own office already, she never took her stuff from her table here at the bio dept. so i am left with a table with drawers full of her stuff, compartments full of her vast collection of thesis of her former student (for future use, recycle, recycle, recycle
) and a clan of roaches!
so im just left with the pigeon holes and one shelf where i cram all my stuff. im practically a squatter here! darn! i even lost my beloved cell phone because i had to leave it in my bag in the office because i had no drawers with lock to keep it in. then sometimes my pile of things (books, papers, data notebooks) topple over me so i get hurt pa physically
when baloy and mam belle got hired (i got hired one semester ahead of them), they were given their own tables.
di ba ang sakit nun?! so i never had such thing as my own personal space. and its important for a teacher to have personal space. not just to store your stuff but also so you could read or do your paper works.
hirap talaga, lalo na now i have extra loads 12 units pa! then now that we have new faculty members, they told me i am to share my table with one of them. take note, they made me share my table with a male faculty, in their malicious quest to hook me up with someone. so now, i am left with one option: to go and sulk at
rho's and
delle's office which is already cramped in the first place. then my malicious colleagues here ask me,
"bakit di ka maki-bond sa new seat mate mo?" arrgh! how will i do just that when we barely have space to stretch our legs! why cant the others (the oldies here) share their tables kaya? they dont update their lessons so they dont read much so they dont have much books. so their shelves are pretty much empty. plus they have very relaxing schedules so they dont spend that much time in the office naman. eh ako kaya, im super dooper overloaded,
parang dati pa na im one of the first people to arrive here in the morning and still among the last ones to leave during the evening! i dont mind doing extra teaching kaya lang sana naman i am treated humanely!
and another thing, i hate hearing people here every now and then bemoaning their "fates." that means their subtitution or extra loads.
kakainis! eh they only have around 3 or 6 extra loads, why dont they try taking 12?! i mean, its so irritating to hear them fishing for pity and sympathy when there are people in a much, much worse fix thanthem!
...
isa pang dumudurog sa aking puso ngayon my new seatmate was supposed to teach genetics. but he informed our department chair that he could no longer remember his genetics, so could they just give him a different load?...well, our dept. chair automatically said "sure!" argh! when it took me days of crying my heart out and swallowing all my pride when i was faced with that dilemma this first semester! i ended up being relieved of the chem lec load (thank goodness!) but not without fighting tooth and nail!
tapos, ito, bago lang, your wish is my command agad?! me, after i rendered unselfish service to the department by taking over classes they wouldn't dare teach (and i had to do extended hours pa because of that!)?! again, i am not being
ma-kwenta. i wouldn't have minded had they been treating me fairly. for sure after that they think of me as a brat. pero i dont care anymore! the hell with them all! another
bopols move of this university. we hired 4 new faculty member this sem when we can just divide the extra loads among us,
delle and
rho included. but no, they wanted people with master's degree daw. and they dont have masters degree either! then next year, 1st sem, they (along with baloy, mam belle and me?!) would be jobless again.
tama bang pa-asahin at gamitin ang mga tao? they're wasting human resources and money! kainis talaga...
sigh, i really adore cats. and i'd also love to have a dog 
hay...ay hihihi! just saw kiel on our way to lunch 
waaaaaahhhh!!!...ang cute talaga ni kiel hihi! 