Photoshop

Yay! Things are finally happening in my life again.
Monday 
For my PE (swimming) we had a diagnostic test to see how many strokes we could swim. The diagnosis was done individually, so most of the period was spent waiting for my turn with the teacher.

It was pretty awkward in the beginning, since it was the first meeting in which we would actually get to swim (the previous one was spent on lectures). It was awkward because there were only ten of us in class, all female, but you could tell that we were all shy about our bathing suits and such.

When we got into the pool, the water was FREEZING. It probably would have been refreshing if it were a hot summer day, but it was in the middle of November! My classmates and I spent a really long time just huddled together in one corner of the huuuuge pool, shivering and shy.

Eventually as more and more people got called on for the diagnostic swim, we broke out of the huddle and got around to practicing our strokes. Here I realized how terribly out of shape I was. I used to be an all right swimmer in high school, but this time around I couldn't make it past the halfway mark of the pool. And by the time I had made my way over to the opposite end, I choked on chlorinated water and couldn't breathe. I was fine after a few minutes, but why do I suck at sports so bad. u_u

After showering I was nice and fresh and ready to face the rest of my (really inconveniently scheduled) day.

My 30-minute lunch break was spent at Manang's, where I got the quickest lunch available: fried lumpia and a banana to go. Then it was time for History, and right after that, German (Ich sprechen ein bisschen Deutsch!), and right after that, Economics.

I cannot for the life of me recall what happened after that.

Tuesday
Tuesday morning is Biology morning for my block, where we have four hours worth of lecture and lab in SEC B. Our teacher, Ma'am Canlas, showed us this article about a guy named Craig Venter who was able to create life. You heard me. He created life. What this means is by combining nonliving material and a genetic code that the guy engineered himself, he was able to produce bacteria that could grow, reproduce, and do all other things bacteria are capable of.

The implications are staggering. Imagine living in a world with synthetic human beings. A whole new breed of people smarter, stronger, faster, and with perfect skin, hair and teeth. Resistant to any form of disease, possessing easily interchangeable organs, and equipped with telekinesis!!! (okay maybe not that) I can imagine Westboro Baptist Church changing their url from www.godhatesfags.com to www.godhatessynthetic.com. (That is IF the Internet is still alive by that time.) I don't know what to make of all of it. Would creating such humans be an "improvement" to life, or is this just us, overstepping a ton of boundaries in the name of science?

Anyway, on a lighter note, we got to use these really cool microscopes for Bio lab. They looked like they came straight from the NASA, with those cool lights on the side. 

How do Jules' beautiful lashes NOT get in the way?

We had to use these microscopes to count cells. Which would be easier if we were counting the little animals we observed floating around in pond water, but we had to count yeast cells. And there were so many yeast cells. SO. MANY. We used this little contraption called a hemocytometer to help us out (but it really wasn't much use).

Anyway, paramecia are cool. We captured them swimming around using a cellphone camera! Hopefully Rap uploads the video soon. In the meantime, check this out:

Later that day, Rap and I battled against Cheryl and Jess and all the other teams in the Jacobian Cup, an annual trivia contest held by the Ateneo Mathematics Society. We called ourselves Pokemanz and we answered questions like "What is the longest word you can type with one row of letters on a keyboard?" and "What is the name of the successor of Steve Jobs?" We made it to the semi-finals! In fifth place!

But that's as far as we went. We dropped down to 11th place. u_u In the end, we all got the same prize: a 15% discount at a salon on Mondays to Thursdays. ._.

Wednesday 
More swimming! :D I don't suck so bad anymore. My teacher said I have excellent kicks. n_n
In Health Sci (the subject), we discussed the possibility of having a JTP - Junior Term in the Province. While other courses are offering a JTA (Junior Term Abroad) where students go to other countries to study, the chair of the Health Sci (the course) Department, Doc Sio, said that he'd much rather have us study somewhere in the Philippines. So there's a possibility that I'll be able to spend my Junior year studying in Cagayan de Oro!!! AWESOOOOOME. I can enjoy an AdMU education from the comfort of my own home!

Later that day, my coursemates and batchmates Tang, Tricia, Arthur and I hopped in Eryne's car to go to Ospital ng Makati, where we were going to help out with Operations Smile's cleft surgery medical mission! We got really lost along the way (we were on the right street but we pulled over and asked for directions from some guy who pointed us to the wrong way), but I enjoyed every single bit of lostness. We got to see a lot of cool things. Like this place that had midget boxing. And a really fancy shmancy McDonald's. Oh, Makati.

The view along the Pasig River. Didn't look too filthy to me!  (click to enlarge)

When we got there, we met Dia's dad and were led into the pre-operating room, where our job was to cheer up the people who were going in for surgery the next morning!

Tang and Arthur, putting up the banner thingies.

After the banner thingies had been put up (see: right side of picture)

Tricia provided photocopies of pictures to color in, while Jemar gave crayons! Both the kids and the parents had fun coloring.

Dia blowing bubbles! The kids really, REALLY liked bubbles. It was a great idea bringing them. Thanks for the suggestion, AC! 

This little girl got jealous of all the bubbles the kid next to her was blowing and she cried! Fortunately another family was willing to let her borrow theirs. (Also, look at Rap's cool Totoro hat!) 

Ta-dah! One last picture before we left. (Dia was holding the cam.)  (All pictures courtesy of Diana Yap and Dia Cembrano.)

Dia's dad invited us all to dinner at Manila Polo. I have no idea where or what that is, but it sounds fancy. Anyway we had to refuse because it was getting late. We got back to Katipunan at 8 PM and had dinner at Mang Inasal. Mmmm chicken juice.

Thursday 

My blockmate Mariel had asked me over the sem break to make a blood facts poster for the Health Sciences Society project she's heading, Bloody Heal (donate blood starting next Wednesday!). She said the research would be sent over to me, and all I had to do was convert the words to images. It sounded like a tall order, but I agreed to it anyway because I love Mariel. 

Anyway, I got my hands on Adobe Illustrator CS5 and made the mistake of thinking I could pull of the design  work with a program I was not familiar with at all. So... I didn't get much done on Thursday.

Friday

I had my first Leadership and Strategy (LS) class with some of Block XX and some of Block XX1. Our teacher is Ma'am Cuyegkeng, former Vice President of the Loyola Schools! And she has her own Wikipedia entry!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma._Assunta_Cuyegkeng 

Anyway, she went around asking us about our dreams, and it was really nice hearing my coursemates and batchmates talk about working in public health, in DOH, doing research, involving themselves in community-based health care.

When I told my dad about this, he was cynical and said that we'd all end up helping only rich people and making lots of money for ourselves. Then I told him about my own dream of dividing my time between a hospital in the city and a health care center in some far-away barangay in the bukids. And then he said "Ahh, yes, yes. Kaya. You can do it." Hah. I bet on the inside he was going "She is so going to become a hobo." THANKS A LOT DAD. You can start sucking up to Caitlin for those F1 tickets! >:C 

Kidding. Went to the LFC Doc and Pub General Assembly afterwards. It was in the Aerie, the room next to the Cervini Cafeteria. Some of the people didn't know where that was. Which is sad, especially since they've been around for two years already (yes I'm talking about you, Clarice). >:C

Kidding again! After the assembly, I sat outside the Rizal Library with Rap while we waited for his driver, Isko. We talked about body-invading parasites and Rememberalls. 

Later at night I sat down to do that Bloody Heal poster, but this time swallowing my pride and going back to my primitive Adobo Photoshop CS. Hey, the interface may look pretty bad, but I do get a lot done with Photoshop CS.

click to enlarge

I even used Illustrator to draw a couple of things I needed for the poster: the tiny little heart and the tiny little leaf I used for the "Fluid" part, and a bone, which I lengthened using Photoshop. :))

click to enlarge

Right now I am feeling "that feeling" I get when I start learning a song on the guitar. Like I can be awesome at it if I just kept practicing and practicing. 

Anyway, time to get back to Bloody Heal. Tschüs!