the perils of

        Do you know how it feels when you're running a marathon, and you realize that you're almost at the finish line? Do you know what it's like to push yourself to run harder and faster - ignoring the frantic beating of your heart and the tiredness of your lungs - because you know that the end is only a few more breaths away?         I've never run a marathon, so I wouldn't know! But right now, there are less than three weeks before the final exams. Figuratevely speaking, I can feel this run coming to a finish.        Before the semester ends, I should probably post all the pictures of things I'd been meaning to blog about. I know I've hardly been blogging these past few months, and that I usually just post once every four weeks (a stark contrast to my 2010 record of about 20+ posts per month). To make up for that, here's everything you missed. July A mini-museum was put up in the Ateneo de Manila Grade Sch...

I forgot the PAWS volunteer orientation was today. Instead of signing myself up and learning the ropes around the Animal Rehabilitation Center, I spent the whole day in my dorm, playing Pokemon Leaf Green on a GameBoy emulator. And to think that this was the day I'd been looking forward to since classes started! :| alsdfj aslf jas; zas a[sklf as; Looks like I'll have to wait until next year for the next orientation. :| In other news, it's been two weeks into the semester and it's still been pretty good. Mr. Pulan actually complimented us ("us" being the whole of my English block) on a job well done writing our personal essays. He said something along of how he could see why we were placed in Advanced English, and that we had some real talent. But then he said that we can't just be satisfied with knowing how to write well. He said that we had to push ourselves intellectually and take on more complex topics. This, I think, is one creative ploys of ...

I've finally got my class schedule! Woohoo! The enlistment itself was just about an hour long. Picking out a P.E. is what cost me so much time. But turning my schedule into something cheery and colorful - that took an hour and forty-five minutes. :) (click picture for high-def... if you wanna... you don't have to.) Everything's looking pretty good, except for Monday. Ugh. Four straight hours of Chemistry! Torture! What I love is that the very first class I'll be having on M-W-F mornings is English. And then Literature! Woohoo! And check out my Wednesday. Only two classes in the morning and then it's FREEDOM all the way! . . . Oh yeah. About my P.E. I really wanted running, and I was ecstatic to see that there was a slot left. But when I clicked the "enlist" button, it turns out somebody had beaten me to it. Grrr. So now it's Tai Chi. It wasn't a very hard decision to make, actually. There were very few P.E.'s left that still had slots availabl...

While I was skimming through a really old issue of Meg magazine, I spotted this ad for PAWS - Philippine Animal Welfare Society. It featured pictures of different cats and dogs, and at the center was a drawing of two kittens and a puppy holding up a sign that read SOS - Save Our Strays. Now I had seen this ad in this magazine about a bazillion times already, and every time I saw it I'd always wish I were in Manila to help those poor little critters. But this time, something else caught my eye - the address of the PAWS Animal Rehabilitation Center (PARC) printed at the bottom of the ad. "PARC, Aurora Blvd, Katipunan, Loyola Heights , Quezon City." I jumped! Katinpunan! Loyola Heights! That's where ADMU is!!! So earlier, I went online to the PAWS website and found this: (click to embiggen) Weeee! PAWS doesn't look too far away from ADMU! This is so great! I really wanna volunteer for PAWS. I got so excited just reading their volunteer application form! ...