the perils of

When thesis work means visiting 174 homes in the depressed areas of a barangay named Holy Spirit, you can never wake up in the morning and know exactly where you'll be in four hours. To illustrate, my day started with this: Just your usual 8 am street parade. And ended here. Roch is looking sad because she doesn't wanna drive. In between it all, we saw some pretty sweet sights... ...right next to a literal hole in the wall. This was in a computer shop, where we stopped to print our materials. It was next to the bakery above. A good sense of balance was essential because solid ground wasn't always that solid. Our ability to minimize was tested. by walls that threatened to close in on us. We reached a dark time but the light was never too far away. If you think this was enough for one adventure Try two. End.

This week in my Basic Design class, we had to make three calling cards: one for ourselves, one for a friend, and one for an existing business. The only guideline: your card has to represent the personality of the person it's intended for. We were taught the basics of color theory and, for the first time, were allowed to use color in our plates. Really exciting! Even better was that we were allowed to use Photoshop instead of just Illustrator! Squee! I felt like a bird being freed from its cage. Anyway, here's what I came up with: This is my personal calling card. The front flap has a cuddly little dog on it. When you lift it, you get a view of its mouth (which isn't as cuddly), with my name spelled out in dog treats.  I went with this design because, obviously, I like dogs. My original idea was that the dog's tongue was something you  could pull out to reveal my contact details. The flap idea that I went with was Rap's, although he had warned me in a...

This weekend marks the last week of classes. I had two exams, one for Biochem and one for Environmental Sciences. I did pretty bad on the Biochem test (well I guess a B isn't so bad, BUT I REALLY WANTED AN A!!!) and as for the ES test, I'll know my scores on Monday. Ugh. Monday. Such a crucial day. It will decide my fate for the next three days, whether I'll be in Batangas with my block, or in school with my ES book. (Speaking of the ES book, why on Earth did the ES department print it double-spaced? Think of all the trees they could've saved with 1.5 spacing. Maybe they were doing it to be ironic.) Anyway. Summer classes are coming to a close, and most of the Health Sci juniors have been spending lots of time creating a Biochem board game. Yeah, you heard me right. For our Biochem project, we're required to make a board or card game involving Biochemistry principles. The project is equivalent to one long test, so you can imagine how seriously we're taking ...

My friend Mariel asked me to make a poster containing blood facts for Bloody Heal (a play on "bloody hell," if you didn't notice), the Health Sciences Society blood drive. It was a really bad four days for me, what with my laptop and its perpetual lagging, but here's what I have to show for it. Copied from http://iamhealthsci.org : See you on Dec.14-16 at the Colayvo Pavilion. Know more about Bloody Heal and tips on preparing for this noble event: https://www.facebook.com/events/179088258854218/ Souvenir items await you if you register early! (tinyurl.com/bloodyhealprereg) What to do during the event: 1. Registration/Confirm pre-registration 2. Medical check-up for Eligibility to donate (to be done by medical experts from The Medical City) 3. If approved, wait for your turn While waiting, we provided fun games and activities like: -Playing Cards -Monopoly Deal -Movies (11am-1pm) (click to enlarge:) Infographic about blood donation! I hope nobody has done this...

Prat Avenue. Our hotel was right across the lingerie bar that didn't make it to this photo. Just got back from Hong Kong. Woohoo! It was the first time I've ever actually been anywhere outside the Philippines, and what an awesome first time it was. I don't wanna go into the details right now, because a lot of what happened was stuff I doubt you'd be interested in (but if you are interested in hearing all these familial inside jokes that were only funny because we were delusional from the lack of sleep and all the walking, do get in touch and I can recommend a good psychiatrist for you). Sooooo no, this won't be a how-to-survive-Hong-Kong-without-a-tour-guide kind of post. It will, in part, be a hey-look-at-these-pretentious-and-hipsterish-pictures-I-took post. (click to enlarge the pretention) I call them pretentious because they're pictures that pretend to actually mean something when all they are are just... badly taken pictures (except for the one wit...

Check out these sample ballots! I got them from my lola, who apparently has a pile of them lying around in her home, courtesy of our DILG. I had a lot of fun reading them. Instead of using the real candidates' names, COMELEC printed out names of Philippine artistas and bands, like 6 Cyclemind, Hale, Eraserheads and the like. Even Bon Jovi's here! I imagine that whoever made this sample used a Pinoy Song Hits for reference. Haha. Imagine a country run by rock stars and teen pop sensations. Or, even crazier, what if a movie actor who is also an ex-convict decided to run for president? Hah! What an insane world that would turn out to be! Sorry bout the horrid pictures. I have to make do with my trusty rusty phone cam, which has come in handy more than one occasion. P.S. I'll be off to Manila tomorrow! Gonna visit ADMU, a tiger, a manta ray and a dolphin, so I'm told. I couldn't be more excited!!! I LOVE TIGERS AND MANTA RAYS AND DOLPHINS!!! Hahaha. Seriously th...

The title pretty much sums this post up! Noynoy Aquino's rally started around five o'clock in the Divisoria kiosk. My family didn't go until six because my mom gets out of work six-ish. And we all dressed up in yellow, complete with matching Mar Roxas ballers (because we didn’t have a Noynoy one) and camera phones for snapping pictures to post on blogs, like any die-hard supporter. Anyway, when we got there, the place was packed - it was a sea of people surrounding the kiosk, and there were even more people behind the kiosk, and even more people behind the people! (If I'm not making sense, that's because I haven't had breakfast yet.) We settled with this comfy little spot in the crowd. It was comfy enough that we could see both the speaker and the image of the speaker projected onto this white screen. Ralph Recto was the speaker when we got there. I must take time to mention his ballers, which I found quite amusing because not only do they say "I ♥ Ralph...

Let it be known that on this day of April 18, 2010, Sunday, 9:31 PM, RJ Floirendo said that he'd treat us out to a meal and bring Sir TJ along! Note to self: Remember this conversation when I'm bored and studying in ADMU.

Missy Bon Bon , a popular cafe/restaurant in Cagayan de Oro City, recently opened its main branch in Limketkai Mall, Rosario Drive. With a small but oh-too-cute booth in Robinsons Mall, the store had already captured the hearts (and stomachs) of me and my sister. So when Missy Bon Bon announced that they were awarding prizes to the first hundred people to visit when they opened on April 16 at 7 AM, we just knew that we had to be there! We woke up at 5:30 and got there by 6. Already the line was really long! I was #86 in line, and my sister was supposed to be #87, but she got pretty sick because she wasn't used to waking up so early (I know - what a wuss!) so my dad had to come back and pick her up. And, I SURVIVED! For two hours. I tell you, it got extremely hot at one point, I thought I'd pass out. But that's really nothing compared to what this Miko guy went through: I just found out by going to Missy Bon Bon's Facebook page that the earliest one, the lucky kid named ...