Matriculation Day

My knees feel like jelly. I am so damn tired after today's activities. Orientation was scheduled for the whole day (and night), but I finally matriculated in the afternoon, which took about 3 hours.

My knees feel like jelly. I am so damn tired after today's activities. Orientation was scheduled for the whole day (and night), but I finally matriculated in the afternoon, which took about 3 hours. I made Yen Chui, a mild-mannered friendly girl from my OG a personalized Newater bottle with her name on it, using pens and markers, as part of my Nixes (god of water) OG. I didn't think it was outstanding, but I think it was kinda nice. Dunno if she's seen it yet.

In the afternoon, I missed the internal games, which doubled as an "Amazing Race" kind of thing around the hall. I think. I don't really know. Instead I matriculated at the Multi-purpose Sports Hall.

The first part, the actual thing, was fast, since the Office of Admissions took charge of most of the requirements. I had to wait though, as the lady redid my matric card, from SORONGON JOSEPH CAPIRIG, to the correct JOSEPH CAPIRIG SORONGON.

I checked out the laptops, and I'm eyeing this Fujitsu Tablet PC which only costs S$2898 (+ tax). I think it's still P33 = S$1. And, I'm rather interested too, in the Mac. I like it different, see. I can't help it, I like those computers with a cool, stylish design. (That's why IBM doesn't appeal to me much. Hehe.)

I thought I was over, but it turns out the exit was blocked, and we had to go to the fair of CCAs (Co-Curricular Activities). There I was shoved application forms and sign-up sheets, all by eager and friendly fellas. Rather difficult to refuse them, so I signed up for LOTSA things. How can you exactly refuse someone who says, "We're from the Welfare Comm. We take care of the mentally ill, the out-of-school youth, the patients in some hospitals. Are you interested to join?" I signed up for the Choir (tryout muna), Mathematics Society, Toastmasters, The Ridge (publication) and heck, even gave my contacts to the welfare comms, the fencing team (which I'll miss in KE hall), some archery and judo and karate and Catholic groups, and even golf! I don't know which I'll keep, but most of them gave me handouts as to when's their Welcome Tea, so I'm not committed to anything just yet.

P.S.My matriculation photo is finally a recent one! In my bridging matric card, my photo was a stretched copy of a pic when I was in 2nd year high school. This time, my photo is barely a month old.

Rotana and Ivy commented that my previous photo is better. Oh well. I have some growing younger to do, if I wish to satisfy the viewing public. ;)

Strip

Jackson's the name. My new neighbor. He's a Singaporean student with a taste for loud music. I don't mind much, since he's playing good popular songs. Although it seems a teeny bit loud, and it's rather odd that I seem to be nakiki-kinig. Hehe. There's a guy already in the room to my right, but I have yet to ask his name. ;)

The freshmen orientation finally kicked off this afternoon. Quite fun, actually, especially that my orientation group (OG), seems pretty excited and cheerful. The Orientation thing of the hall is named Effresione (what?), and it has 5 OGs which represent the elements: Mokos (earth), Reccas (fire), Nixes (water), Titus (metal), and Zephyros (air). Cool eh? I'm with Nixes, which is just as well since I'm an aquarian.

One of the games we played involved me being "It". Okay, so not exactly "it", but the poor guy who has to do the punishment. The fellows were yelling "Forfeit" or something, but basically that meant a task for the poor victim. So, after the previous victims did pole dances and other stuff by pair, my turn finally came.

We played this annoyingly fun game (aside from the incredibly crazy ET game) which involved tapping our hands on the floor. I was sandwiched, or cornered, or something, and thus I was set to be the next victim. We played again to find a partner, and it was Cheong Chye, a seemingly good guy. Finally our task: to remove each other's shirts without using our hands.

Cheong Chye was good at the task, and, apparently, so was I. Hehe. He used his mouth to bite my shirt from behind, and I bent and twisted until he successfully pulled my shirt with his teeth. I did the same to him, all in one bite. I was suddenly reminded to do some ab workout of sorts. Everyone was looking and cheering! Too bad there can only be one shirtless public debut. (Swimming not included.) Hah.

The waving neighbor

It's 12:19pm and I'm in the room waiting for lunch. It's gonna be different this time, as it will be the first lunch with the rest of the orientation team of the hall, as well as with my fellow freshmen.

I've gotten quite used to being the only one in my floor, with empty rooms across and beside my room at D103. Just this morning, the local Singaporean students checked in, and it seems that I have neighbors now. hah. Actually, it's a rather awkward thing, with the guy from D104. See, I was in Nirorn's room, as my fellow ex-bridging stude had also just checked in just minutes earlier. His block, C block, is beside my block, and I have a good view of my room from his. Now I was peering through his window to show him how close my room was to his, when I first noticed signs of activity in my neighboring room.

It seems like I have neighbors now! I excitedly told the small bunch of scholars which gathered in Nirorn's room. Apparently, my voice seemed a little too loud, as Korinna, who turned to look, told me that my neighbor actually noticed, and WAVED BACK at us. I looked again, and he was gone.

Now I'm back in my room, and it seems that I have neighbors on either side of my room. I wanted to knock and finally meet the waving neighbor, but I chickened out. He's got company, I hear, based on the music and some cheery laughter from the room.

I'll catch him later, I guess, during lunch at 1pm. Talk about awkward. But I'm rather thick-skinned anyway, so this is just a minor glitch. ;)

Two weeks of orientation coming up. After loong discussions with my Pinoy fellows, and my two new Malaysian friends Wilson and E-Wei, who both came over to my room last night, I've finally decided to join the camp, although it just cost me S$70. Should be worth it. =P

ANYWAY

I've read something somewhere about a poem or a life strategy (ala Dr Phil and Stephen Covey) that talks about doing things ANYWAY.

you know what I mean. When shit happens, do your stuff anyway. When the world blacks out, your house burns down, you slip off a building, you cut your finger off by accident, you get locked in the elevator for days, you swallow the entire wishbone (you get the drift), what the heck -- do the good stuff anyway.

i think it's brilliant. soemthing we all should do. it's hard, but do it ANYWAY. we just keep walking, or running, whichever way you pace your life.

ANYWAY, pardon my random ramblings. that's what you get from me at 3:51 in the morning actually. hehe.

yesterday was a good day. the day before it, stressful but ultimately manageable.

the other day was packed. i had to do a medical checkup early in the morning, and was more than surprised to be requested to have a repeat urine test because of some trace of blood. freaked me a little actually. but grace under pressure allowed me to fumble a cheery "no problem!" to the nurse.

right after the checkup, i rushed to the orientation for international freshmen (Even if we took a similar one last year, Ms Tan of the Ofc of Admissions insisted we attend). it was to start at 9:30am, the time when my checkup ended. i took the bus, rushed into the big hall, and took a seat. i looked around for my fellow ex-bridging scholars, and SMSed Kor and Ivy for their whereabouts in the hall. turned out i was alone! the cambodian scholars finally arrived, but still, i was the only pinoy in the whole group of about 700(?) or more.  

the roll call of the countries began. lots of them from mainland china, as well as the usual big groups of malaysians and indians. the humorous emcee and head of the Ofc of Student Affairs then rattled off the countries in SEAsia, the usual scholars. Afterwards, he asked the big group if their were any other countries represented. Hands shot up gamely, as everyone was in a light mood. "Which country are you from?" the emcee would ask. "Nepal!" a person shouted from his seat in the upper rings of the large amphitheater-like hall. Round of Applause. There were some small groups who got up to be recognized, but to some who were alone, the emcee even asked the name. "Korea!" a guy shouted from the middle column. I forgot his name though.

"Any more countries?" the emcee asked after everyone seemed to be recognized. Mustering all courage, I was about to raise my hand when he remembered. "Anyone from the Philippines?" It was my cue to raise my hand, as the other students looked behind them to see me in the upper rows. I looked around, still hoping my friends were just hiding somewhere, but nah. "What's your name?" "Joseph" I said, as loud as my persistent cough would allow. "Pardon?" The other students, who had just turned to look at the emcee, gave me a second look. "JOSEPH. JOSEPH." i shouted again. "I'm sorry?" came the puzzled reply. This time some international students were saying my name aloud so the emcee could hear. "Kindly use the mic please." I was flustered, but of course, had to be calm under pressure. I walked a few feet towards the mic, and said my name. Then the game applause.

Later, the head of the International Relations Comittee (IRC) of the Students Union addressed the crowd. I recognized him as Neeraj, an Indian who I had the chance to meet in last year's food fair. He proceeded to invite the studes to join the IRC. "Come join, there are several of us international students there. Some Filipinos -- many Filipinos in fact --" That was true, I thought, as a bunch of my Pinoy seniors participated actively in that comm. "So Joseph --" I was completely thrown aback, at this second recognition by the speaker, the turning of heads making me melt like cheese "--you should come and join too." I managed a small nod and a feeble smile.

Yesterday afternoon, the freshmen orientation team of Kent Ridge Hall, gave the foreign students a small tour of Singapore, and sponsored a sumptous dinner with some 8 or more dishes at a restaurant in Ginza Plaza. As I was introducing myself to my Nisha, an Indian girl, "Oh! I know you. You're the Filipino yesterday at the orientation." Some 5 of them recognized me from the other day, and although I felt a bit scandalized and embarrassed, it was a good way to start the conversation going with my new hallmates. The KR people are extremely friendly too, and i can tell that it's the genuine type of "friendly".  I'm looking forward to orientation next week.

FINE

i'm okay now. that bit i told you about me being depressed? umm.. it's not really showing, so that's a good sign right? (hypocrite) i'm working on it, don't worry. besides, i'm the fast coping, versatile type.  

i'm okay, too, after some worthless sicko hacked into my friendster account and maliciously edited my profile. whoever you are, you, GO TO HELL.
but as i also happen to be calm under pressure, i'm not panicky or anything. i'm fine.

now i don't usually write hate stuff like this, so let's allow for a moment of shutting up.
won't take long. ;)

 

i wanted to blog about how i arrived in singapore last night, about how i overpacked yet again, how my dad bumped the parked van in front of 

*knock on door. i answer. orientation seniors. amazing how they think i'm perfectly fine.*

our car at the airport, and stunning an old lady who was almost hit, about how my kilos of excess baggage AND excess hand baggage were thankfully ignored, how i coughed and coughed and coughed so much i thought i'd spit out my pancreas all the way to singapore, in the airport where i momentarily got lost and in the taxi driven by an uptight uncle,  about how i waved at someone who looked like ivy when i saw her in kent ridge hall but it turned out to be some stranger who also cheerfully waved back, about how AMAZINGLY wonderful kent ridge hall is with its luxurious facilities, and about how incredibly stressful my day was today [solo meeting with a kind lady from the admissions, Qualifying English Test, and THREE unsuccessful and ultimately stupid attempts to have my medical checkup].

i wanted to blog about all those, but right now, i feel so fucked up and bloody depressed.

don't ask. i hope amazing race tonight at 10 will keep me back afloat.

 

HEADACHE
 
let's see how a blog turns out when the blogger has a horrible headache, dripping colds, and is burning with fever.
 
what happened na ba? okay.
final na, Kent Ridge Hall now, no longer King Edward VII.
apparently, that also means no more fencing, no more Pacey roommate, no more double rooms at all in fact.
mas maganda nga naman ung hall in terms of physical structure. bago pa.
buti na rin cguro un. andaming bago.
engin to sci fac, now KE to KR -- what next? dapat tumaas na grades ko. hehe. although di naman mababa tlga as of now. at least i get to start all over again with a year's worth of acquired wisdom.
 
i've been doing some shopping of stuff lately, as i'm leaving on TUESDAY.
God, on Tuesday na nga pala. that's three nights away.
nah, no more melodramatics for me. it's not the first time i'm gonna be leaving anyway.
but shempre mamimiss ko home and family and friends. hehe.
 
so i've bought some soaps and haircare stuff and some clothes and toothbrush and wallet and instant foods, pero somehow di matapos tapos. i'm sure i'm gonna overpack again, although i will try my best not to.
 
on my trip today to surf the net at a net cafe (um, right now!), i failed to meet a friend of my mom so i could give her a letter for my lola, just as i failed to find a GE flat iron my mom wants (i've been to 5 stores?), BUT, mam lope, our school registrar found me as i was checking out watches at gaisano south. ayun, nalibre tuloy ako ng lunch. hehe. she was with kuya robert, a pisay alumnus of batch '97. friendly guy too.
 
anyway, may sales sa mga malls dito pero i can't seem to find a good shirt that satisfies my criteria of style, price, comfort. makahanap na nga sa SM. i've been searching like crazy for a watch, but apparently, THE watch is waiting for me in some shopping store in singapore.
 
sige na, tama na siguro. ang sakit sakit na po ng ulo ko. i misght as well go home and pack.
 
i guess my next entry will be blogged in singapore na. wish me a safe trip.

AN UPDATE FINALLY

hello once again. since it's been, as usual, a long time since my last entry, i have decided to finally break the long peaceful silence and update, um, myself. (or update you, or update the blog, or whatever it is.)

+ IN SINGAPORE ON THE 20th, NO MORE MANILA STOPOVER
okay. so after a looong time planning of my luzon adventures, it all gets scrapped as i'm taking the direct flight to singapore on july 20. it's kinda sucky that i don't get to see my friends in ateneo and UP in QC, and even jay in LB, and have to skip a treat from birthday girl dea, and be deprived of the happy noise and sticky pollution of metro manila. sorry guys, i really wanted to go. turns out that passing manila would cost me AT LEAST 5000 bucks more than if i took the direct flight to singapore, valid for 6 months. ayun, my folks decided na un na. next time na lang.

+ STATISTICS NA PO COURSE KO
it's farewell to Industrial and Systems Eng'g, the course that i never yet encountered. i've decided to take up Statistics instead, on the road to HOPEFULLY enter Computational Finance in my 2nd Year. ComFi, they say, is an ultra tough course (which brice is also bent on taking) which has limited slots. the application begins only after completion of a year's worth of qualifying modules, so it's Statistics for now. iff i don't qualify for ComFi, then Statistics is more than fine. In fact, dahil sa econometrics/statistics last sem nakatungtong na rin ako finally sa line "A". ;) A- nga lang. hehe.

+ DOG DUTIES
oh yeah. my neverending dog duties. the dogs are okay. piggy's fine, although we had to separate her from her pups to avoid furhter "infestation". and so all three pups stay in the kennel, around which i built and rebuilt and rebuilt and rebuilt (ang galing makatakas nung 2 dogs) a makeshift fence made out of pots and gallons of paint cans and whatever i could find.

+ NEW SINGA SCHOLARS, PISAY F-DAY
on July 9 was the awarding of the newest batch of singapore scholars in marco polo. there was an awarding in manila some days ago, but it was on this day for the mindanao bunch. 3 of the 5 lucky kids were from pisay davao, and i sincerely am proud of them. pinapunta pa kami old scholars dun to assist, and i acted as usher. fun naman. the parents seem so worried that they ask me lots and lots of stuff. hehe. only too glad to help.

pisay foundation day variety show that same evening din. so after the afternoon affair at the maroc polo, we all went to pisay. MY SISTER WON SA MODELING! yiheeee! i'd show u the photos sometime. it was some neo-ethnic something something modeling show. the dances were terrific, the song numbers were good, and the MTV's were okay. anyway, this time i was a stage brother who took photos and broke his camera in the process. hmph.

+ BLEEP BLEEPS
ignore nga pala mike's supposed scandalous tags. you see, mike, karen and i went to this bar slash disco last saturday, called Liquid. i thought it was a disco place like the venue, but was rather more like a bar which turned disco at around midnight. for the record, i was sober enough to wash up, brush my teeth, dress into my pantulog when i arrived home. i didn't throw up like karen (haha), whose memory lapses about that night i will have to fill in sometime. haha.


that's about it, for now. trust that i'll be back blogging more often when i reach singapore. that is if i settle this squabble regarding our residence hall. till the next one!

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

let's get the good news over with, because i'm not feeling too well.

GOOD NEWS
1. i got to visit my lola in kidapawan over the weekend. i basically ate quite some durian, helped with some chores when i felt like it, and basically just relaxed from my "dog duties".

2. karen finally paid me the ransom money this afternoon, AND with 20 bucks interest. 20 sing dollars not bad right? that same 20 bucks, incidentally, was used for ..

3. a late lunch at Picobello. it was sumptuous late lunch with karen and mike (who is in the next cubicle of this net cafe right now)


BAD NEWS.
1. black pup died while i was in kidapawan (part of me wondered what would've happened if i stayed in davao nlng)

2. [HORRIBLE NEWS] my fellow singapore scholars xaypanya and noe noe aren't gonna be joining the rest of us scholars this coming term. i just chatted with xay and he was informed only this morning by the director about the news. so sad. i could tell the poor guy was depressed. i heard that the MFA is readying his and noe noe's flights home. i'm sure gonna miss my favorite loatian and burmese, respectively. i'm gonna miss xay especially, especially since i so happen to be his unofficial english tutor. hehe. best of luck you guys. you'll be missed.

WOW ang haba ko magsulat. sensya na po.

DOG TALK

Helloooooooooo. Kumusta naaaaa.

That's me drawling my words.

Gikapuy na gyud ko ba. Bat naman kasi, nagpapakabayani pa raw ako. You see, my main aim for the past week has been to SAVE THE MUTTS.

I told you before right, that i had 8 dogs to feed? Here, count them uli.




Ayun, there are five of them na lang, and only four out of the seven puppies. I'm not worried much about Piggy (yes, that's the mother dog's name), but the puppies, who have, sadly been dying one by one.

I remember it was some time last week when one of the three brownish black dogs died, then on Sunday, it was the littlest light brown dog who passed away. Then, only last Tuesday, the other brown dog, who seemed rather limp, decided to stop breathing as well. So sad.

What's miserable is that I see them getting weak by the hour, then they gradually lose their appetite to eat food or suck milk, even if I try to feed them powdered milk using a dropper. What do I do nga naman kung ayaw kumain kahit anong pilit ko? I end up utterly helpless.

This time, it's the little jet black dog (see photo) who seems to have it coming. The rest of the pups are giddy, rushing to their mom to suck milk, while the little one just stays behind to what, sleep or something.

Oh yeah, did I tell you what's killing them all?
Yep, another F word. Those blasted fleas ought to fuck off and DIE.
Pucha, they only seem to fuck around and multiply.

I haven't left the house much this week, for fear that another dog would die. Today I was planning to go to Kidapawan, but it seems that the black dog won't allow me.

Yesterday was the horriblest of my dog chores. You see, I am left totally alone at home during the day, and it is assumed that I take care of the house. That means I clean up dog shit and pee, and feed them and make sure they're basically fine.

The flea attack was intense, so I bathed a couple of dogs, and rubbed them all flea powder. I was on the lookout for these crawling fleas near their kennel, when I realized, the fleas and ticks were all over the front wall of our house! Our cement wall has an "anay" finish, as architects say --the type where there are little crevices of sorts here and there as design -- and it turned out to be the perfect home for the fleas.

I rushed to the gasoline station in the heat of the midday sun, bought some kerosene, placed it in a small bottle, and then i started what I like to call my BUG COLLECTION.

Ayun, I watered down a lot of the fleas, especially the big fat bloody (no that's not British) ones, and took em for a fatal soak in the bottle. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon de-flea-ing the dogs, armed with my fingers and the good old walis ting-ting, until my bug collection was happily floating in my bottle for all the world to see. (The "tiris" method which I used for a few days was getting too messy and unhygienic.)

The fleas keep rolling in, even today, and the little black dog is still weak. I wonder if I can still go to Kidapawan, given the situation, but my mom is rather more fatalistic than I am, and suggests I don't mind the dogs too much.

Ewan ko. We're gonna give away all of the puppies except one, but it just would TOTALLY suck, if the black one dies, and out of the original seven, only three survive, in just a week of flea attack.


P.S.
On a happier note, happy birthday to my mom!
She turned 52 last Wednesday, which turned out to be a holiday pa.
Born in 1952, and now she's 52. Hah.
Trust my mom to think of those clever stuff.

P.P.S.
Tama, i've fixed the blog up. sana okay na tingnan sa mga screens nyo. I also did some stuff, removed some photos etc.. Just click around nalang. Ewan kung okay na, since iba tong screen sa tinrabuhan ko. Hope it's okay na.

P.P.S.
I'm going back to Singapore sometime before July 21. Then I can blog often again. I hope to still go around Manila, pero up to now, di ko pa nafinalize. Haaay. Bilis ng panahon.