To paraphrase what I had mentioned many times before, the "eventfulness" of an event isn't measured by the presence or absence of blog entry to chronicle it, especially in this age when the great issues of the world can be given equal blog treatment as the mundane.
While I still believe that, I'm making an exception. I believe that one's birthday -- a person's own space and time of all the days of a year -- must be treated with enough attention and regard that it is rendered "blogworthy", even if it is mentioned only in passing.
That's why it saddens me that I haven't found the time to blog about my 21st birthday. It's a combination of fatigue, laziness, distraction, and just the good old CCA and School work that's been keeping me busy.
It was a happy day, though, February 8th. I thought it would rival last year as the worst birthday ever (OK that's slightly an exaggeration, but only slightly), and it did, for a while, until my friends and family came to save the day, in various methods of communicating their presence. I appreciate it all.
I'll write a proper blog entry for that day, it really depends, in large part, to The Ridge, NUS Choir, and Financial Mathematics and my five other modules.
Mr. Brightside
"If anything," Sgt. Pepper was telling me earlier tonight, "this whole experience has taught me to appreciate myself more, to find solace in solitude, to hang on to those to whom I matter, to take more notice of what I am capable of (never mind whatever else), and to be more keenly aware of the presence of God."
Well said. Your rainy days will just be miserable if you don't find anything to be joyful and thankful for, really. I wish you happy days, Sgt. Pepper.
Ma sent me an email to say, among a few other things, that my granduncle Lolo Gario passed away a few days ago. He and his brother, my own grandfather Lolo Yoyong, who had passed away in 2001, were very close, and they had nothing but the fondest memories of each other. Mama was saying that she could imagine them having a good time in heaven right about now, and I guess that's the way to look at it.
I visited Lolo Gario in my short trip to the Philippines in December. He lived an hour away from my Davao City, and their extended home was most accommodating to me and my grandma. He was not in good health, though; he had then just suffered a stroke, he was thin, his speech had turned mostly unintelligible.
(Photo: [counterclockwise] Lolo Gario, his sister Lola Ime, his grandson and my cousin Tyron, Lola Gloria his wife, and my Lola Doding)
We were never really close, really. I seldom met him. But he was family, he had this peculiar familial warmth about him when we met, and I can't help but be a bit sad. Say hi to Lolo Yoyong for me, Lolo Gario. :)
Well said. Your rainy days will just be miserable if you don't find anything to be joyful and thankful for, really. I wish you happy days, Sgt. Pepper.
Ma sent me an email to say, among a few other things, that my granduncle Lolo Gario passed away a few days ago. He and his brother, my own grandfather Lolo Yoyong, who had passed away in 2001, were very close, and they had nothing but the fondest memories of each other. Mama was saying that she could imagine them having a good time in heaven right about now, and I guess that's the way to look at it.
I visited Lolo Gario in my short trip to the Philippines in December. He lived an hour away from my Davao City, and their extended home was most accommodating to me and my grandma. He was not in good health, though; he had then just suffered a stroke, he was thin, his speech had turned mostly unintelligible.
We were never really close, really. I seldom met him. But he was family, he had this peculiar familial warmth about him when we met, and I can't help but be a bit sad. Say hi to Lolo Yoyong for me, Lolo Gario. :)
Sgt. Pepper
I was walking one night when a little man called me.
"I've been following you around. Fix me, I'm broken," he said.
And that's how I met Sgt. Pepper.
"I've been following you around. Fix me, I'm broken," he said.
And that's how I met Sgt. Pepper.
Shut Up and Smile Pt. 1
It's been an incredibly exhausting week, and I'm beginning to feel the stress of taking 6 modules (5 of which are level 3000, and thus far, one of them has stunned me and left me gaping in horror at my sheer empty-headedness), being an editor for The Ridge and in-charge of lugging around brand new Ridge stands, and being NUS Choir Secretary and head of marketing for our upcoming concert.
I won't detail those here, and I feel what deserve a blog post are the bright sparks and good news of the past week.
Let's start with the most recent. Korinna's birthday on Monday cheered me up. 21 is a big step if you ask me (a scary one too), and I felt that this particular birthday deserved special attention. I don't usually give gifts to people (maybe because I can be a real cheapskate), but for Korinna I knew just what to give her, one that was free too.
See, Korinna is this pretty girl who performed for this NUS Rag Day 2005 for Kent Ridge Hall (Rag Day is a colorful event of big floats and costumes and dances), and this got her face plastered in the official NUS Centennial Roving Exhibition poster, among other Centennial celebrations publicity materials. In the Med Library where I frequently use the computers, I have, for the longest time, been eyeing this A3-size Centennial poster just above the PC terminals, and knew that Kor would want to have it. I never quite had the guts to ask the librarian for the poster, until last Sunday. I waited for the place to clear up when closing time that afternoon neared, and waited for a librarian to come by and tidy the PC cluster. Her first response was that sorry, she cannot give the poster because it was NUS, not the Med Lib, who installed the poster in the first place. It was an official NUS poster after all. I mentioned that I needed it for a friend, and she still refused, citing the same reason. I almost gave up but pressed on, saying that the poster was more than a year out-of-date, and my friend (I pointed to Korinna in her confident pose in the poster) was celebrating her birthday. She finally relented, and yahoo I went back with the poster in hand, never mind if the top and bottom parts were a bit spoilt by the masking tape used to stick it.
Anyway to make a long story short, I could tell Kor appreciated it, and even mentioned that her Dad would probably have it framed even. :) And, after reading Korinna's blog, I'm just mighty glad that I had some degree of participation in making a turnaround from what she initially thought was her "worst birthday ever". She's happy. I'm happy too for contributing to that. Plus I had free lunch too. Hehe.
* * *
OK, I'm suddenly busy again. I'll carry on with Part 2 of this post next time.
And oh, the title is this cool fun song by Bowling for Soup. Another line in the song goes, All we need is an ice cream and a hug. Well said you punk rockers.=)
I won't detail those here, and I feel what deserve a blog post are the bright sparks and good news of the past week.
Let's start with the most recent. Korinna's birthday on Monday cheered me up. 21 is a big step if you ask me (a scary one too), and I felt that this particular birthday deserved special attention. I don't usually give gifts to people (maybe because I can be a real cheapskate), but for Korinna I knew just what to give her, one that was free too.
See, Korinna is this pretty girl who performed for this NUS Rag Day 2005 for Kent Ridge Hall (Rag Day is a colorful event of big floats and costumes and dances), and this got her face plastered in the official NUS Centennial Roving Exhibition poster, among other Centennial celebrations publicity materials. In the Med Library where I frequently use the computers, I have, for the longest time, been eyeing this A3-size Centennial poster just above the PC terminals, and knew that Kor would want to have it. I never quite had the guts to ask the librarian for the poster, until last Sunday. I waited for the place to clear up when closing time that afternoon neared, and waited for a librarian to come by and tidy the PC cluster. Her first response was that sorry, she cannot give the poster because it was NUS, not the Med Lib, who installed the poster in the first place. It was an official NUS poster after all. I mentioned that I needed it for a friend, and she still refused, citing the same reason. I almost gave up but pressed on, saying that the poster was more than a year out-of-date, and my friend (I pointed to Korinna in her confident pose in the poster) was celebrating her birthday. She finally relented, and yahoo I went back with the poster in hand, never mind if the top and bottom parts were a bit spoilt by the masking tape used to stick it.
Anyway to make a long story short, I could tell Kor appreciated it, and even mentioned that her Dad would probably have it framed even. :) And, after reading Korinna's blog, I'm just mighty glad that I had some degree of participation in making a turnaround from what she initially thought was her "worst birthday ever". She's happy. I'm happy too for contributing to that. Plus I had free lunch too. Hehe.
* * *
OK, I'm suddenly busy again. I'll carry on with Part 2 of this post next time.
And oh, the title is this cool fun song by Bowling for Soup. Another line in the song goes, All we need is an ice cream and a hug. Well said you punk rockers.=)
Happiness
Happiness is feeling the presence of friends and family, no matter the means or proximity.
It's knowing you matter to those who matter to you, and forgetting to care for those who don't reciprocate.
Happy days ahead. And clubbing therapy tonight, too. Yeah baby.
It's knowing you matter to those who matter to you, and forgetting to care for those who don't reciprocate.
Happy days ahead. And clubbing therapy tonight, too. Yeah baby.
The Boat is Sinking
To describe what I'm feeling now, maybe I can refer you to the Beatles' classic Yesterday. I dunno what's gotten into me, really, but it's this lingering sort of melancholy, too diffuse I can't quite pin it down and give it a name or attribute it to something I can fix.
I can tell you a few things though. That I'm lonely (then again maybe it's just the weather). That I feel others don't respect me as much they used to (if they even did so at all). I don't think people treat me seriously. That I am stressed (what's new, those of you who know me may ask), as this is the heaviest semester of all my almost 4 years here in NUS. And then some.
Add all of them up and you have me -- a Joseph who's constantly carrying some sort of weight on his chest. I sure hope this is not depression, especially that of the clinical sort.
OK bye.
P.S. I may have to rethink my privacy settings with this increasingly personal tone of my rather embarrassing posts.
I can tell you a few things though. That I'm lonely (then again maybe it's just the weather). That I feel others don't respect me as much they used to (if they even did so at all). I don't think people treat me seriously. That I am stressed (what's new, those of you who know me may ask), as this is the heaviest semester of all my almost 4 years here in NUS. And then some.
Add all of them up and you have me -- a Joseph who's constantly carrying some sort of weight on his chest. I sure hope this is not depression, especially that of the clinical sort.
OK bye.
P.S. I may have to rethink my privacy settings with this increasingly personal tone of my rather embarrassing posts.
New Year, New Me, and a New Blog
This year is gonna see a new and improved Joseph. I've started doing some "housekeeping" on several levels (the literal sort I did last night, although I can't figure out how to rearrange my shelves and tables), and Project New Joseph is kicking off. The transition's more bumpy than I thought, but it's there, it's on its way.
There's a new Blogger/Blogspot too. It's so much easier and more user-friendly. New blog template, really, not exactly a new blog. It's one of those templates prepared by Blogger itself, so it's not as customized as the previous ones. Well, new sem has kicked off too, and Joseph hasn't got much time. But there's a new name, though. Not sure I like it too much, but, between you and me, Joseph has really been talking to himself lately. I think it's fine, really, although I can reveal that he's not in the cheerfulest of moods right about now. Maybe it's the weather.
He's gonna be talking a bit more to himself through this blog, though, of that he's sure. Some people don't quite get him and think him weird, so while he still interacts with people who understand and those who don't, he has decided to blog more, if only to save his sanity.
And oh yeah, you might have guessed so, but lately Joseph doesn't quite distinguish between "he" and "I". While this may be bad in an English essay, in a conversation with self it is absolutely fine.
Good night.
There's a new Blogger/Blogspot too. It's so much easier and more user-friendly. New blog template, really, not exactly a new blog. It's one of those templates prepared by Blogger itself, so it's not as customized as the previous ones. Well, new sem has kicked off too, and Joseph hasn't got much time. But there's a new name, though. Not sure I like it too much, but, between you and me, Joseph has really been talking to himself lately. I think it's fine, really, although I can reveal that he's not in the cheerfulest of moods right about now. Maybe it's the weather.
He's gonna be talking a bit more to himself through this blog, though, of that he's sure. Some people don't quite get him and think him weird, so while he still interacts with people who understand and those who don't, he has decided to blog more, if only to save his sanity.
And oh yeah, you might have guessed so, but lately Joseph doesn't quite distinguish between "he" and "I". While this may be bad in an English essay, in a conversation with self it is absolutely fine.
Good night.
Must-Blog
Must-Blog
Hi. I'm back in Singapore, and as much as the holidays in the Philippines were eventful, I didn't feel the need to blog them (or maybe because Internet was slow because of the Taiwan earthquake). Whether I blog the events or not doesn't mean anything anyway, in this time when the significant and the mundane can be given equal blog treatment. About my holidays, suffice it to say that it had been one of my happiest, really--at least that's what I told my friends in my high school reunion. I meant it too; after the chaos that was last semester (and the sem before that), being home laughing and going out and staying in and spending time with those who matter to me was a divine treat.
I'm too busy right now really, and yes I shouldn't be blogging, but I distinctly promised myself this morning to blog tonight.
This is what I want to say: I miss the Philippines and the warmth that my dear family and friends bring. Singapore is only warmer because it's closer to the equator.
I shouldn't be negative and pessimistic, really, but maybe it's the potent combination of work and stress and schoolwork and extracurriculars and fresh-away-from-home-ness so early in the semester and year that's gotten into me.
Whatever it is, I felt the need to blog tonight, and I did. It feels good to let it out.
And oh yeah, thanks Karen for saving me a trip to the shrink. Teehee. Thanks for listening too Xianling--I appreciate it a lot. And haha, I caught you online again, Kerwin.. and you're too happy!:) Take care you guys.
Hi. I'm back in Singapore, and as much as the holidays in the Philippines were eventful, I didn't feel the need to blog them (or maybe because Internet was slow because of the Taiwan earthquake). Whether I blog the events or not doesn't mean anything anyway, in this time when the significant and the mundane can be given equal blog treatment. About my holidays, suffice it to say that it had been one of my happiest, really--at least that's what I told my friends in my high school reunion. I meant it too; after the chaos that was last semester (and the sem before that), being home laughing and going out and staying in and spending time with those who matter to me was a divine treat.
I'm too busy right now really, and yes I shouldn't be blogging, but I distinctly promised myself this morning to blog tonight.
This is what I want to say: I miss the Philippines and the warmth that my dear family and friends bring. Singapore is only warmer because it's closer to the equator.
I shouldn't be negative and pessimistic, really, but maybe it's the potent combination of work and stress and schoolwork and extracurriculars and fresh-away-from-home-ness so early in the semester and year that's gotten into me.
Whatever it is, I felt the need to blog tonight, and I did. It feels good to let it out.
And oh yeah, thanks Karen for saving me a trip to the shrink. Teehee. Thanks for listening too Xianling--I appreciate it a lot. And haha, I caught you online again, Kerwin.. and you're too happy!:) Take care you guys.
Still Alive
Still Alive
Hey there, whoever I’m supposed to address. This is an overly overdue blog entry, but yahoo it’s here and it exists, and it will lend a sense of activity in this otherwise seemingly dormant blog.
Actually, this format of blogwriting is getting familiar, come to think of it. The previous paragraph was me expressing the overdueness of the entry, and this next part is me summing up what I’ve missed to write. Haha, predictability is an interesting thing. Not sure if it’s good or bad, though.
So what has happened since my last post? Exams, oh yes yes, the exams. My primary reason why I was unable to blog. Exams went OK, I think, although it is increasingly becoming clear to me that I really do much better in my Literature/English modules than my Maths/Stats modules.
I mugged hard for these exams, especially because, as I’ve earlier mentioned, this year, Year Three, is a most critical year, AND because I had back-to-back exams in one day for two days. It was mugging at the Central Forum, Cnetral Library, CFA Studios for me again, and with different study buddies. It’s been fun mugging with you Karen, Ivy & Rohit, Hayati, and Choir members Iris, Aaron, Joanne, Kurien, etc. It’s been fun mugging with myself, too (and this is not me just being lame), but really, mugging alone does wonders sometimes (if you don’t fall asleep).
Let me just share a few remarkable tidbits about my exams. The first day was English day, and my exams were EL2101: Structure of Sentences and Meanings, followed by GEK1046 Introduction to Cultural Studies. The EL2101 exam was very good. It was open-book, it wasn’t easy, but get this, it was the first exam ever, in my stay at NUS, that I felt confident about. Seriously. The final grade is made up of three quizzes, tutorial participation, and the exam, and Joseph has thankfully received full marks for all three quizzes, and believed tutorial participation was not a problem at all. And thus the immense feeling of relief and satisfaction after the EL2101 exam. Come on, Joseph’s one anal grammar police.
The next exam that day, GEK1046: Intro to Cultural Studies, was quite a pleasant surprise too. I checked the past year exams, and usually, the format would be one page, and a list of five questions would be given, from which the examinee would choose two to tackle, or two questions would be given upfront. When I arrived at the exam hall and took my seat, I stared at the front page of the exam in slight disbelief. This exam paper consists of two questions and 12 printed pages, it said. Twelve? I opened the paper and it was a most pleasant surprise. Lots of large cool colored images! Full-page, colored advertisements and cultural imags and icons, to be specific. Haha, that’s a first, I thought. We never have colored images in our exams, and these were lovely, lovely ads too. The first question required us to perform a cultural analysis of one of these: a promotional poster of the TV show Nip/Tuck, this strange image of a car under a blue sky, an image of Human Pac-man (a hyperreality project by NUS students), this new Ipod mixer of sorts, or this image of androgynous David Bowie, in a skirt and reclining on a sofa. The next question was to analyse a cultural object using one of the theories discussed in class, the object being either a series of Tiger Beer ads, featuring wonderful colorful images of women in exotic locations around the world, or this ad by Starhub, featuring a young family man and the tagline “I am a hub.” So Jose wrote and scribbled and wrote and scribbled for two hours about Nip/Tuck and Starhub until his fingers were sore. Cool exam, don’t you think? I’ve kept the exam paper carefully, and I’ve shown off the exam paper to a lot of people. Teehee.
The next exams, MA2101: Linear Algebra 2, ST3236: Stochastic Processes, and MA2222: Basic Financial Mathematics were far scarier and less enjoyable than my English modules, but they turned out… well, let’s just say I got through them. Linear Algebra was easier and less of a killer than I thought, Stochastic Processes was just utterly impossible to finish (I was deciding whether to carry on solving a 5x5 matrix with 15 minutes left to go, but decided to skip it and focus on other questions that got me stumped), and Financial Mathematics was just as unfinishable and it totally required calculator-punching speed.
The last exam was EN3249: The Body module, and it turned out OK. English papers are really more enjoyable to answer. This exam asked us to 1) discuss either a given poem or a passage from one of our texts, and 2) to answer one of two questions, discussing identity and mortality in relation to one text. I scribbled as much as I could, discussing J.M. Coetzee’s Age of Iron and how the protagonist, Mrs Curren’s cancerous and dying body simultaneously supports and subverts the parallel between the physical body and the tumultuous state of affairs in apartheid South Africa, and, how Grace Nichols’ Fat Black Woman’s Poems describe how a person is given an identity based on fatness, blackness, and womanhood (woman-ness?). Interesting exam too, although I could never be truly confident as I was the sole Science student brave enough to take a Level 3000 Lit module amongst 30-something Literature majors. (Yes, I’ve said all this before, but allow me to reemphasize, if only for the last time.)
So yep, those were exam days. I officially ended on the 2nd of December, and immediately afterwards a bunch of the Pinoy group headed off to Vivo City to stroll around in the mall and watch Happy Feet! Great way to end the exam season, and the semester as a whole. :)
I didn’t quite expect this to be a long entry devoted to exams, but haha, look what I got. Anyway, let’s just wrap this up then, and I’ll tell more of the fun stuff, including the Barclays Christmas Charity Concert on the 13th at the Esplanade Theatre Studio, this large-scale collaboration with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra in a big Buddhist concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium (no less than Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was guest of honour), and of course, my Dad and my sister’s visit to Singapore for a few days, before we all flew back home, here in Davao City, the other day.
And oh yeah, one last thing before I close, because there was an apparent leak in the system, the grades are already out! I got mine last week, two weeks before the scheduled release of results on 26th December. Rumor has it that the grades may not be final, and have not been moderated yet to adjust to the bell curve, but many of us think the grades seem fairly accurate. I think so, at least. Bottom line: Although Joseph still has one bad grade, 2 quite bad grades, he has a very good B+, and lo and behold, an A, and thank-you-Lord-I-never-thought-I’d-ever-receive-this, his first A+.
It was the worst of semesters, as I claimed in an earlier entry, and I’m not taking that back. It truly was, physically and emotionally and socially and psychologically, and I am just absolutely pleased, that after all that shit-swimming, it ended well… relatively. All’s well that ends well, I like to think.
Hey there, whoever I’m supposed to address. This is an overly overdue blog entry, but yahoo it’s here and it exists, and it will lend a sense of activity in this otherwise seemingly dormant blog.
Actually, this format of blogwriting is getting familiar, come to think of it. The previous paragraph was me expressing the overdueness of the entry, and this next part is me summing up what I’ve missed to write. Haha, predictability is an interesting thing. Not sure if it’s good or bad, though.
So what has happened since my last post? Exams, oh yes yes, the exams. My primary reason why I was unable to blog. Exams went OK, I think, although it is increasingly becoming clear to me that I really do much better in my Literature/English modules than my Maths/Stats modules.
I mugged hard for these exams, especially because, as I’ve earlier mentioned, this year, Year Three, is a most critical year, AND because I had back-to-back exams in one day for two days. It was mugging at the Central Forum, Cnetral Library, CFA Studios for me again, and with different study buddies. It’s been fun mugging with you Karen, Ivy & Rohit, Hayati, and Choir members Iris, Aaron, Joanne, Kurien, etc. It’s been fun mugging with myself, too (and this is not me just being lame), but really, mugging alone does wonders sometimes (if you don’t fall asleep).
Let me just share a few remarkable tidbits about my exams. The first day was English day, and my exams were EL2101: Structure of Sentences and Meanings, followed by GEK1046 Introduction to Cultural Studies. The EL2101 exam was very good. It was open-book, it wasn’t easy, but get this, it was the first exam ever, in my stay at NUS, that I felt confident about. Seriously. The final grade is made up of three quizzes, tutorial participation, and the exam, and Joseph has thankfully received full marks for all three quizzes, and believed tutorial participation was not a problem at all. And thus the immense feeling of relief and satisfaction after the EL2101 exam. Come on, Joseph’s one anal grammar police.
The next exam that day, GEK1046: Intro to Cultural Studies, was quite a pleasant surprise too. I checked the past year exams, and usually, the format would be one page, and a list of five questions would be given, from which the examinee would choose two to tackle, or two questions would be given upfront. When I arrived at the exam hall and took my seat, I stared at the front page of the exam in slight disbelief. This exam paper consists of two questions and 12 printed pages, it said. Twelve? I opened the paper and it was a most pleasant surprise. Lots of large cool colored images! Full-page, colored advertisements and cultural imags and icons, to be specific. Haha, that’s a first, I thought. We never have colored images in our exams, and these were lovely, lovely ads too. The first question required us to perform a cultural analysis of one of these: a promotional poster of the TV show Nip/Tuck, this strange image of a car under a blue sky, an image of Human Pac-man (a hyperreality project by NUS students), this new Ipod mixer of sorts, or this image of androgynous David Bowie, in a skirt and reclining on a sofa. The next question was to analyse a cultural object using one of the theories discussed in class, the object being either a series of Tiger Beer ads, featuring wonderful colorful images of women in exotic locations around the world, or this ad by Starhub, featuring a young family man and the tagline “I am a hub.” So Jose wrote and scribbled and wrote and scribbled for two hours about Nip/Tuck and Starhub until his fingers were sore. Cool exam, don’t you think? I’ve kept the exam paper carefully, and I’ve shown off the exam paper to a lot of people. Teehee.
The next exams, MA2101: Linear Algebra 2, ST3236: Stochastic Processes, and MA2222: Basic Financial Mathematics were far scarier and less enjoyable than my English modules, but they turned out… well, let’s just say I got through them. Linear Algebra was easier and less of a killer than I thought, Stochastic Processes was just utterly impossible to finish (I was deciding whether to carry on solving a 5x5 matrix with 15 minutes left to go, but decided to skip it and focus on other questions that got me stumped), and Financial Mathematics was just as unfinishable and it totally required calculator-punching speed.
The last exam was EN3249: The Body module, and it turned out OK. English papers are really more enjoyable to answer. This exam asked us to 1) discuss either a given poem or a passage from one of our texts, and 2) to answer one of two questions, discussing identity and mortality in relation to one text. I scribbled as much as I could, discussing J.M. Coetzee’s Age of Iron and how the protagonist, Mrs Curren’s cancerous and dying body simultaneously supports and subverts the parallel between the physical body and the tumultuous state of affairs in apartheid South Africa, and, how Grace Nichols’ Fat Black Woman’s Poems describe how a person is given an identity based on fatness, blackness, and womanhood (woman-ness?). Interesting exam too, although I could never be truly confident as I was the sole Science student brave enough to take a Level 3000 Lit module amongst 30-something Literature majors. (Yes, I’ve said all this before, but allow me to reemphasize, if only for the last time.)
So yep, those were exam days. I officially ended on the 2nd of December, and immediately afterwards a bunch of the Pinoy group headed off to Vivo City to stroll around in the mall and watch Happy Feet! Great way to end the exam season, and the semester as a whole. :)
I didn’t quite expect this to be a long entry devoted to exams, but haha, look what I got. Anyway, let’s just wrap this up then, and I’ll tell more of the fun stuff, including the Barclays Christmas Charity Concert on the 13th at the Esplanade Theatre Studio, this large-scale collaboration with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra in a big Buddhist concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium (no less than Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was guest of honour), and of course, my Dad and my sister’s visit to Singapore for a few days, before we all flew back home, here in Davao City, the other day.
And oh yeah, one last thing before I close, because there was an apparent leak in the system, the grades are already out! I got mine last week, two weeks before the scheduled release of results on 26th December. Rumor has it that the grades may not be final, and have not been moderated yet to adjust to the bell curve, but many of us think the grades seem fairly accurate. I think so, at least. Bottom line: Although Joseph still has one bad grade, 2 quite bad grades, he has a very good B+, and lo and behold, an A, and thank-you-Lord-I-never-thought-I’d-ever-receive-this, his first A+.
It was the worst of semesters, as I claimed in an earlier entry, and I’m not taking that back. It truly was, physically and emotionally and socially and psychologically, and I am just absolutely pleased, that after all that shit-swimming, it ended well… relatively. All’s well that ends well, I like to think.
Keep your enemies closer
Keep your enemies closer
It's that sort of saying that supposed to be witty or funny, or it could possibly be straight out of the successful businessman-slash-corporate-player's handbook: Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.
In the current state of mind I am in, I choose to interpret it as a quote that's in the same vein as "Familiarity breeds contempt." Enemies and friends are thus not disjoint entities, and hence friends can become enemies, precisely because they become far too close.
Friends are held close to the heart, and this precisely grants them the oppressive power they wield. They're given the opportunity to inflict the harshest pain because of their proximity. They could stab you if they want to, but we like to sweep that disturbing thought under the rug, and rely on that bright yellow sign that reads "FRIENDSHIP".
But the fact remains that friends can become enemies, however subversive and unthinkable the act of stabbing may be. Who do we trust really? Beats me.
Oh well. When life delivers a nasty surprise, sometimes we just shrug and accept the way the cookie crumbles.
* * *
Haha! Semi-random thoughts. Don't worry guys, I'm OK! =P The Joseph is well and good and getting pumped up for the exams.
* * *
Good news of the day: Of the four kilograms that Joseph lost during the Dark times of last semester, he has gained one kilo back! Good eating habits (sleeping habits are still screwed up though) helped quite a lot, so eat your bananas and apples and bread and eggs you guys!
The End
The End
My GEK1046: Intro to Cultural Studies projectmates and I finally uploaded our project online yesterday. Samantha and I worked the longest and hardest on it (the day before I was powered by coffee and slept at 7AM making the rough final draft, as Sam was similarly burdened with a truckload with essays to do on top of her church commitments), thus we both felt totally relieved that it was finally finished. It was a Powerpoint presentation about The Real Cultural Influence of Reality TV, and I personally feel it was a well-done project. I handled the layout and design, apart from a good chunk of the text, and I even included a lot of fun editorial cartoons & comic strips and googled (and searched in Flickr) for really nice images to make the presentation look sleek and classy. Each in our group of five of course all contributed input, and everyone wanted it to work. As it was only Sam and I who chose the module to be letter-graded instead of opting for the pass/fail option (module not included in cumulative grade calculation), we had a lot more at stake and thus we were given free rein to tweak it as much as we wished. Congratulations to the whole group for a job well done.
The submission was significant to me. It marked the end of the various required submissions and lectures and tutorials of the semester. It marked the beginning of Revision Week, in preparation for next week's exams. This particular semester violently took its toll on me, physically, mentally, and emotionally, and thus allow me to mark the end of that ugly period now, and consider the revision and the exams separate.
* * *
Endings are funny things. They are poignant reminders of how we performed in the events leading to it, they teach us closure, and the need to move on. I'm also graduating very soon, and hence the concept of "The End" is particularly resonant to me.
There are many endings that happen every day, particularly recently for me, and I think these deserve particular attention, so we're not caught off-guard. More importantly, to borrow from the band Semisonic, every new beginning is some other beginning's end. Time to start afresh.
It's time to take a bow, drop the curtains, roll the credits. It's been interesting, thank you very much, but now, on to the next leg.
My GEK1046: Intro to Cultural Studies projectmates and I finally uploaded our project online yesterday. Samantha and I worked the longest and hardest on it (the day before I was powered by coffee and slept at 7AM making the rough final draft, as Sam was similarly burdened with a truckload with essays to do on top of her church commitments), thus we both felt totally relieved that it was finally finished. It was a Powerpoint presentation about The Real Cultural Influence of Reality TV, and I personally feel it was a well-done project. I handled the layout and design, apart from a good chunk of the text, and I even included a lot of fun editorial cartoons & comic strips and googled (and searched in Flickr) for really nice images to make the presentation look sleek and classy. Each in our group of five of course all contributed input, and everyone wanted it to work. As it was only Sam and I who chose the module to be letter-graded instead of opting for the pass/fail option (module not included in cumulative grade calculation), we had a lot more at stake and thus we were given free rein to tweak it as much as we wished. Congratulations to the whole group for a job well done.
The submission was significant to me. It marked the end of the various required submissions and lectures and tutorials of the semester. It marked the beginning of Revision Week, in preparation for next week's exams. This particular semester violently took its toll on me, physically, mentally, and emotionally, and thus allow me to mark the end of that ugly period now, and consider the revision and the exams separate.
* * *
Endings are funny things. They are poignant reminders of how we performed in the events leading to it, they teach us closure, and the need to move on. I'm also graduating very soon, and hence the concept of "The End" is particularly resonant to me.
There are many endings that happen every day, particularly recently for me, and I think these deserve particular attention, so we're not caught off-guard. More importantly, to borrow from the band Semisonic, every new beginning is some other beginning's end. Time to start afresh.
It's time to take a bow, drop the curtains, roll the credits. It's been interesting, thank you very much, but now, on to the next leg.
Happy Post
Happy Post
I know I haven't been blogging, and I presume that equates to less blog visitors (not that I was one for the big crowd anyway -- I was more after the small intimate crowd after all, but I digress), but I just cannot quite stand a depressing post at the forefront of the blog, when I'm not quite depressed anymore. Seriously, it's just not right. And hence, this post.
Yep, Jose is in good spirits again. It may not be for long (or it may be), but everything's OK now and that's always nice.
Last week was The Week, according to Karen. And it was, on many levels. Karen and Mega, happy happy first anniversary! I know Karen is relishing my compliments, and I probably should stop, but here's one more: GET MARRIED. You're perfect for each other. =P
Michael John also came over to Singapore from the Philippines last week. I had initial apprehensions about the timing of his Monday-to-Friday visit, as it fell on a week that was incredibly toxic for me (following a similarly stressful week), the highlight of which was my 3000-word Literature essay due last Wednesday. But as it turned out, Mike's timing couldn't be any more perfect.
Thanks Mike, for reminding me to relax and enjoy myself, and for pointing out I need to go out more. :) Haha yes, the dangers of a living in a self-sustaining community like NUS.. one can very well live in it, forgetting about the "outside world". And so, dear Michael John, as much as I had a shortage of sleep in your brief stay here, I'm very happy you did visit, and I realized I sort of missed you old buddy! Haha. Besides, it was good to get reacquainted with the Merlion and Esplanade and Ministry of Sound and Clarke Quay and Chijmes and discovering Vivo City too! I'm glad you enjoyed shopping around at Orchard and Suntec and Marina Square and elsewhere too, Mike, even if Karen and I weren't there due to our classes during the day. Karen, we seriously should congratulate ourselves for making Operation: Michael John a big success. :)
*unfinished post*
Today is November 13th, and it's been a week since I made this post. I had every intention of finishing it, but I never did. It's been marked as "Draft" too long, so let's just put this up so it doesn't get too dated, shall we?
I know I haven't been blogging, and I presume that equates to less blog visitors (not that I was one for the big crowd anyway -- I was more after the small intimate crowd after all, but I digress), but I just cannot quite stand a depressing post at the forefront of the blog, when I'm not quite depressed anymore. Seriously, it's just not right. And hence, this post.
Yep, Jose is in good spirits again. It may not be for long (or it may be), but everything's OK now and that's always nice.
Last week was The Week, according to Karen. And it was, on many levels. Karen and Mega, happy happy first anniversary! I know Karen is relishing my compliments, and I probably should stop, but here's one more: GET MARRIED. You're perfect for each other. =P
Michael John also came over to Singapore from the Philippines last week. I had initial apprehensions about the timing of his Monday-to-Friday visit, as it fell on a week that was incredibly toxic for me (following a similarly stressful week), the highlight of which was my 3000-word Literature essay due last Wednesday. But as it turned out, Mike's timing couldn't be any more perfect.
Thanks Mike, for reminding me to relax and enjoy myself, and for pointing out I need to go out more. :) Haha yes, the dangers of a living in a self-sustaining community like NUS.. one can very well live in it, forgetting about the "outside world". And so, dear Michael John, as much as I had a shortage of sleep in your brief stay here, I'm very happy you did visit, and I realized I sort of missed you old buddy! Haha. Besides, it was good to get reacquainted with the Merlion and Esplanade and Ministry of Sound and Clarke Quay and Chijmes and discovering Vivo City too! I'm glad you enjoyed shopping around at Orchard and Suntec and Marina Square and elsewhere too, Mike, even if Karen and I weren't there due to our classes during the day. Karen, we seriously should congratulate ourselves for making Operation: Michael John a big success. :)
*unfinished post*
Today is November 13th, and it's been a week since I made this post. I had every intention of finishing it, but I never did. It's been marked as "Draft" too long, so let's just put this up so it doesn't get too dated, shall we?
