Hey guys! I still can’t get over this feeling I’m having for a while now. I’m anxious, nervous, and excited on leaving the country to spend five days spreading the love in Singapore. As I’ve said previously in my past Singapore-related blog that I’m excitred to fly off again after 7 years.

Let’s just say that my family isn’t that much rich to spend holidays on Hong Kong Disneyland or Universal Studios Florida. My parents are the ones who get to fly off often as it is a part of their jobs as government civil servants. I’m just lucky that I get to convince them to allow me to go abroad for a few days after last year’s mishap of a canceled trip no thanks to the AH1N1 scare.

Here’s to hoping nothing unfortunate happens today. In my case, not forgetting the single most important item for the trip. I have this hsitory of forgetting to bring certain things ahead of an important out-of-town trip and I end up getting a sinking feeling of regret for forgetting to do so. Right now, I’m bringing the following items necessary:

1. Pieces of clothing (Pants, Shorts, Shirts, Underwear)

2. Canned and “cupped” foods

3. Hygiene products (shaving cream, razor, toothpaste, shampoo, bar and laundry soap, etc)

4. Socks

5. Slippers

6. Reading materials (A Pugad Baboy book, and two Beerkada books)

7. Portable radio with headphones and emergency batteries

8. Camera and Battery Charger

9. Cellphone (my own phone and my mom’s phone with international roaming)

10. Pocket Money

11. Travel and other Important Documents (Passport, G4 reservation copy, CGO registration email, etc)

Did I miss anything?

I don’t know what Singapore has in store for me but I’ll make sure to make most of my trip and go home and make my school, my family, and my country proud. (Wow, serious!)

The first week of the school year has passed and the ID110 frosh seemed to have settled well within their new home for the next few years. Not much in the school has changed but what’s noticeable were the preparations for De La Salle Philippines’ centennial celebration kicking off this June 16.

What’s obvious a change though was upon entering the premises of the School of Design and Arts I noticed that all the labs and the classrooms now bears new room numbers.

“Odd…” is how I reacted. Usually some offices and facilities in the campus would move to new locations every few terms but not to the extent of changing the room numbers assigned to these new locations. In this case, looks like most if not all the rooms here have changed room numbers.

I have yet to explore all the floors but so far, in the 10th floor…the former comlab that was A1008 is now a classroom bearing the room number “A1011”. Right next, the sound lab used to be known as A1014 is now A1012.

I don’t know how much of the change would affect old students to the extent that confusion would wreck havoc in the long term but so far so good, not much negative reaction were reported as of this writing.

But I just have to remember some key room numbers: A916, A908, A1014, A1013 and A1008.

While checking some posts on the CSB subforums at Pinoy Exchange, I came across a post there saying that Jenny From The Taft had passed away. Several news coming into my facebook feed also confirmed what I feared is true. My reaction: Shocked, surprised, bewildered, saddened. It’s hard to believe that what many Benildeans, Lasallians and Scholasticans consider an institution in Taft Avenue, Manila.

For those who don’t Jenny, he (is he a she?) is a beggar who roams around Taft Avenue and is befriend by a generation of students coming from several Taft-based schools. His origins remain a mystery many, some believing she had siblings who studied in Ateneo, others say she came from Laguna but got lost and eventually ended up in Manila. When she isn’t in Taft, she is most likely roaming around Moonwalk doing odd jobs there.

Many are amazed of her incredible knowledge of the comings and going of every school in that side of Taft, he knows every school’s pre-enrollment, enlistment, school holidays, everything! They say that he even knows the day of your graduation. She cares about the students, even sharing them an umbrella with him. We return the favor by chatting with him and giving him alms. It’s a mortal sin that when you don’t give him alms, Jenny will punish you by kissing you smack into your face! LOL

It saddens me that the friend of every Lasallian, the brother/sister of every Benildean, and the gossiper of every Scholastican no longer lives in the land of the living but we know that he/she is now in a better place.

As I write this, there’s an ongoing wake happening right now at his place in Bacoor, Cavite. Anyone interested on attending and say their goodbye to Jenny can go to his tribute fanpage in Facebook to see the details.

Wherever he may be, he will always remain in our heart, FOREVER!

The past couple of weeks I’ve been doing some double checking over some small details in preparation for my upcoming trip to Singapore. I’m just so excited that finally, I’m going out of the country for the first time in 8 years and I’m crossing my fingers that nothing will jinx my trip to happiness!

Right now, I’m looking at some final details with regards to transport and hotel accomdation. Lance informed me not too long ago that he and some peeps booked a reservation for 8 at a hostel and they need just one more to share the cost altogether. It’s an opportunity that I have to take knowing that for the past few days, me and my mom have been searching for good hotels with value-for-value rates. There’s a couple of good ones but according to some online hotel booking websites, there’s no room available. There are those with good locations but have quite a bad reputation, if you know what I mean. There’s even a hotel that despite the good online reviews it got from some past visitors, we were concerned on some reviews saying that this certain place serves as a haven for prostitutes where they lurk at night.

Sure enough, I’m also in the look-out for some good shops that sell second-hand dSLR cameras that are Calle Hidalgo-cheap and not SM Megamall-cheap. The laptop and I-Pod nano will have to wait as I’m hell-bent on buying one before I could take my photography electives in my final two trimesters.

Ha, Singapore…I will love you if you love me back. Just bend me into your will!

As summer draws to a close, the school year opens with much anticipation that it won’t suck the way last year was for the Benildean student body. For some, it is the start of another year of academic pressure and long nights staring in front of the computer while for others, it’s a make-or-break call as they start spending the first of their final days in the academe.

Senior year, here I come.

Looking back, it’s hard to imagine that 4 years ago, I was merely starting out as a little boy fresh out of high school, trying to adjust commuting between home and school, and taking chances by signing up on one too many student orgs while trying to tame my DV1 blockmates as we wait for a class to start inside Room M506.

Fast forward to now, a new generation of froshes are taking center-stage as upperclassmen watch them over repeating history over and over again. I was lucky not being caught up on the freshmen frenzy as I only had one class for the entirety of the first day of school, NATSCA2/Environmental Factors in Design, at 6pm.

For the first three days of the school week, I basically have a 3-hour class set in the evening while the remaining 2 have one set in the afternoon and in the morning respectively. Despite the seemingly-not-so-hectic looking schedule I got for the first trimester, I expect hell to break loose as midterms fever kicks in in less than 7 weeks.

One thing that I should consider doing is time-management. As last term had already proven, whatever free time you have can only be spent doing projects nonstop given the limited resources I have to produce works and giving my full commitment on each and every one of whatever material is given to me.

But because this is already my senior year, I should really give my all on making sure that I finish the journey I started from the moment I first stepped into the halls of the College last May 28, 2007 until I walk out of the school graduating in 2011. I can’t give assurance that by the end of the current school (SY 2010-2011), I’m finally let loose.

But no matter what, I will end what I started and from there, I will start anew.

The coming school year is a make-or-break year for me. Not only is there the possibility that I might graduate in three trimesters’ time, I also have to make use of time to finally achieve my goals I have long set yet never tried to achieved years ago. Among them is trying to make myself fit and healthy.

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I must say, this summer had been the most productive for me in terms of actually doing something outside of my usual summer bumness at this time of the year (redundant use of words, I know). No matter how short my actual summer vacation has been, I could safely say that I really made most of the 20+ days of academic freedom I have as I was able to widen my horizons, broaden my scope and limitations, and last but not least, met and made a lot of friends.

Top of my list is being a part of this year’s Frosh Orientation Program where my goal since day 1 was to give myself a “sense of fulfillment” and as “my way to give back to the school”. Sounds corny but it’s true. And boy did I make the right choice. Now I wonder how I would react once my face is seen by the next batch of students in the school come Monday for laughing out loud! Sessionista forever! :))

Second and most certainly as important as the first, me being part of 99.5RT’s The Farm has been quite the tremendous experience. It’s certainly made me realize of how far I could go to realizing what I want to do after graduation. Although there’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to continue my working relationship with station once The Farm airs its final curtain in June, the past-half year being in RT is enough for me to be satisfied.

But of course, we’re planning two big events before we call it quits, one is a final adieu to the summer before the start of the school year, “OMG IT’S OVER!” to be held in June 11 at Manor Superclub in Eastwood City while another is something we’re still in the process of putting it together so better watch out for it.

As I close off this series chronicling my summer experience, I look forward to what the year has in store for what could be my final “CSB Experience“.

Goodbye, Adieu, Adios, and Paalam to THE SUMMER EXPERIENCE 3!

When I was conceiving the idea of writing an umbrella series of blogs for summer as an extension of my still-continuing blog series about my continuing college life, it was under the assumption that I won’t exactly going to have a normal summer vacation in my college years.

Up to now, its purpose of existence remains largely the same, save for last year when I had my first and so far only normal vacation with no academic strings attached. But this year, well let’s just say that I’m sorta-kinda-vacationing-while-working-and-studying at the same time.

Gets?

Since the end of junior year, I’ve kept myself occupied with a couple of school-related activities. One was participating on CSB’s frosh orientation program (which I recently found out that I’ll be in the sec committee instead of logistics) which I want to join since my freshman year but circumstances prevented me on joining until now. The other is being part of 99.5RT’s The Farm where I’ve recently transferred my internship from RT30, the station’s flagship chart show.

Working while in the middle of a month-long vacation doesn’t seem to be all that bad, at least not yet. As far as I know, the next few days will be critical as me and the rest of the FOP guys will be orienting freshmen in preparation of the new school year while on the other side f the spectrum, members of The Farm are busy planning this really big thing next month. Can’t say the exact details just yet but we hope we get the green-light to do this.

People are asking me why I try to make things tedious for me, why I’m making myself so busy when I should be resting. Because I want to engage myself on things that could shape me as a person. It’s a learning experience that will teach me a lot of things, getting prepared with the harsh reality that is life as well as passing the torch of wisdom to the new crop of naive students coming into the school very soon.

Here’s to wishing I could have a decent summer vacation next year, that is if by then I’ll be done with school. Cheers to that!