Enrollment Relived

     This was last Wednesday, May 13 2009. I accompanied my brother to CSB sometime around 11 to avoid an expected long line of late enrollees (as is my brother) inside the LRC Extension. We had lunch at the caf then later waited to while off the time in Plaza V. We went downstairs to the LRC just in time to mee an increasing line of enrollees accompanied by the parents.

      The LRC guys kept us pre-occupied by having us watch “Underworld” wherein two years ago, I remember me and my batch were watching Unang Hirit on TV. Afterwards the enrollment process began.

       Unlike years ago wherein enrollees had to go upstairs searching for the Accounting to pay their tuition, a representative of the accounting office was present in the LRC to administer check payments. At the worst possible event, my mom didn’t read in my brother’s enrollment procedure documents that he had to pay an additional Php200 as surcharge for being a late enrollee. I asked the accountant if its okay to continue with the enrollment process, and she says that we still could as long as we’d be able to pay off the surcharge as soon as possible.

       We did and we went through the process of 1)Encoding my brother’s ID number : 10971556 into the CSB-ACTC main frame, 2)Underwent a very time-consuming physical exam (because it took too long for the doctors to examine each and every student freshman), 3)ID capture (which he will claim on 20th May), 4)Dental exam (he was told to have his teeth cleaned), and 5) have his urine sampled for the drug test.

Along the way I met up with some familiar faces like Willard (who’s retaking his Reconse wherein we used to be in the same class back 3rd term 1st year), Ryan S (I’m guessing he’s taking up summer class as well :D), and James (My former classmate in BMAT2x when I took up advanced summer classes for the subject) as well as M.A. (who was present in the area).

Then came the fateful day…

“Frosh Orientation” Rerelived

Last summer, I was mistaken to be a frosh by a 107 student. It just so happens that I wore green shirts throughout most of the week during much of the duration of FOP 2008.

It was to be repeated again last Friday May 15. Other than some familiar FOP vets, there are also some ID108 and ID106 orientors present during the IS frosh orientation.

I just happened to be in CSB that day since I’m going to pay some dues for my brother, his breakdown of payments for the first trimester since my mom want it so much as well copies of receipts for the first 2 terms of my sophomore year. In addition, I’ve also set up this date as the day I’m REALLY gonna give Jeco his tempting desire: the sukang Iloco he so wanted me to buy :D. (More on that later :)) )

I was to write in the permission slip to be given to me by the registrar my brother’s ID number but I forgot what exactly was his ID number. So I went upstairs to the CSB Auditorium to look for Jorge and ask him what his ID# is. Instead, I was met by an orientor, forgot what her name is, but she asked me for my brother’s name and I said “Jorge Habitan”. She said she’ll let him know I’m looking for him.

Another orientor approached and asked me what section I’m from, thinking I’m a frosh. This would have been a good opportunity to fool someone that I am one but no, that’d be too lame and nasty for an upperclassman like me. I clarified that I wasn’t and she apologized that she called me a freshman :D.

I sure Jorge had seen what CSB has to offer as well as experience the same type of initiation faced by all incoming froshes around here (Anyone up for “sushi roll”?). I know he’s going to like it here.

MANIGAS SIYA KUNG AYAW NIYA 😛 Hehehehe.

Malapit na…

Weird..As if it was only yesterday when I first walked into the halls of St Benilde wondering and searching “Where the heck is the accounting office?”. Now two years have passed, now entering junior year, I relived the moments once again when my brother went to my school to live the “CSB Experience” as a Benildean.

Yup, he’s taking up BS-Information Systems this school year whether he likes it or not. After some tumultuous events forced him to abandon his plans of entering the University of Santo Tomas, he finds a home to one of the schools he thought months back as the most likely he fall into in case his plans for USTe go awry. He even considers the fall-in as “the worst possible scenario”. That’s his fault so he had to accept the consequences caused by his lack of action.

“…Ala Benildean” Relived

      Jorge was saddened by the mere fact that his dreams of going to UST is going down the Arsenio Lacson drain. A day before we left for Ilocos, I went ahead executing Plan B: Confirming my brother’s slot in one school he doesn’t want to be in for the very beginning but took an entrance exam for it anyway: De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.

     I had all the things needed for the slot confirmation, documents, cash payments, everything. I was asked by someone from the admissions why it took my brother long to consider CSBV and I told her that someting happened on another school he so wanted to be in but in the end, got ended up in CSB.

Next thing I knew, his enrollment is scheduled on the 13th of May.

(To be continued…)

Took me 11am to 5pm to take out some stuff from the bedroom. At least it all paid off bigtime!

Can you spot the difference?

I was really planning on going to CSB for FOP week for reasons that I wanna see who the new blood are. In addition, I have to accompany my brother for his enrollment at the 13th and possibly accompany him again on the 15th for that day’s FOP for BS-IS (Information Systems) froshes (I refuse to call them “froshies”).

Surprised to see Gilbert and Carlo FOP’ing the second time around. So come MediaMax GA, I should expect a lot of freshmen recruited by those two the most :D. Lakas ng hatak kasi nila sa tao eh, knowing them after all. Also seen orienting freshmeat was Lance.

Something’s off with the whole scenario though. I just couldn’t lay my finger on it.

Seeing those innocent young froshes remind me of how my old block, DV1, were oriented back exactly 2 years ago. From that point on, we have grown, matured and learned. As we get older, we got wiser.

Seeing back those days, I realized how naive we were. Maybe even today we still are but not to the same extent as it was way back then.

I also realized how bad I was writing my own entries while I was still starting out wih my blog! 😛

😀

I was thinking of naming this one either 1) “Split Ends”, 2) or “Shear Genius” but the thought of barbers chatting with each other while on the job really caught my tongue. I mean, what we don’t know from what they’re talking about while cutting our hair could be one of the most interesting and intellectual conversations ever produced?

After more than a month after my disastrous heck-of-a haircut last time in Polo, I decided to have my hair cut to this other barber shop I know in Tatawid for a change. In complete contrast to my usual choice of barber shop, this one has barbers that knows good hygiene, knows what “clean” means to their customers, and give full priority to every detail of every strand of hair needed to be cut according the clients’ wishes.

Despite the sharp contrasts, there’s always things barbers all have in common: magchika-chika.

I know right?

They chatter about a lot of things, with topics ranging local politics to daily life happenings. You’d be very surprise on how barbers would respond to issues. If you get t listen to their conversations carefully, you’ll see how their responses reflect their intelligent viewpoints as citizens in our country.

Call them the “silent politicians”, they debate on what should be done around this country, on how it should be run, or even how they believe a certain politico would affect us in whole after he is elected into office.

No wonder the Filipino barber is part of Philippine pop culture. We certainly don’t see the superior mind and intellect they possess beneath the jeans and white tees we usually see from them.

Kung magkuwento talaga ang barbero!

I slept a lot longer than I should last night. I called the night off passed midnight, only to end up waking up at 9am, although I had a short call of nature around 7 I still went straight to bed thereafter. By the time I woke up, I remember two dreams I had in my sleep, which I find it rather strange.

Dream #1

Me and the rest of my Sondesn class were summoned by my professor, Sir Zahn Yu. In my dream, he looked very disappointed as he looked at us. Based from his voice, he’s not in a good mood (this is a dream after all, in reality he’s jolly fun and active!).

He said something about us being unable to do what we were “supposed” to include for our finals project. He, in the dream, criticized the work we had saying that could have done it better than what we presented to him during Finals Week.

On me, he said I could have added something that would make presence of my existing work as well as remove a few unnecessities.

As the dream progressed, turns out there was an awarding ceremony of some sort. Had we in the dream passed our work in the best way we can give to Sir Zahn, certainly they could have ended up nominated on a category that recognizes our work.

Weird….

Dream #2

I always have this recurring dream sequence of me taking a bus or jeep route to a certain area in EDSA or whatever road found in Metropolitan Manila. This one’s no exception.

My sister and I were, in the dream, looking for a bus that would take us to a friend’s birthday party. We did but somehow took a shorter way to get there (make a turn and you’re there so why waste money riding a bus?).

The house’s exterior is covered with green plastic thingamjigs which serve as “windows” of some sort although the interiors looks awfully like the one in Jerico’s new house in Paco. I’m not exactly sure whose birthday it was since the face of the “Birthday Boy” seems so vague, or at least not thoroughly seen when I was dreaming about it. Although I do somehow recognize a few of the party guests: Me, my sister, Paulo (Perez or Catalo) and one person whose foot is he had it raised and placed over the chair he’s sitting on. One thing’s for sure is that many those who came were Jamers.

The second dream I believe could be a premonition. Many of my premonitions come true but in a somewhat different form and setting but nevertheless still happen in an almost exact way. it could happen anytime soon I don’t have an idea whose birthday though is coming up in the next few months though (except for Louie’s who is 11 days older than me).

The fact that I still remember that may bolster the likelihood of it coming true except though for the first dream since I already took Sondesn last term last school year.

😀

We only spent our stay in Pagudpud overnight, for biyahe purposes, but I didn’t waste time to enjoy what the white-sand beaches of Pagudpud has to offer. Some say it’s the next Boracay but I say that it is, without the stench of crowding beachgoers by day, and the lost innocence of the evening by night.

The big bummer though was the unnecessary drizzle falling down in the area. The blue skies covered with clouds while strong winds blew hard and slow across the horizon.

The day after, we headed back to Currimao and stayed there for one final day.

The past five days have been a wonderful experience for me and the rest of the pack who were with me as well: My family, my cousins, and my tiyuhins.

On the 2nd of May, we left Ilocos for good and in a span of almost 10 hours. We made a quick stop in Vigan (which is in the middle of celebrating its own festivities) and had lunch near Plaza Burgos: Sinanglaw and a 355mL bottle of Pepsi. Yum!

Have I told you that from Pagudpud southwards, I’ve counted a total of 17 checkpoints, the last being in a town within Tarlac. My mom on the otherhand counted as much as 30 construction roadblocks starting in Ilocos Norte downwards. Hehehe.

Thanks to SCTX, we got home in Valenzuela as early as 10pm…yey! The trip in NLEX was exceptionally smooth, being able to take a turn to Valenzuela Exit and headed towards Maysan Road before emptying itself to McArthur Highway. We took a left turn to Gen. Santiago Street in Malinta and crossed the border to Santulan, Malabon which is in the middle of its May festival before taking a right turn to M.H. del Pilar northward to Arko.

And the next thing I knew, we were home….

END

Oh, yeah…I forgot to tell you. Here’s another politico making his presence known via a tarpaulin of his we found in front of the municipal hall of Sinait, Ilocos Sur: