Low Batt

This week has been nothing but all about SPP. It is my last year as an undergrad (believe!) and I do want to say there has been fruit in my endeavors in research. That is, I want to at least have a paper this coming SPP.

But, dear lord, I am so tired right now.

I got home around 10:20, and yes I spent the whole day in the lab. Got frustrated over bad samples, a bit crazy over cleaning glassware, and a little impatient in handling data. I hope that when I process these, they'll be worth it.

What's worse is that I also have to present a seminar tomorrow. As in, the one with Dean Saloma. I chose a topic a few weeks ago, so I agreed when Jeff asked me to switch schedules a few days ago (I'm originally scheduled next week) because he has a wedding to attend. But things didn't go as smoothly as planned, and what I thought would be an easy task to squeeze in is now a big burden. I can't think well enough to make my slides. Ano ba yan.

Hay. At least I have that Mang Inasal date with Andy and Nicole on Monday to look forward to. Yay?

One

When I was playing with Tia's 2nd Gen iPod classic a few years ago, I was hunting for familiar artists to listen to. I did find some, but one time I was risky enough to try something else. I gave U2 a shot. Back then, I knew the band U2 existed but I didn't know any of their songs, or their music in general.

Now I do. And ever since I heard them for the first time, One has been a hit. With Mary J. Blige, even better. :)

Sleepy thoughts, not.

I don't know. I'll blame it on the Korean coffee I had a while back. Haha. This is a most unfortunate time to not be able so sleep because I'll be at our org recognition later, then I'll present my seminar in my subgroup's parallel, plus I have an exam tomorrow. I feel tired, but I guess my mind is still active. I tried to review for 161 but I can't focus enough. Hahaha

Allow me to prattle around. I just linked my GMail account to my YouTube account recently, I was reminded of the things I saw when I made the account: Princess Hours and Grey's Anatomy.

Here's my favorite Goong episode. Yuhuh, episode 16 FTW.

As for Grey's Anatomy, I loved the second season. Everything went kinda downhill from there and I didn't watch it religiously after that. But even after a few years, Chasing Cars still reminds me of Grey's Anatomy.

I guess that's another purpose (perk?) of having a blog, so that after ten years I'll be able to look back on how I thought and what I did. 

I don't hate poetry.

But I also don't like it. Though somehow, I want to develop an appreciation of poems. So let's see how good my Eng 11 teacher is. Haha. 

When I think of poetry, of course Shakespeare comes to mind. But beyond that, I also remember the movie In Her Shoes. I like the two poems featured in that movie, they were pretty good on their own but it is outstanding how it was incorporated in the film. After some googling, I found both pieces. :)

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant 
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

i carry your heart with me by ee cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) 

Who made you king of anything?

Yes, my thoughts exactly. Thanks Sara Bareilles. :)




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Thanks to Google Operating System for the helpful blog entry regarding embedding mp3s!
Also, Dropbox. You're so useful.

I therefore conclude Irish bands are topnotch.

I am downright in love with The Script right now. I have Breakeven in almost all of my playlists. It's a song about heartbreak, though that's not really something you want to be the first song you think of. But come to think of it, almost all songs are love songs and a major chunk of those are of heartbreak. I'm not heartbroken but Breakeven, just as Chasing Pavements, resonates so much emotion and the melody is just so addictive. Plus, it's not really a crime that their lead singer looks a bit like Iker. Hehehe

I'd love to sing this or some really nice song for English 11, but I'm no singer. For that, kailangan ko na pala magisip ng madaling kantahin.

Loving Short Stories!

Yip. Yip. Because novels are too lengthy to read, at least right now when my sem is getting heavy already, and because English 11 introduced me to 13 good pieces, I've picked up several short stories recently.

Yesterday, I had no change for my fare home so I went around SM for a while thinking of what small item to purchase so that I'll break my bill. I went as far as the Annex side of the main building and got to Book Sale. It was hard to see where the classics were, because they don't have a category for classics. So I went around browsing titles, which is actually something I enjoy. It's a great way to waste time. Hehe

I was about to purchase The Essential Hemingway and then I saw Literature: A Portable Anthology. It's a compilation of 35 short stories, 250 poems, and 9 plays. I don't really care about the plays nor the poems, just the 35 short stories. I think it's really meant as a textbook, and my hunch was verified when I saw the preface with the tone that it was meant for teaching. I haven't checked, but I hope a chunk of the poems we'll be discussing in English 11 will in the book.

Also, I am really curious about Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. Must check it out soon.

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My parents treated me to a fabulous Sumo Sam lunch today. Probably my favorite Japanese resto to date. :)

I could take 18 Justin Biebers in a fight. Labo.

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May Day Eve

I originally planned to post my reflection papers for English 11 here, but almost every piece ended up being crammed. I didn't want to post something I'm not really sure of, so I let go of the idea. As of this writing I'm kind of reviewing for our upcoming exam, regarding 13 short stories. Yep, that much. Ma'am Lalaine is actually a good teacher, quite on the heavy side of the acad load meter, but at this point I've realized that good teachers really compel you to do more.

As I was writing the elements of each narrative like a grade school student, I remembered that session when we were asked which of the four short stories about love we most liked as a class. My classmates shouted A Love Story in a snap, while I was dumbfounded and I failed to utter May Day Eve. Kaya dito nalang ako sa blog magrreason out.

Let me introduce you to the story first. May Day Eve was written by one of our National Artists for Literature, Nick Joaquin. It is set in the colonial era, and is as stated in the title, during a May day eve.  The story focuses on Badoy and Agueda, the two lovers whose fate was forever changed by a said May day eve.

It's hard to condense an already brief story, but here's a shot. Agueda was with her friends, and their yaya told them of a superstition that if you take a candle and go to a dark room with a mirror alone and chant: "Mirror, mirror, show to me him whose woman I will be " she'll see the man she will marry. But if things go wrong, one will see the devil. Consequently, she saw Badoy. He was coming from his pack wanting a place to lie on because he was feeling sick. They argued and felt conflicting emotions. Later it was implied that they got married. And during the course of the story, it is revealed that they really love each other whilst being nonchalant about it in front of each other. 

We read four short stories that revolved around love, the other three were A Story of Love by Ray Bradbury, How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife by Manuel Arguilla, Dead Stars by Paz Marquez Benitez. I like May Day Eve most because it was the story that had more depth for me. The other stories, I understood almost right away while with this one I had doubts on my interpretation. This story bore so many realizations when we discussed it in class, the most prominent of those is that one should not be proud in love, or in any relationship for that matter. Pride hampers all good things. Pride creates a wall that makes it harder to communicate, harder to share, harder to work things out. Pride is the root of regret. Because of these things that were left unsaid or undone, regret will surely follow.

Mr. Joaquin has crafted a real classic with this story, and now I think I'm a step closer to understanding why he's one of our most celebrated writers apart from May Day Eve's super duper long opening sentence slash paragraph. Enveloped in the simple story is a theme that's actually a bit trivial once you think about it. It's certainly not easy to impart a clear message while just going around it, writers who can are truly gifted in my opinion. I haven't read any other work of his to speak of his style, but I'm now curious enough to make an effort to get a hold of a few more.

I am really enjoying my English 11 under Dr. Yanilla-Aquino. It's like 185 and 186, demanding as hell but really worth it at the end of the day. ;)

Na Na Na

No, it's not the Hanson song I'm referring to. Hehehe. I just love Discovery Travel and Living's (sort of) anthem.