Day 8: A place you've traveled to

August 4, 2017. I was very exhausted. Work demands, mental health issues, and relationship challenges have taken a toll on me. I flew out to the States hoping for a sweet escape, some rest, and time to write my blog. So upon arrival, I rushed to my accommodation, pulled up the shades and saw this Upper Manhattan view then suddenly, all my problems were forgotten. Well hello, New York City!                                                                                                                                          

***** 

A few months back, my supervisor urged me to submit an abstract for a conference in New York. While I was glad that my abstract was accepted, every researcher knows that it takes months of rigorous laboratory work to pull off 15 slides worth of a scientific presentation. It was not a problem if working hard is the only thing that I had to do. Unfortunately, it was also during those months that my personal life has become a mess. Jay and I got into an almost endless bureaucracy that has already cost us five figures (in dollars) and innumerable stressful days and nights. I felt very helpless to see both of us falling apart in a country where we only have each other - no friends, no family. On so many nights, we talked about throwing the towel and cutting our losses. That we just pack our bags and go back home. That we stop forcing ourselves to fit into the very high standards of this country when he has a first world country to go back to anyway. No words can explain how painful it was for me because just barely a year ago, I was crying, wishing and praying on bended knees for this PhD and now I might have to give it all up. 

The bureaucracy, work, and bills pushed us to the brink of our (my) sanity. I went to counseling and leaned on good people to seek encouragement and stay afloat. With their help, I managed to show up to work, albeit looking very tired and disheveled, and gave my best as if my personal issues did not affect my ability to be a scientist. I pushed my stressed mind to publish. To write and revise manuscripts. I worked tirelessly on the biggest academic hurdle of my PhD. Two days prior to my New York trip, an academic panel was still grilling me with questions as they decided on whether to confirm or reject me into the PhD program of The University of Queensland. I passed. I gathered my documents, packed my bags and flew to face another challenge that awaited me at the other side of the world.

***** 

Columbia University, August 2017.

It is no secret that my lifelong dreams are deeply aligned with educational achievements. My parents may not have afforded to send me to an Ivy League institution and I'm fine with that but I will still pass this dream to my future kids and to their kids until someone in the family finally gets an Ivy League degree. Haha. So imagine my happiness when I got the opportunity to present my work at Columbia University, no less.

My presentation was bombarded with so many questions that, even the audience thought, were harsh for a one-year-old research. But you know, they could have grilled me for one day and I wouldn’t care less. Never in my three years in research have I been that calm, collected and spontaneous in speaking about my work. Never have I had people approaching me, asking more about my work, offering collaborations, and requesting copies of my presentation. 

Later at the gala dinner, I was sipping my champagne and looking at the Manhattan skyline aboard the Liberty Belle when a woman walked towards me. She said smiling, “I just want you to know that you did a great job in your presentation. I thought they were tough, but you were tougher."

***** 

And that’s how I will remember my New York trip. Frank Sinatra was not lying when he said, “If I can make it here, I’ll make it anywhere” because that was how New York made me feel. In the midst of nagging thoughts, regrets, homesickness and life questions, this glorious city celebrated my efforts for what it's worth, gave me a tap on the back, reminded me why I am still here thriving, and assured me that I will make it. So thank you, NYC. I really needed that. 

You gotta love college!

Last week was really a very eventful one. Never thought all these can all happen within a week:

SEPTEMBER 14

A very messy and muddy get together with Debbie..

(No pictures attached. Come on ang dugyot namin nun! Hehe.)

SCL interview

Her name is Aling Minda. She is a street dweller in Espana whom we interviewed last Monday. A very humbling experience, indeed.

CHE General Assembly

Memorable quote/joke:

"Ano ang gusto niyong passing sa mga subjects niyo? Is it A: 40 na, negotiable pa. Or B: 80, o di sige, ikaw na matalino. To vote, just text the letter of your answer space the name of your prof. " And the professors bursted into laughter. HEHE.

One thing we learned that night: UST IS SO CREEPY AT 10PM ONWARDS!!!!

SEPTEMBER 17

Went to Adamson to cheer for our representative for the PICHE (Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers) Idol. And guess what? UST won! :)

So Noel, the PICHE idol treated us all to Tapsi (a famous inuman in Dapitan) for a victory party. Had fun listening as my tipsy classmates unveil the secrets of their hearts. HEHE.

SEPTEMBER 18

It was Alom's birthday last September 15(same as debb) too. So he treated us for a dinner at Jollibee. Sobrang laughtrip ang pictures. HEHE.

So that's it. The pictures are in Facebook. I'll upload some when I have time; hope I'll find some because life goes back to normal after this week.

P.S. I love Blogger's new post editor. It's about time they make a change. Hope they change the stinking dashboard too!

Time to unwind!

Yeah. Our prelims was so stressful and so tiring that's why our block decided to have an outing as a way to unwind and bond. But it's not really an "outing" for me because it was in Kalugdan Resort, Ligas Bacoor, Cavite. Ang layo noh? Haha. Well I should be thankful anyhow because I wouldnt've been there if they went some far place else. As if my parents will allow me to swim anywhere further.

So it was last Thursay, August 20 '09 when all these happened.

Started the night by eating and taking pictures. The food was delicious! Thanks to Jepay for all the preparations!

Jump shots, horror shots and whatever-you-call shots. There're a lot of scandalous shots taken. It took me all the energy to muster so that I wouldn't post them here lest I'm dead the next moment I meet Tom. Hehe.

The guys were drinking a lot that night so most of them were knocked out before dawn. They don't even know what their talking about. "Don't naked me!" "Don't shackle me!" "Sino lasheng?" Haha! Dang! It was my first time to talk to drunk men.
Well, I have a picture looking drunk (and molested. HAHA) because I accidentally fell asleep. But believe me, I was alcohol-free that time. I was the good girl in the group kasi hindi ako umiinom e. Hihi.

Packed up at 5am and went home by 6am. Honestly I barely have no idea until now how the drunken guys manage their way home.

It was a very different and new experience for me. The next time I'll be part of one,I wish I'm with the 2-3 friends :-)

Summer Kind of Wonderful

Ghel's family invited Jei and I for an overnight stay in La Virginia Resort in Lipa, Batangas last week. I was really skeptical if my parents will allow me there. I guess they considered the fact that I'm not just going with some friends, but with Ghel's family too so they allowed me. It was my first overnight plus out-of-town swimming experience. As in first! Haha.

The place is really beautiful!!! We spent more time taking pictures with the scenery rather than swimming. Haha. Look at our pictures, parang napilitan lang kami magswimming. Haha.

Then we went to Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club (Tita Gina's officemate toured us there) which is really classy and beautiful! Orchard, panis!! Haha. Ganda talaga. Then Tita's officemate took us in their Casa de Segunda. The moment we saw the ancient house, I was just kidding when I said that we're off for an educational trip, but it turned out that I was true. The house was the house of Segunda Katigbak, Rizal's first love. Shocking, right.

I am so proud of my shots. They are really m-shots! Haha. Ghel and Jei had trouble choosing what pictures to upload in their Facebook and Friendster accounts, coz you know, my shots are really beautiful. Hahaha. Kidding.

Lezz do thiz again! ;) 

Gimme some love!

It's February already! It's LOVE MONTH!

Bataan experience Part I.

It was an experience after all. It's my first time in Bataan, to teach kids, and to be part of a community service.

My learner's name is Luisa. She's a very quiet kid, and even too small for an eight-year old. I chose her because I felt some pang of pity when I saw her so aloof and quiet in the middle of a very excited and hyperactive crowd of kids. Then, our facilitator told us that we need to teach two more students since there came a lack of teachers. My other two learners are Crystal and Emman. Emman is so gwapo! He might pass for a child star role. I even asked him if he fancy being a child star, but he told me that all he wants is to draw and play. Kids.

Teaching Emman and Crystal is very easy. They're so jolly and bibo. I don't even do the kid-talk when I teach them. I feel like I'm just talking to Vanessa. But Lucia is being hard. She's very quiet and it seemed like she did not want to be there. What shocked me most was that she don't know how to add single-digit numbers! Come to think of it, our lesson plan was about multiplication by two's and three's yet my learner doesn't even know how to add. Wah. So I had no choice but to teach her how to add. All these months, what have they been teaching her??

//Sigh.
That experience made me feel so blessed and thankful. I am looking forward to the two more trips in Bataan next week. I want to teach them some more. Plus the fact that I am enjoying some out-of-town activities with my fellow Eng'g schoolmates.

Some more LTS pics on my flickr account.

I've started reading "The Green Mile". Its pace is a slower than the other novels. But I tell you, it's waaaaay slower than SS' novels. But I think the slow pace is because the novel is released series per series. It's like a hundred pages per series. But I bought the complete serial novel so I have to keep up with its pace. Bibitinin ko nalang sarili ko every after series. HEHE.

Nagdidiet ako, okay? I have been skipping dinner for more than a week already. It's getting to be an acquired habit.

School's making me busy. Gosh. We've got a lot of things to do before the Eng'g Week. Quizzes, reports, homeworks. WAH. Which reminds me that I have to go now. I'll take a quick rest then hit my Calculus book right away.

I don't think this blog will be getting some more often updates from now on. Kasi nakakatamad sa Blogger!! Grrr. But I'll be keeping this, still. It's my oldest blog aside from my Multiply. Hehe.
Sige babu.

Smart buy! Smart books!

This afternoon we went to the Orient Pearl, the building that PJ blogged about, to hunt books. I share this same passion for books with my friends that's why I get to share a lot of stuffs about it with them. We even share our books. But books are getting the money off our purses, so we have to find a place to buy cheap ones. And PJ saved the day -- or should I say, our purses. Haha.

The Orient Pearl sells a lot of books! From textbooks to novels, they have it! We found Paulo Coelho's books with a price ranging from just 150 to 190 pesos. Also novels of Nicholas Sparks, Sidney Sheldon, James Patterson and John Grisham just cost 150 pesos too. Don't think that it's secondhand because it's not. I don't know where or how do they get those books. Hope it's not from something illegal. Hehe.

I bought Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks. I was longing for that book for ages, but I keep on stopping myself from buying it since it's very expensive. 315pesos for a 222-page novel. No deal! That's why I grabbed the novel the moment I saw it in the Orient Pearl. It just costs 150! I saved even more than half! :))

I noticed that the books that I've read are just limited in the writings of Rowling, Meyer, Sparks and Coelho so I decided to try another author -- Sidney Sheldon. I bought The Naked Face for again, 150 pesos. This one is a smarter purchase. SS books cost 400 pesos in National Bookstore. Talk about profit! HMP. The plot of this novel is veeeery interesting! I am going to read it before I give it to Eric. Yeah, I bought the book for him since SS is one of his favorite authors. Sweet. Hehe.

I bought another book from a different bookstore in Recto. We were just strolling around when I saw Chamber of Secrets sold for just 250. Waaah. I tried to haggle since my money left was only 200, but they won't give it to me. Thanks to Vaughn for lending me the 50!

I bought these books for only 550 pesos!! I saved 544 pesos!! Grabe! That's almost 50% discount. I could say that today, I did the smartest purchase of my life. HEHE.

Ghel's Debut

It was one whack of an adventure!

Allan and the rest of my friends picked me up at 5pm. Laughtrip in the car! Dang it. I missed those times coz we had our last roadtrip last summer pa. :( We talked about a lot of nonsense stuffs, just like the old days. Hehe. Allan asked us to keep up with the streets that we pass coz we might miss the place. And we really did. We missed our landmark! We stopped in front of Robinson's and asked to a lady what MRT station is in front of us, and she said, BONI STATION. So lumagpas kami.
So, what now? We entered a street coz we can't stop at the highways of EDSA. Naligaw na nga, baka mahuli pa. Allan was a little bit tensed already. We asked a lot of persons on how are we going to get back to Guadalupe Station because damn Edsa, there is no u-turn section to go to! They said that we have to get passed the tunnel, u-turn then turn right blahblah. And we did--after an hour. We were already at Makati by 6pm, but we arrived at the place at 7pm. Just because of that missed MRT Station. Damn it.

Ghel invited most of my closest high school friends in her party. I missed them so much! Especially Deb who's like a partyphile socialite last night. Serena, is she? Hehe.

The program was a little bit short. The food was good, and we love the place since it isn't hot in there. Hehe.

Before going home, we took a lot of pictures with everybody. We even took a paparazzi-like shot. Haha. Convincing, it is!





We left at 11:20pm, and I got home by 11:45, coz Allan was speeding up and was racing against Carlo! Damn it. But I enjoyed it. Haha. We opened the windows and our hair were everywhere. MAHANGIN. Hahaha.

We enjoyed the night. Really. Nakakamiss! Sana ganito ulit next time!

a worthy ending

"How we spend our days is, of course..
how we spend our
LIVES."

o yes. March 17, 2008 ended our freshman year in UST. finally, the adjustment stage is all over, and we're ready to take the next step. :)
But then, i feel like doing an assessment to a whole year of great experiences with my new buddies.

pictures.
-this is the vainest section i've ever been part of. but i could say that the camera made a great bond to all of us.

food.
-i've never been this hungry for food until i met these people! ubos pera lagi! haha.

algebra, trigo, geom
-monster subjects that we've surpassed! we're ready for the next monsters to come. :D

gm
-messages from these people always fill my inbox.

warpath
-classroom extension. dota: extra subject.

coffee
-this has helped me open my eyes after waking up from a two-hour sleep.

adrian
-the most handsome girl ever.
-anaconda. abortion queen!

rabeet gang
-the noisiest gang!

And as our last hirit for the year, we went to trinoma. (the place where the girls work. :P)
We went to Timezone. the boys played some arcade games, the others sang at the ktv, and the others took pictures. :D

My first ever timezone card. :))

I enjoyed being part of this block. A block full of fun, laughter, stories, GM's, bonding, difficulties, homeworks and a whole lot more! :)

Sa uulitin! Til next sem. enjoy the summer!

it was an adventure that i've never dared to dream of

MR. BadLuck had been so generous to me this morning that he gave me a lot of perks to keep.

• i went to ust this morning to meet our president because we have to do the script in our RC play on feb. our call time was 8:30am. i left the house at 6:45 am. pumila ako sa terminal ng 7am. gosh! we all waited there till the peak of the rush hour approached. yet .. walang sasakyang dumating! the heck! i stood there, so rooted and cold for nothing! i did not wait any longer coz it's already 8am in my watch. so diniskartehan ko nalang ung way para makapuntang manila.


• if there is a possibility that a bus could explode due to overload, all the bus in cavite would probably been ashed this morning. damn! it's so full. ayaw na nila magsakay. thank God, a not-so-overloaded bus came up to overload the vehicle by some more passengers. i budged and squeezed myself in there. bumaba nalang ako sa lrt, edsa station.


• i feel so crazy and lost when i arrived in the station. it was so jam-packed with people kaya sobrang traffic sa hagdan. it's just good (it couldn't get any better) that i bought a backpack so i am not holding anything. i could really imagine myself from other's point of view. haha. im so wasted already, i walked so slow, my posture was so weak. and i am just staring at the space (if there's any space left). if ever a pickpocket grabbed something from my bag, i would barely have noticed coz i was so freaking tired! errrgh.
  

thanks to God, nakarating na ko sa UN station. but Mr. Bad Luck still has his last freebie to give for the completion of my worst morning.

• i do not have enough coins para makapag fx papuntang ust, so i just took a jeepney. i was looking out of the window when another jeepney bursted out its smoky, yucky and suffocating smoke .... at my bare FACE! damn it! my face was so rough and so wasted!

i doubt if i could stand another day worse than that.. and blimey, i'm just in my freshman year! i shudder to think what's going to happen next!

i hope these wont happen to you. :(
ALWAYS take care!
'dy.

confessions of a casted-out cavitena

wala lang. it was my first time na sumakay sa LRT ever since birth.
inosente nu? hehe. d naman kc ako taga-Manila talaga.
and everytime we go to the city, hndi kme ngcocomute.
ngaun nalang ako natuto mag-isa sa Manila .












leaving my comfort zone has allowed me to learn new things in life..

• when i was in high school, i dont know where the heck is Talaba! i don't know half of the places we've been to. Hndi ko alam kung saan kami nadaan. I would just comfortably sit in our car until we reach our destination. now, i know lahat ng nadadaanan ko. I have to know it kc it's hard to be an idiot in Manila. People will fool you.

• I dont know Cubao, Greenhills, Recto, Mendiola, Dapitan, Edsa, and Fairview ... before!
• The Project 3, 4, 6,8, and whatever the project number is, are the places i've heard just through eavesdrop. the heck, i don't care where are those places. well. now, i'm free from the long years of ignorance.
  

learning is not complete without a bunch of struggles ..

• dte, a 1hour trip is already an out of town trip for our family. but now, an hour of trip is an everyday back-and-forth journey to school!
• dte din, i am not used to walk and walk para makauwi. pa-para lang ako ng jeep sa harap ng bahay namin at sa harap ng statefields, then voila, makakauwi na ko. pero ngaun, i have to walk and walk bago pa ko makasakay ng bus.
• ngaun ko lang din naexperience na makipag-patintero sa mga kaskaserong drivers in the middle of the streets of Lawton para lang makauwi.
• my first feet-baptism-while-still-wearing-socks-and-shoes:with the dirty and slimy flooded streets of Lawton and Espana.
• Umbrella has been a fixture inside my bag for about 7months already.
• My flip flops has found her new home: my locker .. the thing i can count on, in cases that i have to get soaked again :)
• 7months ago, i told myself that riding the bus standing is my very last option. 6months later .."makasakay lang ako ng bus, okay na."
• dte, i would eat my lunch sa ust. but now, i'm eating my lunch while i'm on my way home.
  

It sounds tough. Yes, I admit it is tough ... at first. Once nasanay na ung katawan namin, parang statefields nalang din ang layo ng Manila from Cavite. My English teacher would always tell:

"now you are free from your 16 years of ignorance"

as a one-liner. But it strikes me so directly that i don't take it already as a joke.

I'm experiencing these endeavors in exchange to quality education from ust. It's worth the pain! I really have to get out of my comfort zone.. to learn and explore the tough side of life. wherever you are .. take care always! :) God Bless.

GLORIETTA EXPLOSION

Bloody hell! what happened to me a while ago,October19,2007, was a near-death experience!! we were at glorietta2 while ago for some shopping. i went there looking for shoes and clothes. then, after lunch, we went to landmark coz it is the mall near the terminal. it was just barely 30minutes after we left g2 when we heard an explosion. damn. all the people were so scared. we immediately went out of landmark when i saw a man soaked in his own blood! he waslying on the floor! he removed his shirt because his head was bleeding freakly. Oh my gosh. it was really a scary scenario. all the people were running away from g2. my mom and i were bursting to get away from the vicinity just like all the other people because many of them were so scared that another explosion might take place. the policemen and the bombsquad responded in just a blink of an eye. honestly, that made me more nervous. all the people were really in panic. even my mom did not know how are we going to go home because the terminal was just so near g2, and the last thing we'd ever do is to go near that place. Thanks to God that a bus going to Cavite suddenly appeared out of the blue.

I can never forget my experience a while ago. i suddenly had a deep appreciation of my life. i've realized that any moment, you can be dead, your loved ones can be dead in just one flash. we never know when will God take our lives. As i watch the flash news on tv and see the ruins of a once-beautiful-place two hours ago, i remembered that we could have been one of the victims there. I thank God so much that He never ceased to protect us.i know that God spared my life for a reason. Enjoy every single second of your life, coz you dont know when will it end. God Bless.

" Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you're alive, it isn't."

-Richard Bach

God still wants me to do something for Him. My mission is not yet accomplished.