A BELATED V-DAY. Nope, I didn't spend yesterday with a special someone, but nevertheless I enjoyed this year's February the 14th. A friend expressed her gratitude and friendship by giving me a rose, and it was really a great morale booster for me. I think I have appreciated that more over some guy giving me a flower, since I didn't really expect it from her.

I also got a letter from the administration telling me that I was a university scholar. Cool.

And I watched Kayanne, James, and JR's thesis deliberations yesterday. They had one of the most significant studies I have ever heard of in UP architecture, and they really presented it well. They did a comparative analysis of concrete shapes based on select criteria, and eventually came up with a matrix outlining the efficiencies of each shape on a given criteria. Simple, but the process of achieving this matrix was hard. (I kinda had a hard time following their explanation of using the matrix.) They got a good grade, though I really expected a higher grade for all their outputs.

The previous group, Ge, Kats, and Patrick, also did well. Their thesis was a new building method derived from the structural design of vernacular architecture. (in Philippines, an example is the Ifugao house) At least this was what I understood. It was too bad that I didn't really get to see their defense and only got to witness the Q & A portion.

Anyway, watching the groups gave me inspiration for next year's thesis. I'm kinda glad that I don't feel so depressed over the upcoming thesis year anymore. I've wanted to get to the I-want-to-discover-what's-out-there mode ever since the notion that thesis year is just around the corner struck, but so far it just made me feel depressed since I have no idea what I want to pursue.

Now, I feel that there is direction.

Thank goodness.

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A little help also came from reading Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. What a great book! It inspired me to listen to my heart.