NEW HOME. Ei! I just want to inform you guys that I've moved to a new home at blurty. I've switched to this new site since it is kinda more 'interactive', more than which I could do for blogspot. Sayang. Just when blogger is getting to be better.

So officially, I'm with blurty. But maybe I'll still post some stuff in here. I do belong to a blogger group.=D

So guys - feel free to comment! It's one of the main reasons for the switch! Hehe.

Almost a week’s worth of journal entries coming up!

BUSY, BUSY WEEK. Finally! Something to write about besides songs and thoughts. Already in busy mode – we have only a few weeks left before we turn in a more or less refined proposal of our methodology for thesis. At first, I have to admit I was kinda reluctant – parang ang hirap…I mean…HOW DO I GO ABOUT THIS?!? We don’t have the slightest idea on what we want to work on, and AGREE to work on. We have ideas, but most entail experiments and methodologies that we have yet to have a clear idea of. Our thesis adviser told us to approach a certain topic in a way that we can be able to detail, for example, how the bolts look like in a building system (supposing) we are to propose. We must train our minds to think that way so we would be able to get our bases covered as much as we can.

Our groupmates and I have agreed to work with bamboo for our thesis topic, and for that I am rather relieved. At this point, I want to concentrate on something rather than think of vague ideas. At least we can start from there and branch out to possibilities that deal with bamboo.

We still have our work cut out for us. A million things have already been done about bamboo – from bridges to houses to pavilions to structural joints to plybamboo – um, the list could go on and on.

But I am so determined to go ahead with this. If not, I might forgo with the structural stuff altogether.
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I would like to give special thanks to the group of Ge Joson, Katz Regala, and Patrick Apacible. We liked their thesis on creating a building system based on Philippine vernacular architecture, and so we sought them out. Right decision - these guys gave out advice and helpful tips in tackling our thesis topic. Thank you thank you! It made me admire these people more – their enthusiasm for their study and generous nature is just something to emulate.

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ARC Video. Aside from thesis, another thing that kept me awake for a couple of nights was this presentation for the college G.A. and Freshmen Assembly. As one last hurrah for ARC, (FYI: We officially graduated from ARC last Wednesday.) I made this video advertisement – it’s got clippings from MTV, Meteor Garden, and some commercials - depicting our message of inviting freshmen to join the registration corps. The experience was cool! It looks like one of those plugs for MTV. It was my first time to edit a video – I was able to stream the video clips and add text and music. I picked out this 2-minute song from my chill out collection – Pepino Beach by Marcos Valle, and just mixed them all together. Sigh. I only wish I could show it here.

Ironic. I find myself knowing a lot of programs but I still don’t know how to make a webpage.

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THE I LOVE YOU SONG. I finally discovered why my version of Te Amo doesn’t sound Spanish! It turns out I have the F4 version all along, hence the Mandarin interpretation. (So I was kinda right.) The good thing is, I recently got the Chayanne version of the song. Cool. I like both versions.=D

FRESH MP3S,LSES. Some of the songs I’ve been listening to lately. (Read: playing on my phone) It’s rather interesting that I find myself listening to a multilingual set of songs.

1. Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus. I’m not a teen, nor a dirtbag. I just like the guitar riffs produced by the band. I was able to record the live version of this song, and I just like the raw feel of this ditty.
2. Kiss from a Rose by Seal. Brings me back to my freshman days in high school.
3. Sleep All Day by Jason Mraz. A constant fixture on my list. Another song with the words ‘guitar’ and ‘old folk’ attached to it.
4. Unwell by Matchbox 20. A song that seems to fit my current disposition and one of the topics my partners and I are thinking of – designing a mental asylum.
5. I Truly Love You by Jerry Yan. The first of the Mandarin songs. I really didn’t like this song when I first saw the video (that’s where I first heard it) seeing that it has the usual ingredients for a mushy, not-so-interesting ballad number. But hey. I’m a sucker for romance. And the song kinda grows on you.
6. Strong Enough by Sheryl Crow. Another song from freshman high school era! I really liked this song back then, and I still do up to now. Great ‘guitar’ songs just never die. I’m not a fan of Sheryl Crow, but I really, really like this song. I think this is the only song of hers that I like.
7. The Remedy by Jason Mraz. Isn’t it obvious that I prefer this guy over John Mayer?
8. Beautiful Ones by Suede. I’m not sure why I’m still listening to this song, since I wasn’t able to record a good live version. (The scream of the fans nearly drown out the song.) But I did like this song when it first came out. And another thing – this song always reminds me of my cousins.
9. Season of Fireworks by F4. Another Mandarin ditty! Great melody, the boys don’t sound too much like a boyband. Or at least one can concentrate more on the melody rather than the lyrics.
10. Life’s a Bitch by Shooter. This time, this song brings me back to freshman college days.
11. Te Amo (I Love You) by Chayanne. This is a song from the soundtrack of ‘Meteor Garden II’. I like this song – it has a catchy melody. But it kinda sounds something you would associate with a videoke. And I still have a hard time figuring out whether the song is in Mandarin or Spanish – heck, it may be just F4 substituting Mandarin lyrics to a Chayanne song and singing ‘Te Amo’ in the refrain.
12. Lose Your Way by Sophie B. Hawkins. Another DC song. (The first one was ‘Life’s a Bitch’)
13. Ocean Drive by Lighthouse Family. I like this song despite the sad meaning behind it. And I’ve always been a fan of Lighthouse Family.
He left you
Black and blue
Without a word of explanation
And he took your love for granted and,
He left you high and dry
But you know
Someday
Well you'll wonder what you see in him, anyway
When that day arrives
We'll live on Ocean Drive
14. Ni Yau De Ai by Penny Tai. The main background music for MG. I’ve read somewhere that that this song literally means ‘The Love You Want’. Anyway, this song is beautiful in any language.
15. Qing Fei De Yi by Harlem Yu. The opening song for MG. A quirky song that seems to be just right for…introducing a show? ABS attempted to translate the lyrics in Filipino but it really sounds funny. Hmm-better leave it with funny sounding melody with an unfamiliar language, right? Um, this song kinda grows on you.
16. No Me Ames by J. Lo and Marc Antony. Don’t Love Me – hehe, it kinda sounds like another song that I know.
17. Remember When by Color Me Badd. I still have yet to hear this line from the whole song. And whatever happened to Color Me Badd? They just disappeared in the mid 90’s. Anyway, another song with Spanish words! And a Spanish feel (they have a way of playing with guitars – has a rhythm, bossa nova feel to it.) Cool. Spanish just sounds so sexy.
18. Superman by Five for Fighting. I’m not much of a lyric person. I just like hearing the song played on the piano. So don’t ask me whether I find the song romantic or what.

There. Now I have to go back to thesis. And I have to listen to the Rivermaya songs Joyce gave me.=D

Today’s supposed to be my third day of school, but our teacher in structural class decided to cancel our class because he had a lot of work to do.

Hmm…time to get the much-deserved haircut I’ve been planning for ages. I’ve been planning to have my hair trimmed but I always hesitated; I couldn’t decide on where to have it done! I want to be loyal to one stylist but I haven’t encountered one who has impressed me so far, or at least I have built a rapport with. Well, I was never the chatty customer anyway.

Anyway, I might try Bench Fix salon…my friend recommended it. I never felt comfortable in girly-girly salons anyway. Seems like the right type of salon for me.

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I just finished reading Paulo Coelho’s By the River Piedra, I Sat Down and Wept, and I want to reread it again. I like the book; it speaks of love, self-discovery, spirituality and universal truths. It focuses on two childhood sweethearts who are reunited after eleven years. The girl has resigned herself to a solid, straight path to life while the other, a spiritual leader, has been traveling the road less traveled. Anyway, the story focuses on the couple of days they spent in the French Pyrenees.

I also like Paulo Coelho and his approach to writing. He never dwells on the identity of his characters; rather, he uses the actions of his characters to illustrate the ‘truths’ he shares with the reader. It’s almost like reading a fable. Aside from this, all his books have journey as a theme…I wonder why. Anyway, I’ve always dreamed of being a traveler, and I would like to look at life as a journey.

I would like to share an excerpt from this book. In this part, Pilar’s childhood friend is sharing the exercise of the Other to Pilar.

MAN RUNS INTO an old friend who had somehow never been able to make it in life. “I should give him some money,” he thinks. But instead he learns that his old friend has grown rich and is actually seeking him out to repay the debts he had run up over the years.

They go to a bar they used to frequent together, and the friend buys drinks for everyone there. When they ask him how he became so successful, he answers that until only a few days ago, he had been living the role of the “Other.”

“What is the Other?” they ask.

“The Other is the one who taught me what I should be like, but not what I am. The Other believes that it is our obligation to spend our entire life thinking about how to get our hands on as much money as possible so that we will not die of hunger when we are old. So we think so much about money and our plans for acquiring it that we discover we are alive only when our days on earth are practically done. And then it’s too late.”

“And you? Who are you?”

“I am just like everyone else who listens to their heart; a person who is enchanted by the mystery of life. Who is open to miracles, who experiences joy and enthusiasm for what they do. It’s just that the Other, afraid of disappointment, kept me from taking action.”

“But there is suffering in life,” one of the listeners said.

“And there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it’s better to lose some of the battles in the struggle for your dreams than to be defeated without ever even knowing what you’re fighting for.”

“That’s it?” another listener asked.

“Yes, that’s it. When I learned this, I resolved to become the person I had always wanted to be. The Other stood there in the corner of my room, watching me, but I will never let the Other into myself again-even though it has already tried to frighten me, warning me that it’s risky not to think about the future.”

“From the moment that I ousted the Other from my life, the Divine Energy began to perform its miracles.”

RAMBLINGS. Summer is really over – I have spent the last two days and the whole of last week helping out with my college’s registration committee. It was really no bother. I and my batchmates would finally say goodbye to ARC, and this would be our last semester with the group. Sniff, sniff. It does feel sad to be leaving something I’ve been doing for the last four years.

Between helping out with the registration committee, fretting over thesis, and trying to get home really early to catch ‘Meteor Garden’, I never really got to notice that summer just ended. My final summer. (Geez, I should stop with this poetic act.) Anyway, it was probably just as well since I really need to get back to the groove of things.

But the thing with summer is…well, I don’t really know. I don’t know if my confusion about things in general is related to summer or…I just feel like I’m facing a fork in my life. My stomach is in knots. And I don’t want to blame this entirely on thesis. Anyway, I’m not even sure if this is about thesis. But, for the first time in my stay in college, I am actually not excited about the upcoming semester. I feel dreadful about it. And I don’t think I could pinpoint it on one thing. There are times that I feel sure about things, and there are times I feel like I walking on the edge of a plank.

Or maybe I’m just experiencing a case of pre-fifth year jitters. If there ever was such a thing.

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On the lighter side of things, I finally got all the subjects that I want, including this elective I have been wanting to take. I’m excited about IT 100; it’s about creating websites and learning html. Finally! For ages I’ve been wanting to do something really funky with this blog, but…hehe. My VERY limited html skills (actually zilch) has restricted me to this very, uh, ordinary website. But that would soon change! I want to merge what I have been doing with Photoshop and Flash and create something really cool.

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I’m also happy to note that my sweet basil plants are growing fast, thanks to the rain that’s been pouring down lately. Hehe, I am not exactly the world’s greatest gardener, and I am pretty much encouraged by the fact that my herbs lasted through the summer and are thriving well now, during the rainy season. Yahoo! I would definitely ask how to replant them so I could have more basil seedlings.