Almost 10 years after graduating in 2000, I'm able to pay a visit to my Alma Mater. I needed to get my transcript of records (TOR) that's why I'm back to the grounds of University of Santo Tomas. The moment I saw the main building while walking along Dapitan, a lot of memories came rushing back. I have 5 years worth of memories (though I honestly don't remember all of them now, given how Dory I am!LOL!) in this school... both good and bad. I think I have memories at almost every corner of this school, from simple walking on the concrete to our regular tambayan. I suddenly miss my friends... I miss everything during this chapter of my life.
Anyways, after finishing my TOR activity, I decided to visit our building, the Engineering Building and maybe if lucky, I'd get to meet some of my professors again. As I was walking, I noticed a lot of changes. Inside the campus there's now a huge parking area with a nice exterior design (looks like a mall!) and there are now a lot of restaurants and food choices! These kids are so lucky! I also noticed the new college uniforms worn by the students. I suddenly got jealous when I saw some kids wearing their cool PE uniforms. I wanted a pair too, both shirt and jogging pants!! How come our uniforms before weren't as cool? :-(
As I got inside the engineering building, more memories came back... I felt giddy and it was like I was back in college all over again! I went to the new IE Faculty room and guess who I saw? Nestor!! OMG, what a small world!! He's now teaching there part time. I also saw Mrs Ngo (previously our IE head) and Mrs Nancy Eleria (Economics prof). They cannot remember my name but they knew I was their student once. We did a little of catching up and reminiscing... and it was really good to be back.
The main building series:
the main building.. sepia version
University of Santo Tomas
this is the countdown to 400 year celebration of UST
the pavement leading to the Arch of the Century (and Espana) from the main building
inside the main building... with the UST model design
who could ever forget the grand staircase??
I want this big Swatch watch!!! Or maybe I should call it a clock?
the Christmas design inside the main building
the really creepy staircase leading to the 2nd floor (registrar's office)
Engineering Building series:
Engineering building... this is where I spent 5 years of my life :)
our usual "tambayan"... if we can find a vacant spot
this is what you'll see at the lobby, the rest are pretty much the same
this is our usual spot in between classes... *sigh* I suddenly miss my friends
i still look like a college student, right?? LOL!
IE faculty
Of course, I need to have my picture taken! ;)
With Mrs Ngo, I think she still looks the same even after 10 years :)
With Mrs. Nancy Eleria, our Economics teacher
With Mr. Lugay, our PPC (Planning and Production Control??) teacher
ENG'g Uniform series... I saw this glass encased girls' uniforms inside the building, it's good to know the transformation of our uniforms :)
girls' uniforms from the 50's and early 60's
girls' uniforms from the late 60's to 1970's
from the 80's to early 90's
Late 90's and 2010-present -- these were my uniforms during my time in UST
The rest of UST I was able to take pictures of:
The improved UST Hospital
our neighboring building, the Education Building
wow!! a sports complex?! This used to be the cafeteria in front of the Eng'g building
the Fountain of Knowledge
at the Arch of the Century -- thanks to Nestor for taking this picture
University of Santo Tomas, founded 1611
It was a great (though tiring) day. I was able to accomplish what I needed to do and was able to see some of my professors again. It was really good to be back, even for just a little while.
Today I was reminded again why I don't jump for joy every time I had to visit a dentist. I had my wisdom tooth pulled out via "normal" extraction. Dang! I forgot how this was done, the last time I had a tooth extracted was when I still have milk teeth... there were a lot of pushing and pulling!! And since it's the wisdom tooth (the farthest tooth!), it took a while for the dentist to pull it off...it felt like my brains will come out together with it! Argh!! *sigh* Thank heavens for the anesthesia I didn't feel any pain... only the pressure pain for too much pushing! Oh, it doesn't stop there, I had another tooth pulled out, but since it's already partially chipped off, the normal extraction doesn't apply anymore. A surgery was done (my first ever)... I won't tell the details anymore, it's kinda gory! Ugh! Now I have stitches and will have to wait for a few days to go back and have the stitches removed. After the 2 extractions, I had 2 other fillings and a cleanup. My jaw suffered most of it, since I have to keep my mouth open for these procedures. I welcomed the no talking for a while part afterwards. And of course, the choco-fudge sundae!! :)
Right now I'm on a soft and cold diet because of the surgery. I have to prevent the wound from bleeding and opening up, otherwise, the doc will have to stitch me up again. I'm also taking in some antibiotics to prevent any possible infection. Good thing I ate a lot before heading to the dentist!! Now, I miss rice and ulam a lot!! I want real food!! I can't wait for Monday, when hopefully things will get back to normal.
Hmmm... I wonder, since one of my wisdom teeth is gone, does it make me less wise? Hehe!! :P
DK, my counterpart and a very dear friend from Korea, just made my day today! He gave me gifts (via Chai)!! It's a passport holder and a calling card holder. But mind you, these are not just ordinary passport holder and card holder... Gong Yoo's (Korean handsome guy that starred in Coffee Prince) pictures are the cover!!!! OMG!!! I'm all giddy!! Yes, I'm a big Gong Yoo fan... and I have a big crush on him. Who wouldn't? He's such a hottie! And he's got this manly, bad-boy-yet-sweet look that makes him really hot! Ugh, if only he's in my world.
I took a picture of my very special gifts... thank you very much DK!! Gomabsumnida sunsangnim DK!
my Gong Yoo card and passport holders! i love 'em!
Wow, I can't believe we're already at the last month of the year!! Time sure passes by soooo fast!! There seems to be no stopping time... and before I know it, I'm old and grey and sagging!!! Waaaahhhhh!!!! Ok, enough of the "old" talk... it makes me sad. Ugh!! A few more sleep and we'll be saying goodbye to 2010 and hello to 2011.
So... Christmas is around the corner... too bad I'm too broke to do serious shopping for gifts. I'd just give a mental (meaning me remembering it) IOU and will just make up next year, when I'm hopefully at a better financial status. So for all my inaanaks (godchildren) out there, i owe you this Christmas :)
Advance Merry Christmas everyone! May you have a blessed holiday seasons with your families and loved ones :)
My sister, Aryza (but I fondly call her Pyong), is the youngest in the family and she has always been a great dancer. I think she's been dancing as young as the age of three. I remember during family occasions like reunions or birthdays, she can be easily goaded to dance in front of everyone, even if she's dancing alone. Nobody taught her how to dance, I guess the TV did all the teaching for her, and she's one of the lucky ones blessed with this talent. I didn't realize that she was able to nurture this talent until she started posting videos of her dances. My jaw literally dropped when I first saw her video... she dances like a pro!! And what amazes me is she never had an official dance lesson in her life!! I asked her once where she learned the steps, she said that she just watches youtube and study the dances! WOW!!
I'm jealous... I wish I have a talent like this... it would be nice to be able shake my booteeey without looking like a duck! LOL!!!
Anyways, now she's part of her school's dance club, which will even enable her to learn more about dancing. But I kept telling her not to do too much physical stress given her heart condition... She had a congenital heart disease (a hole in the heart) and this was operated on when she was 3. It's ok now except when she gets intermittent quickened heartbeats. She was in the hospital 3 weeks back because of this where they had to perform cardioversion (according to google, it's a brief procedure where an electrical shock is delivered to the heart to convert an abnormal heart rhythm back to a normal rhythm). According to the doctor she can go back to her normal activities, but I still kept telling her to be careful and not over exert and not to downplay anything she might be feeling.
Ok, so here's a dance she did for me... I was asking her to dance the Church song from Step Up 2 but she was having a hard time to find videos she can copy the steps from. So here's what she did instead.... Dang!! I really do wish I'm as graceful and as skinny as she is!
"Whooooossssaaaaa".....if you have seen the movie Bad Boys 2 (with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith), then you'd know what this means. "Goosefraba"...... and, if you have seen the movie Anger Management (with Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler) you'll definitely know that I was a little pissed off today.
Why? Because of this dang Christmas party presentation of our department. This is the last Christmas party for our site before we are shut down and all the departments are required to have a presentation. We were given different themes to choose from and it was decided (via votation) that we'll do a TV series (btw, i voted for a fairy tale theme... just to set the records straight). At first, a Glee-like theme was what they wanted to do but we later on realized that there won't really be an impact to the audience if we do that since not all of them know this show. After series of deliberation, we all decided to use Ilumina as the theme given the grandeur of the costume and because people will recognize the show since it's being aired on a local tv station.
We are now on the last 2 weeks of the preparation before the party and the costumes are not done (not even started!). The dance steps are not even finished because not all of the dancers can attend the practice time given the conflict with meetings and other work-related activities (and that is another issue!). There had been a lot of discussions about the costumes and when we finally agreed, there's now the issue of the cost. I negotiated on getting a big discount without sacrificing the quality and beauty and ended up with Php1k cost per dress (originally at PhP1.5k). There will be 18 gals dancing and will be dressing up. Doing the math, that will be PhP18k plus the boys' robes of PhP1.5k. So the total cost for outfit alone is PhP19.5k. But this will be divided to 39 people, making it PhP500 each. We are still waiting for some pledges from the managers, so I'm hoping the 500 each will get lower.
Today I sent out the mail about the cost... and as expected there were reactions. Yes, the total cost is higher than the grand prize of 10k. Some think that it's not practical to spend higher than what we can possibly get in return. I understand and actually thought about that already when I got the initial cost, so I came up with a backup plan on how to lower it in case people will not agree to the amount. What upset me was that people just kept complaining without giving any suggestions! What cost did they expect with 24 people dancing in costumes? Even if the dress' cost was cut in half (500pesos), the total amount will still be higher than the prize!! And there's still no assurance that we will win!! I gave them another option which will lower the cost by PhP164 each and we voted on it. The original plan still won... I guess most realized PhP164 difference is not that big a deal...
*sigh* Now I'm thinking why did I even bother with this crap?! Why did I even bother to care?! I could've just shut my mouth up and let them do all the thinking of ideas and consolidating... *sigh*
Key learning 1 -- if you don't like how things are done, then do it yourself!
Key learning 2 -- if you're going to complain, make sure you come up with a suggestion to make things better!
I guess I'll just watch this and make myself laugh
I came into this world black, naked and ugly. And no matter how much I accumulate here, it's a short journey. I will go out of this world black, naked and ugly. So I enjoy life. Screamin' Jay Hawkins (Jalacy Hawkins)
naturally versatile, adventurous, wants to be totally unrestrained, am rather happy-go-lucky; living for today, and not worrying too much about tomorrow, loves traveling, loves the beach, and a hopeless romantic...
