The Geek Brewery

I was looking for related articles on my post UP Diliman start of classes, moved when I saw this article from Inquirer.net.

Share your insights? What can you say?

Earlier today, UP Diliman Chancellor Sergio Cao announced that the start of classes for 1st Semester of Academic Year 2009-2010 will be moved to June 16, a week later than originally planned.

The move was a precautionary measure against the spread of A(H1N1) virus. Yesterday, a suspected A(H1N1) case was confirmed NEGATIVE by the Infirmary (UP Health Services).

Student’s registration will also be extended.

Whew, finally the summer term is on its last leg!

My class schedule for this summer was a lot more hectic than my regular semester schedule. My schedule stretches from 7am to 7pm, with breaks at 10:15am to 2:00pm. That’s roughly 8 hours and 15 minutes of class time everyday, as compared to my longest class during last second semester which is only 7 hours and 15 minutes.

I’m really not used to entering all of my classes in a day but I can hardly afford to miss a class in the super fast-paced summer semester. With only two subjects in a day, missing one is a big deal.

This 23rd, after all of my exams, I’m bound to go home to have a break (which is only barely two weeks). Woot, I’m so excited!

My regular/loyal readers (if any ) would surely notice that it has been a very long since I posted my last post (actually, I posted a sensitive artice that I had to remove). I’ve been focusing on my academics lately, especially now that I’m enrolled to interesting General Education (GE) subjects.

I am on a 19-unit load, 2 units more than the prescribed BS Compputer Science (BSCS) 1st Year 2nd Sem load since I enrolled to Chem16 – a 5-unit course not taken by BSCS students at the same time not taking my third 3-unit GE Subject.

My two (2) GE subjects are actually two courses on Gender, Sex and Sexuality. The one is Social Science 3, gwhich will focus on the psychological and sociological side of the said topics; while the other in is Panitikan ng Pilipinas 19, this one focusing on the Philippine literature aspect.

Soon, I will be posting my review on UPCAT the Movie and the book Isang Napakalaking Kaastigan. Actually, the book Isang Napakalaking Kaastigan was written by my Panitikan ng Pilipinas 19 instructor Sir Vlad Gonzales.

Keep posted.

Three men (one teller + two guards) were shot dead on an armored-car robbery outside the Bahay ng Alumni of UP Diliman Campus in Quezon City, Philippines at around 1pm.

The robbers initially used a Blue Mitsubishi Adventure bearing a plate number WKJ 409 which
they abandoned on a nearby location, just behind the Department of Citizens’ Military Training.

Inside the initial getaway vehicle were the two SFV 903 red plate numbers which was used to
hide the vehicle’s identity. (more…)

Yesterday, me and my sister swapped laptops. While browsing her music library, I saw this interesting song, UP Naming Mahal. I listened to it and I could describe my amazement indescribable.

It was a new rendition (version) of the U.P. Naming Mahal performed by Noel Cabangon, Cooky Chua, Chikoy Pura, Gary Granada and Bayang Barrios. (more…)

Salinggawi is University of Santo Tomas dance troupe representative to the 2008 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) cheerdance competition while UP Pep Squad is the University of the Philippines’ bet. Sawi is a Tagalog term for ill-fated or more appropriately used in the sentence as unsuccessful — meanwhile wagi means the opposite.

Salinggawi did not win this year’s UAAP cheerdance competition. The said dance troupe lost against this year’s champion, the UP Pep Squad, by 8 points (85.3 against 93.3 points).

I had the chance to watch this year’s cheerdance competition at the Araneta Coliseum. Despite our attempts to buy a ticket a week before the event, we were only blessed by it on the day itself — from a scalper.

I’ll bore you off by narrating our adventure to acquiring a tumataginting na ticket — but I’m giving you the complete freedom to skip this part and proceed to the real fun.

Our first attempt to buy the ticket was a week before the event at the UP College Human of Kinetics (CHK – Gym). We woke up about 6:30am, had our breakfast and did other stuff (minus taking a bath) and by 7:15am, we went straight to CHK. The queue was already a bit long by that time. We had to wait for a long time till the sale of tickets started, 9:45am. We were shocked by the magic note on the door. It said “Tickets for September 6 Game for Sale. UPPER BOX only”. And so, we left since we were there for the September 7 event. Days later, we discovered that September 7 tickets were sold the same day at about 10am. Amf.

As days passed, rumors that the event’s tickets were already sold out. It was sad. It was very sad. (Sige, papatulugin ko kayo sa post ko!!) Gladly, a friend told me that tickets will still be sold on-site. Weeeee.

September 7, the 2008 UAAP Cheerdance Competition date. We rose up from bed from 5:45am and left the dorm by 7:30am. This time, we had our baths (wahehehehe). We rushed to Araneta Coliseum, literally. We were like crazy looking for Katipunan jeepneys, running thru the LRT hallways, etc. We reached Araneta Coliseum at about 9:00am — then found ourselves in line.

The queue was very long, spell LOOOOOOOONNNNGGGG. Same as what happened in CHK, we waited the sale of tickets to start. Gladly, the agony was limited on the 2-hour wait (for the sale of tickets). The line was progressing very fast once the sale started. Toink, toink, toink. I was already three persons away from the magic ticket when the Event Security closed the gates. The general admission tickets were already sold out. Waaaaaa.

So we ran on the red gate to get our Lower Box tickets. Again, we started at the end of a very long queue. That’s when we decided to let our friend San buy a ticket from scalpers. On desperate times, we resort to desperate measures. Fortunately, San was desperate-looking enough that scalpers were approaching him like hell. More scalpers = more choices = more competition. Final price, PhP 150.00 per ticket versus the PhP 50.00 original price. Still a good price as compared to other scalper prices (average of PhP 250.00, as high as 500)..

Weeeeeeeeeee. Some shortcut. I’ll proceed to the real fun.

The first time I watched a game in Araneta was during the UP vs NU basketball game. UP won. Yesterday was my second time, a UP vs OTHERS cheerdance competition. UP won. I think it has something to do with my presence. Wahahahaha.

I’d like to quote of this tarpaulin poster by University of Santo Tomas (UST).

Photo credit: scarereyes.blogspot.com

Photo credit: nocturnalgoddess.multiply.com

That’s a 400 [Pacman <] 100 poster. Sadly, 400 isn’t clear enough. What is 400 years of EXISTENCE to 100 years of EXCELLENCE!

Honestly, I don’t have much to tell you regarding the actual event. Tatapusin ko na ito. Waaaaaaaa.

P.S. Galing talaga ng UP. Grabe!

I am writing this offline. It is exactly 4:05am. In a dark room. In a silent place.

For the past few days, I was used to waking up by around this time. It is quite unusual for a person like me – but I did it. I did it, for the love of Y4IT. For the love of an event I always wanted to participate in since I was in high school. Blame the very early volunteers’ call time.

Y4IT is the Philippine Youth Congress in Information Technology, an annual event organized by the University of the Philippines Information Technology Training Center. It is the dubbed as the country’s biggest IT event, consistently breaking the last year’s record. The most recent one was held last September 2 to 5, 2008.

So yeah, Y4IT! I have been very busy for the past few days. There’s Y4IT, Kalai House Council, Math17 and the the supposed-to-be-held-yesterday CS11 exams. Add my other GE (General Education Subjects). What a busy week. Waking up at around to 4 to 5am, report to the Y4IT registration booth by 6 and do some volunteer work till 5pm — leaving the booth only during scheduled classes and short breaks.

Some disposition check. House council-wise, I wasn’t really active during the entire week. I can’t remember a significant stuff I made for the council. Academics-wise, I was still able to attend classes. Still on the pace of my GE subjects. So-so in my Math17 — fortunately I had ample time to review the lessons before our third long exams. Y4IT volunteer-wise, I was active.

Now, I am learning to manage my time properly. My body managed to live with only very little sleep. Honestly, I did not have the feeling of giving up — it’s just my body that’s complaining. The nice thing is that – UPITTC never failed to feed us during the Y4IT. There were lots of food in store for us, lots of carbs and protein.

This morning is the most-awaited WordCamp Philippines 2008 – the first WordCamp in South East Asia. Matt Mullenweg, the lead developer of WordPress, is in the country for the event. I don’t think I’m coming, but I’d like too. It’s up on my body to decide. My body’s thinking of getting some enough rest as of the moment, amf!

I, shifting a topic, in the middle of this rant post is odd. But I have to do this.

Zorro is one of UPD’s (University of the Philippines in Diliman) mysteries. He is this man roving around the campus in his superhero costume. A guy with a sword, a cape (the Philippine Flag), knee pads and other superhero accesories. Others claim that he’s crazy, but he actually looks (and feels) like one.

During Y4IT, Zorro hanged out in front of the event venue. Some participants, particularly from other school, was trying there best to stay out of him. But I decided to do the latter. I went near him, and heared him ranting stuff about the Government, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other stuff.

Personally, I was quite intimidated by his English skills. He spoke English better than I did. He was way more fluent than I am. I found him very interesting as he was very smart, really smart. I also heard from another an acquaintance that he was also good in Math (can still remember Calculus). My acquaintance also claimed that he was once invited for a talk and spoke well — did not speak senseless stuff as crazy people would do.

Zorro has may respect now. I’m very interested on knowing him more, maybe for an interview. My weekend goal is to find Zorro and have a documented interview with him. I’d be posting it on my blog, in case I’ll succeed on my goal.

Lastly, last night I watched Pisay for the first time. The movie was great. I prejudged it as a campus-biased (biased on the Main Campus) movie significantly focusing on the Main Campus culture. My prejudice was not right. There were some experiences there that I can relate to — we both refered to the dorm as a cage, had the same dillema of being limited to a Science and Technology related course at very young age, cafeteria experiences, etc. The movie had a very strange effect on me. I can’t understand why the last part struck me.

That would be all for now. I’m going back to my sleep.

Yipee! This (including today) weekend is the longest weekend of my life, it’s official!

It’s a 5-day weekend – a Saturday, a Sunday, a Ninoy Aquino Day, a Quezon City day and now a “Bagyo” day. According to my CS11 instructor Sir Eric, Chancellor Cao, chancellor of UP Diliman, suspended all classes today scheduled from 12nn onwards. The suspension was triggered by the “nagraragasang” tropical storm Karen. Yipee, it’s a great weekend.

Despite the very long weekend, I haven’t done much on my academic, blogging and social life. I was mostly bed-ridden playing Sid Meier’s Pirates — getting up only for dinner.

Now for the last day of my weekend assuming that tomorrow’s classes won’t be suspended anymore, I’ll be doing something that is of worth. Weeeeeee.

The Kalayaan Residence Hall Association House Council is still studying its participation to the University Student Council-initiated Manifesto of Unity Asserting Students’ Right to Dormitories.

The Manifesto was discussed during the first (informal) meeting of the new set of elected House Council officers held yesterday evening.

Some of the points were raised by the quorum regarding the Manifesto are as follows:

• It is unfair if the residents sign such a Manifesto without hearing the side of the Office of the Student Housing and the Office of Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs – University-administered offices involved in the Manifesto.
• The members of the Kalayaan Residence Hall Association cannot compare the previous Rules and Regulations Governing Residence Halls in UP Diliman with the one being used now, which as claimed in the Manifesto has caused grave violations and rights and welfare of dorm residents and aspiring dorm residents, as it is their first year in the University.

With the points stated above, the House Council decided to study the Manifesto further before taking pertinent actions.
The Manifesto was given to the House Council’s Vice-Chairperson for External Affairs for discussion and support by a University Student Council during an informal assembly of different dorm representatives held at Sampaguita Residence Hall.

For a copy of the entire Manifesto, check after the jump. (more…)