Working Vacation

Where have I been?!? That was what you were thinking, right? Haha, well let’s just say it was. I’ve been taking summer classes which, for those of you who don’t know, is basically compressing a semesters worth of class days into about a month. This summer I’m taking 2 classes on Special Education which are part of my college’s SP curriculum. It’s a pretty fun class, it’s just tiring as all hell. 

We got to do a social experiment today where we went to the mall and pretended to be blind/be in a wheelchair. It’s for a paper we have to write and besides being an eye-opening (no pun intended) experience it was also challenging(I bumped into a lot of things…and people). The week before we had to create a booklet on learning disabilities and give a report on them. We also got to watch “Adam”, which is a movie about a guy with Asperger’s.

That’s the short summary of what I’ve been busy with lately. Hopefully, I get to post more interesting things before the summer is over. Our batch is headed into junior year which is probably the most academically challenging part of our undergrad days (senior year is a league of its own) so it might be a little tougher to post then, but we’ll see.

Watch Me: Arrow

Come for the eye candy, stay because the show doesn’t suck.

I’ve been watching a lot of TV shows since school let out and one that I’ve been particularly fond of is Arrow. Basically, it’s the story of Oliver Queen (a.k.a. really good looking chap in the above photo) and his exploits after returning from being a castaway and becoming a bow and arrow toting vigilante.

At first, I didn’t want to watch it since the 1st season wasn’t even done yet and I’ve never been a big on superheroes on TV (Smallville never was my thing), but once you get passed the seemingly uninteresting bits and Oliver’s laughable inner monologues (I always laugh and skip through the show’s intro because of it) It’s a really good show with a lot of action and “holy crap that was awesome!” moments. Stephen Amell does a good job portraying both super serious post-island Green Arrow and pre-island slightly douche-y spoiled brat Oliver Queen from the flashbacks and the rest of the cast is great too.

SPF 9000

Summer is in full swing here in Manila and it is hot as hell. I mean 30+°C (86+°F) weather pretty much from morning until late afternoon. So, there have been a couple of days when it’s been hard to get out of bed because of the crippling heat. That eventually lead me to drinking bucket-loads of water, which brought me the first surprise of the summer—a 10 lbs. weight drop! I haven’t even started doing anything physical, but that’s some pretty solid encouragement.

On the 15th I’ll have to go and register for summer classes that start on the 17th and end around the 20th of May. I know that will cut about a month from my summer vacation but it will be nice not to just waste away at home plus I’ll still have weekends and the time after classes to either go walking/running, goof off, or go to shows and stuff like that. We might end up hitting the beaches later in the summer if my parents feel up to it, but for now I’m just re-charging my batteries in preparation for summer classes and an upcoming music festival.

 

You can’t spell “hiatus” without “us”.

It’s been a really, really long time since I last posted anything. That was probably mainly due to the whirlwind of a 2nd semester I just had that felt like it would never end. But it finally has! Ended that is, and I’m pretty much  free for a little over a week before registration for summer classes and summer classes start up (I know, we work too hard). I have a feeling there will be a lot going on this summer though. I’m thinking of getting into better shape, learning how to drive, maybe a martial arts class, and a music festival or two.  Hopefully procrastination doesn’t get in the way 🙂

The Procrastinator Strikes Back

I have been neglecting my school work again. I have a family tree due, and 2 exams next week and apart from the tiny bit of studying I’ve done I haven’t accomplished much this weekend. I think it’s ’cause I have way too many distractions that I just can’t bear to part with right now. I got a bunch of TV shows and movies from my friend that I’ve been watching, plus a webcomic I’m reading through.

It’s going to be a hectic week, but hopefully things will look up after that. I have a concert and a field trip to look forward to in the coming weeks! I’m actually counting down the days (weeks and months) to summer. Not that I’ll get a vacation since we have summer classes, but that’s a lot less classes than usual and the benefit of being with my friends all summer. Maybe I can actually have a fun summer this year.

Seven Devils meets Game of Thrones

Pretty much two of the things I love dearly right now. Florence + the Machine’s “Seven Devils” and Game of Thrones. It’s a beautiful video, probably something you could show people who haven’t watched the series or read the books to convince them to watch/read it.

Clearly We Aren’t Muggles

I know I haven’t posted anything in a while, which is due to the really busy week I’ve had with juggling reports, classes, home work, and my time at volunteering at the pre-school (fun but time consuming, more on that later) Here are some of the adventures I’ve been having told with magic of continuous shooting and PhotoShop:

Enzo says hi!

Ayra and Bea wanted to say hi, too!

 

Look! It’s Jasmine(her name actually IS Jasmine)! and Mulan(Pat)! Also, Alyssa really likes to eat

 

Mira looks kind of possessed

 

Yeah, we play cards in the halls while waiting for class

 

Disney/Fairy Tale saying: “The bigger the nose, the meaner the person.”

Pat and Alyssa acting crazy at the pre-school

 

Kerwyn playing Rock Paper Scissors with the kids

I’ll post a bunch of other stuff soon-ish. Especially about my time at the pre-school which, despite being time consuming, was probably the best and most relaxing (in a fun and crazy way) part of my week.

 

Color on the Walls…and Pretty Much Everywhere Else

Even though it’s Sunday here already, I want to write about the awesome Friday I had. ‘Cause that’s just the way I roll. Deal with it.

So, last Friday started like any other Friday before it. I woke up at 4.30AM (okay maybe it was 5AM), got dressed really quick and headed out with my sister. Her class is at around 8 and mine is 7-7.30, but she gets to school at around 6.30-7 because her school is closer. I get to school a few minutes after just in time for my P.E. class at 7AM although our teacher usually has us start at 7.30.

Now the P.E. I have this semester is Weight Training. We start off with crazy aerobics—the go-up-and-down-on-an-aerobench-with-matching-arm-movements kind—and then do whatever the assigned weight program we have that week tells us to do. And this week it was strength training. The core principle of strength training is basically, a heavy load, but less repetitions to create micro-tears in your muscles so that they regenerate and become more awesome (clearly the last part was made up).

Pika….CHUUUUUU!

It’s funny how supposedly mature college students can be super serious (and grade conscious) one minute and then turn around and be the most silly people out of sheer boredom.

Today we had a class that was a 3 hour long lecture about the respiratory system. It wasn’t your elementary school variety discussion that only involved the lungs either, it included really boring and confusing parts about muscles and a couple bones. Basically, it was 3 hours of looking at skeletons and muscles. The difference was that we had our class in one of the rooms on the Physical Therapy floor of our college. PTs have lots of therapy equipment and a lot of them are like toys. Now for bored college kids in that back of the classroom the equipment was just too hard to resist. About 30-45 minutes into class some of us were bouncing on exercise balls or making the skeletons do funny poses. The following are just some of the things we did:

Little Black Book

I finally got my buddy stuff from my junior buddy! Let me clarify that statement for you. In our college there is an organization specifically for our degree, and that org has this cool buddy system that pairs up a freshman and a sophomore during the freshman’s entry into the college. The older buddies usually hand down “buddy stuff” which is basically anything to help their younger buddy out in any classes they are taking. So, after failing to get my stuff from my junior buddy before the Christmas break I finally got them! Interestingly enough I also got a present from my buddy in the form of this:

Little Black Book of…I’m-Not-Entirely-Sure-Yet