Chateau Orientation 101

I got my Stat 101 first long exam result last Thursday. “I was so great” – but that was according to Des. I got 66/75, or 88%, or 2nd to the highest..to make it sound better! Take note guys, it’s just an elective..meaning, I don’t allot much time for it since the rest of my subjects are majors..which means I didn’t study that much for the exam..means to say I can get a high score without exerting any effort! haha, bragging again.. [don’t get me wrong..i’m really like this “online”. How I wish I’m like this in person!..well, it’s just sort of a way to make yourself feel better(praising one’s self, that is)..after having a hard day] –explanation huh?

After going to the church with Honey, we headed straight to Chateau Verde to have some merienda. For those who aren’t familiar with this cool restau, just take the road between UP Infirmary and Shopping Center. Don’t expect for a clear sign though, you won’t get lost anyway..promise! We ordered Lasagne de Chateau and Shrimp&Mango salad..sounds weird huh? The price?it’s reasonable coz of the nice ambiance. It’s like you’re having a date in the Garden of Eden, with matching jazz music. The food wasn’t bad, wasn’t that good either! So the tip is, don’t go there if you’re looking for some mouth-watering food. If it’s the ambiance, no question about that..perfect place for a date!

We had our Applicants’ Orientation in UP GEOP last Friday. We were still undecided about the venue a day before ‘coz of our org issues in eng’g(damn that not-so-sound-proof office and that aggre alumnus.peace aggre!). The first venue we thought of was the over-rated Balay Kalinaw. They even had a separate rate for the number of chairs and tables..how the fuck is that huh? More or less, it would have cost us 1,600 for the venue alone. Fortunately, ISSI popped up in my mind! I headed there before my stat101 class to inquire bout the venue. And there, it was only 1,150 including everything we needed for the orientation!cool!

The orientation was a successful one, I should say. A lot of past members came so it was also like an alumni homecoming! Everybody was really screaming ‘coz of the exciting games and the applicants really felt that they belong to the org. The food was great: spag and ice cream(thanks novs!!) just ignore the lady bug orange juice. Haha!

Brokeback Freshies

At last, after like 48 years, I was able to watch Brokeback..with somebody..hmmmm?? If I’m not mistaken, the film was released last March..yeah, and during that time, I was so busy in school! Almost everybody was talking about it so I really felt pathetic. so what I did was, I read the book. I saw it in NBS SM North and I managed to finish reading the 100-page booklet in an hour. But then, that was three months ago..so now, I’m so proud(silent) that I’ve seen the movie! Woohoo!

Well anyway, I watched it last Tuesday at UP Film Center with Honey. I actually bought the tickets from UP Aggregates for us to have a sure seat..it’s a planned date, I tell you! And I was wearing a pink shirt!!haha! ..to have a perfect match with the film! After finding the most suitable(?!) seats and after seeing hundreds of trailers, Brokeback Mountain started…

…I was pretty satisfied with the whole film ‘coz it followed almost everything on the book. The dialogues and descriptions of characters and the whole setting were all similar with those on the original story. But well, well, I was a bit pissed off with the whole atmosphere inside the film center. There were a lot of freshies(probably required to watch BM) and almost all of them were laughing and yelling when the two main characters had any romantic moment. When they saw the word “motel”(where the two headed on their second meet-up), I couldn’t actually hear anything but their fucking laughs!stupid freshies! I’m sorry to be rude but one has to learn when to/not to laugh, especially when he/she ‘s not the only one watching the fucking film! I was definitely “not” like that when I was in first year..innocent, that is.

E.S.

I was reading this Engineering Survival Guide for UP freshies when I came across with this “Tips in Taking ES exams”. Well for those who aren’t familiar, ES stands for Engineering Science and is required for every engineering course..whether its GE or IE[instant engineer?(IE friends: no offense..got this from a GE student’s blog)]. As I was absorbing every word in that section of the booklet, I started to reminisce those sems when I took ES subjects.

It was in my 2nd sem in first year when I took my first ES, and that’s ES1. Well unlike Math series, where you have to take Math 17 first before 53, 54 and 55, only few ES subjects need prerequisites of other ES(you’ll know more about that later). Anyway, anyone can take ES 1 anytime in his stay in Melchor Hall(unless it’s a prereq of a major). It is a floating subject so you don’t have to take it just to advance to higher ES. Actually, I was not supposed to have ES 1 that sem ‘coz according to my curriculum, it’s for sophomores. But then I wanted to be advanced and I wanted to know how hard ES was, like what everybody’s saying.

So there, with all excitement I asked my dad to buy me 30-60 & 45-45 triangles, compass, eraser, pencil all from Rotring. Well, it was my first ES so I wanted everything to be the best! My first plate was like a joke…lettering. I even asked myself, “Do I study in UP?” haha!I swear! That was really stupid of me coz duh?..that was just the first exercise..Well anyway, as weeks went by, we began to use our triangles and compass and..our imagination. Yes, we had to picture in our mind an object in its 3-D and in different views: top, right-side and front. Honestly, I was very good in Multiview but a bit dumb in Isometric, which was the reason why I got a scary score of 62.5% in our first exam. But wait! First exam was definitely easier than the second where I got a shameful 32.5%. This time, the question was rephrased: “Does UP deserve me??” haha. I really felt so down and couldn’t imagine myself failing my first ES. Well, you might ask if I studied before the exams. Well, yeah I did! I even practiced answering sample exams but then, ES profs were just so eager to fail hundreds of us. They’d give problems they knew we wouldn’t be able to answer. That’s not so evil, huh? Anyway, I promised myself to do good in the 3rd exam. I even doubled the time I allotted for this course, which was pretty unfair for my other subjects..considering that “Engineering Drawing” is only a 2-unit course. Luckily, the 3rd exam topics(true lines, planes and edges) were more understandable than the previous ones. I totally grasped every concept and practiced every free time so as a result, I managed to get an unbelievable 86%. Together with my 82% final exam and “almost perfect” plates, I incurred a grade of 2.25 in ES 1. Well, not bad eh?

While my batchmates were busy with their Math 55 and Physics 72 subjects, I was already taking ES 11 during my 2nd sem in 2nd year. See, I was really ahead of them even in our sophomore year!(sorry if I brag too much) They say that Statics of Rigid Bodies, aka ES 11/”onse”, is one of the eng’g subjects which have super high mortality rate, and I could attest to that! Almost 75% of our class failed it..can you imagine that? If it weren’t for my 86% final exam score, I would have failed the subject, I swear! And I guess I was pretty fortunate to have Ma’am Sotto as my instructor. Though we had assignments and seatworks almost every meeting, though we had Q&A’s during discussions, though we always had an exact 1.5-hour(4-5:30pm) class, I still liked her. She’s not the typical UP prof who wouldn’t care if you pass or fail the course. In her class, you’d be forced to have advanced lessons simply because of her very effective teaching technique(i.e. roll call/Q&A). Anyway, these were my ES 11 exam scores from first to fifth L.E.: 46, 62, 48, 68, 50. Again, I don’t want to sound defensive, but I got scores like these not because I was not studying! The exams were really difficult or out-of-this-world, I should say. But then, the important thing is that I got a 2.5 in onse!(while others were singko!)

Passing ES 11 would give you the privilege to enter the worlds of dose and trese(it’s like your key to the doors of doom). Okay, this is what I was talking about. Most of you would think ES 12 is the prerequisite of ES 11. No, guys, you’re wrong! It’s not like Math series..you can take trese without having to pass/take dose. Or if you feel like making your sem miserable, you can take them simultaneously. Why not, huh? But in my case, I took ES 12 the following semester after my onse..3rd year 1st sem, when my batchmates were still dealing with ES 11. Dose, Dynamics of Rigid Bodies, is known to every engineering student being the most difficult ES. And yes, my exam scores in onse were definitely much higher than my dose L.E.’s. Actually, most of my classmates there were graduating and some are EEE students. See, if it weren’t for dose they’d probably graduated years back! how unfortunate..

Hmmm..but why do a lot of students fail ES 12?

…to be continued…

O.C.

I think i'm gonna love this semester..or should I say I must love this sem 'coz like I said in my previous post, it's gonna be my last! I don't know..I just got super o.c. since the start of June. I was actually one of the first few who managed to finish the graduation application process during the enrollment week, while other graduating students were too busy doing other stuff. Well, yes, June 27's the deadline but then, why not try to accomplish something earlier than rushing things on the actual deadline?

Another proof of my o.c.-ness is that I worked on my GE 119(Property Surveying) and GE 172(Geodetic Adjustment II) homeworks the day after they were given. Isn't that weird? I mean i'm not really like that..before, I'd rather consult my orgmates/classmates first before starting to answer assignments('coz I didn't want to waste time and effort, like i'll end up with a wrong solution). And these homeworks need rigorous solution methods like interpolation and some statistical analysis. I managed to finish them in just a day..which is not normal, i tell you! Haay, is this because i'm "graduating"?? Do graduating students need to become obsessive compulsive?... I guess so.. I guess "we" have to do almost everything or at least have this assurance that there will be no "next sem/s". If "we" could be exempted in all of our subjects, we'd be ready not to sleep for consecutive days just to hit the target grade! or at least ask sample exams from the guy next to my seat(whom I've never even tried to speak with previously coz of reasons like: he's from a rival org/he's too maporma/just did not feel like talking to him).

See? you should actually do never-been-done things just to graduate, especially when you have no more cards in your hand..If i have to kiss my prof's ass just to be included in the final list of grad studes, I'd actually do that! haha