The thunderstorms came out as a surprise last night. Our poor Chow is scared to bits, so I’m asking my mom to buy him a doggie bed to be placed in our terrace for him. But the sudden strong downpour was refreshing, especially after the unbearable heat that seems to damage my mood.

It’s quite gloomy now and I’m not sure if it’s making me happy. The past few days have been boring. I swear I can’t be idle. It bugs me to no end. I think my body has been wired to be busy and active, even if I never lose weight from it. I miss my jam-packed schedule and the seemingly endless projects and deadlines. God, I miss studying and extra-curricular life. (Just wait till you get to law school Pearl. You will probably eat your words out!)

My nerdy new discovery (thanks to my dear blockmate, Margie) is AcademicEarth.org, and it is brilliant! Open and FREE education from Ivy Leagues for the entire world! It is beyond fascinating and it makes me wish I had a consistent good broadband connection. Unfortunately, it gets kind of screwed up sometime in the afternoon. So now, I am spending any idle time listening to different lectures.

Currently, I am halfway through Yale’s Political Science course on Game Theory and Benjamin Polak is just cool. We’ve studied Game Theory, Prisoner’s Dilemma and Rational-Choice for my Polsci courses, which makes it even more interesting because I have background on it. Benjamin Polak just keeps me interested. I would just love to be in that class. There are more lectures on the course and I will find time to watch them all. At least one lecture a day.

I say this – ONE DAY I WILL STUDY IN AN IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL. ONE DAY.

To when that will be is a mystery. Law school still lies ahead and I am quite interested with how...

...continue reading more

Sunday mornings are usually devoted to a bit of contemplation and reflection about the passing week. That has always been some kind of a ritual, allowing me some kind of comfort and refuge to handle the week ahead.

The past three weeks have been academically trying. Late-nights with around less than 4 hours of sleep every day are all very normal. And the December weather together with my long, long breaks only add up to more moments left for added contemplation, reflection and maybe come academic condemnation.

I wonder what’s in the December air that everyone seems to be succumbing to their emo-ridden selves. Lately, I’ve been hanging out with my blockmates and we usually end up discussing life’s trivial questions – what ifs, what nots, the all-too complicated matters of the heart (thank you Scott Peck). I really don’t mind. In a way, there is a sense of relief, thrill, and comfort derived from appeasing my blockmates’ feelings. I also get that chance to know some of them better and that becomes an exciting process. I also find myself victimizing them with Anberlin’s Inevitable. Thank you, bff. It is all very amusing to see how that song never fails to hit them.

The anticipation of the nearing holidays is all too fleeting. Although it stirs up much warmth and glee, the workload left for us till the very end is overwhelming. I guess I’m just going to try and enjoy every bit of it. Yesterday, my family and I went to the World Bazaar at the World Trade Center, which meant I got to come home with bags of new stuff for Christmas. Later on, we headed to SM Mall of Asia to meet up with my mom’s college friends and dormmates. While having dinner, I couldn’t help but be delighted at seeing all of them happily go down memory lane. I wonder how that would be like with my blockmates. We’re all hopefully lawyers, diplomats, politicians,...

...continue reading more

After days of some serious downpour, the weather has finally calmed. And I know it’s pretty selfish to say that I wish it was still raining, especially with all the serious damage it can do, but I can’t help but long for more days of rest. Today, I woke up a little less enthusiastic to be greeted by a much brighter sky. Luckily, I was able to sleep for a little bit more than eight hours. That felt good.

Once again, the week came by way too swiftly. And because I have so many things to prepare and accomplish, I hardly had time to acknowledge any more kinds of emotional relapses. In fact, it’s been pretty good. One day at a time, I guess.

Blessed with this ‘free day,’ I’m off to finish all the things I have to do. Next week is going to be crazy. BlueREP deadlines, groupworks for ALL my subjects, midterms, papers and quite possibly a lot more things in between that might lead me to the brink of even more stress. I wonder if turning 20 makes it any less harder? haha. Rrrright.

I’m overwhelmed at this very moment. The moment I got up and read my emails and news feeds, panic kind of shot through me. Just the idea of everything I have to finish is nerve-racking! The trick there is to slowly separate everything and handle one task at a time.

I guess the only positive thing that hell week can provide me is the much-needed distraction. It’s the perfect way to channel any spurs of negativity, and just focus. And with days passing by as quickly as it is now, it’ll all be over. Hopefully, it’ll all get easier as well.

Lately, I’ve been on a Disney-on-Broadway-high with the closing of Beauty and the Beast and the much anticipated opening of The Little Mermaid on Broadway. Here’s a beautiful duet that will be included in the musical. I love it....

...continue reading more