It's been nearly eight months since I got myself a new cellphone but I am still constantly watching out for new themes and apps to install as well as other ways to customize my phone. Just yesterday, I discovered the versatility of transparent wallpapers. One can use them with any theme as long as it goes with the color scheme. I ended up making more than an half a dozen myself last night!
I can take pride in the fact that although there were just the three of us--Tin, Joel and I singing alto, tenor and soprano a capella, respectively--we sounded the best among the choirs that sang during this evening's worship service of the music ministry. But that's not the whole point of the exercise. Each choir was there to worship God with music to the best of our abilities.
My committee recently met to make recommendations regarding the conduct of field trips as an activity in some courses. I submitted a letter explaining our stand to the dean this morning then--guessing that she was most likely expecting completely different results--ran like h*** away from that place. Sure enough, within ten minutes I got a call from our college secretary on behalf of the dean; and boy, is she not happy with our decision!
It was all Joel's fault I must say. He asked me last Monday before our ministry meeting if I've heard Michael Buble's Everything. When I said I had not, he sang a few bars then let me listen to part of an mp3 recording he had on his mobile phone. I asked for a copy on Tuesday and after listening to it in its entirety, immediately fell in love with the song. I continued to listen to it repeatedly well into lunchtime today, when Joel showed up at my office to ask me out to lunch. He pointed out that he was listening to Everything on his mobile phone. I immediately picked up my phone and pressed the middle button to show him that I was also listening to it. We had a good laugh over that.
I thought I'd note down my obsessions for the past week or so:
As I was walking to the Coop store to buy a late afternoon snack, an amazing sight quite literally took my breath away: a cloud in the western sky with a silver lining courtesy of the setting sun. I immediately rued the fact that I didn't have my camera with me--and then felt even worse a moment later when a airplane passed over the cloud with the sun glinting off it. Sigh!
I rummaged through some old clothes over the weekend and found an old pair of jeans--Levi's no less!--way back from my high school days. It was still in very good condition, not faded or frayed at all; and most important of all, they still fit! Just had to adjust the length a little (hey, I was still growing then). Am now I'm wearing them to work. Am also so glad that straight cut is back in fashion!
Early this morning, I casually browsed through the music in my copy of a compilation of vocal selections of Sondheim's A Little Night Music. When I was through, I looked at the cover which featured the musical's playbill and wondered what has a tree got to do with that kind of a musical. It was only when I examined the tree more closely that I realized that it wasn't just an innocent little tree!
weighing 99lbs ... Oh well. This is the first time that my weight has dropped below 100lbs. It seems I haven't stopped losing weight and it remains a mystery as to why I've been steadily losing weight, at total of 17lbs. in 14 months by now.
Early this morning before Mass, Joel broke the news that this may be his last semester teaching. The twist is that he'll be leaving not to study for the priesthood as he had always dreamed of doing but to continue his medical studies. And this apparently was an order from his parents. I pity the poor fellow. And oh how I'll miss him and his singing ...
My mom liked so much the Nokia 2330 I bought for my father last week that we went out today to buy her one. Now I'm just not sure what she intends to do with her old one.
An article about the Federer-Nadal match at the Madrid Open finals had this to say:
Federer has a tendency to out-think opponents, play too smart. That's in contrast to, say, Andy Roddick, who blasts away on every shot and shows no evidence of having a brain at all.
While that's the painful truth for Roddick, I have to agree with the writer.
During this morning's 6 o'clock Mass, I was cantor for the responsorial psalm while our cantor played the accompaniment at the keyboard. It was exciting and refreshing for a change, not to mention nerve-wracking for both of us! We were therefore greatly relieved that all went well and gave each other a passing grade. He he.
Had to go shopping for another new cellphone for my father whose clunky 10-year-old Nokia whatever-model-number-it-was badly needed an upgrade. After going from store to store canvassing for prices--many didn't have stock of the cellphone models I was eyeing--I settled on the newly released Nokia 2330. I just love it's sleek design! It isn't loaded with as many features as my E51, naturally, but it should be good enough for my father who isn't exactly a techy.
I accompanied my father to attend Mass being said by a former parish priest of ours in celebration of the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. As the Mass was "sponsored" by a charismatic community for which the priest has been spiritual director, it turned out to be a typical charismatic Mass complete with dancing, the singing of non-liturgical songs (The Prayer and You Raise Me Up, among others) and the use of Joel's "favorite" set of musical instruments for the celebration of the liturgy, a drum kit. Oh, my poor ears!
Yesterday's lunch was so filling that I just ate dessert last night. And then today, I bought a sandwich and fruit juice from Mini Stop for lunch. I don't even feel like eating dinner again tonight!
I treated my parents to lunch at Mio Cucina to celebrate Mother's Day. As it was my mother's first time to eat there, she ordered this and that dish "just to try". In the end, we had so much to eat that we had to ask that the fish escabeche and desserts (chocolate rum cake and suman with latik) be packed in doggy bags.
It was a rare sunny Sunday morning so I spent nearly an hour walking through our garden here taking a few pictures. I got a bit sunburned in the process as evidenced by the strip of untanned skin around my left wrist where I wore my wristwatch. He he. But the photos I got as a result were satisfying and (I thought) good enough to post on my Flickr account.
Spent the day transcribing (using Lilypond) the piano accompaniment for the Memorial Acclamation B, Amen, The Lord's Prayer and Lamb of God from the Mass of Redemption--my first time ever to transcribe my own piano arrangement! I based them on the accompaniments I was able to obtain for the Gloria and the Sanctus so that they won't sound totally different when played during Mass.
I am relieved to be able to tick off items from my to-do list for this summer break:
I accompanied one of the senior faculty members, Dr. L, sharing the cottage here--no, she isn't one of those who were so picky about room assignments yesterday--with me to early morning Mass today. We were joined by two other younger faculty members who had gotten to know Dr. L when they did their graduate studies in Japan. It was a brisk but refreshing 15-minute walk along a relatively deserted road to the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church. Just before we entered the church, Dr. L turned around to address the three of us saying that she was attending Mass particularly because it was her birthday today! This unexpected announcement was naturally followed by exclamations of surprise, greetings and hugs all around.
The conference center's website says that all accommodations here have hot and cold running water. But I couldn't get any hot water out of the shower--or any of the taps for that matter--here in our cottage. As a consequence, I had to endure a cold bath tonight--not exactly a pleasant experience given the cooler climate here.
While everybody else was enjoying dancing to videoke music, I decided to drink a glass of two of the orange juice being served at the venue of tonight's fellowship among the conference participants. Puzzled by the beverage's strange aftertaste, I suddenly realized that the "juice" was actually punch!
We're certainly getting our money's worth here at the conference (even if it's the university that's paying for everything). We had fried rice, bangus, salted egg with tomatoes and garlic for breakfast today. Then we were served a hamburger sandwich(!) as a late morning snack followed by lunch within an hour. Seeing that we're to be served huge ensaymadas for this afternoon's merienda, I believe I'm going to be gaining weight during these three days!
I have been assigned to share a two-bedroom cottage with five other conference participants. I must say I am completely miffed with two senior faculty members who made such a big fuss about who should sleep where just because they didn't want to sleep on the queen-sized bed in the larger of the two bedrooms.
I have been sent by our institute director to attend a faculty conference as one of the representatives of our unit. The conference which starts today and ends on Thursday, 30 April, and is being held at a government-run conference center situated at a mountaintop some 50 kilometers away from campus. While this is still essentially work, the change in environment is certainly refreshing.
I practically spent most of this year's Holy Week playing during Masses. I'm totally exhausted by now but as I enjoy playing piano, I didn't mind at all all the hours of choir practice I had to put in. Plus I received a a most gracious thank you note by email today from our music ministry coordinator (also the cantor of my church choral group which is why I got "recruited" to play during the Holy Week Masses in the first place) for sharing my talent with the music ministry.
I had a most memorable birthday today: treated family (my parents) and friends (members of our singing group at church) to lunch at Joe's and had a great time with friends during the choir rehearsal and merienda that followed. It was especially fun because we had our cantor fetch his pet terrier to keep us company--and entertained--during the choir rehearsal.
Having been chosen to receive a teaching award, I was to be the subject of a feature article on the university's newsletter. I agreed to be interviewed but then was completely flummoxed by a second request: that I email to the public relations office photos of myself "in action". Now who in his right mind would normally have photos taken of himself while teaching?
This morning immediately after Mass I had to let our music ministry coordinator, who now has become a close friend, know that I won't be available to play during the First Friday Mass this coming 06 March. Because he himself was teaching at university here, I didn't want to be a show off and naturally refused to tell him the reason--which was that I was to attend an awarding ceremony to receive my teaching award on that day. He was immediately intrigued: did I have a date? I simply said no and left it at that. But later on when we met again, he apparently couldn't get the subject off his mind and bombarded me again with questions: was I getting married? was I engaged? Was I leaving or migrating to join my sister in Canada?
I thought I'd take note of a couple of things that gave me pleasure today:
I got the thrill of my career late this morning when I received word that I have been chosen to receive a prestigious award for teaching. Quite frankly, I'm not sure what to make of it; I guess I'm still in a state of shock. Ha ha. At least from now on no one will be sitting in my classes to scrutinize my teaching methods. And there is now doubt that while the award will look good in my resume it will mean a immense responsibility, something that I will have to live up to from now on!
My students and I got quite a shock--literally!--when an earthquake jolted this part of our country at approximately 8:15am for about five seconds. My poor students looked doubly shaken (pun not intended) because they were in the middle of answering a particularly difficult quiz I was giving at that time. Afterwards, when I inquired if they were all right they shook their heads. From the quiz or the earthquake? I teasingly asked. They all giggled nervously and exclaimed, "Pareho po!"
I bought myself a new cellphone last Sunday, 25 January: a Nokia E51 which, considering my previous cell phone is a Nokia 3210 bought way back in 2001 in Singapore, is a major upgrade for me. As with any new acquisition, I became obsessed with exploring its features and customizing themes, ringtones and profiles. Of course, it set me back by a considerable amount of money--at least Php5K more than I intended to shell out--but after playing around with it for more than a week, I happily discovered that it was worth every peso.
Having been nominated for a teaching award, I will be under considerable pressure to perform well. Early this week I received a call where I was told that a members of the awards committee would be sitting in during my classes (announced or unannounced) during the next four weeks. Thus my heart sank when I entered the lecture hall and spotted two faculty members sitting in the back row. I had originally planned not to give a lecture then due to my sore throat--I had already given three lecture classes earlier!--but had no choice but to hold classes just the same. Oh, well.
As I was walking toward my bedroom late this morning, I could hear the familiar screeching and hissing sound of a yet unknown bird in our garden. Since the sound suddenly became louder than usual, I ran to my window hoping to get a glimpse of the culprits. Lo and behold! there emerging from the bamboo thicket in our lower garden were two black birds, the size of chickens. They remained out in the open for several seconds before retreating back among the plants there, all the while producing that strange unworldly screeching and hissing. I learned much later, after checking out information in the Internet, that the two birds were likely the famous tikling birds (a.k.a Barred Rails) after which the popular folk dance tinikling was named.
Despite today being declared a public holiday, I reported to work this afternoon to prepare lecture slides for the one course I'm teaching for the first time. With the relatively chilly weather--outdoor temperatures have been hovering in the lower 20s--we've been having these past few weeks I decided not to turn on my air-conditioning unit and just open the windows of my office. What a relief not to have the air-conditioning unit humming in the background and interfering with listening to my classical music.
