Free and on top

• I was able to beg off from being a member of the committee in charge of our university's homecoming this year. After all, I'm on study leave and would rather not be distracted or further stressed by other responsibilities. Besides, where's that appointment that supposedly was sent out July according to the person who contacted me? Nada, zip, zilch. Didn't receive any communication at all regarding meetings, etc. So I assumed from very beginning that I was out. Very much relieved to get that off my back!
• We got back our exams today in our automata theory course. I passed: 66/65. (Btw, our professor explained that the original perfect score was 70.) A classmate said he got 59 and that another got 65 but I don't know what our magna cum laude graduate got. Still, am planning to have a small bit of celebration about that unexpectedly high score.

Choral recollection

As I walked to 7-Eleven to buy myself a drink to go with my lunch, there was a group of students practicing chanting Andres Bonifacio's Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa on the steps of the auditorium. I then recalled Restie Umali's musical setting of that poem that our choir learned and sang some 25 years ago at the hands of the great composer himself. At first, I had a vague recollection of how the song went and then, bam! Yes, I remembered...and it was in F# minor. Now I can't seem to get it out of my head. Sigh! How I miss those times being piano accompanist of the choir.

Super-extended "weekend"

The "weekend" that began last 17 August lasted longer than expected: by a whopping eight-day extension! Why? Because of heavy rains (and subsequent flooding) over most areas of the country leading to suspension of classes and office work virtually everywhere. While that gave me more time to read papers and review notes for my classes, it made for a rather boring week being cooped up at home and not being able to go out and get some fresh air, so to speak. Still, am thankful that our area and home didn't get inundated by floodwaters unlike the less fortunate elsewhere.

Extended weekend

This three-day weekend got extended by yet another day when classes were suspended today because of a passing typhoon. This means our linear models class will not have met for two weeks! Anyway, I took advantage of the extra time by rewriting and summarizing some course notes. And then there was also my bad back which I believe is finally getting better after two days of pain.

Three emails and memories

I have just discovered that Joel emailed me recordings of a difficult choral piece as performed by three different choirs, complete with his comments about each interpretation. It made me miss the good ol' days as a piano accompanist and of choral competitions. And of course, it made me miss Joel too.

Two games and a bad back

• My mom got curious about the Bejeweled game so I installed Bejeweled Blitz (it was the one I could download for free) and immediately got addicted. I tried to get both my parents to play it. My mother found it entertaining tho she was rather slow in spotting potential three-matches. My father on the other hand had difficulty picking up on the idea especially when he is a partially red-green color blind.
• I thought I'd mention that I also installed the Minion Rush game which was found to be a lot of fun. With both Bejeweled Blitz and that in our iPad, I suddenly find the likes of Angry Birds and Candy Crush boring and slow.
• Despite more or less exercising regularly (walking + strength training), my lower back has curiously began aching.  It might be due to my sitting for long periods of time while studying and programming for my automata theory course.

Two birthdays and an exam

• Today is the 32nd birthday of my favorite tennis player, Roger Federer the Great! Happy happy Birthday, Roger!  It's also the birthday, so to speak, of my MacBook Pro which turns three today. Nice to see that both are still performing well and going strong. Ha, ha.
• We took our midterm exam in our formal languages, automata theory and computation course. Having taken nearly three hours to answer it (we were allotted two hours), I'm mentally and physically drained. And, although I have lately realized that some of my answers are possibly incorrect, am very much relieved it's over. Hey, at least I had answers which is actually more than I could hope for, having not previously taken the prerequisite undergraduate course!

More time

God is good! I suddenly have more free time to work on my problem set as well as review for Thursday's exam. I have just been told that Prof. K can't make it to our class today because she has lost her voice! She apparently lost her cellphone as well because she instructed staff to let my classmates know as well if and when they (staff) see them (students) around. I volunteered to send a text message to my classmates to save them the trouble. I also hope though that Prof. K recovers soon. Considering her compromised immune system due to recent health issues, any illness, minor or not, poses a potential risk on her health.

Another power outage

We have yet another unannounced power outage in campus that lasted all day:

• I find time to punch holes in handouts that have been accumulating on my desk and finally file them away in my ring binder. 
• It is also a good time to buy a fruit shake (avocado) to beat the heat. And because there is no running water to wash my bowl and eating utensils, I buy a poori pocket from Bugong for lunch instead of the usual hot rice meal from the COOP.
• Am thankful that those curtains didn't get put up. It remained bright enough for me in the office to review my notes and work on my problem set.

Good memories

Today I went shopping at Megamall and attended the Madrigal Singers Batch '89 reunion concert at UP Diliman.

• I finally get to try out ordering a smoothie at Jamba Juice to see what's the craze all about. The Php135 for the Banana Berry smoothie may be a bit steep but considering all the fruits blended in and the size (16oz), I think it was worth it. (I had it with a coffee bun from from the Roti Mum shop a few doors down.)
• While waiting to meet up with Joel in UPD, I sat in the van munching on a Wendy's hamburger sandwich enjoying a carillon concert consisting of UP Naming Mahal and several other Filipino standards.
• Need I say it was great seeing and being with Joel again? And to echo his own words about the concert, it was something to cherish. I never thought I'd hear again those voices and that Madrigal Singers' sound that I so fondly remember and grew to love in the late 80's. It was also nice to know the backstories behind those signature songs of theirs. Sigh... the good ol' days.

Beggar woman

I saw her again this afternoon as I was on my way to buy a drink at 7-Eleven. Several years ago, she showed up at our church asking people leaving the chapel after Holy Mass if they had a job for her. I pitied her although I really couldn't do anything while the others she approached suggested she inquire at the barangay captain's office. Years later I would see her beg here in campus. Today, I was shocked to see that she had grown painfully thin. I gave her fifty pesos which she gratefully accepted with a "Thank you po!" I hope it helps. I plan to buy her a decent meal from the COOP next time I see her.

Jolly biscuits

This afternoon, I walked down to Grove in search of more ring binders to buy to use to compile my class notes. I also dropped by the Star Mart to buy more biscuits to add to my stash of munchies I keep in my office desk. There I was overjoyed to find Fibisco's Jolly biscuits on their shelves. My mom used to buy some for us kids to bring to school as snacks. I immediately bought a pack of ten packets.

In the same boat

Having lately found difficulty coping with my studies, I began to have ambivalent feelings about my decision to pursue graduate studies again yesterday evening to the point that I felt depressed about it. Then this afternoon, as my classmates and I waited for our professor to show up for our computer theory class, one of us spoke up and said she feels she can no longer handle the subject and feels like quitting. Then when second classmate admitted thinking the same thing, I told them that I had exactly the same thoughts yesterday. We all laughed.

Alex Colville, Canadian painter, 95

I was browsing through news articles on the Globe and Mail when I spied the photo of a painting entitled To Prince Edward Island and thought that I'd seen that style of painting somewhere. Then the name on the article's title, Alex Colville, stirred something at the back of my mind: an article in the Reader's Digest probably 30 years back and accompanied by hyperealistic paintings of a pointer dog, a loan cow grazing in a meadow, an old man sitting on veranda looking out to sea. Yes, I remember Alex Colville.

A decision

I was supposed to walk down to the chapel to go to confession late this afternoon. I eventually decided at the last minute to go next week instead when I thought I better learn how to write a flex program for my computer theory class. It was a good thing I did because I later learned that the priest who comes to hear confession got stuck in traffic in Manila and couldn't make it to town in time. Now I'm relieved I didn't waste two hours waiting in line to go to confession when there was none in the end.

My three thank yous

Three things I am thankful for this day:

• Waking up to the news that the Duchess of Cambridge has been delivered of a son at 16:24 GMT yesterday.
• That my paper presentation in my database management course went well. I managed to squeeze my report on a 40-page(!) paper into a 35-minute talk. Having worked during the weekend to put together my presentation, I'm also grateful that I'm done with it!
• That yesterday in restrospect, I was given more time to work on said presentation when my linear models professor said that she would be unable to meet us for our afternoon class because she has to attend to urgent office matters.

Upcoming concert, more apps and new piano fingering

• Joel finally contacted me about watching a concert of alumni of the Philippine Madrigal Singers early next month. I posted a copy of the poster announcing the concert on Facebook hoping he'd get wind of it, so to speak. Sure enough he caught sight of it and commented that we have to go watch it. Shortly after he sent me a text message, he was able to secure tickets for the best seats in the house! Definitely looking forward to the concert!
• I'm currently on an (free) app downloading/installation spree. Mostly puzzle-type games, like Slice & Splice and Cargo Bot, to give my brain some needed exercise and some handy apps like TuneIn Radio, this so I can have my fill of classical music.
• I spent time again playing my piano/keyboard. This time, I decided to re-study de Leon's Sa Bukid which I learned at age 9 or 10 as a competition piece. Today, I re-worked the fingering for several bars, seeing that what I have been using all these years was atrociously nonsensical.

My problem set and the helper

• I am very much relieved that I managed to come up with  answers to three of five remaining items in our problem set. There was a point early Thursday morning when I was in despair of being able to answer any of the problems at all. By the grace of God some ideas popped up in my head during the course of the day before our afternoon deadline. I believe I simply needed more time to pore over and understand the material, which is all new to me since I have not taken the equivalent undergrad course, to work out answers to the rest.
• I spent some time talking late this afternoon with the young fellow who helps carry my student with muscular dystrophy to and from his classes. I have to admire this helper for his dedication to his backbreaking work. It is a pity that he finds it boring to wait each time for my student's classes to be dismissed and eventually plans to leave and look elsewhere for a job.

Lost and found

Last night I discovered that my red gel pen that I keep in my wallet/pouch was missing its cap and thought what a pity it was to let the ink dry up and go to waste. Then this morning, as I made my way to the COOP to buy food for lunch, I happened to look down and spied the cap of a pen lying on the sidewalk. What's more, the markings indicated it was for a red pen of exactly the same brand as my red gel pen! Realizing that it was my missing pen cap--it must have fallen off when I walked over to the 7-Eleven to buy merienda yesterday afternoon--I snatched it up right away, incredulous but grateful nevertheless that I had found it.

More apps, The Hiding Place and lonely

• This morning while I got ready for work, I downloaded and installed two more apps/games: the photo app called Over and the game Where's My Water? I also hoped to get Tiny Wings but was disappointed to see that it was no longer free.
• I am reading again Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place. I read this some twenty years ago when I borrowed it from the library in Ames. I had long been wanting to read it again and happily found a copy the other week.
• A familiar feeling of loneliness and depression came over me late this afternoon for some reason. It came after seeing my Facebook news feed and Joel's latest likes and upon realizing as well that it has been nearly a month since my beloved Marshmallow disappeared. I miss Joel and my little kitty cat.

New piano piece, apps and breaking news

• Yesterday, I played piano for the first time in a few months and never felt so relaxed in a long time. I even managed to learn Kempff's piano transcription of Bach's Siciliano from his Flute Sonata BWV 1031.
• Last night, I installed Angry Birds Star Wars and Bad Piggies. The latter game is something different and more challenging than Angry Birds but I found it ever so much fun experimenting with different configurations to see what happens.
• The big news third morning was that of the acquittal of Zimmerman for killing Trayvon Martin. Then early this afternoon came breaking news that Cory Monteith of 'Glee' fame had Bern found dead in a hotel in Vancouver.

No wallet, Hiro biscuits and data mining articles

• Our linear models professor related how after landing in Iloilo to meet up with project personnel she found out that she had forgotten to bring along her wallet. Her contact person wasn't answering her text messages (her cellphone was malfunctioning and therefore couldn't make calls) and she couldn't take a taxi from the airport either because she didn't know exactly where she was supposed to go. Happily for her, she was picked up several minutes later by said contact person.
• I had to go over to Acer Mart (a good 20-minute walk back and forth from my office) to buy some packages of Fibisco's HiRo biscuits for papa. We haven't been able to find any for sale in either South Supermarket or Savemore these past few weeks.
• I have begun downloading articles on data mining for higher education in preparation for my seminar scheduled late September. Hopefully this will be a good topic to present.

Weight training again

I've began weight training (with my 4-lb weights) yesterday. The last time I regularly did weight training was in Singapore nearly ten years ago. (I then had to improvise with a mop pole and empty 1-liter milk containers filled with water to make a 6-kilo dumbell). Joel urged me last Saturday to do load-bearing exercises to strengthen my bones. He thinks it's unusual for someone my age to have fractured my olecranon after simply slipping on a wet slidewalk and landing on my elbow.

A free app and two problem sets

• I discover that the awesome Day One app, along with nine other apps, is free for a limited time on the Apple App Store as part of the store's 5th anniversary. Of course, I download it right away.
• I somehow manage to scribble answers to most of the 57(!) items in the diagnostic exam in our advanced database systems class. All questions were crammed into two pages, printed back to back, hence the tiny font size and poor quality of the printing. There were a handful of items wherein the notations were not readable at all so I had to skip answering those.
• Am done with seven items in our 12-item problem set on automata theory. More accurately, that's 6.7 items, not seven, because I haven't come up with the minimal regular expression for item #5. Hmmm...

Three who eke out a living

Here are three hardworkers I encountered today. Seeing how they struggle to make a living, I really hope they somehow get by:

• The slightly-built young fellow who perseveres to pedal his Selecta ice cream cart up our main--an uphill climb--street rain or shine.
• The old woman who rummages through the trash bags for recyclables near our office building. I've long wondered how old she is and where she lives. 
• The lady who watches that tiny shop where I buy those plastic slinky-like pony-tailers. Although narrow shop's walls are teeming with all sorts of other kaboodle and there are trays of more stuff placed on a narrow table along one wall, I hardly see anybody drop by.

Breakfast, two minions and lots of tennis

• We decide to have our Sunday breakfast at Dal Cielo cafe at SEARCA dorm for a change. I had pancakes with blueberry and hot chocolate (actually heated chocolate-flavored fresh milk). Nice little place. Loved the black and white detailing on the tables.
• As I had promised, I send Joel two Despicable Me minions emoticons via the Facebook app, hoping to cheer him up
• It's tennis all evening again: Djokovic vs Murray at the Wimbledon gentlemen's singles finals. Based on the long exchanges between the two in the first two games, it looks like we're in for an epic match. What a pity that the Star Sports coverage no longer includes any live commentary.

Time with Joel

• Joel invited me to watch Despicable Me 2 with him at SM Calamba. Since he was on his way home from Quezon City this afternoon, we agreed to meet at SM Calamba. Joel arrived there first (about 5pm) and bought our movie tickets straightaway. When I arrived some forty minutes later, we walked around while filling each other in on our latest undertakings, among others (how he's "single" again at work, my studies, the latest in mobile technology, that I should get a bone scan, etc.) before settling to eat dinner at Pizza Hut. 
• We caught the 8:15 showing.  The movie was not as despicable as the first but was definitely much more hilarious! (I now wonder what Roger Eber would have thought of it.)  While we were not too keen on watching it in 3D, it turned out that an animated movie in 3D was a much better experience than a live action film in 3D.
• Today was also my first time to drive by myself to SM Calamba! The drive was as expected: smooth sailing until Pansol where traffic slowed down but at least was moving. What I didn't expect was that it would take forty minutes to get through unusually heavy traffic for the remaining kilometer to kilometer. (Joel was the one who drove home afterwards.)

Instant ID, problems and another comeback

• Finally order my student ID from the registrar's office. I was told that it would be ready for pick-up tomorrow thus I was surprised when it was promptly delivered to my office this afternoon.
• We have been given our first problem set to work on in our automata course! I couldn't wait to get started and right away came up with solutions to a couple of items while watching tennis in the evening.
• Witnessed yet another exciting third set comeback manufactured by Germany's Sabine Lisicki to overcome Agnieska Radwanska at in the Wimbledon ladies' singles semifinals.

"Brrrr!", "Yes!" and "Youch!"

• Attended both lecture and lab classes again of our automata course. This time I brought along a sweater to wear in that ridiculously freezing lab room. It didn't do much good though. Maybe I should bring my winter coat next time! Have a good mind to bring along a thermometer too just to find out exactly how cold it is in there!
• I worked on the exercise given during said lab in my office. It was fun figuring things out on paper instead of using JFLAP. In fact, I believe I correctly answered all three problems.
• What a horrible scene on Centre Court at Wimbledon: del Potro chases down a volley from Ferrer in the very first game of their quarterfinal match, stumbles then hyperextends his (already heavily wrapped) left knee! Quite a relief to see him bravely soldier on and produce a happy ending by winning the match in straight sets.

Stupid driver, goodbye and hello

• Driver of the day: the one who turned left from Pili Drive out of IRRI and into my lane on IPB road as I stopped at the intersection before turning left into Pili Drive from IPB road. Said driver obviously didn't know the difference between left and right. Nuff said!
• Said goodbye to my Google Reader then tried to log into Feedly to check the feeds that I had transferred there only to find that Feedly is down. It probably couldn't handle the sudden influx of new users.
• Tried using the Facebook app in my old Nokia E51 after some years. Quite a cute feature-rich app. Not bad.

Three "of the days"

• Task of the day: I spend the morning sorting and clearing old papers off the top of my office desk and filing cabinet. Am converting those printed on just one side to notebook paper and having the rest thrown out for recycling.
• Food of the day: curry chicken meatballs from Bugong for lunch and chocolate chip cookies from Micha's served during a meeting among us graduate students. The cookies were delicious. Fatty, yes--and therefore forbidden--but delicious.
• Match of the day: the terrific fourth round match between Sabine Lasicki and Serena Williams. What a comeback by the German from 1-4 down in the third set to triumph over a yet another reigning Roland Garros champion, 6-2 1-6 6-4!

Freedom to love, another chat and freedom in the garden

• Am struck by the following verse from St. Paul's letter to the Galatians (chapter 5, verse 13) from today's Second Reading : "For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters.  But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather serve one another through love."
• Another brief chat with Joel (because I wished him a blessed weekend on Facebook). He had met up with his parents in Cavite to visit his folks there. A good thing they weren't caught in the flash floods in Calamba caused by the heavy rain in the evening.
• I escort our remaining cat, Hedwig, as she takes an afternoon excursion around our garden. The poor thing who has been cooped inside the house was quite delighted with the open space and ran from one end of the garden to the other.

Gas stove, a tropical storm and real books

• We have a power outage practically all day (9am to 5pm. Come lunchtime, mama resorts to heating up leftover food on our gas stove. We wonder how we ever got along without a microwave oven years ago.
• Despite the power outage, it's fortunately not too hot, thanks to rain showers in the afternoon. The rain showers eventually turn into a downpour and then it seems there is a typhoon by late evening!
• Because of the power outage and also because my cellphone was also low on battery power, I have time to read some books the old-fashioned way, i.e. by reading physical books rather than ebooks: the Abbé Trochu's wonderfully biography of the great St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney.

Blank note paper bliss, old friends and a brief chat

• Punch holes into some scratch paper to use as pages in my class notebooks and discover how wonderful it is to write notes on unruled paper! What freedom!
• Hang out with some alumni who arrived to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of their student organization. I've long forgotten how good it feels to be with people your age.
• Have a brief Facebook chat with Joel who apparently wanted to give me his new cellphone number because he's terminated his postpaid subscription with Globe. Always nice to hear from him no matter how brief our chats may be.

Winning streak, study materials and a laptop thief

• I wake up just before 6AM to read a message from my sister saying, "Haay. Lost also?! :(" and realized that Federer had lost in the second round at Wimbledon to Stakhovsky! I had listened to coverage of the match over Wimbledon radio until I had to hit the sack at 2AM and sensed that Federer was having a difficult time fighting the Ukrainian off. The loss brings to an end, the Swiss' amazing run of 36 consecutive quarterfinals at a grand slam tournament.
• Settling down into the semester as a student: I install JFLAP in my computer here at work. Interesting little piece of software. And although I actually have the books themselves, I download the pdf versions of the textbooks for the courses I am taking, just for convenience.
• Arrived at the COOP cafeteria to buy lunch and heard that a student there had just lost his laptop to a thief. Said student quite carelessly left his bag with the laptop inside on top of a table--which was near the cafeteria entrance, mind you!--and went off to join the queue to buy food. The bag  then, not surprisingly in this day and age, disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Sitting in, full lunch and a feast day

• I sit in both lecture and lab classes of our automata theory course. Very glad to have JMS back from sick leave (he had surgery for appendicitis two weeks ago) as no one can teach the lecture like he does. It was freezing cold tho in the computer laboratory room that I was only too glad to leave after 45 minutes at the end of the lab lecture. Have made a mental note to bring a sweater next time.
• Ate giniling and tortang talong from the COOP cafeteria for lunch (early because of the 12-1 lecture followed by 1-4 lab). Was planning to eat half a serving as is my custom but the stuff was too good I ended up eating everything!
• I attended the 5:30pm Holy Mass which was celebrated in honor of Opus Dei founder, St. Josemaria Escriva then was able to go to confession afterwards.

No more Nadal, no class and no more Evernote clutter

• I stay up listening to Wimbledon Radio coverage of the Nadal-Darcis first round match. What a shock that Nadal lost and in straight sets no less!
• I receive text message from our professor saying that we have no class this afternoon because some of our classmates have yet to reorganize their class schedule to accommodate the 1-4pm Tuesday schedule of our class.
• Now that I know what kind of articles I tend to clip, I get to reorganize all my notes in my Evernote account, finally moving stuff out of my "For Sorting Later" notebook into new notebooks. Phew!

Power outages, cafeteria cheer and a resurrection

• We have several power outages in campus which isn't good because there are faculty meetings lined up all over campus today, notwithstanding all the classes that will get disrupted.
• The lady ahead of me at the queue at the COOP cafeteria turns out to be quite a cheery character: she brings her own food container with partitions instead of having her food placed into plastic bags to go or for take-out and she jokes constantly with her companions despite the sweltering heat (there was power outage then) in the cafeteria.
• I dig out my linear model textbooks (by Graybill and by Searle) from the 'archives'. I never dreamed I'd have to do that again when I shifted to computer science years ago.

Red eyes, wrong sched and a Pinterest account

• I wake up to find my eyes are red so that it looks like I either cried all night or have conjunctivitis! How embarrassing! Keep my fingers crossed that it's just due to allergies. And to my relief, the redness goes away by midmorning. Phew!
• Joel tells me he attended Mass with his mom and then went to SM Calamba to buy materials/tools for a plumbing job at home. He said he found out that the last show for Man of Steel yesterday was 7:30/8:00 pm. It now appears the schedule on the SM Cinema website was completely wrong! Bummer!
• I open a Pinterest account to keep together all those photos/images I find on the Internet which I heretofore would just download to my hard drive.

Recollection, Man of Steel, The Sing Off

• I finally get to attend the monthly recollection after missing it for two months. It has become my quiet time and refuge in these stress-filled and chaotic times.
• While on his way home for the weekend late this afternoon, Joel contacts me about watching Man of Steel at SM Calamba tonight only to find that the last showing is (strangely enough) at 5:10pm. Next time na lang daw.  Haay...
• I finally (I keep using that word now) start watching The Sing Off videos Joel gave me way back in October.  He said that I would love it--and he was right! I simply the a capella arrangements and variety of styles!

Student again, missing cat, Wimbledon iPad app

• As of 4:00pm today after finally claiming my computer-printed registration form, having my registration fees reassessed and paying my school fees, I once again became a student. (And got a lot of exercise in the process. Yay!)
• At home, I learn that our beloved cat, Marshmallow, didn't show up for his 4:00pm meal.  Sigh!  As of March 2012, we had four cats. By the end of that month, we were left with three when Ash went missing. Then by 03 May 2012, we were left with two when Dot went missing. Now we only have one cat, Hedwig, the mother of both Ash and Marshmallow.
• Wimbledon has finally released its iPad app. And it looks awesome! Can't wait for the tournament to start.