天空の戦士

TRANSITIONS
A group exhibit by:
Cris Dumlao
Bea Lapa
Rebie Ramoso

Curated by Elvert Dela Cruz Bañares

Opening Night: 7PM, February 18, 2011
Exhibit runs from February 18-20, 2011
LRI Design Plaza
210 Nicanor Garcia Street (Formerly Reposo),
Bel-Air II, Makati City, Philippines 1209

Artwork by Bea Lapa, logo design by Rebie Ramoso

Just a short thought. Reposted from FB.

Hati ako sa issue na ito. I am pro-RH Bill, but I don't approve of what Celdran did. It was disrespectful and I would react the same way had he done it against other religions...BUT...someone has to do it because the church certainly isn't ...paying attention. Now it is.

I don't believe in letting Celdran go easily free. I think, from the way he is smiling behind bars, he is willing to serve his time. And that is something to be proud of. If you truly believe in something and are fighting for it, then you are willing to face the consequences of your actions. That's what "making a stand" really means.

Yung iba kasi kunwari may prinsipyo pero kumakaripas ng takbo the moment they see punishment in the horizon.

Wow. Even though his course outline is uncannily similar to mine (as always), I was blown away by his method of teaching.  What I like best is how he just confirmed my already firm belief that he was made for DGMEDIA: HE KNEW MULTIMEDIA HISTORY.

He could've been medium-centric and concentrated only on film. BUT NO. HE KNEW MULTIMEDIA HISTORY. I nearly cried with joy when he mentioned Negroponte and all the other names that shaped my career as a multidisciplinary artist since the 90s.  I never thought anyone  who isn't formally in the Interactive Arts team could relate. Then again, this is Elvert we're talking about.

Once again, his class brought me immense joy.  Thank you, Jayvee. Thank you.

ABMA81 - Video Production
ABMA82 - Animation (2D & 3D)
ABMA83 - Graphic Design
ABMA84 - Studio Arts
ABMA85 - Interactive Arts (Web & Game Authoring)

Please pass this link to Facebook users because FB is blocked here.


Take note that you will only concentrate on your MAPROD projects. So if you are doing 2D, it does not necessarily mean that you will also touch 3D. If you are doing web, it does not necessarily mean you will touch Game Auth. It depends on your medium of choice. You all belong to sections but your projects will not be the same.

Hehe. Such a classic argument, but kids get confused whenever I throw them a trick question like this.

There are two ways:

1. Is for you to have an exhibit like RVersion's (http://www.skysenshi.com/2009/03/rversion-at-tin-aw-with-interactive.html). See that control pad? You can upload your photos to the projected poster on the wall and watch the 3D robot walk with your head plastered on top of its shoulder.  That is an example of an interactive poster.

2. If your poster is in print, people should be able to actually do something to it and it must do something back. IT MUST BE A PARTICIPATIVE PROJECT. (Like it lets you solve a puzzle that has so many different results.) If it just sits there and instructs you to text 2366, you are not interacting with the poster. You are interacting with the machine that owns the number 2366.

The root word is INTERACT. There is a two-way communication process involved. So any medium can be interactive as long as it is designed in such a way that two-way communication is possible.

I will be posting a survey sheet soon. But please let me know your choices so I can group them. The field with the least votes will be removed from the survey.

As I cannot access Facebook here in the faculty room, please spread the link to this Multiply poll. THANK YOU!

Not in any particular order:

FILIPINAS 2100
THE BIZARRE ADVENTURES OF QUEST & ANSEL
ELEKSYONG MAKULAY SA BAYANG LUPAYPAY


It was a very very very close battle. Decision-making for the judges had been quite difficult as everyone had wonderful exhibits. I am currently doing the report to be presented to the APC Directors and Dr. Tan so I am compiling not only the judges' opinions but also your photo documentation.


WHAT I NEED FROM YOU:
Photos of your exhibit depicting the following:
1. Exhibit layout (no people)
2. Your team WITH your artworks
3. Photos of your team with Director Robert Besana or Assistant Director Bea Lapa in them (as proof that you had been surveyed and judged)
4. Photos of your team with your exhibit professor (those under Nuqui...well, photos of Robert will have to do)
5. Photos of your exhibit with guests (the more people, the merrier...this is actually one of the criteria for judging)


CRITERA USED FOR JUDGING:
- Showmanship (includes how many guests you had, how you handled/entertained them and how you dealt with event glitches; this is why Opening Day is the most critical day)

- Concept (what the exhibit looked like in the proposals)

- Execution/Cohesiveness of Concept (were you successful in implementing the proposal? or was something off in the exhibition of your works? how did you display the artworks?)

- Quality of Artworks (self-explanatory)




Sorry about the last exhibit, which will be held on Monday, May 3...I won't be able to cover your exhibit in my report because it's so late (di na aabot sa presentation ko!) but will definitely give the full details during the final deliberations (crossing my fingers makakahabol pa yung ranking nyo, if ever).

Please tag people. Thanks!

The following people are REQUIRED to submit their revisions on April 30, 2010. Deliberations for Best Portfolio Award (to be given during the graduation ceremony) will begin soon after.  The panel of judges will include SoMA faculty members and the portfolio endorsers.

91.98     ESPINOSA, TRISTAN JESS LOBENDINO
92.56     SOLA, BRYAN MARVIN PIMENTEL
92.78     DESEMBRANA , GLENN ORVEN LOPEZ
93.79     DIMANLIG , MIKHAIL ANDREI RAYOS
94.69     DELA CRUZ, GERIZA CUNETA
94.84     DANNUG, ANGELLI NATIVIDAD
97.59     TAN, KENNETH OSHIRO
98.38     MARTINEZ, PAOLA LHEN ALDE
99.05     PLACENTE, JAMES CABRERA
99.22     NICOLAS, MARIA KATRINA ROSE TRINIDAD


While these grades will go into your school record, everyone will start from 0 during the deliberations for the award. (Meaning, the award will not be based on these grades since revisions have not been graded yet.)

Those whose names do not appear here, but have been told by the panelists to revise, must also submit their revisions on April 30, 2010. Thank you.

(Please repost on FB since FB is blocked in the faculty room.)

Prof. Robert Besana
APC SoMA Program Director
Panel Chair

Dean Ranier Suva
Institute of Fine Arts and Design
Philippine Women's University

Prof. Elvert Dela Cruz Banares
Multi-awarded Film Maker and Visual Artist

Mr. Sean Lim
Prolific Film Maker and Visual Artist

Ms. Erika Canlas
Senior Web Designer
2-time Philippine Web Awards Judge


I haven't completed the list of industry observers yet, but I think you'll get to know them once they start hiring. :)

GOOD LUCK GUYS!!!!!!

Recap of the Hell Sem:

1. First day of classes, prof warned us that she fails (as in 5.0) students and in fact there was a class where only one had passed and that one person was "pasang awa" (3.0).  Called herself a terror and really meant it.
2. Joyce and I were left standing, refusing to drop.
3. Met some CL students and found out that they actually avoided that prof.
4. Would get sick almost every week that my colleagues (Ms. Agnes and Ms. Timi) had already urged me to get myself checked.  My fever would get worse during her class and sometimes I'd collapse as soon as I get home.  This caused me to miss so many work-related events and exhibits by colleagues (namely J, Elvert, and Gelo).
   

The professor is Dr. Helen E. Lopez. Way scary. But out-of-this-worldly intelligent.  Listening to her sometimes-angry-but-intellectually-stimulating opinions was worth earning the ire of my employers.  I felt my mind expand in so many ways I couldn't even begin to explain it.  She talked about geniuses never attaining happiness throughout their lives and never having enough money. I was torn between terror and awe (I also silently thanked God I wasn't a genius because I do aim for happiness...and money).  She spoke about how all the other fields could coalesce with each other. Oh, how she closed the gaps separating my backgrounds in Behavioral Science, Information Science, Multimedia Design and Communication Research without even intending to!  While WD227: Gender and Sexuality was my favorite cognate for providing me with the therapy I needed at the most confusing time of my life, CL310: Literature and the Social Sciences closed the gap between all the academic knowledge I had acquired and the experiences I've gone through.

Then I failed the mid terms: 3.5. I expected that because her mid term questions looked like they could appear in the PhD candidacy exam. The passing grade in UP is 3.0 and the passing grade for PhD is 1.75. I immediately set up a back-up plan of enrolling in an extra cognate to make up for the fact that I could either be getting a 5.0, or best case scenario, a 3.0, in my CL310 final grade.

I was physically suffering but my mind was undergoing a drastic transformation that despite the horrible grade, I couldn't drop. I just couldn't bring myself to. Especially when it came to my final project: analyzing my choice of fiction.  In "Third Wave Feminism in Literature: A Reading of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead", I managed to clumsily intertwine politics, sociology, psychology and anthropology.  I had never been stretched the way this semester pulled me in every direction -- not even when I was doing my master's thesis.  Needless to say, I fought an ominously losing battle with every fiber of my being screaming for survival.

Even at the very end, I expected to get 3.0 at most. Still a failing PhD grade, but at least it passes UP standards.  I knew I learned so much. So much. Such a wealth of information.  But I also knew that I would never be able to understand that body of knowledge the way Comparative Literature majors do.  I wield it the way Bea does, which is a kind of convoluted mix between logic and spirituality.

This morning, Joyce texted me, "I can't believe Helen gave me a 1.0!"  Ok, that would have been a positive message that could've given me hope...but we're talking about Joyce here. She already has a PhD in Literature, but we were too scared of Helen to tell her that. Joyce also happens to be the Chairperson of UST's Humanities Department. Joyce has gotta be the deepest, most insightful student in the entire PhD program. Beside her, I feel like a bumbling preschooler. Heck!! Asia Pacific College's English Department uses Joyce's book in their literature classes!

Helen might have intellectually sparred with Joyce a few times, but they definitely connected when it came to discussions. She would look at Joyce with the calm calculation of someone who was building a framework around a person. After a while, she already knew what to make of Joyce. Joyce is a meta historian.  On the other hand, the professor would look at me with a curious expression, which made me wonder if she didn't think I came from another planet.  Or that I was an idiot, though a very determined one at that.  We use words differently, the forty-year age gap very apparent. I was sure that even at the end of our class, she still didn't know what to make of me.

After receiving Joyce's text, I ran around my condo a few times, yelling, "Shit! Shit! Shit! I'm going to fail!!!!!" before I managed to scrounge up enough courage to open my grades:



I received another text message from Joyce, saying, "We went to hell and back. :)"

I replied with, "Thank God, we weren't named Persephone."

But I also thank Dr. Helen E. Lopez. She was one tough cookie, but Joyce was right...it was our destiny as Pisceans to encounter her and her difficult subject.  I am now closer to writing my dissertation than I ever was before, albeit...it looks like I now have a completely different trajectory.

Reposted from Facebook:

Hi, guys!

Since I think the defense will seem stressful enough, I've thought about doing this UP style. In UP, we usually "celebrate" during the "defense". Kanya-kanyang dala ng pagkain so that we don't feel so stressed before and after our presentation.

You guys have been such good students that I think you deserve this. Ngayon lang ako nakakita ng batch na pagkatapos ng endorsement nagpapa-check pa rin (kahit Holy Week!), and I'm very happy that you treated the Multimedia Portfolio not as a subject but as something that you do professionally. I'm also quite proud of your initiative.

I also want you guys to relax because of two things:
1. Robert says that this time around, only the presenter will be allowed in the room. All other batch mates must remain in the holding area, which is room 607.

2. Headhunters have expressed interest in watching the presentation, so they will be there to scout for talents. Representatives from GameLoft, Lady Luck and Road Runner will be there.


Ok, now I need to assign leaders for the food division. Usap kayo ano dadalhin ng group nyo (drinks, pizza, pasta etc.) I've divided the leaders and teams based on their order of presenting. Here they are:

In groups of 15
1-15 Hanna Ong
16-30 Angelli Dannug
31-45 Lovely Santiago
46-54 Lorraine Puertollano

The food should be brought to 607, where you guys can lounge around while waiting for your turn or after your turn.

Good luck, guys! You did a splendid job this term. Again, I am very proud of you.

Ms. Bea



P.S.
Paki-tag na lang yung ibang classmates nyo. Hehe.

FINAL PORTFOLIO PRESENTATION
April 10, 2010
Room 609, 9AM onwards

List of presenting students, in order of presentation schedule
1     SOLA, Bryan
2     COLLADO, Marc Aldrin
3     EJERCITO, Arthur Joseph
4     VILLAS, Kenneth
5     SALCEDO, Dawn Sandie
6     MARTIN, Angelo Paolo
7     MIGUEL, Donnie Rey
8     VICTORIANO, Karlo Emmanuel
9     MARTINEZ, Paola Lhen
10     ESPINOSA, Tristan
11     PLACENTE, James
12     SIMBOL, Deo Paolo
13     BALBOA, Ron
14     ASUNTO, Karla Gabriela
15     ONG, Hanna Angelica
16     DANNUG, Angelli
17     BATERNA, Q'Roni
18     TAN, Eduardo
19     GONZAGA, Paul
20     SERAFICO, Jaclyn
21     CARRANZA, Filbert
22     CALEZE, Mary Joyce
23     LISING, Jabielson
24     TAN, Kenneth
25     DIMANLIG, Mikhail
26     CALEZE, Mary Beth
27     DELA CRUZ, Geriza
28     SANTIAGO, Lovely
29     ORTIL, Marjorie
30     ESTRELLA, Lance
31     VELOSO, Jose Gabriel
32     HIPOLITO, Tomas
33     MAGAY, Jemerson
34     RAMOS, Jeff
35     DESEMBRANA, Glenn Orven
36     DE LEON, Rafael
37     SISON, Francis Ray
38     ANTONIO, Joanne
39     MORATA, Hyacinth
40     SANTOS, Ann Rachael
41     NICOLAS, Maria Katrina
42     MIRANO, Carlo
43     RIVERA, Pierre Jan
44     TAN, Beverly
45     SUFICIENCA, Rachelle
46     PERFECTO, Don Santiago
47     ESTIGOY, Jaypee
48     DELA CRUZ, Princess
49     GUTIERREZ, Joachim
50     REYES, Jaytee
51     PUERTOLLANO, Lorraine
52     ROBEL, George
53     CRUZ, Erwin Patrick
54     SARMIENTO, Christian Joseph



Revisions on April 30 (Except for the 10 candidates for best folio. Candidates' folios due on April 15. Will announce who they are after the final presentation.)

DIGIMED
View your classmates' (there are only two of them) MAPROD projects and answer the following question (in relation to their project): "What are the artists' core values and how do the theories of semiotics and symbolic interactionism emerge from these projects?"

This assignment has been given on the 2nd day of tutorial classes.


HUCOMIN
To make up for your absence, you're required to submit a paper that discusses the following topics:

1. What is the core difference between "Art" and "Design"?
2. What are the two major disciplines in the study of Human-Computer Interaction. Clue: they both end with the word "science".
3. What is visual pegging?
4. Explain the theories of Semiotics and Gestalt (pattern perception, pre-attentive pattern theory, information psychophysics) and their relations to your design skills. Why is knowledge of these theories important? Cite an instance where a design failure, due to ignorance of these principles, led to unfortunate circumstances in the realm of visual design.
   
5. What are the 4 essential elements of a multimedia project?

BONUS TRICK QUESTION: Is a printed poster interactive? Explain.


For those who were present in HUCOMIN today, you can also try to answer the questions. This is equivalent to a 20-point bonus if you answer everything correctly.

Mondays:
Whole days, from 9.15AM to 5.30PM at room 604.

Tuesdays to Thursdays:
9.15AM to 11.00AM at the 4th floor

Thursday PM:
Directors' meetings. If you want an appointment with me during these hours, ask permission from Dr. Tan (the president). Hehehe.

Fridays:
9.15AM to 12.15AM at room 604.
2.30PM to 3.30PM at the 4th floor.


Please do not contact me in the afternoons and Saturdays as those are reserved for my classes in UP Diliman.  I'd be on student mode. But I'd gladly take a look at your concepts when I'm available especially since I've never seen ABMA students so happy and eager to show me their portfolios. We've truly gone a long way. =^_^=

EDIT: As I've told Keane, if you can't find me, you can post your portfolio stuff in your Multiply accounts and then PM me their locations or you can message me in Facebook. This way, you won't lose your momentum.

I prepped the design via CSS but it was waiting for Jano Vesina's illustration of my cat girl (Soraneko, which was my moniker when I was working for Level Up).  Usually the Sora-Neko sports my hair. Thing is, when Jano finished the illustration, my curls grew out. LOL.  He's a pretty fast worker, though.

http://www.skysenshi.com

Finally!!!!

btw, Jano is a graduate of Asia Pacific College's AB Multimedia Arts. So if you're interested in hiring him, just holler. Forgot where his Deviant Art is. XD

Got this from my family's yahoogroup.  I'm putting the PS first because I don't want to be accused of violating my own design rules. Hahahaha!

Begin.






PS - The big letters are because your eyes may not be able to read this if they were typed any smaller (at your age? Duh!).

Instead of having a party or receiving gifts, my Dad requested that the entire family visit the St. Rita College Orphanage and that we donate for the kids. The last birthday I celebrated with an outreach activity was Cha's (my high school best friend, at House of Unwed Mothers in Alabang), which turned out to be really enjoyable.

I was expecting unkempt and affection-starved kids -- the last hospice I visited was so depressing that my mom ended up giving my head band to one of the toddlers. It was the least she could do because the toddler would not let go of her. She had to distract the child; he would wail so miserably whenever she tried to return him to his crib. The children had so little love and attention that they became clingy. They also wore dirty diapers and had skins marred with scabs.  I was in elementary school then but I can still smell the filth, pain and isolation that those babies must have suffered.

So...one could imagine my surprise when I entered the first nursery at St. Rita. It carried the wonderful scent of babies that had been lovingly cared for.  They were all so bright-eyed, clean and healthy.  My adopted brother Tim, who's in third grade, experienced a bit of a culture shock. He thought that all orphans were dark, just like him, so he exclaimed at the first baby he saw, "Bat maputi to??" (Why is this white?)

There was a little girl there who would sort of tour us. She's about to be adopted by an Italian couple, though I'm guessing she's a couple of years younger than Tim (we had Tim since he was two days old).  She'd play with the other kids, but there was one that she had accidentally woken up.  I approached the crib and gently touched the distressed baby's back.  The girl then turned to me and said, "Nakita ko kaw kahapon sa TV." (I saw you on TV yesterday.) I hope it wasn't the news. LOL.

In the next room, everyone fawned over the kid whose hair stood up on end.  My sister said he reminded her of one of our old buddies, Miggy.  There was another one who had that angas expression. Didn't smile. He would only stare at you as if daring you to do something. I patted his head and told him, "Astig ka ha!" (No translation for that. Hehe.)

But one particular baby, 8 months old, caught my eye.  She had huge, round eyes that would disappear into slits when she concentrated. Chubby cheeks, full lips that were shaped like Cupid's bow. She also had a cat-like expression.  She was the youngest in the room. Youngest and the most frustrated.  Everyone else was already learning to stand, but she kept rolling in her crib, trying to use her feet and failing. Every time she slumped face down, she'd look at the other babies in despair.  She was about to cry when I got to her.  My gosh, I can relate. That was exactly how I felt about PHD class. Hahaha!

I held my hands out to her. She grabbed my arms as tightly as she could while pulling herself up on her feet. Success!! She then looked up at me, smiled a toothless smile and said, "Heeeh!" 

At that moment, staring into her siopao/cat-like face, two things popped into my head:

• Puwede kita iuwi? (Can I take you home?)
• Gusto kita kagatin. (I want to bite you.)

I couldn't resist so I carried her for a bit. I had to control the urge to squeeze and bite. Really. She was THAT adorable. Too bad I had to put her down as we had to go to the toddlers' room next.

The incident in the toddlers' area had me laughing out loud. See, there were two boys playing with plastic bowling pins. One of them was just quietly minding his own business when this bigger boy tried to steal his toy.  It was amazing how he ducked and moved his body this way and that to keep his toy away.  I could almost hear an audience shout, "Defense! Defense!"

Yeah, Leki's BF (Pao) is right. I would laugh at my kids if they fought like that.

The bigger boy ended up crying out of frustration (and maybe embarrassment) at coming up empty-handed. They both still could not speak so I suppose that was his way of coping.

After that, we chatted a bit with the caretakers and the Mother Superior.  One caretaker said something that my mom loved to quote: "Pag masama loob mo o may problema ka, punta ka lang dun sa nursery at makipaglaro sa mga baby. Tanggal problema mo." (When you're feeling glum or problematic, all you need to do is visit the nursery and play with the babies. Your problems will go away.)

Previously in Season 5: I took the PhD Qualifying Exam, but the 301 question on creating a theoretical framework for ABS-CBN's "Boto Mo, I-Patrol Mo, Ako Simula" did me in. That one was really frustrating as I do not watch TV and I could hardly come up with a framework for a TV show I wasn't familiar with.  I was also quite careless in answering the question for 312, so I had two wrong answers.  Rod -- who had failed one question (also 301) -- and I had to figuratively fight tooth and nail to be allowed to re-take the Qualifying Exam before enrollment ends. The previous Chairperson wanted us to do the re-take next semester.  It was a hit or miss thing, last chance. If we fail the re-take, it wouldn't matter that my grade point average is 1.41 or that Rod had the highest grades in class. We would get kicked out of the PhD program.

Since Rod and I were insistent that we do the exam immediately, the current Chairperson asked us to write an essay discussing what difference it would make if we took the exam now.


On Prayers
The Department Chair, Dr. Lacson, gave us the go-signal to take the test yesterday. I was in a very good mood, despite the wonky review session I had with Cris over chat (bad internet connection).  I was singing a gospel song on the way to the MRT station when I noticed that it had started to rain. I opted to take a cab to Edsa Shangri-La and just take the MRT there.  To my pleasant surprise, the cab driver was playing Christian music. First time I've encountered that, actually. Was really thankful. It was like the cabbie was praying for me. Hehehe.


Tougher Question
The question for 312 was harder this time.  It asked about the conditions of causality, how these are fulfilled by rigorous true experiments and rigorous survey (I almost missed reading the part about the surveys; thank goodness I re-read the question!!!!!!!!!!!), and the weaknesses of both methods against the conditions. I actually forgot the third condition so in my desperation, I unloaded nearly EVERYTHING I knew about true experiments and surveys, from the scientific process, to the formula for systematic random sampling (find N, get n, get k = N/n, blah blah blah), down to t-tests and how having a p-value of .05 means that your placebo group and your treatment group are significantly different.

I think I lost you in the last sentence, but you get the point.  I unloaded it all in the hopes that the third condition would come up somewhere in the mass of information.


Teacher Ganda
My toughest professor, hands down. I also made a really critical error in her subject last semester. I was already doing really well in her class. I was finally getting good grades, in the 1.5/1.25 realm, which was great, considering she gave me a 2.0 in the previous semester.  But I was really really really absent-minded during the final paper submission: I actually only passed half of my paper. I felt my knees go weak when I fetched the corrected paper from Ate Viring and saw...Gad!  Why oh why didn't I check that the printer was not done printing!!!  So instead of the nice 1.5 or 1.75 I was expecting, I ended up with a 2.0. Again!

Teacher Ganda was also my examiner for 312.  As Cham would say, "JENNENT!"

So there I was, sitting right after answering question 312, when my peripheral view caught sight of an angel with windblown hair, walking towards the school entrance.  Upon closer inspection, I realized it was Teacher Ganda.

My thoughts when I sat there, mesmerized:
"Haaaaay. Ang ganda ganda ganda ganda mo talaga. Ang pangit pangit pangit pangit nga lang ng grades na binibigay mo sakin."
(*Sigh* "You are so so so so beautiful. But the grades you give me are so so so so ugly.")

I remember this one session when she came into class and it was super warm so she had to take off her blazer. It revealed a flimsy camisole-like sleeveless shirt underneath. It also had a low neckline.  I thought I was going to go blind. And deaf. I thought I was sorta hearing her lectures in Greek.

I couldn't concentrate on what she was saying. Well, she was discussing the formula for standard deviation, which was making things worse.  I looked around the classroom and noticed that all my classmates -- male, female, sorta male and sorta female alike -- were dumbfounded. At first I thought it was because of the lectures, but one sorta male classmate whispered, "Natitibo na ako." (I'm turning butch.)  It was a relief to know I wasn't the only one losing her wits over all that milky skin.

Lesson Learned (as a Professor): Always make sure you are covered in class. I didn't realize, until that experience, that the wrong outfit could distract students.


Lunch with Milflor
Milflor was my original batch mate but she's a full time student. 12 units so she's taking her comprehensive exam next month. Woo. Incidentally, her lowest grades (1.5) also came from Teacher Ganda. Haha! In any case, nothing beats going through a tough question like going to Chocolate Kiss with someone who's as much a foodie as I am.  That Dayap Cake filled the void.  And Milflor was as sweet as ever. It turns out that she prepared two peanut butter sandwiches and brought some mineral water with her. She was thinking all day long that she was probably not going to eat what she brought but, well, she saw me.  It was probably God's way of telling her I need nourishment and that peanuts are supposed to be brain food. Haha! I gave the other peanut butter sandwich to Rod while we were answering the 301 question.

Thanks, Mil!!


On To The Next Round
This afternoon, I texted Dr. Lacson to ask if the results had come out. I waited till after lunch to text him because I didn't want to lose my appetite in case the results were not favorable.  The first reply I received was a blank text. I asked him about the blank text. Two more messages arrived and both said: You passed both questions.

So there. I'm now 18 units away from my comprehensive exam and dissertation. Wait. Now that I'm enrolling, that would be 9 units more.  I wanted to celebrate with a Red Ribbon White Forest cake but the branch near my condo ran out of stock.

Season 6 begins...

That I'm leaving for the USA (just for a bit).  She's usually a lot sweeter to my sister, though goodness knows, my sister abuses her a lot. Like if Leki lived in the US, she'd prolly be jailed for animal rights violation or something.

Kira is usually content to sleep at my feet or beside me or in some warm nook she can find, unlike with Leki. She literally sleeps on top of Leki or in that little crevice between my sis and her pillow.

Today, however, she just kept meowing and meowing and wouldn't stop. I looked at her dish, it still had food so I switched on my laptop and sat down. That's when she showed signs of wanting to sit on my lap -- standing on her hind legs and placing her paws on my chair -- so I stood up.  Then she kept meowing and meowing and meowing again.  I relented and sat down. She quickly climbed on my lap, slept and purred like there's no tomorrow.

'Course, that was before I decided to take a picture through my webcam (didn't have the heart to stand up and get my dSLR), which woke her up.  She probably sensed I was not going to be around for a few days. Adorable little stinker.