LIVE WIRE AT CIRCUIT

For its sem starter, the UP PR+Advertising Society (UP PRAds) successfully launched its first publicity party—Circuit: Boot up. Plug in. Be electrified.

A semester spent in preparations, months of correspondence with sponsors and a postponement due to Ondoy’s wrath were finally put to rest as November 14 marked the event’s resurrection. A resurrection so grand it was like Easter came early.

A better and hotter venue was used for the night while two DJs spinned the night away with glorious beats. Online sellers from Multiply converged for a night of glamorous fashion and sexy capitalism. Two open bar setups and dozens of freebies later, and the night is a ringing success for a starting organization.

Me (fierce organizer), Chin (fiercer fellow organizer), and Bikay (ultimate people bringer)

Thanks a bunch to my co-organizer Chinette Marasigan, without who this electro-glam “debut ng bading” would never be possible!

For those who missed it, too bad, for those who enjoyed it: thanks a bunch. And for those wanting more, watch out for our next big event!

WICKEDLY WOOZY

Over the sem break I was able to nourish my mind and read a book. Wicked by Gregory Maguire is one book I have always wanted to read but haven’t really had the time to do so.

The spinoff of L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz story is a riveting tale of forgiveness and the search for the true source of evil by the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba (named after L.Frank Baum’s initials).

I was actually expecting a deep story of hate and retribution, but was disappointed to read about the mundane search of a lost girl for forgiveness for an act that isn’t really that big a deal. Elphaba’s search for forgiveness is nothing more than a futile attempt to stitch together her failures as an individual and her longing for her father’s love and society’s acceptance.

Quite different from the Broadway musical, Wicked the book is a longer account of how the Wicked Witch of the West came to be. Unfortunately the book’s rendition of her encounter with Dorothy was a failure of diabolical proportions. Don’t even get me started on how she died. It was so anticlimactic.

For the person looking for a deep introspective read that will guide you towards the attainment of temporary Zen, do not read Wicked. But if you want to have a good laugh every now and then, make up theories of infusing religion to the world of Oz ala C.S. Lewis in Narnia, then go ahead and read Wicked. You might even catch temporary childhood memories and contemplate on why being an adult is so shitty.

MY SEM GLEE STYLE

Finally I now have time again to face the computer and type away for this blog. First in the agenda would be my semestral assessment of the first semester of my senior year.

Now I know a lot of you guys enjoyed my themed assessment last year, so now I’ll be doing everyone a favor by combining supposedly two blog topics into one: my semestral assessment and my latest couch potato addiction—Glee.

Anthro 170 (Anthropology of Language) – boring and dragging, this subject is just like Take A Bow by Lea Michele. It sound nice in the beginning, but after some time of listening to it, you get bored and just wish the subject finally takes a bow. But when you do get the grade, you realize: it wasn’t so bad after all. Makes you even want to listen to it again.

Anthro 187 (Sex and Culture) – this subject has got to be the craziest subject I have ever taken! Rehab by Vocal Adrenaline suits this subject well. Why? I dare you to name any other subject which ended as early as September, where all you talk about is sex in all its glory, and where being horny is justified and promoted. Not to mention a fabulous party for the last meeting where everyone let loose big time.

Socio 132 (Sociology of Deviance) – now it may sound boring, but this class is actually my favorite. The only class where I consciously made an effort to meet all the requirements due to the combination of having interesting topics like death, murder, and autism and having a pretty professor. This has got to be the mash up of It’s My Life and Confessions by the Glee boys. Take them separately and they are passé, combine the two and you get pure bliss. Plus the grade I got wasn’t bad either! Take that grade-conscious Socio majors!!

PI 100 (Philippine Icon: Rizal) – whenever I remember how my PI class went, I just want to sing Bust Your Windows by Amber Riley. The class has got to be the suckiest required subject I have ever taken in my miserable college life. I tried to be a good student by meeting all the requirements, attending classes regularly and I still got a fuckfest of a grade. No thanks to the prof’s promise of an easy grade as long as I attended classes. Imma bust her for that!

Comm Research 125 (Computer Learning) – easiest uno I got in my entire life. Short, sweet, and satisfyingly easy. Just like Diana Agron’s Say A Little Prayer. You just sit in class once a week to do mundane activities in Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Easy as pie. Need I say more?

Journalism 195 (Lifestyle Reporting) – you would think that this subject is all about interviewing fashion designers, tasting great food, meeting artists and writing about their works and watching the Devil Wears Prada on your first meeting. Well, you’re right. But just like Chris Colfer’s gay rendition of Defying Gravity, it ain’t all that. I was barely able to keep things afloat in this class especially for the final requirement: a mini thesis on a societal subject concerned with either religion or media. But just like Elphie and Kurt, I was able to defy gravity and get a good enough grade. Reached that high F after all.

Journalism 199 (Thesis Writing) – set me free, why don’t you baby? Yes, this is Dianna Agron’s You Keep Me Hangin’ On. Definitely my most stressful subject this semester, and the worst part is, I have to continue working on my thesis until I graduate. Well, I do hope for my sake that I will be able to hang on long enough for me to finish it.

So that was how my first semester went. And that is how Sue, C’s it.

CIRCUIT REDUX

A hotter and better venue with all the right moves!

TWO DAYS FOR SIX YEARS

With the coming of the sembreak I was able to face one of the more pressing issues in life today, registering for the upcoming 2010 elections.

If it was up to me I would gladly sacrifice my right of suffrage just to escape the hellish line of registration. But it’s not just up to me, I owe it to the rest of the Filipino people. Now having the passion to be registered for the sake of my country’s wellbeing is quite different from braving the actual registration process.

After 19 hours stretched over a span of three days of waiting in line that could have encircled the world over twice, I was finally able to get that coveted step of registration: the biometrics.

Believe it or not I actually started registration back in summer when the Comelec (Commission on Elections) setup a satellite registration venue at our village. The first six hours of my labor was spent just on getting the actual registration form and having my name validated and so on. I was rescheduled for my biometrics on July, but being the student that I am, I wasn’t able to come since the day was in conflict with my class schedule.

Come sembreak I was finally able to fall in line at the city hall for my biometrics. But after ten hours of waiting I was yet again rescheduled. Thankfully my dad came with me that day, and thankfully a sort of uprising happened among the other people in line. When 5pm came only 400 people will be accepted, the guards made the mistake of giving people false hopes, so when the guard closed the gates at around 7 (the reg was supposed to be closed by 9), people became restless and started shouting and mobbing the gate. Thankfully my dad was among those who calmed down the people by speaking with the head honcho and asking him to device a system that will enable those rescheduled for the next day (such as myself) to be assured of a different and separate line with a biometric machine all to ourselves.

The next day, arriving at around seven in the morning, I was shocked to see a single line twice as long as the line I had the day before. And it was only seven! So my dad yet again spoke with the head honcho and only then and there did they put into action the system my dad suggested.

Two lines instead of a single snaking hell line were implemented. One for the people who were in line the day before and rescheduled for today, the other was for the new souls set to suffer in limbo. The system worked, as the office was able to accommodate the two batches at the same time without raising the ire of any party. And so my dad was the hero for the day.

After three hours of waiting I finally got my biometric scan and all, and am now a proud registered voter. After all that grueling physical, mental, psychological trauma, I was finally able to be free of that line. It was so long you could have met someone while in line, built a relationship with that person, fought with the person, and have a clean break-up, all while in line.

Now that I’m free of the registration, it is time to assure the freedom of the Filipino people for the next six years by making the right choice come Election Day in 2010.

AUTO-MATON

I am now with a car. Bow.

Yes people, after three and a half years of waiting, my folks finally gave in to my request (more like plead) of having my own car. It is a second hand white 1998 Honda Civic. Nothing special but it means the world to me right now. Actually with the many warnings my dad gave me—if I as much as place a scratch on it—it is now more valuable than even my own life.

For the car geeks out there what it does boast is a spoiler, 15 inch mags, and a 6-track CD changer at the trunk. Pretty nifty for a beat meister wannabe.

In the meantime though I am only restricted to driving it around the village, during driving lessons, and the occasional “try mo i-drive hanggang sa main road, tapos exchange tayo pagkatapos sa malapit na gas station” moments. Parents’ Rule: NO LICENSE, NO TAKING THE CAR OUT ALONE…YET.

So here I am listening to Amber Riley’s “Bust Your Windows” from Glee, finally glad that I have my own windows to bust.

HAPPY 2ND ANNIVERSARY!

CIRCUIT