amidst the wilderness..

It's been a tough week. And it seems like it gets worse as days pass by. Exam week is over, 1st sem has come to an end, but why don't I feel like celebrating? I can't even give a sigh of relief.

Finals exams started on October 13, Tuesday, and ended on the 16th, a Friday. Students should be going home by the 17th, that's a Saturday, but I presume only a few were able to grab the opportunity of going home and feel the luxury of their beds. As a graduating student (hopefully), we don't really expect to have a long semester break. We know that we have obligations and responsibilities to get done with which we can only do so during the sem break. We didn't have to complain anymore, because we are more than ready as you know. But despite all the preparations we had, there are still slip-ups.

The gravest of all that happened to me--us--is that when we lost our data in our thesis bio assay, which means we could not continue to our data analysis which is supposed to be passed a week after final exams. We all then felt so empty right after we couldn't find that journal (which contains our data) anymore. We've looked in so many places, we even met an accident (but not that serious though). We felt a bit hopeless when everything ahead of us seemed to blur. I can no longer describe how I felt exactly. I am a very positive person in nature, but i dunno where those negative vibes came from that kept on penetrating me. But then at last, optimism won victoriously over pessimism and hopelessness. We finally found hope. We may not be able to get our journal back, we can still have our grades--and that is to start back from the beginning, as in repeat everything in our bio assay starting from the preparation of extract, up to the pharmacological determination. There is still a little something in us that kept us going.

Amidst all these that happened to me, I am very grateful that I am still able to behave the way I should be--not totally getting deeply affected by problems, facing every circumstance with no fear and entrusting every little thing to the Father above.

I am also thankful that a lot of people has been very helpful and understanding of what we're going through. First, our parents of course, then our beloved adviser, our beloved teachers (though some don't handle a subject with us anymore), the stockroom personnel and student assistants, our dear Statistician, our classmates and friends, the USA security, the PACUBAS, Iloilo Sports Complex security, Iloilo Sports Complex care takers and canteen vendors, and a lot more people ( I may not able to mention everyone, but deep in my heart, God knows how thankful I really am).

the commercial shoot

Hey hey hey! Before you conclude anything, kindly continue reading my blog. I'm no actress, not even a model. It's just that in our Phar.Ad. subject, we were required to make a TVC, and so we became instant celebrity in our own little way. And I, was very much glad and willing to have become the director-slash-camerawoman-slash-co'actor-slash-script'writer-in-one of the whole shoot (i don't mean to brag and all,but you can ask my groupmates for confirmation *wink*).

It was a cloudy Wednesday, October 7, when we decided to shoot (when actually the assignment was given to us the past week and the deadline is on October 8, we barely have 24 hours left to finish EVERYTHING--shoot, edit, and final touches!). It was around lunch time when we started to shoot our second scene at the Pharmacy Lab for our "Biotech Laboratory" set up. We took us more or less 50 takes to get the scene right. When it's not the one who acts that makes a slip up, it could be the cameraman, or the one who holds the script written in the manila paper which serves as kodigo. Although we were all tired and hungry, we still decided to pursue going to sports complex to shoot all the remaining scenes to complete our commercial. After having lunch, we then headed to the covered gym of Iloilo Sports Complex to rent a badminton court for our scenes 1, 4 and 5 set up. It only took us a few takes because the whole scenes just came natural (chos lang!). Then after playing a few rounds (not anymore included in the shoot, we went to the oval to have our 3rd scene taken there and help the other group (April, Rosette, Cha2, Hannah) in their shoot who was already there waiting for us. And so, after a quite while, we're done with the shoot. Time to help others with theirs.

Besides the TVC assigned to us, we were also required to pass a radio/audio commercial and a print ad. It took us a while to have our audio done because it rained hard, and the raindrops are heard in our audio if we continue recording. So, we paused for a while and watched some guys who played soccer under the rain.

It was that day that I realized lucky I am to be a part of a group who does not complain and does her/his share wihout being told. I saw sense of responsibility and concern to each of our members. We weren't just doing the shoot for ourselves but for the team. We did not just do it for complying to what were required, we also enjoyed and had fun. I'm glad that despite all the hassle, all had gone smoothly. We were able to present our trimedia the next day with no delday at all! Kudos to all my team mates!

Pictures are available at Multiply and the videos at Youtube! Enjoy!

weekend @ ajuy

Last Friday, October 2, our group in thesis planned togo to Ajuy to perform our bio assay. We went together with our beloved test animals--50 white mice. We we're supposed to perform at Joy's house at, but since we considered the expenses as well as Hannah's presence in her sister's debut, we opted Ajuy. No one disagreed because the trip was like a package--we can perform and get tired with the assay and we can also fill our tummies with the bountiful food from Harriet's debut (Hannah's sister) and enjoy the sun and the white sand beach (Marbuena). Who wouldn't agree to that? Oh well, despite the rush and the warning of an incoming supertyphoon, we pursued our plan.

At 2pm on the said day, we met up at Tagbak terminal to wait for the bus to bring us to the place. Despite our preparations, we forgot to bring one of the most important apparatus that will be used in the assay--the oral gavage. So the others went back to the university to retrieve those stuff from the stockroom. When we're all complete and sure that nobody and nothing is left behind, we headed for the bus, then of we went.

We arrived at Hannah's 'mansion' (haha) at around 6 in the evening (since the bus we have ridden left at around 4). We we're warmly welcomed by the people in the house. After fixing our stuff in the room spared for us, we had dinner specially prepared by Tita Heidi, a.k.a. Anabel (we rather call her with the latter). Roasted spare ribs and calamares are my favorites! Good thing I brought with me antihistamine! Haha! After dinner, we rested for a while in the living room watching TV. Then, around 8pm we started to do our first sacrifice initiated by yours truly (I was the one assigned to do the honor of "killing" the poor mice and disecting it). Tadah! Success! One down. Then we continued to do the excision of the first batch--10 mice administered with NSS. Then off we went to dreamland at around 12 midnight.

Everyone woke up around 7am the next day (it's hard to wake up late at a place like theirs where everyone seemed to wake up at wee hours in the morning! Dang!) It's Harriet's birthday already. We we're supposed to celebrate it in the island, but due to the weather, we weren't able to travel because according to the "sailors", we won't be able to battle the big waves using even a bigger pump boat. And so our energy went down to zero. Instead of thinking what should we to instead, we went back to our room and slept. It was so embarassing because we we're awakened by the noises of the visitors. The celebration was still on the go and was held at their residence. We panicked because we haven't got ourselves cleaned yet. So, we hurried to the bathroom and proceeded to have lunch. Really embarassing. Just then, the embarassment faded after a little while (mga kapamuks muh!), and we started taking pictures with the celebrant and Tita Anabel. Haha! To add more fun, we had a video marathon at a hanging cottage nearby. We had so much fun. We also went at Neca's house to view the island we were supposed to visit (hanggang tingin na lang). Then we went back at 6pm and had our dinner a little later. We have to hurry and get busy with our assay because we still have 4 batches left. After finishing the 2nd batch--administered with atropine--we found out we weren't able to weigh our extract, thus we could no longer continue. That one sucked all the energy we have left. It's barely midnight and we're still on the go to finish 2 more batches. Even we still want to, we no longer couldn't go further. So we decided to hit the covers and went to sleep. Tomorrow is another day. We could only hope and pray that we can finish everything the next day.

Sunday was our last day at Ajuy. Tita Anabel even offered to bring us to the island even the party is over IF, only IF, we finish our task at luch time. And so, that was our energy booster. We started at 8am and finished EVRYTHING at 12! Exactly what Tita Anabel asked us to. And so, as promised, Tita brought us to that island. We left the house and loaded the vessel to take us to the place to be around 1:30 pm, or so. We reached our destination after half an hour. We have finally stepped to the island they call Marbuena. We we're even given the oppurtunity to tour the whole island (since it's not that big), took photos and videos while hiking (some paths we're really a little steep), had snack after the hike and went swimming right after. Since we don't have enought time, we went home drenched around 3:30 (because we still have to catch a bus to take us home). When we reached their house, we hurriedly cleaned ourselves, said our thank yous and bid our good-byes to everyone. The time has now come for us to leave. We're all so thankful that despite some mishap and the rush, we we're able to accomplish what we should finish during our weekend stay at Ajuy. Not to mention that the almost-not-fulfilled-trip to Marbuena was fulfilled. Weehee!