Bottled Sky

WARNING: Nikki is in rant mode.

Summer classes start tomorrow, but I’m still not done with registration. I still have to line up to pay, and beg some professor to take me in his class. I already spent the last 2 days either walking or standing in line. My legs have gotten more than enough torture already, and I’m pretty sure that I’ve lost at least 3 of my child-bearing years somewhere in between the EEE and Eng’g buildings. I honestly don’t remember being this exhausted since ACP (Aerospace Cadets of the Philippines) encampment (that’s kind of like a 24-hour boot camp) in 2000. I’m so beat that my greatest desire as of this moment is to murder the genius who designed the UP registration process.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if the registration schedule hadn’t interfered with my barkada’s Tagaytay vacation (I had to go home 2 days earlier than planned). I actually traded 2 whole days of fun and relaxation for 2 whole days of enlistment hell. Sometimes, studying in UP just sucks!

OK, I’m done ranting now. I know that other people had a tougher time with registration than I did, but I just can’t help getting cranky. I just had to rant and get it out of my system. My bad mood actually has more to do about bigger problems (that I don’t want to get into right now) brought about by the procrastinator in me, but it’s simply more convenient to lash out at the more concrete hassle that is UP registration. Hopefully, everything will work out soon and I won’t be so whiny in the next posts

Today I went to UP to get my calculus and chemistry grades. I passed chemistry, which is more than I expected since I hate chemistry the way most people hate math. And, drumroll please…I got a 1.5 in calculus!!! (In our grading system, 1 is the highest then 1.25, 1.5…well, you get it.) And it’s a high 1.5 at that — I was only .3% away from a 1.25. I’m really happy, because I had quite a tough time with it. I don’t think I had ever worked so hard for a math class in all my life. In high school I actually thought math exams were fun! Yeah, I’m a freak

…because this is probably going to be a very long post. I want to make up for not being around this past couple of months. In other words, this post will most likely contain at least 2 of the following: (1) lame excuses for not making even a little peep for so long, (2) complaints about having so much to do and not having a single minute of free time, and (3) tedious ramblings about the horrors of stoichiometry and a rather annoying professor. There, you’ve been warned. Here goes

I am now officially not having fun in Electronics and Communications Engineering. I rue the day I wrote “ECE” on the application form. I didn’t know then that I was signing up for torture by Triple C — Calculus, C Programming, and Chemistry. I have major exams in all three subjects in less than a week and I have yet to figure out how to compute for limiting reactants or composite derivatives without taking up an entire hour and a week’s worth of sanity. My only desire right now is to get myself out of this all-original-Nikki-made mess by getting myself into the course of my dreams, Visual Communications (don’t ask why I didn’t choose that course in the first place because that would be a whole new rambling). The problem is that I have to maintain a respectable GWA and pass an audition (VisCom is under Fine Arts) to finally rid myself of ECE hell. At the rate I’m going, I barely have a prayer of passing C Programming, let alone Chemistry. And let’s face it, I can’t draw! Sure I can churn out cutesy little doodles of girls and puppies, but as far as having real skill goes…well, I’ll be out the door of Bartlett Hall before I can say crayon!

Ugh, enough about that. Let’s move on to the good ol’ shallow chitchat of which I have always been a master. We finally got around to replacing the old computer monitor. It had been in pretty bad shape for an entire year before we finally got sick of squinting all the time (the display would begin to blur out after 15 minutes of use and 2-inch caps would hardly be readable). My dad wasn’t able to install it right the first time and I had to put up with everything being a sickly shade of green while writing the code for a C program that was due the next day. It’s a lot closer to normal now, save for the fact that it appears to be on an abnormally high contrast setting that makes everything look terribly garish (especially my site). Well, at least garish is better than green, I think. We also finally got around to reformatting the hard drive and got rid of all the junk that had been accumulated over the span of 4 years. I guess it’s kinda like the equivalent of a bypass surgery in computer land. Unfortunately, it seems that a couple of settings got screwed up, so right now it can’t access the floppy disk drive. Who knows how long it’ll take before we get around to doing that?! What can I say? We’re lazy and unlucky when in come to these computer stuff.

Speaking of unlucky, remember that award I won? Well, they lost the trophy. I gave it back to them backstage for engraving and I never saw it again. We followed it up for about a month before they told us that they couldn’t find it. They did send me a certificate of acknowledgement, though…unfortunately, my name was misspelled. It says “Nicole Brione” like I’m italian or something. *Sigh* I’m not really angry or anything, I’m just a little disappointed. I mean, that will probably be the only trophy I’ll ever win and I never even got a chance to get a good look at it, much less kiss it, hug it, and go to bed with it. Oh, well It’s just a chunk of glass and I probably would’ve broken it anyway.

Well, I’d really better be getting to those Chemistry books now. I’ve rambled long enough, don’t you think? All I really wanted to do was let you guys know that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth or something. So bye! Have a great day and see you in…let’s see…March? Hehe