Sleepless in Diliman

Hey guys! Congratulate me! I just survived one hell of a day.

Picture this. I only had 2 hours of sleep. I have two long exams – Physics 103 at 10am-12nn and EEE 51 at 1.30pm-4.30pm. I studied all evening last night and whole dawn today until 4.30am, when I couldn’t keep my eyes open to digest that transistor equivalent circuits employs a diode and a current-controlled current source to duplicate the behavior of a transistor in the region of interest. Whew! I slept till 7am when I resumed my review, that time on Physics.

It’s a good thing both exams turned out okay. Since I’m an EEE student, the exam was okay doesn’t necessarily mean I actually wrote down the correct answers and solutions. It translates to me having an idea about what to do but not 100% sure whether it’s correct and hoping for the best that I’ll clinch enough partial points to reach the passing mark. Oh well, the story of our EEE lives. So, yes, the review up to the wee hours in the morning was sure worth it. Leaving the examination room knowing you’ve actually placed something that filled your long pad was already an achievement in itself versus not having an idea what topic the question was about (tinuro ba iyon?) and that I just re-drew the circuits.

While I was busy solving for voltage gains and input impedances, I was already starting to miss my parents. They just left yesterday for Bahrain. One would think that I’ve already grown accustomed to the fact that both my parents have to be away. In fact, I already am used to it. But their departure yesterday was a teardrop moment for me. I wasn’t able to properly say goodbye.

Last time I saw them was Sunday, 5 days before they’d leave. That day, they had to leave early because they'd be attending a Thanksgiving Mass for the extra years that my Lola recently had due to the success of her colon operation. That day at lunchtime, I had to leave for UP. I was still asleep when they left.

I was already reviewing on FET Small Signal Analysis when the text from Mama came, saying that they had safely arrived at Bahrain. That moment, the fact that they already left sunk in. Next time I’d see them would be in 2006, in time for my College Graduation. Ate Joi even joked Mama, asking her if she’s sure I'd actually graduate by in time.

In the meantime, I continue improving my study habits so that when my parents come back, it will not be for naught.

In search of the perfect blog site address

While I was reviewing for my Physics 103 exam, I was also thinking hard of a name for my blogsite. When I made my Blogger account, my first address was ‘fluxbyrne.blogspot.com’. After all, it is my Yahoo! ID and username for other websites as well. Then I realized that it is such an inconvenient name. Why? Well, for starters, whenever I give away my email address, I would always get a confused reply of “Ano?” and would have to repeat and spell it. So if I actually want to advertise my blogsite, I would definitely have a hard time. It isn’t easy to remember.

I came up with catchy ones like ‘haventfoundtheone’ (Ang haba naman!), ‘cantfindtheone’ (Sobrang bitter ko naman!), ‘findingtheone’ (Mukha namna akong desperado). I wanted something that represents me. So, I thought of ‘contentedheart’ (But then again, contented nga ba ako? Gandang blog topic ‘to ah!) or ‘wearyheart’ (para namang ang super sad ng lovelife ko!). But I don’t want to seem like a love guru ala Joe D’Mango. I may have lots to say about love and relationships, but I'm no expert at it. Besides, about love na nga yung tag line ko, pati ba naman blog site address?! I also tried ‘globetrotter’ for I'm fond of geography. But alas – it’s already taken.

So, I asked my housemates at our apartment about a cute and nice blog site address. I told them I want something that is so ‘me’. Kuya Argel suggested ‘poohcorner’. And everyone agreed. “That is so Rex” daw. But I didn’t think so. I snapped back, “No, that’s the Rex that you want to be”.

I'm no lover of Pooh or any of his merchandise. That would be Daphne – the girl they all want me to be with. Kesyo bagay daw kami. We look good together. Bakit ba alam pa nila sa akin?!

Now don’t get me wrong, Daphne is a pretty and nice girl. I've said it in my Friendster testimonial of her and I'd say it again here, lucky is the guy with whom she’d fall in love with – very lucky indeed.

Well, I can't blame my friends for being so pushy of me to Daphne or to any girl for that matter (si Phil lang ang nakalalamang sa pantutukso sa akin, as in sobrang lamang). They’re even willing to spend for one of my dates. They even made up a Love-To-Love-like series of Physics questions at our annual org event the Pautakan, just for me. Imagine, I'm the only single, for they’re all taken. Most of them actually even think they’ve found ‘the one’ for them. That’s why on gimmicks, I'm usually the odd-numbered wheel. One time, I asked them why are they so persistent. They said they just want me to be happy. Kesyo nasa ‘in denial’ stage pa daw ako – na ayaw ko lang aminin sa sarili ko. In fact, most of the greetings in my Birthday card last month consisted of wishes for true love and happiness. That’s when I realized how lucky I am to have such a nice bunch of friends. But still, no matter how much they know me and how good their idea is of what would make me happy, it will still be up to me, right?

At the end of the day, I settled for ‘kingofchocolates’. It’s a translation of Rex and I'm a chocolate addict or anything sweet. It can't get any ‘REXier’ than this.