forgive me for that weekend lapse. it is the homestretch of the pre-yuletide holiday semester, after all. and it does not sound like good news at all - some hardworking professors are pushing us to the limits, and you ought to be lucky if you are not part of their classes, unlike me.

anyway. last week a friend commented on my entries. he said something like "ayusin mo nga yung mga post mo. nakakainis eh." and he followed that up with "gusto kong makita yung mga adventures mo sa UP." i pondered on that, and realized that he had a good point, and i could have done something about it - the thing is, i have not found anything exciting about the second semester yet, unless i suddenly feel the need to teach psychology 101 here, which won't happen. good thing for him, though - come friday, two of the most awaited events will take place in the University - the controversial Oblation Run and the annual Lantern Parade. i recommend that you attend to both events: the naked guys will run 12 noon, the lantern show will start 4 in the afternoon, both on friday. so maybe until then, the reader will have to deal with my clumsy writings.

and then there was last week's post. a day after publication, a note on my tagboard showed up, saying "Ok din 'tong si God, no? Kenkoy rin pala. Hehe. Nagtatagalog pa." now i was guessing some of the readers might be thinking blasphemy or otherwise. i did not mean to cross anyone's beliefs, or to imply that i am really able to talk to God as written there. what i am stressing here is who i think God is - the Sovereign One Who is Who or What He needs to be. i think of Him as a dynamic God, able to stoop down to the level of and fully understand a humble human being, and be the Supreme Eternal simultaneously. no one can define God or put Him in a box and describe His nature. and that is why He can speak English, French, German, Tagalog, Taglish, what-have-you. and frankly i will not brand that as "Kenkoy." just my two cents worth.

now, back to business (again, for lack of a better term). last monday my sister flew off to san francisco, california, to teach kids at a private school. it will be sad not to have her during the holidays, but worse(?) is come next year my mom will be following suit, heading to somewhere in canada to help establish a business there, and possibly to prepare for moving the whole family together with her in the unforseeable future. yep, that means either 1) everyone leaves, i study either in canada or i accept the full scholarship offer in italy, 2) i remain here and finish my pre-medical studies in the University, with the family leaving me a modest home, a car that i do not know how to drive yet, and two dogs, or 3) i accept the italy offer, my brothers and father remain here, and my mother stays in canada indefinitely. most probably the second option will push through; but whatever the case, the house's resident loner will feel lonelier. sheesh.

so please, do not wonder if someday i drop dead along the corridors of palma hall. of course i'm kidding, but it makes me feel kind of stressed, bored, silent, and perhaps depressed all in one go.

*change of mood in three, two, one!*

all right then. a few not-so-notable notes:

i just recovered my last year's christmas wishlist, thinking of something to even crave for for the holidays... all in vain. you rich kids ought to be happy.

a week before my sis' left for the states, she gave me a parting gift: her old samsung sgh-e600. this greatly contributed to the demise of my wishlist plans.

recently i found out that i qualified as a University Scholar for the past semester, which 1) was a good thing, of course and 2) made me feel scared of my parents, thinking of what mental torture they would make me go through after this nerve-wracking semester. [by the way, thanks to majik for that inspiring note. naks. (",)]

a few days after my first signifcant post, our siberian husky ran away early in the morning. i was not emotionally attached to the dog just yet, but my mom and baby brother were. and all i was able to say to them was "babalik yun." why? because the village we resided in was small, the guards in the exit posts did not sight any dog crossing the village borders, the dog was sighted within the village a few hours before we woke up that day, and our other dog (an askal) also ran away from us before, and returned after a month. so i was confident that the husky would return. and come back home he did, just today.

the natural reaction from me would have been "sabi ko sa inyo eh!" which was actually the truth. however, after five or so weeks of learning psychology 101, my response varied quite a bit: "galing ng hindsight ko no!" of course some of you might have heard of the term "hindsight bias" a.k.a. the "i-knew-it-all-along" notion, wherein we aptly exaggerate our predicting powers after we know the facts. nevertheless, do not feel guilty - such behavior was the result of human mental development (some call it evolution) through the centuries and millenia.

heh. sorry for that. just happened to love psychology so much. and for that, i'll stop here and now.