goooood morning ladies and gentlemen! this is your once-in-a-blue-moon blogger-correspondent, gabriel de leon, reporting live! (echo: live! live!) from the upd psychology department building, more commonly known as the palma hall annex (phan).

today up diliman jumpstarted its summer semester registration for the academic year 2006-2007. however, this summer registration is most likely different from the previous years, with the introduction of a new technological breakthrough christened as the realtime enlistment, definitely a first in up history.

through the years, UP has earned the reputation being the University of the Pila (falling in line). virtually every person who went through the UP system can testify to this, especially those hours-long queue for that elusive PE class or that hard-to-get GE taught by one real hot professor. but recent advances in technology have brought this UP tradition into its first step down the plank and into oblivion, through the utilization of the computerized registration system (crs).

the crs gives the student a chance to reserve class slots for the incoming term, albeit randomly (which gives birth to an alternative expansion of crs: completely randomized system). though it did not completely eliminate the long and frustrating lines that unlucky students have to be in, for many it significantly reduced the number of times they have to be in those lines. it also marked a great improvement compared to our predecessor-students who had to bring sleeping bags in order to secure their semestral futures...

knowing that such is still unsatisfactory in the eyes of the UP student, the current CRS team developed this new program which aimed to further reduce the queues: realtime enlistment. it functions pretty much like the traditional manual enlistment: first come, first served, limited number of slots, hope-for-the-best or expect-the-worst, and all that jazz. however, one does not have to tire his or her feet in the process, but with the help of a computer terminal that has internet access, one can access the UP service online, hassle-free! so what are you waiting for, grab the opportunity while it lasts!

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"good news! nakaka-advance na sila sa enlistment page. pero so far, wala pa ring success story."

i was supposed to do the manual enlistment for the first time, when i learned about the implementation of this realtime system, which was supposed to make our lives as enrollees easier. it was a good idea, even excellent - making wise use of widespread technology for the benefit of everyone, namely, faculty and studentry. unfortunately, someone forgot one extremely critical fact:

University of the Philippines. enough said.

anyway, the very moment people started racing nip-and-tuck for the coveted class slots, the DILNET server overloaded, if not crashed.

"kuya, magpe-preenlist po."

"okay, here's your number. pero para lang alam nyo, mabagal ang server ngayon. you'll be... number 37, diba? si number 1, di pa nakakapasok."

i woke up early for this. the last time i arrived at UP by 8:30 am was 5, 6 months ago. still, i was numbered 18. six had already given up on waiting. i mean, who wouldn't, when every 20 minutes the RA would come out of the airconditioned computer lab and tell all those in line...

"wala pa ring success story."

that was obvious, telling from the number of terminals which had either minesweeper, paint, or solitare open. it was 11:00 when shrieks and applause told everyone that someone finally got through.

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one girl finished minesweeper - expert level three times; each time she beat her previous record. another doodled abstracts, letterings, and teddy bears. some guy resigned to pressing key F5 whenever "ERROR" shows as the homepage header. occasionally, some pages load relatively quick, then the network dies again. for those early birds who got in early, it became a cycle. at least until 12 noon, when half of the enlisters were then giving up, especially those who were coming from the philcoa area (which was reportedly swarming with UP kids).

meanwhile, a pseudo-fine arts major named jemuel rugay was able to produce some obra maestras (slightly edited by the MTRCB due to the presence of some obscenties)...

by this time, the server lag went down from thirty minutes to fifteen to five. i wanted one non-dance PE. the user beside me had two, both to her uninteresting. we struck a deal with each other: i'll find you a slot for camping or futsal, you give me ultimate frisbee.

this time, we both happened to be lucky. (nikka, thank you!!!!)

and it was smooth sailing from thereon. just took another hour at the form 5a checking area and a death march towards the payment booths, where executions were only held up to 4:30 pm. after the hot-headed cashier took my payment and her accomplices dealt the final blows, i found myself in the paradise called AS steps.

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math 100, m-t-w-th-f, 9.45-12.30, mb 301.

pe 2 uf (ultimate frisbee), m-w-f, 1.00 - 3.15, track oval 1.

1) if you happen to be my classmate in any of those courses, please inform me about it.

2) if you happen to have the prescribed book for math 100, pwede po pahiram?

3) classes start on monday. see you.(",)