Monday, April 24, 2006

Defy Instruments

Yesteday, we had out tryouts for the AUDC. I got really good speaker scores -- an average of 74, which is a thumbs up for any TDC newbie. Sadly though, I'm still bound to be an adj because I need more experience in order to officially debate for the university. But I'm setting my goals straight to make it doubly sure that I debate in National Debating Championsip (to be held in Baguio, this November).

***
I got this interesting fact from my TDC trainer's forwarded mail,
Imagine your cell battery is very low, you are expecting an important call and you don't have a charger. Nokia instrument comes with a reserve battery. To activate, press the keys *3370#. Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

Ate Cy says it actually works, so keep me posted for negative results.

***
I'm going to have an interview in Kat's company, West, this coming Wednesday. Hopefully, I'll finally get the job. Never mind the bugging idea that I'd have to wear a corporate attire each shift. What's highly important right now is that I earn my own money and certain people won't have to think that my life is solely dependent on theirs. I've never been a parasite.
And never will be one.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Honestly Awake

Tired. I haven't been getting a good amount of sleep these days (or like I was having one before).
A lot of bad news, or sad news, as I may label most of them.
Where to start?

Hrmm. I'm not enrolling for summer class after all. My dad, after hearing some of my shameless backstabbing about his current girlfriend, had a fit and decided not to pay for my summer tuition anymore. See how absurd his logic is?
Anyhow, I went to Makati (
with Kat
) last Monday to scout for job openings in call centers. I saw Pecto in Convergys -- he's on OJT. Application was sucky. Convergys and Teleperformance wanted me for full time, and although the offer was really, really good, I had to turn them down. Well, aside from the bond, they're encouraging me to stop schooling first. Imagine, the flabbergasted look on my face. Anyhow, People Support and Etelecare still have no part time openings as well, but the good thing there, they promised to give me call as soon as there's a free shift.

So, I'm off to my mom's place for the entire summer so my dad wouldn't know I'm working. Of course being the senile person that he almost is, he'll surely make a big fuss out of it. "So, you think you can be independent now, do you? Then go pay for your own schooling fees." Really, I find my dad very interesting sometimes.

Sigh. And lastly, news says my section will be dissolved this coming year. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that they're just unreliable hearsays and rumors. Mhye says there's no way in hell that'll happen.


But on the enlightening side, the book review section for the journal is now under the English Literary team. That means, more work, and at the same time, more fun. Atleast I have more reasons to push me to read now. I remember sleeping in the middle of Robert Langdon's journey in Angels and Demons. Maybe with all the pending responsibilities, I've also given up joyous pastimes.

I'm currently in an internet cafe, and am all dressed up for debate training in Kuya Mok's place (TDC). Kuya Tope (senior member) will also be there, so you guys just wish me luck.
Oh, and tomorrow, I'm off to PLDT and West to apply... again.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Fighting Heat

Summer.
Not the burns that cauterize the skin due to the sun^s direct shot of ultraviolet rays. I^m talking about classes.
Comparative Anatomy. Yes, the cat dissection.

***
Finally. I^m on the brink of graduating on time with my ^technical^ batchmates. I^m bizarrely excited to start going to school again, considering the fact that I^m yet to take up one of the hardest major subjects in my course and in all curriculums of my university combined.

I called up Nikki last night through landline, and I was going all emotional -- teary and all -- after receiving a text from my mom. Her message:
How much money do you need for IIDC and to survive the remaining days of training?
I was moved beyond possible utterance. Not because I needed the money, but something highly more than that. My mom always understood how I loved to debate, to write, and to go crazy over useless things. A few significant things my dad never really had an open mind on.

Silly. Although I was not able to reply to her message because I was in pathetic load crisis, my gratitude was sky-scraping.
Thinking it over during mass last night, I still do not want to ask money from my mom because I know she still has a lot of things to worry about. And I^d rather see her money get spent on necessities than on my dreams. And I mean that on a practical standpoint, not on a dramatic tone. I understand her situation more now compared before. Currently, it^d be best not to think of myself. Maybe I should visit her on Wednesday after enrollment. My dad^s girlfriend is being such a tapeworm in my brain.
Yes, migraine cause. Another fictional character in the scene.

Every time I try to open up the subject of Law with my dad, he grumbles about it being an unreasonable course for me to take up after Biology (
a big duh, one of my fellow debaters, Julius, is now going to take up Law after graduating from Biology -- it^s an even better training ground that Political Science, mind you
.). I felt really lonely last night. Really unusual. I^ve never felt that melancholy for a while now -- with all the things I needed to take care of. I^m surprised at how I was able to survive the past week with only enough money for transportation expenses. My pocket was sagging with filthy air and nothing more.

The next thing I^d have to worry about now would be AUDC (Asians University Debating Championship). Yes, international tournaments, *yumyum*.
And I don^t know how to squeeze it in my schedule for summer classes. Pecto told me that I could, perhaps, talk to the dean and tell him that he^d better excuse me from class because I^ll be representing the university (
and the Philippines). Hrmm, that is assuming I^m getting through the very tough try-outs (and that I have that much influence to sway the dean^s conviction).

So much for ranting. And shall always be ranting.
More and more of it.
Just sickening.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Make Debate Matter: IIDC 5


So let me start with the things I^ve gone through for this week (or more than, if I may so..) For the past weekdays I haven^t been posting, I was in the Inquirer Inter-collegiate Debating Championship (pic 1, left) with my TDC family. Yep, I found a new one.

Things are starting to look up for me. Although my dad still rants about my being in debate, he has simply no right to oppose about my only source of joy for the moment of not having school.


Saturday:
Adjudication exam (
pic 2, right
). Wasn't that hard, I actually found it fun to answer. There was a live sample debate with Joan and Grace as participants. Some were horrible, others were okay, and Thomasians rocked!
Yes, I am biased.

Monday:
My first day in the Philippine Debate Society. I chaired for the first
round of the eliminations with UPD-C and Lyceum-A debating (
pic 3, left). I got to meet a lot of people (both the best and the worst, mind you) of the petulant world of debate.

There were the Gods: Kuya Franco (
UST^s very own world debate champion!), Bobby Benedicto (the pseudo-heterosexual of ADMU), Glenn (senior citizen of ADMU? Nah, just kiddin^.), Carl Ng (the guy with the nice stance from UPD) and Kuya Eric dela Cruz (former president of TDC
).

The Dinosaurs: Ateneo people (^
nuff said.. **Mavy kneels on the floor and cries for being so unworthy**
)

The ^Im-so-good-I-end-up-sucking-even-more^: wouldn^
t tell a soul.. (but primarily, these are the people who are both interestingly and alarmingly too confident even though their cases are made up of crap -- loads of it.)

The Lost Souls: hrmm.. mostly people from far away schools (
and I mean that literally). They usually don^t know what they^re doing there in the first place. They talk for two minutes (that^s about a minute and fifty seconds of incomprehensible mumblings here and there
) and go back to their seats.

The Showbees: Pat Evangelista, Kuya Joel from FACDEM (
and I^m not cursing..), Nicolo Cabrera (the ever so OC-OC Tournament Director
) and

The Beautiful: that^s TDC.

Tuesday:
Jaded and praying. (
pic 4, center)
I chaired for two rounds and paneled for the other one.
Kuya Joel rocks as a chair adj.
The Lost Souls were pitiful.


Wednesday:
The wildest break night party of the century. Imagine seeing Nino dance (lol).
No more chairing for me. Also, I wasn^t able to break (
some things are based on circumstances and not on scores
) but I felt better when Kuya James gave me a hug and said, ^I heard a lot of good things about you. Keep it up!^

And Kuya Iggy:
Ano, AUDC na, AUDC??

One thought in Mavy^s mind:
Asians? Here I come!!!

Thursday:
Off to get my clearance and to go back to the unreal world. Bad schedule for summer classes. And a bigger thought, classes will destroy my chances to joining the Asians Universities Debating Championship.
So sweet.

Got home early. A lot of good things. Thank you, God.
My dad and my older sister are in good terms already after the year-long cold war between them both. Mischa, my niece, came over with my sister to spend the night with us and to go to the doctor the day after as well.

Sigh. I^m missing a lot these days.
But this is my life now.
Or death toll, as some would say.

No rest. Just home and debate.

Friday:
Induction of new CSJ Editors. I am now officially the new English Literary Section Editor of the College of Science Journal.
Kit, our EIC, was so kind to buy us food during the meeting. The yearend report was awesome. And the picture-taking, well, took quite a long time.

Ate Cy^s Team made it to the Finals (although they lost to ADMU A, it was an honorable defeat). Kevin^s team only made it till Octo^s.
Championship Dinner was fun, just because of TDC being there and the variety of programs the UP Debate Society came up with. Kevin and Kuya Mok-Mok won the Separated-at-Birth award and Kuya John won Miss Congeniality.. imagine that!

One of the runners-up for the ESU Public Speaking Competition had a brilliant speech during the intermission round. Here^s the gist of what he said:
Why is it that only a few people in the world understand how fun and how hard it is to debate? You hang around with your friends at school and they ask you if you won the competition, and you tell them you were only able to break. And they mock you for not winning the competition but they always fail to understand just how hard it is to atleast be in the Octo^s. And then you ask your mom for 1500 bucks and she goes on and say, ^Why do you insist on joining that competition when you never even win?^
It only says one thing, that debaters are not only the dumbest people on earth but also the most passionate ones.

Saturday:
Science Parliament meeting. Plans for SDS and Summer Training.
My first debate for summer.
And I was horrible as a second speaker.

Mavy^s conclusion: I^m born to be a whip!