fanatical post for the weekend: i HEART michael buble!!! i HEART "feeling good"!!!

yesternight, i accidentally caught an mtv special about michael's 2nd studio album "it's time"... it was already (i think) in the middle of the show but nevertheless i zapped my eyes on the screen. i AM a big fan of michael buble and his music (dammit, i sang my heart out on his debut record), and besides the cutie looks, he's definitely a charming crooner. i 'discovered' him way back on november 2003, when he toured here and well, i didn't catch it... but the tune of "kissing a fool" was too good to be forgotten and the rest of my 'fanatization' is history. it was probably through him that i came to love a lot of old classics and standard... simply beautiful music.

now my absolute favorite in the show was when they played michael's video of "feeling good". "feeling good" is one of my 2 favorite tracks in "it's time", next to "quando quando quando" (which i totally adore). IT'S SO CUTE!!! "feeling good" has got the james bond-ish thing going on, with michael playing a spy of sorts, 3 ladies in silver spandex, and a stylish car... i had a huge smile PLASTERED on my face the whole time it was playing! it was such a joy to see michael poking fun and the whole "bond" spoof... really, it got me feeling good... :D

(on another note: start of the weekend, and end of the month! hooray!)

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as i've said, my trip to starbucks last saturday gave me an epiphany of what my vacation OUGHT to be... A SUMMER JOB AT THE CAFE! i got a leaflet of the application for a part-time or full-time barista! imagine... you'll be at the counter, in a classy, yuppie-laden, air-conditioned facility, smelling the aroma of coffee, working only four hours a day and enjoy a free drink after every shift! plus, you'll learn how to make delicious fraps and espressos! it's an average paying job, but that's fine, considering all the other amenities... i just want to get out of my predictable humdrum life! the fantasy got me daydreaming for some time (hmmm... create a blog about "the diary of a starbucks barista"... fancy the brews, eh?) until my mom inquired. she called the nearest starbucks place to my home (somewhere beside holiday inn), and indeed, there is a job opening for a barista... everything else was negotiable, save for my stupid age. they only accept people 18 years old and above, and a college student. i'm 17 years, 4 months and 22 days old AND ALMOST a college student. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO CHRONOLOGICAL? but no, we can't accept that. sorry. ... now what am i supposed to do?

well, if luck is still running on december, i actually might make a go at it. believe me.

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yippee yay yippee yay yippee yippee yippee yay! if you think i have suddenly switched myself to goo language, think again... I HAVE FINALLY WATCHED MY MOST-AWAITED MOVIE EVER... "Love Actually"!!! as i have mentioned this when i discovered (with mirth and oodles of joy) the wowow channel's movie schedule early this month (check the damn archives for evidence!), surely it's no surprise that i will cover this "event" on the blog! (ha!) and so here's how the experience went:

i had to make sure that there were absolutely no distractions when i watch the film, that screens at exactly 8:40 am. so that morning, i woke up a few minutes earlier than usual, got to JL pretty early too (7:40), and told my that we'll make the mango graham crust right this instant! and so we made 2 big trays of the dessert in just 30 minutes (ha, me and my excessive rushing!) alrighty, everybody happy! i sat on the bed eagerly (gave myself 10 minutes' allowance just in case the time zone crashed...)

and finally, the show started. ah, the song "christmas is all around" was stuck in my head all throughout. i love the songs... i love the actors... i love hugh grant in his dancing sequence... i love that hunk-in-glasses roderigo sanford... i love the part they played "too lost in you" in alan rickman and heike makatsch's scene (i imagined that exact tune and scene a hundred times)... i ADORE the movie. not like it's my "all-time fave" or anything, it was a perfectly delightful treat to watch a christmas-themed love story/ies. the relationship i loved most in "love actually" is with liam neeson's character daniel and his son sam. honestly, i like how the girl sang "all i want for christmas is you"... wish it was me (singing to whom?) and they call it puppy love...

i wish everyday is christmas, so it will be wonderfully romantic everytime and everything that happens... and please, have the snow falling in this godawful country! it's fucking HELLISH in here!

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the whole thing wasn't as horrendous as i expected. i slimmed down pretty fine for the event FOR APPROXIMATELY ONE WEEK! bouts of backing out (from the negativity around me, e.g. dad rejecting it TOTALLY and my expenses, and the goddamn gown) did not dissaude me to attend peach's debut... well, it's the first time i took part in one anyway, and i don't want to disappoint one of my closest friends. in rewind, i went to peach's house to practice the cotillion number... we did fine, except that we had to do one thing a lot of times and so we stayed quite late. on saturday morning, i fitted my gown (which was ugh, ill-fitting last monday) and thank goodness my semi-starvation (and occasional sit-ups) paid off, though it was still a little tight on the hips. i had to carpool because dad didn't want to drive (thanx bern for saving the day! =D). there were the three of us in the car (plus bern's bro), and i was real happy to meet my closest friends (seatmates too!) after such a long time. we crashed in the scene about a half-hour after the appointed time but nothing was happening yet... it seemed that there were some minor tensions and stuff, but everything cleared up as our regal debutante entered the room (an hour later... *burp*) ...it was great to see her on her night, and though there weren't a hundred people who showed up (due to the late notice), we still had ways to make the night memorable.

minutes later, nervousness arose when the cotillion was called to do the dancing... and fuck -- i hate crowds, and fuck -- i don't remember the steps anymore! (there was no more refresher dance as it was supposed to before the program.. too bad!) and so we made a fool of ourselves before the spectators with the wrong phasing, wrong counts and wrong turns... it was a big fiasco! we managed anyhow with the remaining bit of insanity to make it look all dandy... as we did the 'exit' we were all goofing around... my partner (we almost 'coincidentally' have the same name, hem hem!) told me to "let it all out!", and when he waltzed me off to the exit, i couldn't drag my feet that fast (i'm stuck in my icky gown, duh) and so i was HOPPING sideways! imagine a jumping waltz! it was too funny (i wonder how i looked like!) and everyone was just laughing at our "klutz waltz". so much for that.

the next anxiety came when the emcee called out the "18 candles". since i was the last (it was alphabetical), i coolly hanged around (without a care in the world!), BUT BECAUSE I WAS LAST, people EXPECTED much of what i had to say. all i had in my mind was "happy birthday! may you be successful!" or something to that effect... i wracked my nerves when my name was called (don't fuck up! don't fuck up!) ... and so i said what i felt was good to say... "happy birthday anniline! from the years we've known each other, there was never a time where you weren't generous and caring to me... thank you for the friendship and the love... may you attain all that aspire to be... a woman of style, grace & substance..." (cliché ending!) ... and when i thought my piece was over, peach requested, "sing two lines of norah jones' "don't know why"... for me..." well...ok. i put on my most norah-esque jazziness right on the spot. at least i did fine. =p

when the night was over and we had the function room to ourselves (most left already), the monstrosity came and siib, some 15 of us were having a CAKE FIGHT! the poor cake was salvaged by savages and started rubbing off the sticky sweet icing on unsuspecting victims' bare skin (me!) it was dirty but outrageous! everyone was taking a shot at someone across the room. attacking the hair, arms, coats, gowns, aargh! we had a hard time washing off the mess at the girl's cr, now UNISEX CR, since the boys were also washing the ditzies off (water flowed more in the ladies' loo)... damn, a night of celebrating womanhood was still decked with so much childishness! we departed at 1:20 am, and rich suggested that we take a sip at starbucks... though i wasn't keen at the idea, i had to come with them... who's gonna take me home? gladly enough, i had dough to spend on a caffé mocha. surrounded by a good atmosphere and seven friends, i was amazed that a lot of people was still all over the joints. (hey, it's the weekend baby!) 2 a.m. and the place was still buzzing as if it's only the break of night. we had a fun time, telling stories and jokes and sipping warm coffee (which made me a little awake). then the thought occurred to me that "HECK, I SHOULD WORK HERE!" to beat my boredom! anyways... it was around 2:40 when we finished, and i had to take another carpool home since bern's car was full already. (thanks arvin!) it was the late-est night out i ever had. arriving home at 3, my parents were still awake (as i expected), though the latter incidents of my sneaking-out was unsuspected. whew! i spent two hours talking to my mom about the night, and my dream summer job, which is on tuesday's post...

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hey y'all! i'm back! is this new format cool? :D

so what are my reasons for changing the original layout? well, i have a frenzy habit of altering a lot of my usual blogs, so it's common knowledge to me that soon after i will have a huge urge to reformat 'schizoesque'... and that "soon after" is now. i have always wanted a good checker-and-stripes look for my blog (i sooo love those patterns!), and i happened to chance upon these all last saturday! (check out the "credits" section on the sidebar for the originals. hey, i didn't steal them!) i made some changes, and voila! everything, and i mean EVERYTHING on this blog is new... from the colors to thefont! and why the PINKISH hue? i love the pink argyle so much that i decided to make everything else in the same color! DON'T JUDGE A BLOG BY ITS COLOR! the massive pink-haters can go flouck somewhere else.

if you have comments about my blog, or anything else, i wanna hear it! don't go lurkin' man! it's a lonely world over here :)

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i woke up this day with a new pope, and I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT TILL LUNCHTIME! ain't that a sham for the cnn girl? i slept quite early last night to get movin' in the "enrollment day" this morning (sayin it later), that my world was at on hold on everything else. i was still planning to post an entry about potential popes before i heard that the new head of the catholic church is Pope Benedict XVI or in ordinary-man terms, Joseph Ratzinger. oooh... a german pope. the choice was (i think) pretty obvious, because #1) he was the dean of the college of cardinals (the priests' university?! hmmm...), #2) he officiated the funeral mass of pope john paul II (correlated to #1), #3 the media kept hyping about him to be the highest, most eligible contender, and #4 he's old. 79, i think. he's pretty fine for me, he really just looks old... eyebags, black lines under the eyes and all. on one picture in a newspaper he looked really senile... but anyways, i hope he's a good one. if he's good on the doctrinal side, then he must also be good on practicing it. i'm not much of a catholic (though i like to be one), but sometimes it really does take a strong great leader to enforce & evoke emotions and beliefs... wonder what he'll do?

habemus papam! :)

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my mom and i went again to ust for enrollment. again, it was me who had to go through the whole procedure (i better get used to it, or else!), with the paying and the id picture-taking and the uniform-ordering. it was pretty hot, i was hungry (due to dieting), i didn't have a fitful sleep last night, and the people were just too many -- the whole thing was quite excruciating. but good thing, i was early enough (8am, the exact damn time we reached there) to get in. and another good thing, i don't have to take the NSTP 1-year course till my sophomore year! my class is now officially from 11am-3pm!!! yahoo! i also took the PE class of "women fitness" (sorry, don't know any sport... and i don't wanna folk dance! :p) on tuesdays. sure feels like a whole new world to me... 4-hour classes and bumming around! :D

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Same Ground - Kitchie Nadal

[verse:]
My love,
It's been a long time since I cried
And left you out of the blue.
It's hard
Leaving you that way when
I never wanted to.
Self-denial is a game
It's strange I never would've
Wanted 'till there was you.

**'cause I have learned that love is beyond
What humans can imagine,
More it clears the more I have to let you go.

[chorus:]
But now I don't understand why I'm feeling
So bad now when I know it was my idea.
I could've just denied the truth and lied.
But why am I the only one standing stranded
On the same ground?

[repeat verse except **]

'cause I have learned that love is a
Word gets thrown a little bit too much.
The best excuse to fill the infinite abyss
I would never ever have to if

[repeat chorus]

When else fail,
Would you be there to love me?
When all else fail,
Would you be brave
To see right through me?

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teaser: watch out for a blog background like this on april 20!
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"OUT": forgive my insanities... it seems that my renewed enthusiasm at joining the CPMA for Literature has waned again. i read the contest rules again, and this is how it goes, that made my decision final:

Submit a typewritten format of your essay, at least FOUR PAGES LONG and not exceeding 5 pages.

Deadline for submission is on April 30, and entries should be postmarked/invoiced NOT LATER THAN APRIL 15.

speaking from the conditions above, just how in the world can i accomplish a 4-page essay with this time limit? i have NEVER written an essay (or any piece of prose) that long. and the other real fact is, it's way beyond april 15 already, there's absolutely no way i or anyone can personally send my stuff to their office (it's too far), and so any effort here will be as good as rotten potatoes. i'm sorry for just letting you and myself down. :(

oh well, that's for me --> better TIME next LUCK.

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"IN": however, there's no need to be sad about wasting yet another opportunity... i'll try and flex my writing muscles with another contest: the "My Favorite Book" contest from National Bookstore... i'm thinking of writing about "the catcher and the rye" since the book's still very fresh in my mind and it's really a good piece. prizes (if chosen!) will be 5000 php of gift checks (yay! i'll have the chance of buying my fave books now!) and showcase your work in the newspaper! isn't that cool? i'll think of doing it sometime this week. :-)

EXTRA "IN": for the past two days i have been working on redeveloping the 'visual aspects' of our pretty little blog, putting some beautiful images, changing the colors, that stuff... so the next time you take hold of schizoesque, it's gonna be a more luscious one...

watch out for "SCHIZOESQUE 2.0" this coming WEDNESDAY!

p.s. and yes, i already got into contact with my friends. like rob thomas' song, i am "Lonely No More". :D

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PROLOGUE :
today was slightly normal than the other days this week, if it weren't for the 30-hour water shortage that bothered worse. faucets all off, and you can't think of anything to wash your hands after taking an awful dump, except for the pail with the 'slightly murky on the surface' water. we already have been suffering from a little lack of water in the house since march, and to think this is the best time to take showers aplenty because of the heat! it's like robbing the kids' candy canes or lollipops or whatever sweet and tasty during christmas. it's totally nasty. i've been thinking about swimming to make my 4-year-old (or 5?) pasty dracula skin a little fairer, but dad cutted me off, heck no, because everyone else was going to the waters to avail of a week's worth of bath and it would be ten times worse if you caught skin disease or something. have summers really been this god-forsaken?

i finished reading "the catcher in the rye" by j.d. salinger. i started it yesterday, and i couldn't believe i could read a book that fast - less than 2 days! when i first bought the book some four years ago, i wasn't that interested about it, just heard my dad saying it's a famous modern novel (with the mild profanities and all), so i coaxed my uncle to gift it to me. (i just hope he wasn't shook up buying a book with a lot of 'goddam's for a pre-adolescent! but i wasn't that innocent either.) that time, i guess i just read a few chapters and quitted soon after. i didn't exactly comprehend anything. but now was a pretty good time for me to read it, since the protagonist, holden caulfield, was seventeen and was rockin' out his life. getting out (kicked out, i mean) of high school and seeing the real pathetic world for himself in a funny place called new york city. sometimes i thought he was pathetic, being depressed and so 'without direction', even if he was privileged and smart. but then maybe i was too. so the whole plot was kinda 'relatable', and i liked it. i think i'm even picking up the holden's slang, with the "and all"'s and the "i really did"'s, it was infectious. it made you think there is every holden caulfield in every normal decent teenager (and non-teens). perhaps i should change my blog handle as "ms. caulfield" instead of "ellie" (which by the way isn't even my real name, just a made-up girlish nick for my rather boyish name), and "caulfieldesque" or "holdenesque" instead of "schizoesque" for my site. then again, maybe not. i'm still the schiz that i am for most of my imagined life. (i can call myself ellie caulfield! it sounds good doesn't it?)

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ACT 1, SCENE 1: FRAYED NERVES AND WRITER'S BLOCK
i've been contemplating about joining writing contests this vacation so that at least i can be productive, and i can say I DID SOMETHING during my two-month break. i haven't written any piece of prose for over a month now, since i wrote that "farewell piece" for The Judenites (that's my school paper) in the last issue only God knows when it will be published. and how am i suppose to get one? our editorial batch has been the most procrastinating people on earth, releasing our quarterly issues at the end of the next quarter. i don't blame anyone (ha! spat on me!)... but i will sure miss my little "relativity" column. i enjoyed my stay there. it was the major reason why in the first place did i want to write on the paper. i'm an ambitious bitch, but i can't be that ambitious anymore when you risk burning your head on the stake when you're a journalist nowadays.

back to the contests topic, if you do visit my blog and take a scrutinizing, eavesdropping look at all the potty i wrote (how ironic of me), you should’ve seen my sidebar with all the non-journal potty. the "things to do before i die" part. the number one thing listed there is to win a carlos palanca award. what is that, you ask. in my knowledge, it's the 'premier accolade of accolades' for people who's got the pen in them. it's somehow the true test whether you're a "writer" or just a "writer wannabe". i sometimes call myself a writer, flatter myself when people say i'm one, but i don't know. i first came upon CPMA two years ago when i read the literary special in the Inquirer, with the winning pieces showcased. i was a little interested then. the next year (which was just around this new year or something), it came again. NOW was i more than anxious to gather some serious info about the contest, and maybe dare myself to join. three months ago, i checked out websites, and indeed they were holding it, offering cash prizes and stuff. plus, it's a great thing to be recognized nationally, where you get to be one with the most outstanding... and finally, officially, proudly, and without doubt herald yourself as a WRITER. that, for me, will be a very long shot.

and after deluging myself with pessimism and laziness, the temptation (aw, that's too bad a word) comes back to me again. hell, why not? you wouldn't lose any part of your body by joining that! the 'apple' (since we’ve started with 'temptation') was in the form of a newspaper item i was blankly staring at first. "Join the 2005 Palanca Awards!", it screams to me. and then i was fixated with the rest. they were encouraging people under 18 to enter the Kabataan Essay category... the topic was "The Greatest Value My Father/Mother Taught Me". and the deadline's on APRIL 30!!!! well, i was aware of the whole thing before this since i already read the contest mechanics three months ago. but now, i was so driven by a mad desire to join the contest!!! i was SEVENTEEN and the deadline's only 15 DAYS AWAY, and there will be no more chance to enter the kabataan essay anytime else than NOW! you could definitely tell i was so fidgety and i wracked my brains to think of stuff i want to write about. i had that train of thought for almost an hour. the greatest value? let me think about it. i swear i'll start zapping tomorrow.

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ACT 1, SCENE 2: FAT CHANCE
as if the deadlines weren't beating the crap out of me, i had an even greater reason why i have to make myself look good. literally. just tonight, a friend called me up and told me i'm invited to go to one of my closest buds Peach to her debut. as one of the 18 candles. NEXT SATURDAY. it was quite fine that i'm invited, but then all the other usual major "gloom and doom" when you’re asked to attend a social function washed all over me. for one thing: i'm horribly fat right now. i'm quite a sham to look at with all the post-high school fat stuffed in my body. and just when i was thinking my arms' size are similar to those of the "rubber arm" floaty things, and go on the process of slow but steady dieting, i'm being summoned to appear in front of a ton of people i know (and i don't really want to meet them at the moment since i'm f-a-t) in seven days. but it's so rash of me to turn down. so no way out. oh heavens, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? i was thinking of wearing the prom dress i had 2 years ago, and it was pretty un-lavish of me already, but what if it didn't fit? i might look like a beached whale. my emotions right now are like those of a cartoon comic character, with "?" and "!" and the comic sweat and tension on my drippy face. i have very few options, and i guess it's only ONE: starve myself and exercise. it's a filthy thought, but I HAVE TO.

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EPILOGUE :
this must be the longest post i ever had, without copying anything from other sources. it took me two nonstop hours to write this one. i'm just stuck with a lot of baggage today. you may not find it at all interesting, but it beats the pent-up sentiment out of me. maybe this is the compensation of not posting yesterday. and i'm sorry darlings, but i think i won't be posting the daily routine anymore, i'll be posting some days in a week starting now, not necessarily everyday 'coz i'll probably bore you with my everyday things. but i bet i'll post something good. the internet is taking a toll on me, but please hang in there because i won't desert my best blog for naught. thanks. :-)

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i have (and still is) sending emails to my friends.. it's been like 3 months to me since graduation... hope you feel my boredom and lonesomeness... i miss these people... i wonder if we'll ever meet when we're at our different paths... been thinking that when i'm reaching my eighteenth, i wanna get all my friends together from high school for a knockout get-together. i dunno. just a thought.

one of my emotional days...

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i confess, i am mostly in front of the tv all day, yet i never have a lot of favorite shows. i'm what you call a channel-surfer, because for all that cable offers, there's REALLY NOTHING MUCH to watch, unless you spot it accidentally. or maybe i'm just picky. i don't like the teen dramas much, or the sitcoms... they faze me. but beyond that, i do have a few favorites in mind. my intensively addictive 'crime' de la creme (of all time, perhaps) would be "Crime Scene Investigation". not because i have an affection with the macabre, it's just that i love a good mystery. and forensics amaze me... i remember being so enamored with the high-tech hijinks of solving murders in Discovery Channel's "Crime Night" years ago. back to the present, i have the pleasure of watching two series of CSI: the "mothership" (in las vegas) and csi miami. they're both good, but i prefer the original. have yet to discover the new york slice..

another, as i have said from way back, would be "The Amazing Race". i like the premise of competing with teams 'in a race around the world'. unlike "survivor", where you're stuck on a lumpy island for 30 days, annoy and backstab the hell out of people and starve or do silly things to death. most of the survivor contestants are evil anyway. and if you don't know, i'm biased over these things (i like phil k.). i always like the good guys to win, but the nasty ones always get the bacon. like the last time around, in AR3 with zach and flo, i hated flo so much with her whining and bitching in every damn episode, i'd take any other group beside them... but in the end they won! (how's zach now? i pitied him so much.) and colin and christie from AR5, i am annoyed with colin. he shouts too much. i hate people who shout their necks for stupid things (although sometimes i do that too...) needless to say, they got the million dollars. and now, rob and amber? (here we go again!) since right now we're only down to 5 teams left, and they're all couples (yes, call lynn and alex a couple), it's pretty much about how they put their heads and emotions together. i have not much a favorite team anymore, well maybe the old couple will do. meredith and gretchen are amazing to last this long in the race (other mature teams in the past seasons have been booted off in the early stages). they're such warm people who's got old-style good in them. i'll be happy to see them in the final 3. unexciting to say the evil stowaways from survivor has got the guns in them to win, but i'll be betting on uchenna and joyce or lynn and alex to stay on the prowl and nick them out.

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...but i don't want to let you down no longer! my roundup for the past three days:

sunday: after much decision following a sudden bout of laziness (by yours truly), we still trekked to the mall. we watched 'closer'. and please, forget my intense anticipation with the film... and also, slowly forget my fascination with jude law. it wasn't at the most point good, i didn't understand it (my brain was boggled with clive owen's howling dammit), and frankly it was quite boring. enough criticism... but i bet i would've enjoyed cliche-d horror movies more than this. and another frustrating moment: i wasn't able to buy "angels & demons" by dan brown. unsurprisingly (yet i should've expected!) because the subject is coincidentally slapping knees with recent events (the death of a pope, etc), and "the da vinci code" generated more ire (and indeed more publicity) from a cardinal, the clamor and curiosity for brown's novels have increased to fan(atic) levels... and i guess the price will have to go up the next time i see it in the bookstore. awful for me, because i was already planning to buy before all this happened (sometime last year, but i didn't). forget a good summer read then. i now intend to read some forgotten books on my shelf, and reread old favorites... for the time being. i will search for goodies on booksale when i can.

monday: my collapsibility with blogging came unforeseen yesterday. my apologies for that. monday, while i was thinking of a good thing to talk about (like my sunday outing was a little disappointing... later!), my left eye all of a sudden got so irritated with the contact lens, i rubbed it, took it on and off, and found my eye pained more and me looking like a puffed-out victim (the whole 'eye itch' thing alerted my nasal vessels and here i am, with snot and moist). it made my left eye closed for the entire afternoon... and so i spent the night in heavy rest.

today: umm, nothing much. i got my grad pictures developed, and i can't believe that my greatest achievement to date was just over 2 weeks ago... it seemed to me like ages now, after a long time of not communicating (how evil!) with people i know... thinking of college... idly spending my vacation. in the pictures i wondered why looked like a grinning idiot... every shot with a wide smile and happy face. IS THAT EVEN ME?!?! one even looked like the "really?" surprised grin (which reminds me of edward herrmann). my joy was immortalized, my happiness captured. if only it didn't fleet away...

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i found an interesting read tonight while mindlessly surfing .. it's got something to do with c-o-l-l-e-g-e, and this matter has been raining over me for weeks... the fact that i'm enrolling to a more average university ('mediocre' is what my mom says) while my friends and former classmates are in the 'heavyweight' Ivy-leaguish ones. This SparkTalk Article has got my sentiments written all over it, and i'm sharing to you this big excerpt (got some strong points in bold/underline):


The College Admissions Game and How Not to Play It
posted by Justin on 4/7 11:29 AM

...
There's a key point here that's easily overlooked: having a college degree matters, but where you go to college doesn't matter nearly as much. That's not what media coverage of top-ranked colleges might lead you to believe, but according to the NACAC report, it's a fact. As millions of students nationwide await a verdict from college admissions committees by April 15, everyone should step back and chill out: going to college is an experience, not a contest; and colleges are just institutions that offer different ways of having that experience. The experience and the education that results from it matter most, not the prestige or selectiveness of the institution.

Heeding that advice is much easier said than done. The first step is to stop believing the hype about college rankings. Annual lists of ranked colleges by publications like U.S. News have imprinted students and parents with the notion that big-name colleges like Yale, Princeton, and Harvard are the best schools in the country. They are the best schools based on certain stats, but they're not the best schools for every student. Should everyone who gets into Harvard go there? No, but over eighty percent of students accepted to Harvard decide to go there.

It takes a tremendous amount of self-awareness to know at age seventeen or eighteen which school will give you the best college experience, but every student should question the notion that a brand-name school is the surefire way to a great education. Here's a quick list of factors to consider that matter more than a school's prestige:

teaching methods

size of classes

faculty specialties

faculty accessibility

location (rural, city, town)

course requirements

available majors

(...and last but not least...)

whether students enjoy life and the education they get there.
...

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samedi, avril 09, 2005 Y 11:40 PM

royal schmoyal

charles and drusilla, i mean, camilla got MARRIED! finally they don't have to hide their cold-faced canoodling anymore! three blearghs for them!

i'm pretty sure when charles succeeds to the throne, everything else will become hopeless.

ahem, thoughts on the new Duchess of Cornflake:
drusilla is, and has always been, a outdated but perennially visible halloween costume that looks like she's digested too much spotted dick.

oops, can't touch this... (playing the mc hammer tune)

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Y 2:42 PM

of 'blice' and men

as i have first mentioned about automated blogging, let me continue the saga of the "Blog Adventure Weekend" i'm (and i'm sure you too :p) currently enjoying. let me now blab about this beautiful blogging phenomenon.

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blogging, i think is one of the most unusual BUT typical things an average, net-connected person like me would employ as a hobby. imagine 40 years ago you wouldn't even want your mommy to see your little lacy diary (which i believe contains hearts and 'i love you ____! marry me'!), and now you're exposing how "your foot got stuck on a puddle of poo on your way to a date" to just about ANYONE in the world! but our main security in doing so is because we're hidden on this comfortable cloak of anonymity, so "i bet no one will really care, much less stumble on this when there are millions of other salacious blogs in the world!". you pour out your heart, mind, soul and profanity to this little pixelated universe, reaching out hopefully... to someone who would read in half-interest, but then he'd skip your blog altogether because it isn't "juicy enough". who in the world bothers about a bum's monotonous life? (ex.: "i ate a box of cereal today. fed the carton to Boogie. slept and drooled on the couch while watching the ubiquitous chess match. heck, it's been a great day!") ... and so, even if we are seemingly sure no one would give a damn about our lives (not until you injected a particularly nasty comment about Bush, Big Brother won't give you 24-hour surveillance), we'd still post on and on and on. i don't normally broadcast my blog to my friends, God knows what crap i might pull at them when they're not watching... and so i remain invisible in this realm. maybe the reason why me (and some others) do this is because of self-gratification. sometimes there are things which we can't rant out loud, there are fantasies we can't admit, and nonsense that we can't rap due to the fear of being called a jerk. we have our reasons. as long as you don't touch us, we'll continue doing whatever the f*ck we want.

so in case you caught this blog, congratulations! comments are very welcome. :-)

in line with the "self-gratification" reason, many do it for vanity. for these people, blog is brag. they'll talk about their escapades, their holiday in fiji, spending a week in a fancy hotel just because the weather's hot... it's useless to us but it's major scoring points for them. it's no problem, really... at least your fortunes are put to good use, being documented. so, have i told you about my $10 makeup kit? cool. =p

some people do it just for the sake of doing (no labels attached!). and it's a good enough reason why the millions-or-so bloggers (or 'blice') out there are devoting their time, money, vocabulary and what have you... it's SELF-EXPRESSION. if there's one good thing keeping an online journal has done, it's this. we are given the inalienable right to express ourselves freely, no holds barred! even if the material is good or bad, blogging has boosted our confidence to communicate... if not with others, then with our inner selves. we foster our creativity and hidden talent to make our world a little more intriguing. we give our best insights, tell the best stories, make the best punch lines we could ever imagine (however peppered with **** and ****). at least we can say we're still as normal and as decent as the next person!

a toast to our ingenuity. :D

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vendredi, avril 08, 2005 Y 7:48 PM

blogtastic.

sometimes don't you wish you had one of these? (from Ibiblio)

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yeah, i wish i did.... i'm sure you also got those moments where you have stumbled on an interesting topic for your blog (spur of the moment, while doing something important, in the shower, before sleeping OR EVEN in your dreams) and the PC's miles away AND turned off? most likely you will forget it, that ONE GREAT IDEA that might make you "blogworthily famous!" or the times where your day was absolutely boring and there's no way of putting on some text on the blog because you really think that's sloppy of you... and mind you, maintaining a cool blog like mine (cmon, this is my blog anyway! =p) is also tough work... and VOILA! Bloggy's arrived! this furry mechanical laddie just made a buzz a couple of days ago (buzz me! :) ), where you talk to him about your day or potential topics and he'll blog away on your pc! isn't that blogtastic?

according to the Ibiblio site:
".... ibiblio ProductLabs invented Bloggy, a mobile, autonomous blogging robot. Are you too tired to blog? Do you not have enough to say? Bloggy solves all your problems by blogging for you! From the moment you wake up to the moment you fall asleep, Bloggy will follow you around and record all of your events to share with the world! With Bloggy, you'll never again worry about having a boring blog.... " (Bloggy's even got a blog of his own!)

".... Bloggy also supports nine supplemental theme modes if you'd like your posts spiced up: Liberal Conspiracy Blogger, Angsty Teen Blogger, Knitting Blogger, Grad Student Blogger, Liberal Democratic Journalist Blogger, Self-Involved Blogger, Rabid Conservative Blogger, Poet Blogger and Cat Blogger. ...." (personally i'd like the Angsty Teen or the Self-Involved. i'm nothing but moi, moi, moi.)

so there you have it. one of the cute & far-out little inventions that make the world go round. like if i had the megadough and all, i'll buy Bloggy and a purply iPod. (i had a twinge of envy on the photo above where Bloggy was listening to an iPod! evil!) for now, i'll just have to settle for my amnesiac noodle. :)

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jeudi, avril 07, 2005 Y 11:46 AM

fits to the shoe! whew!

hey, look at the recent result i got on TheSpark's Personality Test!:::



Ellie the Manic Blogger