Delinquent

It's finals week. So my being a delinquent blogger the past days (or week?) is excusable!

Right now, I have 2 more things to work on till my first year in Masters expires. Wow. How time flies.

Despite the fact that I need to start writing articles for our Dev Psych project due on Thursday (and should've started ages ago) and that I need to start studying complicated venn diagrams and regression lines for my Quanti Exam on Saturday, I have remained delinquent about these things that I know I have to do. But that's okay. I am not rattled. Yet. At least.

I have permitted myself some time to relax, to lie down, to lie low, to sleep the past days even at the face of my deadlines. I have come to realize that I am not as young as I used to be, persisting on a project with zero sleep. The last time I did that was during high school. Yes, we get old and weak. That's the reality of life on earth. It's a fact, which people should not be ashamed to admit.

These days, I couldn't seem to sit down still for long straight hours doing one thing. Add to this the fact that facebook has become the biggest distraction for everyone, whether you're studying or working. Even moms and grandmas are hooked. My mom is and she is enjoying it, especially now that she has a computer she can claim as hers. She's been spending a lot of time in front of the PC, ever since Kitkat got her own mini-laptop (which is the best thing that happened since Mac), taking Facebook quizzes, writing on people's walls, and even commenting on Rye's photos! So there, if I am not buried in books and papers, yes, I am tinkering with my facebook or getting snippets of shut eye. These 2 has kept me sane amidst the long hours of student work I have to consume.

Oh, let me share some vignettes of the week that has gone. My last post is dated March 18, which is so long ago already, so I guess I owe it to this blog to do this.

March 19 Thursday
General Rehearsal in Octagon Village Clubhouse was of course, as expected, a riot. There's something about open spaces and kids. Place a kid in a vast open space and it's their cue to run. Run in circles. Run in spirals. Run in squares. Run in place. Yes, kids do run a lot. Preschoolers know how to enjoy the new found freedom of their stable legs. Toddlers trail behind a bit though as their gross motor skills are still developing. Nonetheless, they also run, copying their older counterparts. And in the event that they fall or bump to another, they cry. They cry. They cry. They cry as if the world had ended. For instance, Paolo, who's a bit brute when excited, was running round and round until he bumped into fragile Martina. Martina, who didn't know how to take in what had just happen, screamed at the top of her voice and cried relentlessly. Paolo, who looked sorry about what happened, tried consoling her but it didn't help. The screaming just got louder. After some hugging, consoling, and distracting from Teacher Trina, she finally stopped as if nothing happened. Oh, kids.

During the Toddlers' practice, there were several open spaces on the "stage." They just don't get the concept of performing for parents yet. What pressure for teachers! Xaji, who danced very well (until he got distracted by something) in class, was also crying all over the place. He didn't want to separate from his tita/tita at all. Good thing, I still had two on the dance floor. Good job. Good job!

Kenisha, from Teacher Cecilia's Toddler Class, came in with her sister and yaya. After a few minutes in the new place, she started crying and crying. A few minutes later, Teacher Cecilia allowed them to go home. She never had this problem in class so I thought she was just adjusting to the place. Little did I know that it was because of her Lolo, who just passed away. As the Dad shared, she was very close to the Lolo. She showed drawings to him, played with him, and prayed the rosary with him everyday. She even preferred him over the Lola, who brought her to school every day. It must be very difficult for her to understand what had happened. At 2 years old, it makes me wonder how she understands death. How do kids see death? I don't really know. But as I've seen in Kenisha, even at such a young age, they somehow understand already the pain that goes with losing someone you love. Though they may not know how to express or fully make sense of it, they feel it. We feel it. It's a universal human feeling, I guess. Pain. and Love. My heart goes to Kenisha. As she said to her lolo "Lolo, Amen.' Yes, my dear, he's in heaven now, happy, resting, with our Father up there. May he rest in peace.

March 20-21 Friday/Saturday
Again, practice was a riot. But I'm glad it was the last one till moving up day. Couldn't concentrate much though because the thought of the numerous things that were waiting to get done was pestering me the whole time.

By the time I got home, I took a very long cold bath because summer is really making it's presence felt. The heat was intense, leaving you all sticky and annoyed. But it's a good sign. Vacation is just one leap away. Yipee.

I searched the net for related lit for our Quanti research about SEX (yeah, the topic was assigned to us, randomly. Data was collected by Ma'am Ofreneo's research team a few years back), to be more specific, about the relationship of female adolescents' knowledge of safe sex as a means to prevent pregnancy with their sources of information about sex. Interesting results I may say. Female adolescents' knowledge about safe sex as prevention for pregnancy is best predicted by knowledge coming from school, then from friends, then from home, and lastly from print media (cosmo?haha) according to the stepwise multiple regression we ran. Enough of that.

Kara arrived just in time for dinner. Then, we worked on the paper until the next day. I accidentally fell asleep while waiting for her to send something at around 4:30 am. Then we had to wake up at 7am to prepare for class. Reporting was quite sabog as my mind was all over the place. Pinky was a lifesaver.. she reported on the discussion part really well. I was also so happy to learn that I got 94 in my midterm exam. I actually got the part that I stressed so much on right. 9 pts out of 11 for that part. Not bad. Not bad at all as I thought I lost the complete 11 pts. I actually unbelievably got the graph right which I thought was wrong after seeing my classmates doing the other as I saw from my peripheral as I was walking to submit my paper. I felt really bad because I changed my answer at the last minute. Oh, the Lord is good. Perfect way to end my half day.

After eating in the caf, we headed to Octagon for my very first Moving Up day in Child's SPACE. Did the final preparations until people began to arrive. Each family brought in a lot of guests unexpectedly. We pegged the headcount at 120 people, but all 160 paper plates were used up. The school is really growing. Student population doubled this year. We are blessed indeed. I remember Teacher Cecilia telling me before that last school year, they prayed for 18 students, and the Lord gave granted them the 18 students. This year, they asked for 32. And guess what, we ended the year with 33. Galing no? He is indeed a God of miracles.

By around 8pm, I was dead on the bed, fast asleep. I intended to start my pending final exams early in the morning, so I set my alarm at 2am. Lo and behold, it proved to be such a futile attempt. I just couldn't force myself to get up. I remember pressing the snooze button several times but became desensitized to the sound after a while. I was just dead beat tired. My body wanted rest, and so I gave in. I had to because it was already giving up on me.

March 22 Sunday
Skipped The Feast so I can head home (to Antipolo) by 7am and finish my 2 take home exams. Of all the days during finals week, what are the chances that 2 of my professors (out of 3) would choose the same date of submission? To make it worse, it's the monday after my busiest weekend so far in the school year for both Masters and Preschool. The quietness at home really helped. I was able to answer the 6 questions out of the 7 (the two tests combined) by the time I had to leave for work the following day. I even had time to drink coffee and post my 100 truths on facebook. Haha.

March 23 Monday
After my 4 hours of mandatory work expired, I drove to our New Manila house. Driving alone really gives me a piece of authentic freedom. I don't know why.

By the time I reached the house, I decided to take a power nap that turned into a 2-hour siesta. Oh my. By 3pm, I really had to force myself to get up and finish the my one remaining question. Yes, just one, Trina! I finished at the nick of time. I was panicking already by the the printer spat out the last piece of paper. It was already past 5 and the exams had to reach my teachers' pigeon holes by exactly 6pm. I frantically searched for Mamita who couldn't be found as I needed a stapler and tape to seal my envelope. What, stress! I drove going to Ateneo as fast as I could but traffic along Boni was already bad. I was praying in tongues already, praying hard to the Lord to let the pile in front of me move. I parked as quickly as I can and began my sprint to the finish line which was 3 floors above me. Each step translated to a drop of cold sweat trickling down my face. And guess what? I made it. My papers were received and signed by Ate Susan 7 minutes before closing time. 5:53pm. Just in time. Thank you, Lord.

March 24 Tuesday
I declared this day to be my R&R day. My momentary break from schoolwork. I played Wii (my current form of exercise. I gave up on jogging. Haha.). I really think it's good cardio. Haha. I ate squidballs and fried kani sticks. I played with Chuckie. I hugged Kitkat. And I finally blogged.

But yes, I will start on those articles in a while. Promise.

I guess, this is my cue to end this. I just love releasing my thoughts on this page. Such a wonderful de-stresser.

Hello summer. We will meet soon.

Ciao!

March 24
8:45pm