It feels like forever

So lately I feel like I've been fighting an uphill battle lately

I feel like no matter what I do, I'll never be good enough to win, or just make it to the top of the hill

It feels like I, alone, have been pushing this giant boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down at the end of the day, just like that ancient greek myth

I'll never win, I've come to accept that

Villains don't get happy endings.

Keep Dreaming.

So, I'm back...

It's been a while since I've posted here.

I guess I've just been either too busy or too lazy to update this thing.

Well, seeing as I've got about a little less than a month left before school starts, I'll do my best to start using this more often.

Besides, it's good for my brain to get some exercise. I need to work out my brain cells otherwise they'd probably die out.

Anyway, that's all for today's post. See y'all soon

Keep Dreaming.

It's been a while...

It's been a long while since I've blogged. I've been so busy with schoolwork. Now, I'm on my semestral break and I hope I get the chance to blog more often. Pardon for my rough-ness, I'm still trying to get back into the motions of blogging.

You know, I honestly don't know what wrong with me. Every semester, if there's 1 class I'm always scared in failing, it's my majors. I don't know why, I always do my best in every class. It might have to do with adjusting to the teaching styles of my new professors, which is why I take a slow start. But towards the end of the semester, my grades tend to get better and I always pray that my efforts are strong enough to pull through.

I hope this works off. Fuck.

Keep Dreaming.

I am titanium

"Shoot me out, but I won't fall. I am titanium"

Don't you just hate it when plans you make never push through? Like, you spend a lot of time planning something amazing, but something always happens in the end. Now in my case, someone actually shot my "something" down.

Lemme paint you a picture. I asked you to bake an extravagant cake for a party. So you go out of your way to buy the ingredients, and prepare all the necessary tools to bake. Then, just as you're about to put the batter into the oven, I knock the batter onto the floor and tell you I want one single cupcake instead.

That is exactly how I felt. It felt like a knife was jammed into my heart, and turned 360 degrees. To have something you worked so hard, something you put so much time and effort into planning, something so many people helped you with, and something you put so much consideration into. To have something like that shot down killed me a little on the inside.

I spent weeks trying to look for a venue. I spent days conceptualizing the theme. I spent days planning the attire. I spent days talking to the photographer, going over the creative direction of the shoot. I spent hours planning out the date, putting into consideration the weather, the availability of the photographer, as well as the entire EB plus BOD.

It just sucks that you don't even consider everything that put into this as a "hassle" since it hasn't even happened yet. Ugh.

Stupid bitch.

Keep Dreaming.

Flooded

I was in the middle of our PhilSci yesterday, when I oddly noticed that the sky was getting unusually dark. I though it would be your typical rain. Boy, was I ever wrong.

Once class ended, I went straight to the org room to check out if any freshies left batch rep application forms in the BioSoc cubicle! Luckily, I found 2 more inside the envelope, and was handed one just as I was about to leave the org room.

Once we were out, the rain was just intense. There was already a layer of water over plaza mayor that was at least an inch thick. We tried to cross over to the car park, but all the roads  towards there were flooded. I didn't even want to cross, because I knew that my foot would be completely submerged. So we decided to go to the HS cafeteria near the Botanical Garden instead. Once we got there, the path from the CAL towards the HS caf was submerged in water and mud. We had to go around the place just to get there. And when we got there, we found out the place was closed. Since we didn't want to go around again, we braved it through the muddy waters. So afterwards, we split up. Half of us went to Jollibee in Dapitan, the others braved their way to the car park. One the way to Jollibee, there was the alley way that was COMPLETELY submerged in water, as in up to my ankles (or higher). Anyway, the street it was connected to was fine so we just crossed that. 

Once we got to Jollibee, we started seeing a lot of our blockmates. Turns out a lot of them had the same idea as we did. After eating, one of my friends and I returned to UST after it was announced that classes were suspended. Once we got back, we had to go through flood water, just to cross from the P.Noval Side, to the Lacson side. Once I got to the hospital though, I waded more flood water, until I was stranded at the hospital lobby. The entire lobby was literally flooded. It looked like a fountain actually. I wanted to leave, but both sides were flooded as well. So I was stranded there for 2 hours until i was picked up. Boo

Anyways, I got home safely though. I knew I'd experience something like that, I just didn't expect it to be this soon.

Keep Dreaming.

GIMP

School is right around the corner. It literally starts next week for me. As an executive board member for this year's Biology Society, we are working double time to make sure that everything is set in place to welcome the incoming Bio freshies. As one of the PROs, one of my duties is to handle the incoming elections for the 1st year batch representative.

Another thing is that just recently, I was announced to be on the Executive Board for the Biology Majors Alliance of the Philippines (BMAP). They put me in-charge of the Promotions and Publicity, which is a good thing since I'm basically online 24/7. As part of the Promo and Pub committee, it is my responsibility to produce the different posters and fliers for our different events, which leads me to the reason behind this post.

In order to entice freshmen to apply for batch rep, the PROs (Melo and I) need to create a poster to catch the attention of the students. Now, usually, I would probably be the last person on earth who would do this. I mean, leave the photoshop to the experts, and leave the instagram filters to me HAHAHA. Well, it just so happens that I'm also the OIC for the Arts and Promotions committee, which means I'm one of the people in charge of this. I'd usually get Ate Cams, 4th year batch rep, to do this for us. However, I felt like it was time for me to step it up. I can't always rely on her and other committee members to do this, especially since majority are seniors. Another is that I'm leading the promotions committee for BMAP, which means there's a lot of pressure on me to produce some eye catching posters. So, since I wasn't doing anything, i felt this would be the perfect time to start letting my creative juices flow and start practicing.

When I found out about the posters, I was in Anvaya cove at the time with no laptop, only my iPhone. I had no way to note down my ideas except for notepad. I came up with 2 concepts, one of which was also thought of by another member of the council. The first one I came up with was top model inspired. It basically was a dark, gradient background which focused on the middle, as well as a silhouette of a man and a woman. The font on top would be similar to the America's Next Top Model font, with metallic, gradient colors. It would read "BioSoc's Next 1st year Batch representative". The details would follow underneath, specifically Melo and my contact information. It would also bear the logo of the Biology Society and the University of Santo Tomas.

Here's the final outcome. The background was changed because it wasn't exactly how I pictured it. In fact, the background looked very plain. So i decided to look for a more interesting background. Luckily, I was browsing through my iPhone wallpapers and saw this number. This was perfect for me. I also changed the title. I added "The Search for" at the top because there was this huge space on top that needed to be filled. I still stuck with the top model theme, match the font as well as the silhouettes of the man and woman.

Later on, Tisha (the assistant secretary) commented that it looked to much of a pageant poster, rather than searching for an officer. After this, I decided to change the silhouettes to head shots so it would seem less "pageant" and more election. In the end, it looked more like a kiddie version that what I had imagined.

My second idea was an old school, western, Wanted poster. Ciara was the first one to comment this, so I decided to go through with it anyway. Not much to say about it except that I tried to keep it as authentic as possible. I only changed the texts just a little bit so that it would fit our situation more. For the silhouette, I used the icon on facebook for users who don't have a profile picture. I edited it a little to look darker, and a little older. I also searched for fonts that had a western theme that was often used on wanted posters such as this.

At the end of the day, I felt good. It felt good because this was a product of my hard work. I felt like I had accomplished something because it was a product of my hard work and dedication. I also felt that these were decent enough to publicize and be posted around the third floor. At the end of the day, what I did was for me more than anyone. I not only designed some posters for BioSoc, but I also taught myself how to use GIMP.

Before I go, I'd just like to send a shout-out to my bro JB. He really helped me while I was in the middle of creating my first poster. He was there for me everytime I had a question to ask, and whenever I needed advice. Love you bro!

Big thanks as well to all the people I went to for their opinions on what I should do, what fonts I should use, etc etc to make my poster better. And thanks as well to the YouTube videos I searched up when I was lacking ideas on how to do something.

BTW, I know these posters aren't the best. But for someone who just learned how to use GIMP in 24 hours, I felt that these were good enough.

Keep Dreaming.

BioSoc 2013 || May 24-26, 2013 || Kim Siong Community

(C) Franz Del Rosario

I spent my weekend at the Kim Siong community in Silang, Cavite. I can't go into the specific details of what we did (I don't want to spoil the surprise for future LTS-ers). I just want share my experience as a whole, and how it changed me.

One of the highlights from my experience was meeting all the people who attended. The heads, assistant heads, core members, and even the facis. I would've never met any of them if I'd never attended or been part of BioSoc. I would've probably met them at some point during our journey together, however I don't think I would've been able to memorize their names or gotten to know them as well as I did during that weekend. I know now that I've found a new family in BioSoc <3.

In addition to that, one of the most important things I've learned this weekend is camaraderie, teamwork, and trust. Through all of the activities that we underwent, the usual theme behind it was how "the project of one, is the project of all" and how we should always be there for one another, through thick and thin. We learned that sometimes, we need to trust our gut instincts and take a leap of faith. We learned to trust that we always have each others backs and that someone will always catch us.

That's basically the gist of what happened last weekend. Hope you learned as much as I did

Keep Dreaming.